Letter XCVII.
2340
To the Senate of Tyana
.
2341
The
Lord, Who reveals
hidden things, and makes manifest the counsels of men’s hearts,
has given even to the lowly knowledge of devices apparently hard to be
understood. Nothing has escaped my notice, nor has any single
action been unknown. Nevertheless I neither see nor hear anything
but the peace of God and all that pertains to it. Others may be
great and powerful and self-confident, but I am nothing and worth
nothing, and so I could never take upon myself so much as to think
myself able to manage matters without support. I know perfectly
well that I stand more in need of the succour of each of the brethren
than one hand does of the other. Truly, from our own bodily
constitution, the Lord has taught us the necessity of fellowship.
When I look to these my limbs and see that no out of them is
self-sufficient, how can I reckon myself competent to discharge the
duties of life? One foot could not walk securely without the
support of the other; one eye could not see well, were it not for the
alliance of the other and for its being able to look at objects in
conjunction with it. Hearing is more exact when sound is received
through both channels, and the grasp is made firmer by the fellowship
of the fingers. In a word, of all that is done by nature and by
the will, I see nothing done without the concord of fellow
forces. Even prayer, when it is not united prayer, loses its
natural strength and the Lord has told us that He will be in the midst
where two or three call on Him in concord. The Lord Himself
undertook the economy,
2342
that by the blood
of His cross He might make peace between things in earth and things in
heaven. For all these reasons then, I pray that I may for my
remaining days remain in peace; in peace I ask that it may be my lot to
fall asleep. For peace’s sake there is no trouble that I
will not undertake, no act, no word of humility, that I will shrink
from; I will reckon no length of journey, I will undergo any
inconvenience, if only I may be rewarded by being able to make
peace. If I am followed by any one in this direction, it is well,
and my prayers are answered;
but if the result is different I shall not
recede from my determination. Every one will receive the fruit of
his own works in the day of retribution.
2340
Placed in
372.
2341
On the whole
circumstances of the difficulties which arose in consequence of the
civil division of Cappadocia, and the claim put forward in
consequence by Anthimus, bp. of Tyana, to exercise metropolitan
jurisdiction, see the biographical notice in the
Prolegomena
.
2342
i.e.
of the Incarnation.
cf
. note on p. 7,
and on Theodoret, p. 72.