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recasting it. For this gift has been given once; but through laborious repentance and fervent tears, and toils and sweats, there comes a cleansing and forgiveness of sins through the tender mercy of our God. For the fount of tears has also been called a baptism, by the grace of the Lord, but one requiring labor and time; and it has saved many from many sins; since there is no sin that overcomes the loving-kindness of God, if we manage to repent and wash away the shame of our sins with tears, and death does not first seize us and cast us out from here while we are defiled; for in Hades there is no confession, nor repentance; but as long as we are among the living, with the foundation of the orthodox faith remaining unbroken, even if some part of the beam-work or the inner structure should be weakened, it is possible to renew again through repentance what has been rotted by sins. For it is impossible to count the multitude of God's compassions or to measure the greatness of His mercy; but sins and transgressions, of whatever kind they may be, are subject to measure and happen to be countable. Therefore, our sins, which are subject to measure and number, cannot overcome the immeasurable mercy and the countless compassions of God. 160 Therefore we have not been commanded to despair over our sins, but to recognize the goodness of God, and to condemn the sins for which forgiveness is offered through the loving-kindness of Christ, who poured out His own blood for our sins. And from many places in Scripture we are taught the power of repentance, and especially from the commands and parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. For from that time, it says, Jesus began to teach and to say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But also in a parable he introduces a certain son, who took his father’s substance and journeyed to a far country, and there squandered everything in debauchery, then, when a famine arose in that country, went and joined himself to one of the wicked citizens of that very sinful country; who, it says, sent him into his fields to feed swine; so he called the harshest and most loathsome sin. Therefore, having toiled much, and having been driven to the utmost misery, so that he was not even able to fill his own stomach with the foul food of the swine, at long last coming to his senses about such shame, he lamented to himself, saying: ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him, 162 had compassion, and ran and embraced him and compassionately kissed him; and deeming him worthy of his former honor, he made a joyous feast at his recovery, sacrificing the fatted calf. Behold, he explained this parable to us concerning those who turn back from sins and fall down in repentance. But again he also reveals a certain good shepherd who had a hundred sheep and, when one was lost, left the ninety-nine to go out in search of the stray, until he found it, and taking it upon his shoulders, mingled it with those that had not strayed, calling together his friends and neighbors for a celebration at its finding. ‘So,’ says the Savior, ‘there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’ Indeed, even the chief of the disciples, Peter, the rock of the faith, at the very time of the saving passion, having been abandoned for a little while by a certain providential abandonment, so that he might know the worthlessness and wretchedness of human weakness, fell into a denial

