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Repentance is a bountiful fruit, beloved, because in every way it brings valiant deeds to God. This is a fruitful field because it is cultivated at all times. This is the tree of life because it resurrects many who have died through sins. Every heavenly institution is grafted onto it, because it participates in the Divine. God rejoices in it, as in the power of His creativity, because those whom sin tries to destroy, it restores to God’s glory. Repentance is God’s indestructible bag, because it saves human souls from destruction. This is an abundant gain from God, because it brings people to Him and gathers sinners in droves. I think that there is spiritual gain in it, because repentance reaps what it did not sow. The body sows corruption, but repentance, and reaping it, raises it to purity. Vice sows passions, and repentance, tearing them out, sows valiant living. It takes what it did not give; this is a pious collector of growth, demanding what he did not give. He says to sinners: “Give me the burden of sins, this is growth according to my exaction. Do you have faith? Give the surplus of faith - repentance. With him your faith is free from debt. “I did not give you guile,” it says, “give it to me, man, and, having destroyed it, I will present you to God, as you read about this in the parable of the talent.” Understand what the Gospel says: it calls repentance the purchase of God; Those who made good purchases doubled their wealth. Good workers fertilized God’s field with it, through it they enriched the Church with fruits, and filled God’s granaries with it. Through him, the earth became heaven, because it was filled with saints - these earthly angels. Good servants are praised, who through repentance have multiplied what they sowed many times over. God's good stewards were honored with rewards, giving silver at interest with great profit. By rewards we will infer what is being done, by praise we will recognize the seed, by growth we will gain knowledge of how much is given for growth. “Since,” it says, “you have made a good purchase, and added five other talents to the five talents, then be over ten cities. You take silver, O Lord, and give cities; You gave talents and you give away cities. “Yes,” He says, “cities are the fruit gathered by repentance. Since you have become trustees of salvation, I also make you princes of the nations to be glorified.” So, it’s good that we said that repentance is God’s money, because it leads to a valiant life. God saw that the human race was indignant at the enemy, and opposed repentance to his overthrow. The enemy persuades one to sin, but repentance is ready to accept the sinner. The enemy encourages you to commit iniquity, but repentance advises you to turn. One leads to despair, while the other promises hope of salvation. Sin destroys conscience, and repentance serves as a rod for its repose. For “The Lord raises up the downtrodden” (Ps. 145:8); He does this through repentance. When you hear that David says: “Thy rod and Thy club, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4), understand that, according to his word, they comforted them with repentance. The serpent urges to be ungodly and prepare for grief, and repentance advises not to worry and not to despair of salvation. Vice blinds the mind, and repentance, having lit a lamp, shows God to it from afar. The law serves as a lamp to the feet of the repentant, but not without repentance. What are you saying, prophet? Doesn't the lamp shine on your eyes? The legs have no eyes; How then, having passed the eyes, do you give sight to the feet? The soul's feet are eyes. The flesh moves from place to place so that it can be seen; the soul, without moving from its place, contemplates mentally. The prophet lit a lamp in his soul. But it is not the substance that is needed by the mental eyes; in repentance the law serves as a lamp, because through it those who sin find God again. The wicked man is darkened and does not see goodness. Why? Because the enemy filled the soul with despair. But repentance, like a good doctor, removing darkness from the soul and everything that complicates it, shows it the light of God’s goodness. The devil does not allow the wicked to come to their senses, presenting them with the severity of repentance. And repentance, seeing his cunning, comes up with affection and says: “Bring only God to your memory, and I will work for you. Imagine His mercy in your mind, and I will intercede for you with groanings. Just breathe a little, sinners, in repentance, and I will make you God’s servants.” And the prophet Isaiah said: “When you return to breathe, then you will be saved” (Is. 30:15). “Here,” says repentance, “I bring you testimony; just repent.” If the sinner sighs, then with a sigh the burden imposed by the serpent will leave him; when the mind is relieved, it will drive away the darkness of ignorance, and the eye of the soul will become clear, and soon repentance will guide the soul to salvation. Then the sinner will not only sigh, but also shed tears with great sorrow. Why? Because the soul, after a long separation from God, seeing Him as a Father, is excited to shed tears; because she finally saw the Parent, she sheds tears and bows to God, for she loves her father’s favor; and thus is cleansed of everything to which she was reduced by the serpent. Or didn’t you hear what David said: “I will cleanse my bed every night?” (Ps.6:7). But first he sighed, and then he cried. I will prove to you with the whole of nature that first there is wind, and then it rains; First thunder rumbles, and then raindrops form from the cloud. There is groaning and silent groaning, as St. Paul says, that “the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). Remembering God leads sinners to groan, because David also: “I remembered God and rejoiced” (Ps. 77:4). For those who repent rejoice that they are freed from the bonds of the serpent. Worse than any bond is sinful blindness, worse than shackles is damage to vision, because the soul is in darkness; shackled in the bonds of sin, living in a prison impenetrable to light, she does not know that she is in ignorance. And in another place it is said in the psalm: “Unknowingly, without understanding, they walk in darkness” (Ps. 82:5), because ignorance is a prison that conveniently places barriers to the soul. And the Apostle Paul said that “God deliver us” “from the power of darkness and entrust us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13), because humanity was, as it were, imprisoned in darkness by ignorance of the Divine. The sighed David wet his bed with tears, because he was defiled by adultery; but he washed his bed with tears, which he had defiled by the lawless union. He said: “I am weary with my groaning” (Ps. 6:7); and the labor of sighing is a multitude of tears, the labor of sighing is heart disease. So, there is no doubt that tears multiply from previous sighs. When the opponent sees that, inspiring despair in the wicked, he is overcome by them, then he uses another method: he cajoles the sinner to indulge in passions and succeed in the most vile deeds. But repentance again resists it, destroying seduction in the conscience, wounding the conscience, striking the mind in order to awaken the sleepy soul. For deception confuses the conscience, becomes a dark cloud before it and blocks its access to God. Conscience has a natural desire for Him and rejects the creeping charm. Often sin shamelessly invades, but conscience, taking advantage of the circumstances of the time, takes over. If anyone comes in fear, being in the dark, she denounces that it is because of sin. For the Scripture says: “The wicked runs away from anyone who persecutes” (Prov. 28:1); and again: “The righteous... is like a trusting lion,” but the wicked flees even his shadow. And the law says: “I will put fear” in your heart “... and you will flee from anyone who persecutes you... and the “voice of a leaf” carried by the wind will marry you (Lev. 26:17, 36). Or on a ship someone will be thrown into confusion by the stormy waves of the sea; his conscience reminds him of his wickedness; or during an earthquake brings to mind lawlessness; or when one who is on the way renews his passions in his memory. Finally, if he does not convert, he denounces him, when he falls into weakness and bodily illness, out of love for life he vows to God to crush the sin within himself. Fearing to die and lose the pleasures of life, he suffers torment of conscience, and resorts to knowledge - this mediator of God and people. If the present did not seem pleasant to him, he would poorly understand the importance of repentance. But since he wants to live, and is afraid of suffering, he turns to God with a prayer to live even longer. This is what happened to the young man mentioned in the Gospel, who, having taken his father’s inheritance and gone to a distant place, squandered his property with harlots, amused himself by feasting indecently, spent everything he had, and could not bear loneliness even for a short time, because repentance turned to his conviction the pleasantness of his former life, instilling in him that poverty did not happen by chance, but through the deception of some enemy. He desired the life that he called desirable and, unable to endure living in sorrows, endured the conviction of his conscience. So the effeminacy of his former life became the reason for his conversion; painful poverty against his will led him to piety. What does the young man say? - “I go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned in heaven and before you” (Luke 15:18). Oh, what wise repentance! Oh, what a skillful economy! Repentance makes God harmed in absolutely nothing; either long-suffering, or apparently not paying attention, or exciting, it preserves what it has acquired without loss. Repentance allowed the young man to fall into deception; the devil jumped on him, did what he wanted, repentance was silent, the conviction of conscience was silent, commanded him not to start work until the time was right, and when the right time met, his mother, spreading her bosom, embraced him, snatched him from the hands of his stepmother - voluptuousness, in order to return him to his mother - piety. The serpent gives faces to those who obey him; he, like a stepfather, does not spare other people's children, advises to waste his father's property badly, promises, seducing with dreams, makes the sleepy one overly concerned, mocks the awakened one, who sees himself both naked and beggarly. Oh, serpentine cunning! So he exposed the first parents: to promise them the Divinity - and, having exposed them, he made them crawl on the ground like worms. If there had been no repentance, the human race would have perished long ago. If it had not soon extended its hand of protection, the world would not have stood to this day. So, the young man says: “Father, I have sinned in heaven and before you.” The sinful son called his father, complaining that the one who had seduced him was his stepfather and an attacker; He saw deceit, saw seduction - and flowed to repentance, like to a mother. For a long time he endured hunger, feeding on mugs; he endured thirst, searching for mud for a long time with pigs. But repentance, like a compassionate mother, giving her breasts, feeds the young man with milk again, like a real baby. Through faith it nourished him with bread and, having become a youth, feeds him with milk, because sin exhausted his strength. If there had been no milk, he could not have been healed, because he was very exhausted, having wasted his natural mind in his shameful life. But whoever could not rebel, repentance aroused him, nourishing him with milk; it healed an extremely weak man and handed him over to his father; the lost sheep was returned to the Shepherd. Do you see how repentance preserves everything for God without prejudice? Do you see that at first it appears to sinners not as harsh, but as lenient and easy? It did not offer fasting, did not demand either abstinence or vigil, but invited us to begin with confession. He begins with the easiest thing, knowing that conscience is conscious. She takes the soul into her care and tries to ensure that its debt is collected. She is a companion of repentance and is in a hurry to cleanse the soul. Conscience produces concern in everyone; it only wants to bring the mind to knowledge and knows that it will subsequently obey it. She knows the natural affinity with him, because she raised him herself. She knows the obedience of the soul, because she rules it like a horseman; convinces repentance to begin with the soul, starting with the easiest, in anticipation of reward from it. “Just breathe,” she says, “and your soul will become your slave; Just understand that you command it, and from a small seed the tree of life will grow.” She wants only repentance to be accepted; wants it to be established in sinners, and conveniently leads them to God; wants, like the sun, to penetrate and