Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
Once the brethren asked Saint Sisoes:
— If one of the brethren has fallen into sin, is one year of repentance enough for him?
— That is too severe a punishment, — he answered.
— That is, are six months enough for him to be forgiven?
— That too is much, — answered Sisoes the Great.
— But surely forty days at least are needed by a penitent man for repentance?
— Even forty days are many, for I believe that if a penitent repents of his sins with his whole heart, three days are enough for God to forgive him every sin, — answered Saint Sisoes to the brethren.
On Mount Olympus spiritual brethren came to a certain God-clothed holy elder, and he, seasoned with grace, spoke with them in sweet words of what is saving for the soul. At that time a certain unknown layman came to the holy elder and bowed down before him. The elder looked at him and asked the cause of his coming. He answered: holy father, I have come to confess before thee my countless sins. The elder answered: brother, if thou hast truly come to hate thy sins, be not ashamed; confess them before these fathers. And he truly confessed all with an upright heart and did not hide even such sins as are hard to speak of before people. With bitter repentance he fell upon his face, and hot tears ran down from him.
After the confession the elder said to him: wilt thou, child, be clothed in the angelic schema? The man answered: yes, holy father, I will, and I have even prepared the fitting garment... The holy elder gave him instruction, then clothed him in the holy monastic schema, showed him a cave and said: go thither, child, and struggle in peace for the salvation of thy soul. He bowed humbly, went away and glorified God as he went.
The astonished brethren asked: holy father, how did it come about that to one who had so many sins thou didst appoint no repentance and no rule? He answered: beloved children, I have seen a dread and glorious vision. At the right hand of him who was confessing stood an angel with a shining face and in a garment white as light. In his hand he held a written paper scroll, and when the penitent confessed his sins before you with tears, the shining angel wiped them away from that scroll. And if the man-loving God has so forgiven him, what right have I, a sinner, to appoint him repentance and a rule? Besides, he, reproved by his own conscience, repents always with a pure heart anyway. * * * * * *
Hearing this, the brethren in amazement gave thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ and glorified His goodness and love for mankind unto the ages of ages.
The venerable Paul the Simple (sixth century) had the gift of contemplation.
Once, coming to a monastery, he stopped at the gate and looked closely at those who came to pray. Vespers was beginning. With bright faces and hearts the faithful entered the church, and behind each of them followed his own angel.
At that moment he saw one believing brother who entered the church with a gloomy face and a heavy heart. Demons had surrounded him and were drawing him to themselves, while his guardian angel followed him weeping.
When Vespers ended, the brotherhood came out as they had gone in — those who had prayed shone with divine light. And the brother who had wept came out with a face made bright; the grace of the Holy Spirit had overshadowed him, beside him walked his guardian angel, while the demon followed at a distance and no longer dared to draw near. The blessed one joyfully told him what he had seen and asked the cause of so sudden a change.
The monk saw that he was reproved by a divine revelation, and told him: “I am exceedingly sinful; many years I lived in uncleanness, and now, coming into the church, I heard that they were reading the holy prophet Isaiah — or rather, the divine reading which spoke by his mouth: ‘Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil. Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool’ (Isa. 1:16–18).
My heart was moved, my spiritual sight returned to me, I knew my accursed and fallen state, I sighed and turned in my mind to God: ‘Thou art the God Who camest into the world to save sinners — the very thing Thou hast now said by the mouth of Thy prophet. Fulfil this upon me in deed also, that from henceforth with Thy help I may do no more evil, may renounce all lawlessness, and may from henceforth with a pure conscience be Thy servant, O Master. Only do Thou Thyself receive me, the penitent, and cast not away him that has fallen down before Thee.’”
Then all who heard this loudly glorified the Lord, Who receives every man that comes to Him with a penitent heart.
The venerable Niphon (fourth century), afterwards bishop of the city of Constantia in Cyprus, saw with the eyes of contemplation the souls that go out of men's bodies.
Once, standing in the church of Saint Anastasia (in Constantinople) and praying with his gaze lifted upward, he saw heaven opened and a multitude of angels, of whom some were descending to the earth, while others were ascending to heaven and bearing up the souls of men.
Two angels were going up and carrying someone's soul. When they drew near the toll-house of adultery, enraged demons sprang out: “This soul is ours; how dare you carry it away from us, as though it were not ours?” The angels asked: “What right have you over it?” The demons answered: “He sinned to the very hour of death, defiled himself both by the way of nature and by the way against nature; besides this he judged his neighbour, and, what is worst of all, he died without confession; what will you say to this?” The angels withstood them and objected: “We shall believe neither you nor your father Satan, until we learn all from the guardian angel of this soul.”
They asked him, and this is what the guardian angel declared: “This soul has indeed sinned much, but when sickness came upon it, it began before God to confess and to lament over its sins. God forgave him; He knows why. To Him belongs the power, and glory to His righteous judgement.” Then the angels led the soul into the gates of paradise.
