John Chrysostom, Letters

and the fact that not even all of these few were genuine, and moreover the illness of the body that greatly afflicted us, and nailed us to our bed all winter, has caused this long silence, but not one of the will, but one of the tongue. Do not think that you receive as many letters as we have sent, but many more. And you will believe this, if you count not only those of paper and ink, but also those from the heart. For in our mind we have written continually, and are always with you, and neither the length of the road, nor the amount of time, nor the circumstances of our affairs have made our affection for your honor any dimmer. But we remain, keeping it flourishing, and our vehement and warm lover, even if we should go away to a place more desolate than this, we will go everywhere carrying him about, having engraved him in our mind. For such is genuine love: it is not erased by time, nor place, nor length of road, nor by circumstance of affairs. And you yourself know this, since you also know how to love genuinely. 139. To Theodore, Consular of Syria. You yourself said that you would take it as the greatest sign of our care for your affairs, if a second letter after the first should come to your Splendor from us. But if we had a ready supply of those who would serve us in this, we would have sent snowflakes of letters to a man so good, and gentle, and a vehement lover of us, and one who receives our letters with so much desire. But since this is not possible, we ask your Splendor not to measure our love by the number of letters, but whether we are silent or writing, to keep unchanged that opinion which you held of it before, reckoning that our rather long silence is caused not by indifference of character, but by the desolation of the place. 140. To Theodotus the deacon. We had no small consolation in such a wilderness 52.696 in being able to write continually to your Sweetness; but the circumstance of the Isaurian troubles has taken away this also from us. For when spring arrived, the matter of their raids also blossomed, and they are poured out everywhere on the roads, making the highways impassable for all. Indeed, free women have now been captured, and men have been slaughtered. Therefore I ask you to forgive us for not having written continually. But since I know well that it is a matter of great concern to you to learn about our health, having suffered terribly and severely during the past winter, we have recovered a little now, and having been disturbed again by the irregularity of the weather—for even now winter is at its peak here—we nevertheless expect to put aside the remnants of our illness, when the clear summer appears. For nothing so harms our body as frost, nor helps it as summer and the comfort of being warm. 141. To Theodotus, ex-consular. May many good things be yours, because you received my son with so much honor. For he himself made this known to us, and did not hide it, at once demonstrating his gratitude towards his father and wishing to fill us with much pleasure. Since we consider the honor to be twofold our own, both in considering ourselves to have been well treated in whatever good things he experiences, and in the fact that from our letters a great addition of this good will came to him. Remain then, my most revered and most noble master, nurturing this beautiful plant. And what will be the manner of this nurturing? If you continuously nourish in him the love of this most beautiful philosophy, which he now pursues, and make it flourish; for thus he will also bring us swift fruit. For noble souls do not imitate the slowness of these plants that are entrusted to the bosom of the earth, but as soon as they are planted in the most beautiful desire for this virtue, they stretch up to heaven itself, and they show so great a yield of fruit as to hide all wealth both in abundance and in nature. For they are not destroyed along with the present life, but to the

καὶ τὸ μηδὲ αὐτῶν τῶν ὀλίγων πάντων γνησίων ἐπιτυγχάνειν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἀῤῥωστία σφόδρα ἡμᾶς κατεργασαμένη, καὶ πάντα τὸν χειμῶνα τῇ κλίνῃ προσηλώσασα, τὴν μακρὰν ταύτην σιγὴν ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' οὐ τὴν ἀπὸ γνώμης, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπὸ γλώσσης. Μηδὲ νόμιζε τοσαύτας δέχεσθαι ἐπιστολὰς, ὅσας διεπεμψάμεθα, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλείους. Ἡγήσῃ δὲ τοῦτο, ἂν μὴ τὰς διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ διαθέσεως ἀριθμῇς. Καὶ γὰρ τῇ διανοίᾳ συνεχῶς ἐπεστάλκαμεν, καὶ ἀεί σοι συγγινόμεθα, καὶ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μῆκος, οὐ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πλῆθος, οὔτε αἱ τῶν πραγμάτων περιστάσεις τὴν περὶ τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα διάθεσιν ἡμῖν ἀμαυροτέραν ἐποίησαν. Ἀλλὰ μένομεν ἀκμάζουσαν αὐτὴν διατηροῦντες, καὶ τὸν σφοδρὸν ἡμῶν καὶ θερμὸν ἐραστὴν, κἂν εἰς ἐρημότερον τούτου χωρίον ἀπέλθωμεν, πανταχοῦ περιφέροντες ἄπιμεν, ἐγκολάψαντες ἡμῶν τῇ διανοίᾳ. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ τὸ γνησίως φιλεῖν· οὐ χρόνῳ, οὐ τόπῳ, οὐχ ὁδοῦ μήκει, οὐ πραγμάτων περιστάσει ἐξίτηλον γίνεται. Καὶ τοῦτο οἶσθα καὶ αὐτὸς, ἐπειδὴ καὶ γνησίως οἶσθα φιλεῖν. ΡΛΘʹ. Θεοδώρῳ Κονσουλαρίῳ Συρίας. Αὐτὸς μὲν ἔφης σημεῖον ποιεῖσθαι μέγιστον τοῦ μέλειν ἡμῖν τῶν σῶν, εἰ δευτέρα μετὰ τὴν προτέραν ἐπιστολὴ ἔλθοι πρὸς τὴν σὴν λαμπρότητα παρ' ἡμῶν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ εἰ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο διακονησομένων ἡμῖν εὐποροῦμεν, νιφάδας ἂν ἐπέμψαμεν γραμμάτων πρὸς ἄνδρα οὕτω χρηστὸν, καὶ ἐπιεικῆ, καὶ σφοδρὸν ἡμῶν ἐραστὴν, καὶ μετὰ τοσαύτης ἐπιθυμίας δεχόμενον ἡμῶν τὰς ἐπιστολάς. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔνι, παρακαλοῦμέν σου τὴν λαμπρότητα, μὴ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἀριθμῷ μετρεῖν ἡμῶν τὴν ἀγάπην, ἀλλὰ καὶ σιγώντων καὶ γραφόντων, ἥνπερ καὶ ἔμπροσθεν εἶχες περὶ αὐτῆς ψῆφον, ταύτην ἀκίνητον διατηρεῖν, λογιζόμενον ὡς τὴν σιγὴν ἡμῖν μακροτέραν, οὐχ ἡ τοῦ τρόπου ῥᾳθυμία, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ τόπου κατασκευάζει ἐρημία. ΡΜʹ. Θεοδότῳ διακόνῳ. Οὐ μικρὰν εἴχομεν παραμυθίαν ἐν ἐρημίᾳ τοσαύτῃ 52.696 τὸ συνεχῶς δύνασθαι ἐπιστέλλειν σου τῇ γλυκύτητι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς παρείλετο τῶν Ἰσαυρικῶν κακῶν ἡ περίστασις. Ἐπιστάντος γὰρ τοῦ ἔαρος ἤνθησε καὶ τὰ τῆς ἐκείνων ἐφόδου, καὶ πανταχοῦ τῶν ὁδῶν εἰσιν ἐκκεχυμένοι, πᾶσιν ἀβάτους ποιοῦντες τὰς λεωφόρους. Ἤδη γοῦν καὶ γυναῖκες ἐλεύθεραι ἑάλωσαν, καὶ ἄνδρες ἐσφάγησαν. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ συγγινώσκειν ἡμῖν μὴ συνεχῶς γεγραφηκόσιν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εὖ οἶδα, ὅτι περισπούδαστόν σοι μανθάνειν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας ἡμῶν, δεινοπαθήσαντες χαλεπῶς κατὰ τὸν παρελθόντα χειμῶνα, ὀλίγον ἀνηνέγκαμεν νῦν, καὶ διαταραχθέντες πάλιν τῇ ἀνωμαλίᾳ τοῦ ἀέρος καὶ γὰρ καὶ νῦν χειμὼν ἐνταῦθα ἀκμάζων, ὅμως προσδοκῶμεν τὰ λείψανα τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ἀποθέσθαι, καθαροῦ φανέντος τοῦ θέρους. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἡμῶν τὸ σῶμα οὕτως λυμαίνεται, ὡς κρυμὸς, οὔτε ὀνίνησιν, ὡς θέρος, καὶ ἡ τοῦ θάλπεσθαι παραμυθία. ΡΜΑʹ. Θεοδότῳ ἀπὸ Κονσουλαρίων. Πολλά σοι τὰ ἀγαθὰ γένοιτο, ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν μετὰ τοσαύτης ὑπεδέξω τιμῆς. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἐδήλωσε, καὶ οὐκ ἔκρυψεν, ὁμοῦ τε τὴν περὶ τὸν πατέρα εὐγνωμοσύνην ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ ἡμᾶς πολλῆς ἐμπλῆσαι βουλόμενος ἡδονῆς. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμετέραν διπλῆν ἡγούμεθα εἶναι τὴν τιμὴν, τῷ τε ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς εὖ πεπονθέναι νομίζειν, ἅπερ ἂν ἐκεῖνος εὖ πάθῃ, τῷ τε καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων τῶν ἡμετέρων πολλὴν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι τὴν προσθήκην ταυτησὶ τῆς εὐνοίας. Μένε δὴ, δέσποτά μου αἰδεσιμώτατε καὶ εὐγενέστατε, θεραπεύων τὸ καλὸν τοῦτο φυτόν. Τίς δὲ ἔσται τῆς θεραπείας ὁ τρόπος; Ἢν τὸν ἔρωτα τῆς καλλίστης ταύτης φιλοσοφίας, ἣν μέτεισι νῦν, τρέφῃς ἐν αὐτῷ διηνεκῶς, καὶ ἀκμάζειν παρασκευάζῃς· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ταχεῖς ἡμῖν οἴσει τοὺς καρπούς. Αἱ γὰρ γενναῖαι ψυχαὶ οὐ μιμοῦνται τὴν βραδυτῆτα τουτωνὶ τῶν φυτῶν, τῶν τοῖς κόλποις τῆς γῆς παρακατατιθεμένων, ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ τε φυτεύονται ἐν τῇ καλλίστῃ τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης ἐπιθυμίᾳ, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνατείνονται τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τοσαύτην ἐπιδείκνυνται τῶν καρπῶν τὴν φορὰν, ὡς ἅπαντα ἀποκρύπτειν πλοῦτον καὶ τῇ δαψιλείᾳ καὶ τῇ φύσει. Οὐ γὰρ τῷ παρόντι συγκαταλύονται βίῳ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν