John Chrysostom, On the Pharisee and the Harlot

your face; do not devise an elaborate and destructive adornment; do not display, as in the marketplace, your countenance to the merchants of shameful pleasures; do not send your eyes, like a hunter, against those willingly hunted; do not use your lips, like arrows, against those gladly wounded; do not make your mouth death; do not condemn your hands to unseemly embraces; do not sentence your feet to shameful courses; do not overturn your good course with evil courses; do not scatter the pearls of purity, which you have effortlessly gathered; do not become again a workshop of corruption; do not return to your ancient deceit; do not take up your former stage; do not build up evilly what you have well torn down; do not accept the serpent as counselor, lest you be stripped bare like Eve; do not abandon the fount of faith for pleasure, lest the many-formed dragon cast his venom upon you; do not sleep the sleep of sensual pleasure, lest you move my just anger against yourself; do not, after so much ointment, pour filth upon yourself; do not become again what you were; once you were cleansed, once you were refined; remain a newly-wrought statue of modesty, lest you be melted in the fire. Go in peace; report to those you meet, how good and loving of mankind I am; show to the ignorant the one who wiped away your filth; henceforth become a net of life. Until this day you hunted the young for destruction; from this day fish for all men for salvation; cry out before Paul, as one caught in the net before Paul; The saying is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Let us all emulate her repentance, that we may acquire the same confidence; let us loose our iniquities, as she did her hair; let us shed such tears, that we may receive such remedies; let us so love the Master, that we may be so loved by him; let us also hold with the hands of faith him who is gladly held, and never leave him, until by the very facts he say also to us; Your sins are forgiven. Take heart, children; your faith has saved you. And let us inscribe her faith in our thoughts, sending up glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

τὸ πρόσωπόν σου· μὴ τεχνάσῃς κόσμον περίεργον καὶ ὀλέθριον· μὴ προθῇς, ὡς ἐν ἀγορᾷ, τὴν ὄψιν σου τοῖς ἐμπόροις τῶν αἰσχρῶν ἡδονῶν· μὴ πέμψῃς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, ὡς θηρατὴς, κατὰ τῶν ἑκουσίως ἀγρευομένων· μὴ χρήσῃ τοῖς χείλεσιν, ὡς βέλεσι, κατὰ τῶν τιτρωσκομένων ἡδέως· μὴ ποιήσῃς τὸ στόμα σου θάνατον· μὴ κατακρίνῃς τὰς χεῖρας ἀσέμνοις περιπλοκαῖς· μὴ καταδικάσῃς τοὺς πόδας δρόμοις αἰσχροῖς· μὴ ἀνατρέψῃς τὸν καλόν σου δρόμον δρόμοις κακοῖς· μὴ σκορπίσῃς τῆς ἁγνείας τοὺς μαργαρίτας, οὓς ἀπόνως ἐξέλεξας· μὴ γένῃ πάλιν φθορᾶς ἐργαστήριον· μὴ παλινδρομήσῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαίαν σου ἀπάτην· μὴ τὴν προτέραν ἀναλάβῃς σκηνήν· μὴ οἰκοδομήσῃς κακῶς ἃ κατέλυσας καλῶς· μὴ δέξῃ σύμβουλον τὸν ὄφιν, ἵνα μὴ γυμνωθῇς ὡς ἡ Εὔα· μὴ καταλείπῃς ἡδονῇ τὴν πηγὴν τῆς πίστεως, ἵνα μὴ ῥίψῃ κατὰ σοῦ τὸν ἰὸν ὁ δράκων ὁ πολύμορφος· μὴ κοιμηθῇς τῆς ἡδυπαθείας τὸν ὕπνον, ἵνα μὴ κινήσῃς καθ' ἑαυτῆς τὸν δίκαιόν μου θυμόν· μὴ μετὰ τοσοῦτον μύρον, βόρβορον ἐπιχέῃς ἑαυτῇ· μὴ γένῃ πάλιν ὃ ἦς· ἅπαξ ἐκαθαρίσθης, ἅπαξ ἐχωνεύθης· μεῖνον σωφροσύνης ἄγαλμα νεουργὸν, ἵνα μὴ χωνευθῇς τῷ πυρί. Πορεύου εἰς εἰρήνην· ἀπάγγελλε τοῖς ἀπαντῶσι, πῶς ἀγαθός εἰμι καὶ φιλάνθρωπος· ἐπιδείκνυε τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι τὸν ἀποσμήξαντά σου τὸν ῥύπον· γενοῦ λοιπὸν σαγήνη ζωῆς. Ἕως τῆς παρούσης ἡμέρας τοὺς νέους πρὸς ἀπώλειαν ἤγρευες· ἀπὸ τῆς παρούσης ἡμέρας πάντας ἀνθρώπους πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἁλίευε· βόα πρὸ τοῦ Παύλου, ὡς πρὸ τοῦ Παύλου σαγηνευθεῖσα· Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, καὶ πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, ὅτι Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς παρεγένετο ἐν κόσμῳ ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι, ὧν πρώτη εἰμὶ ἐγώ.

Ταύτης τὴν μετάνοιαν ζηλώσωμεν ἅπαντες, ἵνα τὴν ἴσην παῤῥησίαν κτησώμεθα· λύσωμεν τὰς ἀδικίας, ὡς ἐκείνη τὰς τρίχας· τοιαῦτα δάκρυα ῥάνωμεν, ἵνα τοιαῦτα φάρμακα λάβωμεν· οὕτω φιλήσωμεν τὸν ∆εσπότην, ἵνα οὕτω φιληθῶμεν παρ' αὐτοῦ· κρατήσωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς πίστεως χερσὶ τὸν ἡδέως κρατούμενον, καὶ μηδέποτε καταλείπωμεν αὐτὸν, ἕως ἂν αὐτοῖς τοῖς πράγμασιν εἴπῃ καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς· Ἀφέωνται ὑμῶν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. Θαρσεῖτε, τέκνα· ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν σέσωκεν ὑμᾶς. Καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐκείνης ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἐννοίαις ἐγγράψωμεν, δόξαν ἀναπέμποντες τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.