John Chrysostom, On Repentance

slackens the vigor of his virtue, and as if he were already blessed, prepares him to neglect his diligence. For this reason He has mercy on the sinner, but frightens the just man; For he is terrible to all those around Him; and, The Lord is good to all. Terrible, it says, He is to all those around Him; and who would these be, but the saints? For God, says David, who is glorified in the council of the saints, is great and terrible to all those around Him. If He sees one who has fallen, He extends a hand of loving-kindness; if He sees one standing, He brings on fear; and this is of justice and righteous judgment. For He strengthens the just man by fear, and rouses the sinner by loving-kindness. And do you wish to know His timely goodness and the severity that is useful and fitting for us? Pay close attention, lest the greatness of the contemplation escape you; that sinful wo49.326man who was attested for every sin and lawlessness, who had sinned so much, and was entangled in so many works of sin, thirsting for the salvation that comes from repentance, entered the banquet of the saints; and I call it a banquet of saints, because the Holy of Holies was present. For when the Savior was reclining in the house of Simon the Pharisee, that sinful woman entered, and touched the Savior’s feet, and washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair; and her who was buried by so many sins the lover of mankind raises up, saying: Her sins are forgiven. For it is not my present purpose to examine the whole story, but only to bring forward the testimony. See then the abundance: For this reason I say to you, her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much. Therefore the sinful woman received amnesty for so many sins. But Miriam, the sister of Moses, for a little murmuring is condemned to leprosy. To those who sin He says: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and he changes the darkness into light, by the change of repentance, and he dissolves such an abundance of evils by the voice of goodness; but to him who walks in righteousness he says: Whoever says to his brother, 'Fool,' shall be liable to the hell of fire. To a single word He has attached such strictness, and to so many sins He measures out such abundance. And consider for me another wonderful thing. Since sins are recorded as debts, for sinners who repent He forgives even the principal; but from the just He demands even interest. A debtor of many talents approached Him, and when by repentance and much supplication he entreated for his sentence, and said: Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay everything. The lover of mankind did not wait for the repayment, but made the confession a release of the debt; for the debtor of ten thousand talents He forgave everything, even the principal itself. But from the just He declares that He demands even interest: Why then did you not give my money to the bankers; and I, upon coming, would have demanded it with interest? I say these things, not as if God were hostilely disposed towards the just; for nothing is more desirable to God than a just person; but, as I said before, He consoles the sinner, in order to rouse him; and He frightens the just man, in order to strengthen him; and to the one He forgives many transgressions as if they were enemies and puffed up, but with the other He is strict even concerning chance matters, wishing nothing to be lacking to them for perfection. For what a rich man is in this world, that a just man is to God; and what a poor man is in the world, that a sinner is to God; nothing is poorer than one who sins, and nothing is richer than one who does what is just. For this reason concerning those who live in piety and abundance Paul says: I thank God, that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge. But concerning the impious the blessed Jeremiah says: Perhaps they are poor, because

