those who love you, and are endowed with such power, we have not obtained that which the convicts obtain, so as to be settled in a milder and nearer place; but with our body already broken and worn out, and with the terror of the Isaurians besieging everything, even this small and cheap favor has been denied to us. Let God's glory be proclaimed for this as well. For we do not cease to give Him glory for all things. May His name be blessed A forever. I was very surprised at your behavior, that although I have sent this fourth or even fifth letter to you, I have received only one. And yet it was not difficult to write more frequently. I do not say these things in a spirit of accusation: for the duties of love are of the will, not of necessity. But this hurts me, that you have cast me out of your heart so quickly, such that in such a long time you have sent me only one letter. Therefore, if we do not ask anything burdensome or troublesome of you, grant us this, which is a matter of your own will and authority. For I pass you no trouble concerning other matters; lest, besides achieving nothing, I also seem burdensome and importunate to you.
CXXI. To Arabios
The furnace of grief which you carry in your mind for the things which have been perpetrated against us, I have learned most clearly from your letters; and indeed I knew it before. For we shall never be able to forget the violence of the tears which you poured out when these evils were first being woven. But your letter also, not less than those tears and groans, revealed to us the flame of grief which has crept into your heart. Expect the reward for these things from the benevolent God; for there is also a great and ample reward for grief. For B even at that time, when vices were burning among the Jews, there were some who, when they could not correct their wickedness, did nothing but mourn and weep for them, and they obtained such a reward that, when all the others were perishing and were being destroyed in an utter slaughter, they alone escaped the wrath. "Set a mark," says Scripture, "upon the foreheads of them that sigh and that cry" (Ezek. 9:4). And yet they did not prevent these things from happening, but because they performed what was in their power—that is, they sighed and wept—they procured for themselves a great refuge from this. You too, my masters, weep for these things without any intermission, and pray to the benevolent God that He may calm the shipwreck of the common world. For you know, clearly you know, that all things are full of tumult and disturbance, and that one must offer prayers not only for the city of Constantinople, but for the whole world; since the evil, having taken its beginning from there, has been poured out like a certain pestilential flood, and ruins the Churches through the whole world. But as for what you ask of us, even you yourself, as long as we are separated from one another in the body (for we are bound to you in spirit always, and to your entire household), I ask that you do this, namely, that you do not be C annoyed to write to us frequently, and to make us more certain about your health. For you know how welcome that will be to us. But since you ordered us to divert into your house, know that after I set out, I learned it did not please our enemies that we be taken to Sebaste, but into the most desert place of Armenia, Cucusus, and one most dangerous because of the incursion of the Isaurians. We nevertheless give thanks to you, and have received the honor, that even when we were far away, such care for us held you, that you even prepared a guesthouse for us, and exhorted us to stay at your home. But if you have any friends at Cucusus, I would wish that you send letters to them.
CXXII. To Marcianus
You are blessed, and thrice blessed, and this often, as one who in such a severe tempest, and in such great storms of affairs, has displayed a specimen of such great liberality towards the poor. For your immense kindness was not unknown to us, and that you have become a harbor common to all, undertaking the patronage of orphans, soothing the grief of widows by every means, sustaining their destitution, relieving their poverty, and not allowing them to be affected by the sense of this constraint, but showing yourself to be whatever they needed, and feeding the whole populace with grain, wine, oil, and all other things. May God pay you the reward of this bounty, of your munificence, of your zeal, of your ardor, of your love towards the poor, and of your sincere charity, both here and in the future age; since you abound and flourish in all these virtues, laying up for yourself maximum rewards in the future age. Hearing these things about you, although we are in such solitude D and are vexed on every side by many inconveniences—for both the blockade of Isaurian fear, and the solitude of the place, and the harshness of winter press upon us vehemently—yet we are not even affected by a sense of troubles, but we receive immense consolation, exulting and rejoicing at such great virtues, and at the riches exceeding every power of speech, which you are accumulating for yourself in heaven. That we may therefore rejoice also on another account, do not, I beg you, be annoyed to write to us as often as possible, and to announce joyful news to us about your health. For we desire to hear something about it in a greater measure. And you yourself also know this: seeing as that fact also is known to you, with how much love for you we are always held.
CXXIII. To the presbyters and monks of Phoenicia, who are instructing the Gentiles
Governors, when they see the sea stirred up by fury and aroused, and a great tempest and whirlwind, not only do not desert the ship, but even then utilize greater concern and zeal, both themselves keeping watch and rousing others. And physicians again, when they foresee a fever that has been stirred up raging vehemently, not only do not abandon the sick person, but even then at last, both through themselves and through the work of others, they apply more study and labor for the overthrowing of the disease. Why do I mention these things? Surely so that no one of you