He almost tames the fiery spirit of the prophet to condescend; For I will not bring, he says, the evil in his days. And after the forgiveness he did not depart from wickedness; and He who forgives was forbearing, not disregarding the future, but rendering what was due to the present moment. For it is the part of a just judge to render a just sentence for each of the things that have happened. 14. Again Jeroboam stood at the altar. His hand becomes withered, because he commanded the prophet to be seized. Having recognized by this very experience the power of him who had come, he says: Pray to the Lord, that my hand may be restored. Because Jeroboam said, "Pray," the prophet healed him; can Christ, then, not heal you? Manasseh also became most lawless, he who sawed Isaiah in two; what could be more lawless than this? He went as a captive to Babylon, suffering at the hands of his enemies what was worthy of his own choice. But what does the Scripture say? Manasseh was humbled, and he confessed to the Lord, and the Lord heard, and brought him back to his kingdom. He who sawed the prophet in two was saved through repentance; and you, do you disbelieve in repentance? 15. Do you wish to know this powerful weapon of salvation, how much power confession has even against enemies? Hezekiah routed one hundred and eighty-five thousand through confession. And this is yet a small thing; he annulled a decree of God through repentance. For when he was sick, Isaiah says to him: You are to die, and you will not live. What hope, what salvation or expectation, when the prophet was speaking? But he did not desist from repentance; but remembering what was written, "When you turn and groan, then you will be saved," he turned to the wall, and stretching his mind through prayer to heaven, "Lord," he says, "remember me; for your remembering me is sufficient for healing." You are not subject to times, but you yourself are the lawgiver of life; for we do not live according to birth and the weaving of the stars, but when you will. And to him for whom life had turned to despair, to him a period of fifteen years was added to his life; and the sign was, the sun went back ten steps. But on account of Jesus the sun failed, not turning back, but being eclipsed, and showing the difference of each. And he indeed had the power to annul a decree of God; does Jesus not grant remission of sins? You too, turn and groan; shut the door; pray that you may be forgiven, that it may take from you the burning flames; 33.421 for confession has power to quench even fire, it has power also to tame lions. 16. But if you disbelieve, consider what once happened to those with Ananias. In the furnace of fire what springs did they cause to break forth? What measure of water was able to quench a flame that rose up forty-nine cubits? But where the flame rose up mightily, there a great spring of repentance was poured forth, as they said: "For you are just in all that you have done to us;" and, "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done unjustly." Then repentance stopped the flames of the furnace; do you disbelieve, then, that it is able also to quench the fire of Gehenna? But one of those who are quick to answer will say to me, that the narrative is irrelevant to the present case; for because those with Ananias were unwilling to commit idolatry, God gave them the wondrous power. But accommodating myself to such a person, and seeing the abundance of examples, I come then also to another type of repentance. 17. For what opinion do you have concerning Nebuchadnezzar? Have you not heard from the Scriptures, that he was most impious, and most savage in his manner, and having the disposition of a lion? have you not heard, that he brought out the bones of the kings from their tombs into the light? have you not known, that he led the people away captive? have you not heard, that he put out the eyes of the king, after having first shown him his children being slaughtered? have you not heard, that he seized the cherubim, I do not mean the spiritual and heavenly ones, but those that were made in the temple, those upon the mercy seat of the ark, from between which the Lord used to speak? This Nebuchadnezzar tore down the veil of holiness, he overturned the altar, and taking all the vessels he carried them off to an idol temple; him

