Letter 76: Severus tells John that preserving pure communion is a gift John has given to his own soul.

Severus tells John, the count from Antaradus, that John's believing wife did not really need a letter of recommendation; she and John are already an epistle written in Severus' heart and known to all. Still, Severus is pleased by their care, even when it seems more than necessary. The main issue is the prelate of Area and the danger of polluted communion. John had written obscurely, but Severus understands enough to rejoice that John remains pure from the association others were trying to impose. The salvation of those he loves is worth more to Severus than any amount of gold or worldly display. By refusing communion with people who hold contrary doctrine, John has given a gift not to Severus but to himself. Severus supports the warning with John, Paul, and Basil: do not receive someone who does not bring sound teaching; avoid a self-condemned heretic; come out from among the unclean; keep away from communion that weakens boldness before Christ. John must guard the pure gift God has given him. Severus then adds that the prelate of Area is being led by others like a pack animal rather than acting as his own man. The letter exposing the false profession has been sent to those handling Severus' defenses in the royal city. The prelate's excuse about a brother's letter was true, but that letter kept him from coming to Severus and, in Severus' judgment, led him toward death.

Your magnificent and believing consort did not need a letter of recommendation. For we will say both to you and to her in the words of the Apostle, *'Ye are our epistle, written in our heart, and known and read by all men."'^ However your actions seem gratifying, even those which are thought superfluous. As to the prelate of Area, whereas you said in your letter that he reckons it an intolerable thing to do anything that annoys us, and this though he and those with him who are trying to bring him to this are making many prayers and entreaties, what was written seemed to be not clearly, but obscurely expressed: ^ I Co. vi. 14, ^5- " 2 J. 10, II. 3Pr. iv. 23. * d7rd(/)ao-ts. but it informed me that he is pure in the communion which those men were desirous of rendering polluted through heretical association. And I for my part confess that this conduces to my pleasure. In fact the salvation of any man, especially of those that are loved like you, is fitly thought by me to be worth tens of thousands of talents of gold: or, to speak more justly, even worth all the pomp ^ and theatrical display in this world. But that you have rather bestowed a gift show from the God-inspired scripture. For John the speaker of divine things in an epistle to certain believers says as follows: "If any man cometh unto you and bringeth not this sound teaching, receive him not in the house, and say not to him, ' Hail.' For he that saith to him 'Hail' is partaker of his evil deeds."* And Paul the wise in writing to Titus expressed himself thus: " A man that is an heretic after one admonition and two avoid: knowino- that such a man is perverted and sinneth, being self-condemned." ^ And the words written by him to the Corinthians also lead to this sense: for he says, "Therefore 'come out from among them and be separate,' saith the Lord, 'and approach not an unclean man.'"* However, not to spin out the letter by using many words, know that the great Basil also, the teacher of all that is under heaven, wrote this in his letters as a kind of rule and canon, in this manner: [Here follows the citation ^ cjiavraa-La. " 2 J. 10, li. ^ Tit. iii. 10. ■* 2 Co. vi. 17. given on p. 259]. These sacred commands therefore you have followed, in that you would not at all consent to come to the communion of those who profess opinions contrary to the orthodox faith. So that, if your firmness had slackened (as I pray may not happen), how great repentance would you have needed for transofressingr the strictness of such a law! Wherefore p- 299- keep the gift that was given you by God, I mean that of the pure and unadulterated communion: for truly this is a g-ift of God. In fact Paul also somewhere speaks thus: " And this was not of you. For it is a gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." ^ The saying also of one of the wise men without seems to be in a way suited to the present topic; "It is harder for us to keep good things than to get them." This too it is eood to consider: if he who eats with the king's adversaries is thought to sin beyond forgiveness, where ought we to place him who eats the mysterious and heavenly bread with those who hold opinions adverse to God? Let these words that we have written concerning your salvation which is highly re- garded by us suffice: words few compared with the need, but too many for the compass of the letter. But that the ruler of Area, whom 1 mentioned a short time ago, is exactly like a beast of burden and a pack-ass, and that he belongs to those who lead him rather than to himself, experience showed even before your words. You were wise and very intelligent in considering that ^ Eph. ii. 8, 9. that letter which exposes the false profession ought to be sent to those who conduct our apohnseis in the royal city: a thing which I have in fact done. But let it truth when he said that he had received a letter from his brother which hindered him from making the journey to us, or rather which led him to death