Letter 220: Chrysostom rejoices that Paianius has returned to a suffering city as a source of comfort.

We have breathed again and leapt for joy. Now that your Admirableness has returned to the city suffering such things, we no longer feel that we are living in a foreign or alien place. Our joy is not that you have gained greater honor. Your true honor is the virtue of your soul; no one had taken that from you before, and no one has restored what was never lost. We rejoice because you have entered that city as a great consolation for people being driven out, slaughtered, and bound. You have become a common benefit and a wide harbor for them. So write to us now about the greatness of your successes. Tell us clearly how many fallen people you have raised, how many collapsed people you have set upright, whom you have strengthened when they were shaken, whom you have supported through this long struggle, whom you have made zealous after they had grown slack, and whom you have made still more zealous though they were already strong.

ΣΚʹ. Παιανίῳ. Ἀνεπνεύσαμεν, ἐσκιρτήσαμεν, οὐκέτι ἀλλοτρίαν, οὐδὲ ξένην οἰκεῖν ἡγούμεθα, τῆς σῆς θαυμασιότητος πρὸς τὴν τοιαῦτα πάσχουσαν ἐπανελθούσης πόλιν. Ποιεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τὴν τοσαύτην ἡδονὴν, οὐ τὸ σὲ πλείονος ἀπολελαυκέναι τιμῆς· ἡ γὰρ σὴ τιμὴ τῆς ψυχῆς σού ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετὴ, καὶ οὔτε ἔμπροσθέν σέ τις αὐτὴν ἀφελέσθαι ἴσχυσεν, οὔτε νῦν ἀποδέδωκεν πῶς γὰρ τὴν μὴ ἀφαιρεθεῖσαν;· σκιρτῶμεν δὲ ὅτι μεγίστη παράκλησις τοῖς ἐλαυνομένοις, τοῖς σφαττομένοις, τοῖς δεδεμένοις, εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην εἰσελήλυθας, κοινὸν ὄφελος καὶ λιμὴν εὐρύτατος τούτων γενόμενος. Καὶ γὰρ οἶσθα κερδαίνειν ἃ κερδαίνειν χρή. Γράφε δὴ λοιπὸν τῶν κατορθωμάτων σου τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ λέγε σαφῶς πόσους κειμένους ἀνέστησας, πόσους καταπεπτωκότας ἀνώρθωσας, τίνας σαλευομένους ἐστήριξας, τίσι πεπονηκόσιν ἐν τῷ μακρῷ τούτῳ χρόνῳ παρέστης, τίνας ῥᾳθυμοῦντας σπουδαίους ἐποίησας, τίνας σπουδαίους ὄντας σπουδαιοτέρους εἰργάσω, καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς καθ' ἕκαστον τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεώς σου ταύτης ἀνδραγαθήματα. Οἶδα μὲν γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ πρὸ τῶν γραμμάτων τῶν σῶν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν οἶδα τὴν σὴν, τὸν γενναῖον ἀθλητὴν, καὶ τὸν θαυμαστὸν ἀριστέα· ἀλλ' οὖν βούλομαι καὶ παρὰ τῆς ποθεινοτάτης μοι γλώττης ταῦτα μανθάνειν. ∆ίδου δὴ ἡμῖν ταύτην τὴν αἴτησιν· οἶσθα γὰρ ἡλίκην χαριῇ χάριν, τοῦτο ποιῶν.