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| To the clergy of Samosata.
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Letter
CCXIX.2862
To the clergy of Samosata.
The Lord ordereth
“all things in measure and weight,”2863
and brings on us the temptations which do
not exceed our power to endure them,2864
but tests all that fight in the cause of true religion by
affliction, not suffering them to be tempted above that they are
able to bear.2865
He gives
tears to drink in great measure2866
to all who
ought to show whether in their affections they are preserving their
gratitude to Him. Especially in His dispensation concerning
you has He shown His loving-kindness, not suffering such a
persecution to be brought on you by your enemies as might turn some
of you aside, or cause you to swerve from the faith of Christ.
He has matched you with adversaries who are of small importance and
easy to be repelled, and has prepared the prize for your patience in
your victory over them. But the common enemy of our life, who,
in his wiles, strives against the goodness of God, because he has
seen that, like a strong wall, you are despising attack from
without, has devised, as I hear, that there should arise among
yourselves mutual offences and quarrels. These indeed, at the
outset, are insignificant and easy of cure; as time goes on,
however, they are increased by contention and are wont to result in
irremediable mischief.2867
| 2867 cf. Homer
of ῎Ερις, Il. iv.
442:
ἥ
τ᾽
ὀλίγη μὲν
πρῶτα
κορύσσεται,
αὐτὰρ
ἔπειτα
οὐρανῷ
ἐστήριξε
κάρη καὶ ἐπὶ
χθονὶ
βαίνει | I have,
therefore, undertaken to exhort you by this letter. Had it
been possible, I would have come myself and supplicated you in
person. But this is prevented by present circumstances, and
so, in lieu of supplication, I hold out this letter to you, that you
may respect my entreaty, may put a stop to your mutual rivalries,
and may soon send me the good news that all cause of offence among
you is at an end.
2. I am very anxious that you should know that he
is great before God who humbly submits to his neighbour and submits to
charges against himself, without having cause for shame, even though
they are not true, that he may bring the great blessing of peace upon
God’s Church.
I hope that there will arise among you a friendly
rivalry, as to who shall first be worthy of being called God’s
son, after winning this rank for himself because of his being a
peacemaker. A letter has also been written to you by your very
God-beloved bishop as to the course which you ought to pursue. He
will write again what it belongs to him to say. But I too,
because of its having been already allowed me to be near you, cannot
disregard your position. So on the arrival of the very devout
brother Theodorus the sub-deacon, and his report that your Church is in
distress and disturbance, being deeply grieved and much pained at
heart, I could not endure to keep silence. I implore you to fling
away all controversy with one another, and to make peace, that you may
avoid giving pleasure to you opponents and destroying the boast of the
Church, which is now noised abroad throughout the world, that you all,
as you are ruled by one soul and heart, so live in one body.
Through your reverences I salute all the people of God, both those in
rank and office and the rest of the clergy. I exhort you to keep
your old character. I can ask for nothing more than this because
by the exhibition of your good works you have anticipated and made
impossible any improvement on them. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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