The Evil Of Man

Attendite vobis ab hominibus: tradent enim vos in conciliis, et in synagogis suis flagellabunt vos, et ante reges et praesides stabilis in testimonium illis, et gentibus. Ita dixit, Attendite vobis ab hominibus, quasi a quibusdam pessimis malis, et super omnia mala malis. Nam si non quasi homines accusans dixisset, sufficeret illi dicere, Attendite vobis, tradent enim vos. Nunc autem addidit, Attendite vobis ab hominibus: ostendere volens, quia prae omnibus malis homo est pessimum malum. Nam si bestiis comparare volueris eum, pejorem invenies eum. Bestia enim, quamvis sit crudelis, tamen quia est irrationabilis, declinabitur ab homine crudelitas ejus.Homo autem crudelis cum sit, et rationabilis, non facile evadetur crudelitas ejus. Si comparaveris hominem serpenti, perjorem invenies hominem: quoniam serpens, etsi malitiam habet, tamen hominis timorem habet. Ideo, si quem absconse potuerit, mordet: si autem non potuerit, fugit. Homo autem et malitiam habet serpentis, et timorem non habet sicut serpens. Ideo quamdiu non habet tempus, latet sicut serpens, si autem invenerit, irruit sicut bestia. Adhuc autem anguis, siquidem irritata fuerit, saevit, si autem irritata non fuerit, in silentio transit. Homo autem et non irritatus insanit, et magis super illos insanit a quibus non fuerit irritatus. Et ut breviter dicam, unaqueaque bestia unum habet et proprium malum; homo autem omnia habet in se. Denique homo malus pejor est quam ipse diabolus. Diabolus enim si videat justum, non est ausus ad eum accedere: homo autem malus, quamvis hominem sanctum viderit, non solum illum non timet, sed adhuc magis contemnit. Non enim diabolus homini praestat virtutem, sed homo diabolo. Arma enim diaboli est malus homo. Sicut enim homo sine armis non potest aliquid facere contra hostem, sic diabolus etiam sine homine non valet aliquid contra sanctos. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XXIV Source: Migne PG 56.738

Keep yourselves from men, for they shall hand you over to courts, and they shall whip you in their assemblies, and before kings and governors you shall give witness, even before the Gentiles. 1 Thus He said, 'Keep yourself from men,' as from a certain type of the worst evils, an evil over every evil. For if He had not spoken to accuse men, it would have sufficed for Him to say, 'Keep yourselves, lest they hand you over.' But here He adds, 'Keep yourselves from men,' wishing to show that man is the worst evil before all other evils. For if you would compare him to the beasts, you would find him worse. For a beast, although cruel, yet because it is irrational, lacks the cruelty of man. A man when he is cruel, because he is rational, is not easy to avoid in his cruelty. If you would compare man to the serpent, you would find him worse, because the serpent, even if wicked, yet is fearful of man. Therefore if it is unseen, it bites, but if it is not able to hide, he flees. But man has the wickedness of the serpent, yet lacks the fear of the serpent. Therefore while he does not have the opportunity, he hides like the serpent, and if discovered rages like a beast. But the snake, if provoked shall be savage, but if not provoked, it shall pass by in silence. But a man even when not provoked is maddened, and more than anything rages against those who have not provoked him. And to speak briefly, any beast has its one proper evil, but man has all of them dwelling in him. Finally man is worse than the devil himself. For the devil sees the righteous man, and he does not dare come near him. But the wicked man, when he sees a holy man, he not only lacks fear, but he despises him all the more. The devil does not give power to a man, but man gives it to the devil. The wicked man is the weapon of the devil. As a man without arms is not able to accomplish anything against his enemy, so the devil without a man can accomplish nothing against the saints. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from Homily 24 1 Mt 10.17