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ἀναχωνεύουσα. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ δώρημα ἅπαξ δέδοται· ἀλλὰ διὰ μετανοίας ἐμπόνου καὶ θερμῶν δακρύων, κόπων τε καὶ ἱδρώτων, γίνεται καθαρισμὸς καὶ συγχώρησις τῶν πταισμάτων διὰ σπλάγχνα ἐλέους Θεοῦ ἡμῶν. βάπτισμα γὰρ ἐκλήθη καὶ ἡ τῶν δακρύων πηγή, κατὰ χάριν τοῦ ∆εσπότου, ἀλλὰ πόνου καὶ χρόνου δεόμενον· καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολλῶν διεσώσατο πταισμάτων· καθότι οὐκ ἔστιν ἁμαρτία νικῶσα τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, εἴπερ φθάσομεν μετανοῆσαι καὶ δάκρυσι πταισμάτων αἶσχος ἀπονίψασθαι, καὶ μὴ προλαβὼν ὁ θάνατος ῥερυπωμένους ἡμᾶς ἐκβαλεῖ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν· οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ ἐξομολόγησις, οὐδὲ μετάνοια· ἕως δὲ ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν ὦμεν, τοῦ θεμελίου τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως ἀρραγοῦς διαμένοντος, κἄν τι τῆς δοκώσεως ἢ τῆς ἐνδομήσεως παραλυθῇ, ἔξεστι τὸ σαθρωθὲν τοῖς πταίσμασι τῇ μετανοίᾳ αὖθις ἀνακαινίσαι. πλῆθος γὰρ οἰκτιρμῶν Θεοῦ ἀριθμῆσαι καὶ μέγεθος ἐλέους αὐτοῦ μετρῆσαι ἀδύνατον· ἁμαρτήματα δὲ οἷά περ ἂν ὦσι καὶ πταίσματα μέτρῳ ὑπόκεινται καὶ ἀριθμητὰ εἶναι συμβαίνει. τὰ οὖν μέτρῳ καὶ ἀριθμῷ ὑποκείμενα πταίσματα ἡμῶν τὸ ἀμέτρητον ἔλεος καὶ τοὺς ἀναριθμήτους οἰκτιρμοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ νικῆσαι οὐ δύναται. 160 ∆ιὸ οὐ προσετάχθημεν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἡμαρτημένοις ἀπογινώσκειν, ἀλλ' ἐπιγινώσκειν τὴν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ καταγινώσκειν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὧν ἡ ἄφεσις πρόκειται διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέχεεν αἷμα. πολλαχόθεν δὲ τῆς γραφῆς διδασκόμεθα τὴν δύναμιν τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ τῶν προσταγμάτων καὶ παραβολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἀπὸ τότε γάρ, φησίν, ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς διδάσκειν καὶ λέγειν· Μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικε γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν παραβολῇ υἱόν τινα εἰσηγεῖται, λαβόντα τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίαν καὶ εἰς χώραν ἀποδημήσαντα μακράν, κἀκεῖ ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ πάντα καταναλώσαντα, εἶτα, λιμοῦ κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐκείνην γενομένου, ἀπελθόντα καὶ κολληθέντα ἑνὶ τῶν πονηρῶν πολιτῶν τῆς πολυαμαρτήτου χώρας ἐκείνης· ὃς καὶ ἔπεμψεν αὐτόν, φησίν, εἰς τοὺς ἀγροὺς αὐτοῦ βόσκειν χοίρους· τὴν τραχυτάτην καὶ βδελυρὰν ἁμαρτίαν οὕτω καλέσας. πολλὰ οὖν μογήσας, καὶ εἰς ἐσχάτην ἐληλακὼς ταλαιπωρίαν, ὡς μηδὲ τῆς βρομώδους τῶν χοίρων τροφῆς τὴν ἰδίαν ἰσχύειν ἐμπλῆσαι γαστέρα, εἰς συναίσθησιν ὀψέ ποτε ἐλθὼν τῆς τοιαύτης αἰσχύνης, θρηνῶν ἑαυτὸν ἔλεγε· Πόσοι μίσθιοι τοῦ πατρός μου περισσεύονται ἄρτων, ἐγὼ δὲ λιμῷ ἀπόλλυμαι. ἀναστὰς πορεύσομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ ἐρῶ αὐτῷ· Πάτερ, ἥμαρτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐνώπιόν σου, καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἄξιος κληθῆναι υἱός σου· ποίησόν με ὡς ἕνα τῶν μισθίων σου. καὶ ἀναστὰς ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ. ὁ δέ, πόρρωθεν ἰδὼν αὐτόν, 162 ἐσπλαγχνίσθη, καὶ προσδραμὼν ἐνηγκαλίσατο καὶ συμπαθῶς κατεφίλησε· καὶ τῆς προτέρας ἀξιώσας τιμῆς ἑορτὴν χαρμόσυνον ἐπὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀνευρέσει ἐποιήσατο, θύσας τὸν μόσχον τὸν σιτευτόν. ἰδοὺ ταύτην τὴν παραβολὴν περὶ τῶν ἐξ ἁμαρτιῶν ὑποστρεφόντων καὶ ἐν μετανοίᾳ προσπιπτόντων ἡμῖν ἐξηγήσατο. ἀλλὰ καὶ ποιμένα τινὰ ἀγαθὸν αὖθις δηλοῖ ἑκατὸν ἐσχηκότα πρόβατα καί, τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀπολωλότος, καταλιπόντα τὰ ἐνενηκονταεννέα, εἰς ἐπιζήτησιν τοῦ ἀλωμένου ἐξελθεῖν, ἕως εὑρὼν αὐτό, καὶ τοῖς ὤμοις ἀναλαβών, τοῖς ἀπλανέσι συγκατέμιξε, συγκαλέσας τοὺς φίλους καὶ τοὺς γείτονας εἰς εὐωχίαν ἐν τῇ τούτου εὑρέσει. Οὕτω, φησὶν ὁ Σωτήρ, χαρὰ ἔσται ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐπὶ ἑνὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ μετανοοῦντι, ἢ ἐπὶ ἐνενηκονταεννέα δικαίοις, οἵτινες οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσι μετανοίας. Ἀμέλει καὶ ὁ κορυφαῖος τῶν μαθητῶν Πέτρος, ἡ τῆς πίστεως πέτρα, κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους, πρὸς μικρὸν ἐγκαταλειφθεὶς οἰκονομικῇ τινι ἐγκαταλείψει, ὡς ἂν γνῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας τὸ εὐτελὲς καὶ ταλαίπωρον, ἀρνήσεως περιπέπτωκεν