the introduction

God...the friend of sinners

 Your thirst for a friend

 Man, as a social creature, fears loneliness and dreads isolation and stillness. He longs to have his heart filled, not with a colleague but with a friend, who always accompanies him, understands him and responds to him, accepts his ideas and understands his concepts and philosophy, respects and appreciates him, exchanges secrets with him openly, and shares with him all his feelings in his sorrows and joys without hypocrisy. Or flattery.

 There are many colleagues, but the need is for a loving friend, who loves selflessly, who loves above all circumstances and times, who does not seek material, social, emotional, or moral benefit for himself, openly or secretly.

Job, in the midst of his calamity, looked for a friend, but his children died, and the wife, his helper and partner, became a snare for him, adding fuel to the fires of his trial, as she sarcastically said to him: “You still cling to your perfection, bless God, and die” (Job 2:9). As for his friends, they did not console him for his distress, but rather pushed him to complain about God. Finally, when Job was tired of their conversations and rebukes, he said to them: “I have heard many things like this. You are all tired comforters. Is there any end to empty talk?” (Job 16:2-3).

And David also, when everyone closed the doors of their hearts in his face, said: “I said in my confusion: Every man is a liar” (Psalm 116:11). “Lord, how many troubles me. Many rose up against me. Many say to my soul, “There is no salvation in his God.” (Psalm 3:1-2)

He who was sick at the pool of Bethesda was abandoned by all his relatives until he thought that the Lord had also forgotten him. “I have no one to meet me” (John 5:7).

You and I need a friend with whom we can be frank with everything, and who can be frank with us with everything, because any of us can be frank, even with his father, mother, or brothers, with all his thoughts, words, and deeds, including impurities, pride, hatred, envy, gossip, love of appearance, theft, etc. He is afraid of stoning, and I wish he were stoned as adulterers were sentenced in the Old Testament, but he is harsher and more commanding. One sarcastic look or movement from someone who knows evil is enough to break his heart, corrupt his humanity, and plunge himself into the depths of despair! That is why David cried out with a sigh: “My father and my mother have left me.”

As for a friend?!

The atmosphere of selfishness has created a drought, and the word “love” or “friendship” has become, in the eyes of many, just a word in a dictionary, a mere illusion and imagination. They subconsciously projected these feelings within themselves onto God. They were not able to realize his love for them - despite their mental knowledge of this - and there is no clearer evidence of this than some people committing suicide.

The word “love” or “friendship” is ignorant to many, because they have not tasted it yet, as they have not yet met the friend who loves them, our Lord Jesus.

Some people thought that social inclination was love, but birds and animals, even predatory ones, have social inclination, so can we say that they love?!

Even fathers and mothers, many of them do not yet know how to love their children, and if they love them, it is because they are their children, that is, they love themselves in them and reflect their personalities on them. Therefore, it is no wonder that parents disdained their children whenever they sinned, and even during the siege of Jerusalem, noble women cooked their children out of hunger.

Some people thought lust was love, and they did not realize that the one who loves them with a lustful love is only seeking comfort for himself, not comfort for the one he loves, who wants to satisfy his instincts or emotions. In doing so, he confirms his selfishness despite his deception of the other party and even deception of himself, thinking that he loves this other party.

God wants your friendship

When we search for a friend, we ask for someone who can help us or satisfy us materially, socially, or morally. As for God, He seeks the friendship of those who are deprived of friendship, and He helps the sinners, the unrighteous, the despised, and the non-existent.

Adam needed to hear God’s voice: “Adam... where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), searching for him to befriend him. He needed this call from the Lord more than before after the fall, so that the abyss of despair would not swallow him up and the inertia of sin would kill him.

Peter needed the gentle looks of our Lord Jesus after he denied him and cursed him with an oath, lest he commit suicide like Judas.

Terms of friendship

When a person befriends someone, he takes into consideration special conditions for the person he befriends, and our Lord Jesus also asks us for a basic condition on the basis of which he offers his friendship to us and accepts our friendship to him, which is that the person should know himself.

In the moments when a person realizes the truth about himself, that he is a sinful and weak person, in need of a helper, the Lord comes to help him, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). At a time when a person feels self-righteous and better than others, God abandons him.

As much as you feel the weight of your sins, your burdens, their bitterness, the impurities and hardness of your heart, no matter how great they are, and the dryness of your spirit, He seeks you as a friend, not to humiliate you or admonish you, but to heal your wounds, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).

When the disease becomes severe for you, the bowels of our Lord Jesus yearn for you, and He Himself seeks you and searches for you, because He knows that sin has intoxicated your heart, distorted your emotions, and made you lose the balance of your mind. He seeks you when you realize your need for Him, even if that is while committing sin in its worst form. Because he knows that he can come down to you to raise you to himself, but you cannot raise yourself to him.

I am not saying that you should fall into sin so that the Lord’s bowels may pity you. Rather, I am asking the Lord to reveal your sins to you and pass them into your mouth, so that you cry out to Him from the depths of your heart: “From the depths I cried to you, O Lord, and you answered me.” I cry out to him: “Repent me, O Lord, and I will repent.” Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed.” He taught us: “I want mercy, not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).

However, be very afraid of yourself, if your heart is a Pharisee, and you consider yourself better than others, if you have felt sufficient and have stopped the work of grace in you. Even if you have an image of holiness and righteousness, and if you are a solitary monk or a servant, you have an image of jihad.

Jesus is in friendship with you

1. He reflects his beauty on us

 When you befriend a person, you quickly discover his mistakes, but our Lord Jesus quickly reveals to you a special beauty in you that you did not know.

In his friendship with the adulterous Samaritan woman, he did not hurt her feelings by calling her an adulteress, but rather told her: “Go and call your husband” (John 4:16). When she confessed the truth of her situation, he saw in her the virtue of honesty: “It is well that you said, ‘I do not have a husband’” (John 4:17).

In his meeting with the adulterous woman, he did not prevent her from kissing his feet, which Simon the Pharisee had refused to enter his house, even in the presence of our Lord Jesus. As for Jesus, he entered her heart and saw love in it. “Her many sins have been forgiven, because she loved much” (Luke 7:47).

The tax collector, whom everyone refused to visit, was visited by the Lord in his home and saw in his heart a longing for good.

And the thief whom society wanted to get rid of on the cross, the Lord opened the gates of his paradise to him, and saw in him a faith that exceeded the faith of all.

What a friend!! And what friend, sinners who feel their sin comes to Him to make a substitute for them, carries their impurities and sins in His body on the cross and gives them His righteousness and holiness, “For while we were still weak, Christ died at the appointed time for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor while being rich, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

As a human being, how can you live a life of holiness, or can you implement His difficult commandments: loving enemies, not getting angry unjustly, loving everyone, etc. These are difficult commandments, even impossible for human nature. But our Lord Jesus, in His friendship with you, gives you a new possibility. He gives himself in you so that he can work and carry out, so that the difficult or impossible commandment becomes an object of pleasure for you.

The human soul, in its weakness, was ashamed of him, saying: “I am black... my mother’s sons were angry with me” (Song of Songs 1:5, 6). That is, Lord, you know the weakness of my humanity. Ask everyone around me, for they know my evil. As for him, he calls her after meeting him and reflecting his beauty on her, saying: “Here you are beautiful, my love. There you are, beautiful. Your eyes are doves” (Song of Songs 1:15).

My brother, do not be afraid, but open the doors of your heart to our Lord Jesus, and let Him work in you, without any negligence on your part, as He does not work in the lazy.

Jesus, at this moment, is searching for you and running after you. He wants to befriend you, to reflect his beauty on you. “The voice of my Beloved: Behold, he comes triumphant over the mountains, leaping upon the hills... Behold, he stands behind our wall, looking out of the windows, peering out of the windows.” My beloved answered and said to me: Arise, my beloved, my beautiful, and come, my dove, in the clefts of the rocks, in the cover of the strongholds. Make me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful” (Song of Songs 2:8-14).

When she refuses to open, he caresses her, showing his need and love for her, so that perhaps her insides will yearn and accept him. “You have taken my heart captive, my sister, the bride. You have captured my heart, with one of your eyes, with one necklace on your neck. How beautiful is your love, my sister, the bride. How much better is your love than wine, and how much better is the scent of your ointments than all spices. Your lips, my bride, drop honeycomb. Under your tongue is honey and milk, and the smell of your clothes is like the smell of Lebanon. My sister, the bride, is a garden shut up, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed up” (Song of Songs 4:9-12).

When the soul insists on not accepting the Lord, He reveals to it the depths of His love for it. He endured the suffering of the cross for her sake, and gave himself up for her sake (Ephesians 5:25, John 15:13). He took her infirmities and bore her illnesses (Matthew 8:17), saying to her: “Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is full of dew, and my hair is full of the dew of the night... My beloved stretched out his hand through the window, and my bowels groaned for him.” (Song of Songs) 5:2-4). Her contemplation of the love of our Lord Jesus for her, and accepting the cross for her, is enough to make her heart yearn, no matter how hardened, to open up to Him and meet Him.

2. She speaks to him and he speaks to her

 When she meets him, he reveals his secrets to her, and she reveals to him her secrets that are not hidden from him. He finds pleasure in hearing her voice calling to him, because it is his daughter's voice. He wants to hear her talk to him about her hardships, worries, weaknesses, and joys, and thank him for working with her. What is more delicious is that he hears her talking to him, that she loves him and adores him, and does not want anyone else in her heart but him. Sometimes the soul stands in silence before its groom. She speaks the language of unspeakable joy and jubilation that cannot be translated into any of the world's languages. These are happy moments in which the soul is filled with love for God, and its love for Him grows more. Then He reveals to her the depths of the sweetness of His divinity and the sweetness of being with Him and reveals Himself to her (John 14:21). Worship turns into pleasure and joy despite the pain, discomfort, or effort it entails.

Dear ones... Our Lord Jesus wants our friendship, saying: “I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father” (John 15:15). He rejoices when he finds us, and even asks the heavenly ones to rejoice with him: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.” (Luke 15). He longs for us and wants to protect us, so that none of us will perish (John 17:12; 6:37). But we are often miserly about Him. Rather, we are miserly with our souls by taking a quiet pause or a secret session away from the world and its problems, troubles, pleasures, and joys, so that we can meet with our friend, our Lord Jesus. We often stop our tongues from repeating His Name, or our hearts from calling Him anywhere.

Jesus asks for your good

Jesus, in his love for his friends, loves without limits, does not reproach, and no longer mentions to us the sin that we regret. But as a loving father who seeks our good, he often allows us to be disciplined, not out of revenge but out of love. “Everyone I love I rebuke and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

He paid the debt on the cross, but He disciplines in order to purify the faith of His children, or to pass sin into their mouths, or to make them feel alienated in this life, or for some other reason.

He is like a light, and nothing harms Him if we reject it and love darkness more than Him. But He is like a father who disciplines us out of compassion for us, and in His discipline also He does not deprive us of His kindness: “His left hand (that is, the hand of instruction) is under my head, and his right hand embraces me” (Song of Songs 2:6).

Undoubtedly, feelings like these and more filled the heart of Saint Ambrose, experiencing God’s love for sinners, His long-suffering toward the wicked, and His firm desire for every soul to reach fellowship with Him and live through Him and in Him. He recorded these feelings for us as much as his pen was able to express in these two books. .

They are two letters about repentance. The first was addressed by Saint Ambrose to the followers of Novatius who refused to accept the repentance of those who denied the faith as a result of fear of torments, or others who had committed sins for which they saw no repentance. It is a letter that reveals to all of us the extent of God’s love for sinners, and His opening of the doors of endless hope. Limits, and ease of the path of repentance and return to God.

The second is addressed to us, sinners, so that we do not underestimate God’s mercies and turn the hope of repentance into an opportunity for inaction and postponement.

I translated them from the collection of the Nicene Fathers after leaving out some paragraphs and chapters, hoping that the Lord would bless everyone who reads them.

Finally, for love, remember my weakness in your prayers.

Two letters to the Fathers and children of the Church
on
Repentance

The original translation of the title “Repentance.” This title is “Be kind to sinners!” The rest of the titles and tabs are in the translator mode.

Pastor Tadros Yacoub Malti

Alexandria in April 1968

This book is translated by the Coptic Church: This means that we do not agree with everything that was stated in the comments of the translator or the preparer, and sometimes we disagree with it. Please alert us if there is something like this or something that is not understood... To read the text in English, please click here

Book One: Be Kind to Sinners!

Be kind

Carry the burdens of sinners!!

Virtue seeks the advancement of the majority, which is why kindness is the most beloved of virtues. Because kindness cannot lead the person it guides to any harm, but rather often enables him to receive forgiveness. This and kindness is the only virtue that seeks the growth of the church, which the Lord requires as a price for His blood.

Kindness is an imitation of Heaven's tenderness toward humanity, aiming toward the salvation of all, seeking this goal by means that human ears can tolerate, without making their hearts faint or their souls despair.

Whoever is tasked with correcting human weaknesses must bear them and not throw them away, even if they weigh heavily on his shoulders. The Holy Bible mentions about the shepherd that he carries the lost sheep and does not throw it away... because how can someone who you despise approach you, who will find himself the subject of his doctor’s rebuke? Instead of being the object of his sympathy?!

Jesus is kind to us

Jesus had compassion on us so as not to frighten us, but rather to invite us to Him. He came in meekness, in humility... and with this he said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In this way, the Lord revived us and did not close us or expel us.

In choosing the disciples, he chose those who would translate his will and gather the people of God without scattering them. Those who follow harsh and arrogant opinions, and are not kind and meek, are not counted among the Lord's disciples. Those who, while seeking God's mercies for themselves, deny them to others. These are like the teachers of the Novatian heresy, who consider themselves righteous.

Be kind...we are all sinners

What pride is worse than this?! If the Holy Bible testifies that no one is pure from stain, even if he were born one day. The Prophet David cried out, saying: “Wash me clean from my iniquity” (Psalm 50:2). Is there anyone more holier than David, from whose family the Lord Christ came incarnated? From his descendants came the Virgin, the divine heaven, who carried the Savior in the womb of her virginity?!

What cruelty is worse than punishing others relentlessly, and refusing to forgive those who urge them to accept discipline and repentance?!

Be gentle...even with those who deny the faith!!

In their rejection, they disobey God’s commandments

They say that we should not accept deniers of the faith into the community again, since they have profaned the sanctities, which excludes them from receiving forgiveness. Therefore, we must be harsh on them.

With this claim, they contradict the divine revelation, clinging to special teachings, because when the Lord forgave sins, He did not exclude anything from them.

By knowing this, they thought they were giving the Lord great reverence...but the truth is that there will be no one who would offend God like them, as they abused His commandments and disdained their job (as priests to God). Because when the Lord Jesus himself said in the Gospel: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. And whose sins you retain, they are retained” (Luke 20:22, 23). Therefore, whoever honors the Lord obeys this commandment and does not disobey it.

The work of the church is to dissolve

The Church bases her obedience to this commandment on both its aspects, binding and loosing. As for the heresy of Novatius, on the one hand, it is cruel to sinners, and on the other hand, it is not obedient to this commandment. If you want to bind and do not dissolve what you bind. In this way, she judges herself on her own, because the Lord wants the two authorities to be equal and to sanctify them in a similar way. He who has no authority to dissolve is also without authority to bind. As for the one who has the authority to bind, he also has the authority to loose, as the Lord says.

By this they judged the corruption of their teaching, because by denying the authority to dissolve, they denied their authority to bind as well...

What else can I say about their increasing arrogance?! Their will contradicts the spirit of the Lord, who tends towards mercy, not cruelty... They do what He does not want. Because He is the Judge and has the right to punish, we find that He pardons...!

The Church absolves all sins

They say that except for the great sins, you give absolution for the small sins...

God did not make such a distinction, but rather promised His mercies to all, granting His priests the authority to absolve all sins without exception... What delusion is this, to claim for yourselves what sins you can absolve, attributing to the Lord sins that cannot be absolved? By this you ascribe to yourselves mercy and to the Lord cruelty...!

We must know that God is a God of mercy, inclined to pardon, not to cruelty. That is why it was said: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6), so how can God accept your offerings, you who deny mercy, when it has been said about God that He does not desire the death of a sinner such as his conversion (Ezekiel 18:32)?!

To explain this truth, the Apostle says: “For God, when He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the rule of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:3, 4)...

Jesus opens the doors of hope

If our previous conversation revealed the Lord Jesus’ inclination toward mercy, let us now let him speak to us himself... for when he said: “For whoever acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32, 33).

When he spoke about those who confessed him, he said: “Everyone.” However, when he spoke about the state of denial, he did not mention the word “all”... In the case of beneficial punishment, he promised it to all those who recognized him, but when he spoke of punishment, he did not threaten everyone...

This was not written by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was not only recorded by “Matthew”, but also by “Luke” (12:8, 9) so that we can be sure that what was written was not by chance...

Let us now consider the meaning of his saying, “Everyone who acknowledges me before people.” He means whoever recognizes him, whatever his age, whatever his condition, without any exception. As for denial, no similar phrase was mentioned...

David the Prophet says: “Does He reject the Lord forever?!... Has His mercy ended forever?!... Has God forgotten His compassion or removed His mercies from His wrath?!” (Psalm 77:7-9). This is what the Prophet declares to us while those insist on denying God's mercies!

They bandaged his wounds

Do you close the door in the faces of these sinners?!... Because what does your refusal to accept their repentance mean other than closing the door in their faces?!

The Good Samaritan did not cross over, leaving the man whom the thieves had thrown dead, but rather bandaged his wounds with oil and wine. First pour oil on him to soothe his pain. And he leaned him on his chest, that is, he bore all his sins.

Thus, Jesus the shepherd did not despise his lost sheep.

But you say that this sinful person has nothing to do with me.

You who want to justify yourself by saying that he is not your relative. In this way, you have become more arrogant than the Pharisee who wanted to test Jesus Christ, saying: “Who is my neighbor?”

The Pharisee asked who his relative was, but you denied his relationship to you, passing by with the wounded person indifferently, just like the priest and the Levite, even though you were required not to leave him, but rather take him and be compassionate towards him, and deposit him in the hotel (the church) where the Lord Christ paid the two denarii for him. This is what Jesus Christ, his neighbor, has obligated you to do...

You have made yourself a stranger to him with your pride. You were puffed up against him in vain, because of your carnal mind and your lack of adherence to Christ the Head (Colossians 2:18, 19). Because if you had held on to the head, you would not have left Him for whom Christ died. If you had held on to the head, you would have cared for the whole body, and cared for the connection between the members without division, enjoying growth from God (Colossians 2:19) through the bond of love and the salvation of sinners.

When you refuse to accept repentance, you are saying: “No wounded person will enter our hotel, and no one will be healed in our church.” We don't care about patients. We are all healthy, and we do not need a doctor, because he himself said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people!”

Do not burden the yoke

Come, Lord Jesus, to your church, for these (followers of Novatius) are making discrimination. Each one of them says that he has brought the yoke of an ox to others, instead of placing the easy yoke of Christ on him. He casts upon them a heavy yoke, which he himself cannot bear. Thus, his humans distance themselves from your true servants, treat others with disdain, and even kill them. Then, O Lord, send to the streets of the city and gather together the good and the bad, bringing into your church the weak, the blind, and the lame (Luke 14:21).

Command, O Lord, that your house be filled, bringing them (sinners) to your banquet, because you create (spiritually) those who follow you when you call him...

O Lord, your Church did not apologize for coming to your banquet, but these servants (followers of Novatius) are the ones who distinguish between those who enter and those who do not.

Your family did not say: “I am healthy and do not need a doctor.” Rather, it said: “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved” (Jer. 17:14). The likeness of your church is that woman who came behind you and touched the hem of your garment, saying to herself: “If I only touch his garment, I will be healed” (Matthew 9:21).

Thus the Church acknowledges her wounds but desires healing.

And you, Lord, truly want everyone to be healed, even if not everyone wants to be healed.

The followers of Novatius do not want this, as they consider themselves pure.

You, O Lord, declare that you are sick (to your children), when you feel the illness of the least person among them, saying: “I was sick and you visited me” (Matthew 25:36). As for them, they refuse to visit you, when they refuse to visit the worst of sinners.

I said to Peter when he wanted to exclude himself from washing his feet: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8)...

In their wickedness, they deny the possibility of salvation from sin even within the church, even though you said to Peter: “I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:9). And God’s chosen vessel himself says: “And whomever you forgive anything, I also forgive.” For I have forgiven it; if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the presence of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:10).

So why do they read the writings of the Apostle Paul, if they think that in this he has gone astray, claiming for himself a right that belongs to his Lord?! But he attributed to himself what had been given to him. He did not usurp authority that was not given to him.

Ignite the talent for solution

The Lord's will is for the disciples to have authority. His will is for them to do in His name what He did while on earth (in the flesh), when He said that they should do what He does and greater than them (John 14:2, Matthew 10:8)...

In short, he gave them all the gifts (Mark 16:17, 18)... so divine grace works in them what human ability cannot do...

Do you claim for yourselves the authority to dissolve by divine grace whenever you wish, and disdain this authority whenever you wish?! What shameless audacity, and is it not a holy fear, as you disdain those who want to repent?!

Don't puff them up!!

You certainly cannot bear the tears of those who weep, or look at their sackcloth, but with your arrogant eyes and swollen hearts you say with sour tongues: “Do not touch me, for I am pure.”

Indeed, the Lord said to Mary Magdalene: “Do not touch me” (John 20:17), but He did not say to her: “Do not touch me, for I am pure,” even though He is holy! Do you dare to claim purity for yourself, even though even if you are pure in your deeds, by rejecting the repentance of sinners you are impure?!

The prophet Isaiah says: “Woe is me! for I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Do you claim purity for yourself?!

And David the Prophet says: “Wash me clean from my iniquity” (Psalm 50:2). He who, because of the tenderness of his heart, was often washed by divine grace. Are you pure, you who have no compassion, when you see the speck in your brother’s eye and do not care about the plank in your own eye?!

With God, no unjust person will ever be pure. What injustice is greater than wanting your sins to be forgiven, while you consider your brother who is pleading with you not worthy of forgiveness?! What injustice is greater than justifying yourself in what you condemn others, and even committing more sins than that?!

Who can bear you, you who claim that you do not need to be washed with repentance, because you have been washed with grace, as if it were now impossible for you to sin?!

Pray for him

You may say: “It is written: If a man sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?” (1 Samuel 2:25). What difficulty does this question raise: “Who is praying for?” As long as he did not say: “No one prays for him,” but rather said: “Who prays for him?” Meaning that he did not deny prayer, but he wondered who was willing to pray for him.

This is similar to what was stated in the fifteenth Psalm: “O Lord, who can dwell in your dwelling place? Who can dwell in your holy mountain?” (Psalm 15:1). He does not mean that there is no one to dwell in the Lord’s dwelling or dwell in His holy mountain, but he wonders who deserves this. ...or whoever is chosen for this...

In the same way we must understand the phrase “Who will pray for him?” That is, there should be people in spiritual exaltation who pray for those who do wrong to the Lord. The greater the severity of the sin, the greater their need for prayers.

When the people sinned by worshiping the calf... not one of the members of the group prayed for them, but rather Moses himself. Was Moses wrong?! He certainly did not make a mistake in praying for them, as he deserved to ask and received what he asked for. What kind of love like this... until he offered himself for the sake of the people, saying: “Now if you forgive their sin, if not, blot me out of your book which you have written” (Exodus 32:32).

Here we see him not thinking about himself, as a person filled with illusions and doubts, as if he was about to commit a sin... Rather, he was thinking about everyone, forgetting himself, not afraid of being disobedient, but rather asking to save the people from the danger of disobedience.

So it was rightly said: “Who will pray for him?!” Meaning that there must be someone like Moses who offers himself for sinners, or like the prophet Jeremiah, who despite the Lord’s saying to him: “And you must not pray for this people” (Jeremiah 7:16). However, he prayed for them and received forgiveness for them. Through the mediation and prayer of such a prophet, the Lord was moved and said to Jerusalem, which repented of its sins, saying: “...the soul has cried out to you in distress and the spirit in distress. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for you are a merciful God. Have mercy, for we have sinned against you” (Baruch 3:21). So the Lord commanded them to take off the garments of mourning and sighing, saying: “Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of mourning and affliction, and put on the splendor of glory from God forever” (Ba 5:1).

Do not despair of his salvation

Acceptance without exception

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). If I want to correct any sinner, should I first ask him whether he believes or does not believe? He undoubtedly believes, and according to God's promises, he has eternal life. So how can you stop praying for someone who will have eternal life?!…

I wish that no one would fear perdition, no matter what his condition or fall, for the Good Samaritan of the Gospel would pass by him and find him coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho, that is, fleeing from the pain of martyrdom to enjoy the pleasures of the world, wounded by the thieves, that is, the persecutors.[1] Lying between alive and dead.

This Good Samaritan is a symbol of Jesus Christ, who is the guardian of souls[2]He will not leave you, but will have compassion on you and heal you.

Be kind to everyone

The Good Samaritan did not leave the person lying between dead and alive, because he saw the breeze of life in him, so he hoped for his recovery.

Doesn’t it seem to you that a person who has fallen into sin, between living and dead, can faith find in him the breath of life?!

If the fallen person is between living and dead, pour oil and wine on him. Do not pour wine without oil, so that he may have relief from the pain of purification. Lean him on your chest, present him to the innkeeper, pay the two dinars for his recovery, and be close to him! You will not be his relative unless you have compassion for him, because the relative is the one who heals and does not kill. If you want to be close to Him, Jesus Christ commands you, saying: “You also go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

Love him and do not treat him!!

The Judge has not yet condemned him

… “He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This wrath remains on those who disobey, that is, those who do not believe. But when he believes - whoever he is - anger will leave him and life will come to him...

 If God does not judge him, do you condemn him?!

He said that whoever believes in Him will not remain in darkness. Meaning that before faith he was in darkness, but after faith he no longer returns to it. Rather, his mistakes are corrected and he keeps the commandments of the Lord, who said: “I do not delight in the death of the wicked, but in the wicked turning from his way and living” (Ezekiel 33:11). It is as if the Lord is saying: “I have already said that whoever believes in me will not be condemned. And I reserve this for him, because I did not come to judge the world but to save it” (John 12:47). I willingly forgive him, and I forgive him quickly... “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6)... “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).

And again, the Lord says: “Whoever rejects Me and does not accept My words has someone who condemns him” (John 12:48)... So whoever turns from His way has accepted His words, because this is His word, that everyone should turn from sin. Thus, by condemning him, you have disdained these words of Christ, otherwise accept sinners...

Indeed, they must turn away from sin and keep His commandments, despising iniquity... But how cruel it is to despise the repentance of a person who has not yet kept the Lord’s commandments, but will keep them. Let us let the Lord Himself teach us about those who have not yet kept His commandments. “If they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments; He visited by the rod of their transgressions, and by the plagues of their iniquity. But My mercy I will not take away from them” (Psalm 89:31-33). Thus he promised everyone mercy.

Treat him with love

The Lord receives everyone who believes, but He disciplines every son whom He receives (Hebrews 12:6). In disciplining him, he does not consign him to death. For it is written: “The Lord has disciplined me, but has not given me up to death” (Psalm 118:18).

Paul disciplines with gentleness

The Apostle Paul teaches us not to abandon those who have committed sin to death, but rather we oblige them to bake tears (of repentance), but let their grief be moderate. This is what the phrase “I made them drink with tears in full” means (Psalm 130:5). Their grief must be great, lest the penitent be swallowed up by excessive grief. This is as he said to the people of Corinth: “What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?!” (1 Corinthians 4:21). He uses the stick, but without cruelty, as it was said: “You shall strike him with a rod, and you will save his soul from the bottomless pit” (1 Kings 23:14).

What did the Apostle mean by the rod? It was revealed when he spoke against the sin of adultery (1 Corinthians 5:1), warning against immorality with relatives whom it is forbidden to marry, and attacking their pride, as those who had to be sad were arrogant. Finally, in a conversation about the guilty person, he ordered that he be isolated from the group and handed over to Satan, not for the destruction of his soul, but for the destruction of his body.

God disciplines Job

In this, Paul imitates God, who did not give Satan power over the spirit of blessed Job, but rather allowed him to afflict his body (Job 2:6). Paul handed the sinner over to Satan for the destruction of the body, so that the serpent would lick the dust of his body (Micah 7:17). As for his soul, it would not be harmed...

If we want to explain what the Apostle Paul means, we should consider his own words, in what sense he said to hand him over to Satan for the destruction of the body, because Satan is the one who tempts us, as he brings illnesses and diseases to our bodies.

Satan struck the blessed Job with bitter sores from foot to head, because he had gained power to destroy his body, when the Lord said to him: “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life” (Job 2:6). This is also what the Apostle took with the same words, handing over the adulterer to Satan for the destruction of the body, so that his soul might be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).

