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

To Meletius, bishop of Antioch.Letter CCXVI. 2823To Meletius, bishop of Antioch.Many other 2824 journeys have taken me from home. I have been as far as Pisidia tosettle the matters concerning the brethren in Isauria in concert with the Pisidian bishops.Thence I journeyed into Pontus, for Eustathius had caused no small disturbance at Dazimon,and had caused there a considerable secession from our church. I even went as far as thehome of my brother Peter, 2825 and, as this is not far from Neocæsarea, there was occasionof considerable trouble to the Neocæsareans, and of much rudeness to myself. Some menfled when no one was in pursuit. And I was supposed to be intruding uninvited, simply toget compliments from the folk there. As soon as I got home, after contracting a severe illnessfrom the bad weather and my anxieties, I straightway received a letter from the East to tellme that Paulinus had had certain letters from the West addressed to him, in acknowledgementof a sort of higher claim; and that the Antiochene rebels were vastly elated by them,and were next preparing a form of creed, and offering to make its terms a condition ofunion with our Church. Besides all this it was reported to me that they had seduced to theirfaction that most excellent man Terentius. I wrote to him at once as forcibly as I could, toinduce him to pause; and I tried to point out their disingenuousness.2823 Placed in 375.2824 On this word other the Ben. note grounds the argument that Meletius had proposed a journey whichBasil had not undertaken, and hence that the unnamed bishop of Letter ccxiii. is Meletius; and further that thefact of the bishop not being named in ccxiii., and the obscurity of this and of other letters, may indicate thewriter’s hesitation to put particulars in his letters which might be more discreetly left to be conveyed by wordof mouth.2825 i.e. the settlement on the Iris, where Peter had succeeded Basil as Head.720