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me all the days, that it might be well with them and with their sons forever?” And Moses also, reasoning with them, said: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him?” He, therefore, who is eager to be loved by us, and who does all things for this end, and who did not spare even the Only-begotten for the sake of our friendship, and who considers it a beloved matter whenever we are reconciled to him, how will he not receive and love those who repent?

17 Hear, then, what he says also through the prophet: “Declare your iniquities first, that you may be justified.” And he requires this of us so that our friendship with him may become strong. For when one who loves, having been greatly insulted by those he loves, does not even so extinguish his desire, he is eager for those insults to be brought forward for no other reason than that, by showing the steadfastness of his friendship, he might draw them to a greater and more intense love. But if confessing sins has such great comfort, much more so does washing them away through deeds. Since if this were not so, but he prevented those who had once turned aside from the straight path from returning to their former state, perhaps no one, except for a very few and easily counted number, would have ever entered into the kingdom of heaven; but as it is, we will find that those who shone most brightly are those who repented from their falls. For those who showed great intensity in evil things will show the same again in good things, conscious of how many debts they made themselves liable for; which Christ indeed also showed when he said to Simon concerning the woman: “Do you see, he says, this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet; but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she, from the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil; but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason, I say to you, her many sins are forgiven, for she loved me much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven.” For this reason also the devil, knowing that those who have done great evils, when they begin to repent, do so with great intensity, since they know what they have transgressed, is afraid and trembles lest they should ever make a beginning of the matter; for after having begun, they are henceforth unrestrainable, and boiling up like fire by their repentance, they make their own souls purer than pure gold, as if being pushed by some strong wind of their conscience and the memory of their former sins into the harbor of passionlessness. And this is where they have an advantage over those who have not fallen at all, that they use a more intense earnestness; only, as I said, if they take hold of the beginning. For the difficult and hard-to-achieve thing is this: to be able to set foot on the entrance and to touch the doorways of repentance, and there to thrust back and cast down the enemy who is breathing fire and pressing on. But after these things, neither will he show such madness, having been once defeated, and having fallen where he was strong, and we will receive greater eagerness, and with much ease we will run this good race. Let us therefore take hold of the return, then; let us run back to the city, the one in the heavens, in which we have also been enrolled, in which we have also been commanded to be citizens. For to despair of ourselves has this evil not only, that it closes the gates of that city to us, nor that it leads to greater indolence and contempt, but that it also casts us into a satanic desperation. For indeed the devil became such from nowhere else than from first despairing, and then from despair falling into desperation. For a soul, once it has renounced its own salvation, will no longer perceive how

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μου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, ἵνα εὖ ᾖ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτῶν δι' αἰῶνος;» Καὶ ὁ Μωσῆς δὲ διαλεγόμενος αὐτοῖς ἔλεγεν· «Καὶ νῦν, Ἰσραήλ, τί Κύριος ὁ θεὸς αἰτεῖ παρά σου, ἀλλ' ἢ φοβεῖσθαι Κύριον τὸν θεόν σου καὶ πορεύεσθαι ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀγαπᾶν αὐτόν;» Ὁ τοίνυν σπουδάζων φιλεῖσθαι παρ' ἡμῶν, καὶ πάντα ὑπὲρ τούτου ποιῶν, καὶ μηδὲ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμετέρας φεισάμενος φιλίας, καὶ ὅτε δήποτε ἂν καταλλαγῶμεν αὐτῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα τιθέμενος ἀγαπητόν, πῶς μετανοοῦντας οὐ δέξεται καὶ φιλήσει;