Man, the Animals, and the Divine

Οἶμαι γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ταύτης καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον πάθη, οἷον ἐκ τινος πηγῆς συνδοθέντα πλημμυρεῖν ἐν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ζωῇ. Τεκμήριον δὲ τῶν λόγων, ἡ τῶν παθημάτων συγγένεια, κατὰ τὸ ἶσον ἡμῖν τε καὶ τοῖς ἀλόγοις ἐμφαινομένη. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ θέμις τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, τῇ κατὰ τὸ θεῖον εἶδος μεμορφω μένῃ, τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως προσμαρτυρεῖν τὰς πρώτας ἀρχάς. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ προεισῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων ζωὴ, ἔσχε δέ τι διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν τῆς ἐκεῖθεν φύσεως καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τὸ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν λέγω, συμμετέσχε διὰ τούτου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν ἐν ἐκείνῃ θεωρουμένων τῇ φύσει. Οὐ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν θυμόν ἐστι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον ὁμοίωσις, οὔτε διὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἡ ὑπερέχουσα χαρακτηρίζεται φύσις, δειλία τε καὶ θράσος, καὶ ἡ τοῦ πλείονος ἔφεσις, καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὸ ἐλαττοῦσθαι μῖσος, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα πόῤῥω τοῦ θεοπρεποῦς χαρακτῆρός ἐστι. Ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐκ τοῦ ἀλόγου μέρους ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐφειλκύσατο. Οἷς γὰρ ἡ ἄλογος ζωὴ πρὸς συντήρησιν ἑαυτῆς ἠσφαλίσθη, ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον μετενεχθέντα βίον, πάθη ἐγένετο. Θυμῷ μὲν γὰρ συντηρεῖται τὰ ὠμοβόρα· φιληδονία δὲ τὰ πολυγονοῦντα τῶν ζώων σώζει· τὸν ἄναλκιν ἡ δειλία, καὶ τὸν εὐάλωτον τοῖς ἰσχυροτέροις ὁ φόβος, τὸν δὲ πολύσαρκον ἡ λαιμαργία. Καὶ τὸ διαμαρτεῖν οὑτινοσοῦν τῶν καθ' ἡδονὴν, λύπης ὑπό θεσις ἐν τοῖς ἀλόγοις ἐστί. Ταῦτα πάντα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα διὰ τῆς κτηνώδους γενέσεως συνεισῆλθε τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευῇ. Καί μοι συγκεχωρήσθω κατά τινα πλαστικὴν θαυματοποιΐαν διαγράψαι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εἰκόνα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν τοῖς πλάσμασι τὰς διγλύφους μορφὰς, ἃς μηχανῶνται πρὸς ἔκπληξιν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοτεχνοῦντες, μιᾷ κεφαλῇ δύο μορφὰς προσώπων ὑποχαράσσοντες· οὕτω μοι δοκεῖ διπλῆν φέρειν ὁ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὰ ἐναντία τὴν ὁμοιότητα· τῷ μὲν θεοειδεῖ τῆς διανοίας πρὸς τὸ θεῖον κάλλος μεμορφωμένος, ταῖς δὲ κατὰ πάθος ἐγγινομέναις ὁρμαῖς πρὸς τὸ κτηνῶδες φέρων τὴν οἰκειότητα. Πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ὁ λόγος ἀποκτηνοῦται διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἄλογον ῥοπῆς τε καὶ διαθέσεως, συγκαλύπτων τὸ κρεῖττον τῷ χείρονι. Ἐπειδὰν γάρ τις πρὸς ταῦτα τὴν διανοητικὴν ἐνέργειαν καθελκύσῃ, καὶ ὑπηρέτην γενέσθαι τῶν παθῶν τὸν λογισμὸν ἐκβιάσηται, παρα τροπή τις γίνεται τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ χαρακτῆρος πρὸς τὴν ἄλογον εἰκόνα, πάσης πρὸς τοῦτο μεταχαρασσομένης τῆς φύσεως, καθάπερ γεωργοῦντος τοῦ λογισμοῦ τὰς τῶν παθημάτων ἀρχὰς, καὶ δι' ὀλίγων εἰς πλῆθος ἐπαύξοντος. Τὴν γὰρ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ συνεργίαν χρήσας τῷ πάθει, πολύχουν καὶ ἀμφιλαφῆ τὴν τῶν ἀτόπων γένεσιν ἀπειργάσατο. Οὕτως ἡ φιληδονία τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἄλογον ὁμοιώσεως, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πλημμελήμασι προσηυξήθη, τοσαύτας διαφορὰς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἁμαρτα νομένων γεννήσασα, ὅσας ἐν τοῖς ἀλόγοις οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν. Οὕτως ἡ πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν διανάστασις συγ γενὴς μέν ἐστι τῇ τῶν ἀλόγων ὁρμῇ, αὔξεται δὲ τῇ τῶν λογισμῶν συμμαχίᾳ. Ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἡ μῆνις, ὁ φθόνος, τὸ ψεῦδος, ἡ ἐπιβουλὴ, ἡ ὑπόκρισις. Ταῦτα πάντα τῆς πονηρᾶς τοῦ νοῦ γεωργίας ἐστίν. Εἰ γὰρ γυμνωθείη τῆς ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν συμμαχίας τὸ πάθος, ὠκύμορός τις καὶ ἄτονος ὁ θυμὸς καταλείπεται, πομφόλυγος δίκην ὁμοῦ τε γινόμενος, καὶ εὐθὺς ἀπολλύμενος. Οὕτως ἡ τῶν συῶν λαιμαργία τὴν πλεονεξίαν εἰσήνεγκε, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἵππου γαῦρον γέγονε τῆς ὑπερ ηφανίας ἀρχή· καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον πάντα τῆς κτηνώδους ἀλογίας ἀφορμηθέντα, διὰ τῆς πονηρᾶς τοῦ νοῦ χρήσεως κακία ἐγένετο, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν, εἴπερ ὁ λογισμὸς τῶν τοιούτων κινημάτων ἀντιμεταλάβοι τὸ κράτος, εἰς ἀρετῆς εἶδος ἕκαστον τούτων ἀντιμεθίσταται. Ποιεῖ γὰρ ὁ μὲν θυμὸς τὴν ἀνδρίαν, τὸ δὲ δειλὸν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, καὶ ὁ φόβος τὴν εὐπείθειαν, τὸ μῖσος δὲ τὴν τῆς κακίας ἀποστροφὴν, ἡ δὲ ἀγαπητικὴ δύναμις τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀληθῶς καλὸν ἐπιθυμίαν. Τὸ δὲ γαῦρον τοῦ ἤθους ὑπεραίρει τῶν παθημάτων, καὶ ἀδούλωτον ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ διαφυλάσσει τὸ φρόνημα. Ἐπαινεῖ δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ἐπάρσεως εἶδος καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, συνεχῶς ἐγκελευόμενος τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖν. Καὶ οὕτως ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, ὅτι πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον κίνημα τῷ ὑψηλῷ τῆς διανοίας συνεπαιρόμενον, τῷ κατὰ τὴν θείαν εἰκόνα κάλλει συσχηματίζεται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ βαρεῖά τίς ἐστι καὶ κατωφερὴς ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ῥοπὴ, πλεῖον τὸ ἕτερον γίνεται· μᾶλλον γὰρ τῷ βάρει τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως συγκατασπᾶται τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἥπερ τῷ ὕψει τῆς διανοίας τὸ βαρύ τε καὶ χοϊκὸν ἀνυψοῦται. Διὰ τοῦτο πολλάκις ἀγνοεῖσθαι ποιεῖ τὸ θεῖον δῶρον ἡ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἀθλιότης, οἷον προσωπεῖον εἰδεχθὲς τῷ κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα κάλλει τὰ πάθη τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιπλάσσουσα. Οὐκοῦν συγγνωστοί πώς εἰσιν οἱ πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα βλέποντες, εἶτα τὴν θείαν μορφὴν ἐν τούτοις εἶναι οὐκ εὐχερῶς συντιθέμενοι. Ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν κατωρθωκότων τὸν βίον, ἔξεστι τὴν θείαν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις εἰκόνα βλέπειν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐμπαθής τις καὶ σάρκινος ὢν ἀπιστεῖσθαι ποιεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὡς θείῳ κάλλει κεκοσμημένον· ὁ ὑψηλὸς πάντως τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ καθαρεύων ἐκ μολυσμάτων βεβαιώσει σοι τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπόληψιν. Οἷον κρεῖττον γὰρ ἐν ὑποδείγματι δεῖξαι τὸν λόγον· ἀπήλειψε τῷ τῆς πονηρίας μολύσματι τὸ τῆς φύσεως κάλλος τις τῶν ἐπὶ κακίᾳ γνωρίμων, Ἰεχονίας τυχὸν, ἢ εἴ τις ἕτερος ἐπὶ κακῷ μνημονεύεται· ἀλλ' ἐν Μωϋσῇ καὶ τοῖς κατ' ἐκεῖνον καθαρὰ διεφυλάχθη ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος μορφή. Ἐν οἷς τοίνυν οὐκ ἠμαυρώθη τὸ κάλλος, ἐν τούτοις ἐναργὴς ἡ τῶν λεγομένων πίστις ἐστὶν, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Θεοῦ μίμημα γέγονεν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περὶ Κατασκευής Ἀνθρωπου

