{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-1957","native_reference":{"book_number":540,"chapter_from":7,"chapter_to":7,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":10,"verse_to":10},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: Godly grief brings about the death of worldliness. When the sinner is found out he is grieved because he is bound to be punished, not having anyone from whom he may expect mercy. Perhaps for the moment there may be nobody who can exact retribution from him, but he knows he will not be able to escape the judgment of God.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: And, in another passage, he says: \"The sorrow that is according to God produces repentance that tends to salvation of which one does not repent.\" He who is sad according to God is sad in repentance for his sins; sorrow because of one's own iniquity produces justice. First, let what you are displease you so that you may be able to be what you are not. \"The sadness that is according to God produces repentance that tends to salvation of which one does not repent.\" He says: \"repentance that tends to salvation.\" What sort of salvation? That of which one does not repent. What does that mean? One of which you do not repent at any time. For we have had a life of which we ought to have repented; we have had a life calculated to inspire repentance. But we cannot come to that life of which one does not repent except through repentance for an evil life. Will you, my brothers, as I had begun to say, ever find dung in a sifted mass of wheat? Nevertheless, the wheat arrives at that luster, at that fine and beautiful appearance, by means of dung; the foulness was the path to a beautiful result.<br/><i>— EASTER SERMON 254.2</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: Therefore, my brothers, as I have said before, a suitable place for dung helps to produce fruit, but an unsuitable place leads to uncleanness. Someone or other has said, I have come upon this sad person; I see the dung; I examine the place. Tell me, my friend, why are you sad? He says: I have lost my money. The place is unclean; there is no fruit. Let him hear the apostle: \"The sorrow that is according to the world produces death.\" I have looked at still another person groaning, weeping and praying; I recognize the dung and I examine the place. Moreover, I have directed my ear to this man's prayer, and I have heard him say: \"O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.\" He laments his sin; I recognize the field; I look for fruit. Thanks be to God! The dung is in a good place; it is not useless there; it produces fruit. This is truly the time of fruitful sorrow, so that we may lament the state of our mortality, the abundance of temptations, the stealthy attacks of sinners, the clash of desires, the conflicts of passions ever rebelling against good thoughts. On this account let us grieve; let us be sad because of this state of affairs.<br/><i>— EASTER SERMON 254.4</i></p><p><b>Cyprian</b>: That all sins may be forgiven him who has turned to God with his whole heart... Also in the second Epistle of the blessed Paul to the Corinthians: \"For the sorrow which is according to God worketh a stedfast repentance unto salvation, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.\"<br/><i>— Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: [Syncletica] also said, 'There is a useful sorrow, and a destructive sorrow. Sorrow is useful when we weep for our sins, and for our neighbour's ignorance, and so that we may not relax our purpose to attain to true goodness, these are the real kinds of sorrow. Our enemy adds something to this. For he sends sorrow without reason, which is something called lethargy. We ought always to drive out a sadness like that with prayers and psalms.'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: However, I marvel how God, who from the beginning gave humanity pain, which came from sin, abolishes his decision with one resolution and expels the judgment with the sentence. And hear how. Sin produced pain, and through pain sin is annihilated. Pay attention carefully. God threatens the woman. He brings upon her the punishment for her disobedience, and he tells her: \"You shall bring forth children in pain.\" And he showed pain as the harvest of sin. However, oh, how munificent he is! That which he gave for punishment he changed to salvation. Sin gave birth to pain; pain destroys sin. Just as a worm that is born by a tree consumes the very same tree, likewise pain, which is born by sin, kills sin when it is supplied by repentance. For this reason Paul says: \"Godly pain produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret.\" Pain is good for those who repent sincerely; the sorrow, matching the sin, suits those who sin.… Mourn for the sin so you may not lament for the punishment. Apologize to the judge before you come to the court. Or do you not know that all who want to sin flatter the judge, not when the case is being tried but before they enter the court, or through friends, or through guardians, or through another way they coax the judge? The same with God: you cannot persuade the Judge during the time of the tribunal. It is possible for you to plead with the Judge before the time of judgment.<br/><i>— HOMILY ON REPENTANCE AND COMPUNCTION 7.6.19</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: 'Therefore.' he says, 'though I did regret before I saw the fruit and the gain, how great they were I do not regret now.' For such a thing is godly sorrow. And then he philosophizeth about it, showing that sorrow is not in all cases a grievous thing, but when it is worldly. And what is worldly? If thou be in sorrow for money, for reputation, for him that is departed, all these are worldly. Wherefore also they work death. For he that is in sorrow for reputation's sake feeleth envy and is driven oftentimes to perish: such sorrow was that which Cain sorrowed, such Esau. By this worldly sorrow then he meaneth that which is to the harm of those that sorrow. For only in respect to sins is sorrow a profitable thing; as is evident in this way. He that sorroweth for loss of wealth repaireth not that damage; he that sorroweth for one deceased raiseth not the dead to life again; he that sorroweth for a sickness, not only is not made well but even aggravates the disease: he that sorroweth for sins, he alone attains some advantage from his sorrow, for he maketh his sins wane and disappear. For since the medicine has been prepared for this thing, in this case only is it potent and displays its profitableness; and in the other cases is even injurious. 'And yet Cain,' saith one, 'sorrowed because he was not accepted with God.' It was not for this, but because he saw his brother glorious in honor; for had he grieved for this, it behoved him to emulate and rejoice with him; but, as it was, grieving, he showed that his was a worldly sorrow. But not so did David, nor Peter, nor any of the righteous. Wherefore they were accepted, when grieving either over their own sins or those of others. And yet what is more oppressive than sorrow? Still when it is after a godly sort, it is better than the joy in the world. For this indeed ends in nothing; but that \"worketh repentance unto salvation, a salvation that bringeth no regret.\" For what is admirable in it is this that one who had thus sorrowed would never repent, whilst this is an especial characteristic of worldly sorrow. For what is more regretted than a true born son? And what is a heavier grief than a death of this sort? But yet those fathers who in the height of their grief culture nobody and who wildly beat themselves, after a time repent because they have grieved immoderately; as having thereby nothing benefitted themselves, but even added to their affliction. But not such as this is godly sorrow; but it possesseth two advantages, that of not being condemned in that a man grieves for, and that this sorrow endeth in salvation; of both which that is deprived. For they both sorrow unto harm and after they have sorrowed vehemently condemn themselves, bringing forth this greatest token of having done it unto harm. But godly sorrow is the reverse [of this]: wherefore also he said, \"worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance that bringeth no regret.\" For no one will condemn himself if he have sorrowed for sin, if he have mourned and afflicted himself.<br/><i>— Homily 15 on 2 Corinthians</i></p><p><b>Shepherd of Hermas</b>: This grief, then, appears to be accompanied by salvation, because the man, after having done a wicked deed, repented. Both actions grieve the Spirit: doubt, because it did not accomplish its object; and anger grieves the Spirit, because it did what was wicked.<br/><i>— Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment 10</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"85e87f3e2e6ad74d8f67facc77398ab1a1145c578d26d9a34ef1ad385b36999b","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":1957,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"76009d77789745f1784c1b441d531378e44f7aa6dd5057806f5ff8466284c116","translator":null,"work":null}