Bishop Klemes of Gardikion
(Now
Metropolitan of Larissa and Platamon)
Repentance is the
beginning of the path of perfection according to Christ, the “gate of Grace,” a
continuous course and stance of life, and not merely a transitional moment of
turning away from sin and a temporary step of ascent to virtue.
It constitutes the firm and
unshakable foundation for purification and perfection, so that the will of man
may be freed and liberated from the passions, in order to be attuned to the
divine Will and to acquire Love, the Fullness of Grace and of the divine Life.
Repentance, as a continual state,
characterizes those who truly desire their union with God and strive sincerely
for the overcoming of their egoism and, in general, of the fulfillment of their
passionate and sinful wills. It is a power which effects the transformation of
our nature and safeguards against the spiritual delusion of considering
ourselves as justified or at rest in some supposedly good and God-pleasing
state of sufficiency. And this precisely is its “mystery” and its “secret”: it
is found and flourishes where there is no sense of security, self-sufficiency,
and bold self-assurance:
“He has boldness who does not
think that he has boldness; whereas he who thinks that he has boldness has lost
boldness, just as the Pharisee; but he who considers himself cast off and
without boldness—this one will especially be heard, just as the Publican” (St.
John Chrysostom).
The man who has awareness of his
weakness and love of sin, of his many and various—manifest and hidden, in
knowledge and in ignorance, voluntary and involuntary—falls and sins, is not
able to trust his freedom and to boast of his virtue or of his good works, but
hastens, like the Publican, to seek the divine Mercy: “O God, be merciful to
me, a sinner”!...
Repentance is regarded as an
endless course and ascent toward God: “Repentance is higher than all the
virtues, whose work cannot be completed except at the hour of death; therefore
repentance is required of all and at all times, and no limit of the completion
of repentance exists; for even the perfection of the perfect is imperfect; and
therefore repentance is not confined to appointed times, nor to defined acts,
until the hour of death” (Abba Isaac the Syrian).
It is known that the more we
approach God, the more we come to know His transcendence, and the more we
advance in inner purity, the more we come to know our imperfection in relation
to His inaccessible divine infinite perfection.
When the soul of man does not
move toward repentance, it means that it has become estranged from Divine
Grace. The cessation of spiritual ascent is a symptom of spiritual
insensibility, hardness of heart, or even spiritual deadening.
True Repentance constitutes a
divine fruit of the Grace of Baptism, which exists within the baptized, but
awaits its personal appropriation by him, so that it may be manifested in
practice. Since Repentance is not a simple regret for certain acts, but essentially
a state of Grace, it comes as a divine Gift where strenuous effort is made.
Mourning and tears are expressions of pain for the loss of divine beauty, for
the lack of the divine garment, for the experience of one’s personal Hades.
For this reason, the true tears
of Repentance constitute a great gift of Grace and demonstrate that the heart
of man has been wounded by divine Love and, sensing the divine Majesty and
perceiving its unworthiness and poverty before God and men, is dissolved into
bitter lamentation. In this way, however, a radical change of mindset takes
place and a return from loss to the divine Life occurs.
When divine Grace touches in such
a way the sensitive soul of man, then divine Consolation springs forth; the
tears of Repentance purify human nature in depth, so that the whole man may be
transformed in Grace.
Through Repentance, there comes
about imperceptibly the healing of the infirm nature of man: “Repentance is the
return from that which is contrary to nature to that which is according to
nature, and from the devil to God, through ascetic struggle and labors” (Saint
John of Damascus).
This blessed process opens the
way for the growth and perfection of man according to God, until he attains
“unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ”!
Greek source:
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