Letter 140: To the Master Vincomalus,

To the Master Vincomalus, I am deeply astonished to learn that your magnificence, though quite unacquainted with me personally and knowing only that I had been wronged, stood up as my advocate and left no means untried to undo the conspiracy against me. Your excellency will surely receive recompense from our generous Lord -- for He who promised a reward for a cup of cold water [Matthew 10:42] will undoubtedly grant greater recompense to those who give greater gifts. I have endured sufferings that none, or at least very few, of the ancients underwent -- and not only from my open enemies but, I believe, from those I thought were my friends. The former attacked me; the latter betrayed me. Who in the world ever heard of such a trial? Who ever ordered a defendant to be tried in his absence after chaining him up more than thirty-five stages away? What judge has ever been so savage and inhuman as to condemn men without ever hearing the sound of their voice -- and to do so in the most brutal fashion? The Lord Himself commanded that the wayward brother who refuses correction should, after a first, second, and third warning, be treated "as a heathen and a tax collector" [Matthew 18:17]. But these most "equitable and righteous" judges did not even grant their fellow believers the treatment they give to heathens and tax collectors. Those they do at least see and speak with from time to time, and treat with all honor and deference when they appear to be people of rank. But they ordered me to be cut off from home, from water, from everything. This is how they wished to become imitators of our Father in heaven, "who makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" [Matthew 5:45]. But I will say no more about these men. The Lord's tribunal is near, where what is required is not stage performance but the reality of life. I beg your excellency to express my thanks to the Christ-loving emperor and the godly Augusta for making true religion the firm root of their pious empire. Implore their majesties to secure the peace of the churches by commanding the assembly of a council -- not of violent men who throw discussion into chaos, but of lovers of the truth who confirm apostolic teaching and repudiate this newfangled and counterfeit heresy. And I pray that for these honorable efforts you may reap the reward at the hands of our loving Lord.

Letter 140