Letter 143: Chrysostom says he has been driven from city walls but still lives in the city of his friends' souls.
We have been driven from the ground and walls of the city, but we have not moved away from the city that matters. If you are the city, and if we are always with you and in you, then even while living here we inhabit that city. We dwell in your souls, and wherever we go we carry in mind all of you who love us so strongly.
This keeps us from seeing the desolation of this place, though it is perhaps the most deserted in the world, and from seeing the siege of the bandits, though it happens every day, and the famine born from it. Our body is set here, but our soul is continually with you.
Still, for people so disposed, bodily presence is deeply desired, and its absence hurts. Since that cannot happen for now, letters are the greatest medicine. Provide them generously for us, and we will be freed from this despondency. You, my admirable master, are able even through letters to create the pleasure of presence.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
ΡΜΓʹ. Πολυβίῳ.
Τοῦ μὲν ἐδάφους καὶ τῶν τοίχων τῆς πόλεως ἐκβεβλήμεθα, τῆς δὲ κυρίως πόλεως οὐ μετῳκίσθημεν. Εἰ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἡ πόλις, μεθ' ὑμῶν δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀεὶ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ ἐνταῦθα διάγοντες, τὴν πόλιν οἰκοῦμεν ἐκείνην· καὶ γὰρ ἐνδιαιτώμεθα ὑμῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς, εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι, καὶ ὅπουπερ ἂν ἀπίωμεν, καὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς τοὺς σφοδροὺς ἡμῶν ἐραστὰς ἐπὶ διανοίας περιφέροντες ἄπιμεν. Τοῦτο ἡμᾶς οὔτε τὴν ἐρημίαν τοῦ χωρίου τούτου καὶ γὰρ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐστὶν ἐρημότατον, οὔτε τὴν πολιορκίαν τῶν λῃστῶν καὶ γὰρ καθ' ἑκάστην πολιορκεῖται τὴν ἡμέραν, οὐ τὸν ἐντεῦθεν τικτόμενον λιμὸν ἀφίησιν ὁρᾷν· ἐπειδὴ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἡμῖν ἐνταῦθα ἵδρυται, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ παρ' ὑμῖν διηνεκῶς. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῖς οὕτω διακειμένοις ποθεινὴ σφόδρα καὶ περισπούδαστος καὶ ἡ σωματικὴ παρουσία, καὶ λυπεῖ μὴ γινομένη, τοῦτο δὲ τέως γενέσθαι οὐκ ἔνι, ἔνι δὲ αὐτῇ φάρμακον μέγιστον ἡ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων συνουσία, πάρεχε ταύτην ἡμῖν μετὰ δαψιλείας πολλῆς, καὶ ταύτης ἀπηλλάγμεθα τῆς ἀθυμίας. Ἱκανὸς γὰρ σὺ, δέσποτά μου θαυμασιώτατε, καὶ διὰ γραμμάτων σοφίζεσθαι παρουσίας ἡδονήν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern chrysostom pg52 epistulae batch4 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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