Letter 229: Chrysostom writes to Severa after hearing from Libanius about her zeal for the faith.

I have never seen your Nobility with bodily eyes, but with the eyes of love I have seen you more clearly than most. No distance can prevent that kind of sight. My dear lord Libanius described to us your zeal for the true faith and your earnestness, and he lifted our spirits greatly. For that reason, though we have never met you, we have leapt first into writing to your Reverence and ask you to write to us whenever you can. If a letter comes from your Kindness reporting your health and the health of your whole household, we will receive very great consolation from it even while we live in a foreign place. Nothing is equal to love.

ΣΚΘʹ. Σευήρᾳ. Ἐγὼ μέν σου τὴν εὐγένειαν εἶδον οὐδέποτε σωματικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τοῖς δὲ τῆς ἀγάπης πάντων μάλιστα ἐθεασάμην· ἐπειδήπερ, κἂν πολὺ τὸ μέσον ᾖ τῶν διαστημάτων, ταύτην οὐδέποτε διείργει τὴν θεωρίαν. Ὁ γὰρ κύριός μου ὁ ποθεινότατος Λιβάνιος ὑπογράφων ἡμῖν τὸν ζῆλον τῆς σῆς εὐγενείας, τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως, καὶ τὴν σπουδὴν, σφόδρα ἡμᾶς ἀνεπτέρωσε. ∆ιὸ καὶ μηδέποτέ σε ἑωρακότες, ἐπεπηδήσαμεν πρῶτοι τοῖς πρὸς τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν γράμμασι, παρακαλοῦντες καὶ αὐτὴν ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν ἡνίκα ἂν ἐξῇ. Εἰ γὰρ ἔλθοι παρὰ τῆς σῆς ἐμμελείας ἐπιστολὴ ἀπαγγέλλουσα ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας σου, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου σου παντὸς, μεγίστην, καὶ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ διατρίβοντες, ἐντεῦθεν καρπωσόμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. Ἀγάπης γὰρ ἴσον οὐδέν.