[LATIN COLUMN] 663 S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE
but this I do know, that this did not happen through any negligence of yours; for whether you write or remain silent, I know of your warm and sincere, guileless, strong and solid charity towards me; but rather that, when you were writing, there was no one present to transcribe it. Yet it ought to have been written in your own language, and by your own hand. For I am very eager, as you yourself also know, to receive frequent letters from you, that we might be informed daily of your health: and hence we derive no small consolation from such a vast solitude and from the adverse circumstances with which we struggle here. Since, therefore, most reverend and most religious lady, it cannot escape you with how much desire I am held for this matter, I beg you not to neglect to grant us this favor. For many have come to us from your parts from various places. But I do not complain against you on that account, that they did not bring us letters from you; for it is likely that they were unknown to you. But now, since there is full opportunity, I would wish you to write; and especially since such events have occurred there, I was most especially desiring to receive letters from you. See to it, therefore, that you make amends for what was previously neglected through carelessness, and that you compensate for the length of the previous silence with a frequency and assiduity of letters.
CIV. To Pentadia the Deaconess. (Year 404 or 405.)
I count you blessed for the sake of the crowns which you have gained for yourself, and now also, since through strength of mind you have brought yourself to endure anything for the sake of the truth. Deservedly, therefore, you have God, who most keenly defends your cause. For "until death," says the Scripture, "strive for the truth: and the Lord will fight for you" (Eccli. 4. 33). Which, indeed, has come to pass. For since you have run this noble race even to that point, you have brought back many divine rewards: therefore I am filled with great joy. But because I learned that you are thinking about a departure, and I heard that you wish to migrate from there, I ask of you that you do not think anything of the sort, nor hold it in your mind. First for this very reason, that you are a support to your fellow citizens, and a most ample harbor, and an aid, and a safe wall to those who are exhausted by labors and afflictions. Wherefore do not allow yourself to throw such a gain from your hands; do not, I say, allow yourself to cast away such great profit, when you collect such great treasures daily from your presence. For those who see, or hear of, your noble deeds, derive no small gain therefrom. You know, moreover, how great a reward that secures for you. First, therefore, as I said, for this reason I ask you to remain there; for no small proof of that utility which you have brought by remaining there has been given by you. Secondly, not even the time of the year permits you to do this. For you are not ignorant of what bodily weakness you have, nor that it is not easy for you to move your foot in such great intensity of cold and of winter. To this is added that, as the rumor is, the matters of the Isaurians are now flourishing. Therefore, pondering all these things with yourself as a prudent woman, do not, I ask, in any way sustain the moving of your foot from there at this time: and concerning this matter I would wish you to notify us as soon as possible, and to write often concerning your health. For now, too, we have taken it ill that 664 we have received no letters from you; and we are troubled, lest by chance illness has hindered this. Therefore, that you may remove this anxiety from us, send letters to us quickly which may indicate these things.
CV. To Chalcidia. (Written in the year, as is thought, 406.)
May God pay you the reward for your reverence towards us, and for your honor, and for your sincere charity, both here and in the future age. For I have a clear view not only of your present, but even of your prior and initial, feelings and concern toward us. And because of this, although I am separated from you by a long stretch of road, and here, both on account of the solitude of this place, and on account of perpetual dangers and the frequent attacks of brigands, and on account of the scarcity of physicians, I am involved in many calamities; yet none of these things hinders me from remembering your sweetness perpetually: nay, rather, I retain the charity which from the beginning I held both towards you and towards your house in a flourishing state; nor do I allow it to grow old either because of the length of time or because of the distance of the journey. For that is the nature of sincere charity. But I pray and beseech you, for your prudence and piety, to bear all those things which happen with a steadfast mind. For you know that from your earliest youth until this time you have been assailed by various and almost every kind of temptation; and you can fulfill the contest of patience with ease, just as you have also often fulfilled it, and from it have stored up for yourself illustrious crowns for the future. But if this temptation exceeds the former ones, then the crown also will be more excellent. Since these things are so, let nothing of those bitter things which are brought upon you disturb you: but the more the waves rise and the storm increases, the more also look for a greater gain, and rewards far more copious and ample and brilliant than your sweats. "For the sufferings of this time are not condign to the future glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8. 18). For the pleasantries and troubles of this present life are like roads, and both flow out in the same way, and there is nothing in them certain and stable, but they imitate the nature of shadows, as things which as soon as they appear, immediately pass away. Just as, therefore, travelers, whether they make their journey through meadows or through rugged and steep places, neither perceive any pleasure from the former, nor feel any sadness from the latter; for they are travelers, not citizens, passing over both and hastening toward their own country: in the same way I ask and beseech you, that you neither gape after the pleasantries of the present life, nor again be depressed by the weight of troublesome matters, but look to this one thing, in what manner you may arrive at our common country with great boldness. Since this alone is a fixed and constant and immortal good: but all other things are the flower of the grass and smoke, and if anything can be fashioned that is viler than these.
CVI. To Asyncritia and her companions. (Written at Cucusus in the year 404.)
With what charity and benevolence you are towards us, I... [index: entries preserved]