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Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

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To Athanasius, bishop of Alex<strong>and</strong>ria.<br />

Letter LXXX. 2276<br />

<strong>The</strong> worse the diseases of the <strong>Church</strong>es grow, the more do we all turn to your excellency,<br />

in the belief that your championship is the one consolation left to us in our troubles. By<br />

the power of your prayers, <strong>and</strong> your knowledge of what is the best course to suggest in the<br />

emergency, you are believed to be able to save us from this terrible tempest by all alike who<br />

know your excellency even to a small extent, whether by hearsay or by personal experience.<br />

Wherefore, cease not, I implore, to pray for our souls <strong>and</strong> to rouse us by your letters. Did<br />

you but know of what service these are to us you would never have lost a single opportunity<br />

of writing. Could I only, by the aid of your prayers, be deemed worthy of seeing you, <strong>and</strong><br />

of enjoying your good qualities, <strong>and</strong> of adding to the story of my life a meeting with your<br />

truly great <strong>and</strong> apostolical soul, then I should indeed believe that I had received from God’s<br />

mercy a consolation equivalent to all the afflictions of my life.<br />

2276 Placed in 371 or early in 372.<br />

To Athanasius, bishop of Alex<strong>and</strong>ria.<br />

507<br />

172

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