Letter 120: I know perfectly well that if I were to ask you whether I am wiser than Paul, you would treat the very question as...
Do not marvel at the audacity of Eusebius and the impudence of Zosimus, but at the patience of God, who thus waits for us to repent and accepts incense even from an unclean hand. For if someone nourished on sins and branded with every defilement still dares to approach the altar, the fault lies not with God's patience but with man's presumption.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΡΚ΄. – ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ (17).
Περὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Εὐσεβίου καὶ Ζωσίμου.
Μὴ θαυμάσῃς τὴν τόλμαν Εὐσεβίου καὶ τὸ θράσος
Ζωσίμου, ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμίαν, οὕτως
ἡμᾶς εἰς μετάνοιαν περιμένοντος, καὶ ἐξ ἀκαθάρτου
χειρὸς δεχομένου θυμίαμα. Εἰ γάρ τις ἁμαρτίαις
ἀπότροφος, πᾶσι κατεστιγμένος μολυσμοῖς τε καὶ
ΡΛΖ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ
Ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων τὰ χρήσιμα διαφαίνεσθαι.
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