Letter 80: The worse the diseases of the Churches grow, the more do we all turn to your excellency, in the belief that your championship is the one consolation left to us in our troubles. By the power of your prayers, and your knowledge of what is the best course to suggest in the emergency, you are believed to be able to save us from this terrible tempest...

To Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria [the most influential Christian leader of the 4th century, who spent decades fighting Arianism and was exiled five times for it]: The worse things get in the churches, the more we all look to you. We believe your leadership is the only real comfort we have left. Everyone who knows you — whether personally or by reputation — is convinced that through your prayers and your wisdom, you can help us find a way through this terrible storm. So please, I beg you: don't stop praying for us, and keep writing. If you knew how much your letters mean to us, you'd never miss a chance to send one. And if, with God's help and your prayers, I could be worthy of actually meeting you — of seeing firsthand the greatness and apostolic spirit I've heard so much about — I would count that as God's consolation for every hardship I've ever faced.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. The worse the diseases of the Churches grow, the more do we all turn to your excellency, in the belief that your championship is the one consolation left to us in our troubles. By the power of your prayers, and your knowledge of what is the best course to suggest in the emergency, you are believed to be able to save us from this terrible tempest by all alike who know your excellency even to a small extent, whether by hearsay or by personal experience. Wherefore, cease not, I implore, to pray for our souls and to rouse us by your letters. Did you but know of what service these are to us you would never have lost a single opportunity of writing. Could I only, by the aid of your prayers, be deemed worthy of seeing you, and of enjoying your good qualities, and of adding to the story of my life a meeting with your truly great and apostolic soul, then I should indeed believe that I had received from God's mercy a consolation equivalent to all the afflictions of my life.

[Πρός: Ἀθανασίῳ, ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀλεξανδρείας] Ὅσον τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τὰ ἀρρωστήματα ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον πρόεισι, τοσοῦτον πάντες ἐπὶ τὴν σὴν ἐπιστρεφόμεθα τελειότητα, μίαν ἑαυτοῖς ὑπολείπεσθαι τῶν δεινῶν παραμυθίαν τὴν σὴν προστασίαν πεπιστευκότες· ὃς καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τῶν προσευχῶν καὶ τῷ εἰδέναι τὰ βέλτιστα τοῖς πράγμασιν ὑποτίθεσθαι, διασώσασθαι ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ φοβεροῦ τούτου χειμῶνος παρὰ πάντων ὁμοίως τῶν καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἢ ἀκοῇ ἢ πείρᾳ γνωριζόντων τὴν τελειότητα σοῦ πιστεύῃ. διὸ μὴ ἀνῇς καὶ προσευχόμενος ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν καὶ διεγείρων ἡμᾶς τοῖς γράμμασιν· ὧν εἰ ᾔδεις ὁπόσον ἐστὶ τὸ ὠφέλιμον, οὐκ ἄν ποτε παραπεσοῦσάν σοι γραμμάτων ἀφορμὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὑπερέβης. εἰ δὲ καταξιωθείημεν τῇ συνεργίᾳ τῶν προσευχῶν τοῦ ἰδεῖν σε καὶ ἀπολαῦσαι τῶν ἐν σοὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ προσθεῖναι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τοῦ ἡμετέρου βίου τὴν συντυχίαν τῆς μεγάλης σου ὄντως καὶ ἀποστολικῆς ψυχῆς, πάντως ἂν ἑαυτοῖς ἐλογισάμεθα, ὧν ἐθλίβημεν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ζωῇ ἡμῶν, ἀντίρροπον παρὰ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας ἐσχηκέναι παραμυθίαν.