Letter 28: Chrysostom praises Basil's pastoral zeal against pagan error and asks for reports of his work.
Although we have not enjoyed meeting you face to face, we have heard of the virtue of your soul and of your zeal against the pagans, as you break down their error and lead them by the hand to the truth. Hearing this, we honor and revere you as if we had been present with you and had known you for a long time.
For this reason we have taken the lead in sending you a letter. We call you blessed for what you are accomplishing, admire you, and ask that you also write to us whenever it is permitted. Even if we are separated from your body, we are bound to you in love as we think of your Reverence. Knowing this, do not hesitate to write to us continually and tell us what you are accomplishing, so that even while living in a desolate place we may receive great comfort from it.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΚΗʹ. Βασιλείῳ πρεσβυτέρῳ.
Εἰ καὶ τῆς κατ' ὄψιν σου συντυχίας οὐκ ἀπηλαύσαμεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀρετήν σου τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκούοντες, καὶ τὸν ζῆλον ὃν ἔχεις κατὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καταλύων αὐτῶν τὴν πλάνην, καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν χειραγωγῶν, ὡς παρόντες καὶ συγγενόμενοι, καὶ πολύν σοι συντραφέντες χρόνον, οὕτως σε αἰδούμεθα καὶ τιμῶμεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ πρότερον ἐπεπηδήσαμεν τοῖς πρὸς σὲ γράμμασι, μακαρίζοντές σε ὑπὲρ ὧν κατορθοῖς, καὶ θαυμάζοντες, καὶ αἰτοῦντες καὶ αὐτὸν ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ καὶ τῷ σώματί σου κεχωρίσμεθα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀγάπῃ σοι συνδεδέμεθα, ἐννοοῦντες τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδὼς, μὴ κατόκνει συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν, καὶ τὰ κατορθώματα τὰ σὰ δηλοῦν, ἵνα, καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ διατρίβοντες, πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern chrysostom pg52 epistulae batch1 v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-OR/John_Chrysostom__Epistulae.gr.html
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