Letter 318: Theodore Studite, Letter 318; Greek heading: Ἰωάννῃ ἡγουμένῳ.

If you yourself do not write, I know that it is not from any reluctance, but from the lack of a place and of a means of writing. But as for me, if I were to refrain from writing to your Holiness as often as I might chance upon a letter-carrier, I should justly be reproached by it [your Holiness], and all the more since longing presses upon me to greet you not at so great an interval, but, so to speak, almost daily, you who are my father and Christ's much-contending confessor [homologetes: one who suffered for the faith without dying a martyr]. Still then, O blessed one, be flayed and conquer, praying also concerning me, your child, who follows along behind you. And if any of your fellow confessors are present, embracing them too together with you, I ask for their holy prayers as a provision for salvation.