"My crown, my boast."

"I came and received good tidings. What were they? That you trampled upon heretics, that you exposed those who transgressed concerning baptism. Was it in vain, then, that it was said that the woman, being prudent, reproved the adulterers in the absence of her husband, that in the absence of the shepherd she drove away the wolves, that the sailors saved the ship without the helmsman, that the soldiers set up the trophy without the general, that the disciples [acted] without the teacher, the children without the father? Rather, not without. For your accomplishments are my crown, my boast."

- St. John Chrysostom, during his first exile, praising the actions of his faithful children in his absence. 

Greek source: https://eugenikos.blogspot.com/2025/07/blog-post_91.html