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I have sinned; now you have occasion to come upon me. You have found me, my enemy. Since Elijah always rebuked Ahab, Ahab, knowing that he had sinned, "You have always rebuked me," he says, "but now you come upon me opportunely." For he knew that he had sinned. He reads the sentence to him: "Thus says the Lord," he says. "Because you have murdered and taken possession and shed the blood of a righteous man, so shall your blood be shed, and the dogs will lick it, and the prostitutes will wash in your blood." Hearing these things, Ahab was sullen and mourning for his sin; he acknowledged the injustice, and God annulled the sentence against him. But first God made a defense to Elijah, so that he would not appear as a liar and suffer what Jonah suffered; for Jonah also endured such a thing. God says to him: "Go, preach to Nineveh, the city in which twelve myriads of people dwell, besides women and children: Yet three days, and Nineveh will be overthrown." Jonah did not want to go, knowing God's love for mankind; but what does he do? He turns to flight; for he says, "I go forth preaching; You, being benevolent, will change your mind, and I will be destroyed as a false prophet." But nevertheless, the sea, having taken him, did not hide him, but gave him back to the land, and delivered him again to Nineveh, just as an excellent fellow-servant preserving a fellow-servant. For Jonah went down, it says, to flee, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, and he paid its fare, and went up into it. Where are you fleeing, Jonah? Are you going to another land? But the 49.289 earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. But to the sea? Do you not know that the sea is His, and He made it? But to heaven? Have you not heard David saying, "I will behold the heavens, the works of your fingers?" But nevertheless, he, being possessed by fear, fled in appearance; for it is truly impossible to flee from God. Nevertheless, when the sea had restored him, and he came to Nineveh, he preached, saying that, "Yet three days, and Nineveh will be overthrown." But that you might learn that he gave himself to flight with this thought in mind—that God, being benevolent, would repent of the evil which He had spoken concerning them, and that he himself would appear to be a false prophet—he himself demonstrates. For after preaching in Nineveh, he went out of the city and watched to see what would happen; but when he saw three days had passed, and nowhere was anything of the threatened things happening, then he stirs up his first thought, and says: "Are not these my words which I spoke, that God is merciful and long-suffering and repents of the evil against men?" Therefore, so that Elijah might not suffer anything like Jonah did, God states the reason for which he forgave Ahab. And what does God say to Elijah? "Have you seen how Ahab has walked mourning and sullen before me? I will not act according to his wickedness." Alas, a master becomes the advocate for a slave, and God makes a defense to a man on behalf of a man: "Do not think," He says, "that I simply forgave him; he reformed his way, and I turned back and released my wrath. And so that you may not be thought a false prophet: for you truly spoke; if he had not changed his way, he would have had to endure the things of the sentence; but he changed his way, and I undid my wrath." And God says to Elijah, "Have you seen how Ahab has walked mourning and sullen? I will not act according to my wrath." Have you seen that mourning wipes out sins? 4. You also have a third way of repentance. I have spoken of many ways of repentance, so that by the variety of the ways I might make salvation easy for you. And what is this third way? Humility. Be humble, and you have loosed the chains of your sins. And you have proof of this also from the divine Scripture, from the reading concerning the tax collector and the Pharisee. The Pharisee and the tax collector, it says, went up to the temple

