Epistle 59.

To Basil, the venerable abbot, with all the brethren of the honest
monastery of Saint Sava (106)

When the dogmas of piety are firmly observed, then only a lover of troubles
tends to be agitated. But when they waver, as now in our Church, shouldn't they
rise up sparing nothing, despising not only the long journey and other troubles,
but even death itself? Such is the reason for the departure of your most reverend
spiritual sons Lithoius and Simeon to you, such is the reason for their dangerous
journey with hope in God.
But, holy fathers, how can I describe to you in detail everything that has been
undertaken and done here against the Gospel of Christ? The mournful Jeremiah
in one of his prophecies says: “The shepherds went mad and did not seek the
Lord” (Jer. 10:21). But here is something more serious and extremely immoral,
for those who strive to seek the Lord and keep to His law have been
anathematized as strangers to Him.

106 St. Lavra Savva the Sanctified is located in Palestine, near Jerusalem.