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| An Invitation.
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Letter IX.—An Invitation.
It is
not the natural wont of spring to shine forth in its radiant beauty all
at once, but there come as preludes of spring the sunbeam gently
warming earth’s frozen surface, and the bud half hidden beneath
the clod, and breezes blowing over the earth, so that the fertilizing
and generative power of the air penetrates deeply into it. One may see
the fresh and tender grass, and the return of birds which winter had
banished, and many such tokens, which are rather signs of spring, not
spring itself. Not but that these are sweet, because they are
indications of what is sweetest. What is the meaning of all that I have
been saying? Why, since the expression of your kindness which reached
us in your letters, as a forerunner of the treasures contained in you,
with a goodly prelude brings the glad tidings of the blessing which we
expect at your hands, we both welcome the boon which those letters
convey, like some first-appearing flower of spring, and pray that we
may soon enjoy in you the full beauty of the season. For, be well
assured, we have been deeply, deeply distressed by the passions and
spite of the people here, and their ways; and just as ice forms in
cottages after the rains that come in—for I will draw my
comparison from the weather of our part of the world2191
| 2191 For
the climate, cf. Sozomen, H. E. vi. 34: “I suppose that
Galatia, Cappadocia, and the neighbouring provinces contained many
other ecclesiastical philosophers at that time (i.e. reign of
Valens). These monks, for the most part, dwelt in communities in cities
and villages, for they did not habituate themselves to the tradition of
their predecessors. The severity of the winter, which is always a
natural feature of that country, would probably make hermit life
impracticable.” | ,—and so moisture, when it gets in, if
it spreads over the surface that is already frozen, becomes congealed
about the ice, and an addition is made to the mass already existing,
even so one may notice much the same kind of thing in the character of
most of the people in this neighbourhood, how they are always plotting
and inventing something spiteful, and a fresh mischief is congealed on
the top of that which has been wrought before, and another one on the
top of that, and then again another, and this goes on without
intermission, and there is no limit to their hatred and to the increase
of evils; so that we have great need of many prayers that the grace of
the Spirit may speedily breathe upon them, and thaw the bitterness of
their hatred, and melt the frost that is hardening upon them from their
malice. For this cause the spring, sweet as it is by nature, becomes
yet more to be desired than ever to those who after such storms look for
you. Let not the boon, then, linger. Especially as our great holiday2192
| 2192 For
such invitations, cf. Greg. Naz. Epist. 99, 100, 102. | is approaching, it would be more reasonable
that the land which bare you should exult in her own treasures than
that Pontus should in ours. Come then, dear one, bringing us a
multitude of blessings, even yourself; for this will fill up the
measure of our beatitude.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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