How can the soul be certain that it is purified from sin?

St. Basil the Great answers, “If one recognizes David’s motif when saying, ‘I hate and abhor lying’ (Ps. 119:163) or realizes that he is fulfilling the apostle’s command: ‘Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming,’ adding to that as an extension to judgment over every sin, ‘upon the sons of disobedience’ (Col. 3:5–6). In order for him to say, ‘A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness’ (Ps. 101:4). Again, one realizes that he possesses the same thing as this meek one if he had the same awe as the saints. For this reason, David says, ‘I see the treacherous, and am disgusted because they do not keep Your word’ (Ps. 119:158).

“The apostle says, ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?’ (2 Cor. 11:29). Truly these words elevate the soul over the flesh (Matt. 10:28). We care about the flesh, are disgusted by all kinds of dirt. We are wholeheartedly saddened when we see wounds or any harm in the flesh, so how much more

1450 St. Basil of Caesarea, Regulae brevius tractatae , 293.

1451 St. Basil of Caesarea, The Rule of St. Basil in Latin and English: A Revised Critical Edition , trans., Anna M. Silvas (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2013) Q. 149: p. 237.

1452 St. Basil of Caesarea, Regulae brevius tractatae 12.

should we be saddened for what befalls the sinners. For whoever loves Christ and loves the brethren, suffers when he sees them wounded on account of the wild beasts and are viciously attacked by deadly evil attacks as David says, ‘My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are full of inflammation, and there is no soundness in my flesh.’ (Ps. 38:5–7). The Apostle also says: ‘The sting of death is sin’ (1 Cor. 15:56). When one is made aware of the state he is in because of his sins and the sins of others, he is assured that he will be perfectly purified.”¹⁴⁵³