Letter 306

To the same person. "And you sat for them like a crow," said the prophet; that is, having forgotten God for a long time, you persisted diligently in your sins, and through your transgressions you persisted with the unclean demons. For the crow lives a long time, and is fond of its young. So too, then, every pleasure-loving and world-loving person loves and cherishes his own offspring, that is, his ruinous and abominable deeds.

Καὶ ἐκάθισας αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ κορώνη, ἔλεγεν ὁ προφήτης· τουτέστι, πολὺν χρόνον ἐπιλαθόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ, προσδιέτριβες φιλοπόνως ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, καὶ διὰ τῶν πταισμάτων τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις δαίμοσιν. Ἡ γὰρ κορώνη πολλὰ ζῇ, καὶ φιλότεκνός ἐστι. Πάνυ τοίνυν καὶ πᾶς ὁ φιλήδονος, καὶ φιλόκοσμος φι- λεῖ καὶ στέργει τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι τὰ ὀλέθρια, καὶ βδελυρὰ πράγματα.