Letter 742

To Anastasius the Presbyter. That those set in authority, when they keep silent about what must be said, will be punished for the destruction of those placed under them, see what the Lord says: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear a word from my mouth, and shall give them warning. When I say to the sinner, 'You shall surely die,' if then you do not speak to warn the impious man away from his way, that lawless man shall die in his lawlessness; but his blood I will require from your hand." [Ezekiel 3:17-18, in the Septuagint version]

Ὅτι οἱ προεστῶτες παρασιωπήσαντες τὰ δέοντα, κολασθήσονται ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀπωλείας τῶν ὑπ’ αὐτοὺς τε-ταγμένων, βλέπε τί λέγει Κύριος· «Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, σκοπὸν δέδωκά σε τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀκούσῃ ἐκ στόματός μου λόγον, καὶ φυλάξεις, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν με τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ, φησί· Θανάτῳ, θανατωθήσῃ. Ἐὰν τοίνυν μὴ λαλήσῃς τοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ, αὐτὸς ὁ ἄνομος τῇ ἀνομίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀποθανεῖται· τὸ δὲ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐκζητήσω.»