Letter 152: (On his retirement from Constantinople Gregory had at the request of the Bishops of the Province, and especially of Theodore of Tyana the Metropolitan, and Bosporius Bishop of Colonia (see letters above) and at the earnest solicitation of the people, undertaken the charge of the Diocese of Nazianzus; but he very soon found that his health was no...

It is time for me to use the words of Scripture: "To whom shall I cry when I am wronged?" Who will stretch out a hand to me when I am crushed? To whom shall the burden of this Church pass, in its present broken and paralyzed condition? I testify before God and the holy angels that the flock of God is being wronged — left without a shepherd or a bishop — because I have been laid aside. I am a prisoner of my own ill health. I have been taken from the Church very quickly by it and made useless to everyone, dying a little each day and more and more overwhelmed by my duties. If the Province had any other head, it would have been my place to cry out in protest to that person continually. But since Your Reverence is the superior here, it is to you I must look. To leave everything else aside: you will hear from my fellow priests — Eulalius the Chorepiscopus and Celeusius, whom I have sent expressly to you — what these robbers who have now gotten the upper hand are both doing and threatening. To check them is beyond my feeble strength, but it belongs to your skill and authority; for God, along with his other gifts to you, has given you also the strength to protect his Church. If in saying and writing all this I cannot be heard, I will take the only course left to me: to declare publicly and openly that this Church needs a bishop.

Ep. CLII. (On his retirement from Constantinople Gregory had at the request of the Bishops of the Province, and especially of Theodore of Tyana the Metropolitan, and Bosporius Bishop of Colonia (see letters above) and at the earnest solicitation of the people, undertaken the charge of the Diocese of Nazianzus; but he very soon found that his health was not equal to so great a task, and that he could not fulfil its calls upon him. He struggled on for some time, but at length, finding himself quite unequal to it, he wrote as follows to the Metropolitan:) It is time for me to use these words of Scripture, To whom shall I cry when I am wronged? Habakkuk 2:1 Who will stretch out a hand to me when I am oppressed? To whom shall the burden of this Church pass, in its present evil and paralysed condition? I protest before God and the Elect Angels that the Flock of God is being unrighteously dealt with in being left without a Shepherd or a Bishop, through my being laid on the shelf. For I am a prisoner to my ill health and have been very quickly removed thereby from the Church, and made quite useless to everybody, every day breathing my last, and getting more and more crushed by my duties. If the Province had any other head, it would have been my duty to cry out and protest to it continually. But since Your Reverence is the Superior, it is to you I must look. For, to leave out everything else, you shall learn from my fellow priests, Eulalius the Chorepiscopus and Celeusius, whom I have specially sent to Your Reverence, what these robbers who have now got the upper hand, are both doing and threatening. To repress them is not in the power of my weakness, but belongs to your skill and strength; since to you, with His other gifts God has given that of strength also for the protection of His Church. If in saying and writing this I cannot get a hearing, I shall take the only course remaining to me, that of publicly proclaiming and making known that this Church needs a Bishop, in order that it may not be injured by my feeble health. What is to follow is matter for your consideration.