1

De paenitentia (sermo 1) [Sp.]

An exhortatory sermon concerning repentance, in which he recalled and denounced all the passions of men. Sermon 1.

60.681 a'. It is always good to be mindful of God, and very good; and what could be more beautiful than this? For the remembrance of his judgments provides comfort, as the Prophet says: I remembered your judgments from of old, O Lord, and I was comforted. How much comfort and consolation and gladness, then, is it likely for one who is always mindful of God to receive? as again the same Prophet says: I was mindful of God, and I was gladdened. And being in the enjoyment of this gladness from remembrance, he could no longer bear to bring anything else to remembrance, except only God, saying: O Lord, I will be mindful of your righteousness alone; and again, I will be mindful of your name in all generations. And elsewhere again he says more universally: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. Do you see how much benefit the remembrance of God provides? do you see how much strength it provides, so as to draw the ends of the inhabited world to itself? And not only did it free from idolatry, but it also produced forgetfulness of their very memory. For having been drawn by the remembrance of God and enlightened and having known the true God, they say concerning the vain idols: I will not make mention of their names through my lips. Have you seen the strength of the remembrance of God? have you seen a good alteration? have you seen a praised migration? Truly, This is the alteration of the right hand of the Most High, that is, of the coming of Christ, who is at the right hand of the Father, through whom all things were made. Therefore I said well at the beginning of the discourse, that to be mindful of God is more beautiful than all good things. The Prophet, having experience of this remembrance, and having taken hold of the benefit from it, having as it were forgotten all pleasures and delightful things, even to the point of eating his bread, said: O Lord, I will be mindful of your righteousness alone; and, I will not forget your statutes. The Apostle also, having found and tasted the benefit of such remembrance, said, not to Timothy only, but to every man, saying to Timothy: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from 60.682.20 the dead. And just as one who has a treasure hidden in some place, every hour, day and night his whole mind is there, and like someone bound in iron he remains, and does not depart from the place even a little, as the Lord also said, Where the treasure is, there is your heart also; so also he who desires that beauty and the coming of the heavenly bridegroom, is always mindful of him alone, being drawn by divine love and insatiable desire, always singing with the sacred psalmist David the words, I was mindful of God, and I was gladdened.

This the Lord also commanded us, saying: Do this in remembrance of me. Do you see how the Lord wishes to be remembered by us ourselves? Let us therefore, O Christ-lovers, be mindful of God always, and let us not forget, lest the Holy Spirit also reproach us, that you have forsaken the God who begot you, and you have forgotten the God who nourishes you. But let us not cease to be mindful of God, and for us to be remembered, let us not hesitate to cry out to him: Remember us, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom. And just as it is good to be mindful of God on account of that insatiable gladness, so again remembrance would have great profit and benefit, not only

1

De paenitentia (sermo 1) [Sp.]

Λόγος παραινετικὸς περὶ μετανοίας, ἐν ᾧ ἐμνημόνευσε καὶ ἐστηλίτευσε πάντα τὰ πάθη τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Λόγος Αʹ.

