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the one who was formerly dissolute, the one who alone was unclean, the one who sinned more than all, (190) let no one hesitate, but rather desire; let him not be timid, but approach rejoicing; nor let him be afraid, but rather take courage seeing the sea of Your love for mankind, and run to it and fall down and weep, and he will receive release from his offenses, saying within himself truly, my God: If the creator had mercy on this all-evil and all-wicked and all-dissolute man, who sinned beyond all men, how would He not have greater mercy on me, who has sinned somewhat sparingly and has not transgressed all the commandments? Therefore, that they may also know the multitude of my evils, I would speak them here, certainly not all, O Word, for they are innumerable beyond the stars, beyond the drops of rain and the sand of the sea, the multitude of surging waves, but those which the book of conscience bears and the storehouses of memory contain; but the others You alone know how to number Yourself. I have become a murderer, hear me all, so that you may weep with sympathy, but I have omitted the manner, declining the length of the account. I have become, woe is me, both an adulterer in my heart and a sodomite in deed and intention. I have become a fornicator, a magician and a pederast, a perjurer and a covetous man, a thief, and a liar and a shameless man, a robber - woe is me - and a lover of money, and reckless, and I have practiced every form (191) of other wickedness. Yes, believe me, I speak these things truly and not with fabrication, nor sophistically! Who then, having heard these things, would not be astonished, would not marvel at Your long-suffering, O Lover of mankind, would not be amazed and say: How did the earth not split open, fleeing from bearing, not enduring the wretched one upon its back, and bring him down alive into Hades? And how was a thunderbolt from above not brought down

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τόν πρίν ἄσωτον, τόν ἀκάθαρτον μόνον, τόν ὑπέρ πάντας πλέον ἐξαμαρτάνοντα, (190) μηδείς διστάσῃ, ἀλλά μᾶλλον ποθήσῃ, μή δειλιάσῃ, ἀλλά χαίρων προσέλθῃ, μηδέ φοβηθῇ, ἀλλά μᾶλλον θαρρήσῃ πέλαγος ὁρῶν τῆς σῆς φιλανθρωπίας καί προσδράμῃ τε καί προσπέσῃ καί κλαύσῃ, καί τῶν πταισμάτων ἀπολήψεται λύσιν λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ ὡς ἀληθῶς, Θεέ μου˙ Εἰ τόν πάγκακον καί παμπόνηρον τοῦτον καί πανάσωτον ἠλέησεν ὁ κτίστης, ὑπέρ ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους ἁμαρτόντα, πῶς οὐκ ἄν ἐμέ μειζόνως ἐλεήσῃ, τόν φειδομένως ποςῶς ἐξαμαρτόντα καί τάς ἐντολάς οὐ πάσας παραβάντα; Ἵν᾿ οὖν εἰδῶσι καί πλῆθος τῶν κακῶν μου, ὧδε λέξοιμι, οὐ πάντα πάντως, Λόγε, ἀναρίθμητα καί γάρ ὑπέρ ἀστέρας, ὑπέρ σταγόνας ὑετοῦ καί θαλάσσης ψάμμον, κυμάτων πλῆθος κυμαινομένων, ἀλλ᾿ ἅπερ βίβλος φέρει τοῦ συνειδότος καί ἀποθῆκαι περιέχουσι μνήμης τά δ᾿ ἄλλα μόνος ἀριθμεῖν αὐτός οἶδας. Γέγονα φονεύς, ἀκούσατε οἱ πάντες, ἵνα κλαύσητε συμπαθῶς, τόν δέ τρόπον εἴασα, λόγου παραιτούμενος μῆκος. Γέγονα, οἴμοι, καί μοιχός τῇ καρδίᾳ καί σοδομίτης ἔργῳ καί προαιρέσει. Γέγονα πόρνος, μάγος καί παιδοφθόρος, ἐπίορκος ὀμότης καί πλεονέκτης, κλέπτης, ψεύστης τε καί ἀναιδής, ἅρπαξ - φεῦ μοι - φιλάργυρός τε, ἰταμός τε καί πάσης (191) ἄλλης κακίας εἶδος διεπραξάμην. Ναί, πιστεύσατε, ἀληθῶς λέγω ταῦτα καί οὐ πλάσματι, οὐδέ σεσοφισμένως! Τίς οὖν ἀκούσας ταῦτα οὐκ ἐκπλαγείη, οὐ θαυμάσειε τήν σήν μακροθυμίαν, ὦ φιλάνθρωπε, οὐ θαμβηθῇ καί λέξει˙ Πῶς οὐ διέστη γῆ φυγοῦσα τοῦ φέρειν, ἐπί τοῦ νώτου μή στέγουσα τόν τάλαν, καί ζῶντα τοῦτον κατήγαγεν εἰς ᾅδην; Σκηπτός ἄνωθεν πως δέ οὐ κατενέχθη