On Repentance

Chapter 1.

How God Calls a Sinner to Repentance

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

(Matt. 11:28-29)

§ 140. As long as a man stands before someone, he stands with his face to him; and if he wants to move away from it, he turns his face away from him and turns his back on it, and so, turning away, he goes on the intended path; and the more he walks, the more he departs and moves away from him. Thus, as long as a person strives to fulfill the holy will of God, and obeys what God commands in His holy Word, and shows himself to be ready for God's command, he stands as if with his face before God, and pays his respect to Him, abides with Him and is not separated from Him. But if he changes his good will and chooses evil instead of good, if he commits sin instead of virtue, it is as if he turns his face away from God and turns his back on Him, as he says of the lawless Israelites through the prophet: "They have turned their backs on Me, and not their faces" (Jeremiah 32:33).

Thus, a person, having turned away from God, the infinite Good, the more sins and iniquities he commits and remains in unrepentance, the more he departs and distances himself from Him. He turns away by his very deed, not with his face, but with his heart, and turns not his back, but disobedience and an unrepentant heart; and he withdraws not by feet, but by will, not by a change of place, but by a change in the morals of the evil into the most evil. Where can we turn our faces away from Him Who is everywhere? And whither shall we go from Him Who is found in every place? As the Psalmist says: Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there, if I descend into hell, you are there (Psalm 138:7-8). This is what it is to turn away, to depart and to distance oneself from God.

This aversion and alienation of the sinner from God is depicted to us in the parable of the prodigal son, who, having taken the due part of his possessions from his merciful father, to his misfortune, left him behind, and, going to a distant country, squandered his possessions, living in fornication, and then began to endure deprivation, and was glad to be satisfied with the horns that the pigs ate. Thus, a person, having departed from God through disobedience, destroys the spiritual possessions given to him by God, that is, holiness, truth, chastity, and so on; and so he falls into the heavy slavery of passions and sin, and in this miserable slavery he cannot find pleasure and joy in anything. For the human soul, as a spirit created by God, cannot find pleasure, rest, peace, consolation, and consolation in anything else but in God, by Whom it was created in His image and likeness. And when she is separated from Him, she is forced to seek pleasure in creatures and nourish herself with various passions, like horns, but she does not find proper rest and consolation. So, it remains to die of hunger. For the spirit needs spiritual food.

§ 141. Thus, the Most-Merciful God does not turn away from the sinner who has turned away and is departing, but as if following in a fatherly voice cries out: "Child, where are you departing from Me? Where will you find blessedness without Me and apart from Me? Trouble will meet you everywhere." And so crying out, he calls him to Himself. He calls in different ways:

1) Within, through His grace, with which He knocks at the doors of our heart. It happens how many times conscience, irritated by sins, denounces and strikes the sinner, presenting him with God's judgment and eternal torment for his sins.

2) He invokes His Son, Jesus Christ, through salvific care, suffering, death and Resurrection, presenting to him that this great work has been accomplished for his sake. For for the sake of whom Christ came into the world but for the sake of the sinner. The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). "I have come," He said, "not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:13). It is also as if He cries out after the sinner and exhorts him to return to Himself in repentance: "Why hast thou, O sinner, forsaken Me? Why do you depart from Him who loved you? Remember that for your sake I was born of a virgin, and took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7); for thy sake I was a Child, impoverished, humbled, lived on earth, wept, toiled, persecuted, slandered, reproached, dishonored, mocked, wounded, spitted, ridiculed, and endured all kinds of misery; finally, he died a shameful death, but he died the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8).

I did all this for the sake of your salvation.