OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume V/Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness/Chapter 17

Chapter VII.—(16.) The Sixteenth Breviate.
XVI. After all these disputations, their author introduces himself in person as arguing with another, and represents himself as under examination, and as being addressed by his examiner: “Show me the man who is without sin.” He answers: “I show you one who is able to be without sin.” His examiner then says to him: “And who is he?” He answers: “You are the man.” “But if,” he adds, “you were to say, ‘I, at any rate, cannot be without sin,’ then you must answer me, ‘Whose fault is that?’ If you then were to say, ‘My own fault,’ you must be further asked, ‘And how is it your fault, if you cannot be without sin?’” He again represents himself as under examination, and thus accosted: “Are you yourself without sin, who say that a man can be without sin?” And he answers: “Whose fault is it that I am not without sin? But if,” continues he, “he had said in reply, ‘The fault is your own;’ then the answer would be, ‘How my fault, when I am unable to be without sin?’” Now our answer to all this running argument is, that no controversy ought to have been raised between them about such words as these; because he nowhere ventures to affirm that a man (either any one else, or himself) is without sin, but he merely said in reply that he can be,—a position which we do not ourselves deny. Only the question arises, when can he, and through whom can he? If at the present time, then by no faithful soul which is enclosed within the body of this death must this prayer be offered, or such words as these be spoken, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” since in holy baptism all past debts have been already forgiven. But whoever tries to persuade us that such a prayer is not proper for faithful members of Christ, does in fact acknowledge nothing else than that he is not himself a Christian. If, again, it is through himself that a man is able to live without sin, then did Christ die in vain. But “Christ is not dead in vain.” No man, therefore, can be without sin, even if he wish it, unless he be assisted by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that this perfection may be attained, there is even now a training carried on in growing [Christians,] and there will be by all means a completion made, after the conflict with death is spent, and love, which is now cherished by the operation of faith and hope, shall be perfected in the fruition of sight and possession.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Matt. vi. 12.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Introduction

Introduction to the Letters.
Of Saint Basil the extant letters, according to popular ascription, number three hundred and sixty-six. Of these three hundred and twenty-five, or, according to some, only three hundred and nineteen are genuine. They are published in three chronological divisions, the 1st, (Letters 1–46) comprising those written by Basil before his elevation to the episcopate; the second (47–291) the Letters of the Episcopate; the third (292–366) those which have no note of time, together with some that are of doubtful genuineness, and a few certainly spurious. They may be classified as (a) historical, (b) dogmatic, (c) moral and ascetic, (d) disciplinary, (e) consolatory, (f) commendatory, and (g) familiar. In the historic we have a vivid picture of his age. The doctrinal are of special value as expressing and defending the Nicene theology. The moral and ascetic indicate the growing importance of the monastic institution which Athanasius at about the same time was instrumental in recommending to the Latin Church. The disciplinary, (notably 188, 199, and 217), to Amphilochius, illustrate the earlier phases of ecclesiastical law. The consolatory, commendatory, and familiar, have an immediate biographical value as indicating the character and faith of the writer, and may not be without use alike as models of Christian feeling and good breeding, and as bringing comfort in trouble to readers remote in time and place. The text in the following translation is that of Migne’s edition, except where it is stated to the contrary. Of the inadequacy of the notes to illustrate the letters as they deserve no one can be more vividly conscious than myself. But the letters tell their own story.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 518.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 10

Letter X.
To a widow.
The art of snaring pigeons is as follows. When the men who devote themselves to this craft have caught one, they tame it, and make it feed with them. Then they smear its wings with sweet oil, and let it go and join the rest outside. Then the scent of that sweet oil makes the free flock the possession of the owner of the tame bird, for all the rest are attracted by the fragrance, and settle in the house. But why do I begin my letter thus? Because I have taken your son Dionysius, once Diomedes, and anointed the wings of his soul with the sweet all of God, and sent him to you that you may take flight with him, and make for the nest which he has built under my roof. If I live to see this, and you, my honoured friend, translated to our lofty life, I shall require many persons worthy of God to pay Him all the honour that is His due.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed during the retreat.
* ↑ πρὸς ἐλευθέραν. The Benedictine note, after giving reasons why the name Julitta should not be introduced into the address, continues: “neque etiam in hac et pluribus aliis Basilii epistolis ἐλευθέρα nomen proprium est, sed viduam matronam designat. Sic Gregorius Naz. in Epist. cxlvii., ἐλευθέραν Alypii, id est viduam, apellat Simpliciam quam ipsius quondam conjugem fuisse dixerat in Epist. cxlvi.” The usage may be traceable to Rom. vii. 3.
* ↑ A second name was given at baptism, or assumed with some religious motive. In the first three centuries considerations of prudence would prevent an advertisement of Christianity through a name of peculiar meaning, and even baptismal names were not biblical or of pious meaning and association. Later the early indifference of Christians as to the character of their names ceased, and after the fourth century heathen names were discouraged. cf. D.C.A. ii. 1368. “Dionysius,” though of pagan origin, is biblical; but “martyrs often encountered death bearing the names of these very divinities to whom they refuse to offer sacrifice.” So we have Apollinarius, Hermias, Demetrius, Origenes (sprung from Horus), Arius, Athenodorus, Aphrodisius, and many more.
# Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VIII/The Letters/Letter 100

Letter C.
To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.
When I saw your affectionate letter, in the country bordering on Armenia, it was like a lighted torch held up at a distance to mariners at sea, especially if the sea happen to be agitated by the wind. Your reverence’s letter was of itself a pleasant one, and full of comfort; but its natural charm was very much enhanced by the time of its arrival, a time so painful to me, that I hardly know how to describe it, after once making up my mind to forget its troubles. However, my deacon will give you a full account. My bodily strength completely failed me, so that I was not even able to bear the slightest movement without pain. Nevertheless I do pray that, by the aid of your prayers, my own longing may be fulfilled; although my journey has caused me great difficulties, in consequence of the affairs of my own Church having been neglected through its occupying such a long time. But if, while I yet live, God grants me to see your reverence in my Church, then truly I shall have good hope, even for the future, that I am not wholly excluded from the gifts of God. If it be possible, I beg that this meeting between us may take place at the Synod which we hold every year, in memory of the blessed martyr Eupsychius, now about to be held on the 7th of September. I am compassed with anxieties which demand your help and sympathy, both in the matter of the appointment of bishops and in the consideration of the trouble caused me by the simplicity of Gregory of Nyssa, who is summoning a Synod at Ancyra and leaving nothing undone to counteract me.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Placed in 372.
* ↑ cf. Letters clxxvi. and cclii. Eupsychius suffered for the part he took in demolishing the Temple of Fortune at Cæsarea. cf. Sozomen, Ecc. Hist. v. 11. An Eupsychius appears in the Bollandist acts under April 9th. Vide Prolegomena.
* ↑ The Ben. note, in answer to the suggested unlikelihood of Basil’s being plotted against by his brother, calls attention to the fact that this opposition was due not to want of affection but to want of tact, and compares Letter lviii. on Gregory’s foolish falsehood about their uncle.