Homilia de paenitentia

Homily on Repentance. The most honored brother, unable to bear the arrogance of those who dare to abolish repentance, has imposed upon us a second command, seeing this pride, and extending a prudent right hand to the brothers for repentance. The discourse is most useful for men. For no man is without sin. For it is attested of one that he committed no sin. We shall therefore speak concerning repentance from the Old and New Testaments. For these are the treasures of the Church. We commend repentance, not urging a brother toward sin (for we do not wish the one who has sinned to go into sins in the hope of repentance), but hastening to raise up the one who has fallen. For the hopelessness introduced by our opponents urges the one who has once fallen to be entangled with sins; but the expectation of repentance urges the one who has fallen to rise up and sin no more. Who are we to legislate for God? God wishes to forgive; and who is hindering? Because we say not what they dare, but what God commands. "Does not the one who falls rise again?" They contradict God. The one who falls does not rise. He did not convince you with a bare word; he will convince you through a clear example. For what is so unwashed as scarlet? And what is white among us as snow, or as clean wool? The one who fashioned these things says, "If your sins become like unwashed colors, if you were to wash, it changes into the purity of snow." But this remission is not after baptism.

He said, it is said, "Wash yourselves, become clean." And this especially, if you had asked it of us, we could show from Scripture that baptism is a remission. For we must not, choosing the easy points, argue against them, but rather rise up against those things that seem strong in the opposing argument. For as long as the things that oppose are not removed from the soul, the sufferer is incurable. But since salt water cannot be sweetened, we now also speak from the Old Testament: let us see what they say against the things said from the Old Testament. For they say that before the passion of the Savior, before the holy blood was shed for us, if you read to us from the Old Testament about repentance, we say that in the Old Testament it is permitted; but in the New, because of the passion, there will be no remission. But if we show from the New Testament that even after baptism and partaking of the Spirit, someone who has sinned recalls the gift through repentance, it is clear that repentance exists for those who have fallen even after baptism; and the things in the Old Testament concerning repentance will be authoritative. I speak as they attend; hence I also touch upon heavier matters, so that, becoming hopeful, we may not, having once fallen, persist in the fall. You were not persuaded by him who presented it through an example; be persuaded by the oath of God. God says, "I live, says the Lord." And this is an oath befitting God. For since he had no one greater than himself, he swears because of the disbelief of those who abolish repentance: "I live, says the Lord," [and let no one fear,] that "I do not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he turn back and live." The living one wishes to live.

Nor when God swears is he trustworthy? Does he persuade neither by word, nor by example, nor by oath? Be persuaded by deeds. Was not Nineveh overthrown? For it repented. The prophet’s indignation, that it was not overthrown; a gourd sprang up. He makes apology to you, that you may remember that he is good. But I fear lest you hear from him: “If your eye is evil, because I am good?” Who is recorded as more impious than Ahab? I speak as they read. He seized, in addition to his other seizures, a vineyard, having killed its owner; he went down to inherit it; he went down rejoicing. The one who grieved met him, the reproving prophet; not an enemy, but as one sparing he pronounced not his own judgment, but that of God. After the judgment he put on sackcloth, and puts off his mastery. For it is written that the prophet himself, who was sent for the judgment, heard from God that, Because Ahab prayed, fearing the threat, what I said will not be in his days. I am compelled to desire a good remedy. David the holy, and holy after the sin, transgressed three of the ten commandments in one matter. Since we speak to you, let us speak more clearly. There occurred need, and murder, and desire for another’s wife. The righteous man sinned, and God made him judge of his own sin. For since we do not see a beam in our own eye, but a speck in another’s, he brings his own judgment to him as if it were another’s, and says that “Two men were in one city, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had many possessions;

But the poor man had a single ewe lamb, which even slept in his bosom (this is a woman's secret), ate with him, and drank from his cup. "A stranger," it says, "came to the rich man." And rightly "stranger," for David had no custom of such things. "So a stranger came to him. Leaving aside," it says, "what he had to sacrifice for the stranger, he seizes and sacrifices the poor man's single ewe lamb." However far the strong man falls, he has a swift recovery. David was indignant, for David had also fallen. "As the Lord lives, the one who did this is worthy of death." He pronounced judgment against himself. When he pronounced it, the prophet revealed who the man was. Immediately he came to the remedy; he saw the wound; he fled to the physician. "I have sinned," he says, and immediately there is healing. "And the Lord has set aside your sin." For what do you wish, that one sin be counted among holy deeds, or much righteousness? He committed a sin, but he also performed many righteous acts. What is just before a just God, to remember the few or to forget the many? Let there be a balance, and by what we measure, we shall be measured. If the sins are more, let him be a sinner; but if the righteous acts are more, let him be righteous. One and one. For among us, everything is named from the majority. There is whiter than white, and sweeter than sweet in comparison. Thus we are righteous as men, not as sin is righteousness. Hence the Son of God is called righteousness; we are righteous by participation in righteousness. And Moses spoke something with his tongue, but was not hindered by the narrative. And Abraham is found faithful, and there is where he was unfaithful.

