129. К епископу Елпидию

On paper rarely, but in our souls very often we write to your reverence, not forgetting you for a single day, and neither the length of time, nor the distance, nor the unfortunate state of circumstances can deprive us of this inextricable coexistence with you. Such is the power of love: it does not yield or succumb to anything like that, but stands above all. Do not measure, my most honest and most reverent master, our attachment to your regularity by the number of letters, and do not draw any suspicious conclusion from our long silence, knowing our feelings and the disposition that we have always shown to your reverence. So we ourselves, rarely receiving letters from your love, do not at all conclude from this that you have become more indifferent to us, but we firmly know and are confident that you constantly maintain a lively disposition towards us, not only not weakening in it as a result of continuously arising disasters, but becoming even more diligent, for which we are very grateful to you. In full confidence that you would like to know about our current situation here, we inform you that we are now healthy, enjoying perfect rest and tranquility and living in safety, freed for the time being from the Isaurian horrors. As for the Armenian winter, I have finally learned to endure it and suffer from it very moderate harm compared to what I would naturally be exposed to in such poor health: I sit constantly locked up at home when the cold is unbearable, and rarely look outside the doors. But we take advantage of the other, most pleasant seasons of the year so much that we can easily compensate for the weakening caused by winter. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: