Letter 1578: I am thoroughly astonished at those who confuse not only the things themselves but their very names — who have...

To Zosimus the Presbyter. Even if here, where everything one might say is too small for your insensibility, the same place receives those who do not come from the same background, there will be a precise distinction made in the hereafter. Formerly, when the teachers of the Church were also distinguished by the most excellent way of life and shone with the divine Spirit, even here the offenders were separated; and when they acknowledged their fault, they were counted again among the sacred assembly of the Church. But now — I wish to say nothing harsh — everything is shamelessly dared, and there is no one to prosecute.

ΥΚΕ΄. – ΖΩΣΙΜΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Εἰ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, ὦ πάντα μικρὰ πρὸς τὴν σὴν ἀναλγησίαν φθέγξασθαι, χῶρος εἰσδέχεται τοὺς οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ἤκοντας, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖσε διάκρισις ἔσται ἀκριβής. Πρώην μὲν οὖν, ἡνίκα οἱ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παιδευταὶ καὶ δι᾽ ἀρίστην πολιτείαν τῷ θείῳ ἑλαμ- πρύνοντο Πνεύματι, κάνταῦθα ἐχωρίζοντο οἱ πταίον- τες· καὶ γνωσιμαχοῦντες, πάλιν κατηριθμοῦντο εἰς τὸν ἱερὸν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας σύλλογον. Νῦν δὲ (ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲν βούλομαι δυσχερὲς εἰπεῖν) πάντα ἀναίδην τολμᾶται, καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ ἐπεξιῶν. Ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν φιλ- αρέτοις εἰσὶ βαρεῖς, τοῖς δὲ φιλαμαρτήμοσι προσ- ηνεῖς. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀποναρκῆσαι παρασκευάζουσι, τοὺς δὲ εἰς κακίαν μείζονα παιδοτριβοῦσι· μάλιστα ὅταν καὶ πλοῦτος αὐτοῖς περιῤῥέῃ. Μὴ τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ Εὐσέβιος (ὁ οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως σε χειροτονή- σας, τῇ ἀρετῇ πολέμιος τυγχάνων) σὲ εἰς ἐσχάτην κακίαν ἐλάσαντα οὐκ ἀπελαύνει τοῦ πληρώματος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἤδη νόμιζε κἀκεῖσε μηδὲν πείσεσθαι δεινόν. Τοσοῦτον γὰρ κἀκεῖνον καὶ σὲ μετελεύσεται ἡ δίκη, ὅσον ἐνταῦθα μακροθυμήσασα οὐδὲν ὤνησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλασφημηθῆναι δι᾽ ὑμᾶς κατεδέξατο.