NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

To the Church of Parnassus.Letter LXII. 2225To the Church of Parnassus. 2226Following an ancient custom, which has obtained for many years, and at the same timeshewing you love in God, which is the fruit of the Spirit, I now, my pious friends, addressthis letter to you. I feel with you at once in your grief at the event which has befallen you,and in your anxiety at the matter which you have in hand. Concerning all these troubles Ican only say, that an occasion is given us to look to the injunctions of the Apostle, and notto sorrow “even as others which have no hope.” 2227 I do not mean that we should be insensibleto the loss we have suffered, but that we should not succumb to our sorrow, while wecount the Pastor happy in his end. He has died in a ripe old age, and has found his rest inthe great honour given him by his Lord.As to the future I have this recommendation to give you. You must now lay aside allmourning; you must come to yourselves; you must rise to the necessary management of theChurch; to the end that the holy God may give heed to His own little flock, and may grantyou a shepherd in accordance with His own will, who may wisely feed you.2225 Placed about 371.2226 A town in Northern Cappadocia, on the right bank of the Halys, on or near a hill whence it was named,on the road between Ancyra and Archelais. The letter appears to Maran (Vita S. Bas. xvi.) to have been writtenbefore the encouragement given to the Arians by the visit of Valens in 372. The result of Basil’s appeal to theParnassenes was the election of an orthodox bishop, expelled by the Arians in 375, and named Hypsis orHypsinus. cf. Letter ccxxxvii., where Ecdicius is said to have succeeded Hypsis; and ccxxxviii., where Ecdiciusis called Παρνασσηνός.2227 1 Thess. iv. 13.480