Letter 92

92. To the Italians and Gauls.

To the most God-loving and most holy brethren, our fellow ministers throughout Italy and Gaul, the bishops of one soul with us: Meletius, Eusebius, Basil, Bassus, Gregory, Pelagius, Paul, Anthimus, Theodotus, Bithus, Abramius, Jobinus, Zeno, Theodoretus, Marcian, Barachus, Abramius, Libanius, Thalassius, Joseph, Boethus, Iatrius, Theodotus, Eustathius, Barsumas, John, Chosroes, Iosakes, Narses, Maris, Gregory, Daphnus — greeting in the Lord.

A groan sent up again and again from the depth of the heart brings some comfort to souls in pain, and a tear let fall has often carried off the greater part of an affliction. But for us the recounting of our sufferings to your love holds a comfort beyond what groan and tear afford; for a kindlier hope, too, warms us — that perhaps, if we declare to you the things that grieve us, we may rouse you to come to our aid, which long ago we expected would be given by you to the churches of the East, but which we have not yet obtained. Doubtless God, who governs our affairs in wisdom, according to the unsearchable judgments of His righteousness, has ordained that we be drawn out for a longer time in these trials. For surely you have not been ignorant of our condition, most honoured brethren — the report of which has run out even to the ends of the world; nor are you, anywhere, without sympathy toward the brethren of one soul with you, being disciples of the Apostle, who teaches that love toward one's neighbour is the fulfilment of the law. But, as we said, the just judgment of God has held back your impulse, measuring out to us, to be fulfilled, the affliction appointed for our sins. Yet now at least, both for your zeal for the truth and out of compassion for us, we beg you to rouse yourselves, having learned everything — even all that before this escaped your ears — from our most reverent brother, the fellow deacon Sabinus, who will be able to relate to you from himself whatever escapes the letter. Through him we beg you to put on bowels of compassion, and to lay aside all hesitation, and to take up the labour of love: to reckon as nothing the length of the road, the occupations of home, or any other human consideration.

For the danger is not over one church, nor are two or three the ones that have fallen into this grievous storm. For the evil of the heresy spreads almost from the borders of Illyricum as far as the Thebaid. Its wicked seeds the ill-named Arius first cast down; and, having been rooted deep by the many in the intervening time who industriously cultivated the impiety, it has now sprouted forth its destructive fruits. For the doctrines of true religion are overthrown, and the ordinances of the Church are thrown into confusion. The lust for power of those who do not fear the Lord leaps upon the positions of authority; and now, openly, the chief seat is set forth as the prize of impiety, so that the man who has blasphemed the more grievously is preferred to the oversight of a people. The dignity of the priesthood is gone; there is a failing of those who shepherd the flock of the Lord with knowledge, since those who are greedy of power ever squander the resources meant for the poor upon their own enjoyments and the distribution of gifts. The exactness of the canons is darkened. The licence to sin is great; for those who have come to rule through human exertion repay the favour of that exertion in this very thing — by yielding in everything, for pleasure's sake, to those who sin. Just judgment has perished; every man walks according to the will of his own heart. Wickedness is beyond measure; the people are past admonition; those who preside are without freedom of speech, for they are slaves of those who have given them the favour — those who have gained their dominion for themselves through men. And now the supposed defence of orthodoxy has even been devised by some as a weapon in their war against one another, and, concealing their private enmities, they make a show of being at enmity for the sake of true religion. Others, evading the conviction of their basest deeds, drive the people mad with strife against one another, that by the common evils they may cast a shadow over their own.

For this reason, too, this war is without truce, since those who have wrought wicked deeds look with suspicion upon the common peace as one that exposes the hidden things of their shame. At this the unbelievers laugh; those of little faith are shaken; the faith is in doubt; ignorance is poured out over souls, because those who corrupt the word in their knavery imitate the truth. For the mouths of the godly are silent, while every blaspheming tongue is let loose. Holy things have been profaned; the sound part of the people flee the houses of prayer as schools of impiety, and in the wildernesses lift up their hands, with groans and tears, to the Master in the heavens. For surely there has reached even to you what is happening in most of the cities — that the people, with their wives and children and the old men themselves, pouring out before the walls, perform their prayers in the open air, bearing all the hardships from the weather with great long-suffering, awaiting the aid of the Lord.

What lamentation is worthy of these calamities? What springs of tears will suffice for evils so great? While, then, some still seem to stand, while still a trace of the old order is preserved, before the shipwreck comes utterly upon the churches, hasten to us — hasten now, yes, we beseech you, most genuine brethren; give a hand to those who have been brought to their knees. Let your brotherly bowels be moved over us; let tears of sympathy be poured out. Do not overlook half the world swallowed up by error; do not endure that the faith be quenched among those with whom it first shone forth.

What you must do to come to the aid of affairs, and how you are to show your compassion toward the afflicted, you will by no means need to learn from us; the Holy Spirit Himself will suggest it to you. Only there is need of speed, in order to save those who are left, and of the presence of more of the brethren, so that those who come may make up the full number of a synod — that the credibility for setting things right may rest not only on the dignity of those who send, but also on the number of those present — and that they may renew the faith written at Nicaea by our fathers, proclaim the heresy excommunicate, and address words of peace to the churches, gathering into concord those who hold the same beliefs. For this, indeed, is the most pitiable thing of all: that even what seems to be sound has become divided against itself; and there have beset us, as it seems, sufferings much like those that once encompassed Jerusalem in the siege of Vespasian. For those people were at once pressed by the war from without and consumed by the inner faction of their own countrymen. And for us, besides the open war of the heretics, the rising up of those who seem to be orthodox has brought the churches to the last extremity of weakness. For these things, above all, we have need of your help, so that those who confess the apostolic faith may dissolve the schisms they have devised and submit henceforth to the authority of the Church, that the body of Christ may become whole, restored to wholeness in all its members; and that we may not only count blessed the good things among others — which is what we now do — but may also see our own churches receiving back the ancient boast of orthodoxy. For truly it is worthy of the highest blessedness, the gift granted by the Lord to your godliness: to distinguish the counterfeit from the tried and pure, and to proclaim, without any reserve, the faith of the fathers — which we too have received, and have recognized as formed after the apostolic stamp, giving our assent both to it and to all that has been decreed canonically and lawfully in the synodal document.