Letter 19

Theodoret of CyrrhusAthanasius, Presbyter|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
education booksfriendship

To the Presbyter Basilius.

I have found the gifted orator Athanasius to be exactly what your letter described him: his tongue is adorned by his speech, and his speech is adorned by his character, and all of it is lit from within by his abundant faith. Please, my dearest friend in God, always send us such gifts. You have given me, I assure you, very great pleasure through my time with him.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

Related Letters

Basil of CaesareaAthanasius, Presbyterc. 360 · basil caesarea #61

I have read the letter of your holiness, in which you have expressed your distress at the unhappy governor of Libya. I am grieved that my own country should have given birth to and nurtured such vices. I am grieved too that Libya, a neighbouring country, should suffer from our evils, and should have been delivered to the inhumanity of a man whos...

Theodoret of CyrrhusAthanasius, Presbyterc. 440 · theodoret cyrrhus #61
Basil of CaesareaAthanasius, Presbyterc. 358 · basil caesarea #25

1. I have received intelligence from those who come to me from Ancyra, and they are many and more than I can count, but they all agree in what they say, that you, a man very dear to me, (how can I speak so as to give no offense?) do not mention me in very pleasant terms, nor yet in such as your character would lead me to expect. I, however, lear...

Basil of CaesareaAthanasius, Presbyterc. 361 · basil caesarea #69

1. As time moves on, it continually confirms the opinion which I have long held of your holiness; or rather that opinion is strengthened by the daily course of events. Most men are indeed satisfied with observing, each one, what lies especially within his own province; not thus is it with you, but your anxiety for all the Churches is no less tha...

Basil of CaesareaAthanasius, Presbyterc. 361 · basil caesarea #66

No one, I feel sure, is more distressed at the present condition, or, rather to speak more truly, ill condition of the Churches than your excellency; for you compare the present with the past, and take into account how great a change has come about. You are well aware that if no check is put to the swift deterioration which we are witnessing, th...