Letter 108

To Gainas the General [the Gothic magister militum, an adherent of Arianism]. Again the great general has come at us, brandishing through his letters his waxen weapons, which he did not acquire from himself, but procured from elsewhere in a manner that deserves censure. For "Behold," he says, "the divine Apostle proclaimed the lowering of Jesus; for he writes to those of the Hebrews who have believed that 'The Son of God lives always for this, to intercede on our behalf'" [Hebrews 7:25]. But let those who prompt you to write such things know that the most blessed and much-hymned economy [dispensation] of the Savior, which is an intercession on our behalf, is so addressed and so called by the God-bearing and God-proclaiming men.

Πάλιν ἡμῖν ἧκεν ὁ μέγας στρατηλάτης· διὰ γραμμάτων τὰ κήρινα προβαλλόμενος ὅπλα, οὐκ ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ κτησάμενος ταῦτα, ἀλλ’ ἑτέρωθεν ψεκτῶς πορισάμενος. Ἰδοὺ γάρ, φησίν, ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος τὴν ὑπόβασιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐξεφώνησεν· γράφει γὰρ τοῖς ἐξ Ἑβραίων πεπιστευκόσιν, ὅτι «Πάντοτε ζῇ εἰς τὸ σοῦς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸ ἐντυγχάνειν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν». Ἀλλὰ γινωσκέτωσαν οἱ ὑποβάλλοντές σοι τοιαῦτα ἐπιστέλλειν, ὅτιπερ ἡ τοῦ Σωτῆρος μακαριωτάτη καὶ πολυύμνητος οἰκονομία, ἐντυχία ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὑπάρχει, προσηγόρευταί τε καὶ καλεῖται παρὰ τῷ θεοφόροις καὶ θεηγόροις ἀνδράσιν.