John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople

YEAR OF OUR LORD DXCVI JOHN PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE COMMONLY CALLED THE FASTER NOTITIA

(Joan. Morinus, *Commentarius historicus de disciplina in administratione sacramenti pœnitentiæ tredecim primis sæculis in Ecclesia Occidentali et hoc usque in Orientali observata*, Paris, 1651, fol. Append., p. 76.)

The author of the penitential book which we publish from ancient parchments is Joannes, called "the Faster," a man for this reason and many others most celebrated among the Greeks. By profession he was a monk, famous by the rumors of the people on account of his long and continuous fasts, so that he was called κατ’ ἐξοχὴν, Νηστευτής, the Faster. In the year 586, under the Emperor Maurice, he was elected patriarch of Constantinople upon the death of Eutychius. ^A St. Isidore writes thus concerning him in his book *De viris illustribus*: "John, of holy memory, bishop of Constantinople, by nation a Cappadocian, was a man of inestimable abstinence, and so very lavish in alms that the Emperor Maurice, moved by zeal against his avarice, decreed that the poor should be driven from the city." He published in Greek a rescript regarding the sacrament of baptism, addressed to my lord and predecessor of blessed memory, the prelate Leander, in which he puts nothing of his own, but merely repeats the judgments of the ancient Fathers concerning the triple immersion. He flourished in the times of the Emperor Maurice, and died while the same Augustus was reigning. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, calls him in Photius (cod. 231) a "true home of virtue." He is the first of the bishops of Constantinople who styled himself ecumenical and universal, against which glorious title Pelagius II, first emerging from the shadows, and Gregory the First following him, and others after them, firmly opposed themselves. This matter is most well known to all the learned, and contributes nothing to illustrating our work. Therefore, let it suffice to have noted it in passing, so that the character of this John may be known. Nevertheless, he acknowledged the Roman Pontiff as his superior, as can be read in St. Gregory, lib. II, epist. 52 and 64. He died in the year 596, and is inscribed by the Greeks in the number of the saints. Concerning his piety, and the honor which the Emperor Maurice held for him after his death, see Nicephorus, lib. XVIII, cap. 34.

Besides the rescript on baptism of which St. Isidore makes mention, there is attributed to this John the Faster an elegant, learned, and pious homily *On Penance*, which in ancient Latin editions is read among the works of St. Chrysostom as the 21st among the homilies to the people of Antioch; but in the Greek-Latin editions, at the end of the fifth volume. But among the Greeks, the penitential *Canon* which he edited was most famous, although many condemned it for excessive indulgence. Thus does the patriarch Nicholas judge of it, as reported by Harmenopulus in the last chapter of his *Epitome of Canons*: "That canonical writing of the Faster, because it applies excessive leniency, has ruined many; and those who know what is good ought to be corrected." The title of the copy which we obtained was *Ἀκολουθία καὶ τάξις* (Sequence and Order), etc. The Greeks are accustomed to call the writing down of some sacred office by this name, because it is customary for it to be handed down in continuous order and with consequences—namely, the prior elements to the posterior—as can be seen everywhere in all Euchologia.

The character of the parchment was judged to be of about five hundred years of age. It belonged to the eminent Altempsian Library, and a friend handed it over to me to be transcribed while I was in Rome. There are some errors, perhaps even some of our own, or of the one who provided his labor to us, which crept in out of guilt because we either hastened too much or did not pay sufficient attention to the abbreviations of the words. They are not of such significance that they would significantly weaken the sense, much less hinder it. Since we rely on no other codex, we have left the text untouched, yet adjusting our translation to the sense. Whether the Penitential of the Faster is sincere and unpolluted by any addition is difficult to say, since many things are accustomed to be stitched into such books according to the variety of centuries and regions. Furthermore, various breviaries are also accustomed to be made from them for private use, with the name of the principal author always retained. Some things are cited by Harmenopulus as if from *The Faster* which are not found in our codex in the exact same manner, although the thing itself is present. The same must be said of Matthew Blastares, who reports a few things from it. But that variety does not hinder our goal at all, indeed it helps it much, since it is always found to be engaged in the same kind of discipline. For that variety is either only of words, or of a more accurate narration of penalties, or of a permutation of penalties, when this crime is punished in one codex with a harsher penalty than in another: but that crime, on the contrary, is punished with a milder penalty in one codex, and a harsher one in this codex. So that you, Reader, may yourself form a judgment concerning this variety, whatever we come across while reading, we shall append to the published Penitential of John.

PENITENTIALE. SEQUENCE AND ORDER FOR THOSE CONFESSING SINS, COMPOSED AND INSTITUTED BY OUR HOLY FATHER JOHN THE FASTER.

^A The priest takes the one who is about to confess, and stands him before the altar, and chants with him the trisagion and the sixth Psalm: "O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger"; and Psalm XXIV: "To you, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul"; and Psalm L: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." Kyrie eleison. Then he glorifies. Then he says Psalm XXXI: "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven"; and Psalm LXIX: "O God, incline to my help"; and Psalm CII: "O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you." Glory. And he says the Troparion of the fourth tone: "Visit my humble soul." Another: "Sailing across the sea, let us fervently flee to the Theotokos." After these things, he adds also the appointed prayer:

O Lord our God, Father and Master of all, who oversee all things, and who kindly and lovingly grant the remission of sins to those who turn to you through repentance from their own transgressions; who had mercy on David when he sinned, through his confession; who added life to Hezekiah as he wept and entreated your compassion; who delivered Manasseh from such great evils when he embraced repentance; who granted pardon through tears to Peter and to the harlot; who justified the publican who sighed; who opened your paternal arms to the prodigal; who desire all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; who rejoice over the repentant sinner, and who do not want the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live: do you yourself, O most good Savior, hear my supplication, the supplication of your unworthy and useless servant, who, because of the multitude of my own iniquities, am not worthy to call upon your most holy name, but since I am invested with the dignity of the priesthood ^B and, according to your kind commandment, you receive those who confess their own transgressions to you, I supplicate you with fear and trembling. Hear me, therefore, a sinner, according to the multitude of your mercy, and receive your servant N. who is confessing. And if any sin has been committed by him, whether voluntary or involuntary, whether in word, or in deed, or in thought, do you, as a good God, overlook it; for you alone have the power to remit sins, and to you we fall, and you we beseech, and we praise, glorifying you with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now, etc. ^D

After this, he instructs him to make three genuflections with his head uncovered, the priest himself doing likewise, and after he has risen, he instructs and catechizes him, saying thus:

^A Spiritual son, I do not receive your confession primarily and principally, nor do I grant you absolution, but God does so through me; for the work of this kind belongs to Him, who receives the confession of your sins and dispenses and bestows the remission of them through our voice, just as He Himself declared through His own voice, when according to His ineffable mercy He said: "Whatever you bind or loose on earth, shall be also in heaven," things bound, and things loosed. ^B Reveal, therefore, and declare before the holy angels, and hide nothing from me of the things that have been done by you in secret, even as if you were confessing them to God, the Knower of hidden hearts; and He Himself, the Knower of secrets, shall blot out all that you reveal, not only the things that were done previously and those that are now being done, but also those that will happen; and He will illuminate your mind through the most holy Spirit, and will teach you to be concerned always and to speak the things that are pleasing to Him; and He will give you true humility, unfeigned love, long-suffering that bears evils, patience, and meekness; He will instill most pure fear into your heart, and, to speak simply and generally, He will fit and compose you for every operation of good. Incline, therefore, my son, your ear, and hear sweetly the commandments of God, saying to us thus through the holy Scriptures: "Turn to me, and I will heal your contrition and your confusions." And again: "Do not delay to turn to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day, for death does not delay." And: "A man who turns from the way of his iniquity shall live and not die, and I will not remember his iniquities." And again: "Confess to the Lord, for He is good." And: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Thus, therefore, being admonished through all Scripture, and called to the participation of heavenly and eternal goods, take heed lest after the rejection of iniquitous works you turn again to the same things, and be likened to a dog returning to its own vomit, and to a washed sow to her wallowing in the mire. See, my son, by the grace of Christ I have set before you what is profitable for you, and I have omitted nothing of those things that contribute to your benefit and salvation. Therefore, without procrastinating or feeling ashamed before God and the holy angels, declare them. For even if it seems shameful and disgraceful to you to reveal works subject to reproach and shame, yet be exceptionally and accurately persuaded that by this present shame you are liberated from the future one. And through the practice of the commandments, you are made worthy not only of forgiveness, but also of crowns in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. ^D Afterward, if it is a man who is confessing, he instructs him that he should uncover his head, as has been said, even if he wears a diadem; but this does not apply to a woman. If, however, he is an abbot, he should command him to put off the cowl that is upon his head, then...

^A cast himself down to the ground and fall before the altar, and say: "I confess to you, Father, thus, O Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, all the secrets of my heart." And after he has spoken these words, let him bid him arise and stand on one side of the entrance to the altar, while he himself stands on the other side; and let him question him with all cheerfulness and kindness, and if possible, let him kiss him, and place the hands of the one confessing upon his own neck, especially if he sees him overcome and mastered by unbearable grief and shame; and let him say to him in a gentle and most serene voice: ^B "How, master brother (or sister), was your virginity first corrupted? Was it through fornication, or through lawful marriage, or through effeminacy, or through some of those things which are contrary to nature?" And when he has agreed and declared it one way or another, let him question him again as to how many women he encountered before taking a wife, and whether any of them were bondwomen, and how many were widows, and how many were wedded, and whether any were nuns, and how many, and whether any wore the great habit. For those who wear the small habit are judged as harlots, but those who wear the great habit as wedded women. And if they were harlots, how many, and how many were virgins. ^C These things, in the first place, it is necessary for the one receiving the confessions to ask the one confessing, and the whole sum of how many he has altogether fallen into. For before all things the number is sought, and the difference of persons. For there are six differences. For the judgment of a bondwoman is one thing, and that of a free woman another; another that of a harlot, and another that of a virgin; another that of a widow, and another that of a wedded woman; another that of a nun, and another that of a woman who has a husband consecrated to the priesthood. ^D And concerning sodomy, one must also question him, of which crime there are also three differences. For it is one thing to suffer from another, which is lighter in action; and another thing to act upon another, which is more grievous than to suffer; and another thing both to suffer from another and to act upon another, which is more grievous than the two aforementioned differences. For to suffer alone, or to act alone, is not as much as to suffer and to act. And one must investigate into which of these differences he has fallen, and how often, and for how much time; and if it was before he took a wife, or after he took her; and if it was before the age of thirty years or after that time. Furthermore, also inquiry is to be made concerning bestiality, of which there is one difference. Likewise also concerning effeminacy, of which there are two differences: one which is performed by one's own hand, and another by that of another, which the miserable, those in authority, perform with themselves, and further destroying others, who have been taught by them such an abomination. Similarly also concerning the complex, and very intricate, and very dark intermingling of blood, the differences of which are not one or two, but many and various. For it is one thing to have fallen into two sisters, whether by the father or by the mother, or from both; and another thing to have fallen into a cousin; another into the daughter of a cousin; another into the betrothed of a son, or the wife of a brother, or into a mother-in-law or into a co-mother-in-law; and another thing into a stepmother or some

^A of the concubines of one’s father. Some even go as far as their own mothers. Another thing again is that which is with one’s own goddaughter, and another is that with one whose daughter he received in baptism. Indeed, many perform the abomination of male-with-male even with their own women too.

