Letter 185: Chrysostom rebukes Pentadia's silence and asks for news of her household's health and safety.

You have kept a long silence, though many people have been coming to us from your side. What can be the reason? The turmoil of events? I would never say that. I know your great and lofty soul. It can sail with a favorable wind even in many storms and enjoy bright calm in the middle of the waves. You have shown this by your actions. The report of your good deeds has reached the ends of the inhabited world, and everyone praises you. Even while staying in one place, you stir up the reverence of people far away and make us more eager. So what is the cause of the silence? I cannot say. Through the bearer of this letter, tell us about your health, your good spirits, and the safety of your whole household, so that we, sitting so far away in this hard wilderness, may draw much comfort from your news.

ΡΠΕʹ. Πενταδίᾳ διακόνῳ. Μακρὰν ἐσίγησας σιγὴν, καίτοι πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἀφικνουμένων πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Τί ποτ' οὖν ἂν εἴη τὸ αἴτιον; τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ θόρυβος; Ἄπαγε· τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι· οἶδα γάρ σου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ὑψηλὴν ψυχὴν, τὴν καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς κλυδωνίοις δυναμένην ἐξουρίας πλεῖν, καὶ ἐν μέσοις κύμασι γαλήνης ἀπολαύειν λευκῆς. Καὶ τοῦτο δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἔδειξας, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης ἦλθεν ἡ φήμη τὰ σὰ φέρουσα κατορθώματα, καὶ πάντες σε ἀνακηρύττουσιν, ὅτι καὶ ἐν ἑνὶ χωρίῳ ἱδρυμένη καὶ τοὺς πόῤῥωθεν ὄντας διὰ τῆς εὐλαβείας τῆς σῆς διεγείρεις, καὶ προθυμοτέρους ποιεῖς. Τίς οὖν ἡ αἰτία τῆς σιγῆς; Ἐγὼ μὲν εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Παρακαλῶ δέ σου τὴν ἐμμέλειαν διὰ τοῦ τὰ γράμματα ἐγχειρίζοντός σου τῇ εὐλαβείᾳ, δι' αὐτοῦ δηλῶσαι ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγιείας τῆς σῆς, καὶ τῆς εὐθυμίας, καὶ τῆς ἀσφαλείας, καὶ σοῦ καὶ τοῦ οἴκου σου παντός· ἵνα καὶ ἐκ τοσούτου καθήμενοι διαστήματος, καὶ ἐν οὕτω χαλεπωτάτῃ ἐρημίᾳ διατρίβοντες, πολλὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων γραμμάτων καρπωσώμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν.