Letter 105: On coming to Samosata I expected to have the pleasure of meeting your excellencies, and when I was disappointed I could not easily bear it. When, I said, will it be possible for me to be in your neighbourhood again? When will it be agreeable to you to come into mine?

To the deaconesses, daughters of Count Terentius [a Roman military commander sympathetic to Nicene Christianity]. When I passed through Samosata [a city on the Euphrates in southeastern Turkey], I hoped to see you — and honestly, missing you was hard to take. When will I be in your area again? When might you visit mine? That's in God's hands now. In the meantime, my friend Sophronius was heading your way, so I'm sending this along with him to say hello and to let you know that I think of you often. I thank God for you — you are worthy daughters of a worthy father, bearing real fruit, truly lilies among thorns. You are surrounded by people twisting the truth of the faith, and yet you haven't given in. You haven't abandoned the apostolic faith. You haven't chased after the fashionable new theology [Arianism: the movement that denied Christ's full divinity and co-equality with the Father, politically dominant in many eastern churches at this time]. That deserves deep gratitude to God, and it should bring you real honor. You have professed your faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hold on to that. Don't let it go. The Father — the source of all things. The Son — the Only-begotten, born from the Father, truly God from true God, perfect from perfect, the living image who reveals the whole Father in himself. The Holy Spirit — whose being comes from God, the wellspring of holiness, the power that gives life, the grace that perfects us. Through the Spirit we are adopted as God's children, and what is mortal is made immortal. The Spirit is united with the Father and the Son in everything — in glory, in eternity, in power, in kingdom, in sovereignty, in divinity. The baptismal formula itself [baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" — Matthew 28:19] testifies to this. Anyone who claims the Son or the Spirit is a created being, or who demotes the Spirit to the rank of a servant, has strayed far from the truth. Avoid their fellowship. Reject their teaching. It destroys souls. If the Lord ever lets us meet in person, I'll talk with you more about the faith — so you can see for yourselves, from Scripture, both the strength of the truth and the hollowness of heresy.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the deaconesses, the daughters of Count Terentius. On coming to Samosata I expected to have the pleasure of meeting your excellencies, and when I was disappointed I could not easily bear it. When, I said, will it be possible for me to be in your neighbourhood again? When will it be agreeable to you to come into mine? All this, however, must be left to the Lord's will. As to the present, when I found that my son Sophronius was setting out to you, I gladly delivered him this letter, to convey you my salutation, and to tell you how, by God's grace, I do not cease to remember you, and to thank the Lord on your behalf, in that you are goodly scions of a goodly stock, fruitful in good works, and verily like lilies among thorns. Surrounded as you are by the terrible perversity of them that are corrupting the word of truth, you do not give in to their wiles; you have not abandoned the apostolic proclamation of faith, you have not gone over to the successful novelty of the day. Is not this cause of deep thankfulness to God? Shall not this rightly bring you great renown? You have professed your faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do not abandon this deposit; the Father — origin of all; the Son — Only begotten, begotten of Him, very God, Perfect of Perfect, living image, showing the whole Father in Himself; the Holy Ghost, having His subsistence of God, the fount of holiness, power that gives life, grace that makes perfect, through Whom man is adopted, and the mortal made immortal, conjoined with Father and Son in all things in glory and eternity, in power and kingdom, in sovereignty and godhead; as is testified by the tradition of the baptism of salvation. But all who maintain that either Son or Spirit is a creature, or absolutely reduce the Spirit to ministerial and servile rank, are far removed from the truth. Flee their communion. Turn away from their teaching. They are destructive to souls. If ever the Lord grant us to meet, I will discourse to you further concerning the faith, to the end that you may perceive at once the power of the truth and the rottenness of heresy by Scriptural proof. 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/3202105.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.