Letter 81: I was delighted to receive the letter your affection sent me; but I am equally grieved at your having laid on me the load of a responsibility which is more than I can carry. How can I, so far removed as I am, undertake so great a charge? As long as the Church possesses you, it rests as it were on its proper buttress.

To Bishop Innocent, Your letter made me happy — but it also dropped an enormous responsibility on my shoulders, one I'm not sure I can handle from this far away. As long as your church has you, it stands on solid ground. But if the Lord should call you home, who could I possibly send from here who would carry the same weight you do? What you ask in your letter is both wise and right: that while you're still alive, you want to see your successor chosen — the one who will shepherd the Lord's flock after you. Like Moses, who both wished for and lived to see his own successor appointed. [Moses chose Joshua to lead Israel before his death — Deuteronomy 31.] But this is no small task. Your city is prominent, your reputation is wide, and the times are brutal. The Church is under constant assault, and it needs a serious leader, not a figurehead. I can't afford to treat this carelessly — especially since you warned me in your letter that if I neglect the churches, you'll hold me accountable before the Lord. So rather than have you as my accuser, I'd prefer to have you as my advocate before Christ. Here is what I've done: I've looked carefully among the presbyters of the city, and I've chosen a truly worthy man — the son of the blessed Hermogenes, who helped write the great creed at the great Synod. [The Synod of Nicaea in 325 AD, which produced the Nicene Creed defining Christ as fully divine — a direct response to Arianism.] Here is what you should know about him: - He has served as a presbyter for many years - He is steady, well-versed in church law, and sound in his faith - He has lived a life of celibacy and discipline — so much so that the austerity has worn down his body - He is genuinely poor, with no worldly resources. He doesn't even have enough for bread — he works with his own hands alongside the brothers who live with him - Everyone who meets him respects him - He corrects those who disagree with him gently, not harshly This is the man I intend to send you. Now — I know you had already suggested someone else: a man of good character whom I also care about, but who frankly isn't in the same league as the one I'm recommending. So I wanted to tell you my thinking first. If this is the kind of leader you're looking for — a man of God suited for the work, not just some younger man good for errands — then write back to me as soon as you can. Either send one of the brothers to escort him during the season of the fast, or if no one can make the journey, just send me a letter confirming it, and I'll arrange things from here.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Bishop Innocent. I was delighted to receive the letter your affection sent me; but I am equally grieved at your having laid on me the load of a responsibility which is more than I can carry. How can I, so far removed as I am, undertake so great a charge? As long as the Church possesses you, it rests as it were on its proper buttress. Should the Lord be pleased to make some dispensation in the matter of your life, whom, from among us here can I send to take the charge of the brethren, who will be in like esteem with yourself? That is a very wise and proper wish which you express in your letter, that while you are yet alive you may see the successor destined after you to guide the chosen flock of the Lord (like the blessed Moses, who both wished and saw). As the place is great and famous, and your work has great and wide renown, and the times are difficult, needing no insignificant guide on account of the continuous storms and tempests which are attacking the Church, I have not thought it safe for my own soul to treat the matter perfunctorily, specially when I bear in mind the terms in which you write. For you say that, accusing me of disregard of the Churches, you mean to withstand me before the Lord. Not then to be at issue with you, but rather to have you on my side in my defense which I make in the presence of Christ I have, after looking round in the assembly of the presbyters of the city, chosen the very honourable vessel, the offspring of the blessed Hermogenes, who wrote the great and invincible creed in the great Synod. He is a presbyter of the Church, of many years standing, of steadfast character, skilled in canons, accurate in the faith, who has lived up to this time in continence and ascetic discipline, although the severity of his austere life has now subdued the flesh; a man of poverty, with no resources in this world, so that he is not even provided with bare bread, but by the labour of his hands gets a living with the brethren who dwell with him. It is my intention to send him. If, then, this is the kind of man you want, and not some younger man fit only to be sent and to discharge the common duties of this world, be so good as to write to me at the first opportunity, that I may send you this man, who is elect of God, adapted for the present work, respected by all who meet him, and who instructs with meekness all who differ from him. I might have sent him at once, but since you yourself had anticipated me in asking for a man of honourable character, and beloved by myself, but far inferior to the one whom I have indicated, I wished my mind in the matter to be made known to you. If therefore this is the kind of man you want, either send one of the brethren to fetch him at the time of the fast, or, if you have no one able to undertake the journey to me, let me know by letter. 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/3202081.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.