Give me a story of a saint or desert father who kept working on repentance for one sin for a very long time.
By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10
In the Coptic tradition, one of the most powerful examples of the relentless "labor of repentance" is the story of St. Sisoes the Great, a disciple of St. Anthony. His life perfectly illustrates that repentance is not a quick fix, but a lifelong "steering against the current."
The Story: "I Have Not Yet Begun"
St. Sisoes lived in the desert for over sixty years, laboring in extreme asceticism and prayer. He was famous throughout Egypt for his holiness. However, his view of his own "work" was very different from how others saw him.
When St. Sisoes was on his deathbed, the monks gathered around him and saw his face shine like the sun. He told them he saw the prophets and the apostles coming for him. Then, he began to speak to someone invisible. The brothers asked him, "Father, whom are you speaking to?"
He replied, "The angels have come to take me, but I am mourning and beseeching them to leave me a little longer so that I may repent."
The monks were shocked. They said, "But Father, you have no need for repentance! You have labored more than any of us."
St. Sisoes, with great sincerity, gave a response that defines the "Divine Labor" of our Church: "In truth, I do not know if I have even begun to repent."
Why this story illustrates the Labor of Repentance:
1. The Depth of the Vessel
St. Sisoes shows us that the closer a person gets to the Light of, the more they see the small "specks of dust" in their soul. He didn't consider his sixty years of labor "enough." He saw repentance as an infinite growth toward God. To him, the "food that endures" required a vessel that was constantly being washed.
2. Victory Over One Sin (The Sin of Pride)
Another story about St. Sisoes tells us he struggled with the same small temptations for decades. Once, a brother admitted he couldn't stop thinking about his past sins. Sisoes didn't give him a complex theological answer; he simply told him how he himself labored. He said, "I have been in this cell for thirty years, and I still labor every day to forgive the brothers and to keep my mind from wandering." He treated the "small" sins of the mind with the same seriousness as "great" sins.
3. The Consistency of the "Oars"
St. Sisoes’s repentance was like the "nightly audit." He didn't wait for a special season; every day was repentance. He understood that the current of the world (and the flesh) never stops pushing, so the "laborer" must never stop steering.
Practical Application:
When we feel discouraged because we struggle with the same sin (anger, lust, or laziness) year after year, we must remember St. Sisoes. The "labor" is not in being perfect immediately; the labor is in refusing to stop repenting.
As we say in the Church: "A Christian is not someone who never falls, but someone who always gets back up."
St. Sisoes moved from the "perishable" confidence of his own deeds to the "enduring" confidence in God’s mercy. On his deathbed, he finally saw that his sixty years of labor were just the "beginning."
: Blessed is the monk who considers every day his first day of repentance.
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