He must also inquire concerning voluntary and involuntary ^B homicide; and whether he has insulted his parents, or struck them, or reviled them with reproaches; and if, having eaten or drunk, he has partaken [of the mysteries], or polluted himself during Lent, or, having had intercourse with a woman, has partaken in indifference, deeming this of small moment; or has contracted a clandestine marriage; or has engaged in unchaste kisses and handling, but did not complete the act; or has corrupted himself with boys; or defrauded anyone of their wages; or harmed them by cursing; or unjustly insulted them; or has eaten blood, or strangled meat, or [meat from] an animal caught and torn by beasts, or carrion, or bird-struck meat; or has been found in divination, or magic, or sorcery; and also if a thought has come to him concerning heresy. Whether he harbors envy and grudge against anyone, or has perjured himself, or has stolen, or snatched away another's property, or denied a deposit, or borne false witness, or treated a priest or a godfather with insult; and, to speak absolutely, he ought to inquire diligently concerning all these things. For it happens sometimes that one dares to attempt and perform every kind of sin.

Having therefore sought out everything and diligently examined all that he hears him confess, and to which he has agreed, he ought to say concerning each one: "God forgive you." And after he has enumerated everything and received the confession, while the penitent lies prostrate, he shall add: "Our Master and Lord Jesus Christ, God, forgive you all things which in His sight thou hast confessed to my nothingness."

Another absolution

Another absolution

Afterward he prays thus

Nathan granted pardon to David when he performed penance for his own transgressions, and who accepted the prayer of Manasses in his repentance, do thou also accept thy servant N., who has repented and confessed his own failings, with thy customary compassion; for thou art, O Lord, who didst command even seventy times seven to forgive those who fall into sins; since as is thy majesty, so also is thy mercy. And thou art the God of those who repent, repenting thyself over all our wickedness; and to thee we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now. ^B

Master Lord God, who callest the just to sanctification, and sinners to justify them, accept the repentance of thy servant N., and in his confession of those things wherein he has sinned, looking upon him as he falls before thy majesty, benignly set him free; and redeem him from every carnal sin. Wipe him clean from every defiled conscience, and make him bright and resplendent: purify and strengthen him in the operation of thy commandments; make him worthy of the remission of his sins, so that through the purgation of soul and body the Holy Spirit, dwelling within him, may render him an heir of the kingdom of the heavens, by the grace, and mercies, and philanthropy of thy only-begotten Son, with whom thou art blessed, together with thy all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now.

Lord God of the salvation of thy servants, who art merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and rich in mercy, who repentest over our wickedness, not willing the death of the sinner, but that he should return and live, do thou also now be entreated for thy servant N., and grant unto him the forgiveness of sins, the propitiation of iniquities, pardoning him every transgression, both voluntary and involuntary. Be reconciled to him, and reunite him to thy holy Church in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to thee is power, majesty, and magnificence, with the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now. ^C

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Lamb and Shepherd, who takest away the sin of the world, who graciously forgave the debt to the two debtors, and granted the remission of sins to the sinful woman, who granted healing to the paralytic together with the remission of his sins, do thou, O Master, spare, forgive, pardon the iniquities, the sins, ^D the transgressions, the voluntary ones, those in knowledge, those in ignorance, those in disobedience and in prevarication committed by thy servant N. And if, as a man bearing flesh and dwelling in this world, he has been led astray by the devil, or has transgressed, or has sinned, whether by word, or by deed, or in knowledge, or in ignorance, or by word of heresy, or has fallen under a curse, or has fallen into a private anathema or oath, do thou, as a good and philanthropic, and forgetful-of-evil Master, overlooking these things, be pleased that he be loosed by thy word, immediately forgiving him both his own anathema and the oath according to thy ineffable philanthropy. Master Lord our God, hearken unto

my prayer of thy goodness, and extend thy great mercy to all his transgressions, and deliver him from eternal punishment. For thou hast said, O Master, ^A *That whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.* For thou art the God who is without sin, and mighty to forgive sins, and to thee we send up glory with thy unoriginate Father, and with thy all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

Father Lord, do not deliver this thy servant N. into the hands of the devil, lest our enemies prevail against us. Deliver into his mouth the keeping of the commandments, and upon his lips a secret seal, that he may not speak guile; having expelled from him a proud eye, purge all lasciviousness and malice from his soul: let not a hard and insolent spirit, and deceitful tongue, be in him. Impart, O Lord, to his mind a good spirit, and cleanse him from every unclean spirit. Turn away and cast out from him every misery: remit to him every debt of sins. Look down from heaven, and gladden him; for in thee has he hoped; and strengthen him with the power of thy holy Spirit, and do not permit him to be swallowed up by the devil, because thou hast delivered us from eternal death through the grace of thy Christ, with whom thou art blessed with thy all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now.

After this he bids him rise, and lovingly embraces him, ^C and exhorts him to be of good courage, saying to him:

« Behold, by the will of the lover of mankind, God, who willeth the salvation of all, having run to repentance and confessed, thou hast been delivered from all thy former evil works. Do not therefore, through negligence of the divine precepts, subject thyself to secondary evils, lest there befall thee, according to the gospel word, the last state worse than the first, from which thou hast been redeemed through the mercy of God: but study, and with thy might strive to keep the Master’s commands, and consequently to attain unto salvation. »

Thereafter the priest says: Wisdom. The lesson from the prophet Ezekiel.

« Thus saith the Lord Almighty: If the wicked turn ^D from all his iniquities that he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do justice and mercy, he shall surely live, and shall not die. All his transgressions, whatsoever he hath done, shall not be remembered: in his justice that he hath done he shall live. Do I at all desire the death of the wicked, saith the Lord, as that he should turn from his evil way, and that he should live? But when the righteous turns away from his justice and commits iniquity, according to all the iniquities that the wicked hath done, all his justices which he hath done shall not be remembered: in his transgression wherein he trespassed, and in his sins that he hath sinned, in them

^A he shall die. And say ye: Is not the way of the Lord right? Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way right? Are not your ways rather perverse? When the just man turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in the iniquity which he hath done, in it shall he die. And when the wicked ^B man turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doth judgment, and justice: this man hath preserved his soul, and hath turned away from all his impieties which he had wrought: he shall live in life, and shall not die, saith the Lord almighty. »

Gospel according to Luke.

« At that time the publicans and sinners were drawing near ^B unto Jesus to hear him. And the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying: That this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spoke to them this parable, saying: What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, ^C he layeth it upon his shoulders, rejoicing. And coming home call together friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. Or what woman having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently, until she find? And when she hath ^C found, she calleth together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost? So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance. »

Having therefore performed the Trisagion, and again the troparia of the fourth mode, ^D *Humiliate my soul*; another, *Sailing across the sea*, *To the Theotokos let us now earnestly flee*; then that, *Lord, be propitious*, saying it thrice, and likewise also, *Lord, pardon*; and, *Lord, have mercy on us*, and having made forty acts of penance, both cease. After the office described above is completed, he who sits by him says: My son, what are you able to observe? For penalties are imposed according ^D to the strength and will of the one receiving them, and not according to the proportion of the sins. For it happens that one who has sinned little, when he is of a good and ready mind, might gladly receive great penalties or penances, so that he may bring back not only the remission of sins, but also a crown: while him who has sinned much, when he is of a remiss and sluggish mind, one should treat with a less severe castigation, lest he be swallowed up by the gravity of the penalty, and, languishing in spirit, abandon all. For we are not commanded to make light things heavy, and to impose heavy burdens. For the yoke of Christ is kind, and the burden is light. One must judge moreover with compassion the difference both of persons, and of times, and of places, and of knowledge, and of igno—

ignorance, and in everything to follow the scope and mind of the holy Fathers. For the divine Chrysostom says: “Penitence is not judged by time, but by the disposition of the soul.” ^A Concurrently, the great Basil also says: “We do not judge such things by time, but we attend to the manner of the repentance.” Furthermore, the most humane Chrysostom says that the Ninevites did not require many days to repent, but three only. And the thief did not require even so many hours, but the interval of the word which he spoke sufficed for him unto repentance, so that in a moment he entered into Paradise. Knowing these things, then, do not define the penances according to the strictness of the divine canons, but according to the quality of the person. And this is for men. For with women, one must make a diligent and accurate investigation. For they proceed even to sorceries and enchantments, and other shameful works, of which it is horrible even to make mention, let alone to commit. ^B They also pollute their husbands, who are unaware of these things, during their accustomed menstrual periods. When they confess these things, however, one must not permit them to be bareheaded. For this warning is given to men. The women proceed, therefore, even to various murders, not only in their conceptions, but also in their very deliveries. For some of them commit murder every month by means of a certain herb, as I, the humble servant of God, have received in confession this wretched matter, along with all those mentioned above. Wherefore, after one has gone through all these things, one must interrogate them, especially widows and nuns, as to how many children they murdered, and in how many ways and by what means they perpetrated this. For it is one thing to drink a drug so that one can no longer produce children—which is the most serious of all—and another to perform it by means of potions, which is lighter than what was mentioned before. ^C But to cast out the fetus every month by means of an herb is more destructive than any murder, and for this, unless she desists, the penance of not taking communion until death is assigned. When women are separated from the churches, let them perform inclinations of the head without prostrations. And not only do women do these things, but they also find themselves polluted just as men do, even those who live in virginity and have no experience of a man whatsoever. Thus far regarding the diligent and accurate investigation of those confessing, and their differences.

