Ep. XLIV.
(Eusebius, having in response to the appeal referred to
above, betaken himself to Cæsarea, the Elder Gregory, though in
very feeble health, resolved to attend the Synod in person, that
Basil’s Election might be secured by their joint exertions,
Gregory the Younger sent the following letter by his father to explain
to his friend the reason why he had not come too. The date is
about September of the year 379.)
Whence shall I begin your praises, and by what
name shall I give you your right appellation? The pillar and
ground of the church, or a light in the world, using the very words of
the apostle, or a crown of glory to the remaining portion of
christendom;4744
| 4744 Alluding to his work
in opposing the prevalence of Arianism. |
or a
gift of
God,
or the bulwark of your
country, or the standard of
faith, or the
ambassador of
truth, or all these at once, and more than all? And
these excessive
praises I will
prove by what we shall see. What
rain ever came so seasonably to a
thirsty land, what
water flowing out
of the
rock to those in the
wilderness? What such
Bread of
Angels
did ever man eat? When did
Jesus the common
Lord ever so
seasonably present Himself to His drowning
disciples, and tame the
sea,
and
save the perishing, as you have shewn yourself to us in our
weariness and
distress, and in our immediate
danger as it were of
shipwreck? I need not speak of other points, with what
courage
and
joy you filled the
souls of the orthodox, and how many you
delivered from
despair.
But our mother church, Cæsarea I mean, is now
really putting off the garments of her widowhood at the sight of you,
and putting on again her robe of cheerfulness, and will be yet more
resplendent when she receives a pastor worthy of herself and of her former
Bishops and of your hands. For you yourself see what is the state
of our affairs, and what a miracle your zeal has wrought, and your
toil, and your godly plainness of speech. Age is renewed, disease
is conquered,4745
| 4745 Alluding to the effort
made by his father. |
they
leap who were
in their
beds, and the
weak are girded with
power. By all this I
guess that our matters too will turn out as we desire. You have
my
father, moreover, representing both himself and me, to put a
glorious close to his whole
life and to his venerable age by this
present struggle on behalf of the
Church. And I shall receive him
back, I am well assured, strengthened by your prayers, and with
youth
renewed, for one must confidently
commit all in
faith to them.
But if he should end his
life in this anxiety, it would be no calamity
to attain to such an end in such a cause. Pardon me, I beg of
you, if I give way a little to the tongues of evil men, and delay a
little to come and embrace you, and to complete in person what I now
pass over of the praises due to you.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
