Friends,
This week we got a little bonus in our daily scripture readings. This verse ended Thursday’s Epistle reading and began Friday’s:
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (II Corinthians 7:10)
Whenever this happens, that is, that we have a little “repeat” like this in the scripture readings, I think (this is MY opinion – not a dogma of the Church) that it is good for us to take a closer look at what is there. It isn’t a mistake that the verse is repeated – so it probably means that something important is written that we should be attentive to.
This particular verse is rather clear – lots of exegesis is not needed. That being said, it is never bad to see what the fathers have to say about scripture!
Paul was regretful before he saw the fruit of repentance, but afterward he rejoiced. This is the nature of godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow, in contrast to this, is regret for the loss of money, reputation, and friends. That kind of sorrow merely leads to greater harm, because the regret is often a prelude to a thirst for revenge. Only sorrow for sin is really profitable. (St. John Chrysostom)
He who is sad according to God is sad in repentance for his sins; sorrow because of one’s own iniquity produces justice. (St. Augustine)
This is truly the time of fruitful sorrow, so that we may lament the state of our mortality, the abundance of temptations, the stealthy attacks of sinners, the clash of desires, the conflicts of passions ever rebelling against good thoughts. On this account let us grieve; let us be sad because of this state of affairs. (St. Augustine)
...you cannot persuade the Judge during the time of the tribunal. It is possible for you to plead with the Judge before the time of judgment. (St. John Chrysostom)
The fathers quoted above make it clear that St. Paul is talking about repentance as a kind of godly sorrow. This is quite important for us as Orthodox Christians. There are many differences between Orthodox Christianity and the various iterations of Western Christianity. Some of those are quite deep, others are less so. But this difference, our focus on repentance (many of the fathers repeat again and again that this life is given to us as a time for repentance), is perhaps the deepest and greatest difference. Frankly speaking, the concept of repentance has been lost in the west. None of our leaders (or others in the elite classes such as celebrities, oligarchs, etc.) ever seem to be a model in this regard. Rather, they seem to focus on one of our great human sinful super-powers: self-justification. Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, have repentance front and center in our lives and strive to fight against self-justification. Perhaps this is because the first instructions the Lord gave to the disciples after His Resurrection was this:
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:21-23)
He we see the Lord establishing a new law – a new spiritual way. No longer must we bring animal sacrifices as a way to make up for our sins. Rather, God FORGIVES our sins if we repent. This is radical, incredible, novel! This is not found in ANY other religion in the world. Only Christianity offers us this path of forgiveness. The sins are gone! But we have some work to do on our part...
As with all our spiritual life, we work TOGETHER with God towards our salvation. We do not wait for God to do the work, and we don’t try to do all the work without His blessing. This synergy of our effort and God’s Grace crowning that effort is how our spiritual lives work. At least how they work best. If we don’t have this approach we aren’t going to make much progress at all quite frankly. Salvation is not knowledge. Salvation is not effort. Salvation is theosis – transfiguration – transformation: our sincere struggle + God’s Grace. There are many ways in which this happens in our lives – we are striving to walk with God all day every day – in every waking moment. As St. Paul says: pray without ceasing. But that is not an attainable reality when we begin the race. Most of our work and progress comes from trial, error, repentance, and learning from our mistakes. And this happens for most of us mostly through the sacrament of Confession. Which is really named Repentance. And thus we circle back to the verse from II Corinthians noted above.
Confession and forgiveness are GREAT gifts of God to us! Let us take advantage of these gifts more often! Reference to St. John Chrysostom above: let us persuade the Judge (that is, God) before the time of the tribunal (that is, the Last Judgment). The Church teaches us two important things in this regard:
ONE – we answer for our sins either in this life via Confession or in the next life at the Last Judgment in front of all the saints and the angels. The sins we confess here are GONE – we do not need to answer for these there and then.
TWO – one can only repent and be forgiven in this life. There is no repentance after death. We can be SORRY for what we have done and not repented of, but we cannot be forgiven there.
So let us take advantage of God’s mercy and confess our sins here and now. None of us are promised tomorrow. We will probably see it, but some will not. Let us decide today that we will more often be at Confession, that we will more often partake of the Holy Mysteries, and that thereby we will more efficiently facilitate our transfiguration into the sons and daughters of God by His Grace. This is our privilege and gift – a gift the Lord Himself has given us. Let us not waste this gift, but rather use it wisely and often, engaging in the fight against vice with God’s help, and striving to replacing that vice with virtue!
Confessions are heard before, during, and after all Evening Services. Before Liturgy on Sunday morning by appointment, and at other times too.
FR. GREGORY APPOINTMENTS ~ FR. COLIN APPOINTMENTS
We have lots more resources in this regard on our web site – please have a look at your convenience:
CONFESSION AND COMMUNION AT STV
Let us continue to discuss! Share your thoughts in the comment section, ASK A QUESTION ON CURIOUS VLAD (which will finally return from its decadently long summer break in October), or attend one of our forthcoming Spiritual Discussions (more on those to come soon) at the church on some Sundays after our meal.
Asking Your Prayers,
Fr. Gregory
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