60.681 αʹ. Ἀεὶ μὲν μνημονεύειν Θεοῦ καλὸν, καὶ πάνυ καλόν· καὶ τί ἂν γένοιτ' ἂν

τούτου κάλλιον; Ἡ γὰρ τῶν κριμάτων αὐτοῦ μνήμη παράκλησιν παρέχει, καθώς φησιν ὁ Προφήτης· Ἐμνήσθην τῶν κριμάτων σου τῶν ἀπ' αἰῶνος, Κύριε, καὶ παρεκλήθην. Πόσην λοιπὸν παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν εἰκὸς καὶ εὐφροσύνην ὑποδέχεσθαι τὸν ἀεὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ μνημονεύοντα; καθὼς πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Προφήτης λέγει· Ἐμνήσθην τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ηὐφράνθην. Καὶ γενόμενος ἐν ἀπολαύσει τῆς ἐκ τῆς μνήμης ταύτης εὐφροσύνης, οὐκ ἔτι ἠνέσχετό τι ἄλλο ἐπὶ μνήμης φέρειν, εἰ μὴ μόνον τοῦ Θεοῦ, λέγων· Κύριε, μνησθήσομαι τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου μόνου· καὶ πάλιν, Μνησθήσομαι τοῦ ὀνόματός σου ἐν πάσῃ γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν καθολικώτερον λέγει· Μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς Κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Ὁρᾷς ὅσην ὠφέλειαν παρέχει ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμη; ὁρᾷς ὅσην ἰσχὺν παρέχει, ὡς καὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἑλκύσαι πρὸς ἑαυτήν; Καὶ οὐ μόνον εἰδωλολατρείας ἠλευθέρωσεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς μνήμης αὐτῶν λήθην ἐνεποίησεν. Ἑλκυσθέντα γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμης καὶ φωτισθέντα καὶ γνωρίσαντα Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν, λέγουσι περὶ τῶν ματαίων εἰδώλων· Οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ τῶν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν διὰ χειλέων μου. Εἶδες μνήμης Θεοῦ ἰσχύν; εἶδες ἀλλοίωσιν ἀγαθήν; εἶδες μετοικεσίαν ἐπαινουμένην; Ἀληθῶς Αὕτη ἡ ἀλλοίωσις τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου, ἤγουν τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας, ὅς ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο. Λοιπὸν καλῶς ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ λόγου εἶπον, ὅτι πάντων τῶν καλῶν κάλλιον τὸ μνημονεύειν Θεοῦ. Ταύτης τῆς μνήμης ἐν πείρᾳ γενόμενος ὁ Προφήτης, καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς ὠφέλειαν ἐπιλαβόμενος, πάντων ἡδονῶν τε καὶ τῶν τερπνῶν ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθόμενος, ἕως καὶ τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον, ἔλεγε· Κύριε, μνησθήσομαι τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου μόνου· καὶ, Οὐ μὴ ἐπιλάθωμαι τῶν δικαιωμάτων σου. Τῆς τοιαύτης μνήμης τὴν ὠφέλειαν καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος εὑρὼν καὶ γευσάμενος ἔλεγεν, οὐ πρὸς Τιμόθεον μόνον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς πάντα ἄνθρωπον, Τιμοθέῳ λέγων· Μνημόνευε Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐγηγερμένον ἐκ 60.682.20 νεκρῶν. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ ἔχων θησαυρὸν ἔν τινι τόπῳ κεκρυμμένον, πᾶσαν ὥραν, ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα ὅλος ὁ νοῦς αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖ ἐστι, καὶ ὥσπερ τις σιδηροδέσμιος παραμένει, καὶ οὔτε κἂν βραχὺ τοῦ τόπου ἀφίσταται, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος εἶπεν, Ὅπου ὁ θησαυρὸς, ἐκεῖ ἐστι καὶ ἡ καρδία ὑμῶν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἐπιθυμῶν ἐκείνης τῆς ὡραιότητος καὶ τῆς ἐλεύσεως τοῦ ἐπουρανίου νυμφίου, ἀεὶ αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου μόνου μνημονεύει, ἑλκόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου ἔρωτος καὶ τῆς ἀκορέστου ἐπιθυμίας, ψάλλων ἀεὶ μετὰ τοῦ ἱεροψάλτου ∆αυῒδ τὸ, Ἐμνήσθην τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ηὐφράνθην.

Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐνετείλατο ἡμῖν λέγων· Τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. Ὁρᾷς πῶς μνημονεύεσθαι θέλει παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ὁ Κύριος; Μνημονεύσωμεν οὖν φιλόχριστοι τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντοτε, καὶ μὴ ἐπιλαθώμεθα, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὀνειδίσῃ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὅτι Θεὸν τὸν γεννήσαντά σε ἐγκατέλιπες, καὶ ἐπελάθου Θεοῦ τοῦ τρέφοντός σε. Ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν μνημονεύειν Θεοῦ μὴ παυσώμεθα, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μνημονευθῆναι ἡμῶν, αὐτῷ κράζειν μὴ ὀκνήσωμεν· Μνήσθητι ἡμῶν, Κύριε, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. Ὥσπερ δὲ καλὸν μνημονεύειν Θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἀκόρεστον ἐκείνην εὐφροσύνην, οὕτω πάλιν μέγα κέρδος καὶ ὠφέλειαν ἔχοι ἂν ἡ μνήμη, οὐ μόνον