Man knows he has to act according to God’s
command. Yet, he fails and breaks the command. On
account of this violation, guilt is immediately
created within him. One cannot be relieved of this
guilt by simply going to confession. Guilt can only
be re- moved after man has gone through this guilt
and has admitted to it: “My God, I am guilty. That’s
that!” Guilt can be removed after man has humbled
him- self, has repented truly and has said before
God: “I acted like this and now anticipate what’s
coming to me”. To put it simply, he is relieved of
guilt after he gets ready to accept whatever may
come from God.
Whoever experiences guilt in a normal way and
repents, humbles himself, asks for the mercy of
God and entrusts his sin to the mercy and grace of
God, receives forgiveness from God by grace. He
experi- ences receiving it by grace and not by right
and he feels restored. And he has no more guilt.
Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos (†)
From the book: Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos, “SPIRITUAL MESSAGES” Panorama Thessaloniki, 2017
