Letter 67: Chrysostom grieves over Theodotus's rare letters and asks him to write longer health reports.

You yourself, my most honored and reverend lord, have at last been delivered from the evils in Armenia. For us, amid the disturbances here, or rather amid daily deaths, it is no small grief to be separated from your sweetness and from your genuine and sincere disposition. Another grief has been added to this: your long and careful silence. Since you departed from here, this is only the second letter we have received. I say this not as a reproach but out of pain. Everyone knows that the road leading here is impassable for travelers. Yet while that might be a sufficient excuse for you, it is no comfort for us. For this very reason we are especially grieved, because we have been deprived even of this remaining consolation for your absence. Since this difficulty cannot be resolved for the present, and the dangers grow worse every day, I beg you to comfort in another way the despondency that rises in us from your long silence: remember us continually, and whenever you write, make your letters longer and dwell on accounts of your health, cheerfulness, and safety. In this way you will be able to make up in length what we lack in frequency.

ΞΖʹ. Θεοδότῳ διακόνῳ. Αὐτὸς μὲν, κύριέ μου τιμιώτατε καὶ εὐλαβέστατε, τῶν γοῦν ἐν Ἀρμενίᾳ ἀπηλλάγης κακῶν, ἡμᾶς δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐνταῦθα θορύβων, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν θανάτων τῶν καθημερινῶν, οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχε λυπεῖ καὶ τὸ τῆς σῆς κεχωρίσθαι γλυκύτητος, καὶ τῆς γνησίας καὶ εἰλικρινοῦς διαθέσεως. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα λύπης ταύτης προσθήκη, ἡ μακρά σου τῆς ἐμμελείας σιγή. Ἐξ οὗ γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπῆρας, δευτέραν ταύτην ἐδεξάμεθα μόνην ἐπιστολήν· καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐγκαλῶν λέγω, ἀλλ' ἀλγῶν. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἄβατος ὁδοιπόροις ἡ ἐνταῦθα φέρουσα ὁδὸς, οὐδεὶς ἀγνοεῖ· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν εἰς ἀπολογίαν σὴν ἀποχρῶν ἂν εἴη, εἰς δὲ ἡμετέραν παραμυθίαν οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο μάλιστα ἀλγοῦμεν, ὅτι καὶ τὴν λειπομένην ἡμῖν παραψυχὴν τῆς ἀποδημίας τῆς σῆς καὶ ταύτην ἀφῃρήμεθα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοῦτο λυθῆναι τέως οὐκ ἔνι τὸ ἄπορον, ἀλλ' ἐπιτείνεται καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὰ δεινὰ, ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ τὴν ἐκ τῆς μακρᾶς σιγῆς ἀθυμίαν ἐγγινομένην ἡμῖν παραμυθήσασθαι παρακλήθητι, μεμνημένος τε ἡμῶν διηνεκῶς, καὶ ἡνίκα ἂν γράφῃς, μακροτέρας ποιῶν τὰς ἐπιστολὰς, καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῆς σῆς ὑγείας τε καὶ εὐθυμίας καὶ ἀσφαλείας ἐνδιατρίβων διηγήμασιν. Οὕτω γὰρ δυνήσῃ τὸ λεῖπον ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου, ἐκ τοῦ μήκους παραμυθήσασθαι τῶν ἐπιστολῶν.