Letter 152: If I were to fail to write to any one else I might possibly with justice incur the charge of carelessness or forgetfulness. But it is not possible to forget you, when your name is in all men's mouths. But I cannot be careless about one who is perhaps more distinguished than any one else in the empire.
To Victor, Commander
I could perhaps be forgiven for neglecting to write to others — forgetfulness or carelessness might explain the silence. But forgetting you is simply not possible; your name is on everyone's lips. And being careless about someone of your standing in the empire would be equally unthinkable.
The reason I held back was simple: I didn't want to impose on a man so busy and so prominent. But if you're willing not only to receive my letters but to actually ask why they haven't come — well, here I am, writing gladly, and I intend to keep writing. I pray God rewards you for the honor you've shown me.
As for the Church [the Christian community in Caesarea and the surrounding region], you've already done everything I would have asked before I even had the chance to ask it. And what you do, you do to please God — not me, not anyone else. He is the one who has honored you; He has given you good things in this life, and He will give you more in the life to come, because you have walked faithfully in His way and kept your heart fixed in the right faith from beginning to end.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Οὐΐκτορι στρατηλάτῃ]
Ἄλλῳ μέν τινι μὴ ἐπιστέλλων, τάχα ἂν δεξαίμην δικαίως ἔγκλημα ῥᾳθυμίας ἢ λήθης. σοῦ δὲ πῶς ἔστιν ἐπιλαθέσθαι, οὗ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα; πῶς δὲ καταρρᾳθυμῆσαι, ὃς πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἀξιωμάτων ὑπερανέστηκας; ἀλλὰ δήλη ἡμῶν ἡ αἰτία τῆς σιωπῆς· ὀκνοῦμεν δι’ ὄχλου γίνεσθαι ἀνδρὶ τοσούτῳ. εἰ δὲ πρὸς τῇ λοιπῇ σου ἀρετῇ καὶ τοῦτο κατεδέξω, οὐ μόνον πεμπόμενα παρ ἡμῶν δέχεσθαι γράμματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλλειφθέντα ἐπιζητεῖν, ἰδοὺ καὶ γράφομεν νῦν τεθαρρηκότως καὶ γράψομέν γε εἰς τὸ ἐφεξῆς, εὐχόμενοι τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ δοθῆναί σοι τὴν ἀμοιβὴν τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς τιμῆς. ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προέλαβες ἡμῶν τὰς παρακλήσεις, πάντα ποιήσας ὅσα ἂν ἡμεῖς ἐπεζητήσαμεν. ποιεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀνθρώποις χαριζόμενος, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ τῷ τιμήσαντί σε, ὃς τὰ μὲν ἔδωκεν ἐν τῇ νῦν ζωῇ ἀγαθά, τὰ δὲ δώσει ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ἀνθʼ ὧν μετὰ ἀληθείας ἐπορεύθης τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀκλινῆ τὴν καρδίαν ἐν τῇ ὀρθότητι τῆς πίστεως ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος διασωσάμενος.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg2040/tlg004/tlg2040.tlg004.perseus-grc2.xml
Related Letters
To Ἀκακίῳ. (361)
(About the same date. A recommendation of one Amazonius, whose learning was much respected by Gregory.) I wish well to all my friends. And when I speak of friends, I mean honourable and good men, linked with me in virtue, if indeed I myself have any claim to it.
I had written some while since to your reverence about our meeting one another and other subjects, but I was disappointed at my letter not reaching your excellency, for after the blessed deacon Theophrastus had taken charge of the letter, on my setting out on an unavoidable journey, he did not convey it to your reverence, because he was seized b...
The labours of the field come as no novelty to tillers of the land; sailors are not astonished if they meet a storm at sea; sweats in the summer heat are the common experience of the hired hind; and to them that have chosen to live a holy life the afflictions of this present world cannot come unforeseen. Each and all of these have the known and ...
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...