Prologue in Sermons: September 27

 

Repentance Will Not Save Us If, After It, We Again Add Sins to Sins

September 27

(A Word on Punishment by Gregory the Black-Robed Monk,* Concerning Not Being Negligent of One’s Salvation.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

There are many people who, having repented of their sins and received forgiveness for them, nevertheless, immediately after confession, begin to sin again. They again defile themselves with the uncleanness of sin, think that it is nothing, and, comforting themselves, say: “God is merciful; God will forgive again.” Do such people act rightly or not? We are convinced that they act very badly, and the following word of one of the teachers of the Church, the Black-Robed Monk Gregory, leads us to this conviction.

Among other things, he says the following concerning this matter:

“Brethren, let us renounce worldly wickedness; let us not again become entangled in fleshly passions—gluttony, drunkenness, and fornication—which corrupt both soul and body. Our life here is short; therefore, let us take care for our souls and rejoice in our salvation; let us strive to blot out our sins through good works. Let us not act in such a way that today we repent, and tomorrow take up again the same sins, or even worse ones than those we committed before confession. If today you have washed your defiled body, but the next morning defile it again, will you derive any benefit from your washing? In the same way, there will be no benefit for the one who repented today but tomorrow took up his sins again. And what genuine benefit can you derive from your repentance when, after having been forgiven, you return again to sin? And can your prayer be heard? And can you escape the wrath of the Lord? No, for as great as the Lord’s mercy is, so grievous are His punishments. And the Lord judges each person according to his deeds, and each will receive recompense according to his deeds. Blessed is the person who, when tempted to sin, can refrain from sinning. But woe to the heart that is double-minded, and to the sinner who walks in two ways.”

Therefore, brethren, as you see, our conviction that those who take up their sins again after confession truly act very badly is well founded. For, as we have heard, according to the teaching of the holy Father, their repentance is useless, their prayer is not accepted by God, and the wrath of God awaits them. And so, of course, it must necessarily be. For those who add sins to sins after confession, first, reveal ingratitude toward God, who has forgiven them; second, a lack of faith in Him; and, third and finally, the corruption of their hearts.

How would a king regard a servant who was deserving of the death penalty but, having been pardoned by the king, immediately took up his evil deeds again as before? Clearly, the king would increase his wrath against him, and it would be useless for the evil servant to expect forgiveness a second time. But sinners who add sins to sins after confession act in exactly the same way as that servant; therefore, they surely store up wrath for themselves on the Day of Wrath and righteous judgment of God.

Let us remember, brethren, that there is a limit to God’s longsuffering, and once it has been reached, nothing will protect us from the wrath of Heaven. And remembering this, after confession let us strive with all our strength to correct our lives, to cleanse ourselves from the defilements of sin, and generally to walk in the way of God’s commandments. Let us act in this manner so that, in due time, we may appear before the face of God not as children of sin, wrath, and cursing, but as children of holiness, love, and blessing. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

* Gregory the Black-Robed Monk (Григорий Черноризец) is an otherwise obscure monastic teacher whose identity and dates are not securely established. A homily attributed to him, titled A Word on Punishment, Concerning Not Being Negligent of One’s Salvation, is preserved in the September 27 section of the Prologue and survives in multiple manuscript witnesses, including a sixteenth-century Prologue manuscript in the Russian State Library (F. 194, No. 17, fol. 49). The homily begins with an exhortation not to be negligent concerning one’s salvation and warns those who, after repentance and confession, return again to their former sins. In the text, Gregory is explicitly described as “one of the teachers of the Church,” but the surviving sources consulted do not provide sufficient information to identify him with a particular historical Gregory or to establish a biography.