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Excerpt from Aphraates' writing on penitents
#1
See also, beloved, how much better this is when a man confesses and turns away from his iniquity. Our God does not reject the penitent. For the Ninevites increased their sins, and they received the preaching of Jonah when he declared an overthrow against them, and they repented, and God was moved with compassion towards them. And the sons of Israel also when they increased their sins, and He proclaimed repentance to them, and they did not receive it; for He called to them by Jeremiah and said: "Repent, (become) penitent sons, and I will heal your penitence." Again He proclaimed in the ears of Jerusalem and said: "Return unto Me, a penitent daughter".

Again He said unto the sons of Israel; "Return and be restored from your evil ways, and from the wickedness of your works." And thus He said to the people: "If you return unto Me, I will restore you, and you shall stand before Me." And again He spoke thus and reproached them: "I have said, Return unto Me, inhabitant (fem.) of Israel with all your heart, and she has not returned" (these are all loose quotations from Jeremiah 3 and 4:1). Again He took up a parable against them and reminded them of that which is written in the Law, and He wished that the Law might speak falsely for the sake of their repentance.

For He said: "When a man takes a wife and she shall go forth from him and shall be unto another man, and if the other man who took her shall die or shall dismiss her, and she shall return unto her first husband, it will not be possible for her first husband to take her again after she has been polluted; and if he shall take her, behold that land will surely be polluted. And now also I have taken you, Jerusalem, to Myself, and you have become Mine, and you have gone from Me, and you have departed, and you have committed fornication with stones and trees. Now return unto me, and I will receive you, and in your repentance I will loose the Law" (Jeremiah 3:1 sqq., and Deuteronomy 24:13 sqq., both loosely).
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