Letter 291: The due limits of a letter, and that mode of addressing you, render it inconvenient for me to write all I think; at the same time to pass over my thoughts in silence, when my heart is burning with righteous indignation against you, is nearly impossible. I will adopt the midway course: I will write some things; others I will omit. For I wish to c...

The limits of a letter make it difficult to write everything I think. At the same time, to pass over my thoughts in silence when my heart is burning with righteous indignation is nearly impossible. I will take the middle course: writing some things, leaving others unsaid. For I wish to correct you -- but in terms that are both frank and friendly. Can this really be the Timotheus I have known from boyhood? The man so devoted to an upright and disciplined life that he was even accused of carrying it too far? And now he abandons the pursuit of the things that unite us to God? Now he makes it his first concern what other people think of him, and lives a life dependent on others' opinions -- anxious above all to please his friends without drawing the mockery of his enemies, and dreading public disgrace as though it were a great catastrophe? Does he not realize that while he is occupied with these trifles, he is unconsciously neglecting his highest interests? That we cannot serve both worldly ambitions and heavenly ones at the same time -- the Holy Scriptures are full of this teaching. Nature itself demonstrates it. The mind cannot hold two thoughts simultaneously. The ears cannot distinguish two sounds at once. I say this not to wound you but to wake you up. You are capable of far better than this. Return to the life you were made for, the life that once defined you. The opinions of men are smoke. The judgment of God is everything.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Timotheus the Chorepiscopus. The due limits of a letter, and that mode of addressing you, render it inconvenient for me to write all I think; at the same time to pass over my thoughts in silence, when my heart is burning with righteous indignation against you, is nearly impossible. I will adopt the midway course: I will write some things; others I will omit. For I wish to chide you, if so I may, in terms both flank and friendly. Yes! That Timotheus whom I have known from boyhood, so intent upon an upright and ascetic life, as even to be accused of excess therein, now forsakes the enquiry after those means whereby we may be united to God; now makes it his first thought what some one else may think of him, and lives a life of dependence upon the opinions of others; is mainly anxious how to serve his friends, without incurring the ridicule of enemies; and fears disgrace with the world as a great misfortune. Does he not know, that while he is occupied with these trifles he is unconsciously neglecting his highest interests? For, that we cannot be engaged with both at once — the things of this world and of Heaven— the holy Scriptures are full of teaching for us. Nay, Nature herself is full of such instances. In the exercise of the mental faculty, to think two thoughts at the same time is quite impossible. In the perceptions of our senses, to admit two sounds falling upon our ears at the same moment, and to distinguish them, although we are provided with two open passages, is impossible. Our eyes, again, unless they are both fixed upon the object of our vision, are unable to perform their action accurately. Thus much for Nature; but to recite to you the evidence of the Scriptures were as ridiculous as, so runs the proverb, 'to carry owls to Athens.' Why then combine things incompatible — the tumults of civil life and the practice of religion? Withdraw from clamour; be no more the cause or object of annoyance; let us keep ourselves to ourselves. We long since proposed religion as our aim; let us make the attainment of it our practice, and show those who have the wish to insult us that it does not lie with them to annoy us at their will. But this will only be when we have clearly shown them that we afford no handle for abuse. For the present enough of this! Would that some day we might meet and more perfectly consider those things that be for our souls' welfare; so may we not be too much occupied with thoughts of vanity, since death must one day overtake us. I was greatly pleased with the gifts you kindly sent me. They were most welcome on their own account; the thought of who it was that sent them made them many times more welcome. The gifts from Pontus, the tablets and medicines, kindly accept when I send them. At present they are not by me. N.B. The letters numbered CCXCII.-CCCLXVI. are included by the Ben. Ed. in a Classis Tertia, having no note of time. Some are doubtful, and some plainly spurious. Of these I include such as seem most important. 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/3202291.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.