Μονονουχὶ ἡμεροῖ τὸ διάπυρον τοῦ προφήτου συγκαταβῆναι· Οὐκ ἐπάξω γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν κακίαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτοῦ. Καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἄφεσιν οὐκ ἀπέστη τῆς πονηρίας· καὶ συνεχώρει ὁ συγχωρῶν, οὐκ ἀπιδὼν τὸ μέλλον, ἀλλὰ τῷ προσκαίρῳ τὸ δέον ἀποδιδούς. ∆ικαίου γὰρ δικαστοῦ ἐστι πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν γεγενημένων δικαίως ἀποκοίνασθαι. Ι∆ʹ. Πάλιν ὁ Ἱεροβοὰμ εἱστήκει ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Ξηρὰ γίνεται αὐτοῦ ἡ χεὶρ, ἐπειδὴ ἐκέλευσεν συλληφθῆναι τὸν προφήτην. Αὐτῇ τῇ πείρᾳ ἐπιγνοὺς τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ ἐλθόντος, λέγει· ∆εήθητι τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ κατασταθῇ ἡ χείρ μου. ∆ιὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν τὸν Ἱεροβοὰμ, ∆εήθητι, ἰάσατο ὁ προφήτης· σὲ ἆρα ὁ Χριστὸς οὐ δύναται ἰάσασθαι; Γέγονε καὶ Μανασσῆς παρανομώτατος, ὁ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν πρίσας· τί τούτου παρανομώτατον; Αἰχμάλωτος ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, ἐπάξια παθὼν τῆς αὑτοῦ προαιρέσεως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν. Ἀλλὰ τί λέγει ἡ Γραφή; Ἐταπεινώθη Μανασσῆς, καὶ ἐξωμολογήσατο τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ εἰσήκουσε Κύριος, καὶ ἐπανήγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν. Ὁ τὸν προφήτην πρίσας διὰ μετανοίας ἐσώθη· καὶ σὺ τῇ μετανοίᾳ ἀπιστεῖς; ΙΕʹ. Βούλεσθε γνῶναι τὸ ἰσχυρὸν τοῦτο τῆς σωτηρίας ὅπλον, πόσον ἐξομολόγησις ἰσχύει καὶ κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων; Ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε χιλιάδας Ἐζεκίας δι' ἐξομολογήσεως ἐτρέψατο. Καὶ τοῦτο ἔτι δὲ μικρόν· ἀπόφασιν Θεοῦ ἔλυσε διὰ μετανοίας. Νοσήσαντι γὰρ αὐτῷ Ἡσαΐας φησίν· Ἀποθνήσκεις σὺ, καὶ οὐ ζήσῃ. Ποία ἐλπὶς, ποία σωτηρία ἢ προσδοκία, τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπέστη τῆς μετανοίας· ἀλλὰ μεμνημένος τοῦ γεγραμμένου, Ὅταν ἀποστραφεὶς στενάξῃς, τότε σωθήσῃ, ἀπεστράφη εἰς τὸν τοῖχον, καὶ τείνας τὴν διάνοιαν διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, Κύριε, φησὶν, μνήσθητί μου· αὔταρκες γὰρ εἰς ἰατρείαν τὸ σὲ μνησθῆναί μου. Οὐχ ὑποβέβλησαι χρόνοις, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς εἶ τῆς ζωῆς νομοθέτης· οὐ γὰρ κατὰ γένεσιν καὶ πλοκὴν ἄστρων ζῶμεν, ἀλλ' ὅτε βούλει. Καὶ ᾧ τὸ ζῇν εἰς ἀπελπισίαν περιέστη, τούτῳ πεντεκαιδεκαετὴς χρόνος εἰς ζωὴν προσετέθη· καὶ τὸ σημεῖον, δέκα ἀναβαθμοὺς ὁ ἥλιος ὑπέστρεψε. ∆ιὰ δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὁ ἥλιος ἐξέλειψεν, οὐκ ἀναποδίσας, ἀλλ' ἐκλιπὼν, καὶ δείξας τὴν διαφορὰν ἑκατέρων. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἴσχυσεν ἀπόφασιν Θεοῦ λῦσαι· Ἰησοῦς δὲ οὐ χαρίζεται ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν; Ἀπόστρεψον καὶ στέναξον καὶ αὐτός· ἀπόκλεισον τὴν θύραν· πρόσευξαι ἵνα σοι ἀφεθῇ, ἵνα σου περιέλῃ τὰς φλόγας τὰς καυστικάς· ἰσχύει 33.421 γὰρ ἐξομολόγησις σβέσαι καὶ πῦρ, ἰσχύει καὶ λέοντας ἡμερῶσαι. Ιʹ. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστῇς, ἐννόησον τί συγκατέβη ποτὲ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀνανίαν. Εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρὸς ποίας ἀνέῤῥηξαν πηγάς; πόσον ὕδατος μέτρον τὴν ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἐννέα πήχεις ἀνερχομένην φλόγα σβέσαι δύνατον ἦν; Ἀλλ' ὅπου μεγάλως ἡ φλὸξ ὑπερανέβη, ἐκεῖ πηγὴ μετανοίας ἐξεχύθη πολλὴ, λεγόντων αὐτῶν· Ὅτι δίκαιος εἶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἷς ἐποίησας ἡμῖν· καὶ, Ἡμάρτομεν, καὶ ἠνομήσαμεν, καὶ ἠδικήσαμεν. Εἶτα τὰς μὲν καμίνου φλόγας ἔπαυσεν ἡ μετάνοια· ἀπιστεῖς δὲ, ὅτι δύναται καὶ τὸ τῆς γεέννης ἀποσβέσαι πῦρ; Ἀλλὰ ἐρεῖ μοί τις τῶν ὀξέως ἀποκρινομένων, ὅτι τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀνοίκειος ἡ διήγησις· διὰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ θελῆσαι τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἀνανίαν εἰδωλολατρῆσαι, τὴν παράδοξον δύναμιν ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεός. Συμπεριφερόμενος δὲ τῷ τοιούτῳ, καὶ τὸ τῶν ὑποδειγμάτων ὁρῶν δαψιλὲς, ἔρχομαι λοιπὸν καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερον τύπον μετανοίας. ΙΖʹ. Τίνα γὰρ ὑπόνοιαν ἔχεις περὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ; Οὐκ ἤκουσας ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν, ὅτι δυσσεβέστατος ἦν, καὶ ἀγριώτατος τὸν τρόπον, καὶ λεοντώδη τὴν προαίρεσιν ἔχων; οὐκ ἤκουσας, ὅτι τὰ ὀστέα τῶν βασιλέων ἐκ τῶν τάφων ἐξήνεγκεν εἰς τὸ φῶς; οὐκ ἔγνως, ὅτι τὸν λαὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἀπήγαγεν; οὐκ ἤκουσας, ὅτι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξετύφλωσε, προδείξας αὐτῷ τὰ τέκνα σφαττόμενα; οὐκ ἤκουσας, ὅτι τὰ χερουβὶμ ἥρπασεν, οὐ λέγω τὰ νοητὰ καὶ ἐπουράνια, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐν τῷ ναῷ κατεσκευασμένα, τὰ ἐπὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον τῆς κιβωτοῦ, ὧν ἀνάμεσον ἐλάλει ὁ Κύριος; Οὗτος ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὸ καταπέτασμα τῆς ἁγιωσύνης κατέσπασε, τὸ θυσιαστήριον ἀνέτρεψε, καὶ λαβὼν τὰ σκεύη πάντα εἰς εἰδωλεῖον ἀπήνεγκεν· αὐτὸν