CHAPTER XXX

THE CHURCH OF THE GOTHS

PERCEIVING that the Scythian multitudes had been entrapped in the perfidious snares of Arianism, John made every effort to liberate them. He selected some persons who were acquainted with their language, and after having had them ordained, some as presbyters, others as deacons, and the rest as readers of the Scriptures, he assigned a church to them, and many were, by their instrumentality, reclaimed from error. He frequently visited this church himself, and addressed the people by the aid of an interpreter; and he exhorted all who were endowed with the requisite powers of mind to engage in the same service. By these means he delivered many of the inhabitants of the city from the snares in which they had been entangled, and convinced them of the truth of the apostolical doctrines.