Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Proverbs 5:22

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

Clothed as you are in the rotten garments of your offenses and "held fast in the meshes of your own sins," listen to the prophet's voice saying, "Wash yourselves clean! Put away the misdeeds of your souls from before my eyes," that the angelic choir may chant over you: "Happy [are] they whose faults are taken away, whose sins are covered."

Catechetical Lecture 1:1 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Let those who are bound fear, those who are loosed fear. Let those who are loosed be afraid of being bound; those who are bound pray to be loosed. "Each one is tied up in the threads of his own sins." And apart from the church, nothing is loosed.

Sermon 295:2 ↗

Bede

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, etc. There is a difference between a sinner and a wicked person, because a sinner is called anyone who falls into either small or great crimes; but a wicked person is one who either never accepts the faith or, by the enormity of his crimes, becomes anathema from the faith he once received, like heretics or Catholics involved in public scandals, who are bound by the chains of their sins and perish with the incessant increase of their depravity. …

Commentary on Proverbs ↗