Letter 113: Chrysostom asks Palladius for prayers over the storm afflicting the churches.

As for ourselves, we do not need consolation; the cause for which we suffer is consolation enough. But we mourn the common storm of the churches and the shipwreck that has overtaken the world. We beg you all to help with your prayers, so that this complete ruin may at last end and everything change into a bright calm. Do not stop doing this. Hidden and withdrawn as you are, you now have more leisure to persevere in prayer, even with a troubled mind. It is no small thing to fall before the God who loves humankind. Continue, then, and whenever possible write to us. Though we have been settled far away from your care, we are anxious every day about your affairs, asking those who arrive from there, rare as they are. Let us know everything more clearly, especially your health.

ΡΙΓʹ. Παλλαδίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ. Ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς οὐδὲν δεόμεθα παρακλήσεως· ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡμῖν εἰς παράκλησιν τῶν γενομένων ἡ ὑπόθεσις. Θρηνοῦμεν δὲ τὸν κοινὸν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν χειμῶνα, καὶ τὸ τὴν οἰκουμένην καταλαβὸν ναυάγιον, καὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς παρακαλοῦμεν εὐχαῖς βοηθεῖν, ὥστε τὴν πανωλεθρίαν ταύτην λυθῆναί ποτε, καὶ εἰς λευκὴν ἅπαντα μεταβαλεῖν γαλήνην. Τοῦτο δὴ ποιοῦντες μὴ διαλίπητε. Λανθάνοντες γὰρ καὶ κρυπτόμενοι, πλείονα σχολὴν ἔχετε νῦν προσκαρτερεῖν ταῖς εὐχαῖς, καὶ μετὰ θλιβομένης διανοίας. Οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τοῦτο, τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ προσπίπτειν Θεῷ. Μὴ διαλίπητε οὖν τοῦτο ποιοῦντες, καὶ ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ, καὶ γράφετε ἡμῖν συνεχῶς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλῷ τῷ μήκει τῆς ἐμμελείας ὑμῶν ἀπῳκίσθημεν, ἀλλ' οὐ παυόμεθα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν μεριμνῶντες τὰ ὑμέτερα, καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν ἀφικνουμένους εἰ καὶ τούτων σπανιάκις ἐπιτυγχάνομεν ἐρωτῶντες καὶ περιεργαζόμενοι. Ἵν' οὖν σαφέστερον πάντα εἰδότες ὦμεν, ὅταν ἐγχωρῇ, παρέχετε ταύτην ἡμῖν τὴν χάριν, περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ἡμᾶς, ἵνα καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ διατρίβοντες πολλὴν καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν.