Letter 140: The cross — the very thing the idol-worshippers mocked — crucified their polytheistic delusion.
To Erminos.
On reading, against the pagans. On the grace of the divinely inspired Scriptures, and the benefit derived from them.
Of those outside [the Church], many have written much that brings neither benefit to those persuaded by it nor harm to those who pay it no heed; but the divine Scriptures bring the greatest gain to those persuaded by them, and inflict no small harm upon those who refuse to obey. For the former wrote in pursuit of their own glory, whereas the latter look toward the salvation of those who hear them.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Περὶ ἀναγνώσεως, κατὰ Ἑλλήνων. Περὶ τῆς χάριτος τῶν θεοπνεύστων Γραφῶν, καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ὠφελείας.
Τῶν μὲν ἔξωθεν πολλοὶ πολλὰ γεγράρασιν, ἃ μήτε τοῖς πειθεῖσιν ὠφέλειαν, μήτε τοῖς ἀνηκόοις ζημίαν φέρει· αἱ δὲ θεῖαι Γραφαὶ τοῖς μὲν πειθεῖσι μέγιστον κέρδος, τοῖς δ’ ἀπειθήσασιν (50) οὐ μικρὰν ὠδίνουςι βλάβην. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ δόξαν θηρώμενοι γεγράρασιν· αἱ δὲ πρὸς σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀκουόντων ὁρῶσιν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern isidore pelusium workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca (PG vol.78)
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