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

To the bishops of the sea coast.Letter CCIII. 2727To the bishops of the sea coast. 2728I have had a strong desire to meet you, but from time to time some hindrance has supervenedand prevented my fulfilling my purpose. I have either been hindered by sickness,and you know well how, from my early manhood to my present old age, this ailment hasbeen my constant companion, brought up with me, and chastising me, by the righteousjudgment of God, Who ordains all things in wisdom; or by the cares of the Church, or bystruggles with the opponents of the doctrines of truth. [Up to this day I live in much afflictionand grief, having the feeling present before me, that you are wanting to me. For when Godtells me, who took on Him His sojourn in the flesh for the very purpose that, by patterns ofduty, He might regulate our life, and might by His own voice announce to us the Gospel ofthe kingdom,—when He says, ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye loveone another,’ and whereas the Lord left His own peace to His disciples as a farewell gift, 2729when about to complete the dispensation in the flesh, saying, ‘Peace I leave with you, Mypeace I give you,’ I cannot persuade myself that without love to others, and without, as faras rests with me, peaceableness towards all, I can be called a worthy servant of Jesus Christ.I have waited a long while for the chance of your love paying us a visit. For ye are not ignorantthat we, being exposed to all, as rocks running out in the sea, sustain the fury of theheretical waves, which, in that they break around us, do not cover the district behind. I say“we” in order to refer it, not to human power, but to the grace of God, Who, by the weaknessof men shows His power, as says the prophet in the person of the Lord, ‘Will ye not fear Me,who have placed the sand as a boundary to the sea?’ for by the weakest and most contemptibleof all things, the sand, the Mighty One has bounded the great and full sea. Since, then, thisis our position, it became your love to be frequent in sending true brothers to visit us wholabour with the storm, and more frequently letters of love, partly to confirm our courage,partly to correct any mistake of ours. For we confess that we are liable to numberless mistakes,being men, and living in the flesh.]2. But hitherto, very honourable brethren, you have not given me my due; and this fortwo reasons. Either you failed to perceive the proper course; or else, under the influence of2727 Placed in 375.2728 On this letter Newman notes that Eustathius brought about a separation of a portion of the coast ofPontus from the Church of Cæsarea, which for a time caused Basil great despondency, as if he were being leftsolitary in all Christendom, without communion with other places. With the advice of the bishops of Cappadocia,he addressed an expostulation with these separatists for not coming to him. (Ch. of the Fathers, p. 95.) Theportion of the translation of this letter enclosed in brackets is Newman’s.2729 ἑξιτήριον δῶρον. cf. note on p. 46.689