Teaching And Deeds

Διδάσκεις ἐπ' ἐκκλησίας τερπνῶς, ἀλλ' εἴθε μᾶλλον εὐεργετικῶς. Ἔοικας γάρ τινι ἐφ' ὕψος βάλλοντι λίθους, διάκοντι τῆς πτώσεως αὐτοῦ τὴν εὐθύτητα, καὶ ταύτην ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν προσκαλουμένῳ. Ὁ γὰρ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἔλεγχος, εἰ ἐν ἡμῖν θεωρεῖται, διὰ τῶν ἔργων τοὺς λόγους ἀρνούμενος, οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἀκροατὰς πράττειν κακῶς οὐ κωλύσομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γέλωτα ὀφιλσκανοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ διδάσκοντες, καὶ ἕτερα πράττοντες. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΙΒ' Εὐσεβιῳ Ἐπισκοπῳ Source: Migne PG 78.257b

You teach most pleasingly in church, but that you did so usefully. You are like a high heap of stones, that teeters to ruin in its elevation, by itself calling it forth. For if the reproof of sins is observed from us, and deeds denies words, not only do we not fail to dissaude our hearers from evil deeds, but we are even a source of amusement to them, these things teaching and other things doing. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 112, to The Bishop Eusebius