Letter 53: Chrysostom praises Nicolaus's care for Phoenicia and asks him to send Gerontius, John, and other helpers.

You have greatly encouraged us and filled us with much pleasure by making clear that you have deep concern for Phoenicia, and that, though you sit at such a distance, you anoint those there through letters, fulfilling an apostolic zeal. For these reasons we never stop admiring you and calling you blessed: first because you sent the monks before, and now because, in so great a difficulty of affairs, you have not drawn them away but have ordered them to remain. You have done the work of an excellent pilot and a noble physician. The pilot shows greater diligence when he sees the waves rising; the physician uses greater skill when the fever flames up more fiercely. So you too, my most honored and reverend lord, have done what fits your own virtue. When you saw matters sick and in conflict, then especially you urged those staying there not to desert, but to remain and contribute what they could. In imitation of your own actions, then, if my most honored lord Gerontius the presbyter improves and returns to sound health, urge him at once to take the road there. We would like to see him come here too, but affairs there require speed and great vigilance. He must not spend much time on the road and then have the approaching winter close it against him. We ask your honor, once he has recovered, to urge him to leave and to prepare the sweetest and much-loved John the presbyter to undertake the journey with him. You yourself know that matters there now especially need many people to set them right, since the evils have spread further. Consider this, and know how great a thing the salvation of a soul is, and how much your honor accomplished by your former diligence. Please do everything, both yourself and through others whom you can use, so that what has been set right may remain unmoved and so that a still greater addition may be made to it. You have cheered us no less than those who have come here. In thought you have come, and every day we see you with the eyes of love, though you are not physically present, carrying you everywhere in our mind. Perhaps there will also be a face-to-face meeting for us when the time permits. For now, although we greatly desire to see your love and embrace you, we judge your staying there necessary. I know well that you will not stop doing and managing everything so as to fill Phoenicia with noble men, to strengthen still more those who have remained there so they will not abandon their work and return, to seek out those nearby and send them out with great eagerness, and to become a very great gain to all, both near and far. In this you imitate spices, whose fragrance fills not only the place that receives them but also the distant air.

