Letter 157: Ep. CLVII. To Theodore, Archbishop of Tyana.
Gregory of Nazianzus→Theodore, Physician|gregory nazianzus
illness
Travel & mobility; Personal friendship
Our spiritual affairs have reached their boundary; I will trouble you no further. Assemble. Take your precautions. Act against us. Let our enemies have the victory. Let the canons be observed to the letter, beginning with me — the most ignorant of men. There is nothing malicious in accuracy; only let the rights of friendship not be impeded by it.
The children of my very honored son Nicobulus have come to the city to learn shorthand. Be so good as to look on them with a fatherly and kindly eye — the canons do not forbid this — and especially take care that they live near the Church. It is my desire that they be shaped in character toward virtue by constant association with your Perfection.
Ep. CLVII. To Theodore, Archbishop of Tyana.
(S. Gregory succeeded at the end of a.d. 382 in convincing the Metropolitan and his Comprovincials of his sincerity in desiring to retire; and so they began to cast about for a Successor. Gregory desired that his cousin the Chorepiscopus Eulalius should be nominated, but the Bishops felt some jealousy at what they took to be an attempt on his part to dictate to them, and refused to allow him to take any part in the election, on the ground that he either never had been, or at any rate had ceased to be one of the Bishops of the Province. He protested, but finding that he could not convince them he withdrew his claim to a vote and wrote to Theodore, as follows:—)
Our spiritual affairs have reached their limit: I will not trouble you any further. Join together: take your precautions: take counsel against us: let our enemies have the victory: let the canons be accurately observed, beginning with us, the most ignorant of men. There is no ill-will in accuracy; only do not let the rights of friendship be impeded. The children of my very honoured son Nicobulus have come to the city to learn shorthand. Be kind enough to look upon them with a fatherly and kindly eye (for the canons do not forbid this), but especially take care that they live near the Church. For I desire that they should be moulded in character to virtue by continual association with Your Perfectness.
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Our spiritual affairs have reached their boundary; I will trouble you no further. Assemble. Take your precautions. Act against us. Let our enemies have the victory. Let the canons be observed to the letter, beginning with me — the most ignorant of men. There is nothing malicious in accuracy; only let the rights of friendship not be impeded by it.
The children of my very honored son Nicobulus have come to the city to learn shorthand. Be so good as to look on them with a fatherly and kindly eye — the canons do not forbid this — and especially take care that they live near the Church. It is my desire that they be shaped in character toward virtue by constant association with your Perfection.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.