Letter 119: I address you by the very honourable and reverend brother Petrus, beseeching you now and ever to pray for me, that I may be changed from ways dangerous and to be shunned, and may be made one day worthy of the name of Christ. Though I say nothing, you will converse together about my affairs, and he will give you an exact account of what has taken...

I'm writing to you through our brother Petrus, and as always, I ask for your prayers — that I might turn away from my worst tendencies and someday live up to the name of Christian. Petrus will fill you in on the details of what's happened, so I won't repeat everything here. But I need to ask you something: please don't accept the accusations against me at face value. The men spreading them have treated me shamefully, with no fear of God and no regard for decency. I'm honestly embarrassed to tell you what I've endured from Basilius — the very man I trusted as a protector, on your recommendation. Petrus will tell you the whole story. I'm not saying this to get revenge. I genuinely pray that the Lord won't hold it against Basilius. I'm saying it because I'm afraid their slanders might damage your trust in me. These men will almost certainly fabricate elaborate justifications for their own betrayal. When they come to you with their charges, I hope you'll ask them three simple questions: Did they ever formally accuse me? Did they ever seek to correct whatever error they claim I've committed? Did they ever make their grievance clear to my face? They did none of this. Instead, they ran. Their cowardly flight reveals the truth: behind their friendly faces and fake affection, they were hiding deep hostility all along. Whether I spell out every detail or not, you already understand what this has done. It's caused me real grief — and given ammunition to the people in this miserable city who already despise the ascetic life. [Asceticism: the practice of rigorous self-discipline and renunciation of worldly pleasures, central to early monasticism.] They now point to this scandal as proof that those who profess virtue are just putting on an act for reputation. Thanks to these men, no way of life here is more suspected of hypocrisy than monasticism. I trust you to see what needs to be done about that. As for the charges Sophronius has assembled against me — far from bringing us together, they're driving us apart. If this continues, even my own capacity for love will wear thin. I beg you: use your influence to restrain him from this destructive course. Work to repair what is breaking apart, rather than siding with those who are eager to tear it down further.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Eustathius, Bishop of Sebasteia. I address you by the very honourable and reverend brother Petrus, beseeching you now and ever to pray for me, that I may be changed from ways dangerous and to be shunned, and may be made one day worthy of the name of Christ. Though I say nothing, you will converse together about my affairs, and he will give you an exact account of what has taken place. But you admit without due examination, the vile suspicions against me which will probably be raised by men who have insulted me, in violation of the fear of God and the regard of men. I am ashamed to tell you what treatment I have received from the illustrious Basilius, whom I had accepted at the hands of your reverence as a protection for my life. But, when you have heard what our brother has to say, you will know every detail. I do not thus speak to avenge myself upon him, for I pray that it may not be put to his account by the Lord, but in order that your affection to me may remain firm, and because I am afraid lest it be shaken by the monstrous slanders which these men are pretty sure to make up in defense of their fall. Whatever be the charges they adduce, I hope your intelligence will put these enquiries to them. Have they formally accused me? Have they sought for any correction of the error which they bring against me? Have they made their grievance against me plain? As matters are, by their ignoble flight they have made it evident that under the cheerfulness of their countenance, and their counterfeit expressions of affection, they are all the while hiding in their heart an immense depth of guile and of gall. In all this, whether I narrate it or not, your intelligence knows perfectly well what sorrow they have caused me, and what laughter to those who, always expressing their abomination for the pious life in this wretched city, affirm that the pretence of virtue is practised as a mere trick to get credit, a mere assumption to deceive. So in these days no mode of life is now so suspected of vice by people here as the profession of asceticism. Your intelligence will consider what is the best cure for all this. As to the charges patched up against me by Sophronius, far from being a prelude of blessings, they are a beginning of division and separation, and are likely to lead to even my love growing cold. I implore that by your merciful kindness he may be withheld from his injurious efforts, and that your affection may strive rather to tighten the bonds of what is falling asunder, and not to increase separation by joining with those who are eager for dissent. 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/3202119.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is 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.