^D The castigations, moreover, and their differences are the same. Whatever has been perpetrated before the thirtieth year, whether by men or by women, let them be easily and quickly forgiven, whatever they may be, such that they do not exceed the penalty of two or three years, unless it be any murder or some great mixture of blood, or incest. But of those things which are perpetrated after the thirtieth year, the penalties are extended to the third and fourth year. But where there is a murder, or many, or some great incest, such as with a sister german, whether from a father or from a mother, or with a son’s wife, or a godmother, or those who take two sisters for marriage or cohabitation, or are inflamed with lust for their stepmothers, twelve years. But if it happen with a daughter whom they have received, or with one’s own mother, or

^A with one’s own daughter, the penalty is extended to the fifteenth year. If he has sinned only according to nature, and has not fallen into those things that are contrary to nature, nor into incests of any kind or quantity, he ought to be punished for a year or a year and a half. But if various murders and sorceries were committed by women, or if it proceeded to those things that are contrary to nature, they ought to be punished for eight and for ten years.

We also decree these distinctions and punishments regarding communion: for the most grievous sin of all is to communicate unworthily. The inquiry into this matter, which had escaped us, ought to be put to those confessing after the confession of all their sins, namely, whether, having committed the acts previously confessed, they have partaken of communion. If he says, "Yes"—especially outside of Easter—this is worse than anything else; even if his offense was one of the minor things, that is, a simple sin, a longer abstinence from the immaculate communion is to be imposed upon him.

As for food, drink, and prayer, it depends on what the nature, inclination, choice, virtue, and disposition of each person can bear. We have hitherto used two distinctions according to which we act, and impose penances upon those confessing to us: what that act is, or what the sins are; whether he is to be placed among those who have sinned greatly or slightly. For we have said beforehand that with those confessing, as well as with the confessors, the imposition of penances is both light and heavy. For the certain and indubitable faith of the one confessing, and the distribution of what he possesses—which the blessed Apostle somewhere calls the "fruit of faith" ^B—and the discerning judgment of the confessor, and his easy and compassionate accommodation, makes all things light, whether it concerns food, or drink, or communion—especially if it happens that the one confessing has ceased from sin before confessing, or promises that, the confession having been made, he will cease. For many confess and feel sorrow and sadness for their sins; yet, whether by nature, or by stealth, or by an evil and deliberate intent of mind, or by depraved habit, they are cast down again and fall into sins. ^C Such persons, therefore, should always confess as often as they have fallen. But if they have completed their penances—as many years as they received from the one who bound them—and are about to communicate, having completed them, let them not even then communicate if they have any pity on themselves at all; rather, let them guard the immaculate communion until they have cut off [their sin]; for the sake of mercy and this alone will they be accounted worthy in the judgment.

Since there are some who, by the force of habit, are unable to restrain themselves from sins even in the Great ^D Lent—and often these are those who have wives—it is necessary that, after they have also completed their penances, if many years pass by and they have no way to communicate because they are always falling into sins, let them at least keep themselves from sin during the holy Lent

and with fear and trembling let them communicate on the three days of Pascha. We say this hesitantly, however, because they cannot abstain from carnal filthiness, not that this is done following any other canonical distinction of communion. ^A But if such people fall into softness during the great Lent, let them not communicate even then. For if it has been decreed by our holy Fathers that those who fall into that miserable malady of the soul, which rules over everyone and which is entirely most difficult to abandon, are to be kept from communion for only forty days, will not this be much more to be observed during Lent, since they defined this for the other and ordinary days of the year?

Differences to be observed in food, drink, and prayer.

There are these two—as I said above, according to my opinion—there should also be two differences of penances, as I, humble though I am, am accustomed to applying to all. Oft-sinning and infirm young people and old men, women and men, monks and nuns, except for those who are imbued with holy orders. For priests and bishops, and deacons who are in that station, or their wives, are not to be received for the confession of sins, unless they offer security before God to their confessors that if they are guilty of any crime which prohibits them from exercising holy orders, they will no longer dare to minister in holy things. For to such as these, no penance of any kind is given, whatever it may be—neither of food, nor of drink, nor even total abstinence from communion—but only cessation from holy ministry. ^C Nothing, however, removes a priest from the function of the priesthood except if he should mingle with a woman other than his own. For if he should fall even once, he is deprived of the power of sacrificing, even if he were to contend for martyrdom and raise the dead. But there are other various contaminations into which, if a priest should fall—and especially a monk, or any of those who are ordained without a wife—they must cease from holy ministry for a time, and then again perform holy rites. As the blessed Basil decreed concerning deacons and presbyters, saying thus: "A deacon defiled in his lips, and confessing that he has sinned up to this point, shall be withheld from holy ministry, yet he shall be considered worthy of participation of communion with the deacons." The same is his judgment concerning a presbyter: "If anyone is found to have sinned beyond this, in whatever rank he may be, let him be deposed." But what is this, "to be defiled in his lips"? I do not write it, although I know it well. He who has perpetrated this will reveal it. Come, however, we shall briefly, according to our strength and knowledge, speak concerning the priests, about whom we have already spoken, and at the same time concerning those who are worthy to arrive at the priesthood, and concerning the laity, how long and in what manner they are judged.

^D Men or women who without necessity—that is, with no human fear or poverty compelling them—have defiled themselves with the bodies of heathens: those men who were without legitimate wives, or women joined to legitimate husbands, let them be non-communicants for three years, together with those who are...

being written about concerning food and drink and prayer, in place of penances; [i.e., let them choose] whatever they may prefer from the three. ^A Those who have legitimate wives, or women their legitimate husbands, let them be punished for four or five years, especially if it happens that they fall into other sins. But if [it happens] with fear and due to superior power or because of poverty, let them be punished for one year or two. As for the wives of those in holy orders—that is, of deacons or presbyters—wherever they may fall, let them be punished for three years, as [if they were those] who had murdered their husbands; for they shall no longer serve in holy things if they happen to wish to be with their husbands even once. ^B If priests and deacons fall, even if the lapse happens only once, let them no longer officiate in holy things at all; however, let them receive communion when they wish, and let them hold the rank of reader, performing those things which a reader knows, without being ashamed. If a reader falls, or his wife, the reader is to be promoted no further, but shall remain with no further advancement. If someone, while still a boy, whether in a secular or monastic state, or even a cleric, or a reader, is defiled by some man—if it was only between the thighs, he is to be corrected by penance, especially if it happened once or twice; but if it went further than this, that is, into the backside, he shall by no means attain the dignity of deacon or priest. For even if he himself did not sin, yet his vessel was breached, and it is not permitted for him to officiate in holy things; for he is polluted. ^C If he fell into self-abuse before being ordained, not knowing what this was, and that it prevents him from receiving the priesthood, either through ignorance or because he was taught this by some corrupter of souls or from one who was ignorant, yet the man is either wise or pious, or both, let him be punished first, and then let him be deemed worthy. But if he was caught in this after his ordination, according to the principle we have stated before—either out of ignorance, or having been taught by a corrupter of souls that it was not an evil—let him receive a year of penance, while being restrained from officiating, and thus [afterward] let him officiate. If he should repeat it a second or third time, let him no longer officiate, but let him go down to the rank of reader. If anyone has committed major thefts, let him not enter into the priesthood. Similarly, if he does this after ordination, let him no longer officiate. Likewise, those who commit theft without being in holy orders shall never enter into the priesthood, but let them receive the penance assigned to fornicators. ^D Those who are no longer to sacrifice. Let the same rule be for those who never attain to it, but the penance of fornicators shall be imposed.

There are, according to me, ten types of those confessing, differing from one another. One is he who has sinned a little and has repented with a self-chosen will, and this with one person; another is he who has sinned often and with many persons; another is he who has sinned according to nature, and perhaps with one person, but has persevered in it even until old age; another is he who has sinned against nature, but has cut it off quickly, because of the fear of God; another is he who, through infirmity and the circumstance of some calamity, has girded himself for confession, or has confessed in the very act of death, and has died; and another is he who has ceased from the sin,

or even if someone has sinned according to nature or both; and [consider] how many times, and if they have cut it off, or even until old age, and have sinned, or if they have ceased beforehand, having declared the sins committed by them; and another is he who sins until the confession, but after the confession has ceased; and another is he who confesses indeed his sins, but is unable to abstain, that is to say, is not willing; and another is he who promises to make abstinence from all evils, but is not able regarding one person; and others who, according to order and necessity, or fear, or gift, or simplicity, or in different ways, sin and confess. One must inquire of them whether they are able to say the quantity of persons, or not. For he who is unable to say this is judged as a profligate. ^{A B} And all these, each of them being examined, as each has sinned according to these ten methods he confesses, is required to say into how many persons he has fallen, that is to say, women; in the same way also for women. And then let him who with God receives their confession examine them, what kind of persons they were according to the six differences of fornication; that is to say, how many were harlots, and how many widows, and how many minor-clad, and how many major-clad nuns, and how many consecrated, that is to say, presbyteras or wives of deacons of high rank. For the minor-clad nuns and the wives of readers are judged as harlots; but the major-clad ones as married women. And when those confessing have declared the differences and quantities of these, and how much time they spent in each such passion, and if any of them bore children therefrom, or not; and if they had wives or had them not; and if it was before thirty years, or after these, or both; and if once, and twice, and thrice, and if until that very day in which they confessed. And when he has declared the differences of all these, he must again ask them about incests, lest by chance they have fallen into some relations or proprieties. And if ever he finds them to have fallen into any of these, he shall ask them if they turned themselves back from the second degree of consanguinity to the first, or not; for this is worse. And then thus let him inquire of them concerning those things against nature; whether they have fallen into a man, or into a child, or into a beast, or into a bird, or into a young girl before the appointed time of sixteen years. And then thus concerning voluntary and involuntary murder, and at the same time concerning that grievous and double softness. And when he has thoroughly examined the penitent regarding all these things, then [he must look] towards his strength, but rather towards his compunction, and towards his humility, and towards his tears, and towards his almsgiving which he confesses, or has the strength to give to God. ^{C D} And finally, according to his fervent faith and resolution, give to him in writing his commandment, that is to say, his penance. And regarding communion, as has been said above, even for a year, and for two, and for three, and for four, and for five, and for six, and for seven, he shall grant [reconciliation]; but regarding food and drink, according as the nature and strength of each dictates. And regarding the liturgy, that he should go out from the temple with the catechumens and stand in the nartex.

narthex. At Vespers, and at Matins, and for other services, it shall be entirely free for them to stand in the temple wherever they wish, whenever they wish. ^C But when the penitent wishes, on the Nativity of Christ, and at the Theophany, and on the three days of Pascha—that is, on Great Thursday, Great Saturday, and Great Sunday—and when the memory of the Holy Apostles is celebrated, he may partake of some communion, namely the sanctification of the Theophany, and thus the penance is relaxed for them on those days; for monks, indeed, cheese and eggs, but for others, even meat. There are, however, three differences in this matter for me, which I impose upon all regarding food and drink. The same indifference, comparison, discretion, and judgment ought to exist among women and men, whether seculars or monks, but servants and handmaids must be excepted. Servants ^B and handmaids, according to the decrees of the divine canons, are required to undergo only half the portion of the penances which is customarily imposed upon their masters, because they are not in their own power.

