What does the Bible say about friendship with those who seek evil?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Handling a Friendship with Someone Who Actively Leads Others into Sin

The Holy Scriptures provide direct instruction regarding how to handle a relationship with someone who claims to desire righteousness while shamelessly practicing wickedness and leading others to fall.

1. Seducing Others into Sin Is Under Severe Condemnation

Leading others into sin is treated in Scripture not as a minor failing, but as an act of spiritual warfare against God’s people. Our Lord delivered a severe warning against those who cause others to stumble:

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)

A person who boasts, laughs, or shamelessly speaks about luring others into transgression is participating directly in the work of the adversary. Solomon lists among the things God hates: "A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil" (Proverbs 6:18).

2. Shamelessness Reveals a Lack of True Repentance

True repentance (— metanoia, a Greek loanword denoting a complete change of mind and heart) is always accompanied by brokenness, shame, and grief over sin. The Prophet Jeremiah warned against those who speak lightly of their corruption:

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush." (Jeremiah 6:15)

Saying "I am trying to stop" while openly and shamelessly sharing exploits of seduction is a manifestation of hypocrisy and self-deception. As St. Paul warns: "having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" (2 Timothy 3:5).

3. The Scriptural Mandate: Admonish, Then Distance

Scripture does not tell you to be a passive audience to someone's sin. The biblical course of action involves three clear steps:

• Rebuke the sin plainly: You are called not to indulge or quietly listen to these admissions. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:11). Tell this individual firmly that seducing others destroys souls, offends God, and requires genuine repentance and confession before an Orthodox priest, not casual gossip or shameless disclosure.
• Guard your own soul against spiritual infection: "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits'" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Listening repeatedly to someone recount calculated sin desensitizes your conscience. St. Paul warns: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). If you cannot restore them, you must protect yourself from being dragged down.
• Break fellowship if there is no genuine repentance: If the person rejects correction and continues to boast in or deliberately plan wickedness, the Apostolic command is clear:

"Do not keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person." (1 Corinthians 5:11)

"He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed." (Proverbs 13:20)

You owe this person honesty, prayer, and a call to repentance, but you do not owe them companionship that tolerates deliberate malice and seduction.

What Does the Bible Say About Friendship with Those Who Seek Evil?

Scripture consistently commands believers to separate themselves from close, intimate communion with those whose hearts are set on wickedness:

1. The Separation of the Righteous:

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." (Psalm 1:1)

1. The Danger of Entrapment:

"Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul." (Proverbs 22:24–25)

"Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on." (Proverbs 4:14–15)

1. Unequal Yoking:

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14)

While we are called to love all people, pray for our enemies, and desire the salvation of sinners, Christian friendship is based on a shared pursuit of God. One cannot maintain an intimate friendship with someone actively pursuing evil without eventually compromising one's own faith and purity.

Is "Arianus Governor of Akhmim" the Same as "Arianus Governor of Ansena"?

Yes, they are the exact same historical figure.

The person referred to is Arianus (frequently spelled Erianus or in Coptic hagiography and historical records). He was not an adherent of the theological heresy of Arianism (which arose later under Arius); rather, "Arianus" was simply his Roman name.

• His Official Office: Under Emperor Diocletian during the Great Persecution (beginning c. 303 A.D.), Arianus served as the Roman prefect or governor of the Thebaid (Upper Egypt).
• Capital at Ansena: His provincial capital and primary seat of government were Ansena (Antinoöpolis, known in Coptic as, near modern-day Sheikh Ibada, El-Minya). Because his headquarters were there, he is often titled the Governor of Ansena.
• Persecution in Akhmim: Because his jurisdiction covered the entire Thebaid, Arianus traveled southward from city to city with his soldiers to enforce the imperial edicts demanding sacrifice to the pagan idols. When he arrived in Akhmim, he conducted brutal interrogations and ordered the execution of vast numbers of believers (the Martyrs of Akhmim, including St. Dioscorus, St. Eulogius, and thousands of faithful Christians). Consequently, accounts concerning those specific martyrs refer to him as the Governor at Akhmim.

According to the Coptic Synaxarium (commemorated on the 8th of Baramhat), after martyring thousands across Upper Egypt, Arianus suffered an eye affliction. He followed instructions left by the martyr St. Philemon to take dirt mixed with the blood of the martyrs and place it on his eyes. Upon doing so, his eyesight was miraculously restored. Struck with conviction, Arianus repented, confessed faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and was subsequently summoned to Alexandria by Diocletian, where he was tortured and crowned with the crown of martyrdom.