53. К Касту, Валерию, Диофанту и Кириаку, пресвитерам антиохийским 41

With my tongue I rarely express your reverence, but with my soul - constantly and very often. Consider that you have received from us not as many letters as you have received paper covered in ink, but as many as we would like to send to you. And as soon as you look at the matter this way, you will see that we have sent heaps of letters to you. If no one delivers them to you, then, of course, our silence is not a consequence of our negligence, but of the difficulty of our situation. I said this so that whether we write or remain silent, you do not change your opinion about our love for you. Wherever we are, we remember you everywhere, imprinting you in our hearts. We now bring you great gratitude for the fact that you received the good monk with your characteristic goodwill and tamed the people who so inopportunely decided to quarrel with him. It was not for nothing that I told you, and without any flattery, that even if countless waves rose from everywhere, you would have silence. And if you so easily save others from shipwrecks, then it is clear that you yourself are far out of danger. Write to us constantly about your health. You know how desirable it is for us to always have information about him. Your letters, rejoicing us with news of your prosperity, have such power that, although we are currently surrounded from everywhere by dangers, wars, turmoil, unrest, daily threatening death, yet, as soon as we receive a bunch of your messages, we forget everything with pleasure and regain our former vigor. Sincere love produces the fact that letters containing such news seem to transport us into the circle of people from whom we are physically separated. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: