Letter 252

252. To the Bishops of the Pontic Diocese

The honours paid to the martyrs are an earnest concern for all who have set their hope upon the Lord, but especially for you who lay claim to virtue, who through your disposition toward those of your fellow-servants who are held in good esteem display your goodwill toward our common Master — all the more because the life lived with exactness has a certain kinship with those who were perfected through endurance. Since, then, the most distinguished of the martyrs, Eupsychius and Damas and the company around them — whose memory is celebrated throughout the year by our city and by all the surrounding country — call you to mind, the Church, which is their own proper adornment, exhorts you through our voice to take up again the ancient custom of visiting her. Therefore, since a great work lies before you among a people that seeks the building-up you can give, and since a reward is laid up for you in the honour shown to the martyrs, receive our exhortation and consent to the favour, conferring on us a great benefit at the cost of a little labour.