St. John the Baptist Parish, A Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church, Canberra, Australia

About Sin

St. John of Kronstadt

All sorrows, sicknesses, torments, deprivations, are allowed by God in order to drive out the enticement of sin and to implant true virtue in the heart, that we may learn by experience the falsehood, insolence, tyranny, and deadlines of sin, and may be inspired with a loathing for it; also that we may learn by experience the truth of meekness, wisdom, of gently ruling the hearts of men, and of the life-giving properties of virtue. Therefore, I will bear all afflictions courageously, with gratitude to the Lord, the Physicial of our souls, our Most-loving Saviour.

To repent- means to feel in our hearts the falsehood, the madness, the guilt of our sins, it means - to acknowledge that we have offended, by them, our Creator, our Lord, our Father and Benefactor, Who is infinitely holy and infinitely abhors sin, it means, to desire with the whole soul, to amend and to expiate our sins.

-- St. John of Kronstadt,
My Life in Christ

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