Nilus of Ancyra→Paregorius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Paregorius the Scriniarius. [scriniarius: a secretarial official, keeper of the records]
You say: What benefit will there be to me if I weep and mourn over my sins? The greatest gain, indeed, O man, and so great that not even speech is able to set it forth. For in the courts that are outside [the secular tribunals], however much you weep, you do not escape punishment after the sentence has been pronounced. But here, if you only grow downcast over your faults, you have dissolved the verdict and have come to enjoy pardon. For this reason, in many places of Scripture, those who mourn are called blessed. Let us not, then, in church laugh aloud and dissolve into mirth; but rather let us groan, so that from our groaning we may inherit the kingdom of heaven.
To Paregorius the Scriniarius. [scriniarius: a secretarial official, keeper of the records]
You say: What benefit will there be to me if I weep and mourn over my sins? The greatest gain, indeed, O man, and so great that not even speech is able to set it forth. For in the courts that are outside [the secular tribunals], however much you weep, you do not escape punishment after the sentence has been pronounced. But here, if you only grow downcast over your faults, you have dissolved the verdict and have come to enjoy pardon. For this reason, in many places of Scripture, those who mourn are called blessed. Let us not, then, in church laugh aloud and dissolve into mirth; but rather let us groan, so that from our groaning we may inherit the kingdom of heaven.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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.