Impossible Mixings

Περὶ ἀμίκτων, καὶ τῶν ἀκοινωνήτως ἐχόντων πρὸς ἄλληλα. Τί τὸ ἄχυρον πρὸς τὸν σῖτον; Τί κοινωνήσει λύκος ἀμνῷ; οὕτως ἁμαρτωλὸς πρὸς εὐσεβῆ. Τί κοινωνήσει χύτρα πρὸς λέβητα; αὕτη προσκρούσει, αὕτη συντριβήσεται. Οὐ δύνασθε τραπέζης Κυρίου μετέχειν, καὶ τραπέζης δαιμονίων. Τίς μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἀνομίας; ἢ τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος; τίς δὲ συμφώνησις Χριστῷ πρὸς Βελίαρ; ἢ τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου; τίς δὲ συγκατάθεσις ναῷ Θεοῦ μετὰ εἰδώλων;  Ἄμικτος ἡ τοῦ ἐλεήμονος καὶ τοῦ ἀπηνοῦς ἐναντίωσις. Οὐχ ὑπομένει τὸ σκότος τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς παρουσίαν·οὐ νόσος ὑγείας ἐπιλαβούσης ἵσταται· οὐκ ἐνεργεῖ τὰ πάθη τῆς ἀπαθείας παρούσης· φροῦδος ὁ θάνατος, ἀφανὴς ἡ φθορὰ, ὅταν ἐν ἡμῖν βασιλεύῃ ἡ ζωὴ, καὶ ἡ ἀφθαρσία τὸ κράτος ἔχῃ. Γενηθήτω ἐν ἐμοὶ τὸ θέλημά σου, ἵνα σβεσθῇ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ θέλημα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ζοφώδεσι τῶν σπηλαίων, φωτὸς εἰσκομισθέντος, ὁ ζόφος ἐξαφανίζεται, οὕτως τοῦ σοῦ θελήματος ἐν ἐμοὶ γενομένου, πᾶσα πονηρὰ καὶ ἄτοπος τῆς προαιρέσεως κίνησις εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν περιίσταται.   Ἡδονὴ οὐ παραδέχεται πόνον, οὐδὲ λύπη χαρὰν, οὐδὲ κατήφεια εὐφροσύνην, οὐδὲ αὖ πάλιν πόνος δυναστεύων ἡδονὴν προσίεται, οὐδὲ κρατοῦσα λύπη ἔχει χαρὰν παρεζευγμένην, οὐδὲ κατηφείᾳ ἐγκέκραται εὐφροσύνη. Ἀνεπιπλόκως γὰρ ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ ἐναντία πάθη, καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἰς ταυτὸν ἔλθοι ποτέ· οὐδὲ ὁμηρεύσει ποτὲ πρὸς φιλικὴν κοινωνίαν, διὰ τὴν ἐκ φύσεως ἄσπονδον ἔχθραν καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσιν.   Ἀμήχανον συνυπάρχειν τὴν πρὸς τὸν κόσμον ἀγάπην τῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπῃ, ὡς ἀμήχανον συνυπάρχειν ἀλλήλοις φῶς καὶ σκότος Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, Τὰ Ιἐρα Παραλληλα, Στοικειον Α'  Τιτλ ΝΑʹ.  Source: Migne PG 95 1257d-1260c

Concerning things which cannot be mixed, nor have anything in common. What has chaff to do with wheat? 1 What does the wolf have in common with the lamb? So it is with the righteous man and the sinner. What does a kettle have in common with a pot? If one strikes, the other will be smashed. 2 You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. What do righteousness and iniquity share? Or what do light and darkness have in common? What pact has Christ with the devil? Or what portion have the faithful with unfaithful? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? 3 Mercy and cruelty are opposites, that cannot be mixed. 4 The presence of light cannot tolerate evil. With the coming of sickness health no longer remains. Distress is not able to exist in tranquility. Death is not present and corruption is unseen, when life reigns is us and incorruption rules. 5 May your will be done in me, that the will of Satan is extinguished. For as in a dark cave, when a light is lit, darkness cannot remain, so if your will is done in me, every disordered and wicked impulse of my will shall be cast out into nothingness. 6   Pleasure admits no toil, nor joy grief, nor sorrow delight, nor again does toil have any connection with pleasure, nor grief with joy, nor delight with sorrow. For the effects of opposites have this reason, that they are not able to be be brought together in the least, nor may they ever be brought into amicable association on account of the implacable hostility that they have for one another in their nature. 7 It is not possible that love of the world coexist with the love of God, just as it is not possible that light and darkness tolerate one another. 8   Saint John of Damascus, Sacred Parallels, Part 1, Chap 51 1 Jerem 23.28 2 Sirach 13. 3,21 3 1 Cor 10.21, 2 Cor 6.14-16 4 Greg Nyssa On the Fifth Beatitude 5 Greg Nyssa On the Lord's Prayer 3 6 Greg Nyssa On The Lord's Prayer 5 7 Nilus 8 Philo