The moon as it waxes and wanes illustrates the condition of man: sometimes he does what is right, sometimes he sins and then through repentance returns to a holy life. The intellect of one who sins is not destroyed (as some of you think), just as the physical size of the moon does not diminish, but only its light. Through repentance a man regains his true splendor, just as the moon after the period of waning clothes itself once more in its full light. If a man believes in Christ, "Even though he dies, he shall live: (John 11:25); he shall know that "I the Lord have spoken, and will do it: (Ezekiel 17:24, LXX).
--St. John of Karpathos, For the Encouragement of the Monks in India Who Had Written Him, sec. 4.
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