Letter 132: Ever since the autumn I have been quite ignorant of the whereabouts of your reverence; for I kept hearing uncertain rumours, some saying that you were stopping at Samosata, and some in the country, while others maintained that they had seen you at Batnæ. This is the reason of my not writing frequently. Now, on hearing that you are staying at Ant...
I've been completely in the dark about where you are since last autumn. I kept hearing conflicting reports — some people said you were in Samosata [a major city on the Euphrates, in modern southeastern Turkey], others said you were in the countryside, and still others claimed they'd seen you at Batnæ [a town in the province of Osrhoene, near modern Suruç, Turkey]. That's why I haven't written.
Now I hear you're in Antioch [the great metropolis of Roman Syria, modern Antakya, Turkey], staying at the house of Count Saturninus. So I'm sending this letter with our dear brother Sanctissimus, a fellow priest.
I send you my warmest greetings — and wherever you end up, please remember two things: first, God; and second, me. You decided from the very beginning to count me among your closest friends. Don't forget that.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Ἀβραμίῳ, ἐπισκόπῳ Βατνῶν]
Πάντα τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ μετοπώρου χρόνον ἠγνόησα περὶ τῆς εὐλαβείας σου, ὅπου διάγεις. καὶ γὰρ πεπλανημένας τὰς φήμας εὕρισκον, τῶν μὲν ἀπαγγελλόντων ἐν Σαμοσάτοις διατρίβειν σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν, τῶν δὲ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, ἄλλων δὲ περὶ τὰς βάτνας αὐτὰς διαβεβαιουμένων ἑωρακέναι· διὸ οὐδὲ συνεχῶς ἐπέστειλα. νῦν δὲ μαθὼν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ διάγειν, ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ αἰδεσιμωτάτου Σατορνίνου τοῦ κόμητος, ἔδωκα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν προθύμως τῷ ποθεινοτάτῳ καὶ εὐλαβεστάτῳ ἀδελφῷ Σαγκτισσίμῳ τῷ συμπρεσβυτέρῳ, δι’ οὗ προσφθέγγομαί σου τὴν ἀγάπην, παρακαλῶν ὅπουπερ ἂν ᾖς μεμνῆσθαι μάλιστα μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἶτα καὶ ἡμῶν, οὓς ἀγαπᾷν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προείλου, καὶ ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς οἰκειοτάτοις ἀριθμουμένους.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg2040/tlg004/tlg2040.tlg004.perseus-grc2.xml
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