Letter 44: A brief meeting planted seeds; now letters can renew the love of Christ.

The time of our meeting was short, and only in outline did you place in me a few seeds of your virtue, seeds that are hard to cultivate. Yet the consolation of your letters reaches us first. What happens to people in dreams, when they begin harvesting fields, has happened to us in the friendship of your love: in a short time we have gathered much. The cause of this haste was that ship which carried us to Egypt, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who drew us into the desert. Now it is time to visit one another's fields, to give and receive the flowers of letters, to be crowned with one another's produce, and to renew the love of Christ, which sets us before the first love, our Lord himself. It is clear that the glorious choir of the saints is adorned with praises of Christ and boasts in genuine love for him. Looking toward this, the blessed prophet Isaiah says, "Lord God, I will glorify you; I will sing praise to your name, because you have done wonderful things." And the blessed prophet David says, "My tongue will rejoice in your righteousness and speak of your praises all day long." May he be blessed by all. Amen.

Greek retroversion from Syriac transmission (Frankenberg 1912, TAN/TEI CC BY 4.0): βραχυς ην ο χρονος της συντυχιας ημων και καθ' υποτυπωσιν (επιπολαιως) τεθεικας εν εμοι ολιγον τι των της αρετης σου σπερματων α κατεργαζεσθαι καλεπον εστιν· αλλα γαρ προκαταλαμβανει ημας η των γραμματων σου παρακλησις· ως γαρ συμβαινει τοις εν ενυπνιοις αγρους αρχομενοις θεριζουσι τουτο ημιν εν τηι φιλιαι της αγαπης σου συνεβη εν ολιγωι χρονων πολλα περιειργασμενοις. εγενετο δε ημιν αιτια ταυτης της επειξεως η ναυς εκεινη ημας εις Αιγυπτον κομισασα τε και ο κυριος Ι. Χ. εις ερημον ημας παρελκων. νυν χρονος εστιν επισκεψασθαι τους εκατερων αγρους και ανθη γραμματων δουναι τε και λαβειν και γεννημασιν αλληλων στεφανουσθαι και ανακαινιζειν την Χ. αγαπην ημας εμπροσθεν της αρχικης αγαπης, του κυριου ημων, συνιστασαν. δηλον δη οτι τοις Χ. επαινοις ο ενδοξος των αγιων χορος κοσμειται και εν τηι γνησιαι αγαπηι αυτον χαυκαται προς ο και ο μακαριος προφητης Ησαιας αποβλεπων λεγει· κυριε 0 θεος δοξασω σε υμνησω το ονομα σου οτι εποιησας θαυμαστα πραγματαα και ο μακαριος προφητης Δαυιδ ουτως λεγει· αγαλλιασεται η γλωσσα μου την δικαιοσυνην σου και πασαν την ημεραν τας δοξας σου· ειη ευλογητος υπο παντων αμην Syriac transmission available in the linked TAN/TEI source. The complete corpus is Syriac-transmitted; Greek survives only fragmentarily, so this display text is a retroversion witness.