45. К бывшему дуке Феодосию 34

Your letter contains a lot of honey, or rather, you made it even sweeter than honey. In fact, the more often honey is served to those who feast on its sweetness, the less pleasant it seems to them, since satiety destroys the power of pleasure; on the contrary, your letters, delighting us with news about your health, are so far from this shortcoming that they especially bring us joy when they arrive more often. So, you kissed my letter. And I kissed you, the author of the letter, hugged you, wrapped both arms around your neck, and, kissing your head, so dear to me, I felt great reinforcement. It seemed to me that not only your letter had arrived, but as if you yourself had arrived and were with us. Your letter made such an impression on me. However, this is always the nature of sincere love: even if its rays penetrate only through letters, they make visible the very source of these letters, which is what we happened to experience. And neither the length of time, nor the long distance, nor the difficult state of circumstances, nothing decisively prevented us from doing this. Knowing this, my most venerable master, do not make it a point to constantly inform us about your health and complacency, as well as about the well-being of your entire household. You know how desirable it is for us to always have information about this. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” Between 404 and 407. The heads of the border districts of the empire were called “Duks”. Upon resignation from their position, they retained the title of former duks - apó doukw'n. You might be interested in: