you were born of God; and a little after: You were born blameless in your days, until iniquity was found in you. It was not brought in from without; you gave birth to evil. And because of your sins you were wounded, and I cast you to the earth. The Lord again in the Gospels says: I saw Satan 33.413 fall like lightning from heaven to the earth. Do you see the agreement of the Old with the New? He, having fallen, drew many away with him; he instills desires in those who obey him; from him comes adultery, fornication, and every kind of evil. Through him our forefather fell through disobedience, and instead of a paradise that bore fruit of its own accord, he received a thorn-bearing earth. 5. What then? someone will say; we are lost; sin is a terrible thing, and there is no salvation? We have fallen, and it is not possible to rise again? We have been blinded, and it is not possible to see again? We have become lame, and it is not possible to walk upright? To put it briefly, we have died, is it not possible to rise again? Can He who raised Lazarus, who had been dead four days and stank, not raise you? Can He who shed his precious blood for us not deliver us from sin? Let us not despair of ourselves, brothers, let us not cast ourselves away; just as it is a terrible thing not to believe in repentance. For he who does not expect salvation adds to his evils; but he who hopes for a cure, from then on readily spares himself. A robber who does not expect a pardon, grows in desperation; but if he hopes, he often turns to repentance. Then a serpent indeed casts off its old skin; but shall we not cast off sin? And a thorny land, when cultivated, has turned into a fruitful one; and shall we who are taught not become better? Nature is receptive to salvation, but it seeks free will. 6. God is loving to mankind, and not a little loving to mankind. Do not say: I have fornicated, I have committed adultery, terrible things have been done by me; will God forgive? Hear what the Psalmist says: How great is the multitude of your goodness, O Lord! Your accumulated sins do not overcome the multitude of God's mercies; your wounds do not overcome the Physician's experience. Only give yourself through faith; tell the Physician your affliction, say also yourself according to David: I said: I will confess against myself my sin to the Lord, and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart. 7. Do you wish to see God's love for mankind, if you do not fully believe the sayings of Scripture, having newly entered into instruction? Do you wish to see others saved in this way, so that you may believe that it is possible for it to happen to you also? Do you wish to see God's great love for mankind? Adam the first-formed disobeyed God. Could He not have immediately brought on death? But the most loving to mankind cast him out of paradise, but made him dwell opposite it, so that by seeing it he might be saved through repentance. Cain the brother-killer, inventor of evils, chief of murders, the first to be envious and to slay, how is he condemned? A groaning and trembling man you shall be upon the earth. Great the sin, small the punishment. 8. Love for mankind indeed, but still small. Consider the things in the time of Noah. The giants sinned with such 33.416 lawlessness that a flood was about to come. In the five hundredth year he speaks to Noah, in the six hundredth he brings the flood upon the earth. Do you see the breadth of God's love for mankind extending for a hundred years? What he did then, could he not have done immediately? But he purposely prolonged it, giving an opportunity for repentance. Do you see God's goodness? If only those of that time had repented! And they would have obtained God's love for mankind. 9. Come now also to the others who were saved through repentance, even among women. You have fornicated, you have defiled your body, you have become useless; is there salvation? you will say. Look, O woman, to Rahab, and take courage for salvation. She who fornicated openly and publicly is saved. How was she saved? She believed; she only said: Your God, is God in heaven and on earth. Your God; for she did not dare say her own, because of her licentiousness. Imitate her faith, and receive salvation. And do you wish to know that she was saved? It is written in the Psalms: I will remember Rahab and Babylon. O the great counsel and love for mankind of God, who even makes mention of prostitutes in the Scriptures!

τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθης· καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἐγεννήθης ἄμωμος ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις σου, ἄχρις οὗ εὑρέθη τὰ ἀδικήματα ἐν σοί. Οὐκ ἔξωθεν ἐπεισηνέχθη· ἐγέννησας τὸ κακόν. Καὶ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου ἐτραυματίσθης, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἔῤῥιψά σε. Ὁ Κύριος πάλιν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις λέγει· Ἐθεώρουν τὸν Σατανᾶν 33.413 ὡς ἀστραπὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσόντα ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. Βλέπεις Παλαιᾶς συμφωνίαν πρὸς Καινήν; Οὗτος πεσὼν συναπέστησεν πολλούς· οὗτος ἐκβάλλει τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῖς πειθομένοις· ἐκ τούτου μοιχεία, πορνεία, καὶ πᾶν εἴ τι κακόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτον ὁ προπάτωρ ἡμῶν ἐκ παρακοῆς πέπτωκεν, καὶ ἀντὶ παραδείσου αὐτομάτως φέροντος καρποὺς, ἀκανθοφόρον ἔσχεν γῆν. Εʹ. Τί οὖν; ἐρεῖ τις· ἀπολώλαμεν· ἡ ἁμαρτία δεινὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρία; πεπτώκαμεν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναστῆναι; ἐτυφλώθημεν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναβλέψαι; χωλοὶ γεγόναμεν, καὶ οὐκ ἕστιν ἀρτιποδῆσαι; ἵνα ἄρτι τὸ σύντομον εἴπωμεν, ἀπεθάνομεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναστῆναι; Ἆρα ὁ τὸν Λάζαρον τετραήμερον ἐγείρας τὸν ὀδωδότα, οὐ δύναται ἀναστῆσαι; ὁ τὸ τίμιον αἷμα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐκχέας, οὐ δύναται ἡμᾶς ῥύσασθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας; Μὴ ἀπογνῶμεν ἑαυτοὺς, ἀδελφοὶ, μὴ ῥίψωμεν ἑαυτούς· ὥσπερ τι δεινόν ἐστι μὴ πιστεύειν εἰς μετάνοιαν. Ὁ μὴ προσδοκῶν γὰρ τὴν σωτηρίαν, προστίθησι τὰ κακά· ὁ δὲ τὴν ἰατρείαν ἐλπίσας, εὐμαρῶς λοιπὸν ἑαυτοῦ φείδεται. Λῃστὴς ὁ μὴ δωρεὰν προσδοκῶν, εἰς ἀπόνοιαν αὔξει· ἐλπίσας δὲ, εἰς μετάνοιαν χωρεῖ πολλάκις. Εἶτα ὄφις μὲν ἀποτίθεται τὸ γῆρας· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀποτιθέμεθα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν; Καὶ ἀκανθώδης γεωργηθεῖσα γῆ, εἰς καρποφόρον μετέβαλεν· ἡμεῖς δὲ διδασκόμενοι οὐ βελτιωσόμεθα; Ἐπιδέχεται ἡ φύσις τὴν σωτηρίαν, ζητεῖ δὲ τὴν προαίρεσιν. ʹ. Φιλάνθρωπος ὁ Θεὸς, φιλάνθρωπος δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγον. Μὴ εἴπῃς· Ἐπόρνευσα, ἐμοίχευσα, τὰ δεινά μοι πέπρακται· ἆρα συγχωρήσει ὁ Θεός; Ἄκουε τί λέγει ὁ Ψαλμῳδός· Ὡς πολὺ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χρηστότητός σου, Κύριε! Οὐ νικᾶ σου τὰ συναχθέντα ἁμαρτήματα τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ· οὐ νικᾷ σου τὰ τραύματα τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἐμπειρίαν. ∆ὸς μόνον σεαυτὸν διὰ πίστεως· λέγε τῷ ἰατρῷ τὴν κάκωσιν, εἰπὲ καὶ αὐτὸς κατὰ τὸν ∆αβίδ· Εἶπα· Ἐξαγορεύσω κατ' ἐμοῦ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μου τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ σὺ ἀφῆκας τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῆς καρδίας μου. Ζʹ. Θέλεις ἰδεῖν Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, εἰ τοῖς ῥητοῖς τῆς Γραφῆς οὐ πάνυ πιστεύεις, νεωστὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν κατήχησιν; Θέλεις ἰδεῖν ἄλλους οὕτως σωθέντας, ἵνα πιστεύσῃς, ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ σοῦ δυνατὸν οὕτω γενέσθαι; θέλεις ἰδεῖν Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν πολλήν; Παρήκουσεν Ἀδὰμ ὁ πρωτόπλαστος Θεοῦ. Οὐκ ἠδύνατο εὐθέως ἐπαγαγεῖν τὸν θάνατον; ἀλλ' ὁ φιλανθρωπότατος ἐκβάλλει μὲν τοῦ παραδείσου, κατέναντι δὲ κατοικίζει, ἵνα βλέπων ἐκ μετανοίας σωθῇ. Κάϊν ἀδελφοκτόνος, εὑρετὴς τῶν κακῶν, ἀρχηγὸς τῶν φόνων, φθονερὸς πρῶτος καὶ ἀνελὼν, τί καταδικάζεται; Στένων καὶ τρέμων ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Μέγα τὸ ἁμάρτημα, μικρὰ ἡ τιμωρία. Ηʹ. Φιλανθρωπία μὲν ἀληθῶς, ἀλλ' ἕτι μικρά. Λόγισαι τὰ ἐπὶ Νῶε. Ἥμαρτον οἱ γίγαντες παρανομίᾳ 33.416 τοσαύτῃ, ὥστε κατακλυσμὸς ἔμελλεν ἔρχεσθαι. Τῷ πεντακοσιοστῷ ἔτει λέγει τῷ Νῶε, τῷ ἑξακοσιοστῷ ἐπάγει τὸν κατακλυσμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. Βλέπεις πλάτος φιλανθρωπίας Θεοῦ εἰς ἑκατὸν ἔτη ἐπιτεινόμενον; Ὅπερ ἐποίησε τότε, παραχρῆμα οὐκ ἠδύνατο ποιῆσαι; ἀλλ' ἐπίτηδες παρέτεινεν, ἔνδοσιν διδοὺς μετανοίας. Βλέπεις Θεοῦ ἀγαθότητα; Εἴθε μετενόησαν οἱ τότε! καὶ ἐτύγχανον Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας. Θʹ. Ἐλθὲ λοιπὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς ἐκ μετανοίας σωθέντας, κἂν ἐν γυναιξίν. Ἐπόρνευσας, ἐμόλυνας τὸ σῶμα, ἄχρηστος γέγονας· ἆρα ἔστι σωτηρία; ἐρεῖς. Ἀπόβλεψον, ὦ γύναι, εἰς τὴν Ῥαὰβ, καὶ θάρσησον εἰς τὴν σωτηρίαν. Ἡ φανερῶς καὶ δημοσίᾳ πορνεύσασα σώζεται. Πῶς ἐσώθη ἐκείνη; Ἐπίστευσεν· εἶπεν μόνον· Ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς. Ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν· ἑαυτῆς γὰρ οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν διὰ τὴν ἀσέλγειαν. Μίμησαι τὴν πίστιν, καὶ δέξαι τὴν σωτηρίαν. Καὶ θέλεις γνῶναι, ὅτι ἐσώθη; ἀνάγραπτόν ἐστιν ἐν Ψαλμοῖς· Μνησθήσομαι Ῥαὰβ καὶ Βαβυλῶνος. Ὢ μεγάλης Θεοῦ βουλῆς καὶ φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ πορνῶν μνημονευούσης ἐν Γραφαῖς!