Letter 202

To the Same Person. That each person is judged according to his inclination, whether toward what is base or toward what is better, let these examples persuade you: Judas, in the course of a single night, was estranged from life, having betrayed the Teacher; while the thief [the penitent thief crucified beside Christ, Luke 23:40-43], in a single instant of time, was made a member of the household of life. For the iniquities of the man who has not been wholly diseased with apostasy from God, nor taken up a wicked heart of unbelief and folly, shall not be remembered. "For living he shall live," it says, "when he turns back, and he shall not die." [Ezekiel 18:28, 33:12 LXX]

Ὅτι πρὸς τὴν ῥοπὴν ἕκαστος τὴν ἐπὶ φαύλῳ, ἢ ἐπὶ κρείττονι κρίνεται, πειθέτωσαν σε, ὁ μὲν Ἰούδας διὰ μιᾶς νυκτὸς ἀλλοτριωθεὶς τῆς ζωῆς, προδεδωκὼς τὸν Διδάσκαλον, ὁ δὲ λῃστὴς ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου οἰκειωθεὶς τῇ ζωῇ. Οὐ γὰρ μνησθῶσιν αἱ ἀνομίαι τοῦ μὴ παντελῶς ἀποστασίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ νοσήσαντος ἀνθρώπου, μηδὲ καρδίαν πονηρὰν ἀπιστίας τε καὶ ἠλιθιότητος ἀναλαβόντος. « Ζῶν γὰρ ζήσεται, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀποθανεῖται. »