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| To Chilo, his disciple.
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Letter
XLII.2060
| 2060 This and the
four succeeding letters must be placed before the episcopate.
Their genuineness has been contested, but apparently without much
reason. In one of the Parisian Codices the title of xlii. is
given with the note: “Some attribute this work to the
holy Nilus.” Ceillier (iv. 435–437) is of opinion that,
so far as style goes, they must stand or fall together, and points
out that xlvii. is cited entire as Basil’s by
Metaphrastes. |
To Chilo, his disciple.
1. If, my true
brother, you gladly suffer yourself to be advised by me as to what
course of action you should pursue, specially in the points in which
you have referred to me for advice, you will owe me your
salvation. Many men have had the courage to enter upon the
solitary life; but to live it out to the end is a task which perhaps
has been achieved by few. The end is not necessarily involved in
the intention; yet in the end is the guerdon of the toil. No
advantage, therefore, accrues to men who fail to press on to the end of
what they have in view and only adopt the solitary’s life in its
inception. Nay, they make their profession ridiculous, and are
charged by outsiders with unmanliness and instability of purpose.
Of these, moreover, the Lord says, who wishing to build a house
“sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have
sufficient to finish it? lest haply after he hath laid the foundation
and is not able to finish it,” the passers-by “begin to
mock him saying,” this man laid a foundation “and was not
able to finish.”2061
Let the
start, then, mean that you heartily advance in virtue. The right
noble athlete Paul, wishing us not to rest in easy security on so much
of our life as may have been lived well in the past, but, every day to
attain further progress, says “Forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling.”2062
So truly stands the whole of human
life, not contented with what has gone before and fed not so much on
the past as on the future. For how is a man the better for having
his belly filled yesterday, if his natural hunger fails to find its
proper satisfaction in food to-day? In the same way the soul
gains nothing by yesterday’s virtue unless it be followed by the
right conduct of to-day. For it is said “I shall judge thee
as I shall find thee.”
2. Vain then is the labour of the righteous man,
and free from blame is the way of the sinner, if a change befall, and
the former turn from the better to the worse, and the latter from the
worse to the better. So we hear from Ezekiel teaching as it were
in the name of the Lord, when
he says, “if the righteous turneth away and committeth iniquity,
I will not remember the righteousness which he committed before; in his
sin he shall die,”2063
and so too about
the sinner; if he turn away from his wickedness, and do that which is
right, he shall live. Where were all the labours of God’s
servant Moses, when the gainsaying of one moment shut him out from
entering into the promised land? What became of the companionship
of Gehazi with Elissæus, when he brought leprosy on himself by his
covetousness? What availed all Solomon’s vast wisdom, and
his previous regard for God, when afterwards from his mad love of women
he fell into idolatry? Not even the blessed David was blameless,
when his thoughts went astray and he sinned against the wife of
Uriah. One example were surely enough for keeping safe one who is
living a godly life, the fall from the better to the worse of Judas,
who, after being so long Christ’s disciple, for a mean gain sold
his Master and got a halter for himself. Learn then, brother,
that it is not he who begins well who is perfect. It is he who
ends well who is approved in God’s sight. Give then no
sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids2064
that you may be delivered “as a roe
from the net and a bird from the snare.”2065
For, behold, you are passing
through the midst of snares; you are treading on the top of a high
wall whence a fall is perilous to the faller; wherefore do not
straightway attempt extreme discipline; above all things beware of
confidence in yourself, lest you fall from a height of discipline
through want of training. It is better to advance a little at
a time. Withdraw then by degrees from the pleasures of life,
gradually destroying all your wonted habits, lest you bring on
yourself a crowd of temptations by irritating all your passions at
once. When you have mastered one passion, then begin to wage
war against another, and in this manner you will in good time get
the better of all. Indulgence, so far as the name goes, is
one, but its practical workings are diverse. First then,
brother, meet every temptation with patient endurance. And by
what various temptations the faithful man is proved; by worldly
loss, by accusations, by lies, by opposition, by calumny, by
persecution! These and the like are the tests of the
faithful. Further, be quiet, not rash in speech, not
quarrelsome, not disputatious, not covetous of vain glory, not more
anxious to get than to give knowledge,2066
| 2066 μὴ
ἐξηγητικὸς
ἀλλὰ
φιλόπευστος,
as suggested by Combefis for φιλόπιστος. |
not a man of many words, but always more ready to learn than to
teach. Do not trouble yourself about worldly life; from it no
good can come to you. It is said, “That my mouth speak
not the works of men.”2067
The
man who is fond of talking about sinners’ doings, soon rouses
the desire for self indulgence; much better busy yourself about the
lives of good men for so you will get some profit for
yourself. Do not be anxious to go travelling about2068
| 2068 Another
reading is (exhibiting yourself). | from village to village and house to
house; rather avoid them as traps for souls. If any one, for
true pity’s sake, invite you with many pleas to enter his
house, let him be told to follow the faith of the centurion, who,
when Jesus was hastening to him to perform an act of healing,
besought him not to do so in the words, “Lord I am not worthy
that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and
my servant shall be healed,”2069
and when Jesus had said to him “Go thy way; as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee,”2070
his servant was healed from that hour. Learn then, brother,
that it was the faith of the suppliant, not the presence of Christ,
which delivered the sick man. So too now, if you pray, in
whatever place you be, and the sick man believes that he will be
aided by your prayers, all will fall out as he desires.
3. You will not love your kinsfolk more than
the Lord. “He that loveth,” He says, “father,
or mother, or brother, more than me, is not worthy of
me.”2071
What is the
meaning of the Lord’s commandment? “He that taketh
not up his cross and followeth after me, cannot be my
disciple?”2072
| 2072
Luke xiv. 27 and Matt. x. 38. | If, together
with Christ, you died to your kinsfolk according to the flesh, why do
you wish to live with them again? If for your kinsfolk’s
sake you are building up again what you destroyed for Christ’s
sake, you make yourself a transgressor. Do not then for your
kinsfolk’s sake abandon your place: if you abandon your
place, perhaps you will abandon your mode of life. Love not the
crowd, nor the country, nor the town; love the desert, ever abiding by
yourself with no wandering mind,2073
| 2073 For the
contrary view of life, cf. Seneca, Ep.
61: “Omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet; nemo est
cui non sanctius sit cum quolibet esse quam
secum.” | regarding
prayer and praise as your life’s work. Never neglect
reading, especially of the New Testament, because very frequently
mischief comes of reading the Old; not because what is
written is harmful, but because the minds of the injured are
weak. All bread is nutritious, but it may be injurious to the
sick. Just so all Scripture is God inspired and
profitable,2074
and there is
nothing in it unclean: only to him who thinks it is unclean, to
him it is unclean. “Prove all things; hold fast that which
is good; abstain from every form of evil.”2075
“All things are lawful but
all things are not expedient.”2076
Among all, with whom you come in
contact, be in all things a giver of no offence,2077
cheerful, “loving as a
brother,”2078
pleasant,
humble-minded, never missing the mark of hospitality through
extravagance of meats, but always content with what is at
hand. Take no more from any one than the daily necessaries of
the solitary life. Above all things shun gold as the
soul’s foe, the father of sin and the agent of the
devil. Do not expose yourself to the charge of covetousness on
the pretence of ministering to the poor; but, if any one brings you
money for the poor and you know of any who are in need, advise the
owner himself to convey it to his needy brothers, lest haply your
conscience may be defiled by the acceptance of money.
4. Shun pleasures; seek after continence;
train your body to hard work; accustom your soul to trials.
Regarding the dissolution of soul and body as release from every evil,
await that enjoyment of everlasting good things in which all the saints
have part. Ever, as it were, holding the balance against every
suggestion of the devil throw in a holy thought, and, as the scale
inclines do thou go with it. Above all when the evil thought
starts up and says, “What is the good of your passing your life
in this place? What do you gain by withdrawing yourself from the
society of men? Do you not know that those, who are ordained by
God to be bishops of God’s churches, constantly associate with
their fellows, and indefatigably attend spiritual gatherings at which
those who are present derive very great advantage? There are to
be enjoyed explanations of hard sayings, expositions of the teachings
of the apostles, interpretations of the thoughts of the gospels,
lessons in theology and the intercourse of spiritual brethren, who do
great good to all they meet if only by the sight of their faces.
You, however, who have decided to be a stranger to all these good
things, are sitting here in a wild state like the beasts. You see
round you a wide desert with scarcely a fellow creature in it, lack of
all instruction, estrangement from your brothers, and your spirit
inactive in carrying out the commandments of God.” Now,
when the evil thought rises against you, with all these ingenious
pretexts and wishes to destroy you, oppose to it in pious reflection
your own practical experience, and say, You tell me that the things in
the world are good; the reason why I came here is because I judged
myself unfit for the good things of the world. With the
world’s good things are mingled evil things, and the evil things
distinctly have the upper hand. Once when I attended the
spiritual assemblies I did with difficulty find one brother, who, so
far as I could see, feared God, but he was a victim of the devil, and I
heard from him amusing stories and tales made up to deceive those whom
he met. After him I fell in with many thieves, plunderers,
tyrants. I saw disgraceful drunkards; I saw the blood of the
oppressed; I saw women’s beauty, which tortured my
chastity. From actual fornication I fled, but I defiled my
virginity by the thoughts of my heart. I heard many discourses
which were good for the soul, but I could not discover in the case of
any one of the teachers that his life was worthy of his words.
