Gregory of Nazianzus, on Ps 57:4

“The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.”

“We hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping human notice we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we make excuses for our sins by devising pleas in defense of our falls or by tightly closing our ears. Like the snake that stops its ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer and be treated with the medicines of wisdom, by which spiritual sickness is healed.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.