Should someone who lives in sin constantly be in tears and fear? And with what hope must this person approach the Lord?

During the events of the repeated church bombings at the end of the era of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the following years, our understanding of the concept of repentance in the Gospel and the writings of the Church Fathers was confirmed, in that it leads to an atmosphere of peace, true joy, courage, hope, and fearlessness in the face of death. It also triggers within us a desire for the salvation of all humanity, even for those who persecute the Church and resist the faith. Repentance is an invitation to experience a taste of heaven and communion with the Lover of all humanity!

St. Jacob of Sarug begins his homily on repentance with expressions that reveal the joyful biblical concept of repentance, which is in essence a delightful encounter with Christ Himself to enjoy His wondrous blessings, even if it was accompanied with some sorrow and regret because of our human weakness.

In his introduction, the saint experiences the life of repentance as a journey that extends across the entire life. He invites us to speak openly with Christ, being the open Door for all humanity and the Way that leads us to the Father’s bosom.

He sees the incarnate Son of God with His hands stretched on the cross to embrace the repentant together with the right-hand thief, leading them in, for He is the Door (John 10:9) and the Way (John 14:6), and accompanying them throughout the way as He did with the disciples of Emmaus, when he says with them, “Was not our heart burning in us, as He spoke to us in the way?” (Luke 24:32).

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “O Son of God, open to me by Your love the great door; You are the door and the way of life to those who walk through You. O Good Friend, with You I walk to Him who sent You. The wicked is accompanied by many since he abides in the world. Through You, I come forward to speak to You, O Teacher of Life, for without You no man can see the Father.”¹⁴³⁹

The path of repentance takes the believer away from sin. Our Christ draws him back, speaks to him and gives him life so that he may see His great divine glory by His grace.

1438 St. John Chrysostom, Discourses against Judaizing Christians 8.3.3–4 (FOTC 68:213–214).

1439 St. Jacob of Sarug, On Repentance .

St. Basil the Great says of the soul, “In the first place, it ought to hate its former reprehensible life, and shudder and be repelled at the very memory of it; for it is written: Iniquity I hated and abhorred, but your law I have loved (Ps. 118:163 LXX). Second, let it use the dread of eternal judgment and of everlasting punishment as a teacher, that it may gain a livelier fear, and let it acknowledge a season of tears through repentance, just as David taught in the sixth psalm (Ps. 6:6–8 LXX), that the purification of its sins can be achieved through an abundance of tears in the blood of Christ by the power of his mercy and the multitude of God’s compassions, who said: Although your sins be as crimson, I will make them white as snow; although they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool (Isa. 1:18). After it has received the power and the capacity to please God, it says: You have changed my lamentation into joy for me, you have torn away my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that I may sing psalms to you in my glory (Ps. 29:11–12 LXX). And so it draws near to the Lord singing psalms and saying: I will extol you, Lord, since you have upheld me and have not let my enemies rejoice over me (Ps. 29:2 LXX).”¹⁴⁴⁰