Other ways of saying “repentance,” from the ancients.
Other ways of saying “repentance,” from the ancients.
§ 12. The adjectives and circumlocutions by which the devout ancients describe repentance and stir us up to repent should be placed here. Justin (QQ. et resp. ad orthod., q. 98, p. 351) calls it “the approved remedy for sinners.”
Tertullian (De poenit., p. 553): “Repentance is life.” Page 555: “The price for which the Lord decided to give pardon.”
Lactantius (Instit., 6, ch. 24, p. 377): “The medicine of repentance is the harbor of salvation.” [Lactantius again] (Epit. div. instit., ch. 6, p. 541): “The great aid and comfort of repentance, it is the healing of wounds and the cleansing of sins; it is hope; it is the harbor of salvation.”
Nazianzen (Orat. 15, p. 236): “The great medicine for wickedness.” [Nazianzen again] (Orat. 40 in s. baptisma, p. 641): “The second cleansing.”
Ambrose (De fuga seculi, ch. 6, tom. 4, p. 316): “The good flight.”
Augustine (De vera et fals. poenit., ch. 1): “The way which leads people back to the angels and returns the creature to the Creator.”
** He calls it (De civ. Dei, 17, ch. 20): “The very healthy humility of repenting.” **
Isidore (De summo bono): “Repentance is the medication for a wound, the hope of salvation through which death is destroyed and life discovered, through which hell is closed and heaven opened, through which the devil is put to flight and God is found.”
Chrysostom (Orat. quod unus et idem legislator): “Repentance is the root of piety.”
Tharasius (Letter ad Johann. Prebsbyt., vol. 2, conc.): “Repentance is the great armor, the way of salvation, the dispenser of the hospitality of the kingdom of heaven, the leader of the incorruptible way, the equipment for the martyr’s contests. It points the way to God and causes us to be with Him. It is the crutch of the human race, the resurrection of the fallen and the lapsed,” etc.
Bernard (on Song of Songs, sermon 30, col. 587): “The tears of sinners are the wine of angels.” [Bernard again] (on Song of Songs, sermon 68): “The tears of the repentant are the delicacies of the angels.”
Briefly, the heart of a sinner, humbled and drenched with daily tears, is a rich burnt offering.