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| To the citizens of Satala.
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Letter
CII.2357
To the citizens of Satala.2358
| 2358 On the
appointment of a bishop for that see in the North East of Armenia
Minor. |
Moved by your importunity
and that of all your people, I have undertaken the charge of your
Church, and have promised before the Lord that I will be wanting to you
in nothing which is within my power. So I have been compelled, as
it is written, to touch as it were the apple of my eye.2359
Thus the high honour in which I hold
you has suffered me to remember neither relationship, nor the intimacy
which I have had from my boyhood with the person in question, as making
a stronger demand on me than your request. I have forgotten all
the private considerations which made him near and dear to me, making
no account of the sighs which will be heaved by all my people on being
deprived of his rule, none of the tears of all his kindred; nor have I
taken to heart the affliction of his aged mother, who is supported by
his aid alone. All these considerations, great and many as they
are, I have put aside, keeping only in view the one object of giving
your Church the blessing of the rule of such a man, and of aiding her,
now distressed as she is, at being so long without a head, and needing
great and powerful support to be enabled to rise again. So much
for what concerns myself. Now, on the other hand, I ask you not
to fall short of the hope which I have entertained and of the promises
which I have made him, that I have sent him to close friends. I
ask every one of you to try to surpass the rest in love and affection
to him. I entreat you to show this laudable rivalry, and to
comfort his heart by the greatness of your attentions to him, that he
may forget his own home, forget his kinsfolk, and forget a people so
dependent on his rule, like a child weaned from his mother’s
breast.
I have despatched Nicias beforehand to explain
everything to your excellencies, and that you may fix a day to keep the
feast and give thanks to the Lord, Who has granted the fulfilment of
your prayer.2360
| 2360 The
relative referred to is Pœmenius. cf. Letter
cxxii. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