For I think that from this beginning each passion issues as from a spring and pouring together their flood over man's life. And proof of such words is the similarity of passions which appear alike in us and in irrational creatures. For it is not right that to the human nature which was fashioned in the Divine likeness to ascribe the first beginnings of our liability to passion, but as irrational life first entered into the world, and man, for the reason already mentioned, took something of their nature, according to the mode of generation, at the same time he likewise took a share of the other things seen in that nature. For the likeness of man to God is not found in anger, nor is pleasure a mark of superior nature; both cowardice and boldness, and the desire for gain, and the hatred of loss, and all things like these are far from the stamp of Divinity. These parts, then, human nature took to itself from the irrational creatures; for those things bestowed on the irrational for its preservation, being transferred to human life, became passions. For carnivorous animals are preserved by anger, and those which breed a lot are maintained by love of pleasure; cowardice does the same for the weak, fear that which is easily siezed by the more powerful, and greediness those of great mass. And the lack of anything that tends to pleasure is for the irrational a matter of pain. All these things entered man's composition on account of the animal mode of generation. Let it be allowed to me to describe the human image by comparison with some wonderous modelling. For, just as it may be seen in models those carved shapes which the artificers of such things contrive for the wonder of beholders, tracing out upon a single head two forms of faces; so man seems to me to bear a double likeness to opposite things, being shaped in the Divine form of his mind to the Divine beauty, but bearing, on account of the passionate impulses that arise in him, a likeness to creatures. And often his reason is undone, through his inclination and disposition towards what is irrational, obscuring the better with the worse. For whenever a man drags down his intellectual energy to these things, and forces reason to become the servant of passions, there takes place a sort of turning of the good stamp into the irrational image, his whole nature being transfomed according to it, as his reason cultivates the beginnings of his passions, and little by little multiplies them. For becoming an aid to passion, it produces a plenteous and vast crop of disgusting things. Thus love of pleasure has its beginning in likeness to irrational things and by the transgressions of men was increased, becoming the generetor of so many different sins arising from pleasure as we do not find among the irrational animals. Thus the rising of anger in us is indeed akin to the impulse of the brutes, but it grows by the alliance of thought. For thence come malignity, envy, deceit, conspiracy, hypocrisy. All these are the result of the evil cultivation of the mind. For if the passion were stripped of the aid it receives from thought, the anger remaining is short-lived and dull, being like a bubble that pops almost as soon as it comes into existance. Thus the greediness of swine introduces covetousness, and the haughty nature of the horse becomes the origin of pride, and so with all things that proceed from want of reason in irrational nature, they become vice by the evil use of the mind, and, then, likewise, again, if reason instead has power over such things, each of them is transformed into a type of virtue. For anger turns into courage, terror caution, fear obedience, hatred aversion to vice, the power of love the desire for what is truly beautiful. The haughtiness in a character raises him above the passions, and releases it from bondage to what is base. The great Apostle himself praised such a form of mental elevation exhorting us constantly to think those things that are above. 1 And thus we find that every such motion, when elevated by loftiness of intellect, is conformed to the beauty of the Divine image. But since the other impulse is greater and the tendency of sin is heavy and downward; the ruling element of our soul is more inclined to be dragged downwards by the weight of the irrational nature than is the heavy and earthy element to be lifted up by the elevated intellect. And so the wretchedness that often encompasses us causes the Divine gift to be forgotten, and  like some ugly mask the passions of the flesh are laid over the beauty of the image. Those, therefore, are in some sense excusable, who when they look upon such cases, do not willingly admit that the Divine form is there; But by the correct ordering of life we may yet behold the Divine image in men. For if the man who has been made subject to passion, and carnal, makes it incredible that man was adorned with Divine beauty, surely the man of lofty virtue and pure from defilement will confirm you in the better understanding of human nature. Better it is to show this by example, that one of those noted for wickedness, has obliterated the beauty of his nature by the pollution of wickedness, some Jechoniah, say, or some other of evil memory, yet in Moses and in those like him the form of the image was kept pure. Now where the beauty of the form has not been obscured, there is made plain the faithfulness of the saying that man is an image of God. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Making of Man 1.Col 3:2

