Letter 127: Chrysostom explains that winter, illness, and Isaurian raids caused his long silence.

Another man might lament the unbearable cold here, the great desolation of the place, and the severe illness that has overtaken us. I leave those aside and lament our separation from you, which is heavier to me than wilderness, sickness, and winter. The winter has made this separation worse. The one consolation I had, speaking with you through letters, it has taken away by blocking the roads with heavy snow. No one can come to us from outside, and we cannot set out from here toward you. Fear of the Isaurians does the same, and even more: it intensifies the desolation, driving everyone away and making them refugees. The cities are now only walls and roofs, while ravines and valleys have become the cities. Like wild beasts that find the wilderness safer than inhabited places, the people of Armenia are forced every day to move from place to place, living like wagon-dwellers and nomads, not daring to remain anywhere. The Isaurians kill, burn, and enslave those they meet; by rumor alone they make others fugitives and homeless. Many young people, forced from their houses at midnight in freezing cold, have died in the snow while fleeing death. This is our situation. I say it not to grieve you, but to explain the long silence and why we have written so late. Everyone has left us, and we could find no one traveling to you until we had to send the presbyter who was with us. Receive him with the love fitting to you, and send us news of your health.

ΡΚΖʹ. Πολυβίῳ. Ἄλλος μὲν ἄν τις τὸν ἀφόρητον κρυμὸν τὸν ἐνταῦθα, τὴν πολλὴν ἐρημίαν τοῦ χωρίου, τὴν χαλεπωτάτην ἀῤῥωστίαν καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ ἐντεῦθεν περιπεπτώκαμεν ἀπωδύρατο ἂν, καὶ ἐθρήνησεν· ἐγὼ δὲ ταῦτα ἀφεὶς, τὸν χωρισμὸν ἀποδύρομαι τὸν ὑμέτερον, ὃ καὶ ἐρημίας καὶ νόσου καὶ χειμῶνος ἐμοὶ βαρύτερον. Καὶ νῦν αὐτὸ χαλεπώτερον ἢ πρότερον ἐποίησεν ὁ χειμών. Καὶ γὰρ ἣν μόνην εἶχον παραμυθίαν τοῦ πικροτάτου τούτου χωρισμοῦ, τὸ διὰ γραμμάτων ὑμῖν ὁμιλεῖν, καὶ ταύτην ἐπελθὼν ἡμᾶς ἀφείλετο, τὰς ὁδοὺς ἀποκλείσας τῇ πολλῇ τῆς χιόνος φορᾷ, καὶ οὔτε ἔξωθεν παραγενέσθαι καὶ συγγενέσθαι ἡμῖν, οὔτε ἐντεῦθεν ἀναστῆναι καὶ ἀποδημῆσαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀφείς. Καὶ νῦν δὲ οὐκ ἔλαττον τῶν Ἰσαύρων ὁ φόβος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ πλέον τὸ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, τὴν ἐρημίαν ἐπιτείνων, πάντας ἐλαύνων, φυγαδεύων, μετανάστας ποιῶν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ οἴκοι λοιπὸν μένειν ἀνέχεται, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ καταλιπὼν ἀποπηδᾷ. Καὶ αἱ μὲν πόλεις εἰσὶ λοιπὸν τοῖχοι καὶ ὄροφοι, αἱ δὲ φάραγγες καὶ αἱ νάπαι πόλεις. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὰ ἄγρια τῶν θηρίων, παρδάλεις καὶ λέοντες, τὴν ἔρημον τῶν οἰκουμένων πόλεων ἀσφαλεστέραν αὐτοῖς εἶναι νομίζει· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἀρμενίαν οἰκοῦντες ἄνθρωποι, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τόπους ἐκ τόπων ἀναγκαζόμεθα μεταπηδᾷν, Ἁμαξοβίων καὶ Νομάδων τινῶν βίον ζῶντες καὶ οὐδαμοῦ στῆναι θαῤῥοῦντες· οὕτω πάντα τὰ ἐνταῦθα θορύβων γέμει καὶ ταραχῆς. Καὶ τοὺς μὲν τῇ παρουσίᾳ σφάττουσι, καίουσι, δούλους ἀντ' ἐλευθέρων ποιοῦσι· τοὺς δὲ τῇ φήμῃ δραπέτας ἐργάζονται καὶ ἀπόλιδας, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀναιροῦσιν. Ὅσοι γὰρ νέοι κομιδῆ ἐν μέσῃ νυκτὶ πολλάκις καὶ κρυμῷ πάντα πηγνύντι ἀθρόον τῆς οἰκίας ἐκπηδῆσαι ἠναγκάσθησαν, ὥσπερ τινὸς καπνοῦ τοῦ φόβου τῆς φήμης αὐτοὺς ἐλαύνοντος, οὐκ ἐδεήθησαν μαχαίρας Ἰσαυρικῆς εἰς τὸ καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ χιόνι παγέντες, οὕτως ἀπέπνευσαν, καὶ γέγονεν αὐτοῖς τῆς τοῦ θανάτου φυγῆς ἡ πρόφασις θανάτου πρόφασις χαλεπωτάτου· ἐν τούτοις τὰ ἡμέτερα. Καὶ ταῦτα εἰρήκαμεν, οὐχ ἵνα σε λυπήσωμεν εὖ γὰρ οἶδα ὅτι καθάψεταί σου τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὴν αἰτίαν εἴπωμεν τῆς μακρᾶς ταύτης σιγῆς, καὶ τί δήποτε ὀψὲ καὶ βραδέως ἐπεστάλκαμεν. Οὕτω γὰρ πάντες ἡμᾶς ἀπέλιπον, ὡς μηδὲ εὑρεῖν τινα τὸν ἐκεῖσε ἀφικνούμενον, ἀλλ' ἀναγκασθῆναι τὸν συνόντα ἡμῖν πρεσβύτερον ἀναστῆσαι ἐντεῦθεν, καὶ πέμψαι πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν θαυμασιότητα. ∆εξάμενος τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὥς σοι πρέπον, ταχέως ἡμῖν ἔκπεμψον εὐαγγελιζόμενον τὴν ὑγείαν τῆς σῆς ἐμμελείας. Οἶσθα γὰρ ὅπως ἡμῖν περισπούδαστον τοῦτο μανθάνειν.