Letters 364–365

[Apollinarius to Basil.] … And a repetition of the same things with explanation was necessary, because of the unsound misinterpretation of what had been laid down, which was introduced by those who formerly contradicted openly but have now contrived their contradiction under the guise of interpretation. There was the knavish removal of the homoousios, on the ground that it ought not to be understood … ; and, in place of the homoousios, the substitution of "like in essence," which was contrived, crudely named and maliciously understood; since likeness of things in essence belongs to … , so that an essence thus likened is understood as essence, as a statue might be to a king. In reply to this it was written by those who know how to be godly and wish to be, that the homoousios signifies not one like God but God, as a genuine offspring and of the same essence as the one who begot him. There was also brought in the matter of the Spirit, as placed by the Fathers in the same faith with God and the Son: that he is in the same Godhead. To whom, then, was it fitting that the advocacy of this godliness should belong so much as to the most earnest, I think, my master Gregory, who himself writes from nowhere and indicates nothing at all? Farewell, most longed-for master.

Basil to the great emperor Theodosius. A calamity has befallen our country, not from any bodily misfortune, but from an inflow of waters. Where it came from, I will explain. There was a great fall of snow on our lake. Before it had frozen, a warm wind arose, and a southerly rain fell upon it. As the thaw came suddenly, streams beyond reckoning were set in motion and mingled with the ever-flowing river Halys, which runs all year round, beyond what tongue or eye can describe. This river, our allotted neighbor, gushes forth from the land of the Armenians and flows out into the most holy lake of the Sebastenes, in which the forty noble soldiers of Christ, true to their name, were frozen when a terrible north wind blew. And from there (believe me, most mighty one, for I speak the truth) this river, encircling us like a hostile nation, terrifies us not a little. For, never to be crossed at any time or in any way, it does not allow the regions that are necessary and profitable to us to convey their merchandise and supplies: I mean the regions of the Galatians, the Paphlagonians, and the Helenopontines, through whom and from whom our necessities come to us, above all an abundance of bread; since the land round about is frosty, and is bound by the surrounding air with a wrath of lightning, thunder, hail, and floods that tames all. And the neglect of our ancestral Argaeus threatens no small harm. Be moved, then, most mighty one, and be willing to show your generosity to the land that pays you tribute, so that, fitting it with a bridge for an abundant crossing, you may show it a new Red Sea that can be traveled. For the Lord, having compassion on the much-lamenting life of the Jews, was pleased that they should walk with dry feet in the Red Sea, as on dry land, giving them Moses as their leader. Great, then, is the river's onslaught upon us; it has become destruction to men; and when it rises like a sea upstream, and presses upon all the green land, and the plowland is covered with mud, the plowing ox must starve, and all the beasts of burden in the land round about. If it were a man doing us wrong, we would not cease to use the courts. But against the greatest of rivers, which does not obey laws, what could one apply? So we must pray to you, most mighty one, who can in one moment check the danger of travelers … [Letter 366] [To Urbicius the monk, on continence.] … heals all that is mortal, having as its body, as it were, the Spirit of God; and it makes one mingle with God, having neither jealousy nor envy. For he who loves a body is envious of another; but he who has not taken the disease of corruption into his heart is strong from then on in every labor, though dead in body, living in incorruption. And to me, as I learn it thoroughly, God seems to be continence, because he desires nothing, but has all things in himself; and he reaches after nothing, and has no passion connected with the eyes or the ears; but, being in want of nothing, he is full through and through. Desire is a disease of the soul; but continence is its health. And one must see continence not in one kind only, as in sexual pleasures, but also in the other things that the soul desires wrongly, not content with what is necessary: envy arises because of gold, and countless wrongs because of other desires. And not to be drunk is continence, and not to burst from overfilling oneself. And to master the body is continence, and to rule over evil thoughts. How often has a thought that is neither good nor true troubled the soul, and divided the heart to care for many things in vain? Continence sets free altogether, being at once healing and power; for it does not teach temperance, but provides it. Continence is a grace of God. Jesus appeared as continence, becoming light upon land and sea. For neither did the earth bear him, nor the seas; but as he walked on the sea, so he did not weigh down the earth. For if dying comes from being corrupted, and not dying from having no corruption, Jesus worked divinity, not mortality. He ate and drank in a peculiar way, not giving back the food; so great a power of continence was in him that the food was not corrupted in him, since he himself had no corruption. If there is even a little continence in us, we are above all things. For we have heard that angels too became incontinent and were drawn down from heaven through desire. For they were caught, not came down; for what would this disease have been doing there, if such an eye had been there? Therefore I said: if we have a little continence, and do not love this life, but the higher ages, we shall be found there where we send up our mind. For this seems to be the eye that is able to see the invisible. For it is said: "Mind sees, and mind hears." These things, though they seem few to you, I have written as many; for each word is a thought; and I know that you will perceive it when you read.