Great is this Sultan! Great is this gift, with which Satan commands himself to be destroyed.

The devil destroys himself by himself, and that is his urging of man’s temptation by making him strong in spirit instead of being weak. As his body becomes weaker, his spirit becomes stronger, because the weakness of the body resists sin, but its softness ignites the fire of sin.

Satan deceives himself by wounding himself with his own bite, and fortifies against him whom he thinks is weakening him. Saint Job was even more fortified when he was wounded by the one who covered his entire body with sores, so he endured the bites of Satan and his poison did not affect him. So it was well said to him: “You catch the dragon with a hook, and play with it like a bird. You bind him as a child does to a bird, and lay your hand on him” (Job 41:1, 5, 8 LXX).

You see how Paul mocked him, as a boy, as stated in the prophecy, put his hand on the serpent’s pit, and the serpent did not harm him. He drew it from its hidden place and made its poison into a medicine. It became a poison to destroy the body and a medicine to heal the soul. What harms the body benefits the spirit (1 Corinthians 5:5).

So, to let the serpent strike what is earthly in (my body), let it bite my body and cause it to turn blue, and the Lord will say about me: “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life” (Job 2:6).

Oh God's power!! He entrusts the preservation of a person’s soul into the hands of Satan, who wants to destroy him!!… With the commandments of the Master, he made Satan a keeper of his sheep. Without his will, he began to implement the commandments of heaven, and with his cruelty obeyed the commandments of meekness!

Stick with attached

Paul, the faithful teacher, promised something that had two aspects:

He came with a rod, separating the guilty person from the holy community. And well he said to be delivered to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5), the one who was separated from the body of Christ.

But he came with love and a spirit of gentleness, by surrendering him in this way for the sake of saving his soul, and because it brought him back to the sanctities from which he had been deprived.

It is necessary to sort out those who have seriously fallen, so that a little leaven does not spoil the whole dough, and so that the old leaven or the old man in every person can be purified, that is, the external man and his deeds, that which has grown old among people in sin, and has taken root in vice.

Well, he said: “So be cleansed from yourselves” (1 Corinthians 5:7), and he did not say, “Drive them out.” Because the process of purification does not mean that it is completely useless, but rather the removal of what is despised in it...

And he said well, “Then purify yourselves.” That is, the group does something for the sake of purification, and this person is washed away by the group’s tears over him, and he is saved because of their wailing over him.

This is what the Apostle means with his mysterious words... “Clean out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened” (1 Corinthians 5:7). That is, for the church to bear the burdens of the sinner with wailing and prayers in pain.

What spirit are you from?!

The apostles forgave sins, so by what authority do you deny forgiveness to others? Who honors God more: Paul or the followers of Novanius?! Paul knew that God was merciful, and that the Lord Jesus was opposed to the recklessness of the disciples.

Jesus rebuked James and John when they spoke asking for fire to be sent from heaven to destroy those who did not accept the Lord, saying to them: “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:55, 56).

Truly, he said to them: “You do not know what spirit you are of”... As for you, he says to you: “You are not of my Spirit, because you do not bear my tenderness, despise my mercies, and refuse the repentance of those to whom I want to preach the good news through the apostles in my name.”

In vain do you preach repentance while rejecting its fruits. Because who does an action without being encouraged by a reward or a result?!

So, if someone has committed sins (which you think are light), and has not offered serious repentance for them, how can he receive punishment, unless the church community corrects him (inducing him to repent)?!

Truly, I want sinners to hope for forgiveness, and to ask for it with tears and sighs, interceding with the tears and supplications of the whole people for the forgiveness of their sins. And if their return to the fellowship is postponed for a period or two (for discipline)... let them increase their tears, and let them come in deep remorse... Then the Lord will say to them: “Your many sins have been forgiven, because you loved greatly” (Luke 7:47).

Don't be too hard on them

Why do we increase the period of their regret, those who are killing themselves... The Apostle Paul says: “For such a man is the punishment that comes from the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest such a man be swallowed up with excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:6). The punishment (discipline) inflicted on him by the majority was sufficient to make him regret it, and the mediation offered by the majority was sufficient to accept him again.

Thus, the Messenger not only pardoned him, but wanted to be surrounded by increased love... He wanted everyone to forgive him, and he said that he forgave him for their sake, so that the majority would not also be swallowed up by grief. “And whomever you forgive anything, I also forgive, for I have forgiven anything. If I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the presence of Christ. So that Satan does not deceive us, because we are not ignorant of his thoughts” (2 Corinthians 10:11).

Truly, the Messenger was wary of the serpent, whose deception he was not aware of, and because of which many were saddened. It always wants to harm us, and wants to elude us, even to cause us death. But let us be careful lest our medicine (discipline) become an opportunity to support her. Because it deceives us through it, by making the penitent person swallowed up by excessive grief, whom we should have, with our compassion, freed.

Book Two: Repentance

The Lord seeks fruit

Hurry...and come

Repentance is offered not only passionately, but also quickly. Lest the owner of the vineyard mentioned in the Gospel, who planted a fig tree in his vineyard, come and seek fruit and find none, and say to the farmer: “Cut it down, why should the land become worthless?!” (Luke 13:7). He would cut it off unless he intervened, saying: “Lord, I will leave it this year again until I dig around it and put dung in it. If it produces fruit, if not, then you will cut it off later” (Luke 13:8, 9).

Our need for fertilization

 I wish we could fertilize this field that is ours, following the example of the struggling farmers, who are not ashamed to saturate the earth with manure, and spread dirty ashes on the field so that they may gather a greater harvest.

The Apostle Paul taught us how to fertilize our field by saying: “I consider all things loss...that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). With a good reputation or a bad reputation, he is able to please Christ.

Paul read about Abraham that he admitted that he was nothing but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27).

He read about Job when he sat in the ashes (Job 2:8) and thus regained everything he lost (Job 42:10).

It was heard from the mouth of David that God “raises up the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the dunghill” (Psalm 113:7). May we no longer be ashamed to confess our sins to the Lord.

Indeed, it is shameful for a person to confess his sins, but this shame is similar to the process of plowing the land, removing the thorns from it, and purifying it from thorns, and in this way we show the fruits that were considered non-existent.

Let us then imitate him who diligently plowed his field, searching for eternal fruit. “We are reviled and blessed. We are persecuted and we endure. We are slandered, so we preach. We have become like the filth of the world and the filth of everything until now” (1 Corinthians 4:12, 13). If you plow in this manner, you will have sown spiritual seeds... Paul plowed in this way in order to destroy in himself his tendency to persecution... What gift was given to him by the Lord Christ greater than this... to bring about such a transformation in him from a persecutor to a teacher for us?!...

Fruitful repentance

 The apostles knew baptism, according to Christ's teachings to them, but they also called for repentance, promising forgiveness and the removal of sins. This is as David taught us when he said: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered.” Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not impute sin, nor deceit in his spirit” (Psalm 32:1, 2). Blessed is the one whose sins were forgiven through baptism, and the one whose sins were replaced by good deeds in repentance, because whoever repents does not stop at washing away sin with his tears, but rather covers it with his good deeds...

