Letter 959

To Julian. You have read in Ezekiel of the elders burning incense to demons in the hidden chamber, and saying, "God has forsaken the land, and does not see the things we have done in secret" [Ezekiel 8:12]. If you have read this, consider whether you too, in the hidden storeroom of the soul, are inscribing images of the most shameful passions, and making them into gods, and tending them. Now the hidden storeroom of the soul has already been said to be the heart, in which many lawless deeds come to be, which the sleepless Eye alone beholds. Often, then, even elders work lawlessness in their heart.

Ἀνέγνως ἐν τῷ Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους θυμιῶντας δαίμοσιν ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ κοιτῶνι, καὶ λέγοντας, Ἐγκατέλιπε τὴν γῆν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐχ ὁρᾷ τὰ κρυφῇ ἡμῶν πεπραγμένα. Εἰ τοῦτο ἀνέγνως, σκόπησον, μήποτε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ ἀποκρύφῳ τῆς ψυχῆς ταμιείῳ τῶν αἰσχίστων παθῶν εἴδωλα διαγράφεις θεοποιεῖς τε καὶ θεραπεύεις. Ἀπόκρυφον δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ταμιεῖον ἡ καρδία προείρηται, ἐν ᾗ πολλοὶ γίνονται ἀνομίαι, ἃς μόνος βλέπει ὁ ἀκοίμητος. ὀφθαλμός. Πολλάκις τοίνυν καὶ πρεσβύτεροι ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀνομίαν ἐργάζονται.