Sin, Death, Freedom

Ἔξω μὲν εὐθὺς ἧν τοῦ παραδείσου, ἔξω δὲ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάθκης κακός, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀβουλίας, γενόμενος. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἥμαρτε μὲν διὰ μοχθηρὰν, προαίρεσιν, ἀπέθανε δὲ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· Τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁματρίας θάνατος· Ὅσον γὰρ ἀφίστατο τῆς ζωῆς, τοσοῦτον προσήγγιζε τῷ θανάτῳ. Ζωὴ γὰρ ὁ Θεός· στέρησις δὲ τῆς ζωῆς θάνατος. Ὥστε ἑαυτῷ τὸν θάνατον ὁ Ἀδὰμ διὰ τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ κατεσκεύασε, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὅτι Ἰδοὺ οἱ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ, ἀπολοῦνται. Οὕτως οὐχὶ Θεὸς ἔκτισε θάνατον, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοῖς ἐκ πονηρᾶς γνώμης ἐπεσπασάμεθα. Οὐ μὴν οὐδε ἐκώλυσε τὴν διάλυσιν διά τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας, ἴνα μὴ ἀθὰνατον ἡμῖν τὴν ἀῥῥωστίαν διατηρήσῃ. Ὥωπερ ἂν εἴ τος σκεῦος πήλινον διαῥῥυὲν μὴ καταδέχοιτο παραδοῦναι πυρὶ, ἕως ἂν τὸ ἐνυπάρχον αὐτῷ πάθος διὰ τῆς ἀναπλάσεως ἐξιάσαιτο. Ἀλλὰ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ τὸ ἀναμάρτητον ἔσχομεν, φησὶν, ὥστε μηδὲ βουλομένοις ἡμῖν ὑπάρχειν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν; Ὅτι καὶ σὺ τοὺς οἰκέτας, οὐχ ὅταν δεσμίους ἔχῃς, εὔνους ὑπολαμβάνεις, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἐκουσίως ἴδῃς ἀποπληροῦντας σοι τὰ καθήκοντα. Καὶ Θεῳ τοίνυν οὐ τὸ ἠναγκασμένον φιλον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρετῆς κατορθούμενον. Ἀρετὴ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης γίνεται. Προαίρεσις δὲ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἤρτηταὶ. Τὸ δὲ ἐγ' ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. Ὁ τοίνυν μεμφόμενος τὸν ποιητὴν ὡς μὴ φυσικῶς κατασκευάσαντα ἡμᾶς ἀναμαρτήτους, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ τὴν ἄλογον φύσιν τῆς λογικῆς προτιμᾷ, καὶ τὴν ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀνόρμητον τῆς προαιρετικῆς καὶ ἐμπράκτου. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ὁτι Οὐκ Ἐστιν Αἰτιος Των Κακων Ὁ Θεος.

Out from paradise and from that blessed state he was thrown immediately, and this evil was not from necessity but on account of thoughtlessness. On account of wretchedness he sinned, by choice, dying on account of sin, 'For the reward of sin is death.' 1 He withdrew from life as much as he neared to death. For God is life and death is the privation of life. So by withdrawing from God Adam established himself in death, according to what is written, 'Behold, those who distance themselves from you they perish.' 2 So God did not create death but we by wickedness of mind draw ourselves into it. Nor does He prevent destruction on account of the cause mentioned, lest in us an eternal sickness be preserved. Just as an earthen vessel by fire is unwilling to be melted, so the calamity of his defilement done consumes him. But, someone may say: why were we not fashioned that we be sinless, that we did not have the wish to sin? Because you are a servant, not one bound in chains, which you would think benevolent, but rather you are free to fulfill the things of your office. For to God one constrained cannot be pleasing, but it can only be so by the pursuit of virtue. And virtue is from the will and not from necessity. And the will is a thing which is ours. It is our freedom. Whence he who blames the Creator, that he did not establish sinlessness in us, does nothing by this but to prefer an irrational nature to an rational one and to desire an immobile mindlessness to the life of free will. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homily on God not Being a Cause of Evils. 1. Rom 6.23 2. Ps 72.27