After this, again, I heard a great number of plays, which were made
attractive by wanton songs. Then I heard a lyre sweetly played,
the applause of tumblers, the talk of clowns, all kinds of jests and
follies and all the noises of a crowd. I saw the tears of the
robbed, the agony of the victims of tyranny, the shrieks of the
tortured. I looked and lo, there was no spiritual assembly, but
only a sea, wind-tossed and agitated, and trying to drown every one at
once under its waves.2079
| 2079 The Ben.
note on this painful picture suggests that the description applies
to Palestine, and compares the account of Jerusalem to be found in
Gregory of Nyssa’s letter on Pilgrimages in this edition, p.
382. On Basil’s visit to the Holy Land, cf. Ep.
ccxxiii. § 2. | Tell me, O
evil thought, tell me, dæmon of short lived pleasure and vain
glory, what is the good of my seeing and hearing all these things, when
I am powerless to succour any of those who are thus wronged; when I am
allowed neither to defend the helpless nor correct the fallen; when I
am perhaps doomed to destroy myself too. For just as a very
little fresh water is blown away by a storm of wind and dust, in like
manner the good deeds, that we think we do in this life, are
overwhelmed by the multitude of evils. Pieces acted for men in
this life are driven through joy and merriment, like stakes into their
hearts, so that the brightness of their worship is be-dimmed. But
the wails and lamentations of men wronged by their fellows are introduced to
make a show of the patience of the poor.
5. What good then do I get except the loss
of my soul? For this reason I migrate to the hills like a
bird. “I am escaped as a bird out of the snare of the
fowlers.”2080
I am living,
O evil thought, in the desert in which the Lord lived. Here is
the oak of Mamre; here is the ladder going up to heaven, and the
stronghold of the angels which Jacob saw; here is the wilderness in
which the people purified received the law, and so came into the land
of promise and saw God. Here is Mount Carmel where Elias
sojourned and pleased God. Here is the plain whither Esdras
withdrew, and at God’s bidding uttered all the God inspired
books.2081
| 2081 cf.
Esdras ii. 14; Irenæus, Adv. Hær. iii, 21, 2;
Tertullian, De Cult. Fam. i. 3; Clem. Alex., Strom. i.
22. | Here is
the wilderness in which the blessed John ate locusts and preached
repentance to men. Here is the Mount of Olives, whither
Christ came and prayed, and taught us to pray. Here is
Christ the lover of the wilderness, for He says “Where two
or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst
of them.”2082
“Here is the strait and narrow way which leadeth unto
life.”2083
Here are
the teachers and prophets “wandering in deserts and in
mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.”2084
Here are apostles and evangelists
and solitaries’ life remote from cities. This I have
embraced with all my heart, that I may win what has been promised
to Christ’s martyrs and all His other saints, and so I may
truly say, “Because of the words of thy lips I have kept
hard ways.”2085
I have
heard of Abraham, God’s friend, who obeyed the divine voice
and went into the wilderness; of Isaac who submitted to authority;
of Jacob, the patriarch, who left his home; of Joseph, the chaste,
who was sold; of the three children, who learnt how to fast, and
fought with the fire; of Daniel thrown twice into the lion’s
den;2086
of Jeremiah
speaking boldly, and thrown into a pit of mud; of Isaiah, who saw
unspeakable things, cut asunder with a saw; of Israel led away
captive; of John the rebuker of adultery, beheaded; of
Christ’s martyrs slain. But why say more? Here
our Saviour Himself was crucified for our sakes that by His death
He might give us life, and train and attract us all to
endurance. To Him I press on, and to the Father and to the
Holy Ghost. I strive to be found true, judging myself
unworthy of this world’s goods. And yet not I because
of the world, but the world because of me. Think of all
these things in your heart; follow them with zeal; fight, as you
have been commanded, for the truth to the death. For Christ
was made “obedient” even “unto
death.”2087
The
Apostle says, “Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil
heart…in departing from the living God. But exhort one
another…(and edify one another2088
) while it is called
to-day.”2089
To-day
means the whole time of our life. Thus living, brother, you
will save yourself, you will make me glad, and you will glorify
God from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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