Thanks for the Letter and Its Question
Letter 80. To Bishop Optimus. On the words, “Whoever kills Cain will be punished sevenfold” (Genesis 4:15).
In any case I am glad to see these good boys, both for the steadiness of character that is beyond their years and for their close tie to Your Reverence, from which one may expect something great of them. When I saw them coming to me with a letter of yours, I doubled my affection for them. And when I read the letter and saw in it both your provident care for the churches and your diligence in reading the divine Scriptures, I gave thanks to the Lord, and I prayed for blessings on those who brought us such a letter, and before them on the one who wrote it to us.
You asked about that much-discussed saying, repeated everywhere by everyone: what is the solution to “Whoever kills Cain will release seven punishments” (Genesis 4:15)? In this, first of all, you have commended yourself as one who carefully keeps the charge to Timothy, just as Paul gave it to him; for you are plainly attending to reading (1 Timothy 4:13).
Greek
EPISTOLA LXXX. AD OPTIMUM EPISCOPUM. In illa verba: "Omnis qui occiderit Cain, septuplum punietur." ‹77.365› Καὶ ἄλλως ἡδέως ὁρῶν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς παῖδας, διά τε τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡλικίαν τῶν ἠθῶν εὐσταθὲς, καὶ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν οἰκεῖον, ἀφ' οὗ τι καὶ μέγα προσδοκᾷν ἔστιν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. Ἐπειδὴ μετὰ γραμμάτων σῶν εἶδον αὐτοὺς προσιόντας μοι, ἐδιπλασίασα τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς φίλτρον. Ὅτε δὲ ἀνέγνων τὴν ἐπιστολὴν, καὶ ἴδον ἐν αὐτῇ ὁμοῦ μὲν τὸ περὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας προνοητικὸν τῆς διαθέσεως, ὁμοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐπιμελὲς, ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπηυξάμην τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἡμῖν διακομίσασι γράμματα, καὶ πρό γε αὐτῶν τῷ γράψαντι ἡμῖν. Ἐπεζήτησας τὸ πολυθρύλλητον ἐκεῖνο, καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἄνω καὶ κάτω περιφερόμενον ῥητὸν, τίνα τὴν λύσιν ἔχει τὸ, Ὁ πᾶς ἀποκτείνας Καΐν, ἑπτὰ ἐκδικούμενα παραλύσει; ∆ιὰ δὲ τούτου τέως ‹77.368› μὲν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν συνέστησας, τὸ Τιμοθέου, ὥσπερ ἔδωκεν Παῦλος αὐτῷ, ἀκριβῶς φυλάσσοντα· δῆλος γὰρ εἶ προσέχων τῇ ἀναγνώσει.