John Chrysostom, Letters

sitting here we may reap much consolation from it. 179. To Adolia. To come in person is perhaps difficult on account of bodily weakness; for there is no other obstacle, since all activity from the robbers has ceased; but what trouble is there in writing? For surely you cannot take refuge in that excuse here as well. But I say these things because, having sent this, the sixth letter as I think, I have received only two from your nobility. Nevertheless, whether you write or are silent, we do not cease from doing our part. For we will not be able to forget that old and genuine friendship of yours, but we keep it ever flourishing, and we write whenever it is possible. But since we are very anxious about your affairs, we are very eager to receive letters from you also, bringing us good news about your health. Do not deprive us of this comfort; but knowing how much you oblige us, even if writing is a trouble to you, for our sakes who love you very much, accept this trouble also; and make known to us the state of your health, since we are very eager to learn about it every day. 180. To Hypatius the presbyter. I will not cease to call your honor blessed for the patience, the courage, the great endurance, which you have shown, and continue to show in your trials. And this I declared also in my former letter, that a double and triple reward is laid up for you for these things, both for the great steadfastness you yourself display, and for leading others to the same zeal, showing such eagerness in so advanced an old age on behalf of the persecuted people. And I wished indeed to write continually to your honor; but since this is not easy, both because of the winter season and 52.714 the fear of robbers, and the desolation of the place where we are staying, whenever it is possible, we both greet your reverence, and ask you to write to us continually, and to bring us the good news about your health; for we are very eager to learn about it. And we also call blessed the most honorable deacons Eusebius and Lamprotatus, who have shared in the persecutions with you. For you know how great are the crowns laid up for you for these things, and how great is the reward, and how great the recompense. Knowing these things, therefore, remain steadfast, unmovable; for God will both give you an abundant reward for your patience, and will quickly put an end to the present troubles. But write to us continually, bringing us good news of your health, about which it is a matter of great concern for us to learn. 181. To the Bishops. Both the disturbance which has befallen the Churches in the East, most violent and varied, and the zeal contributed by your reverence for its correction, is great and abundant. And if nothing more has yet been done, we count those who are incurably sick and have not been corrected as wretched, but we do not cease to admire and bless you, because after so long a time, with matters remaining uncorrected, you have not grown weary, nor have you become remiss, but you press on, still contributing your aid with flourishing eagerness, to the judgment of those unwilling to endure you, but to the crowns of your zeal, and many prizes. For these reasons both we and all throughout the world proclaim and crown you, because though you are situated at so great a distance, neither the length of the journey nor the amount of time has made you more slothful, but as if you were near to what has happened, and seeing with your own eyes the transgressions that have occurred, so with most vigorous eagerness you have been zealous to contribute what is in your power. But if those who from the beginning brought forth these evils are not yet willing to put an end to their unseasonable contentiousness and irrational warfare, let this not trouble you at all, nor make you grow weary; for the greater the labor that befalls you, the greater also will be the crown, since God has appointed for you those unspeakable and ineffable rewards that surpass all speech. 182. To Venerius bishop of Milan. Your courage, and your boldness, and your freedom of speech on behalf of the truth, even before

