Letter 176: God grant that when this letter is put into your hands, it may find you in good health, quite at leisure, and as you would wish to be. For then it will not be in vain that I send you this invitation to be present at our city, to add greater dignity to the annual festival which it is the custom of our Church to hold in honour of the martyrs. For ...
God grant that when this letter reaches your hands, it finds you healthy, at leisure, and just as you would wish to be -- for then my invitation will not be in vain.
I am asking you to come to our city, to add greater dignity to the annual festival our church holds in honor of the martyrs. Let me assure you, my most honored and dear friend, that although our people here have experienced many visitors, they desire no one's presence as eagerly as yours. The brief time you spent with them has left a remarkably warm impression.
So then -- that the Lord may be glorified, the people delighted, the martyrs honored, and that I in my old age may receive the attention due me from my true son -- do not refuse to come with all speed. I would ask you to arrive three days before the assembly, on September 5th, so that we may have time to talk at leisure and comfort one another by sharing spiritual gifts.
Please also honor with your presence the church at the Hospital [Basil's famous charitable institution, the Basiliad, which included a hospital, hospice, and church].
May you be kept in good health and good spirits by the grace of the Lord, praying for me and for the Church of God.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Ἀμφιλοχίῳ, ἐπισκόπῳ Ἰκονίου]
Παράσχοι ὁ ἅγιος Θεὸς ἐρρωμένῳ σοι τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἀπὸ πάσης ἀσχολίας ἀνειμένῳ, καὶ πάντα πράττοντι κατὰ νοῦν, τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἡμῶν ταύτην εἰς χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν, ἵνα μὴ ἄπρακτος ἡμῶν ἡ παράκλησις γένηται, ἣν παρακαλοῦμεν νῦν ἐπιφανῆναί σε ἡμῶν τῇ πόλει, ἐπὶ τῷ σεμνοτέραν γενέσθαι τὴν πανήγυριν, ἣν δι’ ἔτους ἄγειν ἐπὶ τοῖς μάρτυσιν ἔθος ἐστὶν ἡμῶν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. πέπεισο γάρ, τιμιώτατέ μοι καὶ ποθεινότατε ὡς ἀληθῶς, ὅτι πολλῶν εἰς πεῖραν ἐλθὼν ὁ παρʼ ἡμῖν λαὸς τῆς οὐδενὸς οὕτως ἀντέχεται ἐπιτυχίας, ὡς τῆς σῆς παρουσίας· τοιοῦτον κέντρον ἀγάπης ἐκ τῆς μικρᾶς ἐκείνης συντυχίας ἐναφῆκας. ἵνα οὖν καὶ ὁ Κύριος δοξασθῇ, καὶ λαοὶ εὐφρανθῶαι, καὶ τιμηθῶσι μάρτυρες, καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ γέροντες τῆς ὀφειλομένης ἡμῖν παρὰ τέκνου γνησίου τύχωμεν θεραπείας, καταξίωσον ἀόκνως μέχρις ἡμῶν διαβῆναι, καὶ προλαβεῖν τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς συνόδου, ὥστε ἐπὶ σχολῆς ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις συγγενέσθαι καὶ συμπαρακληθῆναι διὰ τῆς κοινωνίας τῶν πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων. ἔστι δὲ ἡ ἡμέρα τῇ πέμπτῃ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου. διὸ παρακαλοῦμεν πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπιστῆναι, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ πτωχοτροφείου τὴν μνήμην μεγάλην ποιήσῃς τῇ παρουσίᾳ. ἐρρωμένος καὶ εὔθυμος ἐν Κυρίῳ ὑπερευχόμενός μου διαφυλαχθείης μοι καὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ χάριτι τοῦ Κυρίου.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-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
On my return from a long journey (for I have been into Pontus on ecclesiastical business, and to visit my relations) with my body weak and ill, and my spirits considerably broken, I took your reverence's letter into my hand. No sooner did I receive the tokens of that voice which to me is of all voices the sweetest, and of that hand that I love s...
2. Let them dismiss, therefore, these questions of dialectics and examine the truth, not with mischievous exactness but with reverence. The judgment of our mind is given us for the understanding of the truth.
What a very small quantity of vegetables you have sent me! They must surely be golden vegetables! And yet your whole wealth consists of orchards and rivers and groves and gardens, and your country is productive of vegetables as other lands are of gold, and You dwell among meadowy leafage.
I long to meet you for many reasons, that I may have the benefit of your advice in the matters I had in hand, and that on beholding you after a long interval I may have some comfort for your absence. But since both of us are prevented by the same reasons, you by the illness which has befallen you, and I by the malady of longer standing which has...
Every day that brings me a letter from you is a feast day, the very greatest of feast days. And when symbols of the feast are brought, what can I call it but a feast of feasts, as the old law used to speak of Sabbath of Sabbaths? I thank the Lord that you are quite well, and that you have celebrated the commemoration of the economy of salvation ...