On Repentance
“I will repent before I die,” some say. With such repentance one may end up in hell. Let us take care that the weak man’s repentance be not weak too, and the dying man’s dead. If we repent only before death, it may be said that we do not leave our sins but they leave us. We must leave our desires before they leave us, and leave vanity before it leaves us of itself.
Do not say “tomorrow”; perhaps for you tomorrow will not come. He who promised forgiveness of sins to those who repent has not promised the coming of tomorrow to those who remain in sin.
Happy is he who, even in old age, manages to shed tears of repentance for the passions of his youth.
He who justifies himself separates himself from repentance. Abba Isaiah
Repentance is a ladder that leads us up to where we fell from.
Never say: today I will sin, and tomorrow I will repent! Better to repent of our sins today, for we do not know whether we shall live until tomorrow.
The whole Church of Christ is a Church of the repentant — of those who flee from ruin by the way of repentance.
Our repentance must reach the depths of our soul, shake it and change it completely — in its thoughts, feelings and strivings.
How can we learn the mourning that profits the soul? Does one who has a dead loved one before his eyes need to learn how to weep? Before you lies your own soul, dead from sins, and it is dearer to you than the whole world. Will you not weep for it?
The knowledge of our own nothingness — we must think about this not once a month or once a week, but every day, every minute, until the feeling of repentance fuses with our being, enters into our flesh and bone, and becomes an inseparable part of our soul; and when we gain this incorruptible treasure, we must guard it to the end of our life like the apple of our eye.
How much we shall weep and lament because we did not weep and repent in this world. Abba Stratilates
The seeing of one’s own sins, and the repentance born of it, is a work that has no end on earth. From the seeing of sin is born cleansing repentance; little by little the eye of the mind, being cleansed, begins to see such failings and damage in man’s being as it did not notice at all before with its darkened mind. O God! Grant us to see our own sins, so that our minds may no longer see the sins of our neighbours. Grant us the great gift of repentance, the forerunner and parent of the ability to see our own sin; keep us by this grace on the road that leads to Thee, and give us the strength to draw near to Thee…
The great prophet and Forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist, began his ministry with a call to repentance. He called the people to repentance, for where there is repentance there is forgiveness from God, His mercy and grace. In repentance a certain mystical process takes place that cleanses us spiritually. At the same time we must know that we cannot be cleansed by our own strength alone; this too comes about by the grace and help of the Lord — but only if we feel that we are sinners and are grieved over our sins. That is why we beseech the Holy Spirit: “Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity.” Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
If there were no repentance, there would be no salvation. Abba Isaiah
He who is displeased with himself is on the good road and may hope for the forgiveness of his sins.
Let us be Ninevites and not Sodomites; let us heal our sin, so that we do not perish in sin.
There are no unforgivable sins, except unrepented sins.
It is not the multitude of his sins that destroys the sinner, but a life without repentance.
The Lord is not so angered by the sins we have committed as by our not wishing to change.
Do not put off amendment until tomorrow, for tomorrow is unknown to you. What is always known is death, which is always circling over you and will surely come — perhaps even now, at this very moment.
Take care that you do not remember repentance only when time and place are left for nothing but despair!
Sometimes, when I stand in church, a feeling of God’s nearness takes hold of my soul. Then I find myself surrounded not by icons but by the saints themselves, who have come to the service and filled the church, and look at me searchingly from every side. Why should I turn my eyes from their gaze or hide in a dark corner, when God’s chosen ones look not into my face but into my heart? And where can the heart hide? And so I stand, helpless and unworthy, before their all-seeing gaze. My evil thoughts, frightened by the gaze of the saints, hide somewhere and leave off tormenting me. My heart, aflame with the sense of its own vileness, is crushed with sorrow; from head to foot I feel my unworthiness and sinfulness. Hieromonk Vasily, New Martyr of Optina
Why is it that the same words which yesterday I did not even notice today amaze me with their depth and wisdom, so that I want to learn them by heart and carry them in my soul all my life? The reason is the instability of my heart. Yesterday it was frozen, and so it was delighted only by elegance and severity; but today it is like snow beginning to melt, and rejoices in light and warmth. What, after all, is happening in the depth of my heart, where neither my eye nor my mind can reach? There, as the sun rises and sets in the vault of heaven, repentance is born and dies every day. Hieromonk Vasily, New Martyr of Optina
Enter into yourself, into your heart; gather the saving words of the heart, and with them try to break your hardened heart… Remember the mercy of God and be ashamed… Remember His justice and tremble… Do not throw yourself into the abyss of despair… Do not run from God: for where will you flee from Him? The Lord, who is ready to punish you, points you to a refuge — repentance… The flood had one door of salvation — the door of the ark; the flood of sins too has one door — the door of repentance… See — all have passed through this door: the repentant thief, Zacchaeus, the woman who was a harlot, Peter who denied Christ, Paul who persecuted the Christians… Come you too and stand with the publican, crying out with his voice: God be merciful to me a sinner!
Repentance is the moment when we must think again, with renewed strength, about life and about ourselves. About life — as the Lord conceived it for us; and about ourselves — what life we have made. Repentance consists precisely in somehow weighing the difference between what the Lord conceived and what we have carried out; between what has been given to us and what we have made use of, between what has been done and what has been left undone. This must be done, and not once only. Often we leave this task for the last hour before death, for the time of our last illness, for the moment when we suddenly discover that we have an incurable disease or are threatened with the danger of death. And then, before fear, before the threat of death, we become serious toward ourselves, toward people, toward God; we stop playing at life.
