Letter 23: Chrysostom assures Romanus that distance and exile cannot erase their bond of love and prayer.

You know yourself, my most honored and reverend lord, how we have always felt toward your Reverence and how we have always been bound to you by the law of love. We admire the gentleness of your character and are struck by the beauty of your virtue, by which you win over everyone who meets you. For this reason, although we sit far away, we always carry you in our mind. Whatever wilderness we may be carried into, we cannot forget your love. As if you were present and near, we see you continually, or rather without interruption, with the eyes of love, and we proclaim your reverence to everyone. We ask you, then, to remember us constantly, to keep flourishing even now the love you showed us from the beginning, to pray earnestly for our lowliness, and, whenever it is possible, to write and tell us about your health. Then even while sitting in the wilderness we may gain great comfort, enjoying from so far away the help of your prayers.

ΚΓʹ. Ῥωμανῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ. Οἶσθα καὶ αὐτὸς, κύριέ μου τιμιώτατε καὶ εὐλαβέστατε, πῶς ἀεὶ περὶ τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν διετέθημεν, καὶ πῶς ἀεὶ συνδεδεμένοι σοι τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἀγάπης διετελέσαμεν, θαυμάζοντές σου τὴν τῶν τρόπων ἐπιείκειαν, καὶ ἐκπληττόμενοι τῆς ἀρετῆς σου τὴν εὐμορφίαν, δι' ἧς πάντας τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας χειροῦσαι. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ἐκ μακροῦ καθήμενοι διαστήματος, ἀεί σε ἐπὶ τῆς διανοίας περιφέρομεν, καὶ ὅπουπερ ἂν ἐρημίας ἀπενεχθῶμεν, ἐπιλαθέσθαι σου τῆς ἀγάπης οὐ δυνάμεθα· ἀλλ' ὡς παρόντα καὶ πλησίον ὄντα, οὕτω καὶ ὁρῶμεν καὶ φανταζόμεθα, τοῖς τῆς ἀγάπης ὀφθαλμοῖς συνεχῶς, μᾶλλον δὲ διηνεκῶς σε βλέποντες, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀνακηρύττοντές σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν. Παρακαλοῦμεν δὴ καὶ αὐτὸν μεμνῆσθαι ἡμῶν διηνεκῶς, καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἐξ ἀρχῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπεδείξω, ταύτην καὶ νῦν ἀκμάζουσαν διατηρεῖν, καὶ εὔχεσθαι μετὰ πολλῆς ἐκτενείας ὑπὲρ τῆς ταπεινώσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας, καὶ ἐπιστέλλειν ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ, καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς δηλοῦν· ἵνα καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καθήμενοι, πολλὴν καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν, τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν εὐχῶν σου συμμαχίας ἐκ τοσούτου ἀπολαύοντες διαστήματος.