[Of Repentance, the Manner of It, and Rules About It.]

XVI. When thou seest the offender, with severity command him to be cast out; and as he is going out, let the deacons also treat him with severity, and then let them go and seek for him, and detain him out of the Church; and when they come in, let them entreat thee for him. For our Saviour Himself entreated His Father for those who had sinned, as it is written in the Gospel: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  88  Luke xxiii. 34. Then order the offender to come in; and if upon examination thou findest that he is penitent, and fit to be received at all into the Church when thou hast afflicted him his days of fasting, according to the degree of his offence—as two, three, five, or seven weeks—so set him at liberty, and speak such things to him as are fit to be said in way of reproof, instruction, and exhortation to a sinner for his reformation, that so he may continue privately in his humility, and pray to God to be merciful to him, saying: “If Thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? For with Thee there is propitiation.”  89  Ps. cxxx. 3. Of this sort of declaration is that which is said in the book of Genesis to Cain: “Thou hast sinned; be quiet;”  90  Gen. iv. 7, LXX. that is, do not go on in sin. For that a sinner ought to be ashamed for his own sin, that oracle of God delivered to Moses concerning Miriam is a sufficient proof, when he prayed that she might be forgiven. For says God to him: “If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterwards let her come in again.”  91  [Num. xii. 14.—R.] We therefore ought to do so with offenders, when they profess their repentance,—namely, to separate them some determinate time, according to the proportion of their offence, and afterwards, like fathers to children, receive them again upon their repentance.

[16] Ἰδὼν δὲ σὺ τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα, πικρανθεὶς κέλευσον αὐτὸν ἔξω βληθῆναι: καὶ ἐξελθόντι αὐτῷ πικραινέσθωσαν οἱ διάκονοι, καὶ ἐπιζητοῦντες κατεχέτωσαν αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ εἰσελθόντες ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ σε ἐρωτάτωσαν: καὶ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων ὁ Σωτὴρ τὸν Πατέρα ἠξίου, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ: «Πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς, οὐ γὰρ οἴδασιν, τὶ ποιοῦσι.» Τότε σὺ κελεύσεις εἰσελθεῖν αὐτόν, καὶ ἀνακρίνας, εἰ μετανοεῖ καὶ ἄξιός ἐστιν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ὅλως παραδεχθῆναι, στιβώσας αὐτὸν ἡμέραις νηστειῶν κατὰ τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ἑβδομάδας δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἢ πέντε ἢ ἑπτά, οὕτως αὐτὸν ἀπόλυσον, εἴπας αὐτῷ ὅσα ἁρμόζει εἰς νουθεσίαν ἡμαρτηκότι: [τὸν] ἐπιπλήσσοντα δὲ διδάσκειν δεῖ καὶ παραινεῖν, ὅπως μείνῃ παρ' ἑαυτῷ ταπεινοφρονῶν καὶ δεόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ τυχεῖν αὐτοῦ εὐμενοῦς, καὶ λέγειν αὐτὸν: «Ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃ, Κύριε Κύριε, τίς ὑποστήσεται; Ὅτι παρὰ σοὶ ὁ ἱλασμός ἐστιν.» Τοιοῦτον γάρ τι ὑπεμφαίνει καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει εἰρημένον τῷ Καΐν: «Ἥμαρτες; Ἡσύχασον», τοῦτ' ἔστιν μὴ προσθῇς. Ὅτι γὰρ τὸν ἁμαρτήσαντα δεῖ ὑπὲρ τοῦ οἰκείου πλημμελήματος αἰσχύνεσθαι, ἱκανὸν τὸ λόγιον τὸ Μωϋσῇ ὑπὲρ Μαρίας εἰρημένον, ἡνίκα ἠξίου ἀφεθῆναι αὐτῇ: φησὶν γὰρ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός: «Εἰ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς πτύων ἐνέπτυσεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῆς, οὐκ ἂν ἐνετράπη; Ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἀφορισθήτω ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσελεύσεται.» Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὑμᾶς δέον ἐστὶν ποιεῖν, τοὺς ἐφ' ἁμαρτίας λέγοντας μετανοεῖν ἀφορίζειν χρόνον ὡρισμένον κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος, ἔπειτα μετανοοῦντας προσλαμβάνεσθαι, ὡς πατέρες υἱούς.