This, therefore, is the first definition of punishment and penance for everyone, if you except servants and handmaids. On the fourth and sixth ferial days, and on Good Friday, to eat only oil and legumes with vegetables; but to abstain from cheese, egg, meat, and fish. On Tuesday and Thursday, to eat everything freely except meat. But on Saturday and Sunday, to be punished in no way regarding food or drink, but in all things to be free, no otherwise than those who are held under no epitimion, that is, in wine, in meat, and in all other things. The same ratio shall apply in all feasts of the Lord, and of the most holy Mother of God, and of the twelve Apostles, whatever name it may bear, and whatsoever the day may be; he who is afflicted with penance must be free in eating and drinking: nor on feasts of this kind shall he observe the fourth ferial day or Good Friday. Similarly also on the feast of John the Baptist, and on the Dodecaemeron, and the week of Pascha, and that which follows Pentecost, which we call the week of the Holy Spirit; the days also from Anti-Pascha, or the Sunday of the Albs, until Pentecost, ought to be free in all ways, except for the fourth and sixth ferial days, the abstinence of which is of the same kind: for seculars from meats, and for monks from cheese and eggs. Moreover, in the two weeks, that of Apocreos and the one that precedes it, all must be freed from all penances, monks from the abstinence of cheese and eggs, ^D and seculars from meat, except for their fourth and sixth ferial days. For it is necessary, if possible, to keep those days entirely strict, even without fish, and on them to fast until evening. For this has also been defined by the divine canon always, as has been said, except for feasts, the Dodecaemeron, and Pentecost, never to break the fast, even for a friend, whoever he may be: I do not know if on account of infirmity or some other notable circumstance. But it is always convenient for those afflicted with penance, if possible, to have a determined quantity of wine, except for Saturdays, Sundays, and feasts. Then, however, let it not be granted on the fourth and sixth ferial days, of wine

^A If, however, anyone is able to abstain from wine altogether on those three days, he will receive a great reward. Nevertheless, the nature, disposition, character, and habit of each person will be judged and defined by the one who receives his confession, even beyond the measure. But we decree for laypeople that they abstain from meat during the two Lents, namely that of Saint Philip and of the twelve Apostles; but for monks, from cheese and eggs, except for the feast of the Forerunner, in which the sun turns toward us; if, however, they wish and ask, let them partake of the Holy of Holies. In the Great Lent, if it is possible, laypeople shall abstain from fish except on Saturdays and Sundays, and monks from oil. If, however, they do not choose this, then on Tuesday and Thursday only shall fish be relaxed for the former, and oil for the latter. I do not know if, when they sit down to table, it is possible for them not to drink wine, except on Saturdays and Sundays. If, however, the necessity of faint-heartedness, or the love of pleasure, or many other reasonable causes press upon them, and they are unwilling to accept that abstinence, then all who intend to do penance shall not even taste wine on the second, fourth, and sixth ferial days, and especially during the entire first week, and indeed they shall not drink it at all. As for the last one, namely the Great Week, only on Holy Thursday, until a little. And this first definition of mine has included the differences of the others for the whole time. ^B And this is the second: If those who are under penance are not able, or rather if they are not willing, to comply with the first definition, let them keep the fourth and sixth ferial days entirely pure and undefiled; that is, let laypeople not taste meat, cheese, egg, or fish, except for oil, legumes, and vegetables; and monks, unless they are infirm, not even oil. Let the other five days of the week be free for them in all respects and in everything, so that each may eat according to his own profession—that is, let the laypeople be relaxed in all things, even up to cheese, milk, and eggs. ^C The third definition, which proceeds from necessity and indigence, is of this kind: If they do not embrace even this, either because of the habit of delicacies, or vainglory, or infirmity, let them observe those two days of the week in the manner mentioned, purely and undefiledly during the entire time of penance, so that the monks may eat oil and the laypeople fish. ^D I am not unaware that on account of this economy and dispensation, which is overly compassionate to human infirmity, I am destined to be condemned by God, the common judge of all. But nevertheless, it is better for me to be judged in such matters than to be praised as inhumane and austere. Furthermore, they shall perform three prayers throughout the whole day: in the morning, when they are about to eat, at the hour of supper, and when they go to sleep. In each prayer, those who know them shall say Psalm 50, the Trisagion, the Pater Noster, Kyrie Eleison one hundred times, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner" eight times, and perform eight prostrations. Those who are not pleased by this, or who are not able, shall perform half of these. Those who cannot even do this, a third part. On all Saturdays and Sundays, feast days, and the twelve days, and likewise on the days from Passover until All Saints, they shall not kneel in their prayers, but shall only make prostrations in every case.

^A These are the definitions of the lightest penances, and those rendered very easy through excessive relaxation, that I have given. The great Basil gave us the help of this discretion and moderation, saying: “We write all these things so that we may test the fruits of repentance; for we do not judge such things entirely by time, but we attend to the manner and form of the repentance.” And he who has been entrusted by the philanthropy of God with the power to loose and to bind—if he happens to be more philanthropic, seeing the excess of the confession and repentance of him who has sinned, has the authority to diminish the time of the penances, and he shall not be liable to condemnation for it, since Sacred Scripture makes known to us that those who confess with greater labor quickly attain the philanthropy of God. But if any choose to be difficult to draw away from their own habits, and prefer to serve their pleasures rather than the Lord, and do not accept the life according to the Gospel, there is no common discourse for us with them. For we have been taught to hear, in a disobedient and gainsaying people, that: “He that saveth, save your own soul.” Let us not, therefore, consent to perish with the sins of others, but, fearing the heavy judgment and having the fearful day before our eyes, let us not wish to perish with such people; for to our good God be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer over him who is bound by a priest, when he is loosed.

^C Compassionate, good, and philanthropic Lord, who through Your compassion sent Your only-begotten Son into the world, that He might tear up the handwriting against us, and loose the bonds of those bound by sin, and proclaim release to the captives, having destroyed the sting of death: You, Master, deliver this Your present servant from the yoke that lies upon him, and release for him the bond laid upon him, and grant him to approach Your majesty at all times and in every place with boldness and a pure conscience, and to entreat the rich mercy that comes from You, for You are a merciful and philanthropic God, and to You we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages.

ADMONITION REGARDING THE FOLLOWING SERMON

This treatise, which bears the name of John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople, at its beginning presents the rationale and method of a sermon or homily and an exhortation, so that it might appear to have been delivered to the people from the cathedra. Nevertheless, if one reads it in its entirety, it is easily discovered to be a familiar instruction by which not only is the penitent instructed on how to make a confession piously and integrally, but the priest is also informed as to the manner in which he should receive confessions, impose penance, and grant reconciliation. Lest the length of the sermon be tedious to the reader, the author omits many things, especially those regarding the enumeration of sins, contenting himself with describing a catalog that embraces the crimes to be confessed only by name. He transmits the general rules for imposing penance with excellent method, and seems, by way of a summary, to contract what the preceding Penitential explained at length. At the end, something seems to be missing. Whether John the Patriarch is truly the author of this sermon, or someone else extracted it from his Penitential, is difficult to say. Since, however, the title of the codex puts forward P. John the Faster, and no evidence to the contrary is at hand for us, let John the Patriarch be the author for us. We cannot err far, since it is plainly certain that either he is the author of it, or it was extracted from his own work. The original text from which it was transcribed is preserved in the library of the most illustrious and most learned prelate, M. de Montchal, Archbishop of Toulouse, which is a most wealthy treasury of books, both most exquisite and rarely encountered even by the most curious.

OF JOHN THE MONK, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE,

THE ABSTAINER

A Discourse to those who are about to confess their sins to their spiritual Father.

^A Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who for the salvation of sinners became man, knowing the slipperiness of our nature and its liability to various falls, and that the mind of man from his youth continually and solicitously inclines toward evil things, by no means abandoned them to neglect; but He gave a law for their aid, appointed guardian angels, and sent forth prophets, apostles, hierarchs, priests, and teachers to instruct them in spiritual doctrines. Moreover, He appointed monks to exhort [men] and to receive their confessions with penitence, so that our slanderer and enemy, the adversary, might find no opportunity to inflict harm upon us, nor, after a fall, entangle us in the snares and traps of despair regarding our salvation, but rather that God might direct us into the harbor of salvation. For He goes to meet those who return to Him with their whole heart and a sincere purpose, and embraces them in His arms and kisses them, and receives them as [He did] the prodigal, as the thief, as the harlot, since He does not desire the death of us sinners, but that one should turn and live. ^B Since, therefore, brothers, we abound in so many testimonies, both from the Old and the New Testament, which admonish us to take care of our salvation, let us flee to our God in confession; for He exhorts all sinners to provide for their own salvation, and summoning all to repentance through the prophet Joel, He cries out with a loud voice, saying: "Turn to me with all your heart, and rend your hearts and not your garments" (Joel ii, 12). And through Isaiah He says: "Wash yourselves, and be clean; take away the sins from your souls" (Isa. i, 16). And again, by another, He says: "Tell you your sins first, that you may be justified" (Isa. xliii, 26). And again: "The just man is his own accuser in the beginning of his speech" (Prov. xviii, 17). And through Ezekiel: "As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should return and live" (Ezech. xxxiii, 11). And through David: "I said, I will confess against myself my iniquity to the Lord, and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart" (Ps. xxxi, 5). And again: "I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart" (Ps. cxxxviii, 1). And again: "For the thought of man shall confess to you" (Ps. lxxv, 11). And through James, the brother of the Lord: "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (Jas. v, 16). And so elsewhere: "Shall he who falls not rise up?"

