Letter 222

To Zephyrianus. It is necessary neither to be confident on account of the multitude of one's good deeds, nor to despair on account of one's failings. For the Pharisee too, when he had grown confident in his virtuous practice, was cast down from the very height of his virtue [an allusion to the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18:9-14]; and the tax collector, by not despairing, was so far set upright that he even surpassed the virtuous Pharisee in the verdict of the One who is greater [i.e., God].

Οὔτε θαρρεῖν ἀναγκαῖον ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων, οὔτε ἀπογινώσκειν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐπταισμένοις. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Φαρισαῖος θαρρήσας ἐπ᾽ ἐργασίᾳ χρηστῇ, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀρετῆς κατηνέχθη τοῦ ὕψους, καὶ ὁ τελώνης μὴ ἀπογνοὺς τοσοῦτον ἀνωρθώθη, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐνάρετον Φαρισαῖον ὑπερβῆναι τῇ ψήφῳ τοῦ κρείττονος.