Letter 20: Chrysostom asks Agapetus for letters about his household's health while travel is blocked by season and danger.
I know your love: genuine and warm, guileless and sincere, untouched by the pressure of business, the length of time, or the distance of the road. I also know how much you want to see us with your own eyes and enjoy our company face to face.
Since that is difficult now, because of the long journey, the season, and the danger from the Isaurians, give us the joy that letters can give. Write regularly about your health and the health of your whole household. If we continually receive such letters from your nobility and excellence, even here in the wilderness we will gain no small comfort. You know how much it matters to us that you are well, my most reverend and admirable master.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Κʹ. Ἀγαπητῷ.
Οἶδά σου τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν γνησίαν καὶ θερμὴν, τὴν ἄδολον καὶ εἰλικρινῆ, καὶ οὔτε πραγμάτων ὄχλῳ, οὔτε χρόνου πλήθει, οὔτε ὁδοῦ μήκει μαραινομένην· οἶδα καὶ ὅπως ἐπιθυμεῖς καὶ αὐτοψεὶ ἡμᾶς θεάσασθαι, καὶ τῆς κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀπολαῦσαι συνουσίας. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο ἤδη ἐργῶδες, καὶ διὰ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ μῆκος, καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἔτους ὥραν, καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἰσαύρων φόβον, τὴν διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων πάρεχε ἡμῖν εὐφροσύνην, συνεχῶς δηλῶν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου σου παντός. Ἂν γὰρ τοιαῦτα δεχώμεθα συνεχῶς γράμματα παρὰ τῆς σῆς εὐγενείας καὶ θαυμασιότητος, οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ διατρίβοντες καρπωσόμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. Καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς ὅπως ἡμῖν περισπούδαστον τὸ ἐν ὑγιείᾳ σε εἶναι, δέσποτά μου αἰδεσιμώτατε καὶ θαυμασιώτατε.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern chrysostom pg52 epistulae batch1 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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