Letter 25: (Amphilochius was acquitted of the charges made against him, referred to in former letters; but the result of the accusation on his own mind was such that he resigned his office, and retired to a sort of hermitage at a place called Ozizala, not far from Nazianzus, where he devoted his hours of labour to the cultivation of vegetables. The four le...
Gregory to Amphilochius.
So you have been acquitted -- and now you have fled from the world into your retreat at Ozizala, where you devote your hours to cultivating vegetables. I cannot say I blame you. After what you have endured, the silence of your hermitage must feel like paradise itself.
But do not imagine I will let you disappear entirely. Friends have a claim on each other that even the monastic life cannot dissolve. Send me some of those famous vegetables of yours, and in return I will send you my prayers -- which, I confess, may be less nourishing but are certainly more lasting.
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