Sister Projects: Wikichristian | WikiMD
BelieversCafe is a large collection of christian articles with over 40,000 pages
Our sponsors:
2 On the mutual relations of Basil and Eustathius up to this time, cf. Prolegomena
6 cf. h 9 sukofanti/a perife/rei sofo/n. Eccles. vii. S, LXX. Calumnia conturbat sapientem et perdet robur cordis illius. Vulg.
17 With St. Basil's too great readiness to believe in Eustathius because of his mean garb contrast Augustine De Serm. Dom. "Animadvertendum est non in solo rerum corporearum nitore atque pompa, sed etiam in ipsis sordibus lutosis esse possee jactantiam, et eo periculosiorem quo sub nomine servitutis Dei decipit."
18 i.e. Apollinarius. cf. Letters cxxx. p. 198, and ccxxiv.
19 i.e. Silvanus of tarsus. cf. Letters xxxiv. p. 136, and lxvii. p. 164.
20 I have not been able to identify Eusinoe. There was an Eusene on the north coast of Pontus. i.e. in 364, the year after St. Basil's ordination as presbyter, and the publication of his work against Eunomius. The Council of Lampsacus, at which Basil was not present, repudiated the Creeds of Ariminum and Constantinople (359 and 360), and reasserted the 2d dedication Creed of Antioch of 341. Maran dates it 364 (vit. Bas. x.).
23 a'fe/lkontai. So the Harl. ms. for e'fe/lkontai. On the sense which may be applied to either verb cf. Valesius on Am. Marcellinus xviii. 2, whom the Ben. Ed. point out to be in error in thinking that Basil's idea is of drawing a curtain or veil over the proceedings, and Chrysostom Hom. liv. in Matt. 0Epi\ toi=j dikastai=j, o#tan dhmosi/a krinwsi, ta\ parapeta/smata sunelku/santej oi 9 parestw=tej pa=sin a'ntou\j deiknu/ousi. This meaning of drawing so as to disclose is confirmed by Basil's pa/ndhmoi pa=si gignontai in this passage and in Hom. in Ps. xxxii.
24 The Ben. note compares the praise bestowed on Candidianus by Gregory of Nazianzus for trying cases in the light of day (Ep. cxciv) and Am. Marcellinus xvii. 1, who says of Julian, Numerium Narconensis paulo ante rectorem, accusatum ut furem, inusitato censorio vigore pro tribunali palam admissis volentibus audiebat.
26 Though this phrase commonly means the reigning emperor, as in Letter lxvi., the Ben. note has no doubt that in this instance the reference is to Euzoius. In Letter ccxxvi. § 3. q.v., Basil mentions reconciliation with Euzoius as the real object of Eustathius's hostility. Euzoius was now in high favour with Valens.
2 Vicar of Pontus. It is doubtful whether he is the same Demosthenes who was at Caesarea with Valens in 371,, of whom the amusing story is told in Theodoret Hist. Ecc. iv. 16, on which see note. If he is, it is not difficult to understand his looking with no friendly eye on Basil and his brother Gregory. He summoned a synod to Ancyra in the close of 375 to examine into alleged irregularities in Gregory's consecration and accusations of embezzlement. The above letter is to apologize for Gregory's failing to put in an appearance at Ancyia, and to rebut the charges made against him. Tillemont would refer Letter xxxiii. to this period. Maran Vit. Bas. xii. 5 connects it with the troubles following on the death of Caesarius in 369.
3 Saepe vicario Basilius in hac epistola leniter insinuat, res ecclesiasticas illius judicii non esse." Ben. Note.
4 From Letter ccxxxvii. it would appear that Deomsthenes was now in Galatia, where he had summoned a heretical synod. The Ben. note quotes a law of Valens of the year 373 (Cod. Theod. ix. (Tit. i. 10): Ultra provincioe terminos accusandi licentia non progrediatur. Opertet enim illic criminum judicia agitari ubi facinus dicatur admissum. Peregrina autem judicia praesentibus legibus coercemus.
3 The events referred to happened ten years before the date assigned for this letter, when the Semi-Arians summoned Eudoxius to Lampsacus, and sentenced him to deprivation in his absence. (Soc. H.E. iv. 2-4; Soz. H.E. vi. 7.) On the refusal of Valens to ratify the deposition and ultimate banishment of the Anti-Eudoxians, Eustathius went to Rome to seek communion with Liberius, subscribed the Nicene Confession, and received commendatorry letters from Liberius to the Easterns. Soc. H. E. iv. 12. Eudoxius died in 370.
4 On the action of Eustathius on this occasion, cf. Letter ccli. Basilides is described as a Paphlagonian. On Ecdicius, intruded by Demosthenes into the see of Paranassus, cf. Letter ccxxxvii.
5 So the Ben. ed. for me/xri nu=n, with the idea that the action of Eusthathius in currying favour with the Catholics of Amasea and Zela by opposing the Arian bishops occupying those sees, must have taken place before he had quite broken with Basil. Tillemont (ix. 236) takes nu=n to mean 375. Amasea and Zela (in Migne erroneously Zeli. On the name, see Ramsay's Hist. Geog. Asia M. 260) are both on the Iris.
6 A chorepiscopus; not of course to be confounded with Eustathius of Sebaste.
8 i.e. after their return from Rome, and another Synod in Sicily, in 367.
11 suna/feia. cf. note on p. 16.
2 i.e. in Armenia. cf. Letter cxcv. p. 234. The removal of Euphronius to Nicopolis was occasioned by the death of Theodotus and the consecration of Fronto by the Eustathians, to whom the orthodox Colonians would not submit.
1 Of the same date as the preceding.