illuminate the whole mind; He hurries to acquire a place in us, and in a short time makes us God's acquisition, just as leaven, having begun its action, leavens the whole dough. Therefore, while offering the easy, he hides the difficult. He acts like an artist because he knows the cunning of the serpent. He knows that he, like a dog, licks scabs and does not want to sink his teeth into the depths of sins; knows that he, like a pig, loves dirt and does not want those mired in passions to reject him. If repentance spews out the wicked like pus, then a pig will devour them; if he throws them like corpses, then a fierce dog will devour them. And in the psalms it is said: “The wild goat and the boar are from the oak grove, and the solitary wild goat and” (Ps. 79: 14), for he plots so many intrigues for the unclean in every place. But repentance spares the human race and saves those caught by the beast to God, as can be seen in the example of David, who took a kid from a bear (1 Sam. 17:34-35) in order to show them the goodness of God. Who is this bear? - Lawlessness. And who's the goat? - A robber, nailed to the cross for lawlessness. The lawless man was converted, wounded by his conscience, confessed his wickedness, knew the King of glory, believed in His Divinity - and barely uttered a word, Christ snatched the thief from the mouth of death, like David a kid. We should not, brethren, despair of salvation, having a mother - repentance. We must not, beloved, lose hope of salvation when such a mother consoles us. It brought those caught by the beast into heaven to God; will it really turn away from us? He had mercy on them who were outside the Church; will he not have mercy on us? He addresses advice to those who have not yet believed, will he really reject us who have already believed? No one, desiring to receive what he did not have, destroys what he has. How can God and the Father give up possession of those whom He acquired through the blood of His Son! No one willingly squanders what he has collected with difficulty. How can God, without regret, reject those whom he acquired from the pagans through the labors of the apostles! Could it be in vain that He predetermined the coming of His Son, or counted the outpouring of His blood for nothing, or wants to destroy the dispensation of His death, or did not at all honor the glory of His Resurrection, so that He will easily turn away from us, saved by these Sacraments. He sent the Holy Spirit and sanctified the Church, He sent the Apostles to preach the gospel to the pagans. If he doesn’t want us to be saved, then he used so many means in vain; either he did not know our situation, or he laughed at the pagans. But it is not permissible to think one way or the other, because He neither knew nor did anything unnecessary. We are His flock, and He is our Shepherd now, as in paradise. He gave repentance as water of cleansing. If we sin in any way, we wash ourselves with it. We have a bath not only of “renewal”, but also of “renewal” (Titus 3:5). If we sin in any way, having washed ourselves with repentance, we become clean. The Law had for itself the ashes of veal (calves) for sprinkling, but we have for ourselves the mortification of repentance. There they were cleansed with ashes, and we, eating bread like ashes, are freed from guilt. The Law also gives hyssop for cleansing, and the Gospel points to eating potions for those who want to receive forgiveness through repentance. The Baptist, eating grains, showed himself to be a perfect man, because, preaching repentance, he became a model for the repentant. During the cleansing sprinkling, water was also used, because among us penitents drink water in moderation. Repentance is the altar of God, because through it those who sin propitiate God. It is even break-even for the one who brings repentance, so that we understand what the distance is between the law and the Gospel. Under the law, others often refused to declare their sins, due to the costs; and stinginess in making sacrifices served as a cover for vice. Christ, having come, eliminated this too, granting repentance - this break-even altar. I think that the serpent rejoiced at the stinginess of sacrifices, because he found a reason to break the law. The stingy fell into extreme evil; they did not confess their sins and disregarded the law. Look how much the Savior has blessed us, because through repentance he destroyed both by the roots. Many did not make sacrifices because of poverty, and not because of stinginess; but repentance prevents even this excuse of the poor, because it cleanses without cost. Others, out of laziness, or not finding what they needed at hand, did not offer sacrifices to atone for sins; but repentance took away every pretext, making a sacrifice to conscience, for it requires not a goat, but confession; it does not need sheep for sacrifice, it is confessed in conscience. Don't you have a turtledove, sinner? Breathe - and God will count it on you more than a turtle dove. Don't you have a bird? Cry - and it will be counted towards you as a sacrifice. Don't you have a dove? Bring your sins to God - and this will be your burnt offering. If you pray, God will accept your prayer instead of the calf. If you fall down with a sincere heart, your zeal will be higher than the sacrificed ox. Oh, how high is repentance! How wonderful it is! It is one thing - and it can do everything. The earth gives fruit, and the herds give rise; repentance replaces both the earth and the firmament, because it serves those who sin instead of fruits and birds. Why should you buy a sheep? Repentance is a flock that belongs to the Church. Why should you buy a bird? Repentance is the sky, which bows to God instead of birds. Why do you need to prepare semidal (grain flour)? It will cleanse you without smoking smoke. What grace of the Gospel! The whole law was corrected by her. The people become priests for themselves in the Church, because they have a conscience that makes sacrifices for them, prays from the heart, and propitiates God for themselves. So, the saying of Moses is not fulfilled under the law, but is confirmed in the Gospel. For Moses said to Israel: “you ... are a royal priesthood and a holy tongue” (Exodus 19:6), and Isaiah similarly says: “you will be called priests of the Lord, all servants” of God (Isaiah 61:6). But none of the Jewish people offers themselves to God. In the Church, even sinners who repent are made priests, because they sacrifice themselves to God. Oh, how effective is the grace of repentance! She also ordains those who have sinned as priests. Oh, how great is her consolation! She imparts the priesthood to the penitents. The sinner has not yet paid the debt - and through repentance he becomes irresponsible for the debt. He has not yet laid down the burden - and is clothed with grace. With the assumption of dignity, he does not accept worries: repentance does not only promise, but already gives cleansing from sins and the remission of them; not only does he lead the sinner to hope, but in one word he utters a command, assuring that he will be free. It tells him: “Know what you have, and don’t wait. But the benefit is even greater. Understand what you have, and know that you are already protecting yourself. With the grace given to you, I assure you in the future. Be confident in God's mercy; God is pleased that you have come to Him, and He proves your goodness, because before the remission of sins He ordained you as a priest.” Oh, what grace from God, Who, not yet receiving, Himself gives first and, seeing small things, bestows great things! The sinner has not yet breathed, but He has already given him boldness. He had not yet shed any tears, but He had previously opened Him up to Himself. Repentance is great and extremely kind to God, because it truly does His will. It predominates as a bishop before God, for behold, it daily ordains priests to Him. Repentance is also God’s meal, because through it God tastes human salvation. And the Savior says: “My destruction is, that I may do the will” of My Father who is in heaven (John 4:34). So, repentance is the wonderful bread of God: God tastes the confession of conscience in it, He drinks tears of tenderness in repentance; in him he enjoys the fragrant aroma - a sincere feeling of sighs, because for God they are like fragrant wine. Here are the varied offerings of God: abstinence, fasting, vigil, diligent prayer, submission with humility, for this is more pleasing to God than other sacrifices. In the psalms He says: “Eating yam meat of yuncha? or do I drink the blood of goats?” (Ps.49:13). Tell me, prophet, what does God eat? What kind of drink pleases Him? David answers and says: Do you want God to eat? If you want to feed God, “devour God’s sacrifice of praise,” and He accepts every similar sacrifice; “And give your prayers to the Most High” (Ps. 49:14) - and bring Him the best drink. For the Apostle Paul says that doing good works is the Lord’s bread. “Bring forth your verbal service” (Rom. 12:1), he says, because in the one bread of Christ we are “one body” (1 Cor. 10:17). For in Christ we are offered as bread; Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), and repentance takes away the bad conscience of those who have sinned. So, we who have sinned will repent so that we can defeat the devil. Let us continually repent in order to do what is pleasing to God. Repentance is diverse, and therefore creates various proposals to God. It feeds God, as we said, with praise and also with confession; feeds Him with abstinence, piety and asceticism; feeds Him with various alms. For it would be indecent for people to make different proposals at suppers, but for God to have a monotonous proposal. Therefore, Christ said to the merciful: “Since you have made one and the least of these my brethren, you have been created together with me” (Matthew 25:40). How is this possible? Is he not with us and accepting good deeds from us? With whom he does not converse, does he eat food with them? Whom he is not called, does he coexist with those? – The Prophet says that “heaven and earth” are filled with God (Jer. 23:24). So, He is everywhere and the one who is glorified is pleased by this. So what? Is He also present in evildoers? Yes, it is present in order to expose what has been done, and not to deign to sin, because God’s favor abides on the saints, and His terrible supervision is over the lawless. You say: why did the Prophet say: “God is far from” sinners? ( Proverbs 15:29 ). Let the blind teach you: the sun has risen, but they do not see it. God is both close to sinners and far from them: close to reproof, but far from favor. Or “if someone hides himself in the hidden, and I will not see him; speaks the Lord" (Jer. 23:24). So He is close to convict, and far away because sinners do not see Him. So what? Do the righteous see Him when they do good? The Gospel will teach you this, saying: Whoever accepts My words, “I will appear to him myself...”. I “and My Father... will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23). How will this happen? About this he speaks to His disciples: “Whoever accepts you, accepts Me; and those who accept Me, accept Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:40). So, when you welcome strangers for Christ’s sake, then you see Christ; when for His sake you give rest to the weak, then you see Him; when you do anything for His sake, then He is before your eyes, and you contemplate God. It is said: “God is loving” (1 John 4:8). If you have love, you see Whom you have in you. How do you see? Listen again: you rejoice when you do good, you delight when you do deeds of love, you rejoice when you perform obedience. So, love is joy and gladness: it helps you in good deeds; you see God working with you, for everyone knows someone who does the same thing with him. Love is invisible to the eyes of the flesh, does not look at the truth, and does not show its holiness to others, but it is visible to the eyes of the soul. Rejoicing and having fun about the good deeds you have done, you see God and do not deny that you see Him; “There is a love God.” Is it really because you don’t see chastity that you don’t see it in deeds? So, although you do not see God with sensual eyes, you nevertheless see Him in love. For everyone who does good rejoices; Therefore Paul also said: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:16-17). You say, why does the Gospel say: “No one has seen God anywhere?” (John 1:18). No one has seen the greatness or nature of God; but the saints saw God in symbols: Moses in the bush fire, Job in the storm, Isaiah in the cloud, Paul in the light, all Israel in the voice; and now the saints see, precisely, guided by actions, as if by Something Mediating. Unknown kings are made visible through pictorial art; You have not seen the king, but you see him in images. You have not seen the face of the builder, but, looking at his work in the building, you see a man. This is how you see God, because you are amazed at Him. You don’t know the sculptor, but you see him in sculpture, and you tell others about his works. You see a lion killed by someone and, without seeing the killer, you marvel at its strength. Hearing about David that he killed Goliath with stones, it’s as if you see a righteous man in front of you and marvel at the faith of this man. In the psalms he said: “Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my prayer” (Ps. 129:2). From this we learn that we can see with our ears. So we, if we want, see in good deeds; but the prophets saw better, because they lived in higher activity. And the invisible can be seen both more and less; there are those who do good to a greater and lesser extent. There are those who are more zealous and do less, and there are those who are less zealous and do more. The righteous with small deeds appease God more than others who do many things; because God does not look at the deed, but at the intention, and does not look at what is done, but at what is done with zeal. The widow resolves the bewilderment in the reasoning of what was said, because she defeated the rich with two oxen. And in the Tabernacle of Testimony those who brought the hair of the goats were blessed along with the rich, and those who were entwined with fine linen and gold were placed on a par with those who wove the hair from the hair for the Tabernacle of Testimony. So the saints see God differently, just as they feed Him differently, according to the difference of works and grace. Although everyone feeds God, everyone celebrates repentance to God more, for the Gospel says that God rejoices more “over one sinner who repents than over ninety and nine righteous people” (Luke 15:7). Repentance is a feast for God, because heaven also calls for a feast. Angels rejoice when repentance invites them to supper. All the heavenly ranks feast, excited to joy by repentance. It is not the calves or the sheep that he tempers with repentance, but offers the salvation of sinful people for joy. Repentance sacrifices those who have sinned, but also revives them again; kills, but also raises again from the dead. How is this possible? Listen: it takes sinners and makes them righteous. Yesterday they were dead - today they are alive for God through repentance; yesterday they were strangers, but today they were God’s own; yesterday they were lawless, but today they are saints. Repentance, beloved, is a great furnace that takes in copper and turns it into gold; takes lead and gives silver. Oh, how many benefits repentance brings to God! What benefits does your office work bring! Melts down - and does not require payment from the owner; melts it down - and has no need for wood and fire; refines - and does not need laborers. What art! What an invention! What a power of transformation! Lead burns itself. How is this possible? So that sinners become their own crucible. Wood and fire and mercenaries are ignited in the remembrance of sins. Sighs, turning the soul against the body, inflame them so much that [they] melt by themselves - there is so much sweetness and lightness in them! For then the hardening of the vice begins to be resolved, when those who sigh shed tears; and repentance purifies the permitted ingredients of the previous dispensation before grace, having dissolved with the mind, turns lead into gold. If you have seen how glass takes on the color of hyacinth, emerald and sapphire, then you will not doubt that repentance makes silver out of lead and gold out of copper. If human art can dissolve one substance with another and give what was previously a new form, then how much more can the grace of God do even more? A man puts sheets of gold on glass, and what was once glass becomes gold in appearance. So grace makes someone who was a lawless person yesterday a servant of God today, and not only superficially, but even in conscience according to God. If a person wanted to mix gold into glass, then the glass would become golden-like; but, avoiding waste, he decided to achieve this by applying the thinnest sheet. Repentance, relying on God's favor, merges the repentant with the grace of the Holy Spirit and makes man completely a son of God, so that he does not have only an external lining on himself. The Holy Law commanded that sacred things should be made of gold. The legislator did not allow emptiness in these treasures, so that we would know that the saints of God have complete holiness in themselves; He did not allow emptiness in the holy utensils, so that the servant of God would not have in himself anything vain and ineffective; He did not allow empty spaces in His holy utensils, so that the enemy could not creep in and hide somewhere. And one of the wise said: “If the possessing spirit comes upon you, do not leave your place” (Eccl. 10:4). Listen, repentant, and approach God with all your heart; listen, O sinner, and He will reward you with complete piety. You melt yourself, you tempt yourself, you transform yourself. You will have no one else to whom you can serve. You have no excuse not to be whole. If you have only outward piety, then you are a hypocrite. If you are light, or if there is emptiness in you, then you cannot be a holy utensil. The empty space shows the imperfect, and the perfect is sacrificed. It is said: “You shall offer a sheep of the first year without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord” your God (Lev.23:12). I will tell you how a person becomes perfect through repentance, so that, having learned the very way, you will not have an excuse. Listen. Do you repent for poisoning others? Destroy every trace of this, just leave what is not obvious, but don’t do it in secret. You have stopped killing people - keep your tongue from slander, slander, and gossip. Do you bring repentance to idolatry? Use fortune-telling, observing the flight of birds and other signs - these are parts of idolatry, when they prophesy, stargaze, and ask questions to star observers and fortune-tellers using these signs. Do you repent for fornication? Condemn all fornication, because it gives birth to all kinds of debauchery. Beware of laughter, jokes, foul language, gluttony - these are the paths to fornication. Do you repent for the wrong you have done? Get rid of all untruth from yourself, because all the excesses of the love of money have grown from untruth. Do you repent for breaking your oath? Absolutely refrain yourself from lying and stealing, because the abyss and threshold of a false oath is a lie. Do you repent of your wickedness? Avoid irritability, hatred, envy, disgusting timidity and all baseness. Do you repent for your recklessness? Do not only avoid spectacles, but also in every place remove laughter and all worldly amusement from yourself, for such things force you to return to the past. Do you repent of non-Orthodoxy? Don't get close to heretics. Do you repent of your lack of faith? Avoid all common people's feasts. Do you repent for quarreling? Train your tongue to respond meekly. You refine yourself, O sinner, and you raise yourself from the dead. Therefore, if you do something half-heartedly, you hurt yourself. If a little and a little unfinished is insufficient and imperfect, then how much more is something half done? Who determines and measures the part by the whole? In this case, the small part will surpass the large one, and also one half will surpass the other half. If you do not completely repent, then you become fully righteous. There is no benefit for a pig to be half clean, that is, to have cloven hooves, for in this way all purity is lost. And you, if you are imperfectly converted, will be like a pig and a hare, for even a hare, although half pure, is entirely unclean. The hare regurgitates the cud, but does not have cloven hooves; and the pig has cloven hooves, but does not regurgitate the cud; and therefore both are unclean. The Savior says: “Do not cast your holy pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6), and thereby shows that those who come halfway to Him are like pigs, and those who return to sin are like dogs, whose custom is to devour their vomit again. Therefore, completely put aside guile. The Prophet Moses, when the people sinned, commanded to crucify the serpent, that is, to destroy sin, and made the serpent not empty, but cast and whole. For what? By this showing you that you must absolutely turn away from wickedness. He made the serpent entirely out of copper, because the love of money is the root of all evil. Molly took it out of the furnace so that you could stop the fire within you that was expanding within you to corrupt your mind. He crucified these three vices because they cause spiritual death. The Jews had to look at the serpent. But why were they punished with snakes? Because they agreed with their ancestors in their thoughts. They violated the commandment by eating the fruit of two properties, and these grumbled about the food. To say bad things about someone who is absent is the murmuring of slander. Therefore, the psalm said: “And slander against God... in the wilderness” (Ps. 77:19). And in paradise was there not a murmur from the serpent? And Malachi the prophet told Israel that the Israelis slandered Christ; They said: “What are you slandering about?” (Mal.3:13)? So, were they not given over to the serpents for a similar deed, so that they would learn that they were also killed by the same serpent who led to the death of Adam? For this purpose, he hung the serpent on a tree, so that by pointing out the tree he could convince of the similarity. And those who are attentive are saved, but not through the serpent, but through repentance. For they looked at the serpent and remembered sin; the tormenting thought prompted them to convert, and again they were saved, because repentance made the desert God’s home. The sinful people through repentance became a church assembly, and the Jews unwittingly bowed to the cross, which God prophesied about their hardness of heart. Oh, what wickedness of the Jews: they worship the serpent and turn away from Christ! Oh, what an eclipse of the mind: they honor the cross for the serpent - and do not worship the crucified Christ! Oh, what extravagance: they honor vice and fight against piety! Yet God foretold this in the serpent, condemning the wickedness of the Jews. He predicted precisely that they would be more willing to worship the serpent than Christ; showed that they honor idols because they do not obey God. He foretold the future and revealed what the end would be, namely, that the serpent for the righteous will become dead in Christ, and the Jews will honor him as living and active. The serpent was copper. Why is this? Because God knew that Israel would worship sin by making idols. God crucified the serpent to show that for those who obey God, sin is dead. He killed sin, and the Jews raised him from the dead by their deeds. This is the power of the wicked, and they raise from the dead. But such a resurrection from the dead is cursed, because in a short time it will dissipate like a ghost. The Jews are the standard-bearers of vanity, because they themselves and their deeds will be vanity. God told the Jews: “Bow down on the cross, for by it you will be saved”; They, having left Him, submitted to the devil. God bound the serpent, and the Jews loosed it. Christ crucified sin on His cross, but Israel did not believe. Christ ascended to the cross not as a condemned man, but to crucify the serpent, and Israel did not accept Him Crucified. Do you want me to show you that there were two crosses under Christ? You will learn this from the robbers. Do you want to know that the Jews permit the serpent in order not to accept Christ? For, having allowed the innocent Christ to be crucified, they asked to give them Barabbas; whom God condemned was allowed, but the innocent Christ was condemned. Do you see that God killed the serpent, and the Jews raised him? Christ says: He gave “to you the power to tread on the serpent” (Luke 10:19), to show that He crucified sin on His cross, which His Father also did in the desert. So, the deep sacrament in the cross: nevertheless, in the aggregate it is useful, it contains the remission of sins and the removal of corruption, it expresses the reconciliation of God and man, the destruction of death, it marks salvation for the acquisition of the Kingdom and the death of the serpent. That is why Christ says: “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so it becomes... the Son of Man” to be lifted up from the Jews (John 3:14). He calls the cross the ascension, signifying His ascension to heaven on the cross. Be careful: God did not say that the serpent would be killed by wood for the obedient. For all vanity from corruption leads to corruption; destruction is the sister of vanity, for behold, they accompany the enemy. By the very creations we will recognize the nature of the enemy, and we will avoid their damaged state. I would like to extend my word. God crucified the cast serpent to show that he would not stop in eradicating all his actions. Rust gave birth to copper, transforming its