Letter 825: Scripture speaks with precision to those who read carefully.

To Retbos. On what is written: "That no one snatches it out of his hand." [John 10:28-29] Since you wrote, "If it is written, 'No one snatches them out of the hand of my Father,' how is it that many perish?"-I say this: that no one is able to snatch out of that unconquerable and invincible right hand those who, through right faith and the best manner of life, have made themselves to belong to it; but he can deceive them. That is to say, by force and tyranny no one will be able to tear them away; but by false reasonings and deceptions he will be able to lead them astray. Yet this does not happen because of any weakness in the invincible right hand, but because of the negligence of men, who have free will. For it is not from the weakness of the one who guards, but from the heedlessness of those who are guarded, that the ruin comes about.

Εἰς τὸ γεγραμμένον, «Ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἁρπάζει αὐτὸ ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ.» Ἐπειδὴ γέγραψας· «Εἰ γέγραπται, ὁ Οὐδεὶς ἁρπάζει ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ Πατρός μου, πῶς πολλοὶ ἀπόλλυνται;» φημί, ὅτι ἁρπάσαι μὲν οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐκ τῆς ἀμάχου καὶ ἀηττήτου δεξιᾶς τοὺς διὰ πίστεως ὀρθῆς καὶ πολιτείας ἀρίστης ἑαυτοὺς οἰκείους αὐτῆς εἶναι παρασκευάσαντας· ἀπατῆσαι δὲ δυνήσεται. Τοῦτ’ ἔστι, βίᾳ μὲν καὶ τυραννίδι ἀποσπάσαι οὐδεὶς. δυνήσεται· παραλογισμοῖς δὲ καὶ ἀπάταις ἀποπλα- νῆσαι δυνήσεται. Ἀλλ’ οὐ παρὰ τὴν ἀήττητον δεξιὰν γίνεται τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν τῶν αὐτεξουσίων ἀν- θρώπων ῥᾳθυμίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ φυλάττοντος ἀσθενείας, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῆς τῶν φυλαττομένων εὐχερείας ἡ ἀπώλεια συμβαίνει.