Letter 210

210. To the Most Learned Men of Neocaesarea.

In general I had no need at all to publish my purpose to you, nor to tell the reasons why I am now in these parts. For I am not one to seek the limelight, nor is the matter worthy of so many witnesses. But, I suppose, we do not do what we wish, but what those who lead us provoke us to. For my part, to be wholly unknown has been more an object of zeal to me than to be conspicuous is to the lovers of glory. But since, as I hear, the ears of all in your city have been filled with rumors, and there are certain tale-spinners, fabricators of falsehood, hired for this very purpose, who interpret my affairs to you, I did not think I ought to overlook your being instructed by a wicked mind and a foul voice, but to tell myself how my affairs stand. I, both because of my familiarity with this place from childhood (for here I was reared in the house of my own nurse), and because of my long residence here afterwards, when, fleeing the tumults of the city, I came to know this place as suited for the pursuit of philosophy through the quiet of its solitude, spent many years here in succession; and now, because of the brethren who dwell here, having obtained a brief breathing-space from the cares that hold us, I came gladly to this remote spot, not in order to make trouble for others from here, but in order myself to satisfy my own longing.

What need, then, to take refuge in dreams, and to hire dream-interpreters, and to make us the subject of a drunken tale at the public banquets? For my part, even if the slanders were among certain others, I would have put you forward as witnesses of my purpose. And now I ask each of you to recall those old days, when the city was calling us to the care of the young, and an embassy of the chief men among you was present; and after that, how all in a body, thronging about us — what did they not offer? what did they not promise? — yet they were unable to keep us. How then should I, who when called at that time did not obey, now attempt to thrust myself in uninvited? And how should I, who fled from those who praised and admired me, now be pursuing those who slander me? Do not suppose it, good men; our affairs are not so cheaply bought. For no one in his right mind would step aboard a ship without a helmsman, nor would he venture into a church in which the very men who sit at the helm work up the surge and the storm. For whence has the city become full of tumult, when some were fleeing though no one pursued, and others were slipping away though no one came upon them, and oracle-mongers and dream-interpreters were frightening everyone like bogeys? Whence else came these things? Or is it not plain even to a child that it was from the leaders of the multitude? The causes of whose enmity it is not seemly for me to tell, but for you it is very easy to perceive. For when the bitterness and the dissension admit no excess in harshness, while the account given of the cause is utterly insubstantial and ridiculous, then plainly the sickness of the soul is revealed — a sickness that comes upon them at the good fortune of others, but is the proper and chief evil of him who possesses it. To which there is added still another charming feature. For though they are torn and pained in the depths, they are not permitted by shame to utter forth their misfortune. This affliction of their soul is known not only from their conduct toward us, but also from the rest of their life; and if it were unknown, it would be no great loss to the matter. But the truest cause for which they make our company a thing to be shunned, which perhaps escapes the many of you, I will teach. But listen.

A perversion of the faith is being practiced among you, hostile to the apostolic and evangelical doctrines, hostile to the tradition of the truly great Gregory and of those who followed from him down to the blessed Musonius — whose teachings are still ringing in your ears even now, no doubt. For the evil of Sabellius, long ago set in motion but quenched by the tradition of the great Gregory, these men now attempt to renew — they who, from fear of the proofs, fabricate the dreams against us. But do you, leaving the wine-heavy heads — which the vapor rising from the debauch, then surging within, fills with phantoms — bidding them farewell, hear of your harm from us who are awake, and who because of the fear of God are unable to be at rest. Sabellianism is Judaism, brought in under the guise of Christianity into the gospel proclamation. For he who says that one thing of many faces is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and sets forth one hypostasis of the three, what else does he do but deny the pre-eternal existence of the Only-begotten? And he denies also His dispensational sojourn among men, His descent into Hades, the resurrection, the judgment; he denies also the distinctive operations of the Spirit. But among you now I hear of things ventured even more boldly than by the empty-minded Sabellius. For they assert, so those who have heard them say — your wise men insist and say — that the name of the Only-begotten has not been handed down, but is the name of the adversary; and over this they exult and pride themselves greatly, as over a discovery of their own. For it is said, he claims: "I am come in the name of My Father, and you received Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive." And because it is said, "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," it is plain, they say, that there is one name. For it is not said "into the names," but "into the name."

