240

Letter 1.

Concerning Confession. (423) 1. You have enjoined upon our lowliness, father and brother, to answer you with a question, “whether it is possible for certain monastics who do not possess the priesthood to confess their sins,” adding this also: “since we hear that the authority to bind and to loose is given to priests alone.” And these are the words and soul-profiting questions of your God-loving soul and of your fiery longing and fear. We indeed have accepted your intention towards good things, that you seek to learn about divine and sacred matters, but we are not able to discern and write of such things, and for this reason we wished to remain silent; for to compare spiritual things with spiritual belongs to dispassionate and holy men, from whom we are far removed in life and word and virtues.

2. But since, as it is written, “the Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth,” I, the unworthy, having called upon Him in truth, will say these things to you not in my own words, but from the divine and God-inspired Scripture itself (424), not teaching, but bringing to you the testimonies from it concerning the things you have asked me, so that by the grace of God I may preserve myself and my listeners from both precipices: that of the one who hid the talent, and that of the one who unworthily and vaingloriously, or rather obscurely, sets forth divine dogmas.

From where, then, shall we make the beginning of our discourse, if not from the beginningless beginning of all things? For this is better, so that what is said may also be sure. For we were not created by angels, nor did we learn from men, but from the wisdom from above, or rather by the grace through the Spirit we were mystically taught and are always being taught every hour, which, having now invoked, let us speak thus, having first explained the manner and power of confession. 3. Confession, therefore, is nothing other than an admission of debts, or a recognition of one's own errors and foolishness, that is, a condemnation of one's poverty; just as the Lord said parabolically in the Gospels: “A certain creditor,” he says, “had two debtors; one owed him fifty denarii, and the other five hundred; since, then, they had nothing to pay, he forgave them both.” Therefore, every believer is a debtor to his own Master and God, and what he received from Him, this indeed he is about to be asked for at His fearful and terrible judgment seat, when we all, kings and poor alike, stand naked and exposed. But what are the things given to us by Him, listen. Many other things, indeed, which no man will be able to enumerate, but for now the better and more perfect things: freedom from condemnation, sanctification from defilement, progress from darkness to His unutterable light, to become His children and sons and heirs through holy baptism, to put on God Himself (425), to become members of Him and to receive the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, which is a royal seal, with which the Lord seals His own sheep - and why do I say much? to make us like Him and to fashion us His brothers and fellow heirs. All these things and many more than these to those who are baptized

240

Ἐπιστολή Α'.

Περί ἐξομολογήσεως. (423) 1. Ἐπέταξας τῇ εὐτελείᾳ ἡμῶν, πάτερ καί ἀδελφέ, ἐρωτηματικῶς εἰπεῖν σοι, «εἰ ἄρα ἐνδέχεται εἰς μονάζοντας τινας ἐξαγγέλειν τάς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν ἱερωσύνην μή ἔχοντας», προσθείς καί τοῦτο˙ «ἐπειδή ἀκούομεν τήν τοῦ δεσμεῖν καί λύειν ἐξουσίαν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι δίδοσθαι μόνοις». Καί ταῦτα μέν τῆς σῆς φιλοθέου ψυχῆς καί τοῦ διαπύρου πόθου καί φόβου τά ῥήματα καί ψυχωφελῆ ἐρωτήματα. Ἡμεῖς δέ ἀπεδεξάμεθά σου μέν τήν πρός τά καλά πρόθεσιν ὅτι ζητεῖς μανθάνειν περί θείων καί ἱερῶν πραγμάτων, ἡμεῖς δέ οὐχ οἷοί τε τοιαῦτα διακρίνειν καί γράφειν ἐσμέν καί διά τοῦτο σιωπᾶν ἐβουλόμεθα˙ τό γάρ πενυματικοῖς πνευματικά συγκρίνειν τῶν ἀπαθῶν καί ἁγίων ἐστίν ἀνδρῶν, ὧν ἡμεῖς κατά πολύ βίῳ καί λόγῳ καί ἀρεταῖς διεστήκαμεν.

2. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί «ἐγγύς» ὡς γέγραπται «Κύριος πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ» τοῦτον κἀγώ ὁ ἀνάξιος ἐπικαλεσάμενος ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ταῦτά σοι οὐ δι᾿ ἐμῶν λόγων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς θείας καί θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς (424) λέξω, οὐ διδάσκων ἀλλά τάς μαρτυρίας περί τῶν ἐπερωτηθέντων μοι φέρων ἐξ αὐτῆς σοι, ἵνα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν κρημνῶν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι ἐμαυτόν καί τούς ἀκούοντάς μου διατηρήσω, τοῦ τε τοῦ τό τάλαντον κατακρύψαντος καί τοῦ ἀναξίως τά θεῖα καί κενοδόξως μᾶλλον δέ ἐσκοτισμένως ἐκτιθέντος δόγματα.

Πόθεν οὖν τήν ἀρχήν τοῦ λόγου ποιήσωμεν ἤ ἐκ τῆς ἀνάρχου τῶν πάντων ἀρχῆς; Τοῦτο γάρ ἄμεινον, ἵν᾿ ᾗ καί τά λεγόμενα βέβαια. Οὐ γάρ παρ᾿ἀγγέλων ἐκτίσθημεν, οὐδέ παρά ἀνθρώπων ἐμάθομεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν σοφίας εἴτ᾿ οὖν τῆς διά τοῦ πνεύματος χάριτος μυστικῶς ἐδιδάχθημεν καί καθ᾿ ὥραν ἀεί διδασκόμεθα, ἥντινα καί νῦν ἐπικαλεσάμενοι λέξωμεν ὧδε, τόν τρόπον πρότερον τῆς ἐξαγορεύσεως καί τήν δύναμιν ἐξειπόντες. 3. Ἐξαγόρευσις τοίνυν οὐδέν ἄλλο ἐστίν ἤ χρεῶν ὁμολογία εἴτ᾿ οὖν ἐπίγνωσις σφαλμάτων καί ἀφροσύνης ἰδίας ἤγουν πτωχείας κατάγνωσις˙ καθώς ἐν εὐαγγελίοις παραβολικῶς εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος˙ «δανειστῇ τινι», φησίν, «ἦσαν δύο χρεωφειλέται καί ὁ μέν εἷς ὤφειλεν αὐτῷ δηνάρια πεντήκοντα, ὁ δέ ἕτερος πεντακόσια˙ μή ἐχόντων οὖν ἀποδοῦναι ἀμφοτέροις ἐχαρίσατο». Τοιγαροῦν ἅπας πιστός χρεώστης ὑπάρχει τοῦ ἰδίου ∆εσπότου καί Θεοῦ καί ὅ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔλαβε, τοῦτο δή καί ἀπαιτηθῆναι μέλλει ἐπί τοῦ φοβεροῦ καί φρικτοῦ κριτηρίου αὐτοῦ, ὅτε γυμνοί καί τετραχηλισμένοι ἅπαντες, βασιλεῖς ὁμοῦ καί πτωχοί, παριστάμεθα. Τίνα δέ εἰσι τά δοθέντα ἡμῖν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἄκουσον. Πολλά μέν οὖν ἄλλα ἅ οὐδείς ἀνθρώπων ἰσχύσει ἐναριθμῆσαι, τέως δέ τά κρείττω καί τελεώτερα, τήν ἐκ τῆς καταδίκης ἐλευθερίαν, τόν ἐκ τοῦ μιασμοῦ ἁγιασμόν, τήν ἐκ τοῦ σκότους πρός τό ἀνεκλάλητον αὐτοῦ φῶς πρόοδον, τό τέκνα καί υἱούς αὐτοῦ καί κληρονόμους διά τοῦ θείου γενέσθαι βαπτίσματος, τό αὐτόν τόν Θεόν (425) ἐπενδύσασθαι, τό μέλη γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ καί τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα λαβεῖν ἐνοικοῦν ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅπερ σφραγίς ὑπάρχει βασιλική, ἐν ᾗ τά ἴδια πρόβατα σφραγίζει ὁ Κύριος - καί τί πολλά λέγω; τό ὁμοίους καί ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι καί ἀδελφούς καί συγκληρονόμους αὐτοῦ ἀπεργάσασθαι.Ταῦτα πάντα καί ἄλλα πλείονα τούτων τοῖς βαπτιζομένοις