17 Ἄκουε γοῦν καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου τί φησιν· «Λέγε σὺ τὰς ἀνομίας σου πρῶτος, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς.» Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ σφοδρὰν γενέσθαι τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν ἀπαιτεῖ παρ' ἡμῶν. Ὅταν γὰρ ὁ φιλῶν πολλὰ παρὰ τῶν φιλουμένων ὑβρισθεὶς μηδὲ οὕτως σβέσῃ τὸν πόθον, δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον εἰς μέσον ἐνεχθῆναι σπουδάζει τὰς ὕβρεις ἐκείνας, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸ στερρὸν αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλίας ἐπιδειξάμενος, εἰς πλείονα ἐπισπάσηται καὶ συντονωτέραν ἀγάπην ἐκείνους. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ὁμολογῆσαι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τοσαύτην ἔχει παραμυθίαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἀπονίψασθαι. Ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἅπαξ τῆς εὐθείας παρατραπέντας ὁδοῦ ἐπὶ τὰ πρότερα πάλιν ἐκώλυεν ἐπανελθεῖν, οὐδεὶς ἂν τάχα πλὴν ὀλίγων καὶ εὐαριθμήτων σφόδρα, εἰς τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν εἰσῆλθέν ποτε· νῦν δὲ τοὺς μάλιστα λάμψαντας ἀπὸ τῶν πτωμάτων μεταγνόντας εὑρήσομεν. Οἱ γὰρ πολλὴν ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπιδειξάμενοι τὴν σφοδρότητα, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τὴν αὐτὴν ἐπιδείξονται πάλιν, συνειδότες ὅσων ἑαυτοὺς ὀφλημάτων ὑποχρέους κατέστησαν· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐδήλωσεν, ὅτε τῷ Σίμωνι περὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἔλεγεν· «Βλέπεις γάρ, φησίν, τὴν γυναῖκα ταύτην. Εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν σου, ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας μου οὐκ ἔδωκας· αὕτη δὲ τοῖς δάκρυσιν τοὺς πόδας μου ἔβρεξεν καὶ ταῖς θριξὶν αὐτῆς ἐξέμαξεν. Φίλημά μοι οὐκ ἔδωκας· αὕτη δὲ ἀφ' οὗ εἰσῆλθον, οὐ διέλιπεν τοὺς πόδας μου καταφιλοῦσα. Ἐλαίῳ οὐκ ἤλειψας τὴν κεφαλήν μου· αὕτη δὲ μύρῳ ἤλειψεν τοὺς πόδας μου. Οὗ χάριν λέγω σοι ὅτι ἀφίενται αὐτῆς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αἱ πολλαί, ὅτι ἠγάπησέν με πολύ. Ὧι δὲ ὀλίγον ἀφίεται, ὀλίγον ἀγαπᾷ. Εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῇ· ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι.» ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ διάβολος, εἰδὼς ὅτι οἱ τὰ μεγάλα ἐργασάμενοι κακά, ὅταν ἄρξωνται μετανοεῖν, μετὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ τόνου τοῦτο πράττουσιν, ἅτε εἰδότες τὰ πλημμεληθέντα αὐτοῖς, δέδοικεν καὶ τρέμει μήποτέ τινα ἀρχὴν τοῦ πράγματος λάβωσιν· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ λαβεῖν, ἀκάθεκτοι λοιπόν εἰσιν, καὶ πυρὸς δίκην ὑπὸ τῆς μετανοίας ἀναζέσαντες, χρυσίου καθαροῦ καθαρωτέρας τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀπεργάζονται ψυχάς, καθάπερ ὑπό τινος πνεύματος σφόδρα τοῦ συνειδότος καὶ τῆς μνήμης τῶν προτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων εἰς τὸν τῆς ἀπαθείας λιμένα ὠθούμενοι. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ᾧ πλεονεκτοῦσι τῶν οὐδαμῶς καταπεσόντων, ὅτι σφοδροτέρᾳ κέχρηνται τῇ προθυμίᾳ· μόνον, ὅπερ ἔφην, ἂν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπιλάβωνται. Τὸ γὰρ δυσχερὲς καὶ δυσκατόρθωτον τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ δυνηθῆναι ἐπιβῆναι τῆς εἰσόδου καὶ τῶν προθυρῶν ἐφάψασθαι τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἐκεῖ πῦρ πνέοντα καὶ ἐγκείμενον ἀπώσασθαι καὶ καταβαλεῖν. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οὔτε ἐκεῖνος τοσαύτην ἐπιδείξεται τὴν μανίαν ἅπαξ ἡττηθείς, καὶ ἔνθα ἦν ἰσχυρὸς καταπεσών, ἡμεῖς τε μείζονα τὴν προθυμίαν ληψόμεθα, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐκολίας δραμούμεθα τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦτον. Ἐπιλαβώμεθα τοίνυν τῆς ἐπανόδου λοιπόν, ἀναδράμωμεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, τὴν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ἀπεγράφημεν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ πολιτεύεσθαι προστετάγμεθα. Τὸ γὰρ ἀπογινώσκειν ἑαυτῶν, οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἔχει κακόν, ὅτι τὰς πύλας ἡμῖν ἀποκλείει τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης, οὐδ' ὅτι εἰς μείζονα ῥᾳθυμίαν ἄγει καὶ καταφρόνησιν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ εἰς ἀπόνοιαν ἐμβάλλει σατανικήν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ διάβολος οὐδαμόθεν ἑτέρωθεν τοιοῦτος ἐγένετο ἀλλ' ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρότερον μὲν ἀπογνῶναι, ὕστερον δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως εἰς τὴν ἀπόνοιαν ἐμπεσεῖν. Ψυχὴ γάρ, ἐπειδὰν ἅπαξ ἀπαγορεύσῃ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν ἑαυτῆς, οὐδὲ αἰσθήσεται λοιπὸν ὅπως