Letter 744

To Petronius. No one could deny that repentance is a gift of God, as also are the feeling of shame, the refusal to speak boldly about one's transgressions, and the hating and loathing of every shameful fault previously committed by us. This is the very reason why God says in the prophecy: "You shall remember your evil ways and your practices, and you shall loathe yourselves over your lawless deeds, and you shall be ashamed, and you shall be confounded, and I will do good to you for my name's sake." [Ezekiel 36:31-32, after the Septuagint.]

Θεοῦ δῶρον οὐκ ἄν τις ἀρνήσαιτο ὑπάρχειν τὴν μετάνοιαν, καὶ τὸ αἰσχύνεσθαι, καὶ μὴ παρρησιάζε-σθαι ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐπταισμένοις, καὶ τὸ μισεῖν καὶ βδε-λύττεσθαι πᾶν αἰσχρὸν ἐλάττωμα προπεπραγμένον. ἡμῖν. Διότιπερ λέγει ἐν τῇ προφητείᾳ ὁ Θεός, ὅτι « Μνησθήσεσθε τὰς ὁδοὺς ὑμῶν τὰς πονηράς, καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὑμῶν, καὶ προσοχθεῖτε ταῖς ἀνομίαις ὑμῶν, καὶ αἰσχυνθήσεσθε, καὶ ἐντραπήσεσθε, καὶ εὐποιήσω ὑμᾶς διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου. »