χαυνοῖ τῆς ἀρετῆς αὐτοῦ τὸν τόνον, καὶ ὡς ἤδη μακαρισθέντα, ἀμελεῖν αὐτὸν τῆς σπουδῆς παρασκευάζει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὸν μὲν ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐλεεῖ, τὸν δὲ δίκαιον φοβεῖ· Φοβερὸς γὰρ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ· καὶ, Χρηστὸς Κύριος τοῖς σύμπασι. Φοβερὸς, φησὶν, ἐστὶν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ· καὶ τίνες ἂν εἶεν, ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ ἅγιοι; Ὁ Θεὸς γὰρ, φησὶν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ὁ ἐνδοξαζόμενος ἐν βουλῇ ἁγίων, μέγας καὶ φοβερός ἐστιν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ. Ἐὰν ἴδῃ πεσόντα, ἐκτείνει χεῖρα φιλανθρωπίας· ἐὰν ἴδῃ ἑστῶτα, ἐπάγει φόβον· καὶ τοῦτο δικαιοσύνης καὶ δικαιοκρισίας. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ δίκαιον τῷ φόβῳ στηρίζει, τὸν δὲ ἁμαρτωλὸν τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ διεγείρει. Καὶ θέλεις αὐτοῦ γνῶναι τὴν εὔκαιρον ἀγαθότητα καὶ τὴν εὔχρηστον καὶ ἁρμόζουσαν ἡμῖν ἀποτομίαν; Πρόσεχε ἀκριβῶς, μή σε διαφύγῃ τῆς θεωρίας τὸ μέγεθος· ἡ ἁμαρτωλὸς ἐκείνη γυ49.326 νὴ ἡ μεμαρτυρημένη ἐπὶ πάσῃ ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ, ἡ τοσαῦτα ἁμαρτήσασα, καὶ τοσούτοις ἁμαρτιῶν ἔργοις ἐνεχομένη, διψήσασα τὴν ἐκ μετανοίας σωτηρίαν ὑπεισῆλθε τῷ συμποσίῳ τῶν ἁγίων· καλῶ δὲ συμπόσιον ἁγίων, ἐπειδὴ παρῆν ὁ Ἅγιος τῶν ἁγίων. Τοῦ γὰρ Σωτῆρος κατακεκλιμένου ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Σίμωνος τοῦ Φαρισαίου, ὑπεισῆλθεν ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἁμαρτωλὸς ἐκείνη, καὶ τῶν ποδῶν ἥπτετο τοῦ Σωτῆρος, καὶ τοῖς δάκρυσιν ἀπέπλυνεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ταῖς θριξὶν ἐξέματτε· καὶ τὴν τοσούτοις κεχωσμένην ἁμαρτήμασι διανίστησιν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος, λέγων· Ἀφέωνται αὐτῆς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. Οὐ γὰρ πρόκειταί μοι νῦν ἐξετάσαι πᾶσαν τὴν ἱστορίαν, ἀλλὰ μόνην παραγαγεῖν τὴν μαρτυρίαν. Ὅρα τοίνυν τὴν δαψίλειαν· Οὗ χάριν λέγω σοι, ἀφέωνται αὐτῆς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αἱ πολλαὶ, ὅτι πολὺ ἠγάπησε. Τοσούτων οὖν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀμνηστίαν ἐκομίσατο ἡ ἁμαρτωλὸς γυνή. Καὶ Μαρία δὲ, ἡ ἀδελφὴ Μωϋσέως, διὰ μικρὸν γογγυσμὸν λέπρᾳ καταδικάζεται. Τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι λέγει· Ἐὰν ὦσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν ὡς κόκκινον, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ· καὶ μεταβάλλει τὸ σκότος εἰς φῶς, τῇ μεταβολῇ τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ τοσαύτην κακῶν ἀφθονίαν διαλύει τῇ φωνῇ τῆς ἀγαθότητος· πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ βαδίζοντά φησιν· Ὃς ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ, Μωρὲ, ἔνοχός ἐστι τῇ γεέννῃ τοῦ πυρός. Ἑνὶ ῥήματι τοσαύτην ἐπέθηκεν ἀκρίβειαν, καὶ τοσούτοις ἁμαρτήμασι τοσαύτην μετρεῖ τὴν ἀφθονίαν. Καὶ ἕτερόν μοι σκόπησον θαυμαστόν. Ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ὡς ὀφλήματα ἀναγράφεται, τοῖς μὲν ἁμαρτωλοῖς καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον συγχωρεῖ μετανοοῦσι· παρὰ δὲ τῶν δικαίων καὶ τόκους ἀπαιτεῖ. Προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ χρεωφειλέτης πολλῶν ταλάντων, καὶ ὡς τῇ μετανοίᾳ καὶ τῇ πολλῇ ἱκεσίᾳ ἐδυσώπησε τὴν δίκην, καὶ εἶπε· Κύριε, μακροθύμησον ἐπ' ἐμοὶ, καὶ πάντα ἀποδώσω. Οὐκ ἀνέμεινε τὴν ἀπόδοσιν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν λύσιν ἐποίησε τοῦ ὀφλήματος· τῷ ὀφειλέτῃ τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων πάντα συνεχώρησε καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον. Παρὰ δὲ τῶν δικαίων ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ τόκους ἀπαιτεῖν· ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐδώκατε τὸ ἀργύριόν μου τοῖς τραπεζίταις· κἀγὼ ἐλθὼν σὺν τόκοις ἀπῄτησα; Ταῦτα λέγω, οὐχ ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τοὺς δικαίους ἀπεχθῶς διακειμένου· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ τοῦ δικαίου ποθεινότερον· ἀλλ', ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, παραμυθεῖται τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν, ἵνα διεγείρῃ· φοβεῖ καὶ τὸν δίκαιον, ἵνα στηρίξῃ· καὶ τοῖς μὲν τὰ πολλὰ συγχωρεῖ πλημμελήματα ὡς ἐχθροῖς καὶ πεφυσιωμένοις, τοῖς δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν τυχόντων ἀκριβολογεῖται, μηδὲν αὐτοῖς ἐλλιπὲς εἶναι βουλόμενος εἰς ἀκρότητα. Ὃ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ πλούσιος, τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ δίκαιος· καὶ ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πένης, τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ ἁμαρτωλός· οὐδὲν πτωχότερον τοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντος, καὶ οὐδὲν πλουσιώτερον τοῦ δικαιοπραγοῦντος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ εὐθηνίᾳ διαγόντων φησὶν ὁ Παῦλος· Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι ἐν παντὶ ἐπλουτίσθητε ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἀσεβούντων ὁ μακάριος Ἱερεμίας λέγει· Ἴσως πτωχοί εἰσι, διὰ