23

«Let us therefore come before His presence with confession», let us pour out our hearts before Him; «For you have sinned, he says, add no more, and pray for your former sins.» And again; «A righteous man is his own accuser in his first speech.» Therefore let us not wait for the accuser, but let us seize his role beforehand, and thus through our acknowledgment we shall make the judge more gentle. But that you confess your sins and bewail yourself beyond measure, I know clearly; but I do not want this alone, but I desire you to be persuaded that this action is also able to justify you. For as long as you do not make this confession profitable, even if you accuse yourself, you will not be able to abstain from subsequent sins. For no one will be able to do anything with readiness and the proper order, when he has not first persuaded himself that he does this for his benefit. For even the sower, if after casting the seeds he does not expect ... the harvest, will never reap. For who would choose to toil in vain, gaining no good from his labor? So therefore also he who sows words and tears and confession, if he does not do this with good hope, will not be able to cease from sinning, being still held by the evil of despair, but just as that farmer who despairs of the yield of fruit will no longer prevent any of the things that damage the seeds, so also this one, who sows confession through tears but expects no profit from it, will not even wish to overturn the things that corrupt repentance. But what corrupts repentance is to be involved in the same evils again. «For one, he says, building and one tearing down, what have they gained more than toil? Or he who is baptized from a dead body, and again touches it, what has he gained in his washing? So a man fasting from his sins, and going again and doing the same things, who will listen to his prayer?» And again; «Returning, he says, from righteousness to sin, the Lord will prepare a sword for him.» And; «As a dog, when it returns to its own vomit and becomes hateful, so is a fool by his own wickedness returning to his own sin.»

21 Therefore do not make a show of your sin only as one accusing yourself, but also as one who ought to be justified by the manner of repentance; for thus you will be able both to make the confessing soul ashamed and to no longer fall into the same things. For to condemn oneself vehemently and to call oneself a sinner is, so to speak, common even to unbelievers. At any rate many, both men and women, from the stage, who have especially practiced shamelessness, bewail themselves, but not with the proper aim. Wherefore I would not even call this confession; for it is not with compunction of soul, nor with weeping bitterly, nor with changing their sins, that they thus declare their own, but they do this, some hunting for glory from their hearers for the good sense of their words; for sins do not appear equally grievous when someone else reports them and when the one who has dared to commit them does; while others, having fallen from extreme despair into insensibility, and despising the opinion of men, then with great fearlessness proclaim their own evils as if they were another's. But I want you to know none of these things, nor to come to confession out of despair, but with good expectation, and having cut out the root of despair, to show all the opposite zeal. And what is its root? Indolence. Or rather one might call it not only a root, but also a nurse and mother. For just as with woolens, decay gives birth to the moths, and is in turn increased by them, so also here indolence gives birth to despair, and is in turn nourished by despair, and by giving each other this cursed requital, they acquire no small power. If, therefore, one should cut off and sever one, he will be able to overcome the one that follows

23

«Προφθάσωμεν οὖν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐξομολογήσει», ἐγχέωμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν· «Ἥμαρτες γάρ, φησίν, μὴ προσθῇς μηκέτι, καὶ περὶ τῶν προτέρων σου δεήθητι.» Καὶ πάλιν· «∆ίκαιος ἑαυτοῦ κατήγορος ἐν πρωτολογίᾳ.» Μὴ τοίνυν περιμένωμεν τὸν κατήγορον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐκείνου προαρπάσωμεν τάξιν, καὶ οὕτως ἡμερώτερον διὰ τῆς εὐγνωμοσύνης καταστήσομεν τὸν κριτήν. Σὺ δὲ ὅτι μὲν ὁμολογεῖς τὰ ἁμαρτήματά σου καὶ ταλανίζεις σεαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον, οἶδα σαφῶς· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο βούλομαι μόνον ἀλλ' ὅτι σε καὶ δικαιῶσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα δύναται πεισθῆναι σ' ἐπιθυμῶ. Ἕως γὰρ ἂν μὴ ἐπικερδῆ ποιῇς τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν ταύτην, κἂν κατηγορῇς σεαυτοῦ, οὐδ' ἀποστῆναι δυνήσῃ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τῶν ἑξῆς. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὐδεὶς μετὰ προθυμίας καὶ τοῦ προσήκοντος θεσμοῦ δυνήσεται ποιεῖν ὅταν μὴ πρότερον ᾖ πεπεικὼς ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἐν ὠφελείᾳ τοῦτο ποιεῖ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ σπείρων, ἂν μετὰ τὸ ῥίψαι τὰ σπέρματα μὴ προσδέχηται ... τὸν ἀμητόν, οὐκ ἀμήσει ποτέ. Τίς γὰρ ἂν ἕλοιτο μάτην κόπτεσθαι, μηδὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πονεῖν κερδαίνων ἀγαθόν; Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὁ ῥήματα σπείρων καὶ δάκρυα καὶ ἐξομολόγησιν, ἂν μὴ μετ' ἐλπίδος τοῦτο ποιῇ χρηστῆς, οὐδὲ ἀποστῆναι τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν δυνήσεται, ἔτι τῷ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως κατεχόμενος κακῷ, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ γεωργὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ τῆς τῶν καρπῶν φορᾶς ἀπογνοὺς οὐδὲν τῶν λυμαινομένων τοῖς σπέρμασιν κωλύσει λοιπόν, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος ὁ σπείρων μὲν τὴν διὰ τῶν δακρύων ἐξομολόγησιν, οὐδὲν δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης προσδεχόμενος κέρδος, οὐδὲ ἀνατρέψαι βουλήσεται τὰ διαφθείροντα τὴν μετάνοιαν. ∆ιαφθείρει δὲ μετάνοιαν τὸ πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐνέχεσθαι κακοῖς. «Εἷς γάρ, φησίν, οἰκοδομῶν καὶ εἷς καθαιρῶν, τί ὠφέλησαν πλέον ἢ κόπον; ἢ ὁ βαπτιζόμενος ἀπὸ νεκροῦ, καὶ πάλιν ἁπτόμενος αὐτοῦ, τί ὠφέλησεν ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ αὐτοῦ; Οὕτως ἄνθρωπος νηστεύων ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάλιν πορευόμενος, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ποιῶν, τῆς προσευχῆς αὐτοῦ τίς εἰσακούσεται;» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἐπανάγων, φησίν, ἀπὸ δικαιοσύνης ἐπὶ ἁμαρτίαν, ὁ Κύριος ἑτοιμάσει ῥομφαίαν αὐτῷ.» Καί· «Ὥσπερ κύων ἂν ἐπανέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμετὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ μισητὸς γένηται, οὕτως ἄφρων τῇ ἑαυτοῦ κακίᾳ ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίαν.»

