Letter 692

Nilus of AncyraMaurianus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted

To the same person.

And how, you say, might I exact the penalty from myself? I will say: humble yourself, mourn, and groan over your transgressions; for it is no small punishment, and a torment to the soul, to reckon up and lament one's own faults. Indeed in this there is great pain, and shame, and chastisement. For this very reason there is also a prize. God grants righteousness to the person who wears himself down through confession. For tell your sins first yourself, Scripture says, before another accuses you, that you may be justified. [cf. Isaiah 43:26 LXX]

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Καὶ πῶς ἄν, φῄς, δίκας ἐμαυτὸν εἰσπραξαίμην; Ἐγὼ φήσω· Ταπείνωσον σεαυτόν, πένθησόν τε, καὶ στέναξον ἐπὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασι· οὐ μικρὰ γὰρ τιμωρία, καὶ βάσανος τῇ ψυχῇ, τὸ ἀναλογίζεσθαι, καὶ θρηνεῖν τὰ οἰκεῖα σφάλματα, μεγάλη γὰρ τούτῳγε ὀδύνη, καὶ αἰσχία, καὶ κόλασις. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἆθλον.
Δικαιοσύνης χαρίζεται ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῇ διὰ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως ἑαυτὸν κατατρύχοντι. Λέγε γάρ, φησί, πρῶτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου, πρὶν ἄλλος σου κατηγορήσῃ, ἵνα δίκαιος γένῃ.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import

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