Letter 118: You owe me a good turn. For I lent you a kindness, which I ought to get back with interest;— a kind of interest, this, which our Lord does not refuse. Pay me, then, my friend, by paying me a visit.

You owe me one. I did you a kindness, and I expect it back — with interest. And this is the kind of interest even our Lord approves of. So pay me back, my friend: come visit me. That's the principal. As for the interest? The fact that it's *you* making the trip — a man so much my superior, as a father is to a child.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Jovinus, Bishop of Perrha. You owe me a good turn. For I lent you a kindness, which I ought to get back with interest;— a kind of interest, this, which our Lord does not refuse. Pay me, then, my friend, by paying me a visit. So much for the capital; what of the increment? It is the fact of the visit being paid by you, who are a man as much superior to me, as fathers are better than children. 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/3202118.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.