Letter 19: I received a letter from you the day before yesterday. It is shown to be yours not so much by the handwriting as by the peculiar style. Much meaning is expressed in few words.

I got your letter the day before yesterday. It's recognizably yours not so much from the handwriting as from the style — you packed a lot of meaning into very few words. I didn't reply immediately because I was away from home, and the letter carrier just dropped the packet with a friend of mine and left. But now I can write back through Peter, both to return your greeting and to give you an excuse for another letter. After all, there's no great difficulty in writing the kind of short, Spartan dispatch I keep getting from you.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To Gregory my friend. I received a letter from you the day before yesterday. It is shown to be yours not so much by the handwriting as by the peculiar style. Much meaning is expressed in few words. I did not reply on the spot, because I was away from home, and the letter-carrier, after he had delivered the packet to one of my friends, went away. Now, however, I am able to address you through Peter, and at the same time both to return your greeting, and give you an opportunity for another letter. There is certainly no trouble in writing a laconic dispatch like those which reach me from you. 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/3202019.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.