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

The Breach with Gregory of Nazianzus.
the main trouble of his chequered career to Basil’s unkindness, and owns to feeling the smart
still, though the hand that inflicted the wound was cold. 199
199 Or. xliii. cf. Newman, The Church of the Fathers, p. 142, where the breach is impartially commented on:
“An ascetic, like Gregory, ought not to have complained of the country as deficient in beauty and interest, even
though he might be allowed to feel the responsibility of a situation which made him a neighbor of Anthimus.
Yet such was his infirmity; and he repelled the accusations of his mind against himself by charging Basil with
unkindness in placing him at Sasima. On the other hand, it is possible that Basil, in his eagerness for the settlement
of his exarchate, too little consulted the character and taste of Gregory; and, above all, the feelings of duty which
bound him to Nazianzus.…Henceforth no letters, which are preserved, passed between the two friends; nor are
any acts of intercourse discoverable in their history. Anthimus appointed a rival bishop to Sasima; and Gregory,
refusing to contest the see with him, returned to Nazianzus. Basil laboured by himself. Gregory retained his
feelings of Basil’s unkindness even after his death.…This lamentable occurrence took place eight or nine years
before Basil’s death; he had, before and after it, many trials, many sorrows; but this probably was the greatest
of all.” The statement that no letters which are preserved passed between the two friends henceforth will have
to be modified, if we suppose Letter clxix. to be addressed to Gregory the Divine. But Professor Ramsay’s argu-
ments (Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 293) in favour of Gregory of Nazianzus the elder seem irresistible. On Letter
clxix. he writes: “For topographical purposes it is necessary to discover who was the Gregory into whose diocese
Glycerius fled. Tillemont considers that either Gregory of Nyssa or Gregory of Nazianzus is meant. But the
tone of the letter is not what we might expect if Basil were writing to either of them. It is not conceived in the
spirit of authority in which Basil wrote to his brother or to his friend. It appears to me to show a certain deference
which, considering the resolute, imperious, and uncompromising character of Basil (seen especially in his beha-
viour to Gregory Nazianzen in the matter of the bishopric of Sasima), I can explain only on the supposition that
he is writing to the aged and venerable Gregory, bishop of Nazianzos. Then the whole situation is clear. Venasa
was in the district of Malakopaia, or Suvermez, towards the limits of the diocese of Cæsareia. The adjoining
bishopric was that of Nazianzos. Venasa being so far from Cæsareia was administered by one of the fifty
chorepiscopi whom Basil had under him (Tillemont, Mem. p. servir, etc., ix. p. 120), and the authority of Basil
was appealed to only in the final resort. Glycerius, when Basil decided against him, naturally fled over the border
into the diocese of Nazianzos.” (There is, however, not much reverence in Letter clxxi.) “Comment l’homme
qui avait tant souffert de l’injustice des autres, put-il être injuste envers son meilleur ami? L’amitié est de tous les
pays. Partout, on voit des hommes qui semblent nés l’un pour l’autre, se rapprocher par une estime mutuelle, par
la conformité de leurs gouts et de leurs caractères partager les peines et les joies de la vie, et donner le spectacle du
plus beau sentiment que nous avons reçu de la divinité. Mais la Grèce avait singulièrement ennobli ce sentiment
dejà si pur et si saint, en lui donnant pour but l’amour de la patrie. Les amis, destines a se servir l’un à l’autre de
modèle et de soutien, s’aiment moins pour eux-mêmes, que pour rivaliser de vertu, se dévouer ensemble, s’immoler
s’il le faut, au bien public.…C’est cette amitié de dévouement et de sacrifice, qu’au milieu de la mollesse du IVme
siècle, Basil conçoit pour Grégoire de Nazianze. Formée dans les écoles, entretenne par l’amour des lettres, elle
avait pour but unique, non plus la patrie, mais Dieu. L’amitié de Grégoire et plus tendre et plus humaine.…Il a
voué sa vie à son ami, mais il en attend la même condescendance, le même denouement à ses propres désirs. Basile
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