122. К диакону Феодоту 100

I myself know that you would have been with us long ago if the fear of the Isaurians had not held you back. If you had the patience to make your way to us during the freezing cold and snowy blizzards, then, of course, you would not be slow to arrive here now, when with the onset of spring there is complete silence in the air. I know the tenderness, devotion, ardor and sincerity of your affection, your soul filled with noble independence. All the more, therefore, I regret that at such a prosperous time of the year you aroused in our soul a real winter of sadness with your long separation from us. I am not saying this in order to attract you here, although you yourself wish it a thousand times (we have war everywhere here, how can you find out from those who come from here to you), but to inform you that we, with all our leisure and tranquility, cannot live carelessly in separation from your honesty, and so that, knowing this, you constantly write to us, both with those who travel from us there, and with those who depart from there and arrives here. We are very grateful to you, my most honest lord, for your care and concern regarding the horrors here. The constraint of our state of siege is indeed increasing every day, and we sit in this fortress, completely as if in a trap. And one day a detachment of three hundred Isaurians burst into the city in the middle of the night, beyond all hope and expectation, and almost captured us too. But the hand of God, without our knowledge, soon turned them back, so that we did not experience not only the misfortune itself, but even any fear, and we learned about all this only after the day had come. Rejoice at this happiness for us and pray to God that He will establish us in complete safety and also free us from the illness that besets us. True, we have gotten rid of a dangerously painful situation, but traces of the disease still remain and constantly remind us of previous suffering. We are writing to you about this not to sadden you, but to encourage you to pray more diligently for us. I entrust to your reverence my master, the most honest reader Theodotus; If possible, be a haven for him everywhere. He has a lot, as we learned, of grief. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” From Aravissus, in the year 406, like the following letter to the reader Theodotus. You might be interested in: