Letter 153: Chrysostom tells the same bishops that their shared grief and help have consoled him in exile.
We do not stop giving thanks to you continually. Although our enemies have acted lawlessly against us in many ways, we have received abundant consolation from your love. Your zeal, your shared grief, and the help you have brought forward have lightened the weight of what has happened.
Do not let the length of the struggle make you tired. Those who have disturbed everything will have a heavier judgment; those who work for correction will have a brighter reward. The contest is not over yet. The end must be made worthy of the beginning.
Continue, then, with the same courage. Stand with the churches, resist the disorder, and write to us about your health. Even while we are confined far away, your letters will make us breathe more freely.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΡΝΓʹ. Τοῖς αὐτοῖς.
Οὐ διαλιμπάνομεν χάριν ὑμῖν ὁμολογοῦντες διηνεκῶς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλὰ παρανενομήμεθα παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλ' ὅμως πολλῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀπηλαύσαμεν τῆς συμμαχίας, δαψιλοῦς τῆς ἀγάπης, γνησίας φιλοφροσύνης, θερμοτάτης σπουδῆς· καὶ ταῦτα οὐ μικρὰν παράκλησιν καὶ τῆς χαλεπωτάτης ἐξορίας, ἐν ᾗ κατεχόμεθα, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπενεχθέντων ἡμῖν δεινῶν, ἔχομεν. ∆ιὸ παρακαλοῦμεν ὑμῶν τὴν εὐλάβειαν ἐπιμεῖναι τὴν αὐτὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπιδεικνυμένους διάθεσίν τε καὶ σπουδήν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς ἡμᾶς στήσεται τὸ γινόμενον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν διαβήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ μία, καὶ δύο, καὶ τρεῖς πόλεις, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρα ἔθνη πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ταράττεται. Καὶ τοσαύτην παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπιδειχθῆναι δίκαιον σπουδὴν, ὅσην εἰκὸς ὑπὲρ τοσούτων ψυχῶν ἐσπουδακότας καὶ κάμνοντας ἐπιδείξασθαι. Εἰ δὲ πολλὰ πεπονήκατε, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσηνέγκατε, ἴσμεν τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ εὐχαριστοῦντες ὑμῖν οὐ παυόμεθα· ἀξιοῦμεν δὲ μὴ διαλιπεῖν τοῦτο ποιοῦντας. Ἡ γὰρ καρτερία ὑμῶν, καὶ ὑπομονὴ, καὶ ἡ εὔτονος γνώμη δυνήσεται καὶ τοὺς σφόδρα φιλονείκως διακειμένους καὶ ἀνίατα νοσοῦντας ἀποστῆσαι τῆς κατεχούσης αὐτοὺς νυνὶ παραφροσύνης. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιμένοιεν καὶ οὕτως ἀνιάτως ἔχοντες, ἀλλ' ὑμῖν ἀπηρτισμένος ὁ μισθὸς ἔσται, καὶ πλήρη τὰ τῆς ἀμοιβῆς, καὶ ὁλόκληρος τῶν καλῶν τούτων ὁ στέφανος.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern chrysostom pg52 epistulae batch5 v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-Synchronized-OR/John_Chrysostom__Epistulae.gr.html
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