{"id":9092,"date":"2014-12-02T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T19:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9092"},"modified":"2014-12-02T15:04:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T19:04:37","slug":"from-the-letters-of-st-gregory-of-nazianzus-to-st-basil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2014\/12\/from-the-letters-of-st-gregory-of-nazianzus-to-st-basil.html","title":{"rendered":"From the Letters of St Gregory of Nazianzus to St Basil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What I wrote before about our stay in Pontus<\/a> was in joke, not in earnest; what I write now is very much in earnest. O that one would place me as in the month of those former days, Job\u00a029:2<\/a><\/span> in which I luxuriated with you in hard living; since voluntary<\/a> pain is more valuable than involuntary delight. O that one would give me back those psalmodies and vigils<\/a> and those sojournings with God in prayer<\/a>, and that immaterial, so to speak, and unbodied life. O for the intimacy and one-souledness of the brethren who were by you divinized and exalted: O for the contest and incitement of virtue<\/a> which we secured by written Rules and Canons; O for the loving labour in the Divine Oracles, and the light we found in them by the guidance of the Holy Ghost<\/a>. Or, if I may speak of lesser and slighter matters, O for the daily courses and experiences; O for the gatherings of wood, and the cutting of stone; O for the golden plane-tree, more precious than that of Xerxes, under which sat, not a King enfeebled by luxury, but a Monk worn out by hard life, which I planted and Apollos (I mean your honourable<\/a> self) watered; 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a03:6<\/a><\/span> but God gave the increase to our honour<\/a>, that a memorial might remain among you of my diligence, as in the Ark we read and believe<\/a>, did Aaron\u2019s<\/a> rod that budded. Numbers\u00a017:8,\u00a010<\/a><\/span> To long for all this is very easy, but it is not easy to attain it. But do you come to me, and conspire with me in virtue<\/a>, and co-operate with me, and aid me by your prayers<\/a> to keep the profit which we used to get together, that I may not perish little by little, like a shadow as the day draws to its close. I would rather breathe you than the air, and only live while I am with you, either actually in your presence, or virtually by your likeness in your absence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

link<\/a>; via Ben Meyers,<\/a> who notes rightly that this reminds him of Wesley Hill\u2019s excellent upcoming book<\/a> on spiritual friendship<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I wrote before about our stay in Pontus was in joke, not in earnest; what I write now is very much in earnest. O that one would place me as in the month of those former days, Job\u00a029:2 in which I luxuriated with you in hard living; since voluntary pain is more valuable than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[259,263,56,30,69,73],"class_list":["post-9092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mackerel-snapping","tag-a-cloud-of-witnesses","tag-brass-monkery-that-funky-monkery","tag-friendship","tag-mackerel-snapping-2","tag-weird-saints","tag-wesley-hill"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the Letters of St Gregory of Nazianzus to St Basil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What I wrote before about our stay in Pontus was in joke, not in earnest; what I write now is very much in earnest. 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