Two Men in One

In principio verborum Moysi, ubi de mundi conditione conscribitur, duos invenimus homines creatas referri. Primum ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei factim, secundum e limo terrae factum. Hoc Paulus apostolus bene sciens, et ad liquidum in his eruditis, in suis litteris apertius et evidentius binos esse et per singulos, quosque homines scripsit. Sic enim dixit: 'Nam si is qui foris est homo noster corrumpitur, sed ille qui intus est, renovatur de die in diem'. Et iterum: 'Condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem,' et his similia quanta conscribit?' Unde puto neminem jam debere dubitare quod Moyses de duorum hominum factura vel figmento scripserit in principio Genesis, eum videat Paulum qui malius utique quam nos intelligebat ea quae a Moyse scripta sunt, duos homines esse per singulos quosque dicentem. Quorum unum, id est interiorem, renovari per singulos dies memorat; alterum veri, id est exteriorem, in quibusdam sanctis et talibus qualis erat Paulus, corrumpi perhibet et infirmari. Origenes, In Canticum Canticorum, Prologus, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense

In the beginning of the words of Moses, when he writes about the creation of the world, we find reference to the creation of two men. The first is made to 'an image and likeness of God' and the second 'from the mud of the earth.' 1 Paul the Apostle knowing this well, clearly educated in these things, wrote in his letters most openly about these two men in each man. He says, ' For if our outer man is corrupted, yet the inward is renewed from day to day.' 2 And again, ' I am delighted with the law of God according to the inner man,' 3 And how many things does he write like this?  Thus I think that no one should now doubt what Moses wrote in the beginning of Genesis about the making and shaping of two men, but let him look to Paul, who understood what Moses wrote better than we do, saying that there are two men in each man. Of these the one man, that is the interior, he mentions as renewed from day to day, the other, that is the exterior, in all the saints, as it was in Paul, he regards as corrupted and infirm.  Origen, Commentary On the Song of Songs, Prologue, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia .  1 Gen 1.26, 2.7 2 2 Cor 4.16 3 Rom 7.22

