Letter 90: 1. The good God Who ever mixes consolation with affliction has, even now in the midst of my pangs, granted me a certain amount of comfort in the letters which our right honourable father bishop Athanasius has received from you and sent on to me. For they contain evidence of sound faith and proof of your inviolable agreement and concord, showing ...

To the bishops of the Western Church: Brothers, Even in the middle of everything we're suffering here, God has given me real comfort. Bishop Athanasius [the great champion of Nicene orthodoxy, then bishop of Alexandria] forwarded your letters to me, and they were exactly what I needed to read. Your faith is solid. You stand united. You're doing the work of true shepherds, feeding your people with real knowledge of God — following the path the Fathers laid down before us. Reading that put something like a smile back in my soul, despite how grim things are on our end. The deacon Sabinus has also been a blessing. He gave me a full account of how things stand with you, and he can tell you firsthand what we're facing here. So I ask two things: first, pray for us — earnestly and constantly. Second, do whatever you can to help our churches, because they desperately need it. Brothers, everything here is falling apart. The Church in the East is like a ship in a storm, taking wave after wave, and without God's intervention soon, I don't know how much longer she can hold together. We consider your unity a great gift to us. Don't let the distance between us — however many miles of land and sea — become a wall. We are one body in the Spirit. Accept us as such. **The situation:** You've probably already heard how bad things are — the news has traveled everywhere. But let me spell it out: The teachings of the Fathers are being thrown away. Apostolic tradition counts for nothing. The churches are full of people inventing clever theological systems instead of doing actual theology — the wisdom of this world gets all the prizes, while the glory of the cross is rejected. Faithful bishops have been driven into exile, and wolves have been installed in their places, tearing apart Christ's flock. The churches stand empty; the wilderness is full of weeping congregations [under Emperor Valens, pro-Arian policies led to the exile of Nicene bishops and the suppression of orthodox worship across the Eastern Empire]. The older generation grieves, comparing what they remember with what they see now. The younger generation deserves even more pity — they don't even know what they've lost. **What we're asking:** If the love of Christ means anything to you, if fellowship in the Spirit means anything, if mercy means anything — help us. Fight for the true faith. Rescue us from this storm. Speak boldly among us that great confession of the Fathers — the one that destroys the heresy of Arius [Arianism: the teaching that the Son of God was a created being, not co-eternal and co-equal with the Father] and builds up the churches in sound doctrine: that the Son is of one substance with the Father, and the Holy Spirit is worshipped and honored equally with both [this is the core of the Nicene Creed, affirmed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD]. We pray that through your help, God will give us the same boldness for the truth that he has given you — boldness to confess the divine and saving Trinity. Deacon Sabinus will fill you in on the details. We welcome your commitment to orthodoxy and affirm everything you have done according to proper church order. — Basil

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the holy brethren the bishops of the West. 1. The good God Who ever mixes consolation with affliction has, even now in the midst of my pangs, granted me a certain amount of comfort in the letters which our right honourable father bishop Athanasius has received from you and sent on to me. For they contain evidence of sound faith and proof of your inviolable agreement and concord, showing thus that the shepherds are following in the footsteps of the Fathers and feeding the people of the Lord with knowledge. All this has so much gladdened my heart as to dispel my despondency and to create something like a smile in my soul in the midst of the distressing state of affairs in which we are now placed. The Lord has also extended His consolation to me by means of the reverend deacon Sabinus, my son, who has cheered my soul by giving me an exact narrative of your condition; and from personal experience of his own, will give you clear tidings of ours, that you may, in the first place, aid me in my trouble by earnest and constant prayer to God; and next that you may consent to give such consolation as lies in your power to our afflicted Churches. For here, very honourable brethren, all is in a weak state; the Church has given way before the continuous attacks of her foes, like some bark in mid-ocean buffeted by successive blows of the waves; unless haply there be some quick visitation of the divine mercy. As then we reckon your mutual sympathy and unity an important blessing to ourselves, so do we implore you to pity our dissensions; and not, because we are separated by a great extent of country, to part us from you, but to admit us to the concord of one body, because we are united in the fellowship of the Spirit. 2. Our distresses are notorious, even though we leave them untold, for now their sound has gone out into all the world. The doctrines of the Fathers are despised; apostolic traditions are set at nought; the devices of innovators are in vogue in the Churches; now men are rather contrivers of cunning systems than theologians; the wisdom of this world wins the highest prizes and has rejected the glory of the cross. Shepherds are banished, and in their places are introduced grievous wolves hurrying the flock of Christ. Houses of prayer have none to assemble in them; desert places are full of lamenting crowds. The elders lament when they compare the present with the past. The younger are yet more to be compassionated, for they do not know of what they have been deprived. All this is enough to stir the pity of men who have learned the love of Christ; but, compared with the actual state of things, words fall very far short. If then there be any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any bowels of mercy, be stirred to help us. Be zealous for true religion, and rescue us from this storm. Ever be spoken among us with boldness that famous dogma of the Fathers, which destroys the ill-famed heresy of Arius, and builds up the Churches in the sound doctrine wherein the Son is confessed to be of one substance with the Father, and the Holy Ghost is ranked and worshipped as of equal honour, to the end that through your prayers and co-operation the Lord may grant to us that same boldness for the truth and glorying in the confession of the divine and saving Trinity which He has given you. But the aforenamed deacon will tell you every thing in detail. We have welcomed your apostolic zeal for orthodoxy and have agreed to all that has been canonically done by your reverences. 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/3202090.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.