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

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

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To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium.To Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium.Letter CCXXXII. 2947Every day that brings me a letter from you is a feast day, the very greatest of feast days.And when symbols of the feast are brought, what can I call it but a feast of feasts, as the oldlaw used to speak of Sabbath of Sabbaths? I thank the Lord that you are quite well, <strong>and</strong> thatyou have celebrated the commemoration of the economy of salvation 2948 in a Church atpeace. I have been disturbed by some troubles; <strong>and</strong> have not been without distress fromthe fact of my God-beloved brother being in exile. Pray for him that God may one day granthim to see his Church healed from the wounds of heretical bites. Do come to see me whileI am yet upon this earth. Act in accordance with your own wishes <strong>and</strong> with my most earnestprayers. I may be allowed to be astonished at the meaning of your blessings, inasmuch asyou have mysteriously wished me a vigorous old age. By your lamps 2949 you rouse me tonightly toil; <strong>and</strong> by your sweet meats you seem to pledge yourself securely that all my bodyis in good case. But there is no munching for me at my time of life, for my teeth have longago been worn away by time <strong>and</strong> bad health. As to what you have asked me there are somereplies in the document I send you, written to the best of my ability, <strong>and</strong> as opportunity hasallowed.2732947 Placed in 376. Maran, Vit. Bas. xxxv., thinks that this letter is to be placed either in the last days of 375,if the Nativity was celebrated on December 25, or in the beginning of 376, if it followed after the Epiphany. TheOriental usage up to the end of the fourth century, was to celebrate the Nativity <strong>and</strong> Baptism on January 6. St.Chrysostom, in the homily on the birthday of our Saviour, delivered c. 386, speaks of the separation of the celebrationof the Nativity from that of the Epiphany as comparatively recent. cf. D.C.A., 1, pp. 361, 617.2948 i.e.the incarnation. cf. pp. 7 <strong>and</strong> 12, n.2949 The reading of the Ben. ed. is λαμπηνῶν. The only meaning of λαμπήνη in Class. Greek is a kind ofcovered carriage, <strong>and</strong> the cognate adj. λαμπήνικος is used for the covered waggons of Numb. vii. 3 in the LXX.But the context necessitates some such meaning as lamp or c<strong>and</strong>le. Ducange s.v. quotes John de Janua “Lampenæsunt stellæ fulgentes.” cf. Italian Lampana, i.e. lamp.759

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