Letter 452

To the Deacon. Whenever you see a faithless man, a lover of the world, boasting in the vanity of this transient wisdom, and disparaging the God-inspired Scripture as not written in Attic style, know that this man is Naaman the Syrian [the leprous commander of 2 Kings 5], wholly leprous through his unbelief, before he came to recognize God the benefactor and Lord of all—the man who marveled exceedingly at the great rivers of Damascus, though they were in no way able to free a single leper from his spotted leprosy, while he disparaged the Jordan that is in the land of Israel. For we too, being spiritual Israelites, have the Jordan streams of Scripture, which, according to the surface utterance of the word, appear to be nothing and very slight, but according to the powers of the mysteries hidden in the teachings of Christ—in water leaping up unto life everlasting, and healing, and cleansing, and enlightening all those who believe—prove to be supernatural and wondrous, and glorious, and exalted above all forever and ever.

Ὅταν ἴδῃς ἄνθρωπον ἄπιστον, καὶ φιλόκοσμον ἐγκαυχώμενον τῇ ματαιότητι τῆς προσκαίρου σοφίας, καὶ εὐτελίζοντα τὴν θεόπνευστον Γραφὴν, ὡς μὴ ἀττικίζουσαν, γίνωσκε τοῦτον Ναϊμὰν ὑπάρχειν τὸν Σύρον, λελεπρωμένον ὅλον διὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας, πρὶν ἐπιγνῷ τὴν εὐεργέτην Θεόν, καὶ Κύριον τῶν ὅλων, ὅστις ἄγαν μὲν ἐθαύμαζε τοὺς μεγίστους τῆς Δαμασκοῦ ποταμοὺς μηδαμῶς δυναμένους ἕνα λεπρὸν ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς καταστίκτου λέπρας, ηὐτέλιζε δὲ τὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ Ἰορδάνην. Ἔχομεν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς, νοητοὶ Ἰσραηλῖται ὄντες, τὰ τῆς Γραφῆς Ἰορδάνεια ῥεῖθρα, ἅπερ κατὰ μὲν τὴν προφορὰν τοῦ λόγου, οὐδαμινὰ τε καὶ ἐλάχιστα φαίνεται, κατὰ δὲ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν μυστηρίων τῶν κεκρυμμένων τοῖς Χριστοῦ διδάγμασιν, ὕδατι ἀλλομένῳ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἰατρεύοντί τε, καὶ καθαίροντι, καὶ φωτίζοντι πάντα τοὺς πιστεύοντας, ὑπερφυῆ τε τυγχάνει, καὶ θαυμαστὰ, ἔνδοξά τε, καὶ ὑπερυψούμενα εἰς αἰῶνα, αἰῶνος.