Letter 124: It is sometimes said that slaves to the passion of love, when by some inevitable necessity they are separated from the object of their desire, are able to stay the violence of their passion by indulging the sense of sight, if haply they can look at the picture of the beloved object. Whether this be true or not I cannot say; but what has befallen...

To Theodorus, People say that those desperately in love, when forced apart from the person they long for, can ease their heartache just by looking at a portrait. I'm not sure if that's true — but something very similar has happened with you. I've developed a real affection for your genuine, good-hearted soul. Yet actually seeing you has been as difficult as everything else in my life these days, blocked by my own failings. Still, I felt like I caught a glimpse of you through the brothers who visited me recently [likely monks or clergy traveling between communities]. And I think if I'd met you while far from them, I would have seen them reflected in you. The love each of you carries is so abundant that you practically compete over who cares more deeply. I thank God for this. If I have any life left in me, I pray you'll be part of what makes it worth living — because right now, cut off from the people I love most, life feels like something to endure rather than enjoy. Honestly, I don't see how anyone can find joy when separated from the people who truly love them.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Theodorus. It is sometimes said that slaves to the passion of love, when by some inevitable necessity they are separated from the object of their desire, are able to stay the violence of their passion by indulging the sense of sight, if haply they can look at the picture of the beloved object. Whether this be true or not I cannot say; but what has befallen me in your case, my friend, is not very different. I have felt a disposition towards your godly and guileless soul, somewhat, if I may so say, of the nature of love; but the gratification of my desire, like that of all other blessings, is made difficult to me by the opposition of my sins. However, I have seemed to see a very good likeness of you in the presence of my very reverend brothers. And if it had been my lot to fall in with you when far away from them, I should have fancied that I saw them in you. For the measure of love in each of you is so great, that in both of you there is a plain contest for the superiority. I have thanked God for this. If any longer life be left me, I pray that my life may be made sweet through you, just as now I look on life as a wretched thing to be avoided, because I am separated from the companionship of those I love best. For, in my judgment, there is nothing in which one can be cheerful when cut off from those who truly love us. 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/3202124.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.