The Beginning of Renewed Life-A Code of Repentance (Saint David the Builder and Saint Anthim the Iberian)
The Beginning of Renewed Life-A Code of Repentance (Saint David the Builder and Saint Anthim the Iberian)

Summary/Abstract: This study explores two exemplary theological and moral approaches to repentance as reflected in the lives and writings of two great figures of Georgian spirituality: Saint King David IV of Georgia, known as David the Builder, andSaint Anthim the Iberian, the Holy Hierarch of Romania. The reflections of two great saints draw attention to one of the most important concepts of Christian ethics: repentance.Although they lived in seemingly different eras, it is evident that both thinkers belong to the same conceptual and intellectual tradition.Their teachings illuminate both the universal and particular aspects of repentance as a means of ethical and spiritual renewal, emphasizing the role of conscience in shaping the renewed human being. For each of them, one of the essential and decisive factors is the subjective infallibility of one’s own conscience.Repentance, in both saints’ thought, represents not only contrition for sin but also the conscious act of spiritual reorientation – a turning back to God. It evokes the biblical image of the Prodigal Son returning to his father’s house after longe strangement: repentance as homecoming, renewal, and victory of divine grace within the human soul. A “Code of Repentance” in Christianity is essentially a spiritual roadmap guiding believers from recognition of sin to transformation and renewal. This and its structural elements are revealed in the discourse of Saint David the Builder and Holy Hierarch Anthim the Iberian. With their teaching, they encourage human beings to examine their lives regularly, for self-examination and continually seek God’s guidance.

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