Olympius
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All letters (32)
I feel a mixture of joy and its opposite.
Your silence is not characteristic of you, and I choose to blame it on the press of affairs rather than on any...
Your letter arrived at exactly the right moment -- when I was beginning to wonder whether the world contained anyone...
What do you mean, my dear Sir, by evicting from our retreat my dear friend and nurse of philosophy, Poverty? Were she but gifted with speech, I take it you would have to appear as defendant in an action for unlawful ejectment. She might plead I chose to live with this man Basil, an admirer of Zeno, who, when he had lost everything in a shipwrec...
Before you did write me a few words: now not even a few. Your brevity will soon become silence. Return to your old ways, and do not let me have to scold you for your laconic behaviour.
As all the fruits of the season come to us in their proper time, flowers in spring, grain in summer, and apples in autumn, so the fruit for winter is talk. About this page Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson.
It was good of you to acquit me of blame in the very act of accusing me.
Even hoar hairs have something to learn; and old age, it would seem, cannot in all respects be trusted for wisdom. I at any rate, knowing better than anyone, as I did, the thoughts and the heresy of the Apollinarians, and seeing that their folly was intolerable; yet thinking that I could tame them by patience and soften them by degrees, I let my...
I owe my homeland to you, and I may soon add that I owe my health to you as well.
You are a harbor for Syrians, even those who lack education.
1. Truly unexpected tidings make both ears tingle. This is my case.
The moment I heard that Rome had claimed you, I counted you fortunate.
I wrote to you before urging you not to dishonor your homeland, and I urge the same now: admire Rome, but live in...
When you said you could not write me a treatise on kidney disease because you had not heard a precise enough account...
Late though it was, I did oblige you.
Truly when I read your excellency's letter I felt unwonted pleasure and cheerfulness; and when I met your well-beloved sons, I seemed to behold yourself. They found me in the deepest affliction, but they so behaved as to make me forget the hemlock, which your dreamers and dream mongers are carrying about to my hurt, to please the people who have...
(While Gregory was at Xantharis an opportunity presented itself for seeing Olympius, but a return of illness prevented him from taking advantage of it. He writes to express his regret, and takes the opportunity also to request that Nicobulus may be exempted from the charge of the Imperial Posts.) I was happy in a dream. For having been brought a...
Again I write when I ought to come: but I gain confidence to do so from yourself, O Umpire of spiritual matters (to put the first thing first), and Corrector of the Commonweal — and both by Divine Providence: who have also received as the reward of your piety that your affairs would prosper to your mind, and that you alone should find attainable...
(The people of Nazianzus had in some way incurred the loss of civic rights; and the Order for the forfeiture of the title of City had been signed by Olympius. This led to something like a revolt on the part of a certain number of the younger citizens: and this Olympius determined to punish by the total destruction of the place. S.
Though my desire to meet you is warm, and the need of your petitioners is great, yet my illness is invincible. Therefore I am bold to commit my intercession to writing. Have respect to our gray hair, which you have already often reverenced by good actions.
1. Whatever your rank may be in connection with the course of this world, I have the greatest confidence in addressing you as my much-loved, true-hearted Christian fellow-servant Olympius. For I know that this name, in your esteem, excels all other glorious and lofty titles.
1. Although, when we heard recently of your having obtained merited promotion to the highest rank, we felt persuaded, however uncertain we still were in some degree as to the truth of the report, that towards the Church of which we rejoice to know that you are truly a son, there was no other feeling in your mind than that which you have now made...
How do you think I received your welcome letters — I who was thirsting to hear from you?
When I read the letter where you described your illness, I was alarmed at first.
I have adopted a new practice with this letter.
I thank you for your letter, my son, and for the report on the enforcement of the imperial laws against the...
A follow-up to my earlier letter, because new information has reached me and I want to act on it before the...
Just the other day — during the recent consulship of Aristaenetus [404 AD] and, I forget the name of his colleague —...
I have neglected my duty to pay tribute, but what could I do?
Though absent, you live always present in our memory.
I call as witness the divinity honored by both philosophy and friendship: I would have preferred many deaths to the...
Evil men from outside are troubling our Church.