A certain priest of Constantinople, by the devil's temptation, fell into fornication. A few days later he came to repentance and began to lament: what shall become of me, who have defiled soul and body; what shall I do, wretched man, to receive forgiveness of my sins? He rose and went to Mount Olympus, found there an old monk, confessed before him all his sins and disclosed also the matter of his fornication. The elder said to him: child, hast thou not dared after that dread sin to serve the liturgy? He answered: yes, holy father, I have dared. The elder answered: then know, child: for a priest who falls into such sins there is but one way of healing: with great repentance he must go to meet the love of the Lord for mankind. From henceforth dare not to serve the liturgy nor to minister to the holy things; be tonsured according to the monastic order and repent in truth. I hope in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that He will have mercy on thee, as on every penitent.
Hearing this, the priest fell at the elder's feet and asked: since God has brought me under thy hand, holy father, drive me not away, a sinner. The elder, seeing his hot tears, said to him: if thou wilt have it so, I shall keep thee with me, for the Lord says: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
A few days later the elder tonsured that priest according to the order of holy monasticism and kept him with himself. With fasting, prayer and repentance he entreated God.
The elder had beneath his cell a place for ascetic struggle. After a year the priest begged him to give him his blessing to settle there. And he agreed. The priest went, brought a chain, put it about his neck, wound it around himself, and fastened the other end of the chain to the rock.
When three days passed and he did not come to the elder, the elder came to him himself, saw him thus bound with the chain and said: child, what is this thou hast done? He answered: I am worthy of such torment for my iniquities. One thing I ask of thee, holy father: let them bring me once in two or three days a little food — bread and water — and may God lead me by thy holy prayer.
The elder fulfilled his request and brought him bread and water once every two days. He softened it with his tears and so ate it. In such struggle and repentance he spent three years. Then God declared to the elder by the mouth of an angel: I have accepted his repentance; soon he will depart; go in and set him free.
The elder went in to take the chain from him and said to him: father, thine end has drawn near. He begged him not to unbind him and to let him die in the chain, but the elder said to him: no, child, thou hast no more need of such torment, for thou art a priest; I ask thee, pray for me also. The priest had not yet finished his prayer when he gave up his cleansed soul to the Lord, Who “desires not the death of a sinner, but that he should turn and repent”, for His is the glory unto the ages of ages.
The venerable father David was formerly a robber; together with more than thirty other robbers he roamed about, committing many evils and murders. One day, when they had spread a table in a mountain place and were feasting, David was suddenly seized with the fear of God and resolved to take care for the salvation of his soul. He left his companions and went to a monastery.
When he knocked at the door and the gatekeeper came out, David said to him: I wish to be with you. The gatekeeper went and brought the superior. The superior, seeing that David was old, said to him: brother, thou wilt not be able to share the labour and toil of these brethren nor to fulfil the rule of the monastery. He entreated: with God's help I shall be able, holy father; only keep me. The superior repeated again: child, thou wilt not be able, thou art old. Then David said to him: know, father, I am the chief of robbers; I have come with the greatest desire to bewail and repent of my sins, but if thou wilt not receive me, then I shall turn to another, evil way: I shall come, bring my robbers, kill you all and plunder the monastery.
Hearing this, the superior at once had David brought into the monastery. Soon they tonsured him and clothed him in the monastic schema. David began to struggle with reverence and humility. He surpassed all in virtue and called them also to diligence.
Once, when he was sitting in his cell, repenting with an upright heart and fervently weeping for his sins, the archangel Gabriel appeared to him and said: David, David, be at peace; the Lord has forgiven thee thy sins, and henceforth thou shalt be a wonderworker. David answered: this I cannot believe, that so many sins He has forgiven me in so short a time. For my sins are more than the sand of the sea. The angel answered: David, David, I did not yield even to Zacharias, when he did not believe my word and did not believe that he would have a son. To him also I bound the tongue; shall I yield to thee? From henceforth thou shalt be dumb.
David bowed before the angel and said to him: holy one, when I was a robber and an evildoer and shed blood, then thou didst not make me dumb, nor bind my hands, nor put me to death; and now, when I wish to be a servant of God, to offer repentance and praise and to entreat with my voice, now thou makest me dumb, that I may not glorify the Lord?
The angel answered: very well, thou shalt speak when thou desirest to glorify God and to entreat Him in prayer, but at other times thou shalt be silent, — and departed.
After this God worked many wonders through David — he opened the eyes of the blind, made the lame to walk, healed those possessed by demons. He sang in church the prayers to God, but apart from this he could utter nothing else — not even two words. Thus he ended his life in blessedness and gave up his cleansed soul to the Lord, to Whom belongs glory unto the ages of ages, amen.
