Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

“But you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not right? Is your way right? When the righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits a transgression, then he shall die by it. He shall die by the transgression which he committed. But when a lawless person turns from his lawlessness which he committed, and he does justice and righteousness, this one has kept his life. And he has turned away from all his ungodliness which he did, he will surely live. He should certainly not die. But the house of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Is my way not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your way that is not right? I will judge you each according to his way, O house of Israel,” says the Lord. “Turn around, and turn away from all your impious acts, and they will not become a punishment of injustice for you. Throw away from yourselves all your impious acts by ⌊which⌋ you were impious to me, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? Because I do not desire the death of the dying,” says the Lord. (Ezekiel 18:25–32 LXX)

If, then, any hope of salvation is still left to you, if any slight remembrance of God, if any desire for future rewards, if any fear of the punishments reserved for the unrepentant, come back quickly to sobriety; raise your eyes to the heavens; return to your senses; cease your wickedness; shake off the drunkenness that has drenched you; stand up against him who has overthrown you. Have the strength to rise up from the earth. Remember the Good Shepherd, how He will pursue and deliver you. And if there be but “two legs, or the tip of an ear,” leap back from him who has wounded you. Remember the compassion of God, how He heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falls rises again, and he that is turned away turns again, he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes, and he that confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he return and live. Be not contemptuous as one who has fallen into the depths of sins.

There is still time for patience, time for forbearance, time for healing, time for amendment. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners, but turn aside; for then you will be saved when turning back you bewail your sins. In fact, from labors there is health; from sweat, salvation. So take heed, lest, in wishing to keep your contracts with others, you transgress your covenants with God which you confessed before many witnesses. Do not, therefore, because of certain human considerations, hesitate to come to me. For, receiving my dead, I shall lament; I shall care for him; “I shall weep bitterly for the devastation of the daughter of my people.” All welcome you; all will aid you in your sufferings. Do not lose heart; be mindful of the days of old. There is salvation; there is amendment. Have courage; do not despair. There is no law which passes sentence of death without pity, but grace, exceeding the chastisement, awaits the amendment. Not yet have the doors been closed; the Bridegroom listens; sin is not the master. Again take up the struggle; do not draw back, but pity yourself and all of us in Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory and might, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.

Basil of Caesarea, Letter 44