καθήμενοι πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. ΡΟΘʹ. Ἀδολίᾳ. Τὸ μὲν παραγενέσθαι ἴσως ἐργῶδες διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀσθένειαν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερον κώλυμα, τὰ γὰρ τῶν λῃστῶν πάντα πέπαυται· τὸ δὲ γράφειν ποῖον ἔχει πόνον; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰς ἐκεῖνο καταφυγεῖν ἔχεις. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγω, ὅτι ἕκτην, ὡς ἔγωγε οἶμαι, ταύτην διαπεμψάμενος τὴν ἐπιστολὴν, δύο μόνας ἐδεξάμην παρὰ τῆς εὐγενείας τῆς σῆς. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ ἄν τε γράφῃς, ἄν τε σιγᾷς, ἡμεῖς τὰ ἑαυτῶν ποιοῦντες οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν. Οὐ γὰρ δυνησόμεθα ἐπιλαθέσθαι σου τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης καὶ γνησίας φιλίας, ἀλλ' ἀνθοῦσαν αὐτὴν διηνεκῶς διατηροῦμεν, καὶ ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ, γράφομεν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ σφόδρα μεριμνῶμεν τὰ σὰ, σφόδρα ἐπιθυμοῦμεν καὶ γράμματα παρὰ σοῦ δέχεσθαι, περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας ἡμῖν εὐαγγελιζόμενα τῆς σῆς. Μὴ δὴ ταύτης ἡμᾶς ἀποστέρει τῆς παραμυθίας· ἀλλ' εἰδυῖα ὅσον χαρίζῃ, κἂν ἐπίπονόν σοι ᾗ τὸ γράφειν, δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς σφόδρα σε ἀγαπῶντας καὶ τοῦτον καταδέχου τὸν πόνον· καὶ δήλου τὰ περὶ τῆς ῥώσεως ἡμῖν τῆς σῆς, σφόδρα ἐπιθυμοῦσι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν περὶ ταύτης μανθάνειν. ΡΠʹ. Ὑπατίῳ πρεσβυτέρῳ. Οὐ παύσομαι μακαρίζων σου τὴν τιμιότητα τῆς ὑπομονῆς, τῆς ἀνδρείας, τῆς καρτερίας τῆς πολλῆς, ἣν ἐπεδείξω, καὶ ἐπιδείκνυσαι ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς. Καὶ τοῦτο καὶ διὰ τῆς προτέρας ἐπιστολῆς ἐδήλωσα, ὅτι διπλοῦς καὶ τριπλοῦς σοι ὁ μισθὸς ὑπὲρ τούτων ἀπόκειται, ὑπέρ τε ὧν αὐτὸς τοσαύτην στεῤῥότητα ἐπιδείκνυσαι, καὶ ἑτέρους εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ἄγεις ζῆλον, ἐν γήρᾳ οὕτω βαθεῖ τοσαύτην προθυμίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ διωκομένου λαοῦ. Καὶ ἐβουλόμην μὲν συνεχῶς ἐπιστέλλειν σου τῇ τιμιότητι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ εὔκολον, διά τε τὴν τοῦ χειμῶνος ὥραν καὶ 52.714 τὸν τῶν λῃστῶν φόβον, καὶ τὴν τοῦ χωρίου ἐρημίαν ἐν ᾧ καθήμεθα, ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ, καὶ προσαγορεύομέν σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν, καὶ αἰτοῦμεν συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν, καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς εὐαγγελίζεσθαι· σφόδρα γὰρ ἐπιθυμοῦμεν τὰ περὶ ταύτης μανθάνειν. Μακαρίζομεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς τιμιωτάτους διακόνους Εὐσέβιον καὶ Λαμπρότατον, τοὺς κοινωνήσαντάς σοι τῶν διωγμῶν. Ἴστε γὰρ ἡλίκοι στέφανοι τούτων ὑμῖν ἀπόκεινται, καὶ ὅσος ὁ μισθὸς, καὶ ὅση ἡ ἀνταπόδοσις. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, μένετε ἑδραίοι, ἀμετακίνητοι· τῆς τε γὰρ ὑπομονῆς δαψιλῆ τὸν μισθὸν ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῖν ἀποδώσει, καὶ τὰ παρόντα ταχέως λύσει δεινά. Γράφετε δὲ ἡμῖν συνεχῶς, τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας τῆς ὑμετέρας ἡμῖν εὐαγγελιζόμενοι, περὶ ἧς σφόδρα περισπούδαστον ἡμῖν μανθάνειν. ΡΠΑʹ. Ἐπισκόποις. Καὶ ἡ καταλαβοῦσα τὰς Ἐκκλησίας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀνατολὴν ταραχὴ, σφοδροτάτη καὶ ποικίλη, καὶ ἡ παρὰ τῆς εὐλαβείας ὑμῶν εἰσενεχθεῖσα εἰς τὴν διόρθωσιν ταύτης σπουδὴ, πολλὴ καὶ δαψιλής. Εἰ δὲ μηδὲν μηδέπω γέγονε πλέον, τοὺς μὲν ἀνίατα νοσοῦντας καὶ μὴ διορθωθέντας ταλανίζομεν, ὑμᾶς δὲ θαυμάζοντες καὶ μακαρίζοντες οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν, ὅτι μετὰ τοσοῦτον χρόνον τῶν πραγμάτων ἀδιορθώτων μεινάντων, οὐκ ἀπεκάμετε, οὐδὲ ὕπτιοι γεγόνατε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπίκεισθε, ἔτι ἀκμαζούσῃ τῇ προθυμίᾳ τὴν παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσφέροντες συμμαχίαν, εἰς κρῖμα μὲν τῶν οὐκ ἐθελόντων ὑμῶν ἀνασχέσθαι, εἰς στεφάνους δὲ τῆς ὑμετέρας σπουδῆς, καὶ βραβεῖα πολλά. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ὑμᾶς καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνακηρύττουσι καὶ στεφανοῦσιν, ὅτι ἐκ τοσούτου καθημένους διαστήματος, οὐ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μῆκος, οὐ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πλῆθος ῥᾳθυμοτέρους ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' ὡς πλησίον ὄντες τῶν γενομένων, καὶ αὐταῖς ὄψεσιν ὁρῶντες τὰς γενομένας παρανομίας, οὕτως ἐῤῥωμενεστάτῃ προθυμίᾳ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσφέρειν ἐσπουδάκατε. Εἰ δὲ μήπω τὴν ἄκαιρον φιλονεικίαν καὶ τὸν ἄλογον πόλεμον καταλύειν βούλονται οἱ ταῦτα ἐξ ἀρχῆς τεκόντες τὰ κακὰ, μηδὲν ὑμᾶς τοῦτο θορυβείτω, μήτε ἀποκάμνειν ποιείτω· ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν πλείων ὁ πόνος ὑμῖν ἐγγένηται, τοσούτῳ καὶ μείζων ἔσται ὁ στέφανος, τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰς ἀῤῥήτους ὑμῖν καὶ ἀφάτους ἐκείνας καὶ λόγον ὑπερβαινούσας ὁρίζοντος ἀμοιβάς. ΡΠΒʹ. Βενερίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μεδιολάνων. Τὴν ἀνδρείαν ὑμῶν, καὶ τὴν παῤῥησίαν, καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλευθεροστομίαν καὶ πρότερον μὲν