REPENTANCE

By Archimandrite Seraphim Papacostas

of Revered Memory.

Invitation to Repentance

The title of this book, the one word repentance, is a term that causes man of our modern society a feeling of discomfort similar to that which a sick man experiences on hearing the name of an unpleasant drug. Nevertheless, in every age and far more in the present deeply uneasy, tired and unsettled age nothing is more useful, more indispensable and more salutary than repentance.

 Often man wishes for nothing else more Keenly, even though he has no clear notion of what he really craves. Man has an ardent desire for repentance, because the finest and noblest words in human literature expressing the highest degree of human happiness and the most valuable gifts which respond to the deepest desires of our souls are rest, peace, love, joy, life, all of which are contained in one somewhat repulsive word and which are promised by the Lord who invites every man to repentance and are given by Him to every true penitent. We do not know whether the reader has ever heard of the inestimable invitation that the Lord addresses to us humans: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest… and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11,28-29). Come, He says, to Me. Return to Me and approach Me all of you who are tired and heavily burdened and I will give you rest; in Me you shall find the rest and peace for which your soul longs. Of all the loads and burdens of this life nothing weighs down so much on the soul and presses so heavily upon the conscience as sin. From it spring all the other tribulations of this life, as St. John Chrysostom, a great Father of the Church, says. It does not matter if this heavy weight of sin is not felt by all and especially by those who are heavily burdened. Does a sick man benumbed under the influence of a narcotic feel pain? Nevertheless the pain is there, and his body is eaten up by the disease. Likewise all sinners who have come to and realized what being guilty before God means, and have known well the multitude of their sins, have found that in the life of men there is no weight heavier, no burden more oppressive and more detestable, no poison more bitter and deadly, no torment more painful and more excruciating than sin. For this reason the prophet declares: “There is no peace in my bones because of my sins; for mine transgressions have gone over mine head: they have pressed heavily upon me like a weighty burden”. For this reason “he waters his couch with his tears” (Ps. 37{38},3-4 and 6{7},6). Those who study themselves deeper, realize at every step of their lives the heaviness of burdens such as : egoism and selfishness, self-interest and covetousness, pride and ambition. If each of us examines his past and consults his everyday experience he will find that the greatest part of our anxieties, our bitterness, our greatest disappointments and our sorrows comes from the frustration of our selfish intentions, from our unsatisfied self-interest, from our unsatiated covetousness, covetousness of money, of pleasures and enjoyments, of favor and preference, of position and rank. From our wounded ambition, from the frustration of our hidden yearnings and plans, the thwarting of our will, the outbursts of our temper, the eruption of our anger, in general from the blows that our ego sustains in the encounters of everyday life. These have always been the common and universal causes of anxiety and sorrow in man. The great tribulations that oppress man’s soul and body are neither daily nor permanent. But the disorder, small or great, created by the vices and affections of sin in everyday life—in the family, in one’s work, in business, in social life—make life a heavy burden, render the attainment of inner peace and rest impossible and prepare the way to a sad and pernicious future.

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We do not know whether our reader has ever opened the wisest book ever written, the New Testament or Gospel, in order to read the most valuable assurance of our Savior, Jesus Christ: “ I am the resurrection and the life. He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 11,25 and 5,24). Spiritual and eternal death is incomparably more terrible and grievous than natural death—which we abhor and fear so much. Spiritual death is not caused by bodily disease, nor by crimes or wars, but by sin. Neither is this death brought about by the separation of the soul from the body, but rather by the eternal separation of the soul from God. By separating the immortal soul from God, who is the source of life, sin throws the soul into everlasting misfortune and misery. The life of a faithful and true Christian is immensely and incomparably happier than the life of the richest and most glorious mortal on earth; for it shall never be snuffed but shall go on after his departure from the earth—perfectly, happily and eternally. These are the priceless gifts—rest and peace on the one hand, a life of joy and happiness on the other—that Christ gives us when He invites us to repentance and the return to Him. Repentance is, therefore, the unique way that leads to the attainment of these great gifts that man so ardently desires. Repentance is the only medicine which cures a soul poisoned by sin—a soul weary and groaning under a heavy burden—and gives it a new, true and eternal life. “Come unto Me”, says the Lord, the one and only infallible physician and savior, calling us to repentance and return to Him. Come to Me so that I may cure you for certain, give rest to your soul which is groaning under so many heavy loads, and grant it new life. You have had enough of self-appointed physicians, who claim to be “the physicians of others while they are swarmed with ulcers themselves”. Many a time have they promised to cure you but have done nothing else than make worse the illness, heavier the load; or the most they did was to administer soothing lotions or pain-killing injections for the time being. But as in the case of a patient suffering from malaria or typhoid, feeling utterly weary and broken down, uncomfortable and feverish, a superficial treatment or a fall of fever effected by drugs will be of no avail if the deeper cause is not removed, if the deadly malaria or typhoid germs are not destroyed; so in your case, the material goods of this world by which the clumsy and false physicians, “deceiving and being deceived”, propose to cure you cannot remove anxiety nor give rest, joy and life to a soul which is separated from God and is headed straight on the death. One is the infallible medicine that destroys deeper causes, restores health, and effects radical cure: true repentance and a return to Christ. To this repentance the Lord invites us with such compassion, affection, and goodness, saying: “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,…. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. He that heareth my word hath everlasting life”. Dear reader, you may be among those people who have never known real relief and peace, among those in urgent need of a saving physician and of a salutary medicine for their souls (and who can say he has no such need if he stays away from Christ?). You certainly wish for joy and happiness. You may have looked for it in worldly places and by worldly means and have not found it, for it cannot be found there. You may have read many books telling you about joy, but have not valued any of them to the satisfaction of your soul. Now, take the trouble to read carefully what will be setforth here about repentance, this great and most important means of salvation and happiness. Do not say that you know about it and have no need to learn of it or that it does not fit your position or rank to deal with it. We ask you to study this book. If by studying it you know better where you stand and wish for repentance, if you repent in the way you will see explained here and thus find the path that leads to Christ, we assure you beforehand without the least fear of being proved wrong, that you have already stepped onto the road of salvation, life and happiness.

To be continued