As Fr. St. Isaac the Syrian: "Repentance is always proper for all sinners and righteous people who wish to obtain salvation. And there is no limit to perfection, because the perfection of even the most perfect is truly imperfect. Therefore, that repentance until death is not determined either by time or by deeds."

This can explain the spiritual paradox formulated by Archimandrite (later Patriarch) Sergius in the following way: "The higher a person is morally, the stronger is his awareness of his unworthiness and the more abundant are his tears of repentance. Such, for example, is St. Ephraim the Syrian, whose works are almost incessant weeping, although they bear indelible traces of the heavenly joy inherent in every true righteous man."

Hence, those who in self-deception do not consider themselves sick, consider themselves if not "righteous", then, in any case, not some "great" sinners, should be considered especially sick and intractable.

Thus, in order to be healed, one must first of all feel one's illness and recognize the need for a physician, i.e., recognize one's sinfulness. Without acknowledging it, a person is hopelessly ill and is in a state of proud self-deception. Christ is the Physician of our infirmities. But He waits for us to turn to Him, for us to confess our sins, and then He removes them from us and gives us the strength to fight against sin. But what is repentance?

Here is the definition of repentance of St. St. Isaac the Syrian: "The meaning of the word repentance, as we have learned from the actual nature of things, is this: it is an unremitting petition approaching God with a prayer filled with contrition for the forsaking of the past and a supplication for the preservation of the future. Repentance is the ship of the soul, on which it sails and is saved in the mental sea of sin."

And Bishop. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) defines repentance as follows: "In repentance all the commandments of God are combined. Repentance is the consciousness of one's fall, which has made human nature useless, defiled, and therefore constantly in need of the Redeemer."

The process of repentance of the soul is mysterious. In it we open before God the wounds of our souls, and with a sorrowful spirit and pain of heart we testify that we are aware of them, are horrified by their ugliness, and ask for the healing of these wounds and the forgiveness of sins. This path was followed by all those whom the Church reveres as saints and righteous. And only by following this path, "narrow" and "strait," the path of spiritual poverty and the deepest repentance, is the salvation of the soul possible.

Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes about this as follows:

"Anyone who strives to ascend to the marriage of the Son of God, not in clean and bright garments, arranged by repentance, but directly in his rags, in a state of decrepitude, sinfulness and self-deception, is cast out into utter darkness - into demonic delusion.

Repentance and everything of which it is composed, such as: contrition and sickness of the spirit, weeping of the heart, tears, self-condemnation, remembrance and premonition of death, of God's judgment and eternal torment, sense of God's presence, fear of God – all these are gifts of God, gifts of high value, original and fundamental gifts, pledges of higher and eternal gifts. Without first receiving them, it is impossible to receive subsequent gifts."

"No matter how lofty our podvigs may be," said St. John of the Ladder, "but if we did not acquire a sick heart, then these podvigs are both false and in vain. At the departure of our souls, we will not be accused of anything as that we have not wept unceasingly over our sins. For weeping has a twofold power: it destroys sin and gives birth to humility."

But what does the process of repentance consist of? It is preceded by the understanding by reason of our violation of God's commandments. This is followed by asking forgiveness from God, as well as from a person, if the sin was associated with guilt before him. But this is not yet repentance.

In addition to the confession of our sin, we must bear the labors of repentance – prayers of repentance and, perhaps, for the physically healthy, prostrations, fasting, abstinence, etc.

But even these are still not sufficient signs of the fullness of repentance. It is possible to do all this, but still not repent, not to reconcile God with oneself, not to receive His forgiveness and the return of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of His grace to the heart.