Letter 87

To the same person. The cross of Christ, who most loves mankind, made the first to be the second on account of their boastfulness and arrogance. And the Apostle says to the Jews, "It was necessary that the word be spoken to you, to those of the seed of the great Abraham; but since you turn away from the divine truth, and have made yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, henceforth we extend the word to the nations, so that what was said by the Father to the Son in the book of Isaiah might be fulfilled: 'I have set you as a light of the nations, that you may be for salvation unto the end of the earth.'"

Ὁ σταυρὸς Χριστοῦ τοῦ φιλανθρωποτάτου τοὺς πρώτους δευτέρους ἀπέδειξε διὰ τὴν σφῶν ἀλαζο- νείαν καὶ ὑπερηφάνειαν. Καί φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅτι «Ὑμῖν ὑπῆρχεν ἀναγκαῖον ῥηθῆναι τὸν λόγον, τοῖς ἐκ σπέρματος τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀβραάμ· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀποστρέφεσθε τὴν θείαν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ἀναξίους πεποιήκατε ἑαυτοὺς τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, ἰδοὺ λοιπὸν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη τὸν λόγον ἐκτείνόμεν· ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ λεχθὲν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς τῷ Υἱῷ ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ Ἠσαΐου· «Τέθεικά σε εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς.»