Letter 960

To Aquila. You write and ask: how much time, then, can suffice for one to succeed in not swearing oaths? I do not think you will need even ten days to be rid of the habit. But if, even after the ten days, we should be found swearing, let us impose a penalty upon ourselves, and let us fix the gravest punishment and a condemnation for the transgression. And what is the condemnation? That the one who has erred must not remain in his error, but through repentance must reap salvation, just as Lamech [the descendant of Cain, Genesis 4], just as the prodigal son [Luke 15], just as the robber hanging upon the cross became, by a word of faith, a citizen of paradise [Luke 23:42-43].

Γράφεις, καὶ πόσος ἄρα χρόνος ἀρκέσαι δύναται πρὸς τὸ κατορθωθῆναι ἐν τῷ μὴ ὀμνύειν; Οὐκ οἶμαι, εἰ ἡμερῶν δέκα δεήσῃ πρὸς τὸ ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς συνηθείας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὰς δέκα ἡμέρας ὀφθείημεν ὀμνύοντες, δίκην ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιθῶμεν, καὶ τιμωρίαν μεγίστην, καὶ καταδίκην ὁρίσωμεν τῆς παραβάσεως. Τίς δέ ἐστιν ἡ καταδίκη; Ὅτι οὐ χρὴ τὸν πταίσαντα ἐναπομένειν τῷ πταίσματι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς μετανοίας καρποῦσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὥσπερ ὁ Λάμεχ, ὥσπερ ὁ ἄσωτος υἱός, ὥσπερ ὁ λῃστὴς ἐπὶ σταυροῦ κρεμάμενος ἐν ῥήματι τῆς πίστεως τοῦ παραδείσου πολίτης ἐγένετο.