569 S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE
A ...must we not, instead of wandering about in search of those who love us sincerely (for this is indeed a rare thing), run to the blessed Paul? He will tell us how great this struggle is, and how much it requires a noble soul. For this Paul, who had already put off the flesh and laid aside the body, and who traversed the inhabited world with his soul almost stripped bare, having banished every passion from his mind, imitating the impassivity of the incorporeal powers, dwelling on earth as if it were heaven, standing with the Cherubim on high and sharing in that mystical melody with them—he bore all other things easily, as though suffering in the body of another: prisons and chains, abductions and scourges, threats and death, and stoning B and drowning, and every kind of torment. Yet, when he was separated from one soul that was beloved by him, he was so confounded and disturbed that he immediately fled the city where he had expected to see the one he loved, but did not find him. Troas is witness to this for him, having been abandoned by him for this very reason, because he could not show him that person there at that time. For, "Having come," he says, "to Troas for the Gospel of Christ, and a door being opened to me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus; but taking leave of them, I went off to Macedonia" (2 Cor. 2:12-13). What is this, Paul? You were bound with wood, dwelling in a prison, with lashes laid upon you—your back flowing with blood—and yet you were performing the mysteries, you were baptizing, you were offering sacrifice, and you did not disdain even one person who was about to be saved! Yet, having come to Troas, and seeing the field already cleansed, and ready to receive the seeds, and the threshing floor filled, and providing you with such great ease, did you throw away such gain from your hands, having come C precisely for this (for "Having come," he says, "to Troas for the Gospel," that is, because of the Gospel), and with nothing opposing you (for "A door having been opened to me," he says), yet you fled immediately? "Yes," he says. "For I was held by a great tyranny of despondency, and the absence of Titus so confounded my mind and so overcame and mastered me that it forced me to do this." And that he suffered this because of despondency, we need not conjecture; we must learn it from him. For he stated the cause of his departure, saying: "I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus, but taking leave of them, I went forth to Macedonia."
12. Do you see what a great struggle it is to be able to bear the separation of one who is loved with calmness? And how painful a thing it is, and bitter? How it requires a high and courageous soul? You are now undergoing this same struggle. And by how much the struggle is great, by so much is the crown greater, and the rewards more brilliant. Let this be a consolation for your hesitation, and the fact that you will surely see us again, springing forth with the reward from here, being crowned and proclaimed. For it does not 570 suffice for those who love each other merely to be bound together in soul, nor is this sufficient for consolation, but they also crave a physical presence; and if this is not present, no small part of the joy is curtailed. And coming again to this nursling of love, we shall find it has it so. For writing to the Macedonians, he said: "But we, brethren, being orphaned from you for a short time, in face, not in heart, have endeavored more abundantly to see your face; I, indeed, Paul, once and twice, and Satan hindered us. Wherefore, no longer able to endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy" (1 Thess. 2:17; cf. 3:1-2). Oh, the power of every word! For he displays the flame of love that was stored up in his soul with great clarity. For he did not say, "separated from you," nor "torn from you," nor "parted," nor "left behind," but, "being orphaned from you." He sought a word sufficient to express the pain of his soul. And yet, though he was in the position of a father to them all, he speaks like children who were orphans in a premature age, having lost their parent, wishing to show the excess of his despondency. For nothing is more painful than premature orphaning, when their age is not sufficient for them to provide for themselves, and there are no foster parents to take care of them sincerely, and many who would oppress and conspire against them suddenly appear, so that, like lambs, they are thrown into the midst of wolves, who tear and mangle them from all sides. No one can represent the magnitude of this calamity with words. For this reason Paul, having gone around and sought a word indicative of both bereavement and grievous calamity, in order to represent what he was suffering by being separated from those he loved, used this word; and then he intensifies it again in what follows: "Being orphaned," he says, "not for a time, but for the season of an hour, and separated not in mind, but in face only, yet we do not bear the pain arising from this; and yet, having sufficient consolation—to be bound together in soul, to have you in our heart, to have seen you yesterday and the day before—yet none of these things delivers us from despondency." But what do you want and desire, tell me, and desire with such excess? Their very appearance. "For more abundantly," he says, "we have endeavored to see your face." What are you saying, O high and great one? You who have the world crucified to you, and are crucified to the world, you who have been freed from all carnal things, who have become almost incorporeal, have you become so captivated by love that you are brought down to this clay-like, earthly, sensible flesh? "Yes," he says, "and I am not ashamed in saying these things, but I even pride myself on them; for having the mother of good things, love, springing up within me, I seek these out." And he does not seek a merely physical presence, but desires most of all to behold their face.