Letter 99

99. To Count Terentius.

Though I set great zeal to obey, at least in part, both the imperial command and the friendly letter of your honour — a letter which I have believed to be full, in every word and every thought, of right purpose and good intention — I was not permitted to bring my eagerness into effect. The cause is, first and most truly, my own sins, which everywhere meet me beforehand and trip up my steps; and next, the estrangement from us of the bishop given to us for cooperation. For I do not know what came over our most reverend brother Theodotus, who from the beginning had promised to assist us in everything, and who eagerly brought us down from Getasa to Nicopolis: when he saw us in the city, he so abhorred us, and was so afraid of our sins, that he could not endure to admit us either to morning prayer or to evening — doing what was just, indeed, as toward us, and fitting for my way of life, but counselling what was not profitable for the common condition of the churches. And as the reason for this he alleged against us that we had endured to receive the most reverend bishop Eustathius into communion. Yet what was done by us is as follows.

We, having been invited to a synod held by the brother Theodotus, and having set out, for love's sake, to obey the invitation, so as not to seem to make our meeting fruitless and idle, were eager to come to words with the aforesaid brother Eustathius. And we put before him the charges concerning the faith which those about the brother Theodotus bring against him, and asked that, if he follows the right faith, he make it plain to us, so that we might be in communion; but that, if he is otherwise minded, he know exactly that we too shall be otherwise minded toward him. Many words, then, having passed between us, and that whole day having been spent in the examination of these things, when at last evening came on, we parted from one another, having brought the discussion to no agreed conclusion. On the next day, again, sitting down together in the morning, we discussed the same matters, the brother Poemenius, the presbyter of Sebasteia, having now also come and vigorously training the opposing argument against us. Little by little, then, we both freed ourselves from the charges on which we thought to be accused, and brought them on to assent to what we were seeking; so that, by the grace of the Lord, we were found not to differ from one another in even the smallest point. And so, about the ninth hour, we rose for prayers, giving thanks to the Lord, who gave us to think the same thing and to say the same thing. After this I ought to have received some written confession from the man, so that his assent might be made plain to those who oppose him, and that the proof of the man's purpose might be sufficient for the rest. But I myself wished, for the sake of great exactness, to meet first with the brethren about Theodotus and to receive from them a written statement of faith, and to put it before the aforesaid man; that both things might come to pass — that the right faith might be confessed by him, and that they themselves might be satisfied, having no ground for dispute, since their own propositions had been accepted. But before learning for what purpose we had met, and what had been set right by us through the discussion, those about the bishop Theodotus no longer deigned to invite us to the synod. Rather, we turned back from the middle of the road, downcast that they were making our labours for the peace of the churches end in nothing.

After this, then, since the necessity of the road to Armenia came upon us, knowing the man's peculiarity of character, and wishing both to make my own defence for what had been done, before a trustworthy witness, and to satisfy him, I came to Getasa, the estate of the most God-loving bishop Meletius, the aforesaid Theodotus being present with me as well. And so there, since I was accused by him of my union with Eustathius, I told the success of the meeting — that I had received him as agreeing with us in everything. But when he firmly asserted that the man had denied it after our departure, and was firmly maintaining to his own disciples that he had in no point come to agreement with us about the faith, I answered to this (and consider, most admirable man, whether I did not make the most just and irrefutable replies to it): that I, for my part, am persuaded, judging from the man's general steadfastness, that he is not so lightly turned about to the contrary, nor confesses now and then denies what he said — a man who shuns even a falsehood about trivial things as a fearful thing, much less would ever choose to oppose the truth concerning matters so great and so cried abroad among all. But if it should turn out that what is noised about by you is true, then a written statement, containing the full proof of the right faith, must be put before him. If, then, I find him assenting in writing, I will continue in communion with him; but if I find him drawing back, I will withdraw from union with him. When the bishop Meletius and the brother Diodorus, our fellow presbyter, approved this proposal — for they were present at what was done — the most reverend brother Theodotus, having agreed there, and having begged us to come down to Nicopolis, so that we might both inspect his church and have him as a fellow traveller on the road as far as Satala, left us in Getasa; and when we reached Nicopolis, forgetting both what he had heard from me and what he had agreed with us, he put us to shame with those insults and dishonours which I described a little before, and sent us away.

How, then, was it possible for me, most honoured head, to do any of the things that had been commanded, and to give bishops to Armenia, when the partner of my care was so disposed toward me — he from whom I expected to find the suitable men? For in his district there are men both reverent and intelligent and skilled in the language and acquainted with the rest of the customs of that nation; whose names, though I know them, I will willingly pass over in silence, lest some hindrance arise to Armenia's being served at another time at least. And now, having come as far as Satala in such a state of body, I thought, by the grace of God, to set the rest in order: I made peace among the bishops of Armenia, and spoke to them what was fitting, so that they should lay aside their habitual indifference and take up the genuine zeal of the Lord for the churches; and I gave them rules concerning the things done lawlessly and without distinction throughout Armenia, how it befitted them to attend to these. I also received resolutions from the church of Satala, containing a request that a bishop be given them by us. And it became my care to search out, as well, the slander poured over our brother Cyril, the bishop of Armenia; and by the grace of God we found it to have been falsely set in motion through the calumny of those who hate him — which they also openly confessed before us. And we thought we had moderately reconciled the people in Satala to him, so that they should no longer shun his communion. But if these things are small and of no account — still, nothing more was possible to be done by us, because of the discord among ourselves, one with another, arising from the meddling of the devil. These things I ought to have kept silent, lest I should seem to publish my own reproaches; but since it was not otherwise possible to defend myself to your nobility of soul, I came to the necessity of relating the whole truth of what has happened.