This work is a chapter taken from The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: "Theosis" in Scripture and Tradition (December, 2013): "That we are all in need of repentance is beyond dispute, as this is clearly indicated at the beginning of the Gospel, in the very first words preached by both St. John the Baptist and Christ Himself: “Repent: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2 and 4:7); but also at the end of the Gospel (in Luke 24:47), where the Lord commissions His disciples: “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” "So the question that I should like to pose at the outset of our reflection on this fundamentally crucial theme is: What is repentance and how does it bring about our “personal renewal”? "“Repentance,” says St. John of the Ladder (c. 570 - c. 649, whose memory we celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent), “is the renewal of baptism”.1 We know from Holy Scripture and our life in the Church that baptism means dying to the old man and being raised together with Christ in newness of life. As the great Paul says:&nbsp; "“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him” (Rom. 6:3-4, 6).

The Power of Repentance: The Ethos of "Metanoia" in the Orthodox Tradition PDF

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