Letter 42: Chrysostom tells Candidianus that distance, raids, illness, and solitude have not weakened love.

The road separating us is long, and the time since we were parted from your wonderfulness is not short. The crowd of troubles around us is great: a harsh solitude of place, an unbearable siege, attacks and raids by bandits, another distress besides, and bodily illness. Yet none of this has made us more neglectful in our love for you. We preserve it flourishing and blooming, carry you in our mind wherever we may be, hold your memory unforgettable, and keep engraved on our mind the nobility of your soul, your generosity, your steadfastness, the firmness of your genuine love, and the warmth of your disposition. This is how we live here, taking the memory of your good deeds as the greatest comfort in so great a solitude. Therefore write to us continually yourself, my most wonderful and magnificent lord, bringing good news of your health. You know how tightly we cling to it, how great a concern it is for us to learn it, and that we will receive a double joy: both that you have written and that we have received such letters from your magnificence.

ΜΒʹ. Κανδιδιανῷ. Πολὺ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μέσον τὸ διεῖργον ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὁ χρόνος βραχὺς, ἐξ οὗ τῆς θαυμασιότητος ἐχωρίσθημεν τῆς σῆς· καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων δὲ πολὺς ὁ περιεστὼς ἡμᾶς ὄχλος, ἐρημία χωρίου χαλεπωτάτη, πολιορκία ἀφόρητος, ἔφοδοι, καταδρομαὶ λῃστῶν, ἑτέρα στενοχωρία, ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἀῤῥωστία. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν τούτων ῥᾳθυμοτέρους ἡμᾶς περὶ τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν σὴν πεποίηκεν, ἀλλ' ἀκμάζουσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀνθοῦσαν διατηροῦμεν, ἐπὶ διανοίας σε περιφέροντες, ὅπουπερ ἂν ὦμεν, καὶ ἄληστόν σου τὴν μνήμην ἔχοντες, καὶ τὸ εὐγενές σου τῆς ψυχῆς, τὸ ἐλευθέριον, τὸ ἄτρεπτον, τὸ ἀκλινὲς τῆς γνησίας ἀγάπης, τὸ θερμὸν τῆς διαθέσεως ἐγκολάψαντες ἡμῶν τῇ διανοίᾳ. Οὕτως ἐνταῦθα διάγομεν, μεγίστην παραμυθίαν τῆς τοσαύτης ἐρημίας τὴν μνήμην τῶν σῶν κατορθωμάτων ἔχοντες. Γράφε δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν συνεχῶς, δέσποτά μου θαυμασιώτατε καὶ μεγαλοπρεπέστατε, τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς εὐαγγελιζόμενος. Οἶσθα γὰρ ὅπως αὐτῆς ἀντεχόμεθα καὶ γὰρ περισπούδαστον ἡμῖν περὶ ταύτης μανθάνειν, καὶ ὅτι διπλῆν καρπωσόμεθα τὴν εὐφροσύνην, τῷ τε ἐπιστέλλειν αὐτὸν, τῷ τε τοιαῦτα δέχεσθαι ἡμᾶς γράμματα παρὰ τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τῆς σῆς.