Letter 232: Every day that brings me a letter from you is a feast day, the very greatest of feast days. And when symbols of the feast are brought, what can I call it but a feast of feasts, as the old law used to speak of Sabbath of Sabbaths? I thank the Lord that you are quite well, and that you have celebrated the commemoration of the economy of salvation ...
Every day that brings me a letter from you is a feast day -- the greatest of feast days. And when you send gifts along with the letter, what can I call it but a feast of feasts, as the old law spoke of a Sabbath of Sabbaths?
I thank the Lord that you are well and that you celebrated the commemoration of our salvation [Christmas or Epiphany] in a church at peace. I have had troubles of my own, and I have been weighed down by the fact that my beloved brother remains in exile. Pray for him, that God may one day grant him to see his church healed from the wounds inflicted by heresy.
Do come to see me while I am still on this earth. Come, in accordance with your wishes and my most earnest prayers.
I must confess I am a little puzzled by your gifts. By your lamps you seem to be rousing me to work through the night; by your sweets you seem to be guaranteeing that my body is in fine shape. But there is no munching for me at my age -- my teeth have long since been worn away by time and bad health.
As for the questions you raised, I have included my answers in the enclosed document, written as best I could and as time allowed.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Ἀμφιλοχίῳ, ἐπισκόπῳ Ἰκονίου.]
Πᾶσα ἡμέρα γράμματα ἔχουσα τῆς θεοσεβείας σου ἑορτὴ ἡμῖν ἐστι, καὶ ἑορτῶν ἡ μεγίστη. ὅταν δὲ καὶ σύμβολα ἐπιφέρηται ἑορτῆς, τί ἄλλο χρὴ ὀνομάζειν ἢ οὐχὶ ἑορτὴν ἑορτῶν, ὥσπερ ὁ παλαιὸς νόμος Σάββατα Σαββάτων προσαγορεύειν εἰώθει; εὐχαριστοῦμεν οὖν τῷ Κυρίῳ, μαθόντες ὅτι καὶ ἔρρωσαι τῷ σώματι, καὶ εἰρηνευούσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῆς σωτηρίου οἰκονομίας τὴν ἀνάμνησιν ἐτέλεσας.
Ἡμᾶς δὲ θόρυβοί τινες διετάραξαν· οὐ μὴν ἔξω κατηφείας διηγάγομεν, τῷ τὸν θεοφιλέστατον ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν πεφυγαδευμένον εἶναι. ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν ἐκείνου προσεύχου, ἵνα δῴη αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός ποτε ἐπιδεῖν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκλησίαν τῶν αἱρετικῶν δηγμάτων τὰ τραύματα ἰαθεῖσαν· ἡμᾶς δὲ λίαν καταξίωσον ἐπισκέψασθαι, ἕως ἔτι ἐσμὲν ἐπὶ γῆς. ποίησον ἔργον σαυτῷ μὲν ἀκόλουθον, ἡμῖν δὲ εὐχῆς ἄξιον τῆς μεγίστης. θαυμάσαι δέ ἐστι καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν εὐλογιῶν, ὅτι δι’ αἰνιγμάτων ηὔξω ἡμῖν γῆρας ἰσχυρόν. ἔδειξας γάρ, ὅτι διὰ μὲν τῶν λαμπηνῶν πρὸς τοὺς νυκτερινοὺς διεγείρεις καμάτους, διὰ δὲ τῶν τραγημάτων τὸ πᾶσι τοῖς μέρεσι τετονῶσθαι κατεγγυᾷ. οὐ γὰρ ἔμοιγε καθʼ ἡλικίαν τὸ τρώγειν, πάλαι τῶν ὀδόντων ἔκ τε τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς ἀρρωστίας ἐκτετριμμένων. πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐπερωτηθέντα γεγόνασί τινες ἐν τῷ ὑπομνηστικῷ ἀποκρίσεις, οἵας ἐμοὶ δυνατὸν ἦν, καὶ ὡς ὁ καιρὸς ἐδίδου.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg2040/tlg004/tlg2040.tlg004.perseus-grc2.xml
Related Letters
You make a joke of it; but I know the danger of an Ozizalean starving when he has taken most pains with his husbandry. There is only this praise to be given them, that even if they die of hunger they smell sweet, and have a gorgeous funeral. How so?
What a very small quantity of vegetables you have sent me! They must surely be golden vegetables! And yet your whole wealth consists of orchards and rivers and groves and gardens, and your country is productive of vegetables as other lands are of gold, and You dwell among meadowy leafage.
(Amphilochius was acquitted of the charges made against him, referred to in former letters; but the result of the accusation on his own mind was such that he resigned his office, and retired to a sort of hermitage at a place called Ozizala, not far from Nazianzus, where he devoted his hours of labour to the cultivation of vegetables. The four le...
2. Let them dismiss, therefore, these questions of dialectics and examine the truth, not with mischievous exactness but with reverence. The judgment of our mind is given us for the understanding of the truth.
1. The interest which you have shown in the affairs of the Isaurian Church is only what might have been expected from that zeal and propriety of conduct which so continually rouses my admiration of you. The most careless observer must at once perceive that it is in all respects more advantageous for care and anxiety to be divided among several b...