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Proverbs 1. As long as the innocent hold to justice, they will not be put to shame.

Sirach 28. Forgive the wrongdoing of your neighbor, and then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

(15Ε_458> Basil. One must not let the sun go down on a brother's anger, lest the night should come between the two of you, and leave for the day of judgment an inexcusable accusation.

He is least likely to suspect evil, who is free from evil. Of the Theologian. For the evil man would most quickly condemn even the good man; the good man

however, not even the evil man readily. For what is not ready for evil, is not prone to suspicion either.

No one heals evil with evil, but evil with good. Chrysostom. When we consider what we have suffered from our fellow servants,

let us also reckon what we have done to the Master, and by the fear of our own sins, we will be able to quickly cast off the anger at the trespasses of others.

For if it is necessary to remember sins, one must remember only one's own. If we remember our own, we will never take account of others'.

If you forgive your enemies, you will be forgiven. Forgive servile sins, that you may receive pardon for sins against the Master. And if he has wronged you greatly, the greater the wrongs you forgive, the greater the pardon you will receive. For because of this we were taught to say, Forgive us as we forgive; so that we might learn that the measure of forgiveness first takes its beginning from us. Therefore, the more an enemy works [against us], the more he benefits [us]. Let us therefore hasten and be eager to be reconciled with those who have grieved us, whether they are angry justly or unjustly. For if you are reconciled here, you are delivered from the judgment there; but if death, coming upon you while the enmity remains, takes you away, having mediated the hatred, then the case must be brought to that fearful tribunal; and you will pay the final (15Ε_460> penalty at the verdict of the judge of all those things; and both will suffer an unavoidable punishment, the one who is justly angry, because this is unjust, and the one justly, for this very reason, that he justly bore a grudge

1004 That which, therefore, others with difficulty achieve through fasting, through lamentations and prayers, and sackcloth and ashes and countless confessions—I mean the blotting out of their own sins—this it is possible for us to do easily without sackcloth and ashes and fasting, if only we blot out anger from our mind, and with sincerity forgive those who have wronged us.

Bearing a grudge is worse than any sin. He who is free from evil is also slower to suspect evil. When you see your enemy having fallen into your hands, do not think it is for punishment,

but that that is the time for his salvation. For this reason one must especially spare one's enemies then, when we have become masters of them.

Has someone grieved you? Do not grieve him in return; since you have become his equal again. For no one heals evil with evil, but evil with good.

Nilus. He who repays evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

Philo. While asking for pardon for your sins, you yourself also forgive those who trespass against you; because with forgiveness forgiveness is given in return, and reconciliation toward our fellow servants becomes deliverance from divine wrath.

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Παροιμ. α´. Ὅσον χρόνον ἔχονται ἄκακοι τῆς δικαιοσύνης, οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται.

Σιράχ κη´. Ἄφες ἀδίκημα τῷ πλησίον σου, καί τότε δεηθέντος σου, αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου λυθήσονται.

(15Ε_458> Βασιλ. Οὐ δεῖ ἐπί παροργισμῷ ἀδελφοῦ δῦναι τόν ἥλιον, μήποτε ἡ νύξ μεταστήσῃ μεταξύ ἀμφοτέρων, καί καταλίπῃ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἔγκλημα ἀπαραίτητον.

Ἥκιστα κακίαν οὐχ ὑφορᾶται, τό κακίας ἐλεύθερον. Θεολόγου. Ὁ μέν γάρ κακός τάχιστα ἄν καταγνοίη καί τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ· ὁ ἀγαθός

δέ, οὐδέ τοῦ κακοῦ ῥᾳδίως. Τό γάρ εἰς κακίαν οὐχ ἕτοιμον, οὐδ᾿ εἰς ὑπόνοιαν εὐχερές.

Οὐδείς κακῷ κακόν ἰᾶται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀγαθῷ τό κακόν. Χρυσοστ. Ὅταν ἐννοήσωμεν ἅπερ ἐπάθομεν παρά τῶν συνδούλων,

λογισώμεθα καί ἅπερ ἐποιήσαμεν εἰς τόν ∆εσπότην, καί τῷ φόβῳ τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων, τόν θυμόν τόν ἐπί τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις πλημμελήμασι ταχέως ἀπώσασθαι δυνησόμεθα.

