Letter 293: How fare you this long while? Have you altogether recovered the use of your hand? And how do other things prosper?
Basil of Caesarea→Julianus, Scribo|c. 374 AD|basil caesarea
property economics
How are you doing after all this time? Have you fully recovered the use of your hand? And how are things going otherwise -- according to your wishes and my prayers? In line with your intentions?
Where men are quick to change, their lives are naturally disordered. But where the mind is fixed, steady, and unshakable, lives tend to follow.
True, it is not in the helmsman's power to produce calm weather whenever he wants. But it is entirely within our power to make our lives tranquil -- by stilling the inner storms of passion and rising above the ones that attack from outside. The upright man is untouched by loss, sickness, or the other misfortunes of life, because he walks with God in his heart, keeps his gaze fixed on the future, and weathers the storms that rise from earth lightly and with ease.
Do not be weighed down with earthly cares. Such men are like fat birds equipped with wings they never use, who creep along the ground like animals. But you -- and I have watched you in difficulties -- are like swimmers racing out into the open sea.
A single claw reveals the whole lion. From a brief acquaintance I think I know you well. And I count it a great thing that you think of me, that I am not absent from your mind but constantly in your memory.
Writing is proof of remembrance. The more often you write, the more pleased I am.
ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA
To Julianus.
How fare you this long while? Have you altogether recovered the use of your hand? And how do other things prosper? According to your wishes and my prayers? In accordance with your purposes?
Where men are readily disposed to change, it is only natural that their lives are not well ordered: but where their minds are fixed, steadfast and unalterable, it follows that their lives should be conformable to their purposes.
True, it is not in the helmsman's power to make a calm when he wishes; but with us, it is quite easy to render our lives tranquil by stilling the storms of passion that surge within, by rising superior to those that assail us from without. The upright man is touched by neither loss, nor sickness, nor the other ills of life; for he walks in heart with God, keeps his gaze fixed upon the future, and easily and lightly weathers the storms that rise from earth.
Be not troubled with the cares of earth. Such men are like fat birds, in vain endowed with flight, that creep like beasts upon the ground. But you — for I have witnessed you in difficulties — are like swimmers racing out at sea.
A single claw reveals the whole lion: so from a slight acquaintance I think I know you fully. And I count it a great thing, that you set some store by me, that I am not absent from your thoughts, but constantly in your recollection.
Now writing is a proof of recollection; and the oftener you write, the better pleased I am.
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/3202293.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.
◆
How are you doing after all this time? Have you fully recovered the use of your hand? And how are things going otherwise -- according to your wishes and my prayers? In line with your intentions?
Where men are quick to change, their lives are naturally disordered. But where the mind is fixed, steady, and unshakable, lives tend to follow.
True, it is not in the helmsman's power to produce calm weather whenever he wants. But it is entirely within our power to make our lives tranquil -- by stilling the inner storms of passion and rising above the ones that attack from outside. The upright man is untouched by loss, sickness, or the other misfortunes of life, because he walks with God in his heart, keeps his gaze fixed on the future, and weathers the storms that rise from earth lightly and with ease.
Do not be weighed down with earthly cares. Such men are like fat birds equipped with wings they never use, who creep along the ground like animals. But you -- and I have watched you in difficulties -- are like swimmers racing out into the open sea.
A single claw reveals the whole lion. From a brief acquaintance I think I know you well. And I count it a great thing that you think of me, that I am not absent from your mind but constantly in your memory.
Writing is proof of remembrance. The more often you write, the more pleased I am.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.