Письмо XXXII. Авве Полихронию

Since we are going to celebrate the burial of Christ who died for us in the flesh and was buried and the Resurrection, let’s see: did we die and were buried as old people, corrupted in the lust of deception, and rose up as new people, renewed in the image of the Creator (Eph. 4:22–24)? And the sign of the death of the old man is complete freedom from passions, and the rebellion of the new is conscious, genuine and immaculate boldness παρρησία) and intelligent insight of knowledge. And if they arose in us, we will co-celebrate with Christ God, and if not, we will fight so as not to betray the Word to the passions, like Judas, and not to deny, like Peter (Matthew 26:70); lest we lose the ability to repent and be caught in fruitless regret, or weep bitterly, shedding tears of the stigma of renunciation. After all, renunciation of the Word is a reluctance to do good because of fear, and betrayal is a deliberate, active striving towards sin; May the test of neither one nor the other befall us! You might be interested in: