Letter 133: Chrysostom urges Adolia to break free from worldly entanglements and send treasure ahead to heaven.

What are you saying? Are you again lamenting plots and saying you have suffered terrible things? What prevents you from sailing into a calm harbor and being freed from all these waves? Have I not always sung this in your ears, while you never wished to endure my counsel? By clinging to the mud of these affairs, you bring countless troubles on yourself, fall continually into swamps, and bring us grief by enduring these things. Do you think I am only slightly despondent after hearing what you wrote, that you have suffered betrayal from your own people, or rather from strangers, to use your own words? How long will you sit by smoke and cloud the clear eye of your soul? How long will you refuse to free yourself from bitter slavery? What prevents you from coming here so that we may take counsel together? I am astonished that you have remained so far from us when the distance is short and the season is well suited for travel. Perhaps the mother of all your troubles, care for worldly affairs, has again become the obstacle. Whether you come or not, I keep the same love for your good order. But I grieve deeply to hear that you are still entangled in endless affairs and carrying worldly cares like heavy loads. If exile did not chain me here, I would have run to you myself, even in this weakness, and I would not have stopped until I had freed you from this storm, mud, and mass of evils. Since I cannot do that, I will not stop advising you by letter: cut the cords, sever the nets, break the chains of the soul, and walk with freedom. The things you must soon leave behind at death, send ahead willingly into inviolable treasuries, storing up crowns that are pure and never fade.

ΡΛΓʹ. Ἀδολίᾳ. Τί λέγεις; Πάλιν ἐπιβουλὰς ὀδύρῃ, καὶ δεινὰ πεπονθέναι φῄς; Καὶ τί τὸ κωλύον, εἰπέ μοι, εἰς γαληνὸν καταπλεῦσαι λιμένα, καὶ τούτων πάντων ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν κυμάτων; Οὐ ταῦτά σοι διὰ παντὸς ἐπᾴδων τοῦ χρόνου διετέλουν, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἡμῶν ἀνασχέσθαι ἠθέλησας; Ἀλλὰ καὶ σαυτῇ μυρία τὰ κακὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ πηλοῦ τῶν πραγμάτων τούτων προξενεῖς, εἰς τέλματα συνεχῶς ἐμπίπτουσα, καὶ ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ ταῦτα ὑπομένειν λύπας ἐπάγουσα συνεχεῖς καὶ πυκνάς. Ἢ μικρῶς οἴει με νῦν ἀθυμεῖν, ἀκούσαντα ταῦτα ἅπερ ἀπέσταλκας, ὅτι παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων, ἤτοι ξένων αὐτοῖς γάρ σου χρήσομαι τοῖς ῥήμασι προδοσίας ὑπομεμένηκας, καὶ τραγῳδίας χαλεπάς; Μέχρι τίνος τῷ καπνῷ προσεδρεύεις, τὸ διειδές σου τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν ὄμματος ἐπιθολοῦσα; μέχρι τίνος οὐκ ἐλευθεροῖς σαυτὴν πικροτάτης δουλείας; Τί δὲ καὶ τὸ κωλύον ἐνταῦθα παραγενέσθαι, καὶ περὶ τούτων ἡμᾶς κοινῇ βουλεύσασθαι; Καὶ γὰρ ἔφης μηδ' ἂν αἴσθησιν τούτων λαλεῖν, εἰ τοῦτο γέγονεν. Ἐγὼ σφόδρα ἐκπλήττομαι καὶ θαυμάζω, καὶ αἰτίαν οὐδεμίαν εὑρίσκω τοῦ σὲ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἡμῶν ἀπολειφθῆναι, ἢ ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ ὄκνον μόνον. Καὶ γὰρ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μέσον ὀλίγον, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἔτους ὥρα πρὸς ἀποδημίαν σφόδρα ἐπιτηδεία, οὔτε κρυμῷ, οὔτε θάλπει λυποῦσα. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἴσως ἡ πάντων σοι μήτηρ ἀεὶ τῶν κακῶν γινομένη, λέγω δὴ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἡ φροντὶς, αὕτη καὶ νῦν κώλυμα γίνεται. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν καὶ παραγενομένῃ χάριν ἔχω πολλὴν, καὶ μὴ παραγενομένῃ οὐκ ἐγκαλῶ, οὔτε δυσχεραίνω, ἀλλ' ἔχω μὲν τὴν ἀγάπην, ἣν ἀεὶ περὶ τὴν σὴν ἐμμέλειαν ἐπεδειξάμην ἀκμάζουσαν. Ἀλγῶ δὲ καὶ σφόδρα ὀδυνῶμαι, ἀκούων ἔτι μυρίοις σε ἐμπεπλέχθαι πράγμασι, καὶ μυρία περιφέρειν τῶν βιωτικῶν φροντίδων φορτία. Καὶ εἰ μὴ ἡμᾶς ἡ τῆς ἐξορίας ἀνάγκη πεδήσασα ἐνταῦθα κατέσχεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔσκηλά σου τὴν εὐλάβειαν, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας ταύτης, ἧς ἔχω νῦν, ἀσθενέστερον εἶχον, αὐτὸς ἂν ἐξέδραμον, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀπέστην πρότερον πάντα ποιῶν καὶ πραγματευόμενος, ἕως ἄν σε τῆς ζάλης ταύτης, καὶ τοῦ βορβόρου, καὶ τοῦ φορυτοῦ τῶν μυρίων ἀπήλλαξα κακῶν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔνι, ἐβουλόμην παραγενομένην περὶ τούτων ἡμῖν κοινώσασθαι. Εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο εὔκολον, ἀλλ' ἐργῶδες, οὐ παυσόμεθα διὰ γραμμάτων παραινοῦντες καὶ συμβουλεύοντες, ὥστε διακόψαι τὰ σχοινία, διατεμεῖν τὰς πλεκτάνας, διακλάσαι τὰς πέδας τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ μετὰ εὐκολίας καὶ ἐλευθερίας βαδίζειν πολλῆς. Οὕτω γὰρ οὐ μόνον τὴν ἐντεῦθεν εὐφροσύνην καρπώσῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν μετὰ πολλῆς λήψῃ τῆς εὐκολίας. Ὧν οὖν μέλλεις μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίας ἄκουσα ἀφίστασθαι, ταῦτα ἑκοῦσα πρόπεμψον εἰς τοὺς ἀσυλήτους θησαυροὺς, καὶ διὰ τούτων σοι τοὺς ἀκηράτους ἐκείνους καὶ μηδέποτε μαραινομένους προαποτιθεμένη στεφάνους.