Having reflected, therefore, on the gravity of the undertaking, do not allow him to delay even a little, but prepare him to set out upon this journey without hesitation, storing up for yourself by this good zeal, my most admirable sir, a great reward from God, who loves mankind.
D LII. To Adolia. (Cucusus, in the year 404.) We have learned that you have been ill, and indeed that you were so severely and bitterly ill that you even approached the very gates of death; but we also know that you have recovered from the illness, and, now delivered from the danger, are on your way to health. I did not, however, learn any of this from your letters, for which reason I was greatly pained, but from elsewhere and from others. Nevertheless, it is enough for our consolation that your reverence has been freed from the illness. But although it is enough, I do not bear your long silence calmly. For I wished, as you yourself also know, to see you had you come here. And indeed, if illness had not supervened, nothing would have prevented it. For the winter here has so far mimicked a very mild spring, and Armenia has been freed from the Isaurians. But still, I do not compel or force you to come here against your will. But this, which neither the fear of the Isaurians, nor the severity of the winter, nor the hardship of the journey, nor anything else prevents, this we unceasingly ask to have from you: letters, those signs of your warm and genuine affection. For if we enjoy these unceasingly, bringing us news of your health and cheerfulness, we shall reap no small consolation from them. Thinking, therefore, of what a great favor you will be doing us, do not hesitate to act accordingly. For you know how we hold your nobility in esteem, and how much love we have always displayed toward your gentleness.
LIII. To Nicolaus the presbyter. (Cucusus, in the year 405.) You have greatly lifted my spirits and filled me with enormous pleasure by signifying that you have a great care for Phoenicia, and that, although separated by such a distance, you sharpen and encourage with your letters those who dwell there, thus fulfilling an apostolic zeal. For this reason we do not cease to admire and bless you: because you previously sent the monks, and because now, in so great a difficulty of affairs, not only have you not withdrawn them, but you have ordered them to stay, doing the work of an excellent commander and a noble physician. For each of them, when he sees the waves rising, displays all the more great zeal, and when he sees the fever stirred up into a greater flame, makes use of much skill; and you yourself, therefore, my most honorable and reverend master, have done things worthy of your virtue, when you saw matters ailing and in conflict, then especially you applied yourself to those who dwell there, so that they might not desert, but persevere and contribute what is in their power. Since you emulate your own deeds, if my most honorable master, the presbyter Gerontius, has recovered and returned to perfect health, urge him immediately to begin that journey. D For we desire to see him arrived here; but since the affairs there also have need of speed and much wakefulness, so that no great amount of time is spent on the road and the winter that has set in does not block his way, we beseech your honor to urge him to recover and hasten to depart, and to prepare the most sweet and most beloved John the presbyter to join him on the journey. For you yourself know that now more than ever the things there have need of those who will set them right, in as much as the evils have crept further. Thinking upon this, therefore, and knowing how great a thing the salvation of a soul is, and what you have accomplished by your honor through your previous zeal, take courage to do everything both through yourself and through others, as far as it is possible, so that what has been corrected may remain unmoved, and that even a much greater addition may accrue to them. You yourself, however, have cheered us no less than those who have come here; for in your mind you have arrived, and we see you every day with the eyes of love, even though you are not present in body, carrying you about everywhere in our thoughts. And perhaps the meeting face-to-face will also be granted to us when the season permits. As for now, even though we desire greatly to see your love and embrace you, we deem your remaining where you are to be necessary. For I know well that you will not cease doing everything and taking measures to fill Phoenicia with noble men, and strengthening those who have remained there all the more, so that they may not abandon the place and return, and searching out those who are near and sending them forth with much eagerness, becoming a very great gain to all, both those near and those far away, and imitating the nature of perfumes, which fill not only the place that receives them, but also the air that is at a distance with much fragrance.
LIV. To Gerontius the presbyter. (Cucusus, in the year 405.) I have already written to your reverence, thinking you to be in Phoenicia, and now I write the same things as I did before—that now more than ever it is necessary to do and undergo everything so as not to leave your good husbandry desolate, and to let none of the things already accomplished be destroyed. For shepherds, when they see much harm being inflicted upon the sheep from all sides, then especially are they wakeful and aroused; they wield the sling and make use of other skill, so as to drive away all harm from the flock. If you have been entrusted with irrational sheep, think how much you ought to do and endure when you are entrusted with rational ones, so that none of them may perish. I beseech your reverence, therefore, by as much as the winter is greater, and the evils more numerous, and the obstacles severe, and those who plot against them many, all the more rise up yourself and stir up others. For Jacob spent fourteen years serving, suffering from heat and cold and much sleeplessness, and he performed his service to the full.