Letter 111: Chrysostom writes to Anatolius of Adana after hearing of his love from others.
I wanted to meet your Honor in person, after hearing from many people of the ardent love you have for us even though we have not met. Since that is not possible for now, I make up for the hoped-for meeting through conversation by letter, granting myself a great favor.
Cucusus, where we have now been carried, is a desolate place, full of dangers and besieged by constant fear of bandits. Yet none of this disturbs us when we enjoy your love. Though separated in body, we are bound to you in soul so strongly that we seem to live in your peaceful city rather than in Cucusus, because in affection we are always with you and carry you everywhere in our mind.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΡΙΑʹ. Ἀνατολίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀδάνης.
Ἐγὼ μὲν καὶ συγγενέσθαι ἐπεθύμουν σου τῇ τιμιότητι, παρὰ πολλῶν ἀκούων τὸν θερμὸν ἔρωτα, ὃν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἔχεις, καὶ ταῦτα μὴ συγγενόμενος ἡμῖν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο τέως οὐκ ἔνι, τὸ τῆς συνουσίας ἐλπὶς γενέσθαι, διορθοῦμαι τῇ τῶν γραμμάτων ὁμιλίᾳ, χάριν ἑαυτῷ παρέχων μεγίστην. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐρημότατον χωρίον, εἰς ὃ νῦν ἀπηνέχθημεν, ἡ Κουκουσὸς, καὶ κινδύνων γέμον πολλῶν, καὶ φόβῳ διηνεκεῖ τῶν λῃστῶν πολιορκούμενον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ἡμᾶς θορυβεῖ, οὐδὲ διαταράττει, τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀπολαύοντας ἀγάπης· ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τῷ σώματι διεστήκαμεν, τῇ ψυχῇ συνδεδεμένοι μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος ὑμῖν, τὴν ὑμετέραν μᾶλλον τὴν ἀτάραχον καὶ ἀπόλεμον, ἢ τὴν Κουκουσὸν οἰκεῖν δοκοῦμεν, ἀεὶ μεθ' ὑμῶν ὄντες τῇ διαθέσει, καὶ ὅπουπερ ἂν ὦμεν, ἐπὶ διανοίας σε περιφέροντες.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern chrysostom pg52 epistulae batch3 v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-OR/John_Chrysostom__Epistulae.gr.html
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