ΝΓʹ. Νικολάῳ πρεσβυτέρῳ. Σφόδρα ἡμᾶς ἀνεπτέρωσας, καὶ πολλῆς ἐνέπλησας τῆς ἡδονῆς, δηλώσας ὅτι σοι πολλὴ φροντὶς τῆς Φοινίκης ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐκ τοσούτου καθήμενος διαστήματος, διὰ γραμμάτων ἀλείφεις τοὺς αὐτόθι, ζῆλον πληρῶν ἀποστολικόν. ∆ιὰ ταῦτά σε θαυμάζοντες καὶ μακαρίζοντες οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν, ὅτι καὶ πρότερον τοὺς μοναχοὺς ἔπεμψας, καὶ ὅτι νῦν, ἐν πραγμάτων δυσκολίᾳ τοσαύτῃ, οὐ μόνον αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀπήγαγες, ἀλλὰ καὶ μένειν αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευσας, ἀρίστου κυβερνήτου καὶ ἰατροῦ γενναίου πρᾶγμα ποιῶν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνων ἕκαστος, ὁ μὲν ὅταν ἴδῃ τὰ κύματα ἐγειρόμενα, τότε μᾶλλον πολλὴν ἐπιδείκνυται τὴν σπουδήν· ὁ δὲ ὅταν τὸν πυρετὸν ἐπὶ μείζονα φλόγα διεγερθέντα, τότε πολλῇ κέχρηται τῇ τέχνῃ· καὶ αὐτὸς τοίνυν, κύριέ μου τιμιώτατο καὶ εὐλαβέστατε, ἄξια τῆς σαυτοῦ πεποίηκας ἀρετῆς, ὅτε τὰ πράγματα εἶδες νοσοῦντα καὶ στασιάζοντα, τότε μάλιστα ἐπιθέμενος τοῖς ἐκεῖσε διατρίβουσιν, ὥστε μὴ λειποτακτῆσαι, ἀλλ' ἐπιμεῖναι, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσενεγκεῖν. Τὰ σαυτοῦ τοίνυν μιμούμενος, τόν τε κύριόν μου τὸν τιμιώτατον Γερόντιον τὸν πρεσβύτερον, εἰ ῥᾷον σχοίη, καὶ πρὸς καθαρὰν ὑγείαν ἐπανέλθοι, εὐθέως κατέπειξον τῆς ἐκεῖ ἅψασθαι ὁδοῦ. Ἐπιθυμοῦμεν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς καὶ ἐνταῦθα παραγενόμενον ἰδεῖν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ ταχύτητος καὶ πολλῆς δεῖται τῆς ἀγρυπνίας τὰ ἐκεῖσε πράγματα, ὥστε μὴ πολὺν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ διατριβῆναι χρόνον, καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα ἐπιστάντα ἀποκλεῖσαι αὐτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν, παρακαλοῦμέν σου τὴν τιμιότητα αὐτόν τε ῥαΐσαντα ἐπεῖξαι ἀπελθεῖν, τόν τε γλυκύτατον καὶ ποθεινότατον Ἰωάννην τὸν πρεσβύτερον παρασκευάσαι συνεφάψασθαι τῆς ἀποδημίας αὐτῷ. Οἶσθα γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὅτι νῦν μάλιστα τὰ αὐτόθι πολλῶν δεῖται τῶν διορθωσομένων, ὅσῳ ἐπὶ μεῖζον εἶρψε τὰ κακά. Τοῦτ' οὖν ἐννοῶν, καὶ εἰδὼς ἡλίκον ἐστὶ σωτηρία ψυχῆς, καὶ οἷα κατώρθωταί σου τῇ τιμιότητι διὰ τῆς ἔμπροσθεν σπουδῆς, πάντα ποιῆσαι καὶ διὰ σαυτοῦ, καὶ δι' ἑτέρων, ὧν ἂν οἷόν τε ᾖ, παρακλήθητι, ὥστε τὰ διορθωθέντα μεῖναι ἀκίνητα, ἑτέραν τε αὐτοῖς πολλῷ πλείονα γενέσθαι προσθήκην. Αὐτὸς μέντοι τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἐλθόντων οὐκ ἔλαττον ἡμᾶς εὔφρανας· τῇ μὲν γὰρ γνώμῃ καὶ παραγέγονας, καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀγάπης σε ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ μὴ παρόντα σωματικῶς ἡμεῖς καθ' ἑκάστην ὁρῶμεν τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐπὶ τῆς διανοίας πανταχοῦ περιφέροντες. Ἔσται δὲ ἴσως καὶ ἡ κατ' ὄψιν ἡμῖν συντυχία, ὅταν ὁ καιρὸς ἐπιτρέπῃ. Ὡς νῦν γε καὶ ἡμεῖς, καίτοι σφόδρα ἐπιθυμοῦμεν ἰδεῖν τὴν ἀγάπην σου, καὶ περιπτύξασθαι, ἀναγκαίαν εἶναι νομίζομεν τὴν αὐτόθι σου μονήν. Εὖ γὰρ οἶδ' ὅτι οὐ παύσῃ πάντα ποιῶν καὶ πραγματευόμενος, ὥστε ἐμπλῆσαι τὴν Φοινίκην γενναίων ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τούς τε ἐκεῖ μεμενηκότας στηρίζων ἐπὶ πλέον, ὥστε μὴ ἀφέντας τὰ αὐτόθι ἐπανελθεῖν, τούς τε πλησίον ὄντας ἀναζητῶν, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐκπέμπων προθυμίας, πᾶσί τε κέρδος γινόμενος μέγιστον τοῖς τε ἐγγὺς, τοῖς τε μακρὰν, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀρωμάτων μιμούμενος φύσιν, ἅπερ οὐ τὸν τόπον μόνον τὸν ὑποδεχόμενον αὐτὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀφεστηκότα ἀέρα πολλῆς ἐμπίμπλησι τῆς εὐωδίας.