Errors And Darkness

Ὅτι παρὰ φύσιν ταύτας ἡγοῦνται οἱ πολλοὶ τρυφὰς, τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἁμαρτίας· οἱ δὲ τούτων ἐπιεικέστεροι γνωρίζουσι μὲν οὔσας αὐτας ἁμαρτίας, ἠττῶνται δὲ τῶν ἡδονῶν, καὶ τὸ σκότος αὐτοῖς ἐστὶ προκάλυμμα τῶν παθῶν· καὶ τὸ σκότος αὐτοῖς ἐστι προκάλυμμα τῶν παθῶν· μοιχεύει γὰρ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ γάμον ὁ ἑταιριζόμενος αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀκούει τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ βοῶντος· Ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀναβαίνων ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης αὐτοῦ, ὁ λέγων ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ· Τίς με ὁρᾷ; Σκότος κύκλῳ μου, καὶ οἱ τοῖχοι σκέπη μου, καὶ οὐδεὶς βλέπει τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου· τί εὐλαβοῦμαι; Μὴ μνησθήσεται ὁ ὕψιστος. Ταλάντατος μὲν οὗτος, ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀνθρώπων δεδιὼς μόνους, λήσειν δὲ τὸν θεὸν ὑπονοῶν. Οὐ γὰρ γινώσκει, φησὶν ἡ γραφή, ὅτι ὀφθαλμοὶ κυρίου ὑψίστου μυριοπλασίως ἡλίου φωτεινότεροί εἰσιν, οἳ ἐπιβλέπουσι πάσας ὁδοὺς ἀνθρώπων καὶ κατανοοῦσιν εἰς ἀπόκρυφα μέρη. Ταύτῃ τε πάλιν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς αὐτοῖς ἀπειλεῖ διὰ Ἡσαΐου λέγων· Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐν κρυφῇ βουλὴν ποιοῦντες, καὶ ἐροῦσι· τίς ἡμᾶς ὁρᾷ; Λήσεται μὲν γὰρ ἴσως τὸ αἰσθητὸν φῶς τις, τὸ δὲ νοητὸν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν, ἢ ὥς φησιν Ἡράκλειτος· Τὸ μὴ δῦνόν ποτε πῶς ἄν τις λάθοι; Μηδαμῶς τοίνυν ἐπικαλυπτώμεθα τὸ σκότος, τὸ γὰρ φῶς ἔνοικον ἡμῖν· καὶ ἡ σκοτία, φησίν, αὐτὸ οὐ καταλαμβάνει, καταυγάζεται δὲ αὐτὸ ἡ νὺξ τῷ σώφρονι λογισμῷ· λογισμοὺς δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν οὓς ἀκοιμήτους λύχνους ὠνόμασεν ἡ γραφή. Καίτοι τό γε πειρᾶσθαι λανθάνειν ἐφ' οἷς πράττει τις ὁμολογοῦντος ἁμαρτάνειν ἐστίν, πᾶς δὲ ὃς ἁμαρτάνει, καὶ ἀδικεῖ εὐθύς, οὐχ οὕτως τὸν πέλας, ἂν μοιχεύῃ, ὡς ἑαυτόν, ὅτι μεμοίχευκεν· ἀλλὰ πάντως αὑτὸν χείρονα ἀποφαίνει καὶ ἀτιμότερον. Ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτάνων, παρ' ὅσον ἁμαρτάνει, χείρων καὶ ἀτιμότερος αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ· πάντως δὲ ἤδη που καὶ ἀκολασία πρόσεστι τῷ ἡττωμένῳ αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς· Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Ὁ Παιδαγωγός, Λογὸς Δεύτερος, Κεφ. Ι' Source: Migne PG 8 516a-517a

For many think that only those delights which are against nature are perversions, such as these sins of theirs. And even those who are better than them, knowing them to be sins, are yet overcome by pleasure, and darkness is a veil for their passions. For he who uses marriage in a whorish way commits adultery, and does not hear the Instructor crying out: 'The man who ascends his bed, who says in his soul, Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls shelter me, and no one sees my sins. Why do I fear? The Highest will not remember.' Indeed most wretched is this man: 'who dreads only the eyes of men, and thinks he will escape the observation of God. For he knows not,' says Scripture, 'that brighter ten thousand times than the sun are the eyes of the Most High, which look on all the ways of men, and cast their glance into hidden parts.' 1 Thus again the Instructor warns them, speaking by Isaiah: 'Woe be to those who take counsel in secret, and say: Who sees us?' 2 For one may escape the light of the senses, but from the mind it is impossible. 'For how,' says Heraclitus, 'can one escape the notice of that which never sets?' Let us, then, not cover ourselves with darkness, for the light dwells in us. 'For the darkness,' it is said, 'comprehends it not.' 3 And the night itself is illuminated by prudent reason, and so Scripture has named the thoughts of good men 'sleepless lamps.' And to attempt to hide something one does is to admit sin, and every one who sins directly wrongs not so much his neighbour, if he commits adultery, as himself, because he has committed adultery, besides making himself worse and of ill repute. For he who sins, in the degree in which he sins, is made worse and is of less worth than before, and he who has been overthrown by base pleasures, now has licentiousness wholly attached to him. Clement of Alexandria, from The Teacher, Book II, Ch 10 1 Sirach 23.18-19 2 Isaiah 29.15 3 Jn 1.5