Letter 910

To Panegyrius the Deacon. Since you have written to ask for what reason many people who have often committed the same offenses have not received the same penalty, I say this: it is because the exactness of the Judge is great. For in faults it is not the kind of the sin that is sought out, but also the intention of the one who has sinned, and his rank, and the occasion, and the place, and the root cause, and whether after the sin he felt remorse, whether he was disposed to recover, whether he persisted in it, whether he recognized it, whether it came about from circumstance, whether by being carried away [against his will], or by deceit, or by deliberation, or by ignorance; and there are many other things by which this scrutiny proceeds, and the difference of the occasion is examined, and the condition of one's manner of life [politeia]. For the man who sinned the same sin before the Law, and under the Law, and after grace will not owe the same penalty, but the one a gentler one, the other a stricter one, and the other an inexorable one. And all these things have been plainly proclaimed in the holy Scriptures.

Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφας, δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν πολλοὶ πολλάκις τὰ αὐτὰ πλημμελήσαντες, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔδωκαν δίκην, φημί. Ἐπειδὴ πολλή ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ Κριτοῦ ἀκρίβεια· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς πταίσμασιν οὐ τὸ εἶδος ζητεῖται τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ γνώμη τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος, καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα, καὶ ὁ καιρός, καὶ ὁ τόπος, καὶ ἡ ῥίζα, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν εἰ ἤσθη, εἰ ἀναλήπτως διετέθη, εἰ ἐνέμεινεν, εἰ ἐπέγνω, εἰ ἐκ περιστάσεως, εἰ κατὰ συναρπαγήν, ἢ κατὰ ἀπάτην, ἢ κατὰ μελέτην, ἢ κατὰ ἄγνοιαν, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερά ἐστι, δι’ ὧν ἡ βάσανος αὕτη χωρεῖ, καὶ καιροῦ διαφορὰ ἐξετάζεται, καὶ πολιτείας κατάστασις. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ πρὸ νόμου, καὶ μετὰ νόμου, καὶ μετὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν αὐτὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἁμαρτών, τὴν αὐτὴν δίκην ὀφέξει, ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν ἡμερώτεραν, ὁ δὲ ἀκριβεστέραν, ὁ δὲ ἀπαραίτητον. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα διαρρήδην ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις Γραφαῖς κεκήρυκται.