Letter
C.
2351
To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata
.
When
I saw your
affectionate letter, in the country bordering on Armenia, it was like a
lighted torch held up at a distance to mariners at sea, especially if
the sea happen to be agitated by the wind. Your reverence’s
letter was of itself a pleasant one, and full of comfort; but its
natural charm was very much enhanced by the time of its arrival, a time
so painful to me, that I hardly know how to describe it, after once
making up my mind to forget its troubles. However, my deacon will
give you a full account. My bodily strength completely failed me,
so that I was not even able to bear the slightest movement without
pain. Nevertheless I do pray that, by the aid of your prayers, my
own longing may be fulfilled; although my journey has caused me great
difficulties, in consequence of the affairs of my own Church having
been neglected through its occupying such a long time. But if,
while I yet live, God grants me to see your reverence in my Church,
then truly I shall have good hope, even for the future, that I am not
wholly excluded from the gifts of God. If it be possible, I beg
that this meeting between us may take place at the Synod which we hold
every year, in memory of the blessed martyr Eupsychius,
2352
now about to be held on the 7th of
September. I am compassed with anxieties which demand your help
and sympathy, both in the matter of the appointment of bishops and in
the consideration of the trouble caused me by the simplicity of Gregory
of Nyssa,
2353
who is summoning a
Synod at Ancyra and leaving nothing undone to counteract
me.
2351
Placed in
372.
2352
cf.
Letters
clxxvi. and cclii. Eupsychius suffered for
the part he took in demolishing the Temple of Fortune at
Cæsarea.
cf
. Sozomen,
Ecc. Hist
. v.
11. An Eupsychius appears in the Bollandist acts under April
9th. Vide Prolegomena.
2353
The Ben.
note, in answer to the suggested unlikelihood of Basil’s being
plotted against by his brother, calls attention to the fact that
this opposition was due not to want of affection but to want of
tact, and compares
Letter
lviii. on Gregory’s foolish
falsehood about their uncle.