Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| To Amphilochius in the name of Heraclidas.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Letter CL.2490
To Amphilochius in the name of
Heraclidas.2491
| 2491
Amphilochius, not yet consecrated to Iconium, had abandoned
his profession as an advocate, and was living in retirement at
Ozizala, a place not far from Nazianzus, the see of his uncle
Gregory, devoted to the care of his aged father, whose name he
bore. Heraclidas, it appears, had also renounced the bar, and
devoted himself to religious life; but did not join Amphilochius on
the ground that he was living in Basil’s hospital at
Cæsarea. cf. the letters of Gregory, first cousin
of Amphilochius. On the relationship, see Bp. Lightfoot in
D.C.B. i. p. 104, and pedigree in
prolegomena. |
1. I remember our
old conversations with one another, and am forgetful neither of what I
said, nor of what you said. And now public life has no hold upon
me. For although I am the same in heart and have not yet put off
the old man, nevertheless, outwardly and by withdrawing myself far from
worldly life, I seem already to have begun to tread the way of
Christian conversation. I sit apart, like men who are on the
point of embarking on the deep, looking out at what is before me.
Mariners, indeed, need winds to make their voyage prosperous; I on the
other hand want a guide to take me by the hand and conduct me safely
through life’s bitter waves. I feel that I need first a
curb for my young manhood, and then pricks to drive me to the course of
piety. Both these seem to be provided by reason, which at one
time disciplines my unruliness of soul, and at another time my
sluggishness. Again I want other remedies that I may wash off the
impurity of habit. You know how, long accustomed as I was to the
Forum, I am lavish of words, and do not guard myself against the
thoughts put into my mind by the evil one. I am the servant too
of honour, and cannot easily give up thinking great things of
myself. Against all this I feel that I need a great
instructor. Then, further, I conclude that it is of no small
importance, nor of benefit only for a little while, that the
soul’s eye should be so purged that, after being freed from all
the darkness of ignorance, as though from some blinding humour, one can
gaze intently on the
beauty of the glory of God. All this I know very well that your
wisdom is aware of; I know that you would wish that I might have some
one to give me such help, and if ever God grant me to meet you I am
sure that I shall learn more about what I ought to heed. For now,
in my great ignorance, I can hardly even form a judgment as to what I
lack. Yet I do not repent of my first impulse; my soul does not
hang back from the purpose of a godly life as you have feared for me,
nobly and becomingly doing everything in your power, lest, like the
woman of whom I have heard the story, I should turn back and become a
pillar of salt.2492
I am still,
however, under the restraint of external authority; for the magistrates
are seeking me like a deserter. But I am chiefly influenced by my
own heart, which testifies to itself of all that I have told
you.
2. Since you have mentioned our bond, and
have announced that you mean to prosecute, you have made me laugh in
this my dejection, because you are still an advocate and do not give up
your shrewdness. I hold, unless, indeed, like an ignorant man, I
am quite missing the truth, that there is only one way to the Lord, and
that all who are journeying to Him are travelling together and walking
in accordance with one “bond” of life. If this be so,
wherever I go how can I be separated from you? How can I cease to
live with you, and with you serve God, to Whom we have both fled for
refuge? Our bodies may be separated by distance, but God’s
eye still doubtless looks upon us both; if indeed a life like mine is
fit to be beheld by the divine eyes; for I have read somewhere in the
Psalms that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.2493
I do indeed pray that with you and
with all that are like minded with you, I may be associated, even in
body, and that night and day with you and with any other true
worshipper of God I may bow my knees to our Father which is in heaven;
for I know that communion in prayer brings great gain. If, as
often as it is my lot to lie and groan in a different corner, I am
always to be accused of lying, I cannot contend against your argument,
and already condemn myself as a liar, if with my own carelessness I
have said anything which brings me under such a charge.
3. I was lately at Cæsarea, in order to
learn what was going on there. I was unwilling to remain in the
city itself, and betook myself to the neighbouring hospital, that I
might get there what information I wanted. According to his
custom the very godly bishop visited it, and I consulted him as to the
points which you had urged upon me. It is not possible for me to
remember all that he said in reply; it went far beyond the limits of a
letter. In sum, however, what he said about poverty was this,
that the rule ought to be that every one should limit his possessions
to one garment. For one proof of this he quoted the words of John
the Baptist “he that hath two coats let him impart to him that
hath none;”2494
and for another our
Lord’s prohibition to His disciples to have two
coats.2495
He further
added “If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and
give to the poor.”2496
He said
too that the parable of the pearl bore on this point, because the
merchant, who had found the pearl of great price, went away and sold
all that he had and bought it; and he added too that no one ought
even to permit himself the distribution of his own property, but
should leave it in the hands of the person entrusted with the duty
of managing the affairs of the poor; and he proved the point from
the acts of the apostles,2497
because they
sold their property and brought and laid it at the feet of the
apostles, and by them it was distributed to each as every man had
need.2498
| 2498 It will be
observed that St. Basil’s quotation here does not quite bear
out his point. There is no “by them” in
Acts iv. 35. “Distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need.” In
Acts ii. 45 the primitive communists are said
themselves to have “parted to all men as every man had
need,” the responsibility of distribution being apparently
retained. | For he
said that experience was needed in order to distinguish between
cases of genuine need and of mere greedy begging. For whoever
gives to the afflicted gives to the Lord, and from the Lord shall
have his reward; but he who gives to every vagabond casts to a dog,
a nuisance indeed from his importunity, but deserving no pity on the
ground of want.
4. He was moreover the first to speak shortly, as
befits the importance of the subject, about some of the daily duties of
life. As to this I should wish you to hear from himself, for it
would not be right for me to weaken the force of his lessons. I
would pray that we might visit him together, that so you might both
accurately preserve in your memory what he said, and supply any
omissions by your own intelligence. One thing that I do remember,
out of the many which I heard, is this; that instruction how to lead
the Christian life depends less on words, than on daily example.
I know that, if you had not been detained by the duty of succouring
your aged father, there is nothing that you would have more greatly esteemed than a
meeting with the bishop, and that you would not have advised me to
leave him in order to wander in deserts. Caves and rocks are
always ready for us, but the help we get from our fellow man is not
always at hand. If, then, you will put up with my giving you
advice, you will impress on your father the desirability of his
allowing you to leave him for a little while in order to meet a man
who, alike from his experience of others and from his own wisdom, knows
much, and is able to impart it to all who approach
him. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