Man And The Other Things Of Nature

Καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὤν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Μεγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων, τὸ τίμιον ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ κατασκευῇ ἔχων. Τί γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἄλλο κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε; Τίνι ἡ κατὰ πάντων ἀπχὴ καὶ ἐξουσία τῶν τε χερσαίων καὶ ἐνύδρων καὶ ἐναερίων ζώων κεχάρισται; Βραχὺ μὲν ὑποβέβηκε τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀξίαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες σῶμα συγάφειαν· τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, 'καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὺς φλόγα'· ἀλλ' ὄμως ἤ γε τοῦ νοεῖν καὶ συνιέναι τὸν ἑαυτῶν Κτίστην καὶ Δημιουργὸν δύναμις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει. Ἐνεφύσησε γὰρ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον· τουτέστι, μοῖράν τινα τῆς ἰδίας χάριστος ἐναπέθετο τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἵνα τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἐπιγινώσκῃ τὸ ὅμοιον. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐν τιμῇ ὤν τηλικαύτῃ, ἐκ τοῦ δεδημιουργῆσθαι κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ οὐρανὸν, ὑπὲρ ἥλιον, ὑπὲρ τὰς τῶν ἀστέρων χορείας τετιμημένος (τις γὰρ τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰκὼν εἴρηται τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; ποίαν δὲ ἥλιος εἰκόνα σώζει τοῦ κτίσαντος; τί ἡ σελήνη; τί οἱ λιοποὶ ἀστέπες; ἄψυχα μὲν καὶ ὑλικὰ, διαφανῆ δὲ μόνον τὰ σώματα κεκτημένοι, ἐν οἶς οὐδαμοῦ διάνοια, οὐ προαιρετικαὶ κινήσεις, οὐκ αὐτεξουσιότητος ἐλευθερία· ἀλλὰ δοῦλά ἔστι τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης, καθ' ἢν ἀπαραλλάκτως ἀεὶ περὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφεταἰ)· ὑπὲρ οὖν ταῦτα ταῖς τιμαῖς προηγμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐ συνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ καταλιπὼν τὸ ἔπεσθαι Θεῷ, καὶ ὁμοιοῦσθαι τῷ κτίσαντι, δοῦλος γενόμενος τῶν παθῶν τῆς σαρκὸς, 'Παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιωθη αὐτοῐς.' Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ' Source: Migne PG 29.449b-452a

And a man when he is in honour, he does not understand, he is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is like them. 1 Man is great, and the the man of mercy is honourable, possessing honour in his natural state. Indeed what else indeed is there on the earth that is the image of the Creator? To whom was given the first place and power among all the terrestrial animals, and over those in the water and the creatures of the air? 2 Certainly he is a little inferior to the angels in worth, 3 because though he was joined to his earthly body, since indeed man was made from earth, and 'His servants are flames of fire,' 4 yet the Creator made inhere in him the power of intellect and knowing, that is, He mixed in man some part of His own grace so that man might know he was like Him. Thus when he is in such honour, when he conducts himself as an image of his Creator, his honour is greater than the sky, the sun and the chorus of the stars; for what in the heavens is said to be an image of the most high God? Does the sun serve as an image of the Creator? The moon? The stars? They are inanimate bodies made from matter, and granted a brightness in which there is no mind at all, nor any motion of will or intrinsic freedom, but on them the slavish service of necessity is imposed and they turn ever on their courses without change. A man, I say, has more honour than that, and yet when a man does not understand, it follows that he neglects to be similar to his Creator, and he is made a slave of the desires of the flesh, and thus, 'he is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is like them.' Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 48 1 Ps 48.21 2 Gen 1.26 3 Ps 8.6 4 Ps 103.4

The Great Work Of Man

Εἶπεν ὁ ἀββᾰς ᾽Αντώνιος τῷ ἀββᾷ Ποιμενι, ὅτι αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μεγάλη ἐργασια τοῦ ἀνθρωπου, ἴνα τὸ σφάλμα ἑαυτοῦ ἐπάνω ἑαυτοῦ βαλῃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ, και προσδοκήσῃ πειρασμον ἓως ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς.  ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.77

Father Anthony said to Father Poemen, 'This is the great work of man, that he takes his faults on himself in the presence of God and expects trials until the last breath.' Sayings of the Fathers, Palladius of Galatia