These things I wrote to you blushing, because those guilty of them are of our own blood; and I groan over my own soul, because I am compelled, like men boxing against two adversaries, parrying with proofs and beating down the deviations of the argument on either side, to render the proper strength to the truth. For from this quarter the Anomoean tears at us, and from the other, as it seems, Sabellius. But I exhort you not to give heed to these abominable sophisms, which can pervert no one, but to know that the name of Christ, the name that is above every name, is this very thing, that He is called the Son of God; and, according to the word of Peter: "Neither is there any other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." But as to the saying "I am come in the name of My Father," this must be understood — that He says these things because He inscribes the Father as His source and cause. And if it is said, "Going, baptize into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," it is not on this account to be supposed that one name has been handed down to us. For as he who said "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy" said three names, but bound them together by the conjunction "and," so he who said "the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," saying three, wove them together with the connective, teaching that to each name its own signification is attached, since names are significant of things. And that the things have their own distinct and self-complete existence, no one who has even a small share of understanding doubts. For of Father and Son and Holy Spirit the nature is the same and the Godhead one; but the names are different, presenting to us defined and complete notions. For it is impossible, unless the mind, dwelling without confusion upon the peculiar properties of each, can fulfill the doxology to Father and Son and Holy Spirit. If, then, they deny that they say these things, or teach thus, what we are striving for has been accomplished. Yet I see that the denial is hard for them, because they have many witnesses of these words. But we do not look at what is past; only let the present be sound. But if they persist in the same things, we must needs cry out your misfortune to other churches also, and cause letters from a greater number of bishops to come to you, breaking down this magnitude of impiety being built up in secret. For either there will be some advancement of our zeal, or at all events the present protestation will free us of the charge before the tribunal.

And already they have laid down these words in writings of their own, which they first sent to the man of God, Bishop Meletius, and, having received from him the fitting answers, like the mothers of monsters who are ashamed at the deformities of nature, so they too, hiding their shameful labor-pains in the fitting darkness, nurse them. And they let down a certain test by letter to our like-minded brother Anthimus, bishop of Tyana, as though Gregory had said in an Exposition of Faith that Father and Son are two in thought but one in hypostasis. But that this was not said doctrinally, but controversially, in the disputation against Aelianus, those who count themselves blessed for the fineness of their wits were unable to perceive. In that disputation there are many errors of the copyists, as we ourselves will show from the very words, if God wills. Then too, persuading the pagan, he did not think it necessary to be precise about the words; but there are places where he even concedes something to the custom of his opponent, so as not to oppose him on the essential points. And so you will find there many expressions which now furnish the heretics their greatest strength — such as "creature" and "thing made" and the like. And many things said about the union with man, those who hear the writings without instruction refer to the discourse concerning the Godhead; of which kind is also this which is bandied about by these men. For one must know well that, just as he who does not confess the commonness of the essence falls into polytheism, so he who does not grant the distinctness of the hypostases is carried away into Judaism. For our mind must, as it were, leaning upon some object and imprinting its clear characteristics, so come to a perception of what is sought. For unless we have conceived the fatherhood, nor reflected on Him to whom this property is marked off, how is it possible to receive the notion of God the Father? For it is not enough to enumerate differences of persons, but one must confess each person to exist in a true hypostasis. Since not even Sabellius declined the unsubstantial fashioning of the persons, saying that the same God, being one in substrate, is transformed to meet the needs that fall out from time to time, and discourses now as Father, now as Son, now as Holy Spirit. This error, long ago quenched, the inventors of this nameless heresy now renew — they who set aside the hypostases and deny the name of the Son of God. Whom, unless they cease speaking unrighteousness against God, one must lament along with the deniers of Christ.

These things we have of necessity set forth to you, that you may guard yourselves against the harms from wicked teachings. For in truth, if one must liken wicked doctrines to deadly drugs, as your dream-interpreters say, these are hemlock and aconite and any other man-slaying drug. These are the poisons of souls — not our words — which the wine-stricken brains cry out, full of phantoms because of their passion. If these men were sober, they ought to know that the gift of prophecy shines forth upon souls that are undefiled and cleansed of every stain. For neither can a dirty mirror receive the reflections of images, nor can a soul preoccupied with the cares of life and darkened by the passions that come from the mind of the flesh receive the illuminations of the Holy Spirit. For not every dream is straightway prophecy, as Zechariah says: "The Lord made a vision, and a winter rain, because they that speak forth spoke labors, and dreamed false dreams." But these men are ignorant also of this — they who, according to Isaiah, dream and love to slumber in bed — that often a working of error is sent upon the sons of disobedience. And there is a lying spirit, which, coming upon the false prophets, deceived Ahab. Knowing these things, they ought not to have been so exalted as to bear witness to prophecy in themselves, who are shown to fall short even of the exactness of Balaam the soothsayer. He, summoned by the king of the Moabites with the greatest of gifts, would not consent to utter a word against the will of God, nor to curse Israel, whom the Lord does not curse. If, then, their visions in sleep run together with the commandments of the Lord, let them be content with the Gospels, which need no help from dreams toward their trustworthiness. But if the Lord left us His own peace, and gave us a new commandment that we love one another, while the dreams suggest fighting and dissension and the abolition of love, let them not give occasion to the devil to mount upon their souls through sleep, nor make their own phantoms more authoritative than the saving teachings.