Letter 111: Under any ordinary circumstances I should have lacked courage to intrude upon your excellency, for I know how to gauge my own importance and to recognise dignities. But now that I have seen a friend in a distressing position at having been summoned before you, I have ventured to give him this letter. I hope that by using it, as a kind of propiti...

To Modestus [the Praetorian Prefect of the East — one of the most powerful officials in the Roman Empire], Normally I wouldn't presume to bother someone in your position. I know my own standing, and I know yours. But a friend of mine is in serious trouble — he's been called before your court — and I couldn't stay silent. So I'm sending this letter along with him, hoping it might serve as a kind of peace offering and win him a fair hearing. I realize I'm nobody important. But I'm counting on your own sense of moderation to do the heavy lifting here. If my friend has done nothing wrong, the truth alone should be enough to clear him. And if he has done something wrong, I'm asking you to forgive him as a personal favor to me. You know better than anyone how things stand in our region. You see where the weaknesses are, and you govern with remarkable foresight.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Modestus, the prefect. Under any ordinary circumstances I should have lacked courage to intrude upon your excellency, for I know how to gauge my own importance and to recognise dignities. But now that I have seen a friend in a distressing position at having been summoned before you, I have ventured to give him this letter. I hope that by using it, as a kind of propitiatory symbol, he may meet with merciful consideration. Truly, although I am of no account, moderation itself may be able to conciliate the most merciful of prefects, and to win pardon for me. Thus if my friend has done no wrong, he may be saved by the mere force of truth; if he has erred, he may be forgiven through my entreaty. How we are situated here no one knows better than yourself, for you discern the weak parts in each man and rule all with your admirable forethought. About this page Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202111.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address i s feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.