To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.

Letter C. ²³⁵¹

 To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.

When I saw your affectionate letter, in the country bordering on Armenia, it was like a lighted torch held up at a distance to mariners at sea, especially if the sea happen to be agitated by the wind.  Your reverence’s letter was of itself a pleasant one, and full of comfort; but its natural charm was very much enhanced by the time of its arrival, a time so painful to me, that I hardly know how to describe it, after once making up my mind to forget its troubles.  However, my deacon will give you a full account.  My bodily strength completely failed me, so that I was not even able to bear the slightest movement without pain.  Nevertheless I do pray that, by the aid of your prayers, my own longing may be fulfilled; although my journey has caused me great difficulties, in consequence of the affairs of my own Church having been neglected through its occupying such a long time.  But if, while I yet live, God grants me to see your reverence in my Church, then truly I shall have good hope, even for the future, that I am not wholly excluded from the gifts of God.  If it be possible, I beg that this meeting between us may take place at the Synod which we hold every year, in memory of the blessed martyr Eupsychius, ²³⁵² now about to be held on the 7th of September.  I am compassed with anxieties which demand your help and sympathy, both in the matter of the appointment of bishops and in the consideration of the trouble caused me by the simplicity of Gregory of Nyssa, ²³⁵³ who is summoning a Synod at Ancyra and leaving nothing undone to counteract me.

Footnotes

184:2351

Placed in 372.

184:2352

cf. Letters clxxvi. and cclii.  Eupsychius suffered for the part he took in demolishing the Temple of Fortune at Cæsarea.  cf. Sozomen, Ecc. Hist. v. 11.  An Eupsychius appears in the Bollandist acts under April 9th.  Vide Prolegomena.

184:2353

The Ben. note, in answer to the suggested unlikelihood of Basil’s being plotted against by his brother, calls attention to the fact that this opposition was due not to want of affection but to want of tact, and compares Letter lviii. on Gregory’s foolish falsehood about their uncle.