Letter 203: Chrysostom warns Salustius against slack preaching during persecution.

I was grieved in no ordinary way when I heard that both you and the presbyter Theophilus have grown slack. I learned that one of you had given only five homilies by October and the other none at all. This has become more painful to me than my solitude here. If this report is false, be willing to tell me. If it is true, correct it and rouse one another. Otherwise you will grieve me deeply, though I love you exceedingly and beyond measure. Worse still, you will bring great judgment on yourselves from God by living in idleness and hesitation and failing to contribute what lies within your power. What excuse can you have when others are persecuted, exiled, and driven away, while you do not even give the storm-tossed people the zeal of your presence or teaching?

ΣΓʹ. Σαλουστίῳ πρεσβυτέρῳ. Οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἤλγησα ἀκούσας ὅτι καὶ σὺ καὶ Θεόφιλος ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἀνεπέσετε. Ἔγνων γὰρ ὅτι ὁ μὲν ὑμῶν πέντε ὁμιλίας εἶπεν ἕως Ὀκτωβρίου μηνὸς, ὁ δὲ οὐδεμίαν, καὶ τῆς ἐρημίας μοι τῆς ἐνταῦθα τοῦτο γέγονε χαλεπώτερον. Βουλήθητε τοίνυν, εἰ μὲν ψεῦδος τοῦτο, δηλῶσαί μοι· εἰ δὲ ἀληθὲς, διορθώσασθαι· καὶ ἀλλήλους διεγείρατε· ἐπεὶ σφόδρα με ἔχετε λυπῆσαι, καίτοι μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς σφόδρα ἀγαπῶντα ὑμᾶς. Καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πολὺ καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπισπάσεσθε τὸ κρῖμα, ἀργίᾳ τοσαύτῃ συζῶντες καὶ ὄκνῳ, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν οὐκ εἰσφέροντες. Ποίαν γὰρ σχοίητε συγγνώμην ἑτέρων διωκομένων, ἐξοριζομένων, ἐλαυνομένων, ὑμεῖς δὲ μηδὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς παρουσίας ὑμῶν ἢ τῆς διδασκαλίας εἰσφέροντες τῷ χειμαζομένῳ λαῷ σπουδήν;