Letter 570

To the Emperor Arcadius. How can you desire to see Constantinople delivered from the most frequent earthquakes and from the descent of fire out of the upper air, when countless outrages are being committed there, and wickedness is reckoned legitimate with great license, now that the pillar of the Church, the light of truth, the trumpet of Christ, John the most blessed bishop [John Chrysostom, deposed and exiled in 404], has been driven into exile? How can you urge me to grant a prayer on behalf of a city that is being shaken by the wrath of God, and that day after day awaits thunderbolts from on high, while I myself am burned up by the fire of despondency, shaken in my reasonings, and cut to the quick in my understanding at the enormity of the lawless deeds done in these present times against Byzantium [the older name of the city of Constantinople]?

Πῶς ἐπιθυμεῖς τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν τῶν πηκνοτάτων σεισμῶν, καὶ τῆς ἐπελεύσεως τοῦ αἰθερίου πυρὸς ἀπηλλαγμένην ἰδεῖν, μυρίων ἀτοπημάτων αὐτόθι γινομένων, καὶ νομιζομένης τῆς κακίας σὺν παῤῥησίᾳ πολλῇ, ἐξορισθέντος τοῦ στύλου τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς ἀληθείας, τῆς σάλπιγγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, Ἰωάννου τοῦ μακαριωτάτου ἐπισκόπου ; Πῶς με προτρέπεις εὐχὴν χαρίσασθαι σαλευομένην τῇ πόλει ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀργῆς, καὶ πρηστῆρας καθ’ ἑκάστην ἐξ ὕψους προσδοκῶσαν, ἐμοῦ καταπρησθέντος τῷ πυρὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας, καὶ τοὺς λογισμοὺς διασεσαλευμένου, καὶ κατατετημένου τὴν ἔννοιαν ἐπὶ τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσι χρόνοις παρανόμως κατὰ τὸ Βυζάντιον πεπραγμένων ;