Letter 137: Chrysostom answers Theodotus's charge of slowness and asks for health news.

Stop accusing us of slowness, or you may catch yourself in the charge first. You have received as many letters from us as you have sent, except for one. You said you would send showers of letters, thinking their frequency would rouse us to write. It is possible to love without writing; but I have not stopped writing, and I do not stop loving. Even if the time since our separation grows longer, and even if we are carried away to a more desolate place, we cannot cast you out of our soul or fail to keep our affection for you always flourishing. Knowing this, write to us often about your health. It is easier for you than for us. If the season of the year and the severity of the Isaurian troubles prevent it, we will take the disposition you have toward us as sufficient consolation for a long silence.

ΡΛΖʹ. Θεοδότῳ διακόνῳ. Παῦσαι κατηγορῶν ἡμῶν βραδυτῆτος, μὴ σαυτὸν πρότερον ἕλῃς τῷ ἐγκλήματι. Τοσαύτας γὰρ ἐπιστολὰς δεξάμενος παρ' ἡμῶν, ὅσας ἐπέσταλκας, πλὴν μιᾶς, ὥσπερ νιφάδας πέμπων γραμμάτων, οὕτως ἔφης, τῇ γοῦν συνεχείᾳ ἀναστήσειν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸ γράφειν οἰόμενος. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν καὶ μὴ γράφοντα φιλεῖν, πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐγὼ καὶ γράφων οὐ διέλιπον, καὶ φιλῶν οὐ παύομαι. Ἀλλὰ κἂν χρόνος γένηται μακρότερος ὁ μεταξὺ τοῦ χωρισμοῦ τοῦ ἡμετέρου, κἂν εἰς ἐρημότερον ἀπενεχθῶμεν χωρίον, οὔτε ἐκβαλεῖν σε τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεθα, οὔτε μὴ διηνεκῶς ἀκμάζουσαν διατηρεῖν τὴν περὶ σὲ διάθεσιν. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδὼς, γράφε συνεχῶς ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας τῆς σῆς. Πλείων γὰρ ὑμῖν ἡ εὐκολία τούτου, ἢ ἡμῖν. Εἰ δὲ ἡ τοῦ ἔτους ὥρα διακωλύει, καὶ τῶν Ἰσαυρικῶν κακῶν ἡ σφοδρότης, εἰδότες σου τὴν γνώμην ἣν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἔχεις, ἀρκοῦσαν τῆς μακρᾶς σιγῆς ἕξομεν παραμυθίαν.