“But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Matthew 9:13 . “Bringing one soul close to God by repentance is much better, in the eyes of God, than all other offerings, for there is nothing in the world better for God than the human soul, for everything in the world will perish except the soul because it is eternal.” St John Climacus