nature into the nature of destruction, and copper gave birth to rust, because it arose from its transformation, but we understand, as it is said, that the serpent is a liar and the father of lies. So, God will destroy and put to death everything, for Moses made this very clear. Therefore, be careful lest the serpent deceive you by returning to Egypt, lest you die as the Jews died in the desert. Now, there is a sin without actually committing it; Therefore, protect yourself from the rapidity of damage. The Israelites did not have Egypt in the desert, but through memory they imagined it in their souls, built Egypt for themselves and aroused the mind to lust; they remembered the cauldrons and kindled their will, vividly imagined meat and renewed the lust of the belly in themselves, aroused a love for figs and garlic, and their soul began to condemn the bread that God gave, understand what I say and listen clearly; If you have an empty place in yourself, then there will be room for wickedness to creep in. This is what the devil did with Eve, lust seducing her into disobeying God and breaking the commandment. Therefore, if you repent of gluttony, then repent of anything pleasing to the stomach, because through the smallest things it creeps in again, and what is easily neglected leads the mind into error. I know that there is no harm in using God’s creations, but it becomes bad when a person uses without reasoning. Many call the Gospel burdensome because it counts even one thought as evil, and so the law does the same. Israel lusted after Egypt - and was condemned as truly being in Egypt; lusted after Egyptian meat - and was rejected, as if he had already tasted it. So, it is rightly said in the Gospel: “everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). The Israelites were intimidated by Pharaoh, and this prevented them from going into Egypt again; and the wall prevents the fornicator, who has not yet sinned by deed, from corrupting another man’s wife. Some were held back by laziness to go back from going to Egypt, while others were kept back from committing a hated deed. Therefore, God rightly condemned the very lust of the matter, because He penetrates into the hearts and knows that if a person had the opportunity, he would commit a sin. Others also say: how did the devil show Christ all the kingdoms of the earth in the blink of an eye? Let them know this from the example of the Israelites, because the enemy showed them all of Egypt as if it were before them. They saw through lust, but Christ saw through the enemy’s deception: he saw what the enemy did, thinking to deceive the Lord. And although the difference is great, what is being narrated is not something great and incredible. The enemy exhausted all his effort, therefore he presented all the kingdoms of the earth to Him. He was in a hurry to imagine dreams - and was not slow to fall into ridicule; he was in a hurry to falter - and hastened his deposition. My word to you, penitent: do not have empty space in yourself. I tell you, be strong with the help of a stone. For this reason, he also calls the apostle Peter, who was previously called Simon, so that the firmness of his faith can be set as a model for us. And the Prophet said: “let the heart of the pious be established, and not be moved” (Ps. 112:5, 8). So, you must bring firm repentance, like Peter, because you firmly sinned. Tell me: When you committed fornication, did not your soul also act together with your body? Now how do you want to be chaste with one body? When you robbed, wasn’t your mind also strained along with your flesh? Now how do you want to prove your constancy with just your appearance? The laws do not judge unless the case is exposed; they do not punish those who only look like murderers. Likewise, God does not accept repentance that does not demonstrate a firm deed. Many imitate the kings in their gait, and others imitate the tormentors in their actions, but for this some are not judged like the tormentors, and others are not bowed down like the kings. Likewise, those who repent, if they do not repent firmly, will be the same as imitators. Be a strong vessel, prepared for every good work, so that you may be included among the sacred treasures. Be a stone so that you can be used as a foundation; be a precious stone, so that you are not counted among the tints and counterfeits. Those who bring repentance only for show commit not one sin, but many sins, because they also persuade others to bring only outward repentance. They mock, and are much worse than insulters of human honor, because they dare to laugh at God Himself. Such people are not only not forgiven, but sin is also added to them. He is a hypocrite, and not a minister of piety; mocks reverence and practices impiety, wears the mask of good morals and is more likely to arouse laughter in the audience. Jews condemn, Greeks disgrace when they see that the Church is alien to virtue; People like this mock God. So, bring firm repentance, you who have sinned, so that you may receive forgiveness. Paul rightly said that he who teaches on the basis of “wood, hay, reed” will not receive a reward not only for preaching, but also for deeds. Paul said this not only about teaching, but also about repentance. Hay is something empty. So, if someone does not bring firm repentance, then he is a reed, firewood that floats on top of the water. If anyone unsteadily approaches repentance, then he is firewood, and he will not only be rejected, but also burned, as it is said, with fire. For what? Because he served as an obstacle to many and thought to laugh at God. The penitent makes himself from copper into gold and also from wood into stone. When he repents lawfully, he will raise himself from the dead and become light from darkness. Consequently, a pious person can create, because repentance becomes in him the beginning of Divine power. It is the apostolic dignity that resurrects him from the dead. And repentance can also ordain one as an apostle. It restored Peter, who had begun to renounce, to his own dignity. It adorned the apostles who were once tempted and returned with the apostolic rank. It ordained Paul as an apostle because, having brought him into contrition, it turned him from a persecutor into a servant of Christ. How graceful is the grace of repentance! The obedient are immediately elevated to dignity; He not only makes apostles, but also makes kings; Thus, the repentant David benefited from the fact that the kingdom remained behind him; He even gives a prophecy: thus, all Israel, turning to God, gained victory over their enemies; Thus Gideon once prophesied and overcame Midian. The grace of repentance also goes to do good to the pagans. Not only now, but also under the law, she provided for all flesh. Repentance raised cities and corrected fallen nations. In one step it recreated the great city of Nineveh. It explains to me how much mercy there is in the Lord’s saying: destroy “this church... and in three days I will raise it up” (Mark 14:58). Those cities that demons destroyed through sin, Christ recreated through repentance. Destroy this church... and in three days I will restore her; and repentance says to the Ninevites: “Three more days, and Nineveh will be transformed” (Jonah 3:4). Compare word with word and saying with saying - and you will find that the saying of repentance was interpreted by Christ. Christ promised to restore, but it threatened to destroy if Nineveh did not repent. Repentance would not have been threatened if Nineveh had not been healed. Christ would not have raised the city of sinners if he had not repented. Christ resurrects, embracing repentance, and by His own resurrection shows that repentance for every person is the reason for his rise to piety. Both the Law and the Gospel declare three days for sinners to repent. Why is this? Because the remission of sins through extreme goodness is given by the grace of the Trinity. Three days are appointed as a period for those who repent, because the Consubstantial Trinity has removed the condemnation of death from humanity. He has three days of repentance to seek forgiveness, because he knows the Trinity, which loosens the bonds of sin. After three days death was destroyed; After three days, absolution is given, because after three days the Resurrection took place. Everything could have happened in an instant, but because of the mystery of the Trinity, grace bound the enemy in three days, not because it was impossible to suddenly accomplish what was needed, but so that the mystery of the Divinity would be shown. She did not kill from three days and did not add to them, because to confess neither lack nor excess in the Trinity is undoubted piety and Orthodoxy. The Divinity is not a unit and not a Trinity only, but both together. Therefore, in three days, death was abolished, the serpent was cast down, and sin was destroyed. The heavens, the earth, and the sea were created in three days, so that in this too the mystery of the Trinity and the fruit of the three-day resurrection and reconciliation of men would be revealed. Jonah preached for three days and did not spend a single night on preaching, because there is not even a shadow of change in the Trinity. The Savior named three days and three nights to show that darkened sinners will rise. Such is the grace of repentance - it announced the world in three days! Oh, how great the power is in it - it appeased God, who had already pronounced the sentence! With meekness she approached Him, reminded Him to look at His grace, and changed the sentence into absolution. Oh, how great is the joy of repentance - it inclines God to cancel the punishment when sin has already taken possession of the human race! Repentance met the Angels of wrath and was able to overcome them so that they would not cause harm; held back the swords, held back the sickles, so that they would not reap the human race. The avenging angels, seeing him, were amazed, and repentance told them: “I take the criminals of the law under my protection, I vouch for the human race, I give the Lord security for the people. Why have you come to change my conditions now? I have a certain deadline. I have a contract with God when to present the unconverted to Him. Why have you come to oppose my rights? I can call a court on you; I have many witnesses who will convince my Master. I have evidence by which I can obtain a reprieve for presenting humanity to God.” So, it takes the Angels to God, begins to intercede for humanity and says in defense: “You know, Master, the man you created, you know that he was created from dust, that his nature is weak, that his strength is crushable; if he doesn’t fall asleep in the evening, he doesn’t survive; If he doesn’t eat for just a day, his life is in danger. In winter he becomes numb, in summer he is scorched by the heat, he cannot see in the evening, he does not dare to walk at night; if he does, he becomes exhausted; if he remains inactive, he becomes dizzy; if he sits, he is bored; if he starts talking, he gets tired; if he is forced to lie down, it is difficult for him; if he stands for a long time, he becomes exhausted. And You, Master, want such weakness to soon triumph over sin! A person has many thoughts, fickle thoughts in his soul, dubious actions, wrong deeds; the visible hinders him, the hidden surprises him; he is not ready to stand against the intrigues; to reflect what worries him, poor in mind; against those who plot evil, I am weak in soul; caring in caring for the body, caring about the food of his wife and children. And You, Lord, want such a nature to soon triumph over sin! What, O Master, can it do against the devil? How can the jealousy of the flesh resist such a serpent, Lord? You yourself said about him that “thinks... the sea is like a world-maker” (Job 41:22), and what is man against his desire? You said that the sea is “for him to pass through” (Job 41:23); What is the soul, united with such a small body, in comparison with it! The serpent has great power, his deception is deep; sin, due to its pleasantness, spreads widely, passions through eating become close to the body, sin disturbs the flesh with lust, damage overcomes the soul with vain glory, wickedness attracts the mind to itself. What can this pathetic one do against so many opponents? What can earth and dust do against such a militia? What does one person mean in comparison with such a horde of evil? Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on Your creation, have mercy on the earth that You wanted to glorify, restrain the threat, stop the imminent punishment, postpone the death sentence for me - for repentance. Expand the limits of Your bounty, increase the measure of Your mercy; open Your compassion, surprise with Your mercy and spread Your grace for a long time. I intercede for humanity, I take it upon my responsibility and will try to bring it to You as much as nature allows.” And seeing God repentance, he gave in to desire, bowed down to petitions, agreed to always have leniency towards the human race, determined that repentance should lead the weak nature and gave it power over human weakness; determined the period of judgment and commanded repentance not to overstep its limits on the day of judgment, not to express a desire to continue its power, but rather to become an accuser that a person neglected so much patience; not to ask for mercy so that the term would be postponed, but to proceed with indignation to revenge, not to spare the wrongdoers too much, but, on the contrary, to expose their will, to be disgusted by their carelessness, to condemn negligence, to renounce the reckless, to fully reveal their madness, to make clear the passionate will of the mind, to damn the negligence of the soul about virtue. And repentance agrees to these commands, and the swiftness of the Angels turns into calm. God stopped the threats and the Ninevites were saved. Repentance was sought - and the city regained its prosperity. By the city we mean the entire universe and by the Ninevites - all of humanity. The Prophet Isaiah agrees with this understanding, because, prophesying about Babylon, he adds another word that the Lord spoke to the whole universe. God said to Adam alone: ​​“...you are earth, and you will go back to earth” (Gen. 3:19), and now we all die. So the mercy of Nineveh extended to everyone. Christ has risen - and the Resurrection is preached to humanity. God's determination from one extends to the entire race. Two Adams: one is our Father in death, because, having sinned, he became mortal, the other is our Father in the Resurrection, because, being immortal, he defeated death and sin by death. The First Adam is our father here, and the Second is there. He is the Father of the first Adam. I’m not the only one who says this, but the great of the prophets, Isaiah, also speaks about Christ: “For unto us was born a Son... Mighty God... Father of the age to come...”. (Is.9:6), as the Gospel said. But this Son in the flesh, for the present state, becomes to the Father the Father in the future state. Why? Because death regenerates and gives birth to humanity into eternal life. O greatest mystery! O inconceivable economy! The Son of Adam becomes the Father of Adam, because rebirth takes away (rejects) nature, introducing in its place the grace of the Divine. Grace puts an end to nature, because immortality puts an end to death; the resurrection put an end to birth, because through incorruption it destroyed corruption, as Paul said (1 Cor. 15:53). This great Sacrament surprised Nicodemus too; when he was talking with Christ, he heard: “Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom” of Heaven, and he says: “How can a man” be reborn, “an old man?” ( John 3:3–4 ). This resurrection is an image of the future Resurrection; Christ began the same and the other. Paul says: “in Christ... Jesus... I gave birth” (1 Cor. 4:15); “As if we were baptized into Christ Jesus... We are buried... in Him with baptism...”. that in Him we may rise from the dead (Rom. 6:3–5). Do you see that baptism is the beginning of the resurrection from hell? Do you see that the Lord is the Father of resurrection? The born Son, this “Lady” born to us, has so much power that He will regenerate all people in resurrection. What are you saying, Isaiah? Will we stand in the truth, affirming this, or will we speak only what is plausible? Resist,” he says, “for I too have heard that He is “the Son... the mighty God... the Great Angel of Council... the Father of the age to come.” So, His mystery is incorruptibility. Therefore, in one definition there is a definition about the whole race, so that you may believe that from the city of Nineveh to the great city and its inhabitants, repentance asks for salvation, and intercedes for everything necessary for improvement. Repentance has become great for people, because through it, as if seeing God, we propitiate Him. Repentance on earth is great, because it serves as a ladder for souls to ascend to where they were overthrown by sin. It restores nature and returns its own dignity. Let us also bring repentance, brothers, like the Ninevites, so that we too may achieve salvation. They sincerely repented and were truly saved; as they sinned, they repented and were accepted. Not only half of them converted, because kings and commoners cried equally. Not only were they partially corrected, because both rulers and slaves wept together. It was not only for a short time that they repented, because for three whole days husbands and wives, infants and elders did not stop making confession. They believed the verdict and, as if preparing for death, bitterly complained about each other. By Nineveh I mean one person, and by the multitude of its inhabitants I mean parts of the soul and movements of the mind. Just as they publicly began to repent, so we, as a whole, must bring repentance with all our might. In the law, God commanded not only to destroy idols, altars and idols, but also to throw the ashes of burnt stones and trees, as unclean, outside the camp. And you, repentant, keep in mind that the obligation lies with you to eliminate from yourself every trace of vice. If the ashes of vice remain in you, unclean animals and despised reptiles will be attracted. If you throw it out of yourself, neither sinful lice (lice of various kinds - human and bestial) nor mosquitoes will bother you. If you have removed him from yourself, the worms of the devil will not nest in you. Cleanse your mind from the sinful dead - and the very stench will disappear from you. The sinful dead are passionate memories. If they remain in you, they will darken your thoughts. The consequence of sin is shame, because such memories often transform the mind, do the opposite, and the thought begins to spin in darkness; because they lie on the eyes of the soul and, like sinful pus accumulated in abundance, infect the one who allowed them into himself. Be careful that you do not float on top of the water like birds devouring fish; they, like those living in the air and in the water, are considered unclean. If you remain indecisive, you will walk in darkness and become like a fish caught by demons. For Job said that the serpent reigns over everything that is in the waters (Job 41:25). Moses testified that the animals that live in the waters are in darkness because they cannot see the daylight or the sun. He called them underground because they live in unlit places. So, God rightly says that the serpent reigns over everything that is in the waters, showing that people who are in darkness are subject to him. The Apostle Paul said that God “deliver us from the power of the dark ones...”. into the “kingdom of His Son” “in light” (Col. 1:12–13), and therefore, “let us walk honorably as in days” (Rom. 13:13), and let us bring repentance for what we have sinned, so that we will no longer be unfortunate, falling into the same sins. Let us squeeze ourselves through repentance, so as not to lose the grace of forgiveness, as our true color. Squeezing is the careful putting aside of the opposite. For the color brought upon us in this way, having been tempered in our souls, will no longer go away. Thoroughly wash yourself with tears, like dyers wash out waves (wool), surrender to humility and reduce yourself in everything; for having thus pre-purified yourself, you will approach God ready to receive grace. Some of the repentant return to sin again because they did not know the serpent hiding within them, and if they knew, they did not completely remove it from themselves, for they allowed traces of its image to remain there; and he soon, as if conceived in the womb, again restores the full image of his malice. When you see someone repenting and sinning again, understand that he has not changed in his mind, because all the creeping things of sin are still in him. The sign of one who brings firm repentance is a collected and stern lifestyle, the abandonment of arrogance, conceit, as well as the eyes and mind, always directed towards the longed-for Jesus Christ, with the desire, by the grace of Christ, to become a new person, just as a wave becomes crimson, or a cloth of blue or hyacinth color. Protect yourself from what is opposite to virtues, because foolishness accompanies those who are weary of repentance. If you laugh madly while fasting, it’s easy to stop you. If you cry during prayer, but in society you behave in a worldly manner, then you will soon be caught in the net. If you are careless while acting chastely, you will not hesitate to fall. Repentance must be brought with all the heart. The penitent is obliged to be constantly the same, namely: to always be what he began. If anyone lacks anything, this is already a sign of imperfect treatment. If he changes, then he is exposed that there is no solid foundation in his mind. Such a person brings repentance, like a learning child, and like a beaten one, he cries out of need, and not out of will. Worldly laws convert people with fear, but do not change the disposition of the heart. So you bring repentance with the following thought: “If I find an opportunity, I will again indulge in vice.” I do not wish you, penitent, to constantly cry and indulge in recklessness for a short time; I don’t want you to be hopelessly in church and behave in it like in a market place. Do not think that there are hours for God in which you should advance in wisdom, and there are hours for the devil during which you must indulge in debauchery. Do not assume that there is a time for piety and a time for iniquity. This is what actors do: in society they are respectable people, but in the spectacle they are dishonest laughers; in the world they deserve credibility, but in the spectacle they are deceivers. But in the marketplace, be the same as you are in the churches, just as precise in deeds, in thoughts, in actions, in words, as precise in confession. And one of the prophets said: “...in the assembly of the Lord” do not slander “with tears” (Micah 2:5–6). The prophet does not reject repentance and does not call the confession of a humble heart before the Lord slander, but says that if tears are shed feignedly with a bad intention, then such repentance is fragile. And he also says: “Rend your hearts, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13). For he wants us not to be vain, but to truly repent. David says: “I will wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7). I will not shed tears in church, showing only my appearance to people and seeking glory so that they consider me righteous, but on my bed with tears “I will wash my bed every night” (Ps. 6:7), so that I can be in agreement with Christ, Who says: having closed “your cage... pray... and the Father,” for whom you do it in secret, “will reward you,” and God He will have mercy on you “in reality” (Matthew 6:6). David also said: “I am weary with my groaning” (Ps. 6:7). For what? So that no one hears at all, and holding back the sigh that escapes is work: “... as you say,” he says, “in your hearts, on your beds, be moved” (Ps. 4:5), and do not announce to people. For many trade in confession, often presenting themselves as better than what they really are, and thereby covering themselves. Others trade in repentance, buying glory for themselves; others turn repentance into a reason for pride; and instead of forgiveness, they write on themselves a new debt obligation. Have you not yet freed yourself from your previous debt, but are you entering into a new one? Have you come to pay a debt and are you committing yourself to a new obligation? Are you trying to free yourself from debt and preparing yourself for complete slavery? This is what is said: “let his prayer become sin” (Ps. 109:7). For how can one not return to sin? How not to indulge in passions again? Will the serpent leave him alone? Will reptiles stop bothering him? Alas! What Christ said will be fulfilled over such a person, that “seven other burning spirits” will dwell in him (Luke 11:26). Cain laughed at God, justifying himself, and therefore he is punished for murder and subjected to seven plagues, for this is how the Lord’s word explains it. Repentance does not need noise and pomp, but it does need confession. Be moderate in both, not too abundant, and also not short; because both of them turn into guilt for the one who approaches prayer. Do not be rude in church, and also do not be gloomy in the marketplace, but acquire for yourself proportionality in behavior. Don't be angry at home and humble in the streets; do not be sad, like a poor man, and do not expose yourself to ridicule, like one who rejoices too much, but do everything, as the Apostle said, “in good order and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). Daniel was not humiliated by Babylon, and staying in the city will not humiliate you if you are truly pious. The furnace did not burn the three youths, and you will not suffer harm when, by order or for generally useful service, you go to a city or village, if only you govern yourself with self-control and faith. Tobiah was not tempted while living with the Ninevites, and by their community he was not reduced to weakness. Lot’s blameless life was not desecrated by the iniquity of the Sodomites, and their frantic debauchery did not change Lot’s firm faith. If you are careful, then the marketplace will not harm you in your journey to God. Do not turn silence into an excuse for cruelty, and let asceticism not be an obstacle to welcoming strangers. In non-covetousness, do not look for reasons for inhumanity, and for the sake of the commandment, do not remain fruitless. The Savior said: “Let not your fool know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3), in order to destroy vanity in the soul. But the Lord Himself says: may your deeds be enlightened “before men, so that... they will glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16), in order to make you a partaker of His Kingdom. Lend to Him in this world, and He will repay you a hundredfold in this world and in the future - eternal life. Give Him what is not yours, so that He will reward you with His. The present age is false, beloved, because the one who has something is deprived of everything, and he becomes weary and weary in this age. Whoever neglects him approaches God unfeignedly, not having with him any deposits of this place from this age. This world contains perishable things, because it itself is based on death. He knows that whoever lacks everything has no rival, and shares the vanity of others. Why don’t you, man, become prudent and dissolve your alliance with the people here? Why not manage against vanity and in the possession of property come into agreement with repentance? The heir to human affairs is vanity, for it is characterized by absent-mindedness, and absent-mindedness is the product of covetousness, love of glory and voluptuousness, and is overly favored towards those who gave birth to it. Overcome the cunning of the serpent and maintain goodwill towards the Lord. Take what belongs to vanity, and give it to God, so that in the next age you may become his heir. Commit your property to God, and vanity will lose its inheritance. Make a will in your name, because as a mortal you must die and, being faithful in everything, you will get what you have back. Make death a trustee instead of an heir, so that when the time of resurrection comes, you will receive this as someone who has reached full age. Hide in death like a baby, having no power over your property, and appear in resurrection as the sovereign master of your labors. God will give you your pledges. If, through repentance, you show mercy to the poor, then do not be afraid: in repentance you will find a grateful mediator; it will remind God of you, it will serve as a handwriting for you, according to which you will more than receive everything you gave. Like the most sufficient hand, it will confirm the correctness of your account; how the guarantor will take care of the return of what you gave. Your interest will increase incomparably above the loan given, because it will give you eternal pleasures. I know that you will already neglect what you have given. No one will be so simple as to light a lamp and look at the light with it when the sun has already risen; no one would be so reckless as to draw bad water from a distant lake when a spring opens nearby. No one who is prudent would act in such a way as to leave a threshing floor filled with whole heaps of wheat and go and sit among the tares. And Divine Scripture says that neither eye has seen nor ear heard the whereabouts of the saints, and the heart cannot guess about it. So, what is the need of the temporary for the eternal state? What is the count of years after eternity? And what about the years, where there are no nights, or what is the count of the weeks, where there are no months, for a single day has a future century in itself. And the prophet said: “and it shall be... neither day nor night,” but “at evening there will be light” (Zechariah 14:7). That is why Isaiah said that “the light of the sun will be sevenfold... and the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun” (Is. 30:27), for there will be no damage to the moon, and then birth and full moon, since there will be no need for lunar circulation to compile annual changes. There will be no sun changing the path of its flow and the place of its ascent, because on resurrection neither winter nor summer is needed, for the entire future age will be one day, and nothing will have movement there to complete a revolution or change. And the Apostle said that “yet yet one” they will be shaken “not only by the earth, but also by the heavens” (Heb. 12:26), that is, they will change at their death in order to remain unshaken. Therefore, what is the need for sowing and rain, for a longer summer and a shorter autumn, for the expiration and again at the beginning of the year? This is the freedom of the creature, to no longer serve vanity. For the saints, enjoying eternal blessings, have no need for temporary service. God “ordained a day in which to judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), ordained it for many days, but one; for the night of this day is total darkness. For saints, one day is eternal enjoyment of the light, and for sinners, one night is eternal prison. That is why Christ says; “These go into everlasting belly,” and the wicked “into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). The sun, moon and stars will gather in one place of paradise, and the night will again become darkness. For the elements of light have a designated place in the firmament for people to enjoy safely while walking on the earth. They determine the time, shine and deliver everything useful to the fruits, and thereby indicate that the Providence of God has a threefold effect, in which the Divinity of the Holy Trinity is revealed; fire, light and the vault of heaven point to the one unborn nature of the Consubstantial Trinity. Therefore, if birth and decay cease, then there will be no more years, no shortest numbers, no seven-day circle, which, changing in the identity of days, like a wheel, returns to itself. Paradise is the resting place of the saints, as the Lord said in the Gospel. So, why do the righteous, having left paradise, feast on earth? The Savior spoke first about death, and then about resurrection. He said that “the stars will fall” from the firmament like fig leaves (Matthew 24:29). Therefore, how will the righteous according to the flesh live on earth for a thousand years? And the blessed Apostle Peter says that everything on earth and in heaven will end with fire (2 Pet. 3:10). Therefore, how can you take advantage of earthly pleasure? We are promised new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). Will the resurrected saints really have nothing more? Paul said that “things that become old and grow old are incorruptible” (Heb. 8:13). Will the promises given to the righteous be destroyed if they also use the temporary? The Lord did not speak about the double end of the world, so after a thousand years there will be death again. John in Revelation did not speak about the temporary consumption of the fruits of God, showing that their enjoyment will be eternal. How then do some people think that after a thousand years there will again be an end to the earthly state? Not true. But according to John, David, and with Moses, John speak about trees that with their leaves bring healing and fruits - eternal life. Therefore, isn’t mental and spiritual paradise a place of eternal pleasure? For such a paradise will have no end; everything remains unshakable in him. So, the new heavens will spread in incorruption, and the new earth will dissolve into eternity and bliss, for Moses says fortune-telling that God planted the tree of eternal life there, and David and John said that “its leaf will not fall away” (Ps. 1:3. Rev. 22:2). So, the bliss of the saints will not last for a thousand years. If John in Revelation spoke about everything in a parable and fortune-telling way, then he also spoke about a thousand years in a fortune-telling way. But you've been asking me for an explanation for thousands of years. And I will demand from you to explain the lamp (Rev. 2:1): “the stone is white” (Rev. 2:17), warm drinking and vomiting (Rev. 3:16), everything that John divinated, writing to the seven Churches. If you demand from me the thousand-year first resurrection; then I will also require from you a horse (Rev. 6:8), and a pale angel, and a spiritual living creature called apsinoos (Rev. 8:11), bitter in nature, like wormwood. Give me the “seven veils” (Rev. 16:1) and take from me a thousand years. Prove that woman means the city (Rev. 21:9-10), and I will present you with proof of a thousand years. Explain to me that the woman who exalts herself (Rev. 12:14) will become Jerusalem and, in fact, is not a wife, and I will give you an explanation for a thousand years. Is the city really giving birth? (Rev.12:2). Is it possible that the one who gives birth becomes Jerusalem? Is the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3) a beast? ( Rev. 13:1 ). Are the ten heads of the beast united so that they may reign? ( Rev. 13:1 ). Are there really osmyi from the seven, which, however, are not osmy in number, because there are seven chapters, but three chapters were destroyed? ( Rev. 17:11 ). Is the name of the beast inexplicable and as unnameable as the name of God? Let this not happen! Did the one who said the “number” of the name really not know the name of the beast? (Rev.13:18). First the syllables became known to him, and then he decomposed the name into letters; First he said the name to himself, and then, adding up the letters, he said the number, that is, that the letters make up six hundred and sixty-six. So, by a thousand years, he guessingly understood the immensity of eternal life. For if “one day before the Lord is like a thousand years” (2 Pet. 3:8), who is able to calculate how many days there are in a thousand years and determine the thousands of thousands and ten thousand days of such a number of days? So, according to the infinite number of years in these days and days in these thousands of years, he determined the rest of the saints after the resurrection to be a thousand years. I know that John said about the new release of the serpent from his bonds (Rev. 20:2-3), but he said this fortune-telling. The woman (Rev. 21:10, 18) will be a golden city and will have a wall of precious stones. But we understand that the wife is the Church; and also about the Church we again understand that it is golden, because of glorification, and made of precious stones, because of incorruptibility. In the same way, it has been proven that the serpent is the devil (Rev. 20:2), that his confinement in bonds is a punishment imposed by God, and the bonds themselves have no power over humanity. Consequently, the serpent will be resolved when he comes in the person of the Antichrist, and God will show that He is angry with humanity or has withdrawn from it, without, however, giving power over it to the serpent. But it seems to make it difficult for you, which should not be difficult, namely, the rearrangement of speech. For John spoke of two comings, in which the serpent is first bound and then loosed. He is bound at the first coming, as Christ said: “Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent and on the scorpion and on all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19); it was permitted, again for a short time, as Paul says, because the wicked did not believe the truth: “...God will bring deceit upon them, so that they may believe” untruth, “so that all who did not believe the truth may receive judgment” (2 Thess. 2:11-12). Therefore, the Savior spoke about the dissolution of the serpent, since he will have much power, “as if” to seduce, “if possible,” says Christ, “even my elect” (Matthew 24:24). Is the spirit ever bound? Does it lie in the abyss? The spiritual living entity is intangible. But so that we might know the invisible from the methods of punishment we use, I used in explanation the names of the instruments of execution and places of imprisonment known to us. He named the first and second resurrection because there are two ranks of saints in two Testaments, and thereby wants to show that the New Testament saints will rise in the first dignity, and the Old Testament saints in the second; meanwhile, the resurrection will be the same and will take place at the same time, as Paul said: “the trumpet will sound, and all the dead will rise” (1 Cor. 15: 52). And that he called the two orders the first and second resurrection, this is confirmed by the Apostle: ... Christ the firstfruits, then he who believed in Christ ... the same death (1 Cor. 15:23-24). Also, that at one time and at the same time there will be a general resurrection of all, Paul again speaks of this: “for Christ Himself will come down from heaven with a commandment, in the voice of the Archangel... and with a trumpet,” therefore he said: “we are the living.” Why are saints called living? Because Christ said: “these go... into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46), and because for the righteous it is a dignity to be called alive. You will say: aren’t the lawless ones, who are tormented forever, also called alive here? if they were not alive, how would they suffer? On the contrary, the apostle made it clear that the life of sinners is dead, and Christ said: “And these go away into eternal torment” (Matthew 25:46). Therefore, Paul said beautifully that “she who feeds generously dies alive” (1 Tim. 5:6). And Christ is the Judge of the righteous and the unjust. Not all life is the same. The dumb ones also live, but they are no different from the dead; therefore those who imprison them are not subject to condemnation. And the life of sinners is death, because they languish in corruption and death, living to die to eternal torment. The Savior says: “I am... life” (John 14:6). Therefore, the righteous are well called living, because in this life to enjoy the unceasing contemplation of God and not to do or tolerate any evil is truly life. But the main thing in what has been said about the resurrection is that it is one, because we will all be resurrected “soon, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). Will some saints change in any way? They will change because they will become alive in the sense we have said, which is how John himself explained what it means to be resurrected, or because we have passed “from death to life” (John 5:24). In this way, “Christ is the firstfruits,” because He is life; “then they believed in Christ” (1 Cor. 15:23), because they too changed, becoming alive from mortals. “The same,” says the apostle, “death” (1 Cor. 15:24), that is, the condemnation of sinners. And that to taste bliss and not be condemned is life, the opposite of this is death, Christ says about this: “he who does not believe” in My words is “already condemned” (John 3:18), but he who believes in Me... “will never see death forever” and “even if... he dies, he will live” (John 8:51. 11:25). Both, by the nature of the flesh, happen during life. The other few have a weak life and are in communion with death. But true life is not to be condemned forever. For just as to suffer forever is death, so to rest forever is life. "Christ the Firstfruits". He did not say the first resurrection - Christ, but “the firstfruits”, like a handle from the threshing floor, so that you could not talk about the second resurrection when you hear: “then those who believed in Christ.” For he describes the resurrection not in relation to time, but in relation to the pre-image of God. “The same,” he says, “death,” not because the end of the world is already after the resurrection, but because after the fulfillment of the number of saints, when there will no longer be a single saint, humanity, as indecent for God, will come to an end. For Paul also says: God is not “unrighteous” to bring His “wrath” upon man (Rom. 3:5). If “Christ is the firstfruits,” then why did he introduce the division: “then those who believed in Christ?” Of course, not because there is a first and second resurrection. For if, because of the two resurrections, He said: “then those who believed in Christ” and “the same end,” then it turns out that Christ is the firstfruits of the unbelievers. But let there be no room for such reasoning! Christ is not the firstfruits of the ungodly, but only of the pious. How will the resurrection happen if Christ comes at His Second Coming before the end of the world? If Christ comes to reign with the righteous, and then returns and comes again as Judge; then He will create three comings. Why is this not written in any Scripture? Yes, this is impossible. For if he had come before the end, then the world, while still corruptible, would have subjected the righteous to corruption, and they would have died again, and He Himself would have tasted corruption with them. But this is not true. For the apostle says: “it lies” for all “man alone to die, and then comes the judgment.” Thus, he continues, Christ died alone (Heb. 9:27–28), “death does not belong to anyone” (Rom. 6:9). So, one thing is the resurrection of the righteous and the unjust, clearly concluded in a short “blink of an eye.” But my word to you, guardian of repentance; you need to know how many and what benefits repentance makes you a participant in. Speaking about holy places, we made a digression so that you know how wonderful it is to lend the present to God and not be a plaything of vanity. If you give to God what He gave you for exercise, then you shame the serpent, because you have neglected the vain and temporary pleasure with which the serpent befuddled your first parents. If you neglect perishable glory, then you will make yourself glorious before the one God and thereby bring the serpent into inaction, because he instilled in the first parents the desire for the glory of the Divine. If you do not want to appear wise and famous in the world, then you will amaze the enemy, because with knowledge and experience of everything he managed to stun the ancestors. Taste, he said, the twofold properties of the fruit - and you will be God and, having tasted good and evil, you will no longer need anything else. The wife obeyed, was seduced by the sweetness, desired the wealth of experience that she was thinking about so as not to need anything, extended her hand and, in fact, committed a crime. It is not the serpent who takes the fruit and gives it to the wife; he does not want a person to lose the fruits of sin. So, Eve “took up ... poison” (Gen. 3:6). There are deeds that are also done with thought, for consent is the hand of our mind. Envy is not done with the hand, but with the soul. Therefore, learn to repent of such sins. This is why I extended the word about our ancestors, so that you learn to know the limits of repentance. People blaspheme with words. The hand does not cause any offense here. Repent so that you can convince the creditor to forgive you the debt. God forgives you fifty and even five hundred denarii; be careful not to add them to the debt, so that you who repent will not be rejected like Esau. Two debtor sinners, to which you may belong. For there are two commandments of love: the commandment of love for God and love for neighbor. If you sinned against a man, then you owe fifty denarii, and if you sinned against God, then you owe five hundred denarii. There are two types of debt - mental and physical; a debt of fifty denarii is a physical debt, a debt of five hundred is a mental debt. He who renounces commits evil with his soul: either by losing his temper, or through forgetfulness of memory, or through irritation, or through negligence; but whoever falls into fornication sins in both ways - soul and body: either from inflammation, or from habit, or from a luxurious life. The soul, when renouncing, used the tongue, but the body used spiritual activity to commit fornication. That is why the soul and body, as acting at the same time, are condemned together; together they must also bring repentance. In criminal murder, the soul also used the heart: when satisfying the love of money, the soul and body were contrived together, therefore together they must bring repentance. So, since Esau brought repentance unlawfully, he is rejected, not because repentance had no power to cleanse the criminal, but because the frivolity of the act had in his mind “the root of sorrow,” as Paul said (Heb. 12:15). Esau cut off the greens, but left the root, and this seemed to be repentance, but it was not repentance, but a disguise. He shed tears not because he had sinned, but because he could not deceive God; he cried, asking for blessings, not in order to thank God, but in order to enjoy the flesh. The root of sorrow was below, in the heart, and the leaves - words - were on the lips. In his mind he plotted wickedness, but in his words he cared about blessing. The ruler of the soul, the mind, was sin, and only with the tongue did he want to acquire blessings for himself. Why am I saying this? So that you, if you have “grief” in your heart, first eradicate it and then come to God. The doctor does not know the suffering of the patient, but God does not. Therefore, the repentant must know where he is wounded. That is why God, as a Physician, says: “you are the words”, “your sins are first” and “you will be justified” (Is. 43:26). Don't say one instead of the other, because you will harm yourself. You cry like Esau, but you are internally irritated like a serpent. God does not accept such repentance if you ask Him for forgiveness and are angry with someone, like Esau was with Jacob. He wanted to receive a blessing and hoped that God would assist him in killing his brother, and his crying was criminal, because he was planning to plunge his parents into mourning. Whoever he asked to give him a blessing, he wished for death, saying: “Oh, if my father died, “let him kill Jacob!”" (Gen. 27:41). Irritability made him not only a fratricide, but also a parricide, because hidden anger always increases lawlessness; why, with the passage of time, irritability made him hateful to God. You know whether you have sinned, and whether your sin is spiritual or carnal, as you know, bring repentance. For nothing is impossible for repentance: it can even present a dead soul to God alive. Sin of the soul can lead to death, said John (1 John 5:16). Therefore, bring repentance as if you despaired of life, and by killing your body you will remove spiritual death from yourself. And the Savior said to the disciples: “Whoever loses his life... will find it” (Matthew 10:39). How is this possible? Having decided to die by repentance, he will live according to the grace that is in him. It is possible only for God, brethren, to raise the dead. But even in unhealed illnesses He gave people repentance. David had an incurable ulcer, but his repentance healed him so much that he did not even have an ulcer scab. Through repentance, God was inclined to destroy the shame of fornication and murder, and not by priests and calves. Repentance atoned for all the wickedness of Manasseh. God commanded Moses to destroy all the nations of Canaan, and without sacrifices and priests, one confession not only saved the Gibeonites, but even made them numbered among Israel. Rahab inherited faith through turning to God and the harlot with the saints, despite the fact that she was a harlot and a Canaanite, and the law recognized both as worthy of execution. God excommunicated the Ammonites and Moabites forever, and accepted Ruth the Moabite as one of his pious wives, because from her he raised the most holy David, of whom true repentance made even real lawlessness leave no trace in him. Repentance blotted out the scab of his adultery and from Bathsheba produced Solomon king to Israel. And David, bringing repentance, begged for this: “according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse my iniquity” (Ps. 50:2). So, it was not for the sake of the priest or the law that this man was heard, but for the sake of repentance preached in the Church, because repentance exceeds everything: it has overcome the law. David spoke beautifully about repentance: “By my God I will cross the wall” (Ps. 17:30), because the law, like a wall, prevents the wicked from coming to God; and repentance gives him wings and makes it possible for him to fly over the wall and find access to God. He does not obey the legal sentence and, falling to God in repentance, shows the priests under the law that what they are not able to cleanse, repentance does for nothing. His power approaches the power of the Savior, because whoever the law does not justify, repentance makes perfect. David was not perfect according to the law, but was justified by the proclamation of the Church. Repentance saved many, while the law threatened them with death if they did not repent as they should. Woe to the heretics who claim there is no repentance; Among them are those who say that there is no God. For if there is no repentance for weak people who require healing, this means the same as saying: “There is no Lord God.” So, prove that repentance was established where the fear of punishment threatened criminals, and that there is no repentance in the Church, where grace, like the sun, shone on both the worthy and the unworthy. God deigned to cancel His decrees in the synagogue in order to grant repentance, and will He reject it in the Church? What the heretics claim is impossible. Repentance is closely connected with the Church; it knows how to bring those who do not remain stagnant in wickedness to God into eternal life. He himself commanded to forgive those who sinned against us “up to seventy times sevenfold” (Matthew 18:22). Will He really not surpass people in goodness? The publican defeated the Pharisee with humility, and you say that God is unmerciful; The Pharisee relied on the justifications of the law, and the publican declared his sins - and repentance without works justified the confessor. For what? So that many will turn to repentance. How can you say that God is unmerciful and does not accept the repentance of sinners? “Thou shalt say that sins are thine first, that thou mayest be justified,” said God. And you, heretic, turn such condescension into inhumanity? The beginning of repentance relies on words, because verbal confession is the beginning of repentance. That is why the publican is given the foreshadowing of salvation; The Lord did not completely free him from his debt, because he still brought imperfect repentance. Learn from this God’s accuracy in everything and understand the benefits of repentance; Whatever the case, this is the reward given. He confessed verbally - and was allowed to progress in active repentance. What does the publican say? Lord, “be merciful to me,” a sinner (Luke 18:13). What does Christ have to do with this? – Amen “I say to you that the publican has come down “justified... more than” the Pharisee (Luke 18:14). He did not say that he was justified and freed from condemnation in order to give us an example of how active repentance should be brought not only in word, but also in deed. And Sodom was “justified” by Jerusalem, as the prophet Ezekiel said (Ezekiel 16:52), not because of its virtue, but because of the excess of wickedness among the Jews in comparison with the Sodomites. So the publican is justified in comparison with the Pharisee. The robber, having confessed verbally, is saved because he did not have time to actually repent; by his change he showed in himself the desire to convert and actively, if time had been given to him; just as one can be condemned to wickedness for a word, so one can be found pious for a word. Moses silently cried out to the Lord (Exodus 14:15); therefore, you can receive forgiveness for a thought. Paul said: “I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray with the mind” (1 Cor. 14:15), to show you how useful both prayers are, and each of them, when the time is right for one or the other; you just need to be attentive to spiritual contemplation. I tell you, who rejects repentance: its use also takes place in the Church. I know that you claim that after baptism there is no longer repentance. What are you saying? God gave us the grace of sonship in baptism and will not give us the grace of remission of sins? He who gives great things will not be merciful to small ones? He who gives resurrection to the dead will not give healing to the weak? He who gives sight to the blinded eyes will not cleanse them of suppuration? The one who cleanses putrefied ulcers will not take care of those who have pimples? The one who led from slavery to freedom refuses to listen to justification? The one worthy of sonhood will not accept confession from his son? He made a son out of a slave and will not accept a son who has sinned? God does not disdain that which is great and above all, that is, to be called the Father of men, and He will refuse small things - to become a cleansing for the confessing children? You cannot convince me, heretic, although it is advisable for you to deny God’s goodness. I have a source; I have no need for your dryness. I have Christ, and I will expose your iniquity. He died for us - and does not intercede for us? He deigned to be crucified for us - and will he refuse to have mercy on us? If He loved us so much that He accepted being strangled for us, will He despise those languishing in hunger, having Himself a source of mercies? If someone, when there is not enough money, wants to ransom a slave or child, and he is offered either to give the ransom or to die, will he not prefer to pay the ransom? If Christ had not had a source of mercies, then perhaps someone else would have said: that is why He died because He did not have anything to redeem His beloved. But He did something extraordinary - and will not give a person something unimportant? He has not rejected the ungodly and will not accept the repentant? Called the transgressors of the law - and will turn away from those who convert? He had mercy on the blasphemers - and will not have mercy on those who beg Him? Or does He show mercy one day and punish another time? Today - Father, and in the morning - a stranger? Today he expresses love, but the next morning, due to poverty, he will not do it! Today is good, but the next morning is cruel! Today, having heeded the caresses, he supplies, and the next morning, having become prudent, he does not allow himself to be deceived! Away with such speculation! You say the impossible, man! God is unchangeable, immutable. Paul says: “Unrepentant... the gifts... of God” (Rom. 11:29). And why, having Himself commanded to pray: “forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12), changed His intention to forgive sins? He commanded those who were not announced to pray about this. Is this not the prayer of the faithful? How can you say that after baptism there is no repentance? You answer - Paul says: “It is impossible... for those who are enlightened by one... to be renewed to repentance... those who crucify... themselves” of Christ (Heb. 6: 4, 6), it is impossible to accept criminals. So, I will briefly tell you the meaning of this teaching, so that the word does not prolong the interpretation. Paul did not speak of repentance, but of a second baptism, because it is impossible for one who has been baptized into Christ to be baptized again. The apostle himself says: “as we were baptized into Christ... we were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3). So, about baptism, he said that it is impossible for those who have fallen to crucify Christ again, that is, to be baptized again. One cross - one, he says, and baptism. If there is another cross, there is another baptism. Paul wrote to the Hebrews and wanted to prove that the baptism of Christ is not something ordinary. They thought about baptism that it was similar to those performed under the law. So, in confirmation of them he says: with us it is impossible for those who have fallen to be baptized again. The Jews perform various baptisms, as Paul previously denounced them when discussing purification; and Christ showed that baptism under the law is an ordinary thing, because the Pharisees are constantly baptized while being unclean (Matthew 23:25). Wash, He says, not the outside of the dish, but the inside, full of robbery and bitterness. Paul did not say about repentance, which is impossible for the enlightened, but about rebaptism. You build everything on inferences, and I will present the works of the apostle as evidence. I will prove to you that what you assert is slander against the apostle, and I will encourage you to repent. What does he say to the Galatians who apostatized from the faith? “My children, even though I am sick, Christ will be imagined in you” (Gal. 4:19). Since they were born with illnesses for Paul, that is, temptations and sorrows, therefore he said: “I am sick again,” because they were already baptized in Christ. If he did not reject the whole church of men in the city, who were previously faithful, but who had apostatized from the faith, and forbade baptism twice or many times, then he could really say to the unbaptized: “For now it is good” (Gal. 5:7); “who deceived you not to submit to the truth?” (Gal.3:1). Did he really say the same to the unbaptized: “Are you going to suffer too much? Even then and again” (Gal.3:4). Did he really say to the unbaptized: “Give therefore the Holy Spirit and make power work in you, whether by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal.3:5). And if the Apostle did not forbid repentance for those who belonged to the clergy, then how do you assert that after baptism there is no repentance? David says: “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from Me” (Ps. 50:13); how then do those who sin after receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit have no repentance? He was a prophet, but having sinned, he repented, and God forgave him, but will not forgive me, a lawful repentant? David says: “Give me the joy of Your salvation” (Ps. 50:14), because according to When he committed adultery, joy was taken away from him and returned to the repentant, since even after this, until his death, David prophesied. The Apostle Peter, after he was ordained an apostle, performed powers and signs by the grace of the Holy Spirit and baptized in Jerusalem, renounces Christ and, having repented, is not rejected, because he “mourned bitterly” (Matthew 26:75), but was granted sweet grace. Christ forgave him because a person cannot forgive as soon as someone sins against God. Peter was seduced by his real opinion about Christ and he is not denied from God, but on the contrary, the temptation of the cross is justified by his opinion about Christ. That is why Christ, as God, quickly forgives those who renounce involuntarily. Christ was God even before the cross, but the Divinity was hidden from everyone living on earth. Peter did not see the invisible; carried away by the visible, he now crawled, but, having repented, he was accepted. Do not turn Peter’s renunciation into a reason for negligence. He was carried away by others, and you must serenely keep the faith, as confirmed by a long-term teaching. He soon gained Christ and was granted forgiveness. But you still don’t know whether He will forgive you your sin or not, for this people cannot forgive, even if it were Noah, or Job, or Daniel. Petra excuses extremes, but death threatens those who are seduced without extremes. For “the day of the Lord is darkness and not light” (Amos 5:20). So, man, there is repentance, because nothing is impossible for God. There is no repentance for those who sell repentance. Whoever, in the hope of repentance, remains in sin, has no repentance. It is said about such people that repentance has no power for them, because they think that God is pleased with scolders. Whoever neglects God in order to please God has no repentance. Whoever knows that evil is destructive and does not stop doing it will not be forgiven after death, because he served sin. There is no repentance at the trial, because the Judge’s job is not to forgive, but to pronounce judgment on the actions that are confessed. A determination will follow at the trial; and how is it possible to bring repentance on resurrection? If we were resurrected for childbirth and the structure of life, then there would be hope for repentance, because life would again be a school, and free will and reason would be in our power. No one had ever seen a robber without chains stand before a judge, but an adulterer and grave robber walked calmly. So for us at the trial there will be a bond of exposure, a guard - standing with the defendants, enslavement - conscience and the desire of will, brought into inaction by the investigation of the Judge. I do not preach repentance, lest you become careless, but I also do not reject it, lest you fall into despair. I don’t say: “Be careless now, then you will repent.” I do not teach to sin during life and to repent at trial. And the Prophet said that there is no confession in hell (Ps. 6:6). And after baptism, having sinned, we can repent, but we should not be careless in relying on repentance. If he has a sin on himself, who, knowing what is good, does not do this, then how much more sins, who, knowing what is bad, does it? If repentance is a wonderful thing, then the one who rejects it does something bad, and repentance itself will be indignant at him, why did he think that it was afraid of evil, so that it was not able to help the person. And if, enjoying sin, you become stuck in it, then repentance will turn away from you, because you knew how good it was and preferred sin to it. Repentance preaches the remission of sins, but does not tolerate being neglected. It is inseparable from those who convert, and it turns away from those who are in sin. Listen to what God says: “the wicked”, having come “to the depths of evil, is careless” (Prov. 18:3); why “they will cry out,” he also says, “and the imam will not hear” them (Zech. 7:13). You say that there is no repentance after baptism; But how did the Evangelist John say that Christ “is the imam’s intercessor to the Father... and He is the cleanser for our sins, not for ours specifically, but for the whole world?” (1 John 2:1-2). And the saint included himself here, wanting to show that repentance extends to those who have sinned after accepting even such abundant and high grace as the most holy Evangelist John had. Are you saying that there is no repentance after baptism? You are an evil slave who buried your talent in the ground because you did not preach repentance, so that the word would win the souls of sinners for deliverance from condemnation and for salvation. So, know that it is wicked not to believe in repentance. We began the word with talent, and with talent we will conclude, multiplying our salvation to God many times over, so that in the resurrection He may receive us according to the mercy, generosity and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: