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(15Ε_234> John 8. Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. Sirach 21. As from the face of a snake, flee from sin; for if you approach,

it will bite you. The teeth of a lion are its teeth, and they destroy the souls of men. To the Romans 6. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, unto

obeying its 868 desires; neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.

Sirach 27. A lion lies in wait for its prey, so sin for those who work iniquity. Sirach 39. Good things were created for the good from the beginning, so also for sinners

evil things. Basil. Just as for the incision or the cautery, not the physician is the cause, but the disease;

so also the destructions of cities, having their beginning from the excess of sins, absolve God of all blame.

Sin, while it is in labor, has a certain shame; but when it is completed, then it makes those who commit it more shameless.

For as smoke drives away bees and a stench drives away doves; so also tearful and foul-smelling sin drives away the angel, the guardian of our life.

Just as a shadow follows the body, so sins follow souls, picturing the deeds clearly.

Evil is by nature at hand, and the course to the worse is broad. (15Ε_236> Yet wickedness is an enviable and ready thing; and nothing

is so easy as to become evil. Do not disdain to confess your sin, so that by the shame from here you may

flee from the one there (since this is also part of the punishment there) and show that you truly hate sin, having made an example of it and triumphed over it, as worthy of reproach.

Clothe yourself with dung, tears, groans, the correction through confession and a more dishonorable conduct.

For those who have departed to Hades there is no confession and correction. For God has enclosed, here life and action; but there, the examination of things done.

Evil kept silent is a treacherous disease in the soul. Of the Theologian. For one might more quickly partake richly of a little evil, than of virtue

deeply by a little. Since wormwood also most quickly imparts of its bitterness to honey, but honey does not impart even twice its own sweetness to wormwood.

Chrysostom. Such is sin; before it is completed, it makes the one caught drunk; but when it is fulfilled and completed, then the things of this pleasure withdraw and are extinguished; and the accuser then stands naked, holding the office of the conscience's executioner 869 [holding] and tearing to pieces the one who has transgressed, and demanding the final penalty, and lying heavier than any lead.

Depart from wickedness, cease from evil, lay hold of virtue, and promise to do them no more; and this is sufficient for a defense. I testify and guarantee that each one of you who sins, if, having departed from former evils, he promises God with truth to touch them no more, God seeks nothing else greater for a defense. For He is a lover of mankind and merciful; and just as a woman in labor desires to give birth, so also He desires to pour out His mercy.

(15Ε_238> For just as a spark, if it manages to take hold of something, then consumes everything; so is the nature of sin, when it takes hold of the soul's thoughts, and there is no one to extinguish it, it then becomes more grievous and difficult to control, being lifted up to greater contempt by the addition of second ones.

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(15Ε_234> Ἰωαν.η´. Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν ἁμαρτίαν, δοῦλός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Σιράχ. κα´. Ὡς ἀπό προσώπου ὄφεως, φεῦγε ἀπό ἁμαρτίας ἐάν γάρ προσέλθῃς,

δήξεταί σε. Ὀδόντες λέοντος οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτῆς, καί ἀναιροῦντες ψυχάς ἀνθρώπων. ΠρόςῬωμ. στ´. Μή οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι, εἰς

τό ὑπακούειν ταῖς 868 ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτοῦ· μήτε παριστάνετε τά μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ.

Σιράχ κζ΄ . Λέων θήρᾳ ἐνεδρεύει, οὕτως ἁμαρτία τούς ἐργαζομένους ἄδικα. Σιράχ λθ´. Ἀγαθά τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἐκτίσθη ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς, οὕτω καί τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς

κακά. Βασιλ. Ὥσπερ τῆς τομῆς ἤ τοῦ καυτῆρος, οὐχ ὁ ἰατρός αἴτιος, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ νόσος·

οὕτω καί οἱ τῶν πόλεων ἀφανισμοί ἐκ τῆς ἀμετρίας τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων τήν ἀρχήν ἔχοντες, τόν Θεόν ἁπάσης μέμψεως ἀπολύουσιν.

Ἡ ἁμαρτία ὡς μέν ὠδίνεται, ἔχει τινά αἰσχύνην· ἐπειδάν δέ τελεσθῇ, τότε ἀναισχυντοτέρους ποιεῖ τούς ἐργαζομένους αὐτήν.

Ὡς γάρ τάς μελίσσας καπνός φυγαδεύει καί τάς περιστεράς δυσωδία· οὕτω καί τόν φύλακα τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ἄγγελον ἡ πολύδακρυς καί δυσώδης ἀφίστησιν ἁμαρτία.

