Letter 29: My amazement at the most distressing news of the calamity which has befallen you for a long time kept me silent. I felt like a man whose ears are stunned by a loud clap of thunder. Then I somehow recovered a little from my state of speechlessness.

To the Church of Ancyra [modern Ankara, Turkey] — a letter of consolation. When I first heard the devastating news of what happened to you, I was struck silent for a long time — like someone deafened by a thunderclap. Gradually I came back to myself. I have grieved, as anyone would grieve, and now I'm writing to you. Not because I think any words can heal a loss this great, but because I want you to know how deeply my own heart aches. I need the voice of Jeremiah [the Old Testament prophet famous for his laments] to do justice to this kind of sorrow. A man has fallen — no, not fallen. He was a true pillar of the Church, and he has been taken from us into the blessed life. But there is real danger now. When you remove a load-bearing column, others may collapse. And some people's hidden weakness may be exposed without his strength holding things together. That mouth has been sealed — the one that poured out righteous eloquence and words of grace that built up the whole community. Gone is the counsel of a mind that truly moved in God. I have to confess something: how many times did I feel frustrated with him? He longed so completely to depart and be with Christ [cf. Philippians 1:23] that he seemed unwilling to stay in the flesh for our sake. Who will I turn to now with the burdens of the churches? Who will share my troubles? Who will share my joy? The loneliness is terrible. I feel like the pelican of the wilderness [Psalm 102:6 — an image of utter desolation and isolation]. And yet — the members of his church, united under his leadership as if by one soul, bound together in deep fellowship, are preserved and will continue to be preserved by the bond of peace. God grant that everything that blessed man accomplished in the churches of God will stand firm and unmovable. But the struggle ahead is no small one. If strife and division arise over choosing the next bishop, all his work could be undone by a single quarrel. Guard against this.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the Church of Ancyra. Consolatory. My amazement at the most distressing news of the calamity which has befallen you for a long time kept me silent. I felt like a man whose ears are stunned by a loud clap of thunder. Then I somehow recovered a little from my state of speechlessness. Now I have mourned, as none could help mourning, over the event, and, in the midst of my lamentations, have sent you this letter. I write not so much to console you — for who could find words to cure a calamity so great?— as to signify to you, as well as I can by these means, the agony of my own heart. I need now the lamentations of Jeremiah, or of any other of the Saints who has feelingly lamented a great woe. A man has fallen who was really a pillar and stay of the Church or rather he himself has been taken from us and is gone to the blessed life, and there is no small danger lest many at the removal of this prop from under them fall too, and lest some men's unsoundness be brought to light. A mouth is sealed gushing with righteous eloquence and words of grace to the edification of the brotherhood. Gone are the counsels of a mind which truly moved in God. Ah! How often, for I must accuse myself, was it my lot to feel indignation against him, because, wholly desiring to depart and be with Christ, he did not prefer for our sakes to remain in the flesh! To whom for the future shall I commit the cares of the Churches? Whom shall I take to share my troubles? Whom to participate in my gladness? O loneliness terrible and sad! How am I not like to a pelican of the wilderness? Yet of a truth the members of the Church, united by his leadership as by one soul, and fitted together into close union of feeling and fellowship, are both preserved and shall ever be preserved by the bond of peace for spiritual communion. God grants us the boon, that all the works of that blessed soul, which he did nobly in the churches of God, abide firm and immovable. But the struggle is no slight one, lest, once more strifes and divisions arising over the choice of the bishop, all your work be upset by some quarrel.

[Πρός: Τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Ἀγκύρας παραμυθητική] Πολὺν ἡμῖν χρόνον σιωπὴν ἐνεποίησεν ἡ ἔκπληξις τῆς βαρυτάτης ἀγγελίας τοῦ συμβάντος κακοῦ. ἐπεὶ δὲ μικρόν πως τῆς ἀφασίας ἀνηνέγκαμεν, ἥν, ὡς οἱ βροντῇ μεγάλῃ τὰς ἀκοὰς καταπλαγέντες, πεπόνθαμεν, ἀναγκαίως νῦν ἐπεστενάξαμεν τῷ συμβάντι, καὶ μεταξὺ ὀδυρόμενοι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὑμῖν ἐξεπέμψαμεν· οὐ παρακλήσεως ἕνεκεν (τίς γὰρ ἂν καὶ λόγος εὑρεθείη τοσαύτης συμφορᾶς ἰατρός;) ἀλλὰ τὴν ὀδύνην τῆς καρδίας ἡμῶν, καθʼ ὅσον δυνατόν, ἐκ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης ὑμῖν διασημαίνοντες. νῦν ἐδεόμην τῶν Ἱερεμίου θρήνων, καὶ εἰ δή τις ἄλλος τῶν μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν συμφορᾶς μέγεθος ἐμπαθῶς ἀπωδύρατο. Πέπτωκεν ἀνήρ, στῦλος τῷ ὄντι καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸς μὲν πρὸς τὴν μακαρίαν ζωὴν ἀρθεὶς ἀφʼ ἡμῶν οἴχεται· κίνδυνος δὲ οὐ μικρός, μὴ πολλοὶ τῷ ἐρείσματι τούτῳ ὑπεξαιρεθέντι συγκαταπέσωσι, καὶ τὰ σαθρά τινων φανερὰ γένηται. κέκλεισται στόμα παῤῥησίας τε δικαίας καὶ λόγους χάριτος ἐπʼ οἰκοδομῇ τῆς ἀδελφότητος βρύον. οἴχεται δὲ φρενὸς βουλεύματα, τῆς ὄντως ἐν Θεῷ κινουμένης. ὦ ποσάκις μοι (κατηγορήσω γὰρ ἐμαυτοῦ) ἐπῆλθεν ἀγανακτῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ ἀνδρός, ὅτι ὅλος γενόμενος τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι, τὸ ἐπιμεῖναι ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ οὐ προετίμησε δι’ ἡμᾶς. πρὸς τίνα λοιπὸν τὰς φροντίδας τῶν ἐκκλησίων ὑπερθώμεθα; τίνα κοινωνὸν τῶν λυπηρῶν λάβωμεν; τίνα μεριστὴν τῆς εὐφροσύνης; ὢ τῆς δεινῆς ὄντως καὶ σκυθρωπῆς ἐρημίας. πῶς ἀκριβῶς ὡμοιώθημεν πελεκᾶνι ἐρημικῷ; Ἀλλὰ μὴν τά γε συναφθέντα μέλη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, οἷον ὑπὸ ψυχῆς τινός, τῆς ἐκείνου προστασίας, εἰς μίαν συμπάθειαν καὶ ἀκριβῆ κοινωνίαν συναρμοσθέντα, καὶ φυλάσσεται διὰ τοῦ συνδέσμου τῆς εἰρήνης πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν ἁρμολογίαν παγίως, καὶ φυλαχθήσεται εἰς ἀεί, τοῦτο τοῦ Θεοῦ χαριζομένου, ἑδραῖα μένειν καὶ ἀμετακίνητα τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης ψυχῆς τὰ ἔργα, ὅσα ἐνήθλησε ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ. πλὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ ἀγὼν οὐ μικρός, μή τινες πάλιν ἔριδες καὶ διχοστασίαι, ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκλογὴν τοῦ προστατοῦντος ἀναφθεῖσαι, πάντα ὁμοῦ τὸν κόπον ἐκ τῆς τυχούσης ἔριδος ἀνατρέψωσιν.