Εἰ γάρ δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι ἁμαρτημάτων, τῶν οἰκείων δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι μόνον. Ἄν τῶν οἰκείων μνημονεύσωμεν, οὐδέποτε τά ἀλλότρια λογιούμεθα.

Ἄν ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὑμῶν, ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν. Ἄφες δουλικά ἁμαρτήματα, ἵνα λάβῃς συγχώρησιν δεσποτικήν ἁμαρτημάτων. Εἰ δέ μεγάλα ἠδίκησεν, ὅσῳπερ ἄν μείζονα ἀφῇς, τοσούτῳ λήψῃ τήν συγχώρησιν. ∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο ἐδειδάχθημεν λέγειν, Ἄφες ἡμῖν καθώς ἀφίεμεν· ἵνα μάθωμεν, ὅτι τό μέτρον τῆς ἀφέσεως παρ᾿ ἡμῶν πρῶτον λαμβάνει τήν ἀρχήν. Ὥστε ὅσῳπερ ἄν ὁ ἐχθρός ἐργάζηται, καί τοσούτῳ μείζονως εὐεργετεῖ. Σπεύδωμεν τοίνυν καί ἐπειγώμεθα καταλλάττεσθαι πρός τούς λελυπηκότας, ἄν τε δικαίως ἄν τε ἀδίκως ὀργίζωνται. Ἄν μέν γάρ ἐνταῦθα καταλλαγῇς, ἀπηλλάγης τῆς ἐκεῖ κρίσεως· ἄν δέ μεταξύ μενούσης τῆς ἔχθρας, θάνατος ἐπιστάς ἀπάγῃ, τήν ἀπέχθειαν μεσολαβήσας, εἰς τό δικαστήριον λοιπόν ἐκεῖνο τό φοβερόν εἰσαχθῆναι τήν δίκην ἀνάγκη· καί τήν ἐσχάτην δώσεις (15Ε_460> δίκην ἐπί τῇ ψήφῳ τοῦ δικαστοῦ πάντων ἐκείνων· καί ἀμφότεροι τιμωρίαν ὑποστήσεσθε ἀπαραίτητον, ὁ μέν δικαίως ὀργιζόμενος, διά τοῦτο ὅτι ἀδίκως, ὁ δέ δικαίως, διά τοῦτο αὐτό, ὅτι δικαίως ἐμνησικάκησεν

1004 Ὅ τοίνυν διά νηστείας, διά ὀδυρμῶν καί εὐχῶν, καί σάκκου καί σποδοῦ καί μυρίας ἐξομολογήσεως μόλις ἕτεροι κατορθοῦσι, τό τά ἁμαρτήματα ἐξαλείφειν λέγω τά ἑαυτῶν· τοῦτο ἔξεστιν ἡμῖν ῥᾳδίως ποιεῖν χωρίς σάκκου καί σποδοῦ καί νηστείας, ἄν μόνον ἀπό τῆς διανοίας ἐξαλείψωμεν τήν ὀργήν, καί μετά εἰλικρινείας ἀφῶμεν τοῖς ἠδικηκόσιν ἡμᾶς.

Παντός ἁμαρτήματος τό μνησικακεῖν χεῖρον. Τό κακίας ἐλεύθερον, καί ὑφορᾶσθαι κακίαν ἀργότερον. Ὅταν ἴδῃς τόν ἐχθρόν ἐμπεσόντα εἰς τάς χεῖρας τάς σάς, μή νόμιζε τιμωρίας,

ἀλλά σωτηρίας ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τόν καιρόν. ∆ιά τοῦτο τότε μάλιστα δεῖ φείδεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ὅταν αὐτῶν γενώμεθα κύριοι.

Ἐλύπησέ τις; μή ἀντιλυπήσῃς· ἐπεί γέγονας ἐκείνῳ πάλιν ἴσος. Οὐδείς γάρ κακόν κακῷ ἰᾶται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀγαθῷ τό κακόν.

Νείλου. Ὅς ἀνταδίδωσι κακά ἀντί ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ ἐξενεχθῇ κακά ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ.

Φίλωνος. Συγνώμην αἰτούμενος ἁμαρτημάτων, συγγίνωσκε καί αὐτός τοῖς εἰς σέ πλημμελοῦσιν· ὅτι ἀφέσει ἀντιδίδοται ἄφεσις, καί ἡ πρός τούς ὁμοδούλους ἡμῶν καταλλαγή, τῆς θείας ὀργῆς γίνεται ἀπαλλαγή.