St. Paul tells Christians to restore a person overtaken in a trespass with gentleness, while watching themselves lest they also be tempted (Galatians 6:1–2). His command requires attention to the other person’s fall and to our own vulnerability. The one helping has no grounds for spiritual superiority.
St. Polycarp gives a concrete pastoral example. In his letter to the Philippians, he expresses grief over Valens, who had been a presbyter among them. He urges the congregation to avoid covetousness, remain chaste and truthful, and abstain from evil. He also grieves for Valens and his wife, praying that the Lord will grant them true repentance (To the Philippians, chapter 11). The text gives no warrant for inventing details of their wrongdoing.
Then Polycarp tells the congregation to “call them back as suffering and straying members.” He explicitly urges them not to count such people as enemies. His language holds the community together with its wounded members while still naming their need for repentance (chapter 11). The aim of the appeal is their return and the saving of the whole body.
Polycarp’s warning against regarding them as enemies echoes 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15. That biblical passage includes both discipline and admonition of a brother. As another comparison, 2 Corinthians 2:6–8 directs the Corinthians to forgive and comfort a disciplined person, reaffirming their love so that excessive sorrow does not swallow him up. We need not settle that person’s identity to hear the command actually given.
This return belongs to the life of the Church. Orthodox teaching on penance describes genuine repentance, confession and absolution as reconciliation with God and the Church. Repentance includes a change of direction; comfort is not a declaration that sin never happened. Polycarp asks the Lord for true repentance rather than merely asking the congregation to feel warmly toward Valens (chapter 11).
The letter does not promise Valens a return to his former office. We should not add that promise. Its counsel to the congregation is already demanding: grieve over the fall, avoid hatred, seek repentance, and remember that the straying person remains someone we are called to help. Paul’s warning to watch ourselves keeps that help humble (Galatians 6:1–2). Forgiveness and the desire for restoration do not authorize inventing an outcome the source never announces.
For prayer, use the Lord’s Prayer that Christ gives in Matthew 6:9–13.
Sources and edition notes
- St. Polycarp, To the Philippians. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, ANF 1; scanned copy 1887 (copyright 1885). Printed p. 35. Chapters 10–12 of Polycarp’s letter, including the passage on Valens, survive only in a Latin translation.
- OCA, Penance. Eastern Orthodox doctrinal and pastoral context
New Testament references were checked in NKJV. Scripture is referenced and paraphrased; no verbatim Bible excerpt is supplied.