Hypocrisy and hidden deceit are deadly; every good or evil done to a brother is done to God
Gregory opens his commentary on Jeremiah by applying the prophet's warning about a neighbor who speaks peace while harboring enmity to the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.
"Each one speaks peace to his neighbor, but holds enmity within himself," and so on (Jeremiah 9:8). The scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish people would not have inherited so great a "woe" from the Savior if it were not for hypocrisy. For in exposing their sins, the Lord never stopped warning them on every occasion: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," calling them whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful to people on the outside but inside are full of dead bones and every kind of uncleanness (Matthew 23:27). If we do something good to a neighbor through unhypocritical love, we hear from the Savior: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). In the same way, if we do something evil to a brother through deceptive and defiled hypocrisy, or through any other sin whatever, we sin against God just as much. Hypocrisy, brothers, is therefore a terrible and hostile thing. And deceit hidden in the heart, meant to entrap those who come forward in simplicity, speaks one thing with the mouth while carrying another in the breast, and so it deceives those who possess love. Pride is not good, since it carries with it much empty glory. For it is clear—very clear—that every perfect good comes from God. It cannot be received by a human being in any other way, so that what has been said is truly the most certain of all: the one who boasts should glory only in this, in understanding and knowing that the Lord himself is the one who shows mercy and judgment and righteousness, and in this is the will of God (Jeremiah 9:24). For the divine takes pleasure in such a person and always produces good things that are lasting and secure, when that person attributes the cause of the good things he has to the one who is truly the ultimate cause—the one to whom he must also attribute the cause of the good things remaining.
Greek
Τὸ πλησίον αὐτοῦ λαλεῖ εἰρηνικὰ, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει τὴν ἐχθράν κτλ. Οὐκ ἂν οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ φαρισαῖοι τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων πολὺ τὸ οὐαὶ παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐκληρονόμησαν, εἰ μὴ διὰ τὴν ὑπόκρισιν· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἐλέγχοις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπαύσατο κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν προλέγων ὁ Κύριος· Οὐαὶ ὑμὶν, 592 γραμματεῖς καὶ φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταὶ, κεκονιαμένους τάφους ἀποκαλῶν αὐτοὺς, οἱ ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὡραῖοι, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ὀστέων νεκρῶν καὶ πά-σης ἀκαθαρσίας. Ἐὰν γάρ τι εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀγαθὸν ἐργασώμεθα διὰ τῆς ἀνυποκρίτου ἀγάπης, ἀ-κούομεν παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος· Ἐφ' ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ εἴ τι φαῦλον διὰ τῆς ἀπατηλῆς καὶ μιαρᾶς ὑποκρίσεως, ἢ καὶ διὰ ὁποιασοῦν ἑτέρας ἁ-μαρτίας, εἰς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐνδειξώμεθα, ὁ-μοίως ἁμαρτάνομεν καὶ εἰς τὸν Θεόν. ∆εῖνον οὖν ἡ ὑπόκρισις, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ πολέμιον· καὶ κεκρυμμένος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ δόλος, εἰς ἀπά-την τῶν ἁπλῶς προσφερομένων, τοῖς ἀγά-πην κεκτημένοις, ἄλλα μὲν ἐκ στόματος λαλοῦσα, ἄλλα δὲ ἐν στέρνοις φέρουσα, δελεάζει. Οὐκ ἀγαθὸν ἡ ὑπερηφανία, ψευδοδοξίαν ἔχουσα πολλήν· δῆλον γὰρ, δῆλον, ὡς πᾶν ἀγαθὸν τέλειον θεόθεν ἔρχεται· καὶ οὐκ ἔστι ληπτὸν ἄλλως ἀνθρώπῳ, ὡς ὄντως ἀ-ληθέστατον εἶναι πάντων τὸ εἰρημένον, ὅτι δέοι τὸν αὐχοῦντα ἐπί τινι τούτῳ μόνον σε-μνύνεσθαι, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ συνιέναι καὶ γινώσ-κειν ὅτι Κύριος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν ἔλεος καὶ κρίμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀρέσκεται γὰρ τὸ θεῖον τῷ τοιούτῳ ἀνθρώπῳ, μόνιμά τε καὶ βέβαια φέρει διὰ παντὸς τὰ ἀγαθὰ, ὅταν τούτῳ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδιδῷ τῷν παρόντων ἀγαθῶν τῷ ὄντως αἰτιωτάτῳ, ᾧ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀναφέρειν δεῖ καὶ τοῦ μένειν τὰ ἀγαθά.