Bad Fathers, Bad Teaching

Εἰσελεύσῃ ἕως γενεᾶς πατέρων αὐτοῦ.  Οἶμαι λέγειν περὶ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἐπιγινώσκει Θεὸν, ὅσον ἡ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ συνήθεια παραδέδωκε· τῇ δὲ οἰκείᾳ τοῦ φρονεῖν δυνάμει οὐδὲν πλέον προσκτᾶται, οὐδὲ προστίθησιν ἑαυτῷ εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπίγνωσιν. Τοσοῦτον οὗν, φησὶ, παραγίνῃ σὺ, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τοσαύτη ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ περὶ σοῦ ἔννοια, ὅση ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ ὑπῆρχε. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀργὸν πολὺ τῆς διανοίας καὶ ὅλον γήινον καὶ φιλόσαρκον τοῦ ἐν πλούτῳ καὶ τρυφῇ κυλιομένου παρίστησι, καὶ τοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν βιωτικῶν μεριμνῶν καταπεπνιγμένον τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντος. Εἰσελεύσῃ ἕως γενεᾶς πατέρων αὐτοῦ. Οἱ γὰρ τυθλοῖς διδασκάλοις τὴν ὁδηγίαν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιτέψαντες ἐστέρησαν ἑαυτοὺς τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς ἀπολαύσεως. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ τινα τοιοῦτον νοῦν τὸ,  Εἰσελεύσῃ ἕως γενεᾶς πατέρων αὐτοῦ. Τουτέατι, τοὺς ἐν πονηρῷ βίῳ καὶ δόγμασι πατρίοις μὲν, ἀλλοκρίως δὲ ἔχουσι πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καταληφθέντας, οὐκ αὐτοὺς ἐκδικεῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀρχηγοὺς τῶν μοχθηρῶν διδαγμάτων ἐπιζητεῖς. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον· Εἰσελεύσῃ ἕως γενεᾶς πατέρων αὐτοῦ. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ'

You shall enter into the generation of your fathers. I think this speaks of the sinner that he only knows God insofar as the understanding of his fathers has handed it down to him and by his own faculties he acquires no more, nor does he prepare himself for the knowledge of truth. Only therefore he says, shall you approach, O God, insofar as the understanding of you is in him, that which is fashioned by his fathers. And such a soul is sluggish and earthly and exhibits an attachment to the flesh and the mind is suffocated by the cares of life. 'You shall enter into the generation of your fathers.' He who suffers to be led by blind teachers deprives himself of the light and he who has such sense: 'You shall enter into the generation of your fathers.' That is, those who have the wicked life and teachings of their fathers, those who are strangers to piety, are overtaken, for not only did you not punish them, but even the teachings of these authors of depravity you sought out. And so it is said 'You shall enter into the generation of your fathers.' Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 48