Letter 66: No one, I feel sure, is more distressed at the present condition, or, rather to speak more truly, ill condition of the Churches than your excellency; for you compare the present with the past, and take into account how great a change has come about. You are well aware that if no check is put to the swift deterioration which we are witnessing, th...

To Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria [the most prominent defender of Nicene orthodoxy in the 4th century, exiled five times for his beliefs]: No one, I'm sure, is more troubled by the current state of the Churches than you. You've seen what they were and what they've become. You know that if this rapid decline isn't stopped, the Churches will soon be unrecognizable. If the decay grieves me this much, I can only imagine how it feels for someone who actually experienced the old days — when the Churches were at peace and united in faith. But precisely because you feel this so deeply, it seems right that your wisdom should be put to work on the Church's behalf. Here is what I've come to believe: **the only hope for the Eastern Churches is winning the active support of the Western bishops.** [The Roman Empire was increasingly governed as two halves — East and West — with separate emperors and distinct Church politics.] If those Western bishops showed the same energy defending persecuted Christians here in the East as they've shown dealing with heretics in their own territory, we would all benefit enormously. The emperors respect popular authority, and the laity follow strong episcopal leadership. And who is better positioned to make this happen than you? You have the intelligence, the experience, the political skill. No one in the entire West is more respected than you are. Most honored father — leave behind a legacy worthy of your extraordinary life. Crown your lifetime of work for the true faith with this one act: **send capable, doctrinally sound representatives from your church to the Western bishops.** Let them describe what we're suffering. Propose a path forward. Be a Samuel to the Churches [Samuel: the Old Testament prophet who united Israel's scattered tribes]. Share in the grief of your besieged people. Pray for peace. Ask the Lord to grant some sign of reconciliation. I know letters are weak instruments for such weighty matters. And you hardly need encouragement from me — you're like a champion athlete who doesn't need children cheering from the sidelines. I'm not instructing someone who doesn't know what to do. I'm just giving a push to someone already in motion. For the broader problems of the East, we'll need more allies, and we must wait for the Western response. But **the Church of Antioch** is a matter that depends specifically on you [Antioch: one of the five great centers of early Christianity, in modern southern Turkey, was split into rival factions each claiming to be the legitimate church]. You have the standing to discipline some, silence others, and restore unity through reconciliation. You know as well as any experienced physician that treatment must begin with the most vital organ. And what city is more vital to the universal Church than Antioch? Restore Antioch to harmony, and like a healthy head, it will supply soundness to the whole body. The disease there is severe. The city has been divided not only by heretics but torn apart by people who claim to agree with each other yet can't stop fighting. Healing those divisions requires your wisdom and pastoral care. Reuniting what has been broken and restoring one body from scattered parts — that belongs ultimately to God alone, who can bring dry bones back to life [a reference to Ezekiel 37]. But the Lord always works through those who are worthy of Him. And so, once again, we trust that this crucial work is fitting for your hands.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. No one, I feel sure, is more distressed at the present condition, or, rather to speak more truly, ill condition of the Churches than your excellency; for you compare the present with the past, and take into account how great a change has come about. You are well aware that if no check is put to the swift deterioration which we are witnessing, there will soon be nothing to prevent the complete transformation of the Churches. And if the decay of the Churches seems so pitiful to me, what must — so I have often in my lonely musings reflected — be the feelings of one who has known, by experience, the old tranquillity of the Churches of the Lord, and their one mind about the faith? But as your excellency feels most deeply this distress, it seems to me only becoming that your wisdom should be more strongly moved to interest itself in the Church's behalf. I for my part have long been aware, so far as my moderate intelligence has been able to judge of current events, that the one way of safety for the Churches of the East lies in their having the sympathy of the bishops of the West. For if only those bishops liked to show the same energy on behalf of the Christians sojourning in our part of the world which they have shown in the case of one or two of the men convicted of breaches of orthodoxy in the West, our common interests would probably reap no small benefit, our sovereigns treating the authority of the people with respect, and the laity in all quarters unhesitatingly following them. But, to carry out these objects, who has more capacity than yourself, with your intelligence and prudence? Who is keener to see the needful course to be taken? Who has more practical experience in working a profitable policy? Who feels more deeply the troubles of the brethren? What through all the West is more honoured than your venerable gray hairs? O most honoured father, leave behind you some memorial worthy of your life and character. By this one act crown your innumerable efforts on behalf of true religion. Dispatch from the holy Church placed under your care men of ability in sound doctrine to the bishops in the West. Recount to them the troubles whereby we are beset. Suggest some mode of relief. Be a Samuel to the Churches. Share the grief of the beleaguered people. Offer prayers for peace. Ask favour from the Lord, that He will send some memorial of peace to the Churches. I know how weak letters are to move men in matters of such importance; but you yourself no more need exhortation from others than the noblest athletes need the children's cheers. It is not as though I were instructing one in ignorance; I am only giving a new impulse to one whose energies are already roused. For the rest of the affairs of the East perhaps you may need the aid of more, and we must wait for the Westerns. But plainly the discipline of the Church of Antioch depends upon your reverence's being able to control some, to reduce others to silence, and to restore strength to the Church by concord. No one knows better than you do, that, like all wise physicians, you ought to begin your treatment in the most vital parts, and what part is more vital to the Churches throughout the world than Antioch? Only let Antioch be restored to harmony, and nothing will stand in the way of her supplying, as a healthy head, soundness to all the body. Truly the diseases of that city, which has not only been cut asunder by heretics, but is torn in pieces by men who say that they are of one mind with one another, stand in need of your wisdom and evangelic sympathy. To unite the sundered parts again, and bring about the harmony of one body, belongs to Him alone Who by His ineffable power grants even to the dry bones to come back again to sinews and flesh. But the Lord always works His mighty works by means of them that are worthy of Him. Once again, in this case too, we trust that the ministry of matters so important may beseem your excellency, with the result that you will lay the tempest of the people, do away with the party superiorities, and subject all to one another in love, and give back to the Church her ancient strength. 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/3202066.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.