His Care for the Scythians and His Zeal Against the Marcionites

John learned that some of the nomads camped along the Danube were thirsty for salvation but had no one to bring them the stream. So he sought out men filled with a love of hard work like the love that marked the apostles, and he put the work in their charge. I have myself seen a letter he wrote to Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, in which he described the conversion of the Scythians and asked that suitable men be sent to instruct them. [a] When he heard that in our own district some men were infected with the plague of Marcion, he wrote to the bishop of that time, charging him to drive out the plague and offering him the help of the imperial edicts. I have said enough to show how, in the words of the divine apostle, he carried in his heart “the care of all the churches.” [b] His boldness can be learned from other sources as well.