B to him before men, they will be confessed by him before his Father who is in heaven, as he himself says; and whoever suffers with Christ, will arrive at the conformation of his glory. For this true communion of man with God cannot be shown without faith and most worthy works.
THE SAME EPISTLE TO THE BISHOP OF THE PERSIANS, IN GREEK AND LATIN.
From the Coislin Library, p. 269. — Montfaucon says: We have published the Epistle of Athanasius to the bishop of the Persians in Latin among the spurious works of Athanasius, Vol. II, p. 649; and it is an old interpretation of the Greek which we give here. The epistle also has certain things at the end which are not observed in the Greek text: however, that Greek text, although it falsely bears the name of Athanasius in the title, because this epistle is nevertheless ancient, and has never been published in Greek, can conveniently have a place here.
A To the beloved Pope, and to the clergy subject to him, and to those who inhabit the region of the Persians, Athanasius [sends] greeting in the Lord.
The holy and divinely inspired Scripture narrates to us the deeds of the ancients, guiding us from them to useful works, that we might turn away from every form of wickedness and impiety. B In the Books of Kingdoms, therefore, it says that Israel had acted lawlessly, and preferred to worship the creation rather than the Creator. And you know what a great evil it is to abandon the Creator and to attribute the glory owed to him to idols and to created things. When they did this, God took away his help from them, and they were delivered into slavery to your kings. Having been taken captive, they were condemned by Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, to exchange their own land—I mean Palestine—for a dwelling place in the region of the Assyrians, namely in Halah and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan and the mountains of the Medes. In their place, he introduced into Samaria Babylonians from Cuthah, C and from Avva, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and they were made to dwell in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. And it came to pass at the beginning of their settling there, they did not fear the Lord, and he sent lions among them, and they were killing them. And they spoke to the king of the Assyrians, saying: The nations which you have deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the judgment of the God of the land, and he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the judgment of the God of the land. And the king of the Assyrians gave orders, saying: Bring back from there [the priests] D and let them go and dwell there, and let them teach them the judgment of the God of the land. And they brought one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria, and he sat in Bethel. And the priest was teaching them how they should fear the Lord. And though those who had been resettled were taught the law given to the sons of Israel, they did not keep it to the end; but they were serving both the law in part and their own customs. Those who were cast out by God used these [practices], because they did not have a pure, but a mixed, form of worship, neither perfectly serving the law of Moses, nor the customs of their