He therefore with desire and spirit and reason marked out what was according to worth, but to you the divine ministers, and to these the priests, and hierarchs to the priests, and to the hierarchs the apostles and the successors of the apostles. And if anyone even among those should fail in what is fitting, he will be corrected by the holy ones of the same rank, and order will not be turned against order, but each will be in his own order and in his own ministry. So much from us to you, for you to know and to do your own part. But concerning the inhumanity towards that man, who, as you say, is impious and wicked, I do not know how I shall weep for the ruin of my beloved. For of what do you think you were appointed by us as a healer? For indeed, if not of the good, it is surely necessary for you to be a stranger both to us and to the whole of our healing ministry; and it is time for you to seek both another god and other priests, and among them to be made a beast rather than be initiated, and to be the relentless servant of your dear inhumanity. For have we ourselves been perfected to what is completely holy and do not need the divine loving-kindness for ourselves? Or do we sin the double sin, as the oracles say, like the impious, not knowing in what we stumble, but also justifying ourselves and thinking we see, while truly not seeing? "Heaven was astonished at this" and I shuddered and I distrust myself. And if I had not come across your letters—know well that I wish I had not—they would not have persuaded me, if some others had deigned to persuade me about you, that Demophilus thinks that the God who is good to all is not also loving toward man, nor that he himself needs one who has mercy or saves, but also that he rejects the priests who have been deemed worthy in goodness to bear the ignorances of the people, knowing well that they themselves also are beset with weakness. But the divine Initiator has walked another path; and this, though separated from sinners, as the sacred oracles say, He makes the most gentle shepherding of the sheep a proof of the love toward Himself. And He calls evil the one who did not forgive his fellow servant the debt, nor partially shared the very great goodness bestowed on him, but He deems it just that he should suffer what is his due; which it is necessary for both me and Demophilus to fear. For even for those who acted impiously against Him, in the very act of His suffering He brings forth forgiveness from the Father, and He also rebukes His disciples, because they deemed it right to judge mercilessly the impiety of the Samaritans who had cast Him out. This, indeed, is that much-repeated saying of your insolent letter—for you chatter it up and down—that you were avenging not yourself, but God; through evil, tell me, the Good One? Away with it! We do not "have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses," but He is both "guileless" and "merciful." "He will not quarrel nor cry aloud," and He Himself is "gentle" and "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins." Therefore we will not accept your unenviable impulses, not even if you were to invoke Phinehas and Elijah ten thousand times. For Jesus, hearing these things, was not pleased with the disciples who were then without a share in the gentle and good spirit. For indeed our most divine lawgiver teaches "in gentleness" "those who are in opposition" to the teaching of God. For it is necessary to teach, not to punish, those who are ignorant, just as we do not chastise the blind, but lead them by the hand. But you, to the man beginning to look up towards the light, striking him on the temple, you pushed him back, and as he approached with great reverence, you insolently kicked him away.

Aὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ θυμῷ καὶ λόγῳ τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀφόριζε, σοὶ δὲ οἱ θεῖοι λειτουργοὶ καὶ τούτοις οἱ ἱερεῖς, ἱεράρχαι δὲ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι καὶ τοῖς ἱεράρχαις οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ τῶν ἀποστόλων διάδοχοι. Καὶ εἴ πού τις καὶ ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῦ προσήκοντος ἀποσφαλείη, παρὰ τῶν ὁμο ταγῶν ἁγίων ἐπανορθωθήσεται, καὶ οὐ περιστραφήσεται τάξις ἐπὶ τάξιν, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ τάξει αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ λειτουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἔσται. Τοσαῦτά σοι παρ' ἡμῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ εἰδέναι καὶ δρᾶν τὰ ἑαυτοῦ. Περὶ δὲ τῆς εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα τόν, ὡς φῄς, ἀσεβῆ καὶ ἀλιτήριον ἀπανθρωπίας, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως κλαύσομαι τὸ σύντριμμα τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ μου. Τίνος γὰρ οἴει θεραπευτὴς ὑφ' ἡμῶν ταχθῆναι; Καὶ γάρ, εἰ μὴ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, πάντως που καὶ ἡμῶν ἀνάγκη σε εἶναι καὶ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς θεραπείας ὅλης ἀλ λότριον· καὶ ὥρα σοι καὶ θεὸν ζητῆσαι καὶ ἱερέας ἑτέρους καὶ παρ' ἐκείνοις θηριωθῆναι μᾶλλον ἢ τελεσθῆναι καὶ εἶναι τῆς φίλης ἀπανθρωπίας ἀμεί λικτον ὑπερέτην. Ἀρα γὰρ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ πρὸς τὸ πάντη ἅγιον ἀποτετε λέσμεθα καὶ οὐ δεόμεθα τῆς θείας ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς φιλανθρωπίας; Ἢ τὴν διπλῆν ἁμαρτίαν, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησι, κατὰ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς ἁμαρτάνομεν οὐκ εἰδότες, ἐν τίνι προσκόπτομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δικαιοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ οἰόμενοι βλέπειν, ἀληθῶς δὲ οὐ βλέποντες; «Ἐξέστη ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐπὶ τούτῳ» καὶ ἔφριξα ἐγὼ καὶ διαπιστῶ ἐμαυτῷ. Καὶ εἰ μὴ τοῖς σοῖς ἐνέτυχον-ὡς οὐκ ὤφελον εὖ ἴσθι-γράμμασιν, οὐκ ἂν ἔπεισαν, εἴπερ ἄλλοι μέ τινες περί σου πείθειν ἠξίουν, ὅτι ∆ημόφιλος οἴεται τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἐπὶ πάντα θεὸν οὐκ εἶναι καὶ φιλάνθρωπον οὔτε ἑαυτὸν δεῖσθαι τοῦ ἐλεοῦντος ἢ σῴζοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἀποχειροτονεῖ τοὺς ἠξιωμένους ἀγαθότητι φέρειν τὰ ἀγνοήματα τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ εὖ εἰδότας, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ περίκεινται ἀσθένειαν. Ἀλλ' ὁ θεαρχικὸς ἱεροτελεστὴς ἑτέραν πεπόρευται· καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ὡς τὰ ἱερὰ λόγιά φησιν, ἀφωρισμένος καὶ τῆς εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀγάπης ἀπόδειξιν ποιεῖται τὴν τῶν προβάτων ἐπιεικεστάτην ποιμαν τικήν. Καὶ πονηρὸν μὲν ἀποκαλεῖ τὸν μὴ ἀφέντα τῷ συνοικέτῃ τὴν ὀφειλὴν μήτε μερικῶς μεταδόντα τῆς δωρηθείσης αὐτῷ παμπόλλης ἀγα θότητος, δικαιοῖ δὲ τῶν οἰκείων ἀπολαύειν· ὅπερ ἀναγκαῖον εὐλαβηθῆναι καὶ ἐμὲ καὶ ∆ημόφιλον. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀσεβοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πάσχειν ἄφεσιν προάγει παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ἐπιτιμᾷ δὲ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ὅτι καὶ ἀσεβείας ἀνηλεῶς ἠξίωσαν κρῖναι τοὺς ἐκδεδιωκότας αὐτὸν Σαμαρείτας. Τοῦτο δὴ τὸ μυριόλεκτόν σου τῆς θρασείας ἐπιστολῆς-ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω θρυλεῖς-, ὡς οὐχ ἑαυτόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν ἐξεδίκησας· διὰ κακίας, εἰπέ μοι, τὸν ἀγαθόν; Ἄπαγε· οὐκ «ἔχομεν ἀρχιερέα μὴ δυνάμενον συμπαθῆσαι ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ἡμῶν», ἀλλὰ καὶ «ἄκακός» ἐστι καὶ «ἐλεήμων». «Oὐκ ἐρίσει οὐδὲ κραυγάσει», καὶ αὐτὸς «πραῢς» καὶ «αὐτὸς ἱλασμός ἐστι περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν». Ὥστε οὐκ ἀποδεξόμεθά σου τὰς ἀζηλώτους ὁρμάς, οὐδ' εἰ μυριάκις ἐπαναλάβοις τὸν Φινεὲς καὶ τὸν Ἡλίαν. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἀκούοντα τὸν Ἰησοῦν οὐκ ἤρεσκον οἱ τοῦ πραέος τότε καὶ ἀγαθοῦ πνεύματος ἀμέτοχοι μαθηταί. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ θειότατος ἡμῶν ἱεροθέτης «ἐν πραότητι» διδάσκει «τοὺς ἀντιδιατιθεμένους» τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. ∆ιδάσκεσθαι γάρ, οὐ τιμωρεῖσθαι χρὴ τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας, ὥσπερ καὶ τυφλοὺς οὐ κολάζομεν, ἀλλὰ χειραγωγοῦμεν. Σὺ δὲ καὶ ἀνανεύειν ἐπὶ τὸ φῶς ἀρχομένῳ τἀνδρὶ κατὰ τῆς κόῤῥης διδοὺς ἀντώθεις καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς αἰδοῦς προσιόντα θρασέως ἀπελάκτιζες