43. К монашествующим Ромулу и Визу

I would like to see you here, because, imagining you from rumors about your reverence, I fell in love with you very much; but since this is not yet possible - both due to the distance of the journey, and because of the winter season, and because of the fear induced by the Isaurians, I took the zeal to come in writing to your honesty, expressing the disposition that we have for your reverence. In fact, it is possible to fall in love as friends with people who are far from us and whom we have never seen. Such is the power of love: it is not delayed by distance, is not weakened by long periods of time, is not overcome by the induction of temptations; but, conquering all this, he becomes above everything and ascends to an unattainable height. Likewise, we, having loved you dearly, have not become less attentive to you because of anything like this, but just as we ourselves write to you, we earnestly ask you to notify us about your health. Thus, even in the midst of our life in the desert, we will find great consolation for ourselves when we hear that people who lead such a life and walk such a narrow and sorrowful path are healthy and prosperous. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: