God will chase the man who has a good disposition to find his salvation. God`s mercy will chase him until the last moment because He with the magnifier glass He has finds in the heart of the Christian small particles of desire for salvation. He will exploit those particles and will give him power to save his soul even in the last moment.
This is what I`ve found as a confessor. It happened to me to be near the deathbed of someone and in the last moment when his soul was about to leave his body I witnessed this great salvation. Therefore due to the grace of God I don`t fall into despair for any Christian Orthodox cause one day he will be caught by God`s vise and be saved no matter how burdened he is by sins.
There was a robber who had done many wrongdoings. Police was looking for him and in the end they found him, they hurt him with their guns and caught him. They arrested him and took him to the hospital. There was hospitalized a man with a holy life, a hermit who had come to town for a certain need and got sick and they took him to the hospital.
The robber as he was lying in the bed suffered of pains and felt that his health was not going well and he was going to die. He suffered painfully in his heart because he started to remember all the robberies, crimes, rapes, wrongdoings he had done. Where will I find a priest to confess? he thought. So for me there is no salvation.` And he cried without cease. He had a handkerchief and wiped his tears with it. Then he put it under his pillow and because of the pains he gave his soul.
The hermit who was there looked at him and pitying him cried and prayed for him. In the moment the robber gave his soul the hermit saw the demons who had brought evidence of his misdeeds. But two angels of God came there too, his guardian angel and Michael, the Archangel. There were a lot of demons and the angels were only two. They had come to take his soul. The demons were glad because they had in their hands undeniable proofs. They were saying to each other: Nothing escapes to us. God is jjust. The law will condemn him. God cannot ignore His justice and Law He gave to the people. Indeed nothing escapes from us. They were full of joy and partied.
The poor angels were saying to each other: What can we show now? What good has he done? Let`s search and try to find if he has done any good to anyone.` They searched and they found the wet handkerchief under his pillow. Then while the demons were so glad the angels said:
`Let`s weight what we found.`
`Of course` said the demons.
The angels brought the scale and the demons began to put there the deeds full of sins. On the other side the angels put the handkerchief. And the scale tray with the handkerchief touched the floor and the deeds were scattered as if the angels had put tones of iron. And they answered to the demons:
`Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: the shed gtear has the same power with the bath of repentance.` And the robber had a bath of repentance with his tears. He washed himself, he cried, he repented, he confessed before God, he cleansed his soul and according to God`s oikonomia God received his confession since it was no other way to save him. That is why we take him clean. Go away!`
And by saying this, the angels took the soul of the robber to heaven.
You see, my sons, how much God`s kindness strives to find the smallest motive to save the man! As the Prophet said:
`I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.`(Ezekiel 33:11)
That is why God has a long lasting patience and waits until we repent, to save us.
Excerpt from the book The Art of Salvation published by Evanghelismos.
This is what I`ve found as a confessor. It happened to me to be near the deathbed of someone and in the last moment when his soul was about to leave his body I witnessed this great salvation. Therefore due to the grace of God I don`t fall into despair for any Christian Orthodox cause one day he will be caught by God`s vise and be saved no matter how burdened he is by sins.
There was a robber who had done many wrongdoings. Police was looking for him and in the end they found him, they hurt him with their guns and caught him. They arrested him and took him to the hospital. There was hospitalized a man with a holy life, a hermit who had come to town for a certain need and got sick and they took him to the hospital.
The robber as he was lying in the bed suffered of pains and felt that his health was not going well and he was going to die. He suffered painfully in his heart because he started to remember all the robberies, crimes, rapes, wrongdoings he had done. Where will I find a priest to confess? he thought. So for me there is no salvation.` And he cried without cease. He had a handkerchief and wiped his tears with it. Then he put it under his pillow and because of the pains he gave his soul.
The hermit who was there looked at him and pitying him cried and prayed for him. In the moment the robber gave his soul the hermit saw the demons who had brought evidence of his misdeeds. But two angels of God came there too, his guardian angel and Michael, the Archangel. There were a lot of demons and the angels were only two. They had come to take his soul. The demons were glad because they had in their hands undeniable proofs. They were saying to each other: Nothing escapes to us. God is jjust. The law will condemn him. God cannot ignore His justice and Law He gave to the people. Indeed nothing escapes from us. They were full of joy and partied.
The poor angels were saying to each other: What can we show now? What good has he done? Let`s search and try to find if he has done any good to anyone.` They searched and they found the wet handkerchief under his pillow. Then while the demons were so glad the angels said:
`Let`s weight what we found.`
`Of course` said the demons.
The angels brought the scale and the demons began to put there the deeds full of sins. On the other side the angels put the handkerchief. And the scale tray with the handkerchief touched the floor and the deeds were scattered as if the angels had put tones of iron. And they answered to the demons:
`Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: the shed gtear has the same power with the bath of repentance.` And the robber had a bath of repentance with his tears. He washed himself, he cried, he repented, he confessed before God, he cleansed his soul and according to God`s oikonomia God received his confession since it was no other way to save him. That is why we take him clean. Go away!`
And by saying this, the angels took the soul of the robber to heaven.
You see, my sons, how much God`s kindness strives to find the smallest motive to save the man! As the Prophet said:
`I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.`(Ezekiel 33:11)
That is why God has a long lasting patience and waits until we repent, to save us.
Excerpt from the book The Art of Salvation published by Evanghelismos.