In Africa there was a certain man who, among many other sins, had committed more than one murder. Afterward he came to repentance, confessed his sins and vowed not to repeat them. He and his wife moved from the city to a village and settled in the house of a certain peasant. By the evil working of the devil he sinned again, committing adultery with the wife of the master of the house, after which he fell ill and in a few days died.
Near the village, a hundred metres away, was a monastery. This man's wife at once ran and told the monks. At about nine o'clock they carried the dead man over and buried him in the monastery. At three in the afternoon a voice was heard from the grave: help! help! They at once opened the grave and saw that this man had come to life. They asked him: what didst thou see, brother, and what befell thee? But he wept and could tell nothing; only one thing he begged: take me to the servant of God Thalassius. They fulfilled his request and brought him thither. For three days this man lay prostrate upon the ground and wept bitterly. The holy father asked him what he had seen, and only on the fourth day could he with weeping and wailing scarcely find his voice: honourable father, when I died, I saw black, dreadful demons. My soul trembled and hid itself for fear of them. Besides them I saw also two beautiful and shining angels. My soul sprang out of my body and found itself in their hands. When they flew up from the earth and rose through the air, we were met by the guards of the air. There were the judges of each sin of each man — some of pride, some of judging, some of evil fornication; but the angels who led me had a certain vessel. In it were my good deeds. They drew them out one by one and with them annulled my evil deeds.
So we drew near to those gates of heaven where the judges of fornicators are. There they seized me and judged me for every act of fornication which I had done from the age of twelve until my death. The angels who led me said to them: all the sins which he committed in the city God has forgiven him, for he repented and made a vow; but the demons answered: truly it is so, but after his moving from the city and after the vow he made, he fell again into adultery with the peasant's wife. After these words the angels found not one good deed of mine by which they might annul it; they left me and went away.
Those black demons seized me and with blows brought me down again to the earth. Then they clove the earth open and cast me bound into a dreadful, dark, narrow mire — into the stinking abyss of hell, where is the prison of sinful souls, eternal torment, unceasing weeping, gnashing of teeth and wailing beyond words. There they always cry out: woe, woe to us, for the tongue cannot describe the affliction that is here, the misery which we see here. The heart groans, and there is none to comfort them. They entreat, but there is none to hear them and to help.
And me too they cast among them and left me. From nine until three o'clock I wept bitterly. Suddenly I saw that those two shining angels had come in thither. I entreated them: have mercy on me, deliver me from this affliction, that I may repent of my sins and fall down before the Lord. They said to me: too late is thy entreaty, for from here no one will go out until the general resurrection. Yet I entreated them fervently and promised repentance. At last one asked the other: wilt thou be surety for him, that he will truly repent in soul and in heart? The other confirmed: I shall be surety, — and in token thereof held out his hand to him. They caught me up again and brought me out of that place. Then they brought me to the grave, showed me my body and said: enter in whence thou camest out. I looked upon the body and felt that my soul was shining like a pearl, while the flesh was stinking and black as mire. It was loathsome to me to enter into it. But the angels said to me: forgiveness is not possible for thee, unless thou enter again into this body with which thou didst sin, and so repent. I entreated: I do not wish to enter into my flesh; but they warned me: enter! If thou dost not enter, we shall return thee thither whence we brought thee out. Return, that thou mayest instruct others also. Tell them what thou hast seen and what has befallen thee. Then I entered and loudly began to plead: help, help! — and they brought me out.
When he had told all this to the holy father, those who heard were amazed and found great profit for their souls. They confessed their sins and repented. And that man remained in the church. In one place he lay upon his face, wept bitterly and unceasingly with repentance confessed his sin to God. He sighed and lamented: woe to sinners, woe to the unrepentant, for eternal torment awaits them. And especially woe to those who have defiled their flesh with uncleanness. Forty days he spent in such repentance. Three days before his death God declared to him that his end was drawing near, and he, cleansed by repentance and tears, gave up his soul to the Lord, Who says: “I desire not the death of a sinner, but that he should turn, repent and live.” Glory to Him unto the ages of ages.
Two brothers by birth together withdrew from the world. They were tonsured monks on the Nitrian mountain and became the novices of one spiritual father. God granted both of them great grace of repentance and of tears. One day the spiritual father saw in a vision both brothers standing at prayer. In their hands were written paper scrolls, and with their tears they were wiping away those writings. On the scroll of one of them the letters were wiped away easily, but on the other with difficulty, for the ink showed dark.
The elder besought God to reveal to him what this vision meant. There appeared to him an angel of the Lord and said: on the charters are written the sins of those two brothers. One of them sins unwillingly, and therefore his sins are wiped away easily. The other commits his sins by his own will. He needs more effort to wipe them away, more labour and more humility to come to repentance.
From that time the elder often instructed that second brother: struggle; only with great effort shall we be able to enter the Kingdom, the way to which is narrow and hard. And he laboured with greater diligence for repentance and for the cleansing of his heart. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ both were forgiven their sins. Glory to Him unto the ages of ages.
