John Chrysostom, Letters

for the defense and confirmation of the Gospel; with great eagerness he also sought his presence in the body, thus saying: But we, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face. Which is what we also now feel, seeking with great eagerness 52.657 the presence of both those who have seen us and those who have not. But since this for the time being is not possible—for the length of the road, the season of the year, the fear of robbers, and the fact that it is not easy for us, even apart from these things, to move from home and to make long journeys, prevent it—we have come to a second best course, both rendering to you the salutation which is due, and before this, exhorting you, and asking as a very great favor, that you continually remember us in your prayers, and fall down before the man-loving God with great earnestness and tears, on behalf of our lowliness. For you who have escaped the tide-race of worldly affairs, and been delivered from the smoke and the storm of the evils in our midst, and have guided your own souls, as to some fair and waveless harbor, to the anchorage of this good philosophy, and turning the nights into days by your sacred vigils, and seeing more clearly in them than others do in the days, it would be right for you to impart to us an alliance from your prayers. For it is possible for us, even sitting at so great a distance, to enjoy these things, and there is no place, nor time, that can cut off such help. Be our allies, therefore, and stretch out a hand through your prayers. For this is especially the greatest form of love. And along with your prayers, do not hesitate to inform us about your health, so that from this also we may receive the greatest comfort, delighting in your love, and imagining the absent as present; for genuine love can sketch such images. Even if we happen to be in a wilderness more harsh than this, we will reap much consolation from this. ∆ʹ. To Pentadia the deaconess. I knew of your love for us even before, having learned it from the facts themselves; but I have learned it more clearly now from what you have written to us. And for this reason we especially admire you, not only for writing, but also for reporting to us all that has happened. For this is the mark of one who is both confident in us and concerned for our affairs. For these reasons we leap for joy, we rejoice, we are gladdened, we have the greatest consolation, even while sitting in such a great wilderness, in your courage, your firmness, your unswerving resolve, your great understanding, your freedom of speech, your lofty confidence, by which you put to shame the adversaries, and dealt a timely blow to the devil, and anointed those who contend for the truth, like a noble champion in war who has set up a brilliant trophy and gained a glorious victory, and you have filled us with such pleasure, that we think we are neither in a foreign land, nor in a strange country, nor in a wilderness, but are present there, and are with you, and are delighting in the virtue of your soul. Rejoice, therefore, and be glad for having gained such a victory, and for having so easily muzzled such beasts, and for having stopped their shameless 52.658 tongues, and for having sewn up their raging mouths. For such is the truth with which you contended, and for which you were many times slain; in few words it prevails over slanderers; just as falsehood, even if it puts on ten thousand channels of arguments, flows away and falls down easily, and is weaker than a spider's web. Rejoice, therefore, and be glad—for I will not cease continually saying these words—be of good courage, and be strong, and laugh to scorn every plot brought against you by them. For the more harshly they rage, the deeper the wounds they inflict upon themselves, injuring you not even a little, just as the waves do not injure the rock, but dissolving themselves, and making themselves weaker, and heaping up upon themselves excessive

τῇ ἀπολογίᾳ καὶ βεβαιώσει τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου· μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἐπεζήτει παρουσίαν, οὕτω λέγων· Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀπορφανισθέντες ἀφ' ὑμῶν πρὸς καιρὸν ὥρας, προσώπῳ, οὐ καρδίᾳ, περισσοτέρως ἐσπουδάσαμεν τὸ πρόσωπον ὑμῶν ἰδεῖν. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν νῦν, τῶν τε ἑωρακότων ἡμᾶς, τῶν τε οὐχ ἑωρακότων μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς ἐπιζητοῦντες 52.657 τὴν παρουσίαν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο τέως οὐκ ἔνι κωλύει γὰρ καὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μῆκος, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἔτους ὥρα, καὶ ὁ τῶν λῃστῶν φόβος, καὶ τὸ μὴ ῥᾴδιον ἡμῖν εἶναι καὶ τούτων χωρὶς κινεῖσθαι οἴκοθεν, καὶ μακρὰς ἀποδημίας ἀποδημεῖν, ἐπὶ τὸν δεύτερον ἤλθομεν πλοῦν, τήν τε ὀφειλομένην ἀποδιδόντες ὑμῖν πρόσρησιν, καὶ πρὸ ταύτης παρακαλοῦντες, καὶ ἐν μέρει μεγίστης αἰτοῦντες χάριτος, τὸ διηνεκῶς ἡμῶν εὐχομένους μεμνῆσθαι, καὶ τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ Θεῷ προσπίπτειν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐγενείας, καὶ τῶν δακρύων, ὑπὲρ τῆς ταπεινώσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας. Οἱ γὰρ τὸν εὔριπον τῶν βιωτικῶν διαφυγόντες πραγμάτων, καὶ τοῦ καπνοῦ καὶ τῆς ζάλης τῶν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ κακῶν ἀπαλλαγέντες, καὶ, καθάπερ εἰς λιμένα τινὰ εὔδιον καὶ ἀκύμαντον, τῆς καλῆς ταύτης φιλοσοφίας ὅρμον τὰς ἑαυτῶν ὁδηγήσαντες ψυχὰς, καὶ τὰς νύκτας ταῖς ἱεραῖς παννυχίσιν ἡμέρας ἐργαζόμενοι, καὶ φανερώτερον ἐν ταύταις ὁρῶντες, ἢ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἕτεροι, δίκαιοι ἂν εἴητε ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν εὐχῶν ὑμῶν μεταδοῦναι συμμαχίας. ∆υνατὸν γὰρ καὶ ἐκ τοσούτου καθημένους διαστήματος, ἀπολαύειν ἡμᾶς τούτων, καὶ τόπος οὐδείς ἐστιν, οὐδὲ χρόνος, ὁ τὴν τοιαύτην δυνάμενος διακόψαι βοήθειαν. Συμμαχήσατε τοίνυν ἡμῖν, καὶ χεῖρα ὀρέξατε διὰ τῶν εὐχῶν τῶν ὑμετέρων. Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα μέγιστον ἀγάπης εἶδός ἐστι. Καὶ μετὰ τῶν εὐχῶν τῶν ὑμετέρων, καὶ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας τῆς ὑμετέρας δηλοῦν ἡμῖν μὴ κατοκνεῖτε, ἵνα καὶ ἐντεῦθεν μεγίστην δεχώμεθα τὴν παραμυθίαν, ἐντρυφῶντες ὑμῶν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, καὶ ὡς παρόντας τοὺς ἀπόντας φανταζόμενοι· δύναται γὰρ καὶ εἰκόνας τοιαύτας ὑπογράψαι τὸ γνησίως φιλεῖν. Κἂν ἐν χαλεπωτέρᾳ ταύτης τύχωμεν ὄντες ἐρημίᾳ, πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν καρπωσόμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. ∆ʹ. Πενταδίᾳ διακόνῳ. Ἐγώ σου τὴν ἀγάπην, ἣν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἔχεις, ᾔδειν μὲν καὶ ἕμπροσθεν, δι' αὐτῶν μαθὼν τῶν πραγμάτων· ἔμαθον δὲ σαφέστερον νῦν ἐξ ὧν ἐπέσταλκας ἡμῖν. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστά σε θαυμάζομεν, οὐ διὰ τὸ γράψαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀπαγγεῖλαι ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ γεγενημένα. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ θαῤῥούσης ἡμῖν καὶ μεριμνώσης τὰ ἡμέτερα. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα σκιρτῶμεν, χαίρομεν, εὐφραινόμεθα, μεγίστην παράκλησιν, καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ τοσαύτῃ καθήμενοι, τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἔχομεν τὴν σὴν, τὴν ἔνστασιν, τὴν ἀπερίτρεπτον γνώμην, τὴν σύνεσιν τὴν πολλὴν, τὴν ἐλευθεροστομίαν, τὴν παῤῥησίαν τὴν ὑψηλὴν, δι' ἧς κατῄσχυνας μὲν τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, καιρίαν δὲ δέδωκας τῷ διαβόλῳ πληγὴν, ἤλειψας δὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζομένους, καθάπερ ἀριστεὺς γενναῖος ἐν πολέμῳ τρόπαιον στήσασα λαμπρὸν, καὶ νίκην ἀραμένη φαιδρὰν, καὶ ἡμᾶς δὲ τοσαύτης ἐνέπλησας ἡδονῆς, ὡς νομίζειν μήτε ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ εἶναι, μήτε ἐν ξένῃ γῇ, μήτε ἐν ἐρημίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖσε παρεῖναι, καὶ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἶναι, καὶ ἐντρυφᾷν σου τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετῇ. Χαῖρε τοίνυν καὶ εὐφραίνου τοιαύτην ἀραμένη νίκην, καὶ τοιούτους εὐκόλως ἐπιστομίσασα θῆρας, καὶ τὰς ἀναισχύντους 52.658 αὐτῶν ἐμφράξασα γλώττας, καὶ λυσσῶντα ἀποῤῥάψασα στόματα. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια μεθ' ἧς ἠγωνίσω, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἧς ἐσφάγης πολλάκις· ἐν βραχέσι ῥήμασι κρατεῖ τῶν συκοφαντούντων· ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ψεῦδος κἂν μυρίους περιβάληται λόγων διαύλους, διαῤῥεῖ καὶ καταπίπτει ῥᾳδίως, καὶ ἀράχνης ἐστὶν ἀδρανέστερον. Χαῖρε τοίνυν καὶ εὐφραίνου οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι συνεχῶς ταῦτα λέγων τὰ ῥήματα, ἀνδρίζου, καὶ κραταιοῦ, καὶ καταγέλα πάσης ἐπαγομένης σοι παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπιβουλῆς. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν χαλεπώτερον ἀγριαίνωσι, τοσούτῳ βαθυτέρας καθ' ἑαυτῶν τὰς πληγὰς ἐπιφέρουσι, σὲ μὲν οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀδικοῦντες, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὴν πέτραν τὰ κύματα, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ διαλύοντες, καὶ ἀσθενεστέρους ποιοῦντες, καὶ ὑπερβαλλούσας καθ' ἑαυτῶν σωρεύοντες τὰς