Theodoros the Great Ascetic

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A Century of Spiritual Texts
1. Since by God's grace we have renounced Satan and his works and have sworn allegiance to Christ, both at our baptism and now again through our profession as monks, let us keep His commandments. Not only does our double profesion demand this of us, but it is also our natural duty, for since we were originally created by God as 'very good' (Gen 1: 31), we owe it to God to be such. Although sin entered us through our negigence and introduced into us what in contratry to nature, we have been reclaimed through God's great mercy, and renewed by the passion of Him who is dispassionate. We have been 'bought with a price' (1 Cor 6:20), namely by the blood of Christ, and liberated from the ancient ancestral sin. If, then we become righteous, this is nothing great; but to fall from righteousness is pitiable and deserves condemnation.