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a multitude of sins, nor the shamefulness of deeds will ever surpass your great loving-kindness, or rather, the mercy which is beyond great, beyond reason, and beyond mind, which you richly pour out on those who stumble and fervently repent, and you cleanse and enlighten and make them partakers of light, communicants of your divinity, and you speak and converse with them as with your genuine friends. O infinite goodness, O inexpressible love! For this reason I also fall down and fervently cry out to you: as you received the prodigal and the harlot when they came to you, so receive me, O merciful one, repenting from my soul, and counting the drops of my tears as ever-gushing springs, O my Christ, wash in them my soul, wash also the stains of my body from the passions. (99) Wash out the heart also from all wickedness. For this is the root and source of sin; it is the seed of the evil sower through wickedness. And where it is, it sprouts and grows up high and puts forth many branches of wickedness and malice. Tear out its roots from the depths, O my Christ, and cleanse the fields of my soul and heart

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οὐχ ἁμαρτημάτων πλῆθος, οὐδέ πράξεων αἰσχρότης ὑπερβήσεται ποτέ σου τό φιλάνθρωπον καί μέγα, μᾶλλον δέ ὑπέρ τό μέγα, ὑπέρ λόγον, ὑπέρ νοῦν τε ἔλεος, ὅπερ πλουσίως πρός τούς πταίοντας ἐκχέεις καί θερμῶς μετανοοῦντας, καί καθαίρεις καί φωτίζεις καί φωτός ποιεῖς μετόχους, κοινωνούς θεότητός σου, ὁμιλεῖς καί συλλαλεῖς τε ὥσπερ φίλοις σου γνησίοις˙ ὤ χρηστότητος ἀπείρου, ὤ ἀγάπης ἀνεκφράστου! ∆ιά τοῦτο καί προσπίπτω καί θερμῶς ἀναβοῶ σοι˙ ὡς τόν ἄσωτον ἐδέξω καί τήν πόρνην προσελθόντας, οὕτως δέξαι με, οἰκτίρμον, ἐκ ψυχῆς μετανοοῦντα, καί δακρύων μου ῥανίδας ὡς πηγάς ἀεί βλυζούσας λογισάμενος, Χριστέ μου, πλῦνον ἐν αὐταῖς ψυχῆς μου, πλῦνον καί τοῦ σώματός μου τάς ἐκ τῶν παθῶν κηλῖδας. (99) Ἔκπλυνον καί τήν καρδίαν ἀπό πάσης πονηρίας. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ῥίζα καί πηγή τῆς ἁμαρτίας˙ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ σπορέως πονηροῦ σπορά ὑπάρχει. Ἔνθα δ᾿ ἔστι, καί βλαστάνει καί εἰς ὕψος ἀναβαίνει καί ἐκφύει πλείστους κλάδους πονηρίας καί κακίας. Τούτου ῥίζας ἐκ βαθέων ἐξανάσπασον, Χριστέ μου, καί καθάρισον ψυχῆς μου καί καρδίας τάς ἀρούρας