Letter 131: Chrysostom explains that raids, illness, and forced movement caused his silence to Elpidius.

We were not looking down on your love or neglecting it when we kept silence before. The evils surrounding us caused this long silence. We do not stay fixed in one place: now Cucusus, now Arabissus, now ravines and deserts. Everything is filled with turmoil and confusion; fire and sword consume bodies and buildings alike. Whole cities have already been overturned with their inhabitants, and each day rumors drive us into migration. We endure a strange new kind of exile and expect death daily. Even when shut in the fortress as if in a prison, we cannot be confident, because the Isaurians dare to attack even such places. Severe illness was added to this; we have barely escaped the worst of it and still carry its remnants. We are like people settled on an island surrounded by an impassable sea, unable to see anyone easily from anywhere because every road is walled off by fear of these disturbances. So forgive us, my most honored and reverent master. You know the love we showed from the beginning for your Reverence. Do not stop praying for us. If these evils ease and we can look out from this prison and breathe a little from the siege holding us, we will not stop writing often to your honor. In doing this, we will be granting the greatest favor to ourselves.

ΡΛΑʹ. Ἐλπιδίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ. Ἡμεῖς οὔτε ὑπερορῶντες, οὔτε ὀλιγωροῦντές σου τῆς ἀγάπης, τὸν ἔμπροσθεν ἐσιγήσαμεν χρόνον, ἀλλὰ τὰ περιεστῶτα ἡμᾶς δεινὰ τὴν μακρὰν ταύτην σιγὴν ἐποίησεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἑνὶ ἱδρύμεθα χωρίῳ, ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν τὴν Κουκουσὸν, νῦν δὲ τὴν Ἀραβισσὸν, νῦν δὲ τὰς φάραγγας καὶ τὰς ἐρημίας περιπολοῦμεν· οὕτω πάντα θορύβων ἐμπέπλησται καὶ ταραχῆς, καὶ πῦρ καὶ σίδηρος ἅπαντα δαπανᾷ, καὶ σώματα, καὶ οἰκοδομήματα. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ πόλεις ἀνεσκάφησαν αὔτανδροι, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν συνεχέσιν ἐπιβαλλόμενοι φήμαις μετανάσται γινόμεθα, χαλεπόν τινα καὶ καινὸν ἐξορίας ὑπομένοντες τρόπον, καὶ καθημερινὸν θάνατον προσδοκῶντες. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ καθάπερ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ νῦν ἀποκλεισθέντες ἔχομεν θαῤῥεῖν, διὰ τὸ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων τοὺς Ἰσαύρους κατατολμᾷν. Προσετέθη δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ἀῤῥωστία χαλεπὴ, ἧς μόλις νῦν τὸ χαλεπώτερον διαφυγόντες, ἔτι τὰ λείψανα αὐτῆς περιφέρομεν· καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς νῆσόν τινα ὑπὸ πελάγους ἀπλώτου κυκλουμένην ἀποικισθέντες, οὕτως οὐδαμόθεν οὐδένα ῥᾳδίως ὁρᾷν δυνάμεθα, πάσης ὁδοῦ τῷ φόβῳ τῶν θορύβων τούτων ἀποτετειχισμένης. Παρακαλῶ τοίνυν συγγνῶναι ἡμῖν, δέσποτά μου τιμιώτατε καὶ εὐλαβέστατε· οἶσθα γὰρ τὴν ἀγάπην, ἣν ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς περὶ τὴν σὴν ἐπεδειξάμεθα εὐλάβειαν, καὶ μὴ διαλιπεῖν εὐχόμενον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Ὅτι γὰρ εἰ ῥᾳδίως ἐπιτύχοις τῶν πρὸς τὰ γράμματα ὑπηρετησομένων, οὐδὲν ὑπομνήσεως δεήσῃ πρὸς τὸ ἐπιστέλλειν ἡμῖν συνεχῶς περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς, σφόδρα θαῤῥοῦμεν. Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ, εἰ λωφήσειεν ταυτὶ τὰ δεινὰ, καὶ προκύψαι τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου τούτου δυνηθείημεν, καὶ ἀναπνεῦσαι μικρὸν ἀπὸ τῆς κατεχούσης πολιορκίας ἡμᾶς, οὐ διαλείψομεν συνεχῶς ἐπιστέλλοντές σου πρὸς τὴν τιμιότητα. Ἡμῖν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τοῦτο ποιοῦντες τὰ μέγιστα χαριούμεθα.