John Chrysostom, Letters

I know clearly from the beginning how you have been eager to be disposed towards us. For this reason, though I am situated at so great a distance, and kept apart by a long journey between us, and am here in many afflictions—both because of the desolation of this place, and because of the constant dangers, and the successive attacks of bandits, and because of the scarcity of physicians—by none of these things am I hindered from remembering your diligence continually; but the love which I have had from the beginning for you and for your house, I maintain this flourishing even now, allowing it to fade not at all, neither from time nor from the length of the journey. For such is it to love genuinely. And I exhort you, according to your understanding and piety, to bear all that happens nobly. For you know that from your earliest years until now you have journeyed through varied and all sorts of trials, and you are able to contend for the prize of endurance with ease, just as you have indeed often contended, and have laid up for yourself splendid crowns for these things. And if this one is greater than those past, yet the crown is also greater. Therefore let nothing of the dreadful things brought upon you trouble you; but by as much as the waves increase, and the surge becomes greater, by so much expect a greater profit, and a much greater reward for your toils, and greater, and more splendid. For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the present things are a journey, both the good and the painful things of this life, and both are passed by in like manner, and none of them is stable or fixed, but they imitate their nature, at once appearing and running past. Just as, therefore, travelers and wayfarers, whether they journey through meadows or through ravines, reap no pleasure from the one, nor endure sorrow from the other; for they are travelers, not citizens, passing by both, and hastening to their own homeland; so I exhort you also neither to gape at the bright things of the present life, nor to be overwhelmed by the sorrowful things, but to consider one thing only, how you may arrive at the common homeland of us all with much boldness. Since this is the abiding and fixed and immortal good, but all other things are a flower of the grass and smoke, and if there is anything more worthless than these. 104. To Asyncritia and those with her. I know your love and the disposition which you have been eager to have towards 52.665 us. And I continually wished to write; but the fear of the Isaurians, having walled off every road, does not permit us to find those who would serve us for this purpose. Whenever, then, we find them, we render to you the greeting that is owed, exhorting you, as is customary, to be neither disturbed nor troubled by these constant and successive trials. For if merchants and sailors for the sake of a little cargo cross such vast seas, and dare so many waves; and soldiers too despise life itself for the sake of a perishable and small wage, and while living they often battle with hunger, and are worn out by long journeys, and continually spend their time in a foreign land, and later many of them also endure an untimely and violent death, reaping nothing from this, neither small nor great; when a heavenly prize is set forth, and after death the reward is greater and much more abundant, what pardon will they obtain who grow soft, and do not despise life itself? Considering all these things, therefore, and that the present things are smoke, and a dream, and all human prosperity is in no better state than spring leaves, at once coming into being and immediately withering, become higher than all such arrows. For it is possible, if you wish, to trample even on the fantasy of this life. Consider one thing only, how with great eagerness you may be able to complete the afflicted way, the one that leads up to him. 107. To Castus, Valerius, Diophantus, and Cyriacus, presbyters. What happens to gold when it is tested many times by fire, this also to golden

ἀρχῆς οἶδα σαφῶς, ὅπως περὶ ἡμᾶς διατεθῆναι ἐσπούδακας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐκ τοσούτου καθήμενος διαστήματος, καὶ πολλῷ τῆς ὁδοῦ εἰργόμενος τῷ μέσῳ, καὶ ἐν πολλαῖς ὢν ἐνταῦθα θλίψεσι, διά τε τὴν ἐρημίαν τοῦ χωρίου τούτου, διά τε τοὺς συνεχεῖς κινδύνους, καὶ τὰς ἐπαλλήλους τῶν λῃστῶν ἐφόδους, διά τε τὴν ἰατρῶν σπάνιν, οὐδενὶ τούτων κωλύομαι μεμνῆσθαί σου διηνεκῶς τῆς ἐμμελείας· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀγάπην, ἣν ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ περὶ σὲ καὶ περὶ τὸν οἶκόν σου ἔσχηκα, ταύτην ἀκμάζουσαν διατηρῶ καὶ νῦν, οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μήκους τῆς ὁδοῦ μαραίνεσθαι αὐτὴν ἀφείς. Τοιοῦτον γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἀγαπᾷν γνησίως. Καί σε παρακαλῶ κατὰ τὴν σύνεσίν σου καὶ τὴν εὐλάβειαν, φέρειν τὰ συμπίπτοντα ἅπαντα γενναίως. Οἶσθα γὰρ ὅτι ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας μέχρι τοῦ νῦν διὰ ποικίλων καὶ παντοδαπῶν σχεδὸν ὥδευσας πειρασμῶν, καὶ δύνασαι μετ' εὐκολίας τὸν τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἆθλον ἀγωνίζεσθαι, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἠγωνίσω πολλάκις, καὶ λαμπροὺς ὑπὲρ τούτων σεαυτῇ προαπέθου τοὺς στεφάνους. Εἰ δὲ μείζων οὗτος τῶν παρελθόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ στέφανος πλείων. Μηδὲν οὖν σε ταραττέτω τῶν ἐπαγομένων δεινῶν· ἀλλ' ὅσῳπερ ἂν αὔξηται τὰ κύματα, καὶ μεῖζον γένηται τὸ κλυδώνιον, τοσούτῳ μείζονα ἀνάμενε τὴν ἐμπορίαν, καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα τὰ ἔπαθλα τῶν ἱδρώτων, καὶ μείζονα, καὶ λαμπρότερα. Οὐ γὰρ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Ὁδὸς γὰρ τὰ παρόντα, καὶ τὰ χρηστὰ, καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ τοῦ βίου τούτου, καὶ ἑκάτερα ὁμοίως παροδεύεται, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῶν πάγιον, οὐδὲ βεβηκὸς, ἀλλὰ μιμεῖται τὴν φύσιν, ὁμοῦ τε φαινόμενα, καὶ παρατρέχοντα. Καθάπερ οὖν ὁδῖται καὶ ὁδοιπόροι ἄν τε διὰ λειμώνων ὁδεύωσιν, ἄν τε διὰ φαράγγων, οὐδεμίαν οὐδὲ ἐντεῦθεν καρποῦνται τὴν ἡδονὴν, οὐδὲ ἐκεῖθεν ὑπομένουσι λύπην· ὁδῖται γάρ εἰσιν, οὐχὶ πολῖται, ἑκάτερα παρατρέχοντες, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πατρίδα τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπειγόμενοι· οὕτω παρακαλῶ καὶ ὑμᾶς μήτε πρὸς τὰ φαιδρὰ τοῦ παρόντος κεχηνέναι βίου, μήτε ὑπὸ τῶν λυπηρῶν καταβαπτίζεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἓν μόνον σκοπεῖν, ὅπως εἰς τὴν κοινὴν ἁπάντων ἡμῶν πατρίδα μετὰ πολλῆς παραγένησθε τῆς παῤῥησίας. Ἐπειδήπερ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ μένον καὶ πεπηγὸς καὶ ἀθάνατον ἀγαθὸν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πάντα, ἄνθος χόρτου καὶ καπνὸς, καὶ εἴ τι τούτων εὐτελέστερον. Ρʹ. Ἀσυγκριτίᾳ καὶ ταῖς σὺν αὐτῇ. Οἶδα τὴν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν καὶ τὴν διάθεσιν ἣν περὶ 52.665 ἡμᾶς ἔχειν ἐσπουδάκατε. Καὶ συνεχῶς ἐβουλόμην ἐπιστέλλειν· ἀλλ' ὁ τῶν Ἰσαύρων φόβος, πᾶσαν ἀποτειχίσας ὁδὸν, οὐκ ἀφίησιν εὐπορεῖν τῶν πρὸς τοῦτο διακονησομένων ἡμῖν. Ἡνίκα γοῦν ἂν ἐπιτύχωμεν τούτων, τὴν ὀφειλομένην ἀποδιδόαμεν ὑμῖν πρόσρησιν, τὰ συνήθη παρακαλοῦντες ὑμᾶς, μηδὲν θορυβεῖσθαι μηδὲ ταράττεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν τούτων καὶ ἐπαλλήλων πειρασμῶν. Εἰ γὰρ ἔμποροι καὶ ναῦται φορτίων ὀλίγων ἕνεκεν οὕτω μακρὰ διαβαίνουσι πελάγη, καὶ τοσούτων κατατολμῶσι κυμάτων· καὶ στρατιῶται δὲ καὶ αὐτῆς καταφρονοῦσι τῆς ζωῆς ὑπὲρ ἐπικήρου καὶ βραχέος μισθοῦ, καὶ ζῶντες μὲν καὶ λιμῷ μάχονται πολλάκις, καὶ ὁδοιπορίαις μακραῖς κατατείνονται, καὶ διηνεκῶς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοτρίας διάγουσιν, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ ἄωρον καὶ βίαιον πολλοὶ τούτων ὑπομένουσι θάνατον, οὐδὲν ἐντεῦθεν οὐ μικρὸν, οὐ μέγα καρπωσάμενοι· ὅταν οὐράνιος ὁ ἆθλος προκέηται, καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν μείζων ἡ ἀντίδοσις καὶ πολλῷ πλείων, ποίας τεύξονται συγγνώμης οἱ καταμαλακιζόμενοι, καὶ μὴ καὶ αὐτῆς καταφρονοῦντες τῆς ζωῆς; Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα λογιζομένη, καὶ ὅτι καπνὸς τὰ παρόντα, καὶ ὄναρ, καὶ πᾶσα εὐημερία ἀνθρωπίνη φύλλων ἠρινῶν οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διάκειται, γινομένων τε ὁμοῦ καὶ μαραινομένων εὐθέως, ὑψηλοτέρα πάντων τῶν τοιούτων γίνου βελῶν. Ἔξεστι γὰρ, ἐὰν θέλῃς, καὶ τὴν βιωτικὴν καταπατῆσαι φαντασίαν. Ἓν σκόπει μόνον, ὅπως μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς τὴν τεθλιμμένην ὁδὸν διανύσαι δυνηθῇς, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνάγουσαν. ΡΖʹ. Κάστῳ, Οὐαλερίῳ, ∆ιοφάντῳ, καὶ Κυριακῷ, πρεσβυτέροις. Ὃ συμβαίνει τῷ χρυσίῳ βασανιζομένῳ πολλάκις ὑπὸ πυρὸς, τοῦτο καὶ ταῖς χρυσαῖς