Letter 95: I had written some while since to your reverence about our meeting one another and other subjects, but I was disappointed at my letter not reaching your excellency, for after the blessed deacon Theophrastus had taken charge of the letter, on my setting out on an unavoidable journey, he did not convey it to your reverence, because he was seized b...

To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata [a city on the Euphrates in southeastern Turkey], I wrote to you a while ago about getting together, among other things, but the letter never reached you. The blessed deacon Theophrastus took charge of it when I left on an urgent trip, but he fell ill and died before he could deliver it. So the letter sat at my house, useless. By the time I found out, there was barely enough time left to make writing worthwhile. But here's the situation: Bishop Meletius [of Antioch] and Theodotus [of Nicopolis] have been pressing me to come see them. They want a meeting as a sign of solidarity, and they're hoping to address some of the troubles weighing on all of us right now. They've set mid-June as the date, at Phargamus [a pilgrimage site in Cappadocia known for its annual martyrs' festival and synod]. When I got home and discovered Theophrastus had died and my letter was still sitting there, I realized I couldn't just wait around — there were still thirty-three days until the meeting. So I rushed a letter to our colleague Eustathius, asking him to forward it to you so I could hear back quickly. So: if you can come and are willing, I'll be there too. If not, God willing, I'll make up for the visit I owed you from last year — unless my sins bring some new obstacle, in which case I'll have to postpone the meeting with the bishops yet again.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. I had written some while since to your reverence about our meeting one another and other subjects, but I was disappointed at my letter not reaching your excellency, for after the blessed deacon Theophrastus had taken charge of the letter, on my setting out on an unavoidable journey, he did not convey it to your reverence, because he was seized by the sickness of which he died. Hence it happened that I was so late in writing, that, the time being now so exceedingly short, I did not look for there being much use in this letter. The godly bishop Meletius and Theodotus had strongly urged me to visit them, representing that a meeting would be a proof of affection, and being wishful of remedying the troubles which are at present a cause of anxiety. They had appointed, as a time for our meeting, the middle of the approaching month of June, and for the place, Phargamus, a spot famous for martyr's glory and for the large number of people attending the synod there every year. Directly I returned and heard of the death of the blessed deacon, and that my letter was lying useless at home, I felt that I must not be idle, because thirty-three days were still remaining up to the appointed time, and so I hurriedly sent the letter to the very reverend Eustathius, my fellow minister, with the object of its being sent on by him to your reverence and of getting an answer without delay. If, then, it is possible and agreeable to you to come, I will come too. If not, I, God willing, will pay the debt of meeting due from last year: unless haply some hindrance for my sins comes in the way again, in which case I must put off my meeting with the bishops to another time. 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/3202095.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.