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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 Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile.To Barses, bishop of Edessa, in exile. 3196Letter CCLXIV. 3195To Barses the bishop, truly God-beloved <strong>and</strong> worthy of all reverence <strong>and</strong> honour, <strong>Basil</strong>sends greeting in the Lord. As my dear brother Domninus 3197 is setting out to you, I gladlyseize the opportunity of writing, <strong>and</strong> I greet you by him, praying the holy God that we maybe so long preserved in this life as to be permitted to see you, <strong>and</strong> to enjoy the good giftswhich you possess. Only pray, I beseech you, that the Lord may not deliver us for aye tothe enemies of the Cross of Christ, but that He will keep His Churches, until the time ofthat peace which the just Judge Himself knows when He will bestow. For He will bestowit. He will not always ab<strong>and</strong>on us. As He limited seventy years 3198 for the period of captivityfor the Israelites in punishment for their sins, so peradventure the Mighty One, after givingus up for some appointed time, will recall us once again, <strong>and</strong> will restore us to the peace ofthe beginning—unless indeed the apostasy is now nigh at h<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> the events that havelately happened are the beginnings of the approach of Antichrist. If this be so, pray that thegood Lord will either take away our afflictions, or preserve us through our afflictions unvanquished.Through you I greet all those who have been thought worthy to be associated withyou. All who are with me salute your reverence. May you, by the grace of the <strong>Holy</strong> One,be preserved to the Church of God in good health, trusting in the Lord, <strong>and</strong> praying for me.3195 Placed in 377.3196 See Soz., H.E. vi. 34, who says that Barses, with Eulogius, was not consecrated to any definite see. cf.also Theodoret H.E. iv. 16, where it is stated that his bed was preserved at Aradus.3197 Domninus was a not uncommon name, <strong>and</strong> there are several mentioned about the same time, e.g. Nilus,Epp. iii. 43 <strong>and</strong> 144.3198 Jer. xxv. 12.827

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