Letter 262: 1. You have done well to write to me. You have shown how great is the fruit of charity.

You have done well to write to me. You have shown how great is the fruit of love. Keep writing. And do not think you need to offer apologies when you do. I know my own position, and I know that by nature every person is of equal dignity. Whatever excellence I may have comes not from family, wealth, or physical strength, but only from the fear of God. What, then, prevents you from fearing the Lord even more than I do, and so surpassing me in the only thing that matters? Write often, and tell me the condition of the community around you. Tell me which members of the Church in your region are sound in the faith, so that I know to whom I should write and in whom I can place my confidence. I am told that certain people are trying to corrupt the true doctrine of the Lord's incarnation with distorted views. Through you, I call on them to abandon those irrational positions. Specifically, I mean the claim that God Himself was transformed into flesh -- that He did not assume human nature through the Holy Mary, but that His very Godhead was changed into a material substance. This absurd position refutes itself. The blasphemy is its own condemnation, and for anyone who fears the Lord, a simple reminder should be enough. If He was "transformed," then He was changed. But God has declared: "I am the Lord, I change not." Furthermore, how would the benefit of the incarnation reach us if the body joined to the Godhead were not a real human body, capable of being raised above the dominion of death? If He was changed rather than incarnate, the whole economy of salvation collapses. Hold firmly to this: the Lord took on genuine human nature, complete and real, while remaining fully God. This is the faith. Everything else is speculation and error.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the Monk Urbicius. 1. You have done well to write to me. You have shown how great is the fruit of charity. Continue so to do. Do not think that, when you write to me, you need offer excuses. I recognise my own position, and I know that by nature every man is of equal honour with the rest. Whatever excellence there is in me is not of family, nor of superfluous wealth, nor of physical condition; it comes only of superiority in the fear of God. What, then, hinders you from fearing the Lord yet more, and so, in this respect, being greater than I am? Write often to me, and acquaint me with the condition of the brotherhood with you. Tell me what members of the Church in your parts are sound, that I may know to whom I ought to write, and in whom I may confide. I am told that there are some who are endeavouring to deprave the right doctrine of the Lord's incarnation by perverse opinions, and I therefore call upon them through you to hold off from those unreasonable views, which some are reported to me to hold. I mean that God Himself was turned into flesh; that He did not assume, through the Holy Mary, the nature of Adam, but, in His own proper Godhead, was changed into a material nature. 2. This absurd position can be easily confuted. The blasphemy is its own conviction, and I therefore think that, for one who fears the Lord, the mere reminder is enough. If He was turned, then He was changed. But far be it from me to say or think such a thing, when God has declared, I am the Lord, I change not. Malachi 3:6 Moreover, how could the benefit of the incarnation be conveyed to us, unless our body, joined to the Godhead, was made superior to the dominion of death? If He was changed, He no longer constituted a proper body, such as subsisted after the combination with it of the divine body. But how, if all the nature of the Only-begotten was changed, could the incomprehensible Godhead be circumscribed within the limit of the mass of a little body? I am sure that no one who is in his senses, and has the fear of God, is suffering from this unsoundness. But the report has reached me that some of your company are afflicted with this mental infirmity, and I have therefore thought it necessary, not to send you a mere formal greeting, but to include in my letter something which may even build up the souls of them that fear the Lord. I therefore urge that these errors receive ecclesiastical correction, and that you abstain from communion with the heretics. I know that we are deprived of our liberty in Christ by indifference on these points.

