Olympius,
You know the feeling when news hits so hard it makes your ears ring? That's where I am right now.
I'd already heard the attacks being circulated against me. My ears were somewhat prepared — I'd previously received a letter that, while fitting punishment for my sins, was shocking coming from the people who sent it. But what came next was so cruel it made everything before it pale in comparison.
I nearly lost my mind reading the letter addressed to our brother Dazinas. It was packed with outrageous insults, slander, and accusations — as though I'd been found guilty of deliberately undermining the Church. And as "proof," they produced a document whose authorship I don't even know. Some parts I recognized as the work of Apollinarius of Laodicea [a theologian later condemned for teaching that Christ lacked a full human mind]. I'd never actually read his writings — I'd only heard about them secondhand. Other sections were completely unfamiliar to me. I'd never read them, never heard of them. God is my witness.
So how is it that people who claim to hate lies, who say love fulfills the law, who profess to bear others' burdens — how have they agreed to slander me using someone else's writings? I've asked myself this over and over. The only answer I can find is what I said at the start: this suffering must be part of the penalty I owe for my sins.
Two things grieve me. First, I'm heartbroken that people who should uphold the truth have abandoned it. Second, I'm genuinely afraid of becoming a misanthrope — losing faith that honesty and integrity exist in anyone — when the very people I trusted most have treated both me and the truth this way.
So let me be absolutely clear, brother — and I want every friend of truth to hear this: **that document is not mine.** I did not write it. I do not approve of it. It does not reflect my views. Even if I did write to Apollinarius years ago, or to anyone else, that shouldn't be held against me. I don't blame an entire community when one of its members falls into heresy — and you know exactly who I mean, even though I won't name names. Each person will answer for their own sins.
This is my response to the document they sent me. Share it with anyone who wants the truth rather than a convenient lie. If I need to answer each charge in detail, I will, with God's help.
But let me state it plainly: I do not teach that there are three Gods, and I have no association with Apollinarius.
ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA
To Olympius.
1. Truly unexpected tidings make both ears tingle. This is my case. These compositions against me, which are being carried about, have fallen upon ears by this time pretty well seasoned, on account of my having formerly received the letter, appropriate enough to my sins, but which I should never have expected to be written by those who sent it. Nevertheless what followed did seem to me so extraordinarily cruel as to blot out all that had gone before. How could I fail to be driven almost out of my senses when I read the letter addressed to the reverend brother Dazinas, full of outrageous insults and calumnies and of attacks against me, as though I had been convicted of much pernicious designs against the Church? Moreover proofs were immediately offered of the truth of the calumnies against me, from the document of whose authorship I am ignorant. Parts I recognise, I own, as having been written by Apollinarius of Laodicea. These I had purposely not even ever read, but I had heard of them from the report of others. Other portions I found included, which I had never either read or heard of from any one else; of the truth of this there is a faithful witness in heaven. How then can men who shun lies, who have learned that love is the fulfilling of the law, who profess to bear the burdens of the weak, have consented to bring these calumnies against me and to condemn me out of other men's writings? I have often asked myself this question, but I cannot imagine the reason, unless it be, as I have said from the beginning, that my pain in all this is a part of the punishment which is due to my sins.
2. First of all I sorrowed in soul that truths were lessened by the sons of men; in the second place I feared for my own self, lest in addition to my other sins, I should become a misanthrope, believing no truth and honour to be left in any man; if indeed those whom I have most greatly trusted are proved to be so disposed both to me and to the truth. Be sure then, my brother, and every one who is a friend of the truth, that the composition is not mine; I do not approve of it, for it is not drawn up according to my views. Even if I did write, a good many years ago, to Apollinarius or to any one else, I ought not to be blamed. I find no fault myself if any member of any society has been cut off into heresy (and you know perfectly well whom I mean though I mention nobody by name), because each man will die in his own sin.
This is my reply to the document sent me, that you may know the truth, and make it plain to all who wish not to hold the truth in unrighteousness. If it prove necessary to defend myself more at length on each separate count, I will do so, God being my helper. I, brother Olympius, neither maintain three Gods, nor communicate with Apollinarius.
You know the feeling when news hits so hard it makes your ears ring? That's where I am right now.
I'd already heard the attacks being circulated against me. My ears were somewhat prepared — I'd previously received a letter that, while fitting punishment for my sins, was shocking coming from the people who sent it. But what came next was so cruel it made everything before it pale in comparison.
I nearly lost my mind reading the letter addressed to our brother Dazinas. It was packed with outrageous insults, slander, and accusations — as though I'd been found guilty of deliberately undermining the Church. And as "proof," they produced a document whose authorship I don't even know. Some parts I recognized as the work of Apollinarius of Laodicea [a theologian later condemned for teaching that Christ lacked a full human mind]. I'd never actually read his writings — I'd only heard about them secondhand. Other sections were completely unfamiliar to me. I'd never read them, never heard of them. God is my witness.
So how is it that people who claim to hate lies, who say love fulfills the law, who profess to bear others' burdens — how have they agreed to slander me using someone else's writings? I've asked myself this over and over. The only answer I can find is what I said at the start: this suffering must be part of the penalty I owe for my sins.
Two things grieve me. First, I'm heartbroken that people who should uphold the truth have abandoned it. Second, I'm genuinely afraid of becoming a misanthrope — losing faith that honesty and integrity exist in anyone — when the very people I trusted most have treated both me and the truth this way.
So let me be absolutely clear, brother — and I want every friend of truth to hear this: **that document is not mine.** I did not write it. I do not approve of it. It does not reflect my views. Even if I did write to Apollinarius years ago, or to anyone else, that shouldn't be held against me. I don't blame an entire community when one of its members falls into heresy — and you know exactly who I mean, even though I won't name names. Each person will answer for their own sins.
This is my response to the document they sent me. Share it with anyone who wants the truth rather than a convenient lie. If I need to answer each charge in detail, I will, with God's help.
But let me state it plainly: I do not teach that there are three Gods, and I have no association with Apollinarius.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)