We will not be punished or condemned in the age to be because we have sinned, since we were given a mutable and unstable nature. But we will be punished if, after sinning, we do not repent and turn from our evil ways to the Lord; for we have been given the power to repent, as well as the time in which to do so. Only through repentance shall we receive God's mercy, and not its opposite, His passionate anger. Not that God is angry with us: He is angry with evil. Indeed, the divine is beyond passion and vengefulness, though we speak of it as reflecting, like a mirror, our actions and dispositions, giving to each of us whatever we deserve.
+St. Theognostos of Alexandria1, from On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation and the Priesthood, from The Philokalia, Volume 2.
1This attribution, by St. Nikodimos, is considered unlikely by scholars.
No comments:
Post a Comment