I do not accuse the righteous, but I glorify God. I do not exhort us to sin. Enoch pleased God, the Scripture says, after begetting his son. If he pleased after that, it is possible to please without being pleased. But let us come to the New [Testament], having even more from the Old. For Manasseh, who placed four-faced idols in the temple of God so that from whichever side one entered one would worship the idols, after repenting was recalled from captivity. Let us come to the New. For from that which they most wish to shut out repentance, from that very thing repentance is most proclaimed. Let us inquire of the Saviour, "Why have you come?" and he answers, "I did not come to save the righteous, but sinners, he says, to repentance." Let us examine him, "What do you carry on your shoulders?" "A lost sheep," he says. "Over whom does joy occur in the heavens?" he says, "Over some repenting sinner." Angels rejoice, and you begrudge? God rejoicing receives, and you hinder? Let us more vehemently flee to the good God. Two, he says, there were, both sons (you cannot say to me that this repentance is from the Greeks, but both were sons, having divided equally). The younger consumes what he had; being righteous, he falls. Having consumed everything, he came to repentance, and hastens to the father, and meditates, to the father

Answering, what to say? "I have sinned," he said, "against you, and before heaven." These things he planned, but he did not escape the notice of the good father. He came to make a defense; the one who was ashamed met him. Only be willing, and he himself meets you first. He begins to speak, and the father takes him up. Consider the bowels, and do not cut off hope. He received him, and says: Sacrifice a bull, and bring out a robe, and this an old one, and a ring on the hand. All these things are misinterpreted, but they briefly indicate the good encouragement of the one who received him, not toward what I wish, but toward what he says. But if you are indignant that he receives him after he has fed pigs, after he has wasted everything, the brother also was indignant, but nevertheless the one who was ashamed received him. And a fig tree that is cultivated, and for three years does not give fruit, is let alone, and is not cut down in hope of its giving. A master grants a favor, and will you object? Does one not seize things for oneself as one's own? But if God grants a favor, who is the one contradicting? Then let us be taught to pray: "Forgive us our debts, because we also have forgiven." You forgive; does God not forgive? He made you a physician of yourself. By the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. You forgive; he forgives you. But you, the wicked one, are kind; is not the good one much more so? Jesus is with sinners; the physician is with the sick. The Pharisees, the fathers of those who are now indignant, are indignant; the merciful one does not turn away. He entered the house of a Pharisee when invited; a sinful woman, not invited, came in to him. She saw the sin; she approached righteousness; she saw the sickness; she went where the physician was.

He came not face to face, for he had no boldness; he did not take hold of his hand, for he did not dare; but he cast himself at his feet, which he washed with his tears, and then only did he well let down his hair, which had often appeared ill, and then well did he bare it. For you it was written to take refuge at the feet of Jesus. He went up to the Father, but he says, "I am with you." Whenever you wish, take refuge confidently, wet his feet, he is near. And he came present, and he departed present. These things from the New Testament are akin to those in the Old. What does John proclaim? A baptism of repentance. And he teaches in parables, not once, not twice, that you may learn by being taught many times. Peter denies three times, and he lies in the foundation. Paul from a persecutor becomes a herald. But here there is a question. But what does he himself say? "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first." He reveals his own fault, to show the magnitude of the grace. But Peter, having spoken and been blessed, having said, "You are the Son of God" the Most High, and having heard, "You are a rock," was praised. For if he is a rock, not as Christ is a rock, but as Peter is a rock; for Christ is truly an unshaken rock; but Peter is through the rock. For Jesus bestows his own dignities, not being emptied, but having what he gives. He is light. "You are the light of the world." He is priest; he makes priests. He is a sheep. "Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves." He is a rock; he makes a rock, and bestows his own things upon his servants. For this is a sign of a rich man, to have and to bestow. But the rich among us, when they bestow, diminish what they have.