And again: "Awake, you who sleep, from negligence, and rise from the dead, from despair, and Christ shall shine upon you, the sun that never sets, who illumines those wrapped in darkness."

Having, therefore, such a Lord, beloved—one who tolerates injuries, is not easily angered, is compassionate, a lover of good, forgetful of evil, and easily moved to sympathy—let us not be ashamed to manifest our faults to spiritual men before that fearful and terrible judgment seat. For it is written: "There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that is grace and glory" (Ecclus. iv, 25). For our Savior and God, knowing that we, having been baptized when young and advancing in age, defile through sins the garment of immortality woven for us from water and the Spirit, has granted us again, through His own kindness, the power to cleanse and brighten it through confession and repentance, so that we may regain our ancient dignity and escape, through this brief and momentary shame, that which is to come before all angels and men when He shall render to each according to his works. For Christ did not promise that you would confess to someone sinless, or to an angel, or to a just and untouched man, so that you might fear his scrutiny and rigorous examination; but to a sinful man, subject to the same passions as you, so that through this present shame you might be redeemed from the future and eternal one. Having these things in mind, therefore, beloved, reflect and call to account what you have done, what by night, what by day, what knowingly, what unknowingly: all things before Christ and His elect angels, concealing nothing out of shame, but confidingly recounting them to me, a sinner. ^B

He who confesses ought to perform three acts of repentance at the entrance of the holy altar, and say three times: "I confess to you, Father, Lord, God of heaven and earth, all things that are in the hidden places of my heart." And after saying this word, the confessor raises him up; and both standing, the confessor ought to question him with all cheerfulness, and—if it is possible—to kiss him and his hands, especially if he sees him dejected in spirit and dominated by some intolerable sadness and shame, and, with a mild and serene voice, address him thus: ^C

Of faith, of sacrilege, of heresy, of blasphemy, of the corruption of a virgin, of communion, of the quantity of women, of fornication, of adultery, of a priest's wife, of a nun of the great habit, of the small habit, of a deaconess, of incest, of the insane intercourse of men with women, of coitus with brutes, with birds, of self-abuse, of friction, of illicit touch, of the congress of a eunuch, of the irrational coitus with male animals, of those who cohabit with the unbaptized, of the rape of a maiden, of ^D

^A those outside the vaginal path, of those who fall into relations with their own bondmaids, of the kissing of a woman’s body, of the desire for childlessness, of abortion, of the preparation of drugs to prevent conception, of self-abuse, of magic, of augury, of divination, of gonorrhea, of lethal poisons, of the cosmetic adornment of a woman’s face, of those who pluck their own hair, of those who prevent mothers from nursing and rearing their own children, of magic binding and loosening, of envy, of disparagement, of false accusation, of lying, of theft, of tomb-robbers, of the despoiling of clothing, of deceit, of insult offered to a priest, of spiritual injury done to ^B a spiritual Father, of parricide, of filth and defilement, of the eating of polluted things, of the robbery of animals, of drunkenness, of the blood of a strangled creature or of anything whatsoever, of the neglect of the needy, of the eating of carrion, of the strangled, of the robbery of any object whatsoever, of the harboring of grievances, of pride, of vainglory, of the fall of enemies, of condemnation, of haughtiness, of misanthropy, of intemperance, of avarice, of gluttony, of hardness of heart, of lack of mercy, of those who fast on Sabbaths and Lord’s Days, of those who dance with songs and lead choruses, of those who perform satanic games, of pipes and every ^C kind of musical instrument, of procurers, of those who lend at interest, of the wages of a hireling, of the extortioner, of those who consult the dead, of those who mix water, of those who hold memorial services for the self-slain, of those who nurse grudges against the suddenly deceased, of those who wear amulets, of an incendiary, of those who move land boundaries, of one who listens secretly and reports what he has heard with suspicion, of those who make eunuchs, of those who bear false witness, of those who go to weddings, of those who go to diviners, of those who treat their own servants cruelly, of those who teach others wickedness, and of those who forge signatures.

And after he has questioned him or her about these things, he uncovers the penitent, even if he wears a diadem; but if it is a woman, he does not.

Prayer.

^D O God our Savior, who through your prophet Nathan granted forgiveness to David when he repented of his own transgressions, and who accepted the prayer of Manasseh in his repentance, do you yourself accept this your servant N., who is repenting of his own transgressions, with your accustomed love for mankind, overlooking his offenses. For you, O Lord, are the one who commanded us to forgive those who fall into sin seventy times seven times: because as is your greatness, so also is your mercy; for you are God, the God of those who repent, and you repent over all our iniquities, and to you we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

^A Prayer. May our Savior himself, even the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you all things which you have confessed before him to my lowliness, both in this age and in the age to come, and may he deem you worthy to stand unconvicted before his judgment seat, who is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer. O Lord our God, who through tears didst grant the remission of sins to Peter and to the harlot, and didst justify the publican who acknowledged his own failings, receive also the confession of this thy servant, N., and whatsoever sin he has committed, voluntary or involuntary, in word or in deed or in thought, do thou, as a good God, overlook. For thou alone hast authority to remit sins, since thou art good and the lover of mankind, for thou art compassionate; and to thee do we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Another prayer for absolving one who is making confession after he has completed the time of penance.

O Master Lord our God, who didst appear to thy holy disciples and apostles while the doors were shut, and didst give them thy peace, saying: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," do thou, ^B Master, Lord, according to thy invisible and omnipotent care by which thou administerest all things, look upon this thy servant, and through my mouth—sinner though I be—dissolve the stains of his body and the spots of his soul because of which he has fallen into sins; and he who is bound by a canon, let him be loosed from the canon and from the sin by which he is constrained, through thy grace and mercy, for thy holy name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is blessed, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

And after raising him from the earth and bidding him cover his head, ^C he ought to sit down with him, and ask what commandment he is able to keep. For he who imposes the penance ought not to give the penance that he himself might wish, nor what is fitting and what the sins require, but what the one receiving the penance chooses to keep. ^D For penances are not imposed by those who are kind, merciful, and imitators of Christ—who are able to judge correctly concerning a person, nature, time, place, ignorance, youth, and old age—according to the proportion of the sins, but according to the comparison and discretion I have spoken of, which he who is to judge these things must institute, analogously to the person, the time, and the nature of the one confessing. For it happens that one who has sinned little might have a good and ready spirit and receive a great penance, so that he may attain not only the remission of evils, but also a crown; while he who has sinned much might have a slack and sluggish spirit, and be subjected to a light penance, so that, not being crushed by the weight and discouragement, he might not abandon everything. For we were not commanded to lighten weights and burdens, and burdens of penance

for the yoke of the Lord is kind, and His burden ^A light. Come, He says, to me, and I will give you rest. It may happen that someone who has fallen into small sins, or even into many, but lesser ones, enjoys the penance for many years, while one who has fallen into great and heavy sins receives a greater penance, yet cuts them off more quickly through the fear of God. For penance is not judged by time, but by the disposition of the soul, as the great Basil says, that we do not judge the one who confesses such things by time, but we attend to the manner of the penance, because he who is entrusted with that soul by the philanthropy of God has the power to treat it more humanely. We, by the commandment of the Holy Spirit, have written regarding the reduction of the times of the penances. There will be no condemnation of the dignity ^B and merit of the confession of your sins, just as Chrysostom also says, that the Ninevites did not require many days, but only three. And the thief did not require even three or one day, but as much as a man might say in a single word—uttering it, he finished the path to paradise. These things have been said by us for the sake of those who foolishly make penances heavy, and apply and interpret them for all according to the definition of the divine canons, not rightly nor justly, but inhumanly, unintelligently, and ignorantly claiming to do these things. And so much for men.

Women, however, must be investigated more than what was written for men; for they even proceed as far as sorceries and witchcrafts, which are horrible even to speak of, much less to perform, and even unto various murders in conceptions and in the birth itself. For some of them commit murder around the completed month, as I, the humble one, after all these things were written, learned that they miserably ^C commit this crime every month by means of herbs. Let women be diligently investigated, as I said; for after they have confessed all their transgressions, as men do, let them also be asked about this: how many infants they have killed, and in what manner, especially if they are widows and nuns. For it is one thing to make a drug so as to no longer bring forth children—which is the gravest of all, for one does not know how many she was about to bring forth—and another thing to perform this by bruising or certain infusions, which is lighter than the other. But to kill an embryo every month by means of a certain herb is altogether pernicious and bloodier than any murder, for which the penance is even unto death, unless they abstain. And so much for the diligent inquiry and the difference of confessions, and regarding the manner in which one must confess, and all that occurred.

These punishments and the differences of the penances are such that whatever was done by men as well as by women before the thirtieth year of age ^D should be easily remitted and granted, whatever it may be, such that their punishment is as if of three or two years, if there is no murder such as...

^A any, or some great incest. But if it be after thirty years, the penalties are extended to the third or fourth year. But where there is murder, one or more, or any of the great incests, such as with a sister by blood, or a son’s wife, or even to the fourth and fifth [degree]. And if it happen to be with a godmother or the daughter whom one has received in baptism, or her mother, [it is extended] even to the fifth or sixth year. But if someone has sinned according to nature, but has not fallen into those things which are contrary to nature, nor into incests of whatever kind and number they may be, for one or two periods [of time] only let him be punished. These things, indeed, ^B are for those which were done wantonly and which they have practiced many times, even until old age; but if they have occurred once, or twice, or thrice, and they have ceased, whatever these things may be, let them be punished for one year or a year and a half. But if in the case of women there have been diverse murders and magic performed, or even to those very things which are contrary to nature, [they are punished] even to eight and ten years.

These differences of castigations concerning communion we define; for the most grievous sin of all is to communicate unworthily, which had escaped us. ^C Therefore, it is necessary to ask those who confess, after the full confession of their sins, whether they communicated while they were committing those things which they have now confessed. Which, if he says, "Yes, I communicated, and outside of the time of Pascha," this is worse than all, even if the sin is of the least [sort], and he deserves a longer abstinence from the immaculate communion.

Regarding abstinence from food and drink, as each one’s nature is able to endure, we for the time being establish two differences, according to which we act and give penance to those who confess their sins unto us, of whatever kind they may be, whether they have ^D sinned greatly or in small matters. For we said before that among those who confess, and those who undertake such things, the distribution of penances is twofold, light and heavy. For the pure, continuous, and indubitable faith of the one who confesses, and the communication of what he possesses with the needy, which the blessed apostle Paul calls the fruit of faith, and the prudence and knowledge of the confessor who well discerns and distinguishes these things, and his own compassionate dispensation and accommodation, knows and ordains all things as light, whether they concern food, or drink, or prayer, or communion; especially if it happens that the one confessing has abstained from sinning before the confession, or after the confession promises that he will abstain. For there are many who confess, and are sorrowful, and repent, but nevertheless, whether by nature, or by the furtive art of the enemy, or by perverse opinion, or lured by evil habit, they slip again and fall into sins. Those who are such, let them always confess as often as they fall; but if they were already about to communicate after completing the penances imposed upon them, let them not communicate even then. But if those who receive the confession have mercy upon them at all, let them communicate, but after this let them observe that they must abstain from the immaculate communion until they shall have ceased from committing the sin; for only on account of this will they be deemed worthy of mercy in the judgment.

^A Furthermore, since there are some who, constrained by the violence of an evil habit, are unable to restrain themselves from sins even during the Great Lent, and these are often people who have wives, it is necessary that, after they have completed their penances and many years have passed, and they still do not have the right to communicate because they are always falling into fornication and other sins, they should restrain themselves throughout the entire Holy Lent, and in no way sin with a woman; and thus, with fear and trembling, let them communicate upon the three days of Easter. That is to say, on Holy and Great Thursday, on Great Saturday, and on the Great Sunday. Yet this is said in view of the sloth, pusillanimity, and negligence of such persons, because they are never able to refrain from carnal defilements; and we do not say this because we establish another fixed class of penitents.

But if such men fall into self-abuse ^B during Lent, let them not communicate even in this case, even if some of them are monks, and even if they seem to be holy. For this pitiable, grievous, all-encompassing, and hard-to-overcome passion, even if it has been marked by the holy canon-makers as requiring only forty days of abstinence from communion for those who fall into this disease, if it is so defined for the ordinary times of the year, how much more is that soul-disease, which oppressively dominates everyone and from which it is most difficult to be torn away, to be avoided during the whole of Holy Lent! These are the two differences of penances of which I spoke above, according to my own opinion, as I, humble though I am, am accustomed to observe for all—those who sin much and those who sin little, the weak and the healthy, the young and the old, women and men, monks and nuns, except for consecrated persons. ^C For it is not proper for presbyters, and bishops, and deacons to be admitted to confession until they have given assurance according to God to those who are about to receive them, that if they are conscious of any crime that would remove them from the sacred ministry, they will not dare to sacrifice any longer. For to those of this kind there is given no penance whatsoever, whether of abstinence from food or from communion; there is only the cessation from the sacred ministry. Nor is there anything else that prohibits a priest from the sacred ministry other than falling clearly and truly into a woman other than his own lawful wife; for if he should even but once fall into one, he has no place of restitution—that is, the power of sacrificing will never be granted to him again, even if he should strive for martyrdom ^D and perform great miracles, even to the point of raising the dead.

FROM THE PENITENTIAL OF JOHN THE FASTER: VARIA EXCERPTA OF THE ANCIENTS

The two Penitentials of the Faster, which we promised at the beginning, being finished, we must now pay our debt—that is, the edition of certain fragments of this penitential which occurred to us while reading. Many are read in Harmenopulus in his *Epitome of Canons*, as for example in Title 2 of the fifth section, in the scholion after the fourth canon of Dionysius of Alexandria.

John the Faster says thus: "He who is defiled in sleep by the passion of the flux is excluded from communion for one day, having sung the fiftieth psalm and performed forty-nine penances. But he who has committed the act of self-abuse is punished for forty days, living on dry food, and performing one hundred penances each day. Likewise, a woman who only comes to the embrace of a man receives the penalty for self-abuse. But he who, when the body is awake, is defiled

is kept from communion for seven days, singing the fiftieth psalm each day and performing forty-nine penances. ^A

The Faster (Jejunator) condemns the fornicator to two years [if] he fasts only until evening each day, and eats dry food, and performs two hundred and fifty penances. He condemns the adulterer to three years if he fasts and eats dry food and performs two hundred and fifty penances. Furthermore, the Faster condemns such a one to three years with fasting and the eating of dry food and performing five hundred penances each day. He condemns one who [sins] with a bride to two years with three hundred penances. He does the same for one [who sins] with a mother-in-law. But as the case now stands, the synod condemns such people to six years, along with sorcerers and murderers.

The Faster condemns such a person to three years with two hundred penances each day.

The Faster condemns voluntary murderers to five years, and involuntary ones to three years.

The Faster condemns sorcerers and poisoners to three years with two hundred and fifty penances each day, along with fasting and a rigid manner of life. Likewise also women who make charms and who practice divination. The Faster condemns such a person to one year with two hundred penances each day.

The Faster condemns such a person to three years. Also, from the same Faster, these things: If anything unclean falls into a well, or into wine, or into oil, he who tastes of it shall abstain from meat and cheese for three days, and shall not communicate for seven days. He who vomits after the divine participation shall abstain from the divine communion for forty days, singing the fiftieth psalm each day and performing fifty penances, in whatever way this may happen.

Regarding the one who desecrates a sepulcher ^B or a wall-breaker.

The woman who unintentionally miscarries or expels the infant is condemned by the Faster to one year. She who falls upon a sleeping infant and smothers it, to three years. She who neglects the offspring so that it dies through her own negligence, pays the penalty for voluntary murder. Likewise, when an unbaptized child dies through the negligence of its parents, the parents are condemned to three years. Regarding those who expose their own infants at the entrances of churches, a discourse was held in the holy synod, and it was decided that these women should be punished as murderesses, even if another person picks them up and cares for and rears them.

Matthew Blastares, in his manuscript collection of canons, letter A, chapter 14, reports these things from John the Faster:

John the Faster [says]: If a child, he says, is defiled by anyone, if he receives the emission into his thighs only, he may be promoted to the priesthood after being chastised with fitting penance. But if [it is received] into the posterior, he shall be considered in no way worthy of the priestly rank. For although he did not commit sin on account of his tender age, yet the vessel is broken, and he cannot perform the priestly office; for he is defiled. ^{C D}

^A For John the Faster says, if a cleric who has fallen into the sin of effeminacy before his ordination should not be confident that he will be debarred from the priesthood on this account alone; if he has been sufficiently punished beforehand, let him be deemed worthy of the priesthood. But if he has fallen into this after his ordination, he shall be suspended from the priestly office for one year, and having been brought to a better state of mind by the customary penances, let him return to his ministry. But if, after the recognition of his sin, he should do this two or three times, having ceased from the priesthood, let him come to the rank of a reader. A layman, however, who has committed the shameful passion of effeminacy by himself, is debarred from communion for forty days, eating dry food during that time, and performing forty-nine genuflexions each day. But the effeminacy which occurs through mutual contact doubles the evil, inasmuch as two souls are defiled. Therefore, the perpetrator of this receives a double penance, being debarred from communion for eighty days, and extending the measure of his penances to one hundred with the appropriate fasting. ^B

Various fragments were published at the end of the commentaries of Balsamon on the canonical Epistles of the Fathers. Among these is one by John the Faster, which is extant only in Latin. Since it pertains to penance and was culled from his penitential, it seemed good to append it here. Its title was provided by the interpreter; whether justly or unjustly is not a question here.

FROM THE NOMOCANON OF THE FASTER

He who receives confessions must consider the youth and the strength of old age, and the infirmity, and the difference of place, and the manner by which the evil was done, and whether it was done with design and premeditation, or by accident, and whether from wine, or from satiety, or not so, but from fear or immoderate power, or poverty, and those things which are similar to these. He who hears confessions ought to examine the hour, and the place, and the life, and the prudence. Likewise also the contrition, and the shame, and the sadness, and the fear, and the constancy or inconstancy of faith, and mercy. Likewise also the learned and the unlearned, the rich and the poor, the servant and the free, the noble and the ignoble, both the soldier and him who has taken the holy habit, and who dies in them. Likewise also the contemptuous and the impudent, and he who can be humbled. All these things he who hears confessions ought to examine, and thus impose penalties. If, however, he has done these things once, or twice, or three times, and they are within thirty years of age, they are altogether worthy of mercy, even if they are very great. But if they have exceeded thirty years, they are worthy of many condemnations, even if they are much smaller. He ought also to investigate this too: whether he has sinned often, or if even into old age he has been nourished in it. And whatever things are indeed contrary to nature, such as voluntary murders, the adultery of boys, and the copulation of men, of beasts, or the mounting of birds, and also incest, both great and small. Similarly, if there is sinning as in families, and with children themselves, ^C he endured it, and whatever are of this kind, or even greater than these, have an equal punishment. For it is cautioned and provided that the segregation of excommunication should extend to six years, and seven, and eight, and nine, and ten. But whatever are according to nature, such as fornications, involuntary murders, rapes, perjuries, and whatever are of this kind, are punished for one year, and two, and three: and those who are of the lesser habit, monks and nuns who commit fornication, are judged as fornicators. But those who are of the greater habit, as adulterers. During this whole time of penance, however, at the Nativity of Christ and the Epiphany, and on the three days of Easter, or on Great Thursday, and Great Saturday, and Great Sunday, and on the Memorial of the holy apostles, they may be participants of the sanctification of the illuminations for communion, and thus break their fast; some indeed with cheese and eggs, but those who live in the world with meat. ^D For we have said before, that it is in the power of those who hear confessions to impose either light or heavy penalties. For the certain and indubitable faith of him who confesses, and the distribution of his possessions, which the Blessed Paul calls the fruit of faith, and the circumspect knowledge and prudent judgment of him who hears the confession—who, releasing from strict law, knows how to make all things light which pertain to food and drink, prayers and communion—are most important, especially if it happens that he who confesses cuts off the sin before the confession, or if even the confessor cuts it off from the confession. For there are many who confess and are affected with sorrow, but yet, whether by nature or by malice or by evil habit, they fall again and slip into sins. These, therefore, ought always to confess as often as they have fallen, even if they have completed the enjoined penalties which they received from him who bound them, but they should never communicate. If, however, you have complete mercy on them, they will communicate. Caution must be taken, however, that they do not communicate until they have cut off the sin. For by mercy they will be held worthy in this way as well. Since there are some who, by the force of habit, cannot contain themselves from sins even in the great Quadragesima, often having wives themselves, it is right, after they have completed the enjoined penalties, if much time has passed and they have not been able to communicate, because they always slip into sins, that they contain themselves from sin in the holy Quadragesima, and thus, with fear and trembling, communicate on the three days of Easter. We say this, however, because it is doubted whether they could ever refrain from fleshly pollutions, and not because any other difference is made. But if these fall into effeminacy in the Quadragesima, let them not communicate even thus. Similarly, monks, or even other combatants, if they fall into the same in the Quadragesima, let them lack communion. For it is a miserable and most powerful affection, and one which can be torn away only with difficulty; even if it has been canonically cautioned by the Fathers that those who fall into this should not communicate for forty days: that, however, is true in other days of the year, not in those of the holy Quadragesima. But in the celebration of the holy rite, all who are doing penance and are not communicating, we have said according to the edict of the catechumens ought to depart from the temple, and stand in the narthex. At Matins, however, Vespers, and the rest, the entrance to the temple is not prohibited to them, so that they may enter and stand in it, if they wish.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, CALLED THE FASTER, ON PENITENCE, AND CONTINENCE, AND VIRGINITY.

^A If the blessed Apostle Paul, appointed teacher of the Gentiles and of the Church, forgetting the things which are behind and reaching forth to those that are before, clothed in a corruptible body yet wrestling with incorporeal powers, he who finished his course and kept the faith, who excelled in fastings and became renowned in perils, who in hunger and thirst was accepted, who from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum served Christ, having Christ speaking within himself, the earthly angel and heavenly man, the called Apostle and vessel of the Holy Spirit, he who ascended to the third heaven and heard those ineffable words, who while still in a corruptible body dwelt in paradise, incomparable in zeal, great in love, the solicitous curator of the Churches of God, the orator of piety, the guide of the weak, the bridesman of believers, the refutation of the Jews, the dragnet of us all, the teacher after mortification ^B and the herald after death, who showed us how it behooves one to ascend into heaven: if he, I say, possessing such great privileges, saying, "I am conscious of nothing in myself," was afraid and said, "Lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway"—what shall we do, who have acquired no growth in virtue at all? Therefore it is necessary to watch and pray at all times and to ask of God, not gold, not silver, nor any earthly wealth at all, but only the kingdom of the heavens, and to rejoice in the Lord. Let others rejoice in wealth, others in health, others in learning and glory; but the virgin [rejoices] in the Lord, that she may also have praise from Him, saying to God, "My praise is with thee." Nothing is more base or more deformed than a soul subject to vices; whence it is fitting ^C to provide for the beauty of the soul and to say, "Lord, in thy will grant to my beauty": that the bridegroom may also [see] your interior beauty [and] virtue;

^A But look, even if you have achieved virtue, do not be puffed up by your beauty, lest God turn away on account of your pride, and your arrogance be rebuked. For what can you endure that is worthy of what Christ endured for your sake? He humbled himself as a man 10, and redeemed you with his precious blood: he who gives food to all flesh fasted for you: he who created the sweetness of honey tasted gall for you: he who crowned the heaven with the choir of stars was crowned with thorns for you, and became obedient unto death 11: therefore, it is fitting not to rejoice in these things, but to lament, and to believe him who says: "What you say in your hearts, be pricked in your beds" 12: so that what we have done by day, we may reflect upon and groan over at night. Thus punctured, Ahab tore his garments, and having fasted, put on sackcloth, and wept: and what did the Lord say? "I will not bring his evil in his days" 13. Therefore the Savior also says: "Blessed are those who mourn" 14, not for the dead, not for loss, but for sin, so that as David says: "I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I will drench my couch" 15; and again: "My eyes have shed streams of waters, because I have not kept thy law" 16. Wash away with tears the filth of sins; strike your forehead; beat your breast; come to a perception of the things in which you have sinned. If you were once ensnared through your eyes, as David was ^B once through ill-opened windows against your soul, your eyes became [the way]; shut in with groaning the eye that looked evilly. For the habit of sins leads the one who has fallen toward the worse. You have a clean garment; do not walk at all, lest somehow it be soiled. If you have disregarded a first, and a second, and a third stain, when you have a dirty garment, it no longer seems a serious matter, even if it becomes all mud. What then? There is need of prayers, lest we strike our foot against a stone, so that the angel of the Lord, encamping in a circle about us, may deliver us, and so you may be able to say: "The angel delivering me from all evils" 17: so that the angel who called Abraham may also call you. For the angels love those who love their Master. "Take," he says, "a psalm, and give the timbrel, the pleasant psalter with the harp" 18. He takes one, and requires three; for we are composed of three, as Paul says, "That your spirit and soul and body may be preserved entire" 19: indeed, the spirit is the psalter, and the soul is the harp: but the timbrel, in order to be a timbrel, must have dead skin: therefore, mortify the body, that you may praise God in timbrel and choir ^C and dance. Christ for your sake gave his body to be mocked: see that you do not say, what is the profit in my blood? For what can we, according to the merit of Christ, accomplish by suffering such things for us? Be therefore a fruitful plant, that you may praise God, and produce fruit according to your strength. If you cannot bear perfect fruit

the one hundred, then even half, the sixty. But if this also be burdensome to you, at least you can produce the third part of the perfect, the thirty, so that you may not be cast into the fire as fruitless. ^B If you have not gold and silver, namely, good works, or even wood, hay, or straw, which are the fuel for the fire, take care lest you set up for yourself a statue, which the Lord hates; for Jacob indeed set up a statue at the monument of Rachel, but the Lord does not hate it. Take care that your reasoning does not stand as a statue in the day of judgment, having become your accuser; so that you may not then begin to be convicted without witnesses, and confess without proof what you have done, and all that you have spoken out of inattention. Weep before the time, lest you hear there: "Now you do penance, when there is no time for penance." As long as we have time, let us work that which is good. If we lose anything, we may perhaps be able to find something else. But if we lose time, we cannot find other. For this reason also Paul, admonishing us, says: "As long as we have time, let us work that which is good." Let us weep for the things wherein we have sinned; let us shed a tear upon our cheeks, and let us beat our breasts, so that there we may escape the gnashing of teeth. Let us weep, as David wept, that we may be blessed as also David was. For he did not only weep, but he also watched, and drenched his bed. He sinned one night, and he wept through every night, confessing all such things: "You gave me eyes, that I might see your light, but I looked upon these things evilly. I went astray at one time looking evilly, and because I opened the windows evilly, for this reason I wash them with tears." Thus, therefore, it is necessary to weep, and to wash the eye that has looked evilly. And you know the wound, you have acknowledged the medicine, hasten to guard the windows of your soul: not only the eye, but also the hearing and the mouth; for these are the windows through which, according to the will, either good things go forth, or evil. Take care that death does not ascend to you through your windows, but let the commandments of dignity be always before your eyes, and the decrees of the commandments of God in your ears; in your mouth, the hymns, and the meditation of the Old and New Testament. These windows we ought to open to God, but close to sin. ^C Say you also, according to that holy soul: "I said: I will ascend into the palm tree, I will take hold of the heights thereof," ^D loving rectitude and having a pure heart, and running toward heavenly goods, and not remaining distracted about earthly things. Take care that your palm tree does not have goads, the reproofs against sin; for the words of the wise are as cattle goads, so that those who are pricked by them may be stung in their heart, and abstain from all sin; but diligently hold its heights, so that you may remain without ruin, continuously bearing the onsets of the winds, enduring the temptations that arise in their own time. Constantly dwell in the divine Scriptures: for just as wine, while it is being drunk, settles sadness and changes the heart into joy: so also the spiritual wine, while it is being drunk, converts your soul into joy. Always remember God, saying with David: "I kept the Lord in my sight always: because he is at my right hand, that I be not moved."

Write these words upon your hands, and they shall be unshaken before your eyes. If you thus honor God, He comes to be at your right hand; but if you dishonor Him, the devil becomes your right hand. Thus, when Judas dishonored Him, the divine Scripture says: "And let the devil stand at his right hand." ^A Every hour glorify your Master Christ, saying: "I will exalt you, my God, my King," and do so not only in word, but also in deed; for thus David also exalted God, not for a day, not for a month, not for a year, but for all the time of his life. For he knew that whenever a man finishes, then he begins. But you say: "What manner of heart must one have to be able to exalt God at all times?" The kind that Paul had, saying: "I am conscious of nothing in myself." Thus also was David, saying: "Cleanse me from my hidden sins." Such as the Savior also commanded us to have, saying: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Thus, therefore, he who does not sin day by day exalts God, not only in word but also manifesting the thing itself in deed, not losing heart, even if sickness overtakes him, or loss, or death, but saying with Paul: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" and what follows. ^C For the Lord does not dwell carelessly in the mire, but in an upper room swept clean. In order that you may prepare your soul as a habitation for the Lord, remember that most fearful day of the judgment seat of Christ, where we shall render an account of the things done here, where our sins shall be placed before the eyes of all, and shall again be revealed, and our actions shown to those who are unaware; where there is the river of fire, the unsleeping worm, where all things are naked and laid bare; where the books of our hearts shall be opened, and the manifest and the hidden shall be read in the midst of the theater—those done by night and by day, those done out of negligence and forgetfulness, which we committed through our members; when the things now hidden shall be revealed. ^D Consider, therefore, that we must all depart from here to the infallible Judge, where not only actions, but also words and thoughts are judged, where we shall pay terrible penalties even for those things which seem to be small. Always remember these things, and never forget the inextinguishable flame. Behold beforehand the One coming to judge the living and the dead; consider the thousands and myriads of angels then standing by the Judge. Let your hearing now listen for the sound of the trumpets and that fearful voice of the One passing judgment. Let your eye foresee those who are being sent into the outer darkness...

after a long labor of their virginity. Behold some bound like weeds and cast into the furnace; others with their feet and hands bound, being carried off into the outer darkness; and others delivered up to the undying worm and the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. One is judged for untimely laughter; another because he inflicted injury upon his neighbor or because he scandalized his brother; one is judged for hidden sins; from another, payment is exacted for an idle word; one undergoes judgment for an evil intention; another is excluded from the kingdom for reviling; one suffers the irreparable for holding a grudge; another rises to eternal ignominy; and others, deprived of the knowledge of Christ, hear: "Amen, I say to you, I do not know you," because they practiced what Christ prohibited.

