Letter 50: Chrysostom praises Diogenes's wintertime love but returns gifts he does not need.

We already knew how genuine your love for us was. We have learned it much more clearly now, when, despite the onset of such a winter, you have not become slack but have grown even more eager for us and have shown greater affection. For this we admire you, and for this we proclaim you every day. You will receive an unspeakable reward from the God who loves humankind, whose generosity in repayment always goes beyond anything good that people do or say. We repay you with what we have: admiration, praise, blessing, love, reverence, and honor. We carry you everywhere in our thoughts, joined and bound to you by the law of love. You yourself know plainly, my most reverend and admirable master, that we have always been among your most ardent friends. So I beg you not to be upset with us about the things you sent. We gathered and enjoyed the honor shown in them, but sent them back, not from contempt and not because we distrust your nobility, but because we were not in need. We have done the same with many others, people worthy of your nobility and exceedingly devoted to us, as your admirable self can learn. This explanation satisfied them, and we urge you to accept it too. If we fall into need, we will ask with great confidence, as if asking for what is our own, and you will see this by the fact itself. Keep what you sent carefully, then, so that if the occasion ever calls, we may ask for it confidently from your admirable self.

Νʹ. ∆ιογένει. Τὸ γνήσιόν σου τῆς ἀγάπης τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς ᾔδειμεν μὲν καὶ ἔμπροσθεν, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον ἔγνωμεν νῦν, ὅτε τοσοῦτον τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀρθέντος, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ῥᾳθυμότερος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ σπουδαιότερος περὶ ἡμᾶς γεγονὼς, μείζω τὴν στοργὴν ἐνεδείξω. ∆ιὰ ταῦτά σε θαυμάζομεν, διὰ ταῦτα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀνακηρύττοντες οὐ παυόμεθα. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἄφατον τούτων μισθὸν λήψῃ παρὰ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ, τοῦ ταῖς ἀντιδόσεσιν ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιόντος νικῶντος ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀγαθόν τι ποιοῦντας, ἢ λέγοντας. Ἡμεῖς δέ σε οἷς ἔχομεν ἀμειβόμεθα, θαυμάζοντές σε, ἐπαινοῦντες, μακαρίζοντες οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν, φιλοῦντες, αἰδούμενοι, τιμῶντες, ἐν διανοίᾳ πανταχοῦ περιφέροντες, ἡνωμένοι σοι καὶ συνδεδεμένοι τῷ τῆς ἀγάπης νόμῳ. Ὅτι γάρ σου τῶν σφοδροτάτων ἀεὶ γεγόναμεν ἐραστῶν, οἶσθα καὶ αὐτὸς σαφῶ, δέσποτά μου αἰδεσιμώτατε καὶ θαυμασιώτατε. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ τῶν ἀποσταλέντων ἕνεκα μηδὲν ἀλγῆσαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Τρυγήσαντες γὰρ καὶ καρπωσάμενοι τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν τιμὴν, αὐτὰ ἀπεστάλκαμεν οὐκ ἐξ ὀλιγωρίας, οὐδὲ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ θαῤῥεῖν σου τῇ εὐγενείᾳ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ καθεστάναι ἐν χρείᾳ. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐφ' ἑτέρων πολλῶν πεποιήκαμεν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἕτεροι πολλοὶ καὶ τῆς σῆς εὐγενείας ἄξιοι, καὶ σφόδρα ἡμῶν ἐκκαιόμενοι, ὡς ἔξεστί σου τῇ θαυμασιότητι μανθάνειν, τὸ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο πεποιήκασι, καὶ ἤρκεσε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἡμῖν αὕτη ἡ ἀπολογία, ἣν καὶ αὐτὸν προσέσθαι παρακαλοῦμεν. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ κατασταίημεν ἐν χρείᾳ, μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπαιτήσομεν, καθάπερ ἐξ ἰδίων, μετὰ πλείονος τῆς παῤῥησίας, καὶ τοῦτο ὄψει διὰ τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς. ∆εξάμενος τοίνυν αὐτὰ, φύλαττε μετὰ ἀκριβείας, ἵν' εἴποτε καιρὸς καλέσειεν, μετὰ τοῦ θαῤῥεῖν αὐτὰ ἀπαιτήσωμεν παρὰ τῆς σῆς θαυμασιότητος.