Letter 205: Chrysostom explains that illness delayed his writing to Anatolius and asks for health news.

I write to your Nobility late and briefly, or rather slowly. It was not laziness that caused the silence, but long illness. In love, at least, we are always bound together. We know the genuineness of your love, the liberality of your mind, and your plain sincerity. We have not stopped proclaiming to everyone the disposition we have always enjoyed from your Nobility, not only when we were present but also when absent. After our departure, we learned how much you were eager to say and do on our behalf. May God reward such zeal, both here and in the age to come. To give us still more pleasure, not only by writing but also by receiving letters from your Excellency, please write to us with good news of your health. Sitting in this wilderness, we will receive much comfort from a letter telling us of your health and of everyone who belongs to you.

ΣΕʹ. Ἀνατολίῳ ἐπαρχικῷ. Ὀψὲ μὲν ἐπιστέλλω καὶ βραχέα, μᾶλλον δὲ βραδέως, πρὸς τὴν σὴν εὐγένειαν· πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐ ῥᾳθυμία τὴν σιγὴν εἰργάσατο, ἀλλ' ἀῤῥωστία μακρά· ὡς τῇ γε ἀγάπῃ διηνεκῶς συνδεδέμεθα, τὸ γνήσιόν σου τῆς ἀγάπης εἰδότες, τὸ ἐλευθέριον τῆς γνώμης, τὸ ἄπλαστον καὶ εἰλικρινές. Καὶ οὐκ ἐπαυσάμεθα πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνακηρύττοντες τὴν διάθεσιν, ἧς συνεχῶς ἀπηλαύσαμεν παρὰ τῆς σῆς εὐγενείας, οὐχὶ παρόντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπόντες· οὐ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἀποδημίαν ἔλαθεν ἡμᾶς, ὅσα καὶ ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐσπούδακας. Ὁ Θεός σοι δῴη τὸν μισθὸν τῆς τοιαύτης σπουδῆς, καὶ ἐνταῦθα, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ πλείονος ἀπολαύωμεν ἡδονῆς, μὴ γράφοντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γράμματα δεχόμενοι παρὰ τῆς ἐμμελείας τῆς σῆς, ἐπιστεῖλαι ἡμῖν παρακλήθητι, περὶ τῆς ὑγείας τῆς σῆς εὐαγγελιζόμενος, ἵνα καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐρημίᾳ ταύτῃ καθεζόμενοι πολλὴν καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. Ἂν γὰρ δεξώμεθα ἐπιστολὴν τῆς ἀγάπης σου, τὰ περὶ τῆς ῥώσεως ἡμῖν ἀπαγγέλλουσαν τῆς σῆς, καὶ τῶν σοὶ προσηκόντων ἁπάντων, πολλὴν, καὶ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ διατρίβοντες γῇ, δεξόμεθα παράκλησιν.