The Foolish Man

Καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀκούων μου τοὺς λόγους τούτους, καὶ μὴ ποιῶν αὐτοὺς, ὁμοιωθήσεται ἀνδρὶ μωρῷ, ὅστις ᾦκοδόμησε τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμμον.   Ὁ ἀκροατὴς μόνος τοῦ λόγου, οὐ μὴν καὶ ποιητὴς, οἴκῳ ἀπεικάζεται ἐπὶ τῆς ψάμμου οἰκοδομηθέντι, ὅς ἐν καιρῷ πειρασμοῦ καταπίπτει, καὶ χώνυται, τῶν πατέρων τῆς πονηρίας ἐπιπνευσάντων, τῶν ταρατομένων ὑδάτων ἔως ψυχῆς εἰσελθόντων, καὶ τοῦ θολεροῦ χειμάῥῥου τῆς ἀνομίας αὐτὸν ἐκταράξαντος, καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐπισείσαντος κίνδυνον. Καλῶς δὲ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ φρονίμου, Ὁμοιώσω αὐτὸν, εἴπεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ μωροῦ Ὁμοιωθήσεται. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐργάτης πάντα ἰσχύει ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦνται αὐτὸν Χριστῷ, παρ' οὖ παρ' ἀνθρώποις τὸ κατορθούμενον, παρ' οὖ  σοφία καὶ σύνεσις καὶ πρὸς ὁ ἀγαθὸν ἐξομοίωσις. Ὁ δε φαῦλος οὐχὶ Θεὸν ἔχει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κακίας καὶ ἀφροσύνης αἴτιον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁμοιοῦται τῷ ἄφρονι τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἀποστὰς, καὶ ἐν τῷ παρὰ φύσιν γενόμενος. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον Εὐάγγελιον

'And everyone who hears my words and does not do them, he shall be like a foolish man who built his house on the sands.'  1 He who is a mere hearer of the word, and not a doer, is compared to one who built a house on the sands, which in the time of trial falls, and he is overturned by the breath of the father of iniquity, and the foaming waters pour into his very soul, 2 and by the turbid tempests of iniquity he is thrown about and swept away into extreme peril. And rightly He said concerning the wise man, 'I shall liken him,' and concerning the foolish man 'he shall be like,' because the worker of virtue is able to do everything by Him who strengthens him, 3 that is, Christ, by whom men act rightly, and by whom is wisdom and understanding and every similar good thing. The wretched man, not having God, is the cause of his own vice and madness, for he is like a demented man who has been separated from his own nature, and so he does those things which do not accord with his nature. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, Fragment 1 Mt  7.26 2 cf Ps 68.2 3 cf Philipp 4.13