"And the Ninevites believed God, and declared a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them... And [the king of the Ninevites] arose from his throne, and took off his royal garments, and put on sackcloth, and sat down on the ashes, and commanded that it should be proclaimed and spoken in Nineveh in the name of the king and his nobles, saying, "That neither man, nor cattle, nor oxen, nor sheep, eat anything, nor go into the pasture, nor drink water, and that men and cattle be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God, and that each one should turn from his evil way from the violence of his hands'" (Jonah, 3:5-8).

And here is the repentance of the sinful King David. When David was convicted of sin by the prophet Nathan and his child fell ill, David began to pray and fast, and having secluded himself, he spent the night lying on the ground. And the elders of the house came in to him to lift him up from the ground, but he would not eat bread with them, and so he lay on the ground and wept. and David fasted for a whole week until the death of the child (2 Samuel 12:16-20).

In both cases, we see active repentance and severe punishment of themselves by the penitents. Such are the features of repentance found in the Gospel stories.

For example, the publican Zacchaeus gives away half of his possessions and distributes four times as much to those who are offended by him.

The prostitute does not grudge the precious peace for the feet of the Lord, and is not ashamed to weep in front of everyone, to kiss the feet of the Lord, and to wipe them with her hair.

The publican goes to church, humbly stands "at a distance", beats his chest, not daring to raise his head, and so on.

All these are features of active repentance, effort, podvig, and not only words and illusory regrets for one's sins.

And how did the true followers of Christ, the venerable fathers of the New Testament Church, repent and cleanse themselves of sin?

They withdrew from the world into the deserts, fasted intensely, exhausted their bodies with hard labor, shut themselves up in seclusion, imposed silence on their lips, and some, the strongest of them, climbed the pillars, put on chains, and so on.

Finally, the crown of the feats of repentance was shown by the fools in Christ, who made themselves rabble for the world, and, depriving themselves of shelter and all possessions, and pretending to be fools, brought upon themselves the reproach and contempt of the world.

The feats of repentance of the monks, stylites and fools may seem excessive, strange, bordering on madness. Yes, from the point of view of the world, this is madness. But the Apostle Paul says: "Be a fool, that you may be wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18).

In the end, it is not a matter of the form of podvig that the repentant soul spontaneously accepts, but of that zeal for repentance, the degree of hatred of sin, the power of the inner contrition of the soul from its impurity, which the ascetics show in their feats of repentance.

It is this zeal that the Lord appreciates, no matter in what it is manifested, no matter what "ugly" forms, from the point of view of the world, it takes.

It is not for nothing that the most seducing people of the world, but the highest and most difficult podvig – the feat of foolishness in Christ – is so highly valued by the Lord; True fools are usually rewarded with high spiritual gifts - the gifts of prophecy, clairvoyance, miraculous healing.