Letter 613

To Auxentius the Ekdikos [ekdikos: a civic defender/advocate]. "And He brought forth into light the shadow of death" [Job 12:22] -- that is, God brought into the open and made public the nature of sin that had long lurked hidden within. But hear and declare: do not suppose, as some have surmised, that sin is a rational living creature; for sin by its nature comes to be -- and again comes to pass away -- within the free choice of the human being.

Ἐξήγαγε δὲ εἰς φῶς σκιὰν θανάτου, » τουτέστιν, εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἤγαγε, καὶ δεδημοσίευκεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν πάλαι ἐνδομυχοῦσαν φύσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ἀλλὰ φάθι ἀκουσάς, μὴ νόμιζε, καθὼς τινες ὁπετόπησαν, ζῶον τὸ λογικὸν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὑπάρχειν · ἐν γὰρ τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου προαιρέσει γίνεσθαι τε, καὶ πάλιν δὲ γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν ἡ ἁμαρτία.