Letter 2010: Ruricius, bishop, to his lord, his own soul, the Abbot Pomerius, to be cherished in Christ the Lord with deepest...

To the lord of his own soul, and to one to be cherished in his very heart as a lord in Christ, to Pomerius the abbot, Bishop Ruricius. The wise men of this world have said that two friends have a single soul, which I affirm to be true even by the testimony of Scripture, where it says: "And the heart and soul of the believers was one" [Acts 4:32]—one indeed in love, not in number, and in the simplicity of faith, not in singleness of person. This, therefore, I proclaim and approve. For from the time that I departed from your fellowship of one mind, I feel myself to be divided, and I recognize that a part of me has remained behind with you; nor do I believe myself to be whole while you are absent; and, since I do not find myself within myself, having returned to you I seek myself among you with you, and there I perceive that, just as much of me as I have left with you, so much of you I have carried away with me. And I give thanks to almighty God for so wonderful a deed of his, in that he has deigned to grant by a universal dispensation that, among those whom intervals of place separate, the mind may travel free and confined by no laws of absence, and that there should be nothing so impenetrable that it might not lie open to the gazes of the mind, but that through the contemplation of the heart they might behold one another from afar, with the favor of mutual love passing back and forth, where love itself abides. And therefore, offering to your devotion—most full toward me, so far as I judge from my own mind—my fullest greeting, I beg with every solicitation of prayers: if you repay us an equal affection, if you love us with a like love, if our love accomplishes anything in your heart, if our affection has penetrated even to the marrow of your heart, if the sweetness of its power has so subdued you for my sake, as it has subdued me for yours, that you can neither resist nor wish to resist its command—then hasten to come as soon as possible to a brother who longs for you, you who likewise long for him, by a kindly service both about to discharge a promised debt and about to soothe a mutual affection; because, set face to face, we shall render an equal grace to one another from our gazing upon and our conversing together; and so much, if—as you are loved—you love, shall be repaid by me to your love as you yourself shall have rendered to mine. Nor indeed in your coming will you be able to dread weariness, because, as that one said, devotion has conquered the hard road, and, according to our apostle, love bears all things, love which neither seeks the things that are its own, nor ever knows how to fall away [cf. 1 Cor 13:7-8]. Opportunely too, for one who travels in longing, the mildness of the autumn season agrees with love, provided, however, that the heat of the past summer kindle it, and the chill of the approaching winter not extinguish it.

X. DOMINO ANIMAE SUAE ET IN CHRISTO DOMINO UISCERIBUS EXCOLENDO POMERIO ABBATI RURICIUS EPISCOPUS. Sapientes saeculi amicos duos unam animam habere dixerunt, quod ego etiam ecclesiastico testimonio uerum esse confirmo, quo ait: credentium autem erat anima et cor unum, unum utique caritate, non numero, et fidei simplicitate, non singularitate personae. hoc ergo praedico proboque. nam ex quo a uestra unanimitate discessi, diuisum esse me sentio partemque meam uobiscum resedisse cognosco nec absentibus uobis integrum esse me credo et, cum me in me non inueniam, apud uos me ad uos regressus inquiro atque ibidem quantum mei uobis reliquisse, tantum uestri mecum abstulisse conspicio. et omnipotenti deo gratias super tam admirabili facto eius refero, quod ita generali tribuere dispensatione dignatus est, ut inter eos, quos locorum interualla discriminant, liber ac nullis conclusus absentiae legibus animus commearet nihilque esset tam inpenetrabile, quod mentis aspectibus non 15] Act. 4, 82. S uerum] uestru S 4 indiuiduu S, in diuiduum v per] p S, om. v, redintegrationem mppl. Mommsenus 5 transmitat S 9 jtficerit S 11 sue S 12 aftbt rur eps S 18 unanima S, corr. v 15 quod v . 17 persone S 18 discensi S sencio S 22 mei v, me S Kr . relinquisse S 23 deo-consistit] cf. Fausti ep. X p. 215,19 sqq. et RtW. II 52 25 discrimant S 26 conclusabsentie S XXI. ftost. 26 pateret, sed per cordis intuitum inde se inuicem cari gratia intercurrente conspicerent, ubi caritas ipsa consistit. Et ideo salutem plenissimae erga me, quantum propria mente conicio, pietati uestrae deferens omni precum ambitione deposco, si nobis parem repensatis affectum, si simili nos caritate diligitis, si aliquid in uisceribus uestris amor noster operatur, si usque ad medullas cordis uestri dilectio nostra peruenit, si ita uos pro me, quam me pro uobis dulcedine potestatis edomuit, ut imperio ipsius nec possitis resistere nec uelitis, ad desiderantem fratrem [si] desiderans quantocius uenire festinato beneficio et promissum soluturus debitum et mutuum mitigaturus affectum, quia coram positi aequalem nobis gratiam de nostra contemplatione et conlocutione praestabimus tantumque, si, ut diligeris, diligis, a me retribuetur caritati tuae, quantum tu meae ipse detuleris. nec sane in ueniendo fatigationem poteris formidare, quia, ut ille dixit, uicit iter durum pietas, et iuxta apostolum nostrum caritas omnia sustinet, quae nec quaerit, quae sua sunt, nec umquam nouit excidere. oportune etiam desideranti uiatori autumnalis temporis congruit cum caritate temperies, si eam tamen praeteritae aestatis feruor accendat, non aduenientis hiemis algor extinguat