Pope Shenouda III
St. John the Beloved testifies to this fact and says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1: 8). That is why the saints confessed that they were sinful. St. Paul the Apostle, who ascended to the third heaven, said the "sinners of whom I am chief" (1 Tim. 1: 15), and: "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin... ... For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells" (Rom. 7:14,18)