“After many years spent in Jerusalem translating the Word of God, Jerome finished his grand project just days before Christmas. To celebrate his accomplishment, Jerome decided to spend Christmas Eve in nearby Bethlehem, in one of the many grottoes that dot the countryside. According to the ancient account, sometime around midnight Jesus appeared to him, saying “Jerome, what will you give Me for My birthday?” Immediately and enthusiastically, Jerome declared, “Lord, I give you my translation of Your Word.” But instead of congratulating him, Jesus simply replied, “No, Jerome, that is not what I want.” Jerome was speechless. Then he began to complain and remonstrate with Jesus, asking why He had let him go on for forty years, far from home, labouring at something other than what God most wanted from him. But Jesus remained silent. Jerome started suggesting other ways of honouring Jesus’ birthday – fasting, becoming a hermit, giving his possessions to the poor. To each of these Jesus replied, “No. Jerome. That is not what I want most.” Finally, Jerome protested, “Then You tell me, Lord. Tell me what would give You the most joy on Your birthday, and You shall have it. “Do you promise, Jerome?” “Yes, Lord, anything at all.” Jesus replied, “Give Me your sins…”
Saint Jerome of Stridon
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“My child, clean Christ’s feet with your tears and he will cleanse all your sins”
Saint Tikhon of Mount Athos
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“Don’t hesitate [to come to Confession]. Don’t be ashamed. Whatever you may have done, even the greatest of sins, the Spiritual Father has power from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and from the Apostles to forgive you with his Stole.”
Saint Iakovos of Evia
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“Always do a metanoia (repentance) when you are wrong. Don’t delay, otherwise the evil one can spread his roots within you.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“Christ is the Saviour of the whole world, and has conferred on men the Gift of Repentance so that they may be saved.”
Saint Thalassios the Libyan
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“We must always remember that we are not condemned for the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repent.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Saint John the Baptist
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“Be ashamed when you sin, don’t be ashamed when you repent. Sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine. Sin is followed by shame; repentance is followed by boldness. Satan has overturned this order and given boldness to sin and shame to repentance.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Occasionally we should also make a general Confession, as different psychological wounds and various events leave us with psychical sicknesses. During Confession we shouldn’t limit ourselves only to the Confession of our sins but we should also include the various tempting thoughts such as fear, sadness, joy, and annoyance which are provoked in us by events such as earthquakes, deaths, marriages, lack of faith, and so on.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“The longer we remain without confessing, the worse it is for us, the more entangled we become in the bonds of sin, and therefore the more difficult it is to give an account.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“The heart clears with tears and sighs. A sigh with pain of the Soul is equivalent to two buckets of tears…”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“So you also, my beloved, if you wish to repent properly must depart from the devil and from diabolical works and return to God and to the life proper to God.”
Saint Nicodemus of Mount Athos
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“I do not blame you for committing various sins, even serious ones. No, I don’t. You are human. But I do blame you for not confessing them. Did you fall? Run to your Spiritual Father. Did you fall? Confess everything to your Spiritual Father. Remember Saint Mary of Egypt? The very first thing she did was to confess her sins.”
Saint Ephraim of Katounakia
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“Those who are in Hades desire only one thing from Christ; to live for five minuted in order to repent.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that He will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervour will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“You must then wash away, by a life of virtue, the dirt which has clung to your heart like plaster, and then your Divine beauty will once again shine forth.”
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
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“Never say that it is too late, even if you have fallen very low…”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Every genuine confession humbles the Soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it teaches the Soul that it has been delivered by the Grace of God.”
Saint Maximos the Confessor
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“When someone who has hidden, unconfessed sins hears a Spiritual word, he feels pain somewhere in his body. Divine Grace also reveals his state to him in this way, and if he wishes, he can escape from this Spiritual misfortune.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“I have been Praying for you, God has given you another chance, buy you must correct your life. Never be scared, Christ will win!”
Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri
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“Do not think that a Spiritual Father feels aversion upon hearing the confession of sins. On the contrary, if there is real contrition, then he feels a special sense of mercy and love for his repenting spiritual child. That is certain.”
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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“As every sickness has its treatment, so every sin has repentance.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Confession must be sincere, deep and full.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Every Prayer should begin with a confession before God. But this should not be a mere sentimental confession, relating our sins and then doing the same things all over again. This is not true awareness of our sinfulness. When we become truly conscious of our sins, this is shown by a certain degree of improvement in our Spiritual life.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“The forgiveness of sins, is freedom from passions.”
Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller
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“As a hand full of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mind of God.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Let us say something about the thorns. Blessed Mary of Egypt was twelve years old when she fell into the hands of the devil. She lived in sin day and night. But the Merciful God enlightened her and she abandoned the world and went into the desert. There she led a hermit’s life for forty years. She was cleansed and became like an Angel. God wished to give her rest, so He sent the Holy Ascetic Zosimas to hear her Confession and to give her Holy Communion. The He received her Holy Soul into Paradise, where she rejoices with the Angels. If there is anyone here like Blessed Mary, let him immediately weep and repent, now that he has time, and let him be assured that he will be saved as was Blessed Mary.”
Saint Kosmas Aitolos
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“Beloved, since you still have a chance, return back to Christ with sincere repentance.”
Saint Moses the Ethiopian
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“Awareness of sin is a result of love and humility, while unawareness is a result of pride and hardness of heart.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“You are wiser today, if you have acknowledged yesterday’s mistakes.”
Saint Ephraim the Syrian
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“Do not stop Praying as long as, by God’s Grace, the fire and the water have not been exhausted, for it may happen that never again in your whole life will you have such a chance to ask for the forgiveness for your sins.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Christ on the Cross forgave the sins of the robber who repented at the last moment. Try to be worthy of God’s forgiveness.”
Saint Dionysios of Zakynthos
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“The Devil does not destroy a man with one blow, but he whispers, ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow,’ and so the heart is lulled to sleep, and the Soul forgets Eternity. But the wise man says, ‘Today is the Day of Salvation,’ and he rises to repent while there is still time.”
Saint Moses the Ethiopian
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“Have mercy on me, though I am irreverent and undeserving. Have pity and compassion on me, who am filled with passions.”
Saint James the Ascetic
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“What do people do when their hands and faces are dirty? They turn on a tap and allow the water to clean away the stains. We should imitate them. Only, we should open two taps – our eyes, so that an abundance of tears of repentance pour out, which will wash out all the poisons of this futile world which have infected and dirtied our wretched Souls.”
Saint Anthimos of Chios
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“The Church is not a meeting of Saints, but a crowd of repenting sinners.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
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“Do not establish your previously committed sins in your Soul by thinking about them so that they not be repeated in you. Be assured that they were forgiven you from the time that you gave yourself to God and to repentance. In that, do not doubt.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“Beloved, since you still have a chance, return back to Christ with sincere repentance.”
Saint Moses the Ethiopian
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“The details of the confession are not important, but the compunction of the heart. ‘The Lord sees the heart.’”
Saint Nektary of Optina
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“To repent is not to look downwards at my own shortcomings, but upwards at God’s love, it is not to look backwards with self-reproach but forward with trustfulness, it is to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the Grace of Christ I might yet become.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Spiritual virginity even cures lost bodily virginity. Abba Zosimas, who had both bodily and spiritual virginity, bowed down before Saint Mary of Egypt, who was a prostitute from an early age. The spiritual virginity that Saint Mary of Egypt acquired cured her completely.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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When Saint Sisoes lay upon his deathbed, the disciples surrounding the Elder saw that his face shone like the sun. They asked the dying man what he saw. Abba Sisoes replied that he saw Saint Anthony, the prophets, and the apostles. His face increased in brightness, and he spoke with someone. The monks asked, “With whom are you speaking, Father?” He said that Angels had come for his Soul, and he was entreating them to give him a little more time for repentance. The Monks said, “You have no need for repentance, Father.” Saint Sisoes said with great humility, “I do not think that I have even begun to repent.”…
Saint Sisoes the Great
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“From the moment you feel you are not as you should be before God, and say humbly ‘O my God, I have sinned,’ God forgives, helps and provides His Grace.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“If you fall into sins through weakness, expunge them all immediately through repentance. But in any case, through rigid vigilance, try to avoid the sins you commit through weakness.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“It is not the multitude of sins that destroys a sinner, but his lack of repentance.”
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
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“We should often, if not daily, examine our Souls and repent of the sins we find there.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin’ (Prov. 5:22). There is a sin which is always ‘unto death’ (1 John 5:16), the sin for which we do not repent. For this sin even a Saint’s Prayers will not be heard.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“We must fight against passions, and if they win, we must repent and confess all our sins. There will be no repentance at the Last Judgment, but only the God’s Truth.”
Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
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“As we are taught by the Saviour, as long as the prodigal son was in the land of passions, even though he thought and spoke words of repentance, he still gained no benefit at all. Only when he left all his sinful deeds and ran to his father did he attain what was beyond hope.”
Saint Gregory Palamas
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“There is no end to repentance, because repentance is an unending road.”
Saint Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Simferopel
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“True repentance is to cease from sin.”
Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milan
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“When someone who has hidden, unconfessed sins hears a Spiritual word, he feels pain somewhere in his body. Divine Grace also reveals his state to him in this way, and if he wishes, he can escape from this Spiritual misfortune.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“Brother, forget your sins: Our Christ has blotted them out from The Book of Life.”
