ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 15 v33

BLIND GUIDES. CYPRIAN: The Lord teaches and admonishes that we must withdraw from such. “They are blinded guides of the blind. But if the blind man guide a blind man, both shall fall into a pit.” Such a one is to be turned away from, and whoever has separated himself from the church is to be shunned. Such a man is perverted and is condemned by his very self. Does he seem to himself to be with Christ, who acts contrary to the elders of Christ, who separates himself from association with his clergy and his people? That man bears his arms against the church; he fights against God’s plan. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 17.

GOOD CORRUPTED BY EVIL. ORIGEN: We see quiet and respectable men who, when they have become associated with turbulent and shameless people, have their good manners corrupted by evil conversations. They are turned into men of the same sort as those who are steeped in every kind of witness. This sometimes happens to men of mature age, who prove that they have lived more chastely in youth than when advanced years had granted them the opportunity of a freer life. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.1.5.

THE CHASTISEMENT OF GOD. CYPRIAN: An enemy of the altar, a rebel against Christ’s sacrifice, a traitor to his faith, a blasphemous renegade, a disobedient servant, an undutiful son, a hostile brother, he scorns the bishops, turns his back on God’s priests and dares to set up another altar, to offer another prayer in unlawful words, to profane the true offering of the Lord with false sacrifices. Does he not know that the presumption which strives against the ordinance of God is punished by the chastisement of God? THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 17.

DISCRETION. JEROME: You despise gold; someone else loves it. You spurn wealth; he eagerly pursues it. You love silence, weakness and privacy. He takes delight in talking and effrontery in the public square, and streets, and apothecary shops. … Do not remain under the same roof with him. Do not rely on your past continence. You cannot be holier than David or wiser than Solomon. … If in the course of your clerical duty you have to visit a widow or a virgin, never enter the house alone. Let your companions be persons who will not disgrace you. … You must not sit alone with a woman secretly and without witnesses. If she has anything confidential to disclose, she is sure to have some nurse or housekeeper, some virgin, some widow, some married woman. She cannot be so friendless as to have none except you to whom she can venture to confide her secrets. LETTER 52.

THE REBUKE OF BAD COMPANY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says this both in order to rebuke their past conduct and to show that he makes some allowance for them, in the hope that they will now repent and return to the right path. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 40.4.

1 Cor