Letters From a Mentor: Serving the Church
At Greystone, we believe that true wisdom is a matter of the cultivation of the whole person, something ordinarily granted in the context of the Church as the field of God, and over the course of one’s lifetime rather than a temporary endeavor. To this end, Greystone’s model is mentorship-based and church-grounded, in keeping with the old wisdom of the Christian tradition. Within that tradition we find many examples of theological formation in this old way, one of which is Basil of Caesarea (330-379) and his letters to his disciple, Amphilochius (ca. 339/340-ca. 394). This series of articles will present each of Basil’s letters to Amphilochius (18 in all) as a guide to the deep and rich tradition of mentorship within the Church context.
Basil of Caesarea was one of the greatest theologians of the early Church, a Cappadocian Father whose work is essential to the Church’s confessed faith in the Triune God. Basil was a theologian, an acetic, a pastor, and a mentor. Amphilochius was a lawyer in Constantinople until he devoted himself to the acetic life, a vocation which came to an end in 374 when he was appointed Bishop of Iconium.¹ Besides writing his famous On The Holy Spirit to Amphilochius,² Basil wrote many letters to his disciple, including the one presented below asking Amphilochius to come encourage the Church under Basil’s care.
Having celebrated Amphilochius’ consecration as Bishop of Iconium in the early Winter of 374, Basil writes once again, in August of that same year, to encourage Amphilochius to visit. As we have seen in a previous letter, pastoral mentorship has a purpose. The purpose of pastoral mentorship is to make disciples of Christ who serve the Church well. Here, having mentored Amphilochius and raised him up to pastoral ministry, Basil requests Amphilochius to visit the Church for the purpose of encouraging the Church.
One wonders about all the doubts a new pastor might have had at that time. We know from later letters (as we will see) that Basil had to teach Amphilochius how to properly discipline certain cases in the Church. It is safe to say that at this point, Amphilochius is a pastor in need of continued mentorship and guidance. Yet, Basil asks for his presence, not to encourage or teach Amphilochius, but that Amphilochius might encourage and build up the Church. Putting confidence in the new pastor and his disciple, Basil encourages Amphilochius as “my true son” to honor the church with his presence. Inviting Amphilochius to the September feast of St. Eupsychius, Basil also had in mind the regional council he presided over during that time.⁵ No doubt, Basil saw this council as an opportunity for Amphilochius to fellowship with other Bishops. Following in the steps of Basil the Great, godly mentors give their disciples opportunities to encourage the Church and to be encouraged by other godly leaders in the Church. In this way, we see that the earliest models of mentorship were communal endeavors. Amphilochius is not mentored apart from his own Church-context as Bishop nor is he mentored outside of the broader universal Church.
Letter CLXXVI.
To Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium
1. God grant that when this letter is put into your hands, it may find you in good health, quite at leisure, and as you would wish to be. For then it will not be in vain that I send you this invitation to be present at our city, to add greater dignity to the annual festival which it is the custom of our Church to hold in honor of the martyrs. For be sure my most honored and dear friend, that our people here, though they have had experience of many, desire no one’s presence so eagerly as they do yours; so affectionate an impression has your short intercourse with them left behind. So, then, that the Lord may be glorified, the people delighted, the martyrs honored, and that I in my old age may receive the attention due to me from my true son, do not refuse to travel to me with all speed. I will beg you too to anticipate the day of assembly, that so we may converse at leisure and may comfort one another by the interchange of spiritual gifts. The day is the fifth of September. Come then three days beforehand in order that you may also honor with your presence the Church of the Hospital. May you by the grace of the Lord be kept in good health and spirits in the Lord, praying for me and for the Church of God.
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).
Notes:
Roald Dijkstra, The Apostles in Early Christian Art and Poetry (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 162.
St. Basil the Great, On The Holy Spirit (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980), 15.
Friedrich Loofs, Eustathius von Sebaste und die Chronologie der Basilius (Halle, Germany: Niemeyer, 1898), 46 n. 3.
Philip Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1998), 156.
Andrea Sterk, Renouncing the World Yet Leading the Church (Cambridge, MA: 2004), 74.