[Πρός: Οὐρβικίῳ μονάζοντι] Καλῶς ἐποίησας ἐπιστείλας ἡμῖν, ἔδειξας γὰρ οὐ μικρὸν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς ἀγάπης· καὶ συνεχῶς ποίει τοῦτο. μὴ μέντοι νομίσῃς ἀπολογίας σοι δεῖν, ὅταν ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλῃς. γνωρίζομεν γὰρ ἑαυτούς, καὶ οἴδαμεν, ὅτι παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ πρὸς πάντας ὁμοτιμίας ἰσότης ἐστὶ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν, ὑπεροχαὶ δὲ ἐν ἡμῖν οὐ κατὰ γένος, οὐδὲ κατὰ περιουσίαν χρημάτων, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος κατασκευήν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ φόβου τοῦ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. ὥστε τί κωλύει σε πλεῖον φοβούμενον τὸν Δεσπότην, μείζονα ἡμῶν εἶναι κατʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο; συνεχῶς οὖν ἡμῖν ἐπίστελλε, καὶ γνώριζε πῶς ἡ περὶ σὲ ἀδελφότης, καὶ τίνες τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς καθʼ ὑμᾶς ὑγιαίνουσιν, ἵνα εἰδῶμεν οἷς χρὴ γράφειν, καὶ τίσιν ἐπαναπαύεσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀκούω τινὰς εἶναι τοὺς τὸ εὐθὲς περὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου δόγμα ἐν διαστρόφοις ὑπολήψεσι παραχαράσσοντας, παρακαλῶ αὐτοὺς διὰ τῆς σῆς ἀγάπης ἀποσχέσθαι τῆς ἀτόπου ἐκείνης ἐννοίας, ἣν ἔχειν τινὲς ἡμῖν καταγγέλλονται, ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς σάρκα τραπέντος, καὶ οὐχὶ προσλαβόντος διὰ τῆς ἁγίας Μαρίας τὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ φύραμα, ἀλλʼ αὐτοῦ τῇ οἰκείᾳ θεότητι εἰς τὴν ὑλικὴν φύσιν μεταβληθέντος. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἄτοπον ἐλέγξαι καὶ πάνυ ῥᾴδιον. ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ αὐτόθεν ἔχει τὸ ἐναργὲς ἡ βλασφημία, νομίζω τῷ φοβουμένῳ τὸν Κύριον ἀρκεῖν καὶ μόνην τὴν ὑπόμνησιν. εἰ γὰρ ἐτράπη, καὶ ἠλλοιώθη. τοῦτο δὲ ἀπείη καὶ λέγειν καὶ ἐννοεῖν, τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπόντος· Ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι. ἔπειτα, πῶς εἰς ἡμᾶς διέβη ἡ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ὠφέλεια, εἰ μὴ τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα, τῇ θεότητι συναφθέν, κρεῖττον ἐγένετο τῆς τοῦ θανάτου ἐπικρατείας; οὐ γὰρ τραπεὶς οἰκεῖον ὑπεστήσατο σῶμα, ὅπερ παχυνθείσης αὐτῷ τῆς θεϊκῆς φύσεως ὑπέστη. πῶς δὲ ἡ ἀπερίληπτος θεότης εἰς μικροῦ σώματος ὄγκον περιεγράφη, εἴπερ ἐτράπη πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς φύσις; Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐδένα ἡγοῦμαι νοῦν ἔχοντα καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ κεκτημένον πάσχειν τὸ ἀρρώστημα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἦλθεν εἰς ἐμὲ ἡ φήμη, ὅτι τινὲς τῶν μετὰ τῆς ἀγάπης σου ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ ταύτῃ τῶν λογισμῶν εἰσιν, ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην, μὴ ψιλὴν ποιήσασθαι τὴν πρόσρησιν, ἀλλʼ ἔχειν τι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἡμῶν τοιοῦτον, ὃ δύναται καὶ οἰκοδομῆσαι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν φοβουμένων τὸν Κύριον. ταῦτα οὖν παρακαλοῦμεν, διορθώσεως τυχεῖν ἐκκλησιαστικῆς καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς κοινωνίας ὑμᾶς ἀπέχεσθαι, εἰδότας ὅτι τὸ ἐν τούτοις ἀδιαφορεῖν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρρησίαν ἡμῶν ἀφαιρεῖται.