Ὥσπερ ἡ σκιά τῷ σώματι, οὕτω ταῖς ψυχαῖς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι παρέπονται, ἐναργεῖς τάς πράξεις εἰκονίζουσαι.

Φύσει πρόχειρον ἡ κακία, καί πολύς ἐπί τό χεῖρον ὁ δρόμος. (15Ε_236> Εὐζήλωτον μέντοι καί πρόχειρον πρᾶγμα ἡ μοχθηρία· καί οὐδέν

οὕτω ῥᾴδιον ὡς τό γενέσθαι κακόν. Μή ἀπαξιώσῃς ἐξαγορεῦσαί σου τήν ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα τῇ ἐντεῦθεν αἰσχύνῃ τήν

ἐκεῖθεν φύγῃς (ἐπειδή μέρος καί τοῦτο τῆς ἐκεῖσε κολάσεως) καί δείξῃς ὅτι τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὄντως μεμίσηκας, παραδειγματίσας αὐτήν καί θριαμβεύσας, ὡς ἀξίαν ὕβρεως.

Περιβαλοῦ κόπρια, δάκρυα, στεναγμούς, τήν δι᾿ ἐξαγορεύσεως καί ἀτιμοτέρας ἀγωγῆς ἐπανόρθωσιν.

Οὐκ ἔστι τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσιν ἐν ᾅδῃ ἐξομολόγησις καί διόρθωσις. Συνέκλεισε γάρ ὁ Θεός, ἐνταῦθα μέν βίον καί πρᾶξιν· ἐκεῖ δέ, τήν τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐξέτασιν.

Κακία σιωπηθεῖσα, νόσος ὕπουλός ἐστιν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ. Θεολόγου. Θᾶττον γάρ ἄν τις ὀλίγης κακίας μεταλάβοι πλουσίως, ἤ ἀρετῆς

βαθείας κατά μικρόν. Ἐπεί καί μέλιτι μέν ἀψίνθιον τάχιστα μεταδίδωσι τοῦ πικροῦ, μέλι δέ οὐδέ τό διπλάσιον ἀψινθίῳ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γλυκύτητος.

Χρυσοστ. Τοιοῦτον ἡ ἁμαρτία· πρίν ἤ μέν ἀπαρτισθῆναι, μεθύειν ποιεῖ τόν ἁλόντα· ἐπειδάν δέ πληρωθῇ καί ἀπαρτισθῇ, τότε τά μέν τῆς ἡδονῆς ταύτης ὑπεξίσταται καί σβέννυται· γυμνός δέ ἕστηκε λοιπόν ὁ κατήγορος, τοῦ συνειδότος δημίου τάξιν ἐπέχων 869 [ἐπέχοντος] καί καταξαίνων τόν πλημμεληκότα, καί τήν ἐσχάτων ἀπαιτῶν δίκην, καί μολίβδου παντός βαρύτερον ἐπικείμενος.

Ἀπόστηθι τῆς πονηρίας, παῦσαι τῆς κακίας, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καί ὑπόσχου μηκέτι αὐτά ποιεῖν· καί ἀρκεῖ τοῦτο εἰς ἀπολογίαν. Ἐγώ διαμαρτύρομαι καί ἐγγυῶμαι, ὅτι τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων ὑμῶν ἕκαστος, ἄν ἀποστάς τῶν προτέρων κακῶν ὑπόσχηται τῷ Θεῷ μετά ἀληθείας μηκέτι αὐτῶν ἅψασθαι, οὐδέν ἕτερον ὁ Θεός ζητεῖ πρός ἀπολογίαν μείζοντα. Φιλάνθρωπος γάρ ἐστι καί ἐλεήμων· καί καθάπερ ἡ ὠδίνουσα ἐπιθυμεῖ τεκεῖν, οὕτω καί αὐτός ἐπιθυμεῖ τόν ἔλεον ἐκχεῖν τόν ἑαυτοῦ.

(15Ε_238> Ὥσπερ γάρ σπινθήρ ἐάν φθάσῃ ἐπιλαβέσθαι τινός, πάντα λοιπόν κατανέμεται· οὕτω τῆς ἁμαρτίας φύσις, ἐπειδάν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς λογισμῶν ἐπιλάβηται, καί μηδείς ᾖ ὁ σβέσων, χαλεπωτέρα λοιπόν καί δυσχείρωτος γίνεται, τῇ τῶν δευτέρων προσθήκῃ εἰς μείζονα καταφρόνησιν ἐπαιρομένη.