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Socrates. A statue on a base, but a serious man standing on a good intention, ought to be immovable.

DISCOURSE 26.

On sin and confession. John 8. Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Sirach 21. As from the face of a serpent, flee from sin; for if you approach, it will bite you. The teeth of a lion are its teeth, destroying the souls of men.

Romans 6. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to obey its (868) desires; neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.

Sirach 27. A lion lies in wait for prey, so does sin for those who work iniquity.

Sirach 39. Good things were created for the good from the beginning, so also evil things for sinners.

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 origin from the excess of sins committed, 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 foul odor doves, so also the angel, the guardian of our life, is driven away by tearful and foul-smelling sin.

Just as the shadow to the body, so sins attend souls, vividly depicting the deeds.

Evil is by nature at hand, and the path to the worse is broad.

Wickedness is certainly an enviable and ready thing; and nothing is so easy as to become evil.

Do not refuse to confess your sin, so that by the shame from here you may flee the shame from there (since this is also part of the punishment there) and you may show that you have truly hated the sin, having made an example of it and triumphed over it, as deserving of reproach.

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

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

Evil that is kept silent, is an insidious disease in the soul.

Of the Theologian. For one might sooner partake richly of a little evil, than of deep virtue a little. Since wormwood also most quickly imparts its bitterness to honey, but honey, not even double the amount, its sweetness to wormwood.

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Σωκράτ. Ἀνδριάς μέν ἐπί βάσεως, σπουδαῖος δέ ἀνήρ ἐπί καλῆς προαιρέσεως ἑστώς, ἀμετακίνητος ὀφείλει εἶναι .

ΛΟΓΟΣ κστ´.

Περί ἁμαρτίας καί ἐξαγορεύσεως. 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.

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.