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ἡμάρτηκα· νῦν καιρὸν ἔχεις ἐπεμβῆναί μοι. Εὕρηκάς με ὁ ἐχθρός μου. Ἐπειδὴ ἤλεγχεν ἀεὶ ὁ Ἠλίας τὸν Ἀχαὰβ, ὁ Ἀχαὰβ εἰδὼς ὅτι ἥμαρτεν, Ἀειμὲν ἤλεγχές με, φησί· νῦν δὲ εὐκαίρως μοι ἐπιβαίνεις· ᾔδει γὰρ ὅτι ἡμάρτηκε. Παραναγινώσκει αὐτῷ τὴν ἀπόφασιν· Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, φησίν· Ἀνθ' ὧν ἐφόνευσας καὶ ἐκ ληρονόμησας καὶ αἷμα ἀνδρὸς δικαίου ἐξέχεας, οὕτως ἐκχυθήσεται τὸ αἷμά σου, καὶ οἱ κύνες λείξουσιν αὐτὸ, καὶ αἱ πόρναι λούσονται ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου. Ἀκούσας ταῦτα Ἀχαὰβ ἦν σκυθρωπάζων καὶ πενθῶν ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ· συνέγνω τὴν ἀδικίαν, καὶ ἔλυσε τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ψῆφον ὁ Θεός. Ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἀπελογήσατο ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἠλίᾳ, ἵνα μὴ ὡς ψεύστης φανῇ καὶ πάθῃ ὅπερ ἔπαθεν Ἰωνᾶς· τοιοῦτον γὰρ ὑπέστη καὶ ὁ Ἰωνᾶς. Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Θεός· Ἄπελθε, κήρυξον εἰς Νινευῒ τὴν πόλιν ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦσι δώδεκα μυριάδες ἀνθρώπων χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων· Ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι, καὶ Νινευῒ καταστραφήσεται. Ὁ Ἰωνᾶς οὐκ ἠβούλετο ἀπελθεῖν, εἰδὼς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν· ἀλλὰ τί ποιεῖ; Εἰς φυγὴν τρέπεται· λέγει γὰρ, Ἐγὼ ἀπέρχομαι κηρύσσων· σὺ φιλάνθρωπος ὢν μεταμέλῃ, ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς ψευδοπροφήτης ἀναιροῦμαι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ θάλασσα αὐτὸν λαβοῦσα οὐκ ἔκρυψεν, ἀλλ' ἀπέδωκε τῇ γῇ, καὶ ἀπέσωσε πάλιν εἰς Νινευῒ, καθάπερ ἀρίστη σύνδουλος σύνδουλον διατηροῦσα. Κατέβη γὰρ, φησὶν, Ἰωνᾶς τοῦ φυγεῖν, καὶ εὗρε πλοῖον βαδίζον εἰς Θαρσεῖς, καὶ ἔδωκε τὸν ναῦλον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς αὐτό. Ποῦ φεύγεις Ἰωνᾶ; εἰς γῆν ἄλλην ἀπέρχῃ; Ἀλλὰ τοῦ 49.289 Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν; Οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι Αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν αὐτήν; Ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; Οὐκ ἤκουσας τοῦ ∆αυῒδ λέγοντος, ὅτι Ὄψομαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ἔργα τῶν δακτύλων σου; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐκεῖνος φόβῳ κατεχόμενος ἔφυγε τῷ δοκεῖν· Θεὸν γὰρ ἀληθῶς φυγεῖν ἀδύνατον. Ὅμως ὅτε ἀποκατέστησεν αὐτὸν ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Νινευῒ, ἐκήρυξε λέγων ὅτι, Ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι, καὶ Νινευῒ καταστραφήσεται. Ἵνα δὲ μάθῃς ὅτι τοῦτο ἔχων ἐν διανοίᾳ εἰς φυγὴν ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς φιλάνθρωπος ὢν μετανοεῖ ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ ᾗ ἐλάλησε περὶ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔμελλεν αὐτὸς ὡς ψευδοπροφήτης εἶναι, αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσι. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ κηρῦξαι ἐν τῇ Νινευῒ, ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, καὶ παρετήρει τί ἂν γένηται· ὅτε δὲ εἶδε τρεῖς ἡμέρας παρελθούσας, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ οὐδὲν τῶν ἠπειλημένων γινόμενον, τότε τὸν πρῶτον αὐτοῦ λογισμὸν κινεῖ, καὶ λέγει· Οὐχ οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι μου οὓς ἔλεγον, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐλεήμων ἐστὶ καὶ μακρόθυμος καὶ μετανοῶν ἐπὶ κακίαις ἀνθρώπων; Ἵν' οὖν μή τι τοιοῦτον πάθῃ Ἠλίας, οἷον καὶ Ἰωνᾶς,λέγει ὁ Θεὸς τὴν αἰτίαν, δι' ἣν τῷ Ἀχαὰβ συνεχώρησε. Καὶ τί φησιν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν Ἠλίαν; Εἶδες πῶς ἐπορεύθη Ἀχαὰβ πενθῶν καὶ σκυθρωπάζων ἐνώπιόν μου; Οὐ μὴ ποιήσω κατὰ τὴν κακίαν αὐτοῦ. Βαβαὶ, δεσπότης δούλου συνήγορος γίνεται, καὶ ἀπολογεῖται Θεὸς ἀνθρώπῳ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπου· Μὴ νόμιζε, φησὶν, ὅτι ἁπλῶς συνεχώρησα αὐτῷ· μετεῤῥύθμισε τὸν τρόπον, καὶ μετέβαλον τὴν ὀργήν μου καὶ ἀνέλυσα. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ νομισθῇς σὺ ὡς ψευδοπροφήτης· σὺ γὰρ ἀληθῶς εἶπας· εἰ μὴ μετέβαλε τὸν τρόπον, ὑπομεῖναι εἶχε τὰ τῆς ἀποφάσεως· ἀλλ' οὗτος μὲν μετέβαλε τὸν τρόπον, κἀγὼ ἀνέλυσα τὴν ὀργήν μου. Καί φησιν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν Ἠλίαν· Εἶδες πῶς ἐπορεύθη Ἀχαὰβ πενθῶν καὶ σκυθρωπάζων; Οὐ μὴ ποιήσω κατὰ τὴν ὀργήν μου. Εἶδες ὅτι τὸ πενθῆσαι ἐξαλείφει ἁμαρτίας; δʹ. Ἔχεις δὲ καὶ τρίτην ὁδὸν μετανοίας. Πολλὰς δὲ ὁδοὺς μετανοίας εἶπον, ἵνα τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν ὁδῶν εὔκολόν σοι τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐργάσωμαι. Ποία δὲ αὕτη ἡ τρίτη ὁδός; Ἡ ταπεινοφροσύνη· ταπεινοφρόνησον, καὶ ἔλυσας τὰς σειρὰς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. Καὶ ἔχεις καὶ ταύτης ἀπόδειξιν ἀπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τῆς κατὰ τὸν τελώνην καὶ τὸν Φαρισαῖον. Ἀνῆλθον, φησὶν, ὁ Φαρισαῖος καὶ ὁ τελώνης εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν