Letter 204

To Ignatius the Proconsul. It is possible for one who has fallen into the mouth of the beast, I mean the devil, to be set free from it through repentance, just as the man at Corinth who had been corrupted with his stepmother [a reference to 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2:5-11] was ransomed and rescued from the throat of the enemy, before he should be swallowed down by excessive grief and pass into the belly of the beast through an ignoble despondency and through despair.

Ἐξεστιν ἐμπεσόντα τινὰ εἰς τὸ τοῦ θηρὸς στόμα, τοῦ διαβόλου φημί, ἀπολυθῆναι τοῦτο διὰ τῆς μετα- νοίας, καθάπερ λελύτρωται καὶ ἐῤῥύσθη ὁ ἐν Κο- ρίνθῳ προφθαρεὶς τῇ μητρυιᾷ ἐκ φάρυγγος τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, πρὶν τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθεῖ, καὶ εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν χωρήσῃ τοῦ θηρίου διὰ τὴν ἀγεννῷ- δυσθυ- μίας, καὶ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως.