Letter 155

155. Without address, concerning a trainer

To the many accusations set down in the letter — the first and only one your Nobility has thought fit to send me — I am at a loss how to make my defence; not for any lack of justice on my side, but because, amid the multitude of charges brought, it is hard to give precedence to the more urgent, and to decide where I ought to begin the cure. Or perhaps I should follow the very order of the things written and meet each one in turn.

Those who set out from here for Scythia I have not, to this day, come to know; nor did any of those of your household remind me, so that I might greet you through them — though I am very much in earnest to address your Honour on every occasion. But that I should forget you in my prayers is impossible, unless I first forget the work to which the Lord has appointed me. For you assuredly remember the proclamations of the Church, being faithful by the grace of God: that we make our prayers in the holy Church both for the brothers who are abroad, and for those serving in the armies, and for those who speak out boldly for the name of the Lord, and for those who display the spiritual fruits — among whom, in most cases, or rather in all, I reckon that your Honour too is included. And how, in private, could I forget you, when I have so many things to move me to remembrance — such a sister, such nephews, a kinship so kindly, so loving toward me, a household, servants, friends, through whom, even against my will, I am of necessity reminded of your good purpose?

Concerning the matter you raise, the brother so-and-so has brought me nothing burdensome, nor has any judgement injurious to him been issued by me. Turn your grief, then, against those who told you what was false, acquitting of all blame both the chorepiscopus and myself. And if the advocate so-and-so is pursuing some lawsuit, he has public courts and laws at his disposal. I ask you, therefore, to lay no blame on us in these things.

As for yourself, all the good you do, you store up for yourself; and whatever rest you grant to those persecuted for the name of the Lord, this you prepare beforehand for yourself against the day of recompense. And you will do well if you send relics of the martyrs to your homeland too, since, as you wrote to me, the persecution there is even now making martyrs for the Lord.