Exhortation to the Greeks 10.104

We have received the tradition that this woman was turned to stone because she loved Sodom; and the Sodomites are the godless, and those who turn to impiety, hard-hearted and foolish. Consider these words to be spoken to you from God: Do not think that stones and wood and birds and snakes are sacred, and human beings not; quite the contrary: consider human beings to be truly sacred, and beasts and stones to be what they are. For the wretched and miserable among humankind think that God cries out through a raven or a jackdaw, but is silent through a human being; they have honored the raven as a messenger of God, but they persecute the man of God, who does not croak or caw but speaks. Alas! They try inhumanly to slaughter him who teaches them rationally and humanely, who calls them to righteousness, neither welcoming the grace from above nor avoiding the punishment. For they do not believe God, nor learn his power. But he whose love for humankind is inexpressible has a hatred of wickedness beyond measure. His wrath feeds punishment for sin, and his love for humankind does good in response to repentance. Most pitiable of all is to be deprived of God's help.