Letter CXCII.942    Placed in 374.

To Sophronius the Master.

With your extraordinary zeal in good deeds you have written to me to say that you yourself owe me double thanks; first, for getting a letter from me, and secondly, for doing me a service.  What thanks, then, must not I owe you, both for reading your most delightful words, and for finding what I hoped for so quickly accomplished!  The message was exceedingly gratifying on its own account, but it gave me much greater gratification from the fact that you were the friend to whom I owed the boon.  God grant that ere long I may see you, and return you thanks in words, and enjoy the great pleasure of your society.

ΣΩΦΡΟΝΙῼ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡῼ

[1] Εἰ αὐτὸς διπλῆν ἔλαβες χάριν, ὡς αὐτὸς τῇ ἀνυπερβλήτῳ προθυμίᾳ περὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἔργα ἐπέστειλας ἡμῖν, μίαν μὲν τῷ δέξασθαι γράμματα, δευτέραν δὲ τῷ ὑπουργῆσαι τῇ χρείᾳ ἡμῶν, πόσην τινὰ χρὴ νομίζειν ἡμᾶς ἔχειν τὴν χάριν, γράμμασί τε τῆς ἡδίστης φωνῆς ἐντυχόντας καὶ τὴν ἐπιζητηθεῖσαν χρείαν τοσούτῳ τάχει πληρωθεῖσαν ὁρῶντας; Ὥστε ἡδέως δεξάμενοι τὸ ἀποσταλὲν διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτοῦ φύσιν, πολλῷ ἥδιον αὐτὸ προσηκάμεθα τῷ σὲ εἶναι τὸν τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτοῦ προεστῶτα. Παράσχοι δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ Κύριος ἰδεῖν σε ἐν τάχει, ὥστε ἀπὸ γλώττης ὁμολογῆσαι τὴν χάριν καὶ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἐν σοὶ καλῶν ἀπολαῦσαι.