Born of the Devil

Ἰδοὺ ὠδίνησεν ἀδικίαν, συνέλαβε πόνον, καὶ ἔτεκεν ἀνομίαν.  Ὡς μὲν πρὸς τὴν τάξιν δοκεῖ συγκεχυμένως ἡ λέξις ἔχειν· ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον αἱ κύουσαι συλλαμβάνουσιν, εἶτα ὠδίνουσι, τελευταῖον δὲ τίκτουσιν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ πρῶτον ἡ ὠδιν, εἶτα ἡ σύλληψις, εἶτα ὁ τοκτός· πρὸς δὲ τὴν τῆς καρδίας σύλληψιν ἐμφαντικώτατα ἔχει. Αἱ γὰρ ἄλογοι τῶν ἀκολάστων ὁρμαὶ καὶ αἱ μανικαὶ καὶ παροιστρῶσαι ἐπιθυμίαι ὠδῖνες ἐλέχθησαν, διὰ τὸ μετὰ ὀξύτητος καὶ πόνου ἐγγίνεσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ. κατὰ δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην ὁρμὴν, ὁ περικρατὴς τῶν πονηρῶν μὴ γενόμενος βουλευμάτων συνέλαβε πόνον· καὶ ὁ τὴν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ κακίαν διὰ τῶν πονηρῶν πράξεων ἐκκαύσας ἔτεκε τὴν ἀνομίαν. Ἔοικε δὲ ταῦτα λέγειν αἰσχυνόμενος ἐπὶ τῷ πατὴρ εἶναι παιδὸς παρανόμου. Οὐκ ἐμὸς, φησὶν, ὁ παῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πατρὸς γέγονεν υἱὸς, ᾧ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἑαυτὸν εἰσεποίησε. Διότι κατὰ τὸν Ἰωάννην, ' Ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται. Ἰδοὺ οὖν ὠδίνησεν αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς  ἀδικίας, καὶ συνέλαβεν αὐτὸν, οἰονεὶ ἐν τοῖς οἰκειοτάτοις ἑαυτοῦ ὑπὸ τὰ σμλάγχνα τῆς ἰδίας διαθέσεως ἤγαγε καὶ ἐκυοφόρησεν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος· εἶτα ἀπεγέννησεν αὐτὸν, ἐκφανῆ τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτοὺ καταστήσας, διότι πᾶσι προεκηρύχθη ἡ κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπανάστασις. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον Ζ' Ψαλμον

'Behold he has laboured in unrighteousness, he has conceived grief, and he has born iniquity' 1 The order of these words seems to be suffering some confusion. For first those who are pregnant conceive and next they are in labour and afterwards they give birth, but here first there is labour, next conception, and afterwards birth. But these things are explained as signifying the conception of the heart. For the irrational impulses of the incontinent are insane and furious desires, and they are called labour, since they come sharply and with grief into the soul. And he who because of such drives is subjected to depraved wishes, this man conceives grief, and he who inclines to wickedness through iniquitous actions of the heart births iniquity. And it seems these things say that it should be shameful to be the father of lawless sons. He is not my son, he says, but of the father the son is made, by which through sin he has adopted himself. So according to John, 'He who sins is born of the Devil.'2 Behold therefore the devil labours with him on account of iniquity, and he conceives him, that is, in the innermost chambers of himself, and the devil by the state of the interior draws it out, and so he births it, and having been taken out overt is his iniquitous state: thus is the rebellion of the father proclaimed to everyone. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 7 1 Ps 7.13 2 1 Jn 3.8