Поучение 83 94 . О тех, которые, прельстившись наслаждениями и удовольствиями телесными, опять восстают чрез покаяние.

Brothers and Fathers! Nothing prevents someone who wants to be saved, and nothing prevents someone who wants to repent, even if someone has come to the depths of evil. And that what has been said is true, there are many examples of this; and one of many represents David, the chief of the thieves, about whom we were read on Friday. For the legend revealed what he was like before, that he killed people, and was burdened with other atrocities, and how later, having repented and in the monastic rank, having brought repentance to God, he became a skilled monk, and to such an extent that he saved others who were raped and tormented by the devil. For the Angel said to him: David, David! God has forgiven your sins, and from now on you will work miracles. So great and inexpressible was God's love for him that God not only forgave him for such great and many murders that he committed, but also made him a miracle worker. Do you want to see something different? Look at Manasseh, who forced the Jews to worship soulless idols for fifty-two years; but this one, having repented from the heart, was not only saved, but also sang a song to God, which is sung in the Church of God to this day. And there are so many who were deceived by carnal passion and who rebelled again that there is no number for them! Of these, the Prophet David, after adultery and murder, again received the gift of prophecy; in a similar way, Mary of Egypt, after an insatiable passion, achieved the angelic residence and was granted the prophetic gift. So, there is no obstacle for anyone who wants to repent, for as soon as he wants to repent, he already finds salvation. Thus, we, brethren, will henceforth continue to exert diligence, believing that if God, as the most merciful, saved those who fell into the depths of evil, much more will He save us, who pray to Him day and night. Therefore, when hearing about the conversion of a sinner, let no one say that he enjoyed bodily pleasures here and will enjoy them there; but let him say that he will not enjoy either the blessings here or there. For how will he who is overcome by sins enjoy himself? Tell me, what kind of pleasure is it for a sinner to indulge in fornication, gluttony, love of money, theft and other evil passions? Doesn't the heart of such people burn? During times of lawless desires, is it not burned as if by a flame of fire, just as those possessed by a fever burn from thirst? And if we tell the truth as it really is, then such people are condemned and condemned here, and in the next century they will be subject to eternal condemnation, as those who loved destructive pleasures. One should groan, weep and lament over such sinners and fornicators, and not think that they enjoy blessings. And whoever lives virtuously always receives both; with dispassion and purity he will receive pleasure and joy inexpressible and unspeakable; just as saints always rejoice in the Lord, preferring God’s love to everything. Let us also imitate these saints, rejoicing and rejoicing with each other. Come, let us labor in the work of salvation, that is, in asceticism, in patience, in obedience, in cutting off the will, which is martyrdom, and in other virtues and corrections; so that, by living in them, we might become heirs of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy. Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. See Patrolology, vol. 99, p. 629. You might be interested in: