Letter 37: Good news from afar refreshes Evagrius, who blesses love as the mark of Christ's disciples.

As cold water is pleasant to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. The letters of your wisdom have wonderfully quenched the burning heat that came upon us from our labors, just as Your Magnificence's earlier letters did. With your whole soul you do everything useful for our honor and rest. What, then, should I pray and ask from our Lord for you? May the Lord give you the crown of righteousness, and may you become a fellow heir of the saints, because you have shown mercy to us and have displayed toward us the deep affection of love. No virtue is greater than this. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself made love the proof of his disciples when he said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." With love you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and from him you will receive the reward for my prayers. If a reward is promised for a cup of cold water, how much knowledge of God will you receive for everything Your Magnificence has done for us from the beginning? For all these things may the Lord, the judge of righteousness, repay you; may he reveal to you the mysteries of his wisdom and set you over ten cities, so that you may draw rational souls from vice to virtue and from ignorance to the knowledge of Christ.

Greek retroversion from Syriac transmission (Frankenberg 1912, TAN/TEI CC BY 4.0): ωσπερ υδωρ ψυχρον ψυχηι διψωσηι προσηνες ουτως αγγελια αγαθη εκ γης μακροθεν και τα γραμματα της φρονησεως σου καλως εσβεσε τον καυσωνα απο των πονων (του κοσμου) ημιν συμβαντα ως και α προτερον ημιν επεστειλεν η μεγαλοπρεπεια σου. παν γαρ εις την τιμην ημων και εις την ημων αναπαυσιν συμφερον πραττεις απο πασης της ψυχης σου και τι δεωμαι και αιτω σοι παρα του κυριου ημων; δοιη σοι ο κυριος στεφανον της δικαιοσυνης και γενοιο συγκληρονομος των αγιων οτι υπερ ημων ελεος εποιησας και προς ημας σπλαγχνα αγαπης εδειξας ης ουδεμια αρετη μειζων, οτι και ο κυριος Ι. Χ. την αγαπην εθετο ειναι αποδειξιν των αυτου μαθητων λεγων εν τουτωι γνωσονται παντες οτι εμοι μαθηται εστε εαν αγαπην εχητε εν αλληλοις . μετα της αγαπης εστηξεις εμπροσθεν του Χ. βηματος και παρ' αυτου τον των δεησεων μου μισθον ληψηι. ει γαρ υπερ ποτηριου ψυχρου μισθος επηγγελται, ποσον γνωσιν θεον αποδεξηι υπερ παντων ων η μεγαλοπρεπεια σου απαρχης προς ημας επραξεν. υπερ ων παντων αποδοιη σοι ο κυριος ο χριτης της δικαιοσυνης και αποκαλυψαι σοι τα μυστηρια τη σοφιας αυτου και σε δεκα πολεων προισταιη ινα τας λογικας ψυχας απο κακιας προς αρετην και απο αγνωσιας προς την Χ. γνωσιν ελκηις 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.