For we are not rich, for what we possess belongs to others. But he who is rich in this way, however much he gives away, remains so rich that he is like an ever-flowing spring. However much you take, the flow is not diminished. And not even like a spring, for there is no worthy example among us of that nature. But since we have nothing worthy, we use lesser things, so that we may somehow come to know the unknowable. Three times Peter denies, not so that Peter may fall, but so that you too may have consolation. He wept, his tears bent our merciful one. For his intention was good. Everywhere he alone confesses. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." The one who fashioned the creation knows it, and he bears its weaknesses, forgiving its transgressions. "Remember, Lord," he says, "that we are dust." For what is our righteousness? Abraham was truly great. He was great precisely because he is earth and ashes. For he who knows the distance between God and men knows himself. Listen also to other beatitudes. "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over." God blesses, and you hinder? Then do the Scriptures speak as we wish, or must we follow as they are written? And these things are against us. Contentiousness is not good, cutting off hope. But since we promise forgiveness after baptism (for this is the most compelling point for mischief), the Apostle writes in the first Epistle to the Corinthians that "Fornication is altogether named among you, and such fornication as is not even named among the Gentiles." You have heard the magnitude of the evil; hear also the magnitude of the judgment.

When you are gathered together," he says, "and my spirit in the power of Christ, to hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved." He is teaching, for he does not cast off as an enemy. In the first passage he handed over to Satan; in the second he writes nothing contrary to the first. "To confirm love toward him, lest such a one perish from the excess of grief." The Apostle has loosed even the unloosable. Then he says to hand over such a one to Satan; afterward, writing about the same person and granting indulgence, he says: "Lest we be outdone by Satan." For if he takes one of us, he has outdone us. A sheep goes out from the flock and becomes prey for wolves. Bring it in, so that it may escape the ambush; just as good shepherds, even if the sheep is taken, hasten at least to take the hide. If it is good to strip the hide of a dead man, is it not worthy to take a soul from the mouth of a wolf? And in war a hero is wounded, and not because he was wounded is he for that reason not crowned; but he received many wounds while fighting. The one evil is counted, but the many good things are not counted by God. How many martyrs, having first denied, the second time recalled their defeat? But they denied not in their mind, but with their tongue. For the flesh is weak. Denying, one falls; confessing again, one recovers. For God does not preserve the evil things and reject the good. And someone being tortured often gave way, not enduring, not the willingness, but the pain. But having been overcome, and having received respite, he recovers. Will the small word be preserved for him, and the tortures not be counted? But God is judge, not the audacity of men.

Do you dare to legislate for God, who knows the weakness, and supplies the help, and will grant the victory? How many have not been martyred from a good life? Then, because desire has turned back, will they be deprived of their labors? We are not angels, but humans; and we fall and we rise, often within the same hour. "And one star differs from another star in glory." Why? For if there is some measure of righteousness, all ought to have the same; but if some shine like the sun, others gleam like the moon, and others shine according to the difference of the stars, it is clear that one surpasses; and the one who is inferior clearly has small sins. But if there were no forgiveness for anyone who has sinned, the difference would lie in the variety. But since it is necessary to show that those who have lapsed after baptism are saved, I say this with fear, lest you depart contrary to my wish; for I very much wish that those who receive baptism not sin. But if some ever lapse unwillingly, I do not wish what those who abolish repentance wish, that we should die together with the cross; but what the Apostle wishes, both to be buried with him and no longer to live in sin, this I do wish. "I do not reject the grace of God," the Apostle says, writing to the Galatians, that they received the Spirit. Do you seek something more evident than this? But he adds: "You are so foolish, having begun with the Spirit, you now end with the flesh." Therefore they have received the Spirit. And again: "This only I wish.

Learn from yourselves: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from hearing of faith? You were running well. See how many advantages. Listen to the sins. "Now you are being fulfilled in the flesh, you have fallen away from Christ." You saw them having the Spirit; you heard that "You have been nullified from Christ;" similarly also, "You have fallen from grace." What does he add after this, giving place for renewal? "My children, whom I am bringing forth again in labor." He had once given birth; but he who once gave birth does not refuse to give birth a second time for salvation. If someone does everything else wickedly, this very thing is godless. But men, having received the Spirit, running well, having endured so much, having taken risks, having endured in vain, having fallen and been nullified, are born again, so that they may again receive the form of God. Does any argument about repentance still remain for you? Who fashioned us? God. He made for us a body, he made for us a soul. Does he overlook? Who gave us the medicine of life? Why are there readings? So that we may desist from sins. Why are we watered? So that we may bear fruit. What do we pray for? So that our sins may be forgiven. Let us fulfill the word. For whom is there no repentance? But he who does evil in hope of repentance has a manner of wickedness, and is deprived of repentance. There is hope even after sin, there is healing even after the wound, but the scar remains. Blessed is not even to hesitate; second blessedness is healing after the blow.

To God the Creator from the beginning, who comes to the aid of weakness, preserves free will, and grants repentance through Him who brings us good things, Jesus Christ our Lord, belongs glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.