Letter 51: How do you think my heart was pained at hearing of the slanders heaped on me by some of those that feel no fear of the Judge, who shall destroy them that speak leasing? I spent nearly the whole night sleepless, thinking of your words of love; so did grief lay hold upon my heart of hearts. For verily, in the words of Solomon, slander humbles a man.

To Bishop Bosporius. How do you think my heart feels when I read your letters? You pour out your troubles to me as though I had the power to fix them, and I receive them with all the sympathy in the world but almost none of the capacity. I am like a physician consulted by letter about a patient he has never examined. Still, what I can offer — counsel, prayer, and the solidarity of a brother who shares your suffering — that much I give freely. You tell me the Church in your region is being torn apart by factions. This is nothing new. From the beginning, the devil's chief strategy against the Church has been division. He cannot defeat us from outside — persecution only strengthens us — so he works from within, setting brother against brother and turning disputes over words into chasms of hatred. My advice is simple, though I know it is hard to follow: patience, gentleness, and absolute clarity on doctrine. Yield nothing on the faith. Yield everything you can on matters of personal dignity and precedence. The man who insists on his own honor while the Church bleeds around him has his priorities backward. Hold fast, brother. We will outlast this storm if we do not tear each other apart first.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Bishop Bosporius. How do you think my heart was pained at hearing of the slanders heaped on me by some of those that feel no fear of the Judge, who shall destroy them that speak leasing? I spent nearly the whole night sleepless, thinking of your words of love; so did grief lay hold upon my heart of hearts. For verily, in the words of Solomon, slander humbles a man. And no man is so void of feeling as not to be touched at heart, and bowed down to the ground, if he falls in with lips prone to lying. But we must needs put up with all things and endure all things, after committing our vindication to the Lord. He will not despise us; for he that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. Proverbs 14:31 They, however, who have patched up this new tragedy of blasphemy seem to have lost all belief in the Lord, Who has declared that we must give account at the day of judgment even for an idle word. Matthew 12:36 And I, tell me, I anathematized the right blessed Dianius? For this is what they have said against me. Where? When? In whose presence? On what pretext? In mere spoken words, or in writing? Following others, or myself the author and originator of the deed? Alas for the impudence of men who make no difficulty at saying anything! Alas for their contempt of the judgment of God! Unless, indeed, they add this further to their fiction, that they make me out to have been once upon a time so far out of my mind as not to know what I was saying. For so long as I have been in my senses I know that I never did anything of the kind, or had the least wish to do so. What I am, indeed, conscious of is this; that from my earliest childhood I was brought up in love for him, thought as I gazed at him how venerable he looked, how dignified, how truly reverend. Then when I grew older I began to know him by the good qualities of his soul, and took delight in his society, gradually learning to perceive the simplicity, nobility, and liberality of his character, and all his most distinctive qualities, his gentleness of soul, his mingled magnanimity and meekness, the seemliness of his conduct, his control of temper, the beaming cheerfulness and affability which he combined with majesty of demeanour. From all this I counted him among men most illustrious for high character. However, towards the close of his life (I will not conceal the truth) I, together with many of them that in our country feared the Lord, sorrowed over him with sorrow unendurable, because he signed the creed brought from Constantinople by George. Afterwards, full of kindness and gentleness as he was, and willing out of the fullness of his fatherly heart to give satisfaction to everyone, when he had already fallen sick of the disease of which he died, he sent for me, and, calling the Lord to witness, said that in the simplicity of his heart he had agreed to the document sent from Constantinople, but had had no idea of rejecting the creed put forth by the holy Fathers at Nicæa, nor had had any other disposition of heart than from the beginning he had always had. He prayed, moreover, that he might not be cut off from the lot of those blessed three hundred and eighteen bishops who had announced the pious decree to the world. In consequence of this satisfactory statement I dismissed all anxiety and doubt, and, as you are aware, communicated with him, and gave over grieving. Such have been my relations with Dianius. If anyone avers that he is privy to any vile slander on my part against Dianius, do not let him buzz it slave-wise in a corner; let him come boldly out and convict me in the light of day.

