De oratione

Concerning Prayer. Come, all brothers, let us acknowledge the one who made us, our Lord Jesus Christ, the good, philanthropic, and merciful one, who does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live. All of you, keep watch and be ready, for you do not know at what hour our Lord comes; come, hear him saying: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Therefore, brothers, since judgment is at the door, there is need of many tears, much lamentation, and much prayer—prayer not made today and tomorrow. For prayer is an inexhaustible treasure of every good, a harbor without storm, a foundation of calm, a healing-place for the soul; prayer is psalmody, a sanctification of soul and body; and, to speak simply, prayer opens the gates of heaven, brings every man—small and great, rich and poor—to God, and renders the one who prays with whole soul each day greater than angels. But what is the cold saying of the many? I am a sinner, one says, and without confidence, full of shame, and I cannot gaze and look upon the height of heaven, because I have sinned much in words and deeds and in thought, and I have spent every day and hour of my life in dissipation, and with what face or confidence shall I enter the church? How shall I open my wicked and unclean mouth? How shall I move my lips, or entreat God first concerning which of my evil deeds? Do you then speak these satanic words? Learn whom Christ called when he came upon the earth—the righteous or the sinners? For he speaks thus:

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. "I am a sinner," one says, "and how shall I enter the church so that I may become righteous?" You speak well: "I hear, and I do not keep it; and what benefit is it to me?" And I say to you again: whether you keep it or not, only enter the church; you hear the divine Scriptures, listen to the reading. I know truly that if you enter the church and hear the divine Gospels, and the teachers the apostles, and the divine fathers, even if you have a heart of stone, even if you have the mind and savagery of a beast, eventually and easily you will be moved to compunction. Are you a sinner? Enter the church, prostrate yourself, weep, lament, groan, shed tears. Have you sinned? Confess your sins to God; only say, "I have sinned"; say it to God who knew before your birth; say it to God who examines hearts and kidneys; say it here, so that you may not be put to shame and reproached there before myriads of angels and men. Tell me, what is more beautiful: to confess here in church to God alone and to your spiritual father, or to be exposed there before so many myriads? Are you a sinner? Only say it; I require nothing else from you, only groan. What necessity is this? What affliction? What expenditure of money? What difficulty is there in only saying, "I have sinned"? But you say, "I am ashamed." Wretched and miserable one, when you committed the sin, you were not ashamed, and when you wish to repent and be saved, are you ashamed? When you entangled yourself with the wicked prostitute and did a wicked deed, you were not ashamed, and now are you ashamed?

When you were sinning, when you were fornicating and committing adultery, you were not ashamed, and when you repent and wish to be saved, then you are ashamed? When you were seizing others’ property, when you were oppressing widows and looking down on the poor, you were not ashamed, and now you are ashamed? When you were swearing the fearful name of God, and bearing false witness, when you were perjuring yourself, when you were doing every evil and wicked deed that God hates, you were not ashamed, and now you are ashamed? Oh, what a good Master we have, and yet we are negligent and do not turn back! Christ advises: Do not steal, do not fornicate, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbor as yourself; be gentle, good, merciful, long-suffering; be peaceable, peaceful, that you may be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven. And there is no one who understands, no one who heeds, no one who pays attention, but we are all idle. The devil, on the contrary, advises the opposite, saying: Be an adulterer, murder, perjure yourself, steal, be inhuman, blasphemous, unmerciful, pitiless, a corrupter; be a lover of money, a hater of mankind, or rather a hater of God; be a knave, a wrongdoer, a covetous man; be a plunderer, a slanderer, a teller of tales, a reviler, a perjurer. And we know how many of us who do such things obey; for just as slaves bound hand and foot, so we run and submit by nature. Behold, we have spent all our youth with demons; behold, we have grown old, and have become accustomed to sins. We are unable to do good, so as to obtain the kingdom of heaven.

The devil procures fire and eternal punishment, and we run to the devil. What shall we do with you, man? What do you want? What do you desire? To be with Christ, or to be with the demons? Do you desire to be with Christ? Then from now on cease from self-indulgence, cease from debauchery, cease from fornication, cease from stealing, cease from drunkenness, cease from seizing others’ property, cease from mocking, from lying, from being puffed up. Let no one deceive you; for none of such persons will enter into the kingdom of the heavens. But if you desire to be with the demons, if you desire to enter the gehenna of fire, then do as you wish, live as you please, no one hinders you; enjoy the world and its shameful desires, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, intemperance, and every demonic pleasure; no one impedes you. For the Gospels do not persuade you, the law does not discipline you, the prophets do not admonish you, the apostles do not shame you, the exhortations of the fathers do not benefit you, the company of brethren does not turn you away; you have become utterly shameless, your face has become that of a harlot. So then enjoy your goods in your life; but there, do not expect any salvation, nor any inheritance on the future day of Christ. For the hour will escape you then, when naked and with your neck stretched out you stand before the tribunal of Christ, made a spectacle to angels and men. There you will appear as you are; there all your injustice will be exposed; God is not mocked; and then you will hear that grievous voice.

Bind his hands and feet, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Who then will not mourn such a one? Who will not weep for him who, for the sake of temporary pleasure, is tormented eternally? Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. For it is written: Neither prostitutes, nor adulterers, nor revilers, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor unjust, nor effeminate, nor men who lie with men, nor idolaters, nor blasphemers, nor lovers of money, nor any such persons have an inheritance in the kingdom of the heavens. Considering all these things, brothers, let us abstain from such evil deeds, and let us not delay to repent with all our souls, so that we may both escape the coming wrath and attain the heavenly and eternal goods. May it be that we all obtain them, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory is to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.