Letter 105

Isidore of PelusiumEutonios|isidore pelusium

Why John called the Jews generations of vipers. John called the Jews “generations of vipers” as being more wicked than the offspring of wicked parents. For it is recounted that this wild species devours the maternal womb when they are hatched. Since then they abandoned God who gave them birth and they mortified all the grace given to them through failing to make use of it, he quite reasonably likens them to those poisonous creatures, who negate their benefactions through ingratitude, or to put it otherwise devour them.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.