This and the four succeeding letters must be placed before the episcopate.  Their genuineness has been contested, but apparently without much reason.  In one of the Parisian Codices the title of xlii. is given with the note:  “Some attribute this work to the holy Nilus.” Ceillier (iv. 435–437) is of opinion that, so far as style goes, they must stand or fall together, and points out that xlvii. is cited entire as Basil’s by Metaphrastes.