204. К Валентину 148

I know your generosity, your ardent love for helping the poor and the lively zeal with which you are always ready to sacrifice for this good cause and for which you not only provide assistance, but do it with pleasure, thus preparing for yourself a double, most brilliant, crown of philanthropy - both by the generosity of alms and by the mood of thought from which this generosity comes. Having now received from the most honorable presbyter Dometian, who is entrusted with the care of the widows and virgins there, notification that they are suffering almost from hunger, we therefore resort to your arms as to a harbour, in the hope that you will put an end to the wreck on this sea of ​​hunger. So, I pray to you, and I pray earnestly: please call the mentioned elder to you and help them as much as possible. The alms that you will show now are all the more deserving of reward in comparison with alms given under other circumstances, the more severe the storm and adversity to which those who need it are currently exposed, without using the usual source of help. Having thus taken into account the salutary nature of this matter in general and its special merit in particular, now, due to the peculiarity of the circumstances, please do what you can. There is no need to say more when addressing a person as philanthropic and kind-hearted as you. You know, however, that you still owe us money for sports 149; but we already forgive you this debt in favor of those poor. Yes, please write to us whether you deign to accept our request, and please us with news of your health and that of your entire blessed home. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” From Kukuz in 404 or 405. Fronton Duke makes the following remark regarding this word. Spórtoula is a Latin word, which actually means: a box, a basket, or a basket woven from flexible rods, in which the Romans in ancient times hid their money. Subsequently, “sportula” began to be called portions of food, which (in sportellis) were sold in baskets instead of a real lunch to clients. Then, over time, this word began to designate all kinds of salaries, payments in the form of assistance, monetary reward for work, such as: remuneration instead of salary according to the law, received from related persons by judges for the analysis of litigation, etc. Finally, in the letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage "sportuli" refers to the content received by the elders and in general by all members of the clergy, just as the Levites in the Old Testament received tithes of fruits from the people. This word should have a similar meaning in the present case, in the letter of St. John Chrysostom. You might be interested in: