Abstract
In ecclesiastical practice the sinner who is subject of ecclesiastical penance or criminal prosecution respectively can experience the philanthropia of God when the local bishop or synod, imitating God's mercy, executes his respective power in a (more) philanthropic way (in the sense a of a decision more merciful, more lenient than the common rules or a first judgment). Canonical texts combine philanthropia and its derivates also quite often with discretion. The respective canonical testimonies mainly belong to texts of the 4th century which reflect the development of canonical penance and ecclesiastical criminal law (procedural norms included). The canonical usage of philanthropia is next to the usage in byzantine imperial criminal law.
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