Saint Amphilochios Makris of Patmos
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“Make a confession minute by minute, that is, every impure and blameworthy thought, desire, feeling and movement. Confess as soon as you realize it to the All-seeing God with contrition of spirit, and ask forgiveness for it and the Strength to avoid it in the future.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“Grant, O Lord, repentance and endurance to the end.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“While reading about the lepers, the paralyzed, the blind, the lame, and the possessed that the Lord healed, remember that your soul, which is covered in the sores of sin and is in bondage to the demons, is like these sick men. Learn from the Gospel to believe that the Lord Who healed them will heal you as well, if you will continually beg Him for this healing. Acquire also a proper disposition to be able to receive this healing. Those who are capable of receiving it know their own sinfulness and are determined to leave it behind. The proud, self-righteous man – that is, the sinner who does not see his own sinfulness – does not need the Saviour.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“The Saints were people like all of us. Many of them came out of great sins, but by repentance they attained the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
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“Repentance is the beginning, middle and end of the Christian way of life.”
Saint Gregory Palamas
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“Only the tears of repentance are able to cleanse the Soul.”
Saint Anthimos of Chios
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“Repentance is the renewal of Baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection, and carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance is the reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience. Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions. A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments. Repentance is a mighty persecution of the stomach, and a striking of the Soul into vigorous awareness.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Repentance is a medicine which destroys sin. It is a Heavenly gift.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Repentance is the gate of mercy which is opened to all who seek it.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Repentance is the abandoning of all false paths that have been trodden by men’s feet, and men’s thoughts and desires, and a return to the new path: Christ’s path. But how can a sinful man repent unless he, in his heart, meets with the Lord and knows his own shame? Before little Zacchaeus saw the Lord with his eyes, he met Him in his heart and was ashamed of all his ways.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“Genuine and true repentance… is beneficial, for it bears remission of sins for the sinner and makes him the friend of God.”
Elder Philotheos Zervakos
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“Besides the path of repentance, there is no other path that returns to Salvation.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“Repentance is admission of the way of sin. Repentance opens up a new way. The penitent’s eyes are open to two ways; to the way which he is going, and to the way he should be going… I tell you: the penitent must have two types of courage – he must have the courage to weep over his old way, and he must have the courage to prepare himself for a new way.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“When the air is cleared of clouds, the sun shines brightly; and a Soul freed from its former habits and granted forgiveness has certainly seen the Divine Light.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Confession to a man is like an hours rest to a soldier at war, like a physician to one who has been injured in the daily battle. When you confess what is burdening you, you repel it and throw off the heavy burden, and you can continue more rested.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Grant tears that I might wash myself and be freed from passions.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“If you have received the remission of all your sins, either through Confession or through putting on the Holy and Angelic Habit, this will be a great source of love, thanksgiving and humility for you. For not only have you been spared the countless punishments that you deserved, but you have been granted sonship, glory and the Kingdom of Heaven. Bear this in mind and continually meditate on it, taking care never to dishonour Him Who honoured you and has forgiven you ten thousand sins; Glorify and Honour Him in all you do, so that in return He will glorify you even more – you whom He has honoured above all visible Creation and has called His true friend.”
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
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“Repentance resurrects man.”
Saint Raphael of Mytilene
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“Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day, Saint Paul consoles his hearers by saying ‘renew yourselves’ from day to day. This is what we do with houses: we keep constantly repairing them as they wear old. You should do the same thing to yourself. Have you sinned today? Have you made your Soul old? Do not despair, do not despond, but renew your Soul by repentance, and tears, and Confession, and by doing good things. And never cease doing this.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Continue to repent as long as there is time. You do not know when you will exit this world.”
Saint Makarios the Great
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“When we become truly conscious of our sins, this is shown by a certain degree of improvement in our Spiritual life.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“He didn’t ordain repentance as the medicine for only a few sins, excluding various others. For every wound of sin, for every Spiritual transgression, the Great Doctor of our Soul has prescribed repentance as the cure.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“Repentance is the abandoning of all false paths, and a return to the new path: Christ’s path.”
Saint Nikolai Velimivoric
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“Notice the way in which Zacchaeus confessed his sin. He did not say: “Lord, I am a sinful man!”, or “Avarice is my sickness!” No; but, showing the fruits of repentance, he thus confessed his sin and his sickness: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.” is not this a clear confession that riches are his passion? “And if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Is not this a clear confession that his riches were acquired in a sinful manner? He did not, before this, say to the Lord: “I am a sinner, and I repent.” He confessed this silently to the Lord in his heart, and the Lord silently received his confession and repentance. It is of more importance to the Lord that a man acknowledge and confess his sickness and cry for help in his heart than with this tongue, for the tongue is capable of deception, but the heart is not.”
Saint Nikolai Velimivoric
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