Corrections And Burnings

Kρείσσων ἀνὴρ ἐλέγχων ἀνδρὸς σκληροτραχήλου ἐξαπίνης γὰρ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις Κρείσσων γὰρ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ Κυρίου ἐλέγωεν, ἢ ὁ ἐν σκληρᾷ καρδίᾳ παραινῶν καὶ ὑπισχνούμενος συναπολαῦσαι αὐτῷ τῶν ἐν κακίᾳ· ἐξαπίνης γὰρ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ ἑν τῇ ὁρέξει τῶν παθῶν, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντας θάνατος, ἐπελθὼν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατ' αὐτῶν συμπράκτορας, οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν· οὐκ εἴπεν δὲ, ὅτι παυσαμένης τῆς φλογὸς οὐκ ἔσται ἴασις, ἀλλὰ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔσται ἴασις, ὡς ἔχοντος δηλονότι τὰ τῶν παθῶν ὑπεκκαύματα ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην· εἴπερ καὶ τοῖς καιομένοις μετὰ τὸν καυτῆρα πέφυκεν ἡ ὑγίεια προσγίνεσθαι. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ ΚΘ' Source: Migne PG 17.245b

Better a man corrected than a man who has a hard heart, for suddenly he shall burn and there is no remedy. 1 For better is a man who is corrected in the teaching and chastisement of the Lord, than he who with a hard heart counsels and affirms himself to ruin in evils, for suddenly while he flames up in the appetites of his passions, that death which comes to all shall come upon him embroiled in his deeds, for which there is no cure for the soul. For he does not say: 'if the flames subside there shall be no cure,' but that while they are ablaze there is no cure, that is, when the passions have their fuel for burning, wood, hay, and straw. It is after burning for cauterisation that health comes forth. Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment 1 Prov 29.1