Sobering Up

Μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τοῖς ἀκάρποις ἔργοις τοῦ σκότους. Τίνα γὰρ καρπὸν εἴχετε ἐν τοῖς τοῦ νοητοῦ θανάτου ὀψωνίοις, ἐφ' οἶς νῠν ἐπαισχύνεσθε; Ἀληθῶς γὰρ ἄκαρπα τυγχάνει τὰ ἔργα τὰ πονηρὰ, καὶ πᾶσα σκοτεινὴ πρᾶξις. Ὅταν δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ δυνηθῇ ἀνανῆψαι, καὶ εἰς συναίσθησιν ἐλθεϊν, ἐρυθριᾷ μᾶλλον καὶ αἰσχύνεται ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρηθεῖσιν ἐν τῇ μέθῃ τῆς κακίας, καὶ ἐναύγασμα εὑρίσκει σωφροσύνης.  Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΝ Γεροντιῳ Ἐκσπεκτωρι

'Do not,' says the Apostle, 'have a part in the fruitless works of darkness.' 1  For he who has such fruit in his mind has the wages of death, for which now you should be ashamed. For truly fruitless are wicked works and all deeds of darkness. And when the soul is able to be sober again it comes to perception of what was done, and then it is ashamed for its sins in the drunkenness of evil and it discovers the splendor of temperance.  Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 40, To Gerontius 1 Ephes 5.11