[Πρός: Βοσπορίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ] Πῶς μου οἴει τὴν ψυχὴν ὠδύνησεν ἡ ἀκοὴ τῆς συκοφαντίας ἐκείνης, ἣν κατέχεόν μού τινες τῶν μὴ φοβουμένων τὸν κριτήν, ὃς ἀπολεῖ πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος; ὥστε πᾶσαν τὴν νύκτα ἐπὶ τοῖς ῥήμασι τῆς ἀγάπης σου, ὀλίγου δεῖν, ἄϋπνος διαμεῖναι· οὕτω μέσης ἥψατό μου τῆς καρδίας ἡ λύπη. ὄντως γάρ, κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα, Συκοφαντία ἄνδρα ταπεινοῖ· καὶ οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἀνάλγητος, ὡς μὴ παθεῖν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ κατακαμφθῆναι εἰς γῆν, στόμασιν πρὸς ψευδολογίαν εὐκόλοις παραπεσών. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀνάγκη πάντα στέγειν, πάντα ὑπομένειν, τὴν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν ἐκδίκησιν ἐπιτρέψαντες τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὃς οὐ περιόψεται ἡμᾶς· διότι Ὁ συκοφαντῶν πένητα παροξύνει τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτόν. οἱ μέντοι τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο δρᾶμα τῆς καθʼ ἡμῶν βλασφημίας συνθέντες ἐοίκασι παντελῶς ἀπιστεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὃς καὶ περὶ ἀργοῦ ῥήματος δώσειν ἡμᾶς λόγον ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως ἀπεφήνατο. Ἐγὼ δέ, εἶπέ μοι, τὸν μακαριώτατον Διάνιον ἀνεθεμάτισα; τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμῶν κατήγγειλαν. ποῦ ἢ πότε; τίνων παρόντων; ἐπὶ ποίᾳ προφάσει; ψιλοῖς ῥήμασιν ἢ ἐγγράφοις; ἑτέροις ἀκολουθῶν, ἢ αὐτὸς κατάρχων καὶ αὐθεντῶν τοῦ τολμήματος; ὢ τῆς ἀναιδείας τῶν πάντα φθεγγομένων ῥᾳδίως· ὢ τῆς καταφρονήσεως τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ κριμάτων· πλὴν εἰ μὴ ἄρα τῷ πλάσματι αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦτο προστραγῳδήσουσιν, ὅτι ἐγενόμην καὶ ἔκφρων ποτέ, ὥστε ἀγνοεῖν αὐτὸς τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ῥήματα. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν λογισμῶν ὑπάρχων τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, οὐδὲν οἶδα ποιήσας τοιοῦτον, οὐδὲ προελόμενος τὴν ἀρχήν. ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον ἐμαυτῷ συνεπίσταμαι, ὅτι ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας συνετράφην τῷ περὶ αὐτὸν φίλτρῳ, καὶ ἀπέβλεπον πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς μὲν γεραρὸς ἰδεῖν, ὡς δὲ μεγαλοπρεπής, ὅσον δὲ ἔχων τὸ ἱεροπρεπὲς ἐν τῷ εἴδει. ἐπεὶ δέ μοι λοιπὸν καὶ ὁ λόγος παρῆν, τότε δὴ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθῶν αὐτὸν ἐπεγίνωσκον· καὶ ἔχαιρον αὐτοῦ τῇ συνουσίᾳ, τὸ ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον καὶ ἐλευθέριον τῶν τρόπων καταμανθάνων, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἴδια, ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμερότης, τὸ μεγαλοφυές τε ὁμοῦ καὶ πρᾶον, τὸ εὐπρεπές, τὸ ἀόργητον, τὸ φαιδρὸν καὶ εὐπρόσιτον τῇ σεμνότητι κεκραμένον. ὥστε αὐτὸν ἐναρίθμιον εἶχον τοῖς περιφανεστάτοις κατʼ ἀρετήν. Περὶ μέντοι τὰ τελευταῖα τοῦ βίου (οὐ γὰρ ἀποκρύψομαι τἀληθές̓ ἐλυπήθην ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λύπην οὐκ ἀνεκτὴν μετὰ πολλῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι φοβουμένων τὸν Κύριον, ἐπὶ τῇ ὑπογραφῇ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Γεώργιον ἀπὸ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως κομισθείσης. εἶτα, οἷος ἐκεῖνος πραότητι τρόπου καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ πάντας πληροφορεῖν ἐν σπλάγχνοις πατρικοῖς ἀνεχόμενος, ἤδη καταπεσὼν εἰς τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν, ὑφʼ ἧς καὶ μετῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ βίου, προσκαλεσάμενος ἡμᾶς ἔφη· ὑπὸ μάρτυρι τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας συντεθεῖσθαι μὲν τῷ ἀπὸ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως γραμματείῳ, μηδὲν δὲ ἐπʼ ἀθετήσει τῆς κατὰ Νικαίαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἐκτεθείσης πίστεως προελέσθαι, μηδὲ ἄλλως ἔχειν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἢ ὡς παρέλαβεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς· ἀλλὰ καὶ εὔχεσθαι μὴ χωρισθῆναι τῆς μερίδος τῶν μακαρίων ἐκείνων ἐπισκόπων τῶν τριακοσίων δεκαοκτώ, τῶν τὸ εὐσεβὲς κήρυγμα διαγγειλάντων τῇ οἰκουμένῃ· ὥστε ἡμᾶς, ἐπὶ τῇ πληροφορίᾳ ταύτῃ, λύσαντας πᾶσαν τῶν καρδιῶν τὴν διάκρισιν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπίστασαι, προσελθεῖν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ, καὶ λυπουμένους παύσασθαι. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα τοιαῦτα. εἰ δέ τις λέγοι τινὰ βλασφημίαν ἀθέμιτον εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμῖν συνεγνωκέναι, μὴ κατὰ γωνίαν θρυλλείτω δουλοπρεπῶς, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὸ φανερὸν ἀντικαταστὰς διελεγχέτω μετὰ παῤῥησίας.