Can a sinner repent of his sins in ten days?
According to the immeasurable compassion of God he can. During the reign
of Emperor Maurice, there was a well-known bandit in the vicinity of
Constantinople. He inspired fear and trembling both within the capital
and without. One day, the Emperor Maurice himself sent the robber a
cross as a sign of faith that he would do him no harm if he surrendered.
The robber took the cross and surrendered. Arriving in Constantinople,
he fell before the feet of the emperor and begged for forgiveness. The
emperor kept his word, had mercy on him and released him. Immediately
after that, the robber became gravely ill and sensed that death was
drawing near. He bitterly repented of all his sins and tearfully prayed
to God that He forgive him, as the emperor had forgiven him. He shed so
many tears at prayer that his handkerchief was completely soaked.
After ten days of weeping and praying, the repentant man reposed. The
same night he passed away, his physician saw a wondrous vision in a
dream: when the robber had given up his soul, there gathered around him
black, manlike demons with pieces of paper on which were written all
his sins. Two radiant angels also appeared. The angels set a scale
between them, and the joyful demons placed all those papers on it,
weighing down their side of the scale; but the other side was empty.
The angels held counsel: ``What shall we place on it? Let us seek
something good in his life!'' And then that handkerchief soaked with
tears of repentance appeared in the hands of one angel. The angels
quickly placed it on their side of the scale and it outweighed all the
demons' papers. Then the black demons fled, howling sorrowfully, and
the angels took the soul of the repentant thief and carried it to
Paradise, glorifying the man-loving God.
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