Letter 20

To Marcian. Though you are unworthy, believe that you will be saved; though you are insensible, do not expect to be saved. The unworthy who are grateful and who give thanks in every affliction, these the God who loves mankind has mercy upon and saves, even should they sink to a deep despair of the good; but the insensible he does not pity. And who is the insensible man, if not the one who is unwilling to confess with gratitude that he is benefited in countless ways, and that the world is benefited through the confession of the Master Christ?

Ἀνάξιος ὧν, πίστευσον σωθῆναι· ἀναίσθητος ὧν, μὴ προσδοκήσῃς σωθῆναι. Ἀναξίους εὐγνωμονοῦντας, καὶ ἐπὶ πάσῃ θλίψει εὐχαριστοῦντας ἐλεεῖ, καὶ σῴζει ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεός, κἂν μέχρι βαθείας τῶν καλῶν φθάσωσιν ἀπογνώσεως· τοὺς δ’ ἀναισθήτους οὐκ ἐλεεῖ. Τίς δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἀναίσθητος, εἰ μὴ ὁ μή θέλων ὁμολογῆσαι εὐγνωμόνως μυρία εὐεργετεῖσθαι, καὶ ὠφελεῖσθαι τὸν κόσμον διὰ τῆς τοῦ Δεσπότου Χριστοῦ ὁμολογίας;