Letter 151: If my letters are of any good, lose no time in writing to me and in rousing me to write. We are unquestionably made more cheerful when we read the letters of wise men who love the Lord. It is for you to say, who read it, whether you find anything worth attention in what I write.

To Eustathius the Physician Keep writing to me — don't hold back. Your letters genuinely lift my spirits. Reading words from wise people who love God is one of the best things in my day. Whether my own letters are worth reading, I'll leave for you to judge. I'd write more often if I weren't buried in responsibilities. You have fewer demands on your time, so do me a favor and write often. They say wells flow better the more you draw from them — the same is true of friendship through letters. Now, your medical analogies about my situation are a little off the mark. I'm not the one wielding the knife here. It's men whose time has passed who are destroying themselves. [Basil is likely referring to theological opponents or schismatics in the church who are causing their own downfall through divisive actions.] The Stoics have a saying: "Since things don't happen as we wish, we should learn to wish for what happens." I can't do that. Not with what's happening now. I understand that sometimes people must do painful things out of necessity. You doctors don't cauterize patients because you enjoy it — you do it because the illness demands it. Sailors don't throw cargo overboard for fun — they do it to survive the storm, choosing poverty over drowning. Believe me, I grieve deeply over the separation from those who have pulled away. [Basil is likely referring to former allies who broke communion over theological or ecclesiastical disputes — a recurring source of pain throughout his career.] But I endure it. For those of us who love the truth, nothing can come before God and our hope in Him.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Eustathius the Physician. If my letters are of any good, lose no time in writing to me and in rousing me to write. We are unquestionably made more cheerful when we read the letters of wise men who love the Lord. It is for you to say, who read it, whether you find anything worth attention in what I write. Were it not for the multitude of my engagements, I should not debar myself from the pleasure of writing frequently. Pray do you, whose cares are fewer, soothe me by your letters. Wells, it is said, are the better for being used. The exhortations which you derive from your profession are apparently beside the point, for it is not I who am applying the knife; it is men whose day is done, who are falling upon themselves. The phrase of the Stoics runs, since things do not happen as we like, we like what happens; but I cannot make my mind fall in with what is happening. That some men should do what they do not like because they cannot help it, I have no objection. You doctors do not cauterise a sick man, or make him suffer pain in some other way, because you like it; but you often adopt this treatment in obedience to the necessity of the case. Mariners do not willingly throw their cargo overboard; but in order to escape shipwreck they put up with the loss, preferring a life of penury to death. Be sure that I look with sorrow and with many groans upon the separation of those who are holding themselves aloof. But yet I endure it. To lovers of the truth nothing can be put before God and hope in Him. 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/3202151.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.