Regret...the path to repentance

Repent me and I will repent

Let us be bathed in tears so that God can hear us when we mourn. He also listened to Ephraim when he cried, as it is written: “I heard Ephraim lamenting” (Jeremiah 31:18). He deliberately repeated what Ephraim said in his lamentation: “You discipline me, and I will be disciplined like an untamed calf” (Jeremiah 31:18). The calf cannot tame itself, but rather flees from its paddock... Thus Ephraim left the paddock, following Jeroboam and worshiping a calf...

Thus, Ephraim repents, saying: “Repent me, and I will repent, for you are the Lord my God. For at the end of my captivity I repented, and after I learned it, I mourned the days of shame, and I submitted myself to you. For I have received rebukes and have become known to me.” See (Jeremiah 31:19)...

So let us submit ourselves to God and not to sin. As we reflect deeply on our transgressions, we become ashamed of them, as if they were something shameful, and we do not take pride in them... Let our conversation become like this: We who did not know God have begun to bear witness to Him in front of others.

So that the Lord is moved by these conversations on our part and answers us, saying: “Ephraim is a dear son to me, or a lovely child; for whenever I speak of him, I remember him again, for this reason my bowels long for him. I will have mercy on him, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:20).

What mercy has God promised us? He says: “For I have quenched the afflicted soul, and filled every soul that was afflicted by it. I have awaked and seen, and my sleep has been pleasing to me” (Jeremiah 31:25, 26). Here we notice God's promises to sinners regarding His sanctuaries, so let us return to Him...

I remember my sins without despair

 We have a good Lord who wants to save all. He called you through the mouth of the Prophet, saying: “Am I the witness?” Even I am the one who removed your sins, and I no longer remember them. Do you remember them?!” I no longer remember it because of My blessing. As for you, do you remember it until you turn away from it? Remember them, and they will be forgiven you. But if you are puffed up as righteous, without sin, you will add to them... Confess them and you will be justified, because confessing your sins in shame looses their bonds.

A time to mourn and a time to rejoice

 Have you seen what God is asking of you? That you remember His blessing upon you, and do not be puffed up as righteous in yourselves...

 You see how he attracted you to confess your sin by promising you complete forgiveness. So beware lest you resist His commandments and fall into what the disobedient Jews fell into, to whom He said: “We played for you, and you did not dance; we sang for you, and you did not weep” (Luke 7:32).

This saying carries ordinary words, but it contains a strange secret. Therefore, let us be careful not to take the common interpretation. Some may think that by dancing he means those dances for the frivolous or those of the madness of the theatres, because such dances are filled with the evils of youth. But the dancing here is like David's dances before the Ark of the Covenant. Everything exists for the sake of worship...

Here the Lord is not talking about dancing that accompanies pleasures and luxury, but rather about spiritual dancing. In which man exalts himself with the lustful body, and does not allow his members to enjoy earthly things...

Paul danced spiritually, as for our sake he stretched forward, forgetting what lies behind, striving toward what is before him, the prize of the Lord Christ (Philippians 2:13, 14)...

This is the secret, then, that we “songed to you” the song of the New Testament, but you did not dance. That is, you have not yet heard with your souls through divine grace.

“We are for you, but you did not cry,” that is, you did not regret it... when John came to you calling for repentance by the grace of the Lord Christ. The Lord is the giver of grace, even though John declared it as his servant. As for the Church, it preserves both, so that it can attain grace without repentance being expelled from it. Grace is the gift of the Lord who alone gives it, and repentance (also his gift) is the cure for the sinner.

Contrition is the cure for sinners

 Jeremiah realized that remorse is a great remedy, so he used it for Jerusalem in his elegies, and presented Jerusalem as a sign when he said: “She weeps greatly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks.” She has no comforter among all those who love her...the ways of Zion mourn” (Lamentations 1:2, 4). And even more than this, he said: “For this I weep. I wish my eyes would fill with water, because the Comforter has departed from me, turning away my soul” (Lamentations 1:16). Jeremiah thought to add this bitter phrase, because he found that the one who comforts those who mourn was far from him. How can you find comfort by refusing to repent and hope for forgiveness?

But I wish those who repent would know how to offer repentance, with what zeal, with what feelings, and how it swallows all their thinking, shakes their inner bowels, and penetrates the depths of their hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah says: “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress. My bowels have boiled, my heart has boiled within me” (Lamentations 1:2)... And he says: “The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground silent, they lift the dust on their heads, they gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground. My eyes fail with tears, my bowels boil, my liver is poured out on the ground” (Lamentations 2:10, 11).

Likewise, the people of Nineveh were sad and fled from the destruction of their city (Jonah 3:5). How powerful this medicine of repentance is, even to seem to change God's intention.

So escape is in your hands, and the Lord wants to be kind to you. He wants people to beg Him, and He wants them to ask Him for help.

If you, as a human being, want others to ask you for forgiveness, do you think that God will forgive you without you asking Him for forgiveness?!

And the Lord Himself wept over Jerusalem, because it did not want to weep for itself... He wants us to weep in order to escape, as stated in the Gospel: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28).

David wept and received divine mercy to remove death from the people who were about to perish. When he was offered to choose one of three matters (as a discipline for him), he chose the matter in which he would gain the greatest experience in the hands of divine mercies.

So why do you stop crying over your sins, if God commanded even the prophets to cry for the people?!

Finally, Ezekiel was commanded to weep over Jerusalem, and he took the book that came at the beginning of “lamentation, lamentation, and woe” (Ezekiel 2:10).

He who weeps a lot in the world will be saved in the future, because “the heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, and the heart of fools is in a house of joy” (Ecclesiastes 7:4). The Lord Himself said: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21). Let us therefore weep for a time, and rejoice forever. Let us fear the Lord and wait for Him, confessing our sins, turning from our wickedness, so that it will not be said to us, “Woe is me... the godly has perished from the earth, and there is no upright among men” (Micah 7:1, 2)...

Expose yourself

Complain about yourself

The Lord knows everything about you, but He is waiting for your confession, not to punish you, but to forgive you. His will is for Satan not to triumph over you or devour you, but rather by confessing your sins, your sins will be nullified.

Get ahead of the person who accuses you, because if you complain about yourself, you will no longer be afraid of your accuser. If you confess your sins, even if you die, you will live. The Lord Christ will come to your grave, if he finds Martha the worker and Mary contemplating the word of the Lord crying over you, like the church that chose the good part. He will be compassionate when he sees many tears because of your death, and he will say: “Where did you put him?!” (John 11:34). In other words, he will ask: What is your state in sin?... I want the one whom you are crying to move me with his tears...

The people will answer him: “Come and see” (John 11:34). What does “Come” mean, except “Come, forgive the sin”? To restore life to him and raise him from death, so that your kingdom may come to the sinner as well.

The Lord comes and orders the stone placed on the sinner’s shoulders to be removed. He can remove the stone with a word, because inanimate objects also yearn to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ. He could have silently, with His authority, moved the stone of the tomb, removing the stones of desires from the graves of the dead so that they would open, but He commanded the men to raise them... in a way that He gave us (as priests) the authority to relieve the burdens of sinners from the harsh pressure resulting from their crimes.

It is our job to lift the burdens of sins (with His authority), but He is the one who raises man to life, raising from the graves those who are free from chains.

Thus, when the Lord Jesus saw the sinner’s heavy burdens, he wept. Because he not only allowed the church to cry, but we also see him having compassion for his beloved, and saying to the dead person, “Come out” (John 11:43). Meaning, you who were cast into the darkness of conscience, held captive by your sins, and imprisoned by your crimes, come out. Show your sins and you will be justified, because “with the mouth confesses unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

If you acknowledge the call of Jesus Christ, the bars will be broken, and the chains will dissolve, even if the stench of corruption in your body is serious. “Lord, it stinks, for he has been dead for four days” (John 11:39).

The dead person rises, and the order is issued to loosen his hands from their ties. The one who is still in his sins, so the veil has been removed from his face, the one who withheld from him the right to the grace that he received. Although the order was issued for forgiveness, the orders were for his face to be revealed and his features to be exposed. Because whoever has his sins forgiven and returns to them again will have something to be ashamed of.

I follow the example of the repentant woman

Wash the Lord's feet

 Show your wounds to the doctor and he will heal you... Remove the traces of your wounds with tears. This is what the woman mentioned in the Gospel did, thus removing the stench of her sins. She washed away her sins by washing the Savior's feet with her tears.

O Lord Jesus, allow me to wash your feet from what was imprinted on them by your walking within me (even if they were not defiled)... But from where can I get to you the water of life with which I wash your feet? Since I have no water, I offer tears. As I wash your feet, I am confident that I myself am washing, as you say to me: “His many sins are forgiven him because he loved so much.”

I confess to you that I am greatly indebted to you, for He has given me much since you called me to the priesthood from among the common people... and I fear that I will be found unworthy of that, and I would love less the One who gave me so much.

Tears are better than a feast

Not everyone could be equal to that woman. She was preferred over Simon the Pharisee, who made a feast for the Lord, as she gave a lesson to those who wanted to receive forgiveness, by kissing the feet of Jesus Christ, washing them with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and pouring perfume on them.

 Kissing his feet was a sign of love... “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (Song of Songs 1:2).

What does anointing with hair indicate, except contempt for all the grandeur of the world's trappings, when we come asking for pardon, throwing ourselves on the ground in tears, and prostrate ourselves on the ground to arouse pity towards ourselves?

 We smell in perfume the scent of good conversation...

David was a king, but he said: “Every night I make my bed float, and with my tears I melt my bed” (Psalm 6:6). In this way, he benefited greatly, as the Virgin Mary was chosen from his home, the one who presented to us the child she was carrying, the Lord Christ. This is also how this woman was praised in the Bible.

I ask for divine grace

Jesus helps you

 If you are unable to imitate this (sinful) woman, then the Lord Jesus also knows how to help your weakness, when there is no one to prepare a feast. Or he will bring you spices that you may offer, giving you a spring of living water. He himself will go to your grave.

Grant me, O Lord, to come to my grave and pour tears upon me, as my eyes have dried up and are no longer able to shed such tears for my transgressions. If you cry, O Lord, for me (as for Lazarus), I will be saved... You call me from the grave of this body of mine, saying: “Come out,” so that my thoughts are no longer confined within the confines of this narrow body of mine, but rather go out toward Christ and live in the light, so that I no longer think about works. darkness, but in the works of light...

His own prayer

Call, O Lord, your servant, although he is bound by the chain of sins, and his feet and hands are bound, he is now buried in the grave of dead thoughts and deeds. But when you invite me, I will rise free, and I will become one of the people sitting at your feast, and a pleasant scent of perfume will spread in your house.

If you have granted someone to be saved, you also preserve him, and it will be said of me: “Look! He did not attend the church, nor was he disciplined since his childhood. Rather, he was fleeing from rule, so he was drawn from among the vanities of the world, and entered the ranks of the chanters, instead of being among those who mourned. He persevered in his priesthood, not by his own strength, but by the grace of Christ, and became seated among Those invited to the heavenly banquet.”

O Lord, preserve your work, and guard your gifts that you have given even to the one who fled from them. I know that I was not worthy to be called a bishop, because I was busy with this world, but your grace made me what I am. In fact, I am the youngest of all the bishops, and the least worthy. However, I undertook some tasks related to your holy church, and I watched over this fruit, and since you chose me for the priesthood while I was missing, do not allow me to be missing while I am a priest.

The first gift is to know how to grieve deeply with those who sin, because this is the greatest virtue. For it is written: “Do not rejoice over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction... and do not look at his calamity either” (Ov 12-13).

O Lord, grant me that every person’s faults be before me, so that I may bear them with him, and not rebuke him in pride, but rather grieve and cry. In my weeping for others, I weep for myself, saying: “She (Tamar) is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26).

Let us be kind to sinners

 Suppose a girl has fallen, having been deceived and carried away by sinful circumstances. Good. We who are older might fall too. It is within us also that the law of the flesh wars against the law of our mind, and makes us captive to sin, so that we do what we do not want (Romans 7:23). Her youth may be her excuse, but what is my excuse?! She must learn, but I must learn. “She is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26).

We may attribute greed to others, but let us consider whether we have never been greedy. If we have greed or love for money, it is the root of all evil, working in our bodies like a snake hidden in its den. Therefore, let each of us say, “Tamar is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26)...

When we rage against a man, the layman is less reckless than the bishop. Therefore, we must carefully consider the matter, saying that the One whom we rebuked is more righteous than us. Because when we say that, we will have protected ourselves from what the Lord Jesus or one of his disciples would say to us: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye? But do you not notice the plank in your eye?...You hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3, 5).

Therefore, I wish we were not ashamed to admit that our mistake is worse than the mistake of those who we see as worthy of rebuke. Because this is what Judah did, who rebuked Tamar. When he remembered his sin, he said: “She (Tamar) is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26). In his saying this lay a deep secret and a moral commandment, which is why his sin was not imputed to him. He accused himself before others accused him.

May we not laugh at anyone’s sin, but rather mourn, for it is written: “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. If I fall, I get up. If I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, so that he may plead my case and do my justice. He will bring me into the light, I will see His righteousness. And my enemy will see and be covered with shame, saying to me: “Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will look at her. Now you will be trampled upon as the mud of the streets” (Micah 7:8-10).

He did not say this in vain, because whoever gloats over the fallen is pleased with Satan’s victory. Therefore, we should rather be sad when we hear about the loss of someone for whom Christ died.

False images of repentance

Pay the debt with faith

 It is appropriate for us to believe that sinners are required to repent, which qualifies them to receive forgiveness. However, we hope to obtain forgiveness as a gift of faith... and not as a debt to us, as there is a difference between those who ask for forgiveness as a gift, and those who demand it as a right...

 You have to pay off your previous debts in order to get what you want.

Come as a faithful debtor who pays the debts he owes with faith, before you make a new loan. For someone who borrows from God, it is easier for him to repay his debt than if he borrowed from a human being. Because a person asks for money to repay his loan, and this money is not always affordable for the debtor. As for God, He asks you to repay the debt with the feelings of the heart that are within your power...

Prayer, fasting, and tears are the treasures of a loyal debtor, and they are richer than those who give money without faith.

1. God seeks your faith, not your money

 Ananias was poor. He brought money to the disciples after selling his property, but he was unable to fulfill his debt, and rather increased it even more due to his lack of faith (Acts 5: 1, 2).

As for the widow who paid two mites into the treasury, she was rich, about whom the Lord said: “This poor widow put in more than all” (John 21:3), because God does not ask for your money, but for your faith.

I do not deny the effectiveness of charity...but on the condition that it is accompanied by faith, because what benefit will you gain if you distribute all your money but without love?!

