To Bishop Romulus

You have reminded me of the ancient story, and pointed out how the king of the Syrians, remembering the loving-kindness of the kings of Israel, took on the form of a suppliant and did not fail to obtain what he asked. Remember, then, sir, the divine wrath. God handed Ahab over to utter destruction for showing mercy, and pronounced his sentence through the mouth of the prophet, saying, “Your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.” So we are commanded to temper mercy with justice, since not every kind of mercy pleases the God of all. [a]

The present state of affairs especially calls for careful counsel, for we are contending for the divine doctrines, in which lies our hope of salvation. But here too one can see how great the difference is between one man and another. Some are truly infected with the common impiety, while others, without discrimination, put forward one doctrine at one time and its opposite at another. Some who know the truth hide it in the secret chambers of their soul, while they preach impiety with the rest. Others again, filled with envy, have made their private ill will an excuse for waging war against the truth, and do every kind of harm to the prophets of the truth. Again, there are those who embrace the truth of the apostolic doctrines, and yet, because they are afraid of the power of the ruling party, are too cowed to proclaim it. They lament the flood of our misfortunes, but they still side with those who set the great wave rolling. It is in this last group that we place your reverence. We have believed you to be sound in the divine doctrines, and we think that you keep your affection for me, and are carried along with the times for no other reason than cowardice.

That is why, though I am not writing to any of the rest, I write to your holiness and receive your reply. I see what you are driving at, and to some extent I pardon your faintheartedness. But the loving Lord has now taken away every excuse for cowardice, by exposing the newfangled impiety and showing the plain truth of the gospels. Even if I had as many mouths as I have hairs, I could not praise the Lord’s loving-kindness as I ought for compelling my strongest opponents to preach openly what I have preached. For I have heard that the man who shares your holiness’s roof, when he heard that anathemas had been published in the great cities, stopped imitating the crooked gait of crabs, and after arguing about doctrines in a certain assembly, walked the straight road. We must never fit our words to the season, but always keep the unbending rule of truth.