21 Μὴ τοίνυν ὡς κατηγορῶν σαυτοῦ μόνον τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκπόμπευε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς δικαιωθῆναι ὀφείλων διὰ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς μετανοίας· οὕτω γὰρ δυνήσῃ καὶ τὴν ἐξομολογουμένην ἐντρέψαι ψυχὴν καὶ μηκέτι τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσεῖν. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ σφόδρα καταδικάζειν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς καλεῖν, κοινὸν ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ τοῖς ἀπίστοις ἐστί. Πολλοὶ γοῦν καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες, οἱ μάλιστα ἀναι σχυντίαν μεμελετηκότες, ταλανίζουσιν ἑαυτούς, ἀλλὰ οὐ μετὰ σκοποῦ τοῦ προσήκοντος. ∆ιόπερ οὐδ' ἂν εἴποιμι τοῦτο ἐξομολόγησιν ἐγώ· οὐ γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ κατανύξαι τὴν ψυχήν, οὐδὲ μετὰ τοῦ δακρῦσαι πικρόν, οὐδὲ μετὰ τοῦ μεταβαλέσθαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας, οὕτως ἐξαγγέλλουσι τὰς αὑτῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο οἱ μὲν δόξαν παρὰ τῶν ἀκουόντων ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν λόγων εὐγνωμοσύνῃ θηρώμενοι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁμοίως φαίνεται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα χαλεπά, ὅταν ἕτερός τις αὐτὰ ἀπαγγέλλῃ καὶ ὅταν αὐτὸς ὁ τετολμηκώς· οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς σφοδρᾶς ἀπογνώσεως εἰς ἀναλγησίαν ἐκπεσόντες, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξης καταφρονήσαντες, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀδείας λοιπὸν ὥσπερ τὰ ἀλλότρια τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐξαγορεύουσι κακά. Ἀλλά σε τούτων οὐδὲν εἰδέναι βούλομαι, οὐδὲ ἐξ ἀπογνώσεως ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν ἔρχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ μετὰ προσδοκίας ἀγαθῆς, καὶ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως τὴν ῥίζαν ἐκκόψαντα, πᾶσαν τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι σπουδήν. Τίς δὲ ἡ ταύτης ῥίζα ἐστίν; Ῥᾳθυμία. Μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις ῥίζαν αὐτὴν καλέσειεν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρόφον καὶ μητέρα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐρίων τίκτει μὲν τοὺς σῆτας ἡ φθορά, αὔξεται δὲ πάλιν ὑπ' αὐτῶν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα τίκτει μὲν ἡ ῥᾳθυμία τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν, τρέφεται δὲ πάλιν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως αὐτή, καὶ ἀλλήλαις τὴν ἐπάρατον ταύτην παρέχουσαι ἀντίδοσιν, δύναμιν οὐ μικρὰν προσλαμβάνουσιν. Ἂν οὖν ἑτέραν τις ἀποτέμῃ καὶ διακόψῃ, δυνήσεται καὶ τῆς ἑπομένης περιγενέσθαι