Bad Influences

Διὸ καὶ αὐτὸς πάλιν προϊὼν λέγει· Οὐκ ἐκάθισα μετὰ συνεδρίου ματαιότητος, καὶ μετὰ παρανομούντων οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθω. Καὶ ὁ Ἰερεμίας δὲ μακαρίζει τὸν κατὰ μόνας καθεζόμενον, καὶ αἴροντα τὸν ζυγὸν ἐκ νεότητος. Καὶ αἱ Παροιμίαι πολὺν ὑπὲρ τούτου ποιοῦνται λόγον, πᾶσι παραινοῦσαι καὶ λέγουσαι μὴ μόνον ἐκκλίνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποπηδᾷν ἀπὸ τῶν πονηρὰ συμβουλευόντων, καὶ μηδὲ ἐγχρονίζειν αὐτοῖς. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ φυσικὰ μεταβάλλεται πολλάκις ἡμῖν ἀπὸ κακῆς ὁμιλίας· πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως; Τό τε γὰρ χρῶμα κατὰ φύσιν ἡμῖν πρόσεστι, καὶ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅτε διαφθείρεται ταῦτα ἐξ ἑτέρας ἔξεως ἐναντίας· καὶ τὸ ὀρέγεσθαι πάλιν σιτίων· καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκις ἀπωλέσαμεν ἀπὸ κακίας νοσημάτων· καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἔστιν ἰδεῖν συμβαίνοντα. Εἰ δὲ τὰ τῆς φύσεως κινεῖται, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως, ὅσῳ καὶ εὐκολωτέραν ἔχει τὴν ἐπὶ θάτερα μεταβολήν. Μὴ δὴ μικρὸν εἶναι νομίζωμεν τὴν τῶν κακῶν συνουσίαν εἰς βλάβην, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπάντων φεύγωμεν τοὺς τοιούτους, κἂν γυναϊκες ὧσι, κἂν φίλοι, κἂν ὁστισοῦν. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὺς μεγάλους ἐκείνους τοῦτο ἀπώλεσε, Σολομῶντα λέγω καὶ Σαμψών· καὶ ἔθνος δὲ ὁλόκληρον τὸ Ἰουδαῖκὸν οὕτω διέφθαρτο. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω θηρία πλήττειν εἴωθεν, ὡς πονηρία ἀνθρώπων. Ἐκεϊνα μὲν γὰρ φανερὸν ἔχει τὸν ἰόν· οὗτοι δὲ ἀνεπαισθήτως καὶ ἀψοφητὶ καθ' ἐκάστην ἡμέραν ἐνιᾶσι τὴν λύμην, κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποσύροντες τὸ εὕτονον τῆς ἀρετῆς.  Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Τον Δ' Ψαλμον

And so again later it is said, 'I have not sat in the council of the vain, and I did not go among those who act wickedly. 1 And Jeremiah calls him blessed who sits alone, and who puts on the yoke from his youth. 2  And Proverbs has many passages about this, saying and exhorting everywhere, that we should not only decline from those who counsel evil but even recoil from them. For if we observe that natural things often change their nature on account of bad influence, how much more our own wills? Color and health inhere in us by nature, but these are not uncommonly corrupted by some contrary thing from outside, and again the desire for food in us is often ruined by some fault of sickness, and many other things like this we see happen. And if it is so with natural things, that they are changed, so much more with our wills, which are more easily turned to anything. Not few, we think, have suffered harm by pernicious company, so before everything we should flee such folk as these. For this has ruined even great men, Solomon, I say, and Samson, and the whole Jewish people were so destroyed. For not like a wild beast does the wickedness of men come against one, but the former openly bear their threat and the latter strike without a sound, working in their evil every day, and little by little the strength of virtue withers.  Saint John Chrysostom, from the Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 4  1 Ps 25.4  2 Lam 3.27.28