17 January 2022
A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the
first to admit your sins and you will be justified… Another and no less
valuable one is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in
order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants’ sins against us…
Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent,
careful and comes from the heart. If you want to hear of a fourth, I will
mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching. If, moreover, a man
lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have
mentioned, takes sin away… Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance;
condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us,
prayer, almsgiving and humility. Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all
these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty.
Saint John Chrysostom
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