A Cause Of Damnation

Ἐνεπάγησαν ἔθνη ἐν διαφθορᾷ ᾗ ἐποίησαν ἐν παγίδι ταύτῃ ᾗ ἔκρυψαν συνελήμφθη ὁ ποὺς αὐτῶν Τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀφθαρσίας λεγομένης ἐν τῳ, Ἡ χάρις μετὰ τῶν ἀγαπώντων τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ, ἡ ἀπεναντίως ἔχουσα κακία, διαφθορὰ καὶ φθορὰ ἀκολούθως κληθήσεται. Παρίσταται τὸ φθορὰν τὴν κακίαν λέγεσθαι, ἐκ τοῦ· Εἴ τις τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φθείρει· καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ λεγομένου πρὸς τοὺς φαύλους Ἔνεκεν ἀφθαρσίας διεφθείρητε φθορᾷ. Σύμφωνον τούτοις καὶ τὸ, Τῇ διαφθορᾷ σου, Ἰσραὴλ, τίς βοηθήσει; Ἥ οὕτω λεγομένη διαφθορὰ, ἐν τῷ πράττεσθαι τὸ εἴναι ἔχουσα, πεποιῆσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχόντων αὐτὴν ἐπαγγέλλεται. Φησὶν ὁ λόγος ἐμπεπῆχθαι τὰ ἔθνη ἐν ᾖ ἐποίησαν διαφθορᾷ· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλος τῇ ἄλλου ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ ἁμαρτία ἐνέχεται· ἔκαστος γὰρ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀποθανεῖται. Εἴτ' ἐπεὶ οἱ κακοὶ πρότερον ἑαυτοὺς βλάψαντες, καὶ ἑτέρους εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν βλάβην δι' ἀπάτης ἄγειν πειρῶνται, σκευάζουσιν καὶ λόγοις αὐτῶν, ἐπὶ τῷ ἀγρεῦσαι τὸν ἀπροοράτως ἔχοντα· αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ παγίδι ᾖ ἔκρυψαν τιμωροῦνται· δίκας γὰρ διδόασιν καὶ δι' οὔς ἡπάατησαν. Γίνεται δὲ τὸ παθεῖν οὕτως διακρίσει τοῦ προνοουμένου Θεοῦ. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ κρῖμα αὐτοῦ, τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ συλλαμβάνεσθαι τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν, ἔχοντα τὴν πρόφασιν τοῦ καταδικάζεσθαι ἐξ ὦν ἔδρασεν πονηρῶς; Τούτῳ συνᾴδει τὸ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον λεχθὲν, ἔχον ὦδε· Ὁ ὀρύσσων βόθρον τῷ πλησίον, ἐμπεσεῖται εἰς αὐτόν. Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος θ' Source: Migne PG 39.1196b-c

'The peoples have been caught in the corruption they have wrought; their feet have been seized in the snares which they hid;' 1 Here virtue is named incorruption, 'Grace be to those lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption,' 2 and that which is its utter opposite is vice, which is rightly named a corrupting influence and a corruption. So vice is invoked under the name of corruption, whence it says, 'If someone corrupts the temple of God.' 3 And similarly the Prophet says to the unclean: 'On account of incorruption you have become corrupt.' 4 And accordingly it says, 'Who will be of help in your corruption, O Israel?' 5 And this corruption spoken of is possessed by the practitioners of it, they being made so by the possession of it. So here it says that the nations are fixed in the corruption which they have made, for no other impiety or sin has hold of them; each man perishes because of his own sin. Then the wicked, before they destroy themselves, they deceitfully strive to drive others into the same damnation; they construct traps with cunning counsel and words, so that the careless might be caught up in them. But to him who sets down the trap, the trap is a punishment, because those who deceive shall have their reward. They shall suffer the same by the judgement of the provident God. For what is His judgement, but that the sinner is caught in his own works and foretells his own damnation by the wicked acts he performs? Thus it befits that a little while before this it was said, 'He who digs a pit for his neighbour, he shall fall into it.' 6 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 9 1 Ps 9.16 2 Ephes 6.24 3 1 Cor 3.17 4 Mich 2.10 5 Lam 2.13 6 Ps 7.16