Snares in the Church

Qui enim vitae pessimae est, non facile homines ad falsum dogma sollicitat, nec potest per umbram sanctitatis audientium decipere simplicatatem. Qui vero sermoe perversus, et disciplinis saluti contrarius, mores autem compositos et ornatos habet, nihil facit aliud, nisi accipit indumenta varia instituti boni, et conversationis quietae, et circumbat ea idolis suis, ut magis decipiat audientes. Idcirco sollicitie caveamus haeriticos, qui conversationis optimae sunt, quorum forte vitam non tam Deus quam diabolus instruxit. Nam quomodo quasdam illecebras escarum aucupes proponunt, ut facilius aves capiant per oblectamentum gulae, sic, ut audacius dicam, est quaedam castititas diaboli, id est decipula humnae animae, ut per isiusmdoi castitatem, et mansuetudinem, et justitiam possit facilius capere, et falsis sermonibus irretire. Diversis diabolus pugnat insidiis, ut miserum perdat hominem, et bonam malis tribuit vitam ad decipiendos videntes, et malam bonis inurit conscientiam. Mihi ipsi qui in Ecclesiam ex mea conversatione confundat. Et ideo plus hi qui sunt in medio oppugnatur ab inimico, ut per ruinam unius hominis quae celari non potest, omnibus scandalum fiat, et impediatur fides per conversationem pessimam clericorum. Omnia, ut diximus, diabolus operatur, et ea quae videntur esse bona, nec sunt, et ea quae per naturam suam mala sunt; omnia adversum humanam commentatur animam. Unde qui curam habet vitae suae, neque mansuetudine haereticorum capitur, ad consentiendum doctrinae eorum, neque meis delictis qui videor in Ecclesia praedicare, scandalizabitur, sed ipsum dogma considerans et pertractans Ecclesiae fidem, a me quidem aversabitur, doctrinam vero suscipiet secundum praeceptum Domini, qui ait: 'Super cathedram Moysi sederunt scribae et Pharisae, Omnia quaecunque vobis dicunt, audite, et facite, juxta opera autem illorum nolite facere; dicunt quippe, et non faciunt.' Iste sermo de me est, qui bona doceo, et contraria gero, et sum sedens super cathedram Mousi quasi Scriba et Pharisaeus. Praeceptum tibi est, o popule, si non habueris accusationem doctinae pessimae, et alienorum ab Ecclesia dogmatum, conspexeris vero mean culpabilem vitam, atque peccata, ut non habeas justa dicentis vitam tuam instituere, sed ea facere quae loquor. Nullum imitemur, et si volumus imitari quempiam, propositus est nobis ad imitandum Christus Jesus. Descripti sunt actus apostolorum, et prophetarum gesta de sacris boluminibus agnoscimus; illud exemplar firmum est, illud propositum solidum, quod qui sequi cupit, securus ingreditur. Si vero quaerimus nobis culpabiles ad aemulandum, ut cum dicamus, ille docet, et his quae docet facit ipse contraria, adversum praeceptum Domini facimus, qui mandavit doctrinas magistrorum magis considerari debere quam vitas. Haec dicimus de eo quo scriptum est : Acceptisti vestem versicolorem, et operuisti illa,' id est vasa glorificaitonis, quae in idola commutasti. Origenis, Homiliae in Ezechielem, Homilia VII

He who exhibits a wretched life does not easily attract men to false teaching, nor does he who has the mere pretense of sanctity deceive an innocent audience. But he who is perverse in speech and opposed to the discipline of salvation adorns himself with well arranged conduct and does nothing unless with the varied coverings of good acts and tranquil ways he surrounds himself, as with idols, all that he might successfully deceive his hearers. Therefore let us beware of heretics whose ways are of the best, who perhaps in such a life are taught by the devil rather than by God. For just as those who catch birds lay out enticing foods that they more easily seize them by the pleasures of taste, so, if I may be so bold to say, there is a purity of the devil for the snaring of the human soul, that through this purity and meekness and righteousness, he can more easily capture one in the net of false doctrine. The devil uses various tricks to attack and ruin wretched man, giving to evil a good manner of life to deceive the onlooker and branding a bad conscience on the good. He even sows confusion by me in the Church so that those in it are assaulted by the enemy, and so that through the errors of one man, which cannot be hidden, many may be scandalised and the faith obstructed by the poor behaviour of clerics. Everything, as we have said, the devil does, that things which are in their nature evil appear to be good, as he considers all the ways to oppose the human soul. Whence he who has care for his own life is not seized by the pleasantness of heretics to agree with their teaching, and neither do my errors, which I seem to display in the Church, scandalise, but he considers the dogma, and exerts himself in the faith of the Church, and recoiling from me takes up the teaching, according to the precept of the Lord who says: 'The scribes and Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses, so practice and observe whatever they tell you but not what they do, for they preach, but they do not practice'. 1 This teaching is for you, O people, if you are not stained with the teaching of the wretched and the precepts of those separated from the Church, you who have seen my flawed life and sins, that you not have your life instructed by that as righteousness, but you do  those things which I preach. Let us imitate none, if we would imitate, than that which is proposed for us for imitation by Jesus Christ. We know that the acts of the Apostles and the doings of the Prophets are given to us in Holy Scripture; and there is a sure model, an unwavering guide, which he who desires, may enter upon securely. But if we seek to emulate those who are faulty, that when we say 'He teaches so,' and these things which he teaches we do the opposite, against the teaching of the Lord we act, He who has commanded us that we should consider more the teaching of the teachers than their lives. And concerning this it is written: 'You received a multicolored vestment and you have obscured it.' that is, a vase of glory, which you have fashioned into an idol. 2 Origen, Homilies On Ezekiel, from Homily 7 1 cf Mt 23. 2-3 2 cf Ez 16.18, 17