Some people aim to give in pride, when they seek praise from people that they have left everything. As they hope for a global reward, they lose the afterlife, and while they receive their reward here, they do not hope for it there.

Some also, in their hasty revolt, give their property to the church without thinking, thinking that they will pay off their debts... These gifts resulting from hasty emotion are not rewarded, neither here nor there, because they are without thinking...

2. Let your repentance be a heartfelt repentance

Some show remorse, simply because they want to return to fellowship in the holy community. These people do not seriously seek absolution from sin, as much as they want to deceive the priest into returning them to holy communion. They do not leave their transgressions off their consciences. They only pretend to leave it before the priest, to whom it was said: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you apart” (Matthew 7:6), meaning that these unclean people should not be allowed to participate in the holy community (without sincere repentance)...

These people need to cry and sigh because they have defiled the garment of holiness and grace. The women among them are crying for themselves because they have lost the pearl of heaven, even though they carry their ears with pearls and weigh their necks with gold, which should have bowed to Jesus and not to gold.

3. Temporary abstinence is not enough

Some people think that simply refraining from participating in the heavenly mysteries is repentance.

These are harsh judges who prescribe punishment for themselves, but refuse treatment. They were required not to stop at the point of being deprived of Communion, but rather to cry over this ruling, because this deprivation prevents them from divine grace.

 (The saint means by this that these people do not think that their mere abstinence is repentance, and therefore they do not regret their sins. Rather, let their temporary deprivation be an opportunity to rebuke them and hasten to repentance and confession, and thus to receive Communion.)

4. Do not underestimate God’s longsuffering

Some people think that this allows them to sin as they wish, because the hope of repentance is open to them (at any time), and since repentance offers them a cure, they use it as a motive to commit sin.

Ointment is necessary for wounds, but wounds are not necessary for us to use ointment. We ask for ointment for wounds, but we do not cut ourselves in order to use the ointment.

The hope with which we postpone repentance for the future is a weak hope, because time is not guaranteed, and hope does not remain in a person for long...

Repent quickly

Use the prayers of the church

Do you refrain from bringing witnesses and people who will sympathize with you and join you in your prayers, even though when you want to appease a person (against whom you have sinned) you visit many people to intercede on your behalf before him, and you bring your children who did not realize your transgressions, to ask for forgiveness for their father’s mistake, and yet you refrain from You do this in the church, so that they will plead for you before God, so you can comfort yourself with the help of the holy people of the church?! Although there is no room for shame in the church, as long as we are all sinners, the one among us who is most humble is the most deserving of praise. Whoever feels that he is the least of all is the most righteous among us?!

Let the Church, your mother, weep for you... Let the Lord Christ see them weeping... for he is pleased when he sees many praying on your behalf. The Lord was compassionate because of the tears on behalf of the widow, because many were crying for her, so he raised her son for her. Peter was heard very quickly in his prayer to raise a deer, because the poor were crying over her.

Let us cry over our sins

 The Lord forgave Peter because he wept bitterly. And if you cry bitterly, Jesus Christ will look at you and take away your sin.

Persevering in the pain of crying removes the enjoyment of evil and the pleasure of sin. Thus, while we grieve over past sins, we close the door on new sins. As we condemn our transgressions, we practice a life of righteousness... The possibility of repentance is in your hands, on a par with all the saints. Follow David as an example, when he said: “I ate ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears.” Now he rejoices more, as he wept more, as he says: “streams of water flow from my eyes” (Psalm 136:19). John cried a lot (Revelation 5:4) when he told us that Christ’s secrets were hidden from him...

As for the woman who was mired in sin and had to weep, she was joyful and clothed in purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones (Revelation 17:3)...

Do not hesitate to hope that you will repent

Indeed, it is shameful for some people to think that they will repent later, and constantly commit immorality against Christ, even though if they had sincerely repented, they would not have thought like that...

I have found it much easier to maintain my integrity than to prepare for a future opportunity for repentance (now negligent in sin)...

Let a person deny himself and change completely, as stated in the narration that a boy had left his home because of his love for a prostitute, and when he was overcome by this love, he left her. One day he met his adulterous girlfriend but did not talk to her. She was amazed at him and thought he did not know her. On another occasion, they met together again, and he answered her, “I am him... but I am not who I was.”

Well said the Lord: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Because those who die and are buried in Christ no longer consider themselves living in this world.

Hurry to repent!!

 Repentance is good. If it does not have a place in your heart, then you will lose the blessing of washing that you received in baptism a long time ago. It is better to have a garment to mend than not to have a garment to wear, but since the garment was prepared for us once, it must be renewed...

We do not know at what hour the thief will come, so we do not know what our souls would ask of us tonight! Let us hasten to repent, because as soon as Adam fell, God expelled him from Paradise, so that there is no time to procrastinate. He stripped Adam and Eve of what they had in order for them to repent quickly...

Feeling the presence of God

 There is no one who saddens us like that person who has fallen into sin, who remembers his sins in order to enjoy earthly, carnal things, instead of having his mind occupied with the beautiful ways of knowing God!

Adam hid himself when he knew of God's presence. Desiring to hide when God called him with the thing he had hurt himself with (not meeting the Lord), saying: “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). Meaning “Where do you hide yourself?” Why are you hiding? Why do you run away from the God you longed to see?!

Shall I come forward for Communion?

presentation[3]

The Doctor of Souls offered sinners the Holy Mysteries... but which sinners? Sinners who felt their sin, and believed in the Lord Jesus as their Redeemer and Savior, offering sincere repentance, believing that the Body and Blood of the Lord are capable of completely changing their lives.

Neither the righteous nor the saints who feel their own holiness come forward to participate in this secret, nor do those who do not believe in the effect of this secret in their lives... Rather, those who feel their great need for God’s help and His justifying grace for sinners come forward to this holy secret. Such a person comes out of the reception and has taken on a new possibility... which is the possibility of God working in him.

There is no Communion without sincere repentance[4]

 It is not permissible for anyone who is in sin (negligently)... to participate in the sacraments... David says in his psalm: “On the willows in the midst of them we hung our harps... How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land” (Psalm 137: 2, 4). If the body still resists the mind, and does not submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then it is still in a strange land, has not submitted to the struggle of the farmer, and therefore will not bear the fruits of love, endurance, and peace... If repentance is not working in you, it is better for you not to approach the sacraments, lest you need to repent for This is ineffective repentance, but you need those words: “Destroy, destroy even the foundations of it” (Psalm 137:7).

David consoles this miserable soul, saying: “O wretched daughter of Babylon.” Indeed, she was miserable because she built Babylon, as she rejected her sonship to Jerusalem, meaning heaven (and held on to Babylon, the land of captivity, in sin). However, he prays for her recovery, saying: “Blessed is the one who will give you the reward that you have given us. Blessed is the one who takes hold of your children and buries them against the rock” (Psalm 127:9), meaning that he buries her corrupt, filthy, anti-Christ thoughts. It was said to Moses: “Take off your sandals from your feet” (Exodus 3:5). How much more is it necessary for us to remove from our spiritual feet the bonds of the flesh, and to cleanse our steps of all the attachments of the world?!

[1] The followers of Novatius refuse to accept the repentance of those fleeing martyrdom, no matter how remorseful they are.

[2] The word “Samaritan” means “guardian.”

[3] From translator mode.

[4] To Saint Ambrose.