John’s Embassy to Gainas

Then, when everyone else had been passed over because of the general panic, this great leader was persuaded to undertake the embassy. He paid no attention to the dispute I have related, or to the ill feeling it had stirred up, and he set out readily for Thrace. As soon as Gainas heard that the envoy had arrived, he remembered the bold words John had spoken on behalf of true religion. He came eagerly a long way to meet him, placed his right hand on his eyes, and brought his children to the saint’s knees. So it is the nature of goodness to put to shame and overcome even those most opposed to it. But envy could not bear the bright rays of his philosophy. It used its usual tricks, and it robbed the imperial city, and indeed the whole world, of his eloquence and his wisdom. [a]