^B These things being so, what manner of men ought we to be, or what manner of tears ought we to shed, saying: "Who will give to my head water, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, and I will weep for my sins day and night"? But that we might flee the expected punishment, come, let us anticipate the face of the Lord in confession, and with diligence of life let us call upon the propitiations of the Lord God. For in Hades, it says, who will confess to You? God has given us all things doubly: two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet. If, therefore, one of these is injured, we console the need through the other; but He gave us one soul—if we lose this, with what shall we live? Let us therefore take care of this, preferring nothing to its salvation, since this is also what is judged with the body, is defended with it, and stands with it before the tribunal of Christ. If you then say: "Money enticed me," the Judge will say to you: "Did you not hear: 'What is the profit, if a man gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own soul?'" If you say: "The devil deceived me," He will say to you, just as He said, that it profited Eve nothing to say: "The serpent deceived me."

These things, therefore, keeping in mind, come, let us awaken ourselves before the darkness overtakes us, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes, concerning which the prophet says: "Behold, it comes, and who shall endure it? or who shall survive the day of His entering?" Fearful is that day of fog and darkness. But you will say: "How then is it possible to flee the aforementioned evils?" I tell you: not only by keeping your body pure, but when you have suffered evil, do good; if you are falsely accused, be philosophical; if you are reviled, bless; when you have fasted, do not be proud; for abstinence from food does not work fasting, but abstinence from sins. Scrutinize the Scriptures. See how the prophet first sees a rod of almond wood, then a boiling caldron, showing that he who does not bear the example of the rod, receives the fire. So, through Moses, He then demonstrated the pillar of fire, shouting through things that he who hears the law sees the light, but the disobedient receives the fire. Read the Savior's

^A teachings, and learn, that when we have departed, no one there can help us. No brother shall redeem his brother from the unceasing torments; no friend his friend, no parents their children, and no children their parents. And why do I speak of miserable humans, when not even if Noah, and Job, and Daniel were to come, could they entreat the One then judging? But you will say: Whence is the proof of these things? Behold him who was not dressed in a wedding garment being cast out from the bridal chamber, and no one pleading on his behalf; behold him who was entrusted with the talent, and did not trade, and was therefore thrust into the darkness; and see how no one interceded for him. Behold for me the five virgins being shut out, and their companions not interceding for them, whom Christ also called foolish, because after walking upon pleasures, after extinguishing the furnace of concupiscence, after fasting and sleeping on the ground and vigils, then they were found to be foolish. ^B And with good reason; for though they kept the great gift of virginity, they did not keep the small command of humility. Behold for me on the day of judgment the Judge placing the sheep on his right, and the fruit-less goats on the left, and saying to those on the right: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; and driving those on the left into the outer darkness, and no one able to help those being led away; for the Word is true, saying: Behold the man and his work. You have heard how that rich man, who never showed mercy to Lazarus, while being roasted in the place of punishment, longed to receive a drop of water; have you realized how even Abraham himself was unable to soothe the torments of the suppliant then? ^C Therefore, let us henceforth help ourselves and give glory to God, before the darkness falls. It is better to dry out the tongue here through fasting, than to keep it moist and craving a drop there and not receiving it, and being immortalized in roasting. By small labors here, let us fend off great torments. Consider that we do not endure a three-day fever here. If we are overwhelmed just seeing the punishments of magistrates, and this for a sentence of barely fifty years, then what is the judgment seat of Christ, which extends punishment not only for fifty years, but into infinite ages? Therefore, let us enter through the narrow gate, that we may escape the broad road, knowing that all sensible things are like a dream, and are subject to generation and corruption. ^D For even if we have strength of body, sickness casts it down; tribulation succeeds joy; old age succeeds beauty. If we enjoy a sumptuous table, the evening overtaking us dissolves the pleasure. And because generally the present things are weaker than a spider's web, and more deceptive than dreams, for this reason the Savior also called the afflicted blessed, so that the pleasure of delights might not hold the one enjoying them. Therefore, just as Abraham heard: Go out from your land, and he went out; let us also go out from the habitual affection,

^A so that by the meditation of death we may migrate to the city on high. Let us buffet the body and bring it into subjection, lest the soul become a slave to the devil; through the continuous meditation of the divine Scripture, let us put to sleep the pleasures that rage in us like wild beasts, always bearing about the mortification of Jesus in the body, and remembering Him who says: Be sober, be vigilant. No one sleeping is crowned, nor does one lying down ^B and snoring receive the prize; but he who is covered in dust and wounds, he is found first by the Judge of the contest, bearing the wounds and showing the blood flowing down.

Whence, since we have learned by experience how grave and burdensome it is to serve the devil (for he flees from the vigilant, but despoils the sleeping), give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, that you may be saved as a gazelle from the snares, and as a bird from the trap. Let us, I say, flee the snares and cares of this life, as those renouncing the world, carrying nothing carnal about; for the wiles of the devil are many. Our adversary, the devil, it says, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking not whom he may bite or break, but whom he may devour. ^C Flee the crafts of the devil, and say to the Lord: In Thee I shall be delivered from temptation, and through my God I will leap over a wall. Do not, therefore, flee from toil, so that you may attain the crown. The merchant does not fail, but endures the waves so that he may find wealth; the athlete who is struggling bears his wounds nobly, looking toward the crown; the husbandman does not find the sheaves unless he first casts the seeds through his own sweat: similarly, those looking toward heaven do not count tribulations as anything, being strengthened by the hope of good things.

Let us therefore attend constantly and observe when the Bridegroom will arise from the wedding, so that, having heard His voice, we may promptly arise to meet Him. For you too, He says, be like men expecting their lord, whom the Savior now deems blessed, saying: Blessed is that servant whom, when his lord comes, he shall find watching. But just as He proclaims the watching one blessed, so He calls the negligent one miserable, saying as follows: But if that evil servant begins to say: My lord delays to come, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant will come on a day he does not expect, and in an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two, and will appoint his portion with the hypocrites. ^D If then he who says, My lord delays, is cut in two upon His arrival, what will he suffer who does not expect his lord at all? We must therefore be ready and prepared for the voyage from here, and it is necessary to say: My heart is ready, O God; for we are in war in this world; the ungodly walk in a circle, sinners bend the bow. This one shoots at the ears, that we might gladly listen to detraction; another excites the eye to wantonness, another the tongue, that it might inflict insults upon brothers; another irritates the belly to gluttony, another the hand to avarice and rapine; another urges the feet to move toward malice. For which reasons Paul, shielding his breast with the armor of the Spirit,

writes: "Take up the armor of faith, and the helmet of salvation, in which you shall be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one." Believe, then, the prophetic voice that says: "I will tell you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: namely, to do judgment and justice, and to love mercy, and to be prepared to walk with the Lord your God." Therefore, forgetting the things that are behind, let us contend at the proper time, that by eating the fruits of our labors, we may delight in the Lord, and not idly waste all our time in rashness, but, as having a good Lord, let us show forth genuine service. For He teaches, reminds, testifies, threatens, exhorts, admonishes, and grants the kingdom as a reward to the obedient. Girding up, therefore, our loins in truth, let us serve the Lord; let us consider how much the Savior suffered for our sake—to be incarnate, to be nursed, to eat, and drink, and sleep, to be tempted, to labor, to be baptized, to be scourged, and finally to be crucified, and so to die. Truly, it behooves us to ponder that He suffered such contradiction from sinners against Himself, and thus to resist even unto blood, struggling against sin. How many miracles He also wrought—healings of diseases, resurrections of the dead, cleansings of lepers, expulsions of demons, the walking of the lame, and the rest, of which there is no number; ^B and finally, He granted us the ascension into heaven, that we too, through virtue and a good life, might follow Him, possessing a heavenly citizenship. For where we have been enrolled, there we ought to conduct ourselves; for Scripture has called us guests and strangers, that we might despise the things here. Pleasure is like a dog; if you drive it away, it flees; if you feed it, it remains. Therefore the Apostle says: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Let us not wait for hell, where the remedy of repentance is of no avail; but even if one there gnashes his teeth, and even if he has a burning tongue, no one will instill a drop with his finger; but he hears those things which the rich man also heard. Scientes igitur, knowing, therefore, that present things are a dream, and that we dwell as in an inn, from which it is necessary for us to depart, let us take care of the way and of the provisions for eternal life, which we prepare for ourselves; let us put on the garments that accompany us, which the Apostle also advised us, ^C saying: "Bowels of mercy, kindness," and the rest. We do not want gold there, but dew; we have no need of leaves there, but of fruits; not of words, but of deeds. "For not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father." Let us not, therefore, deceive ourselves. For let it be granted that we have devoted our whole life to pleasure; but what is that in comparison to the infinite ages? For here both good and evil things have an end; there, however, they are immortal. ^D

^A If the body burns here, the soul departs; there, however, as the body is raised incorruptible, the soul is burned forever. For sinners rise incorruptible, not that they may be honored, but that they may remain immortal in torments. If, therefore, we cannot endure the more vehement steam of a bath, how shall we endure the river of fire? For all must test the fire, to see if the gold is genuine; the seal must be examined, lest the treasure have been stolen; it must be tested if that which is hidden is such, and there is no one who shall escape the onslaught of the Judge. But you will certainly say to me: "How can the soul be burned there forever?" Just as here the body, remaining in a fever, is burned. For even if, when the body grows weak here, the soul departs, there it will not depart, but it is necessary for the soul to be burned. Is there, then, any one who would desire to be punished forever for a dream? For this is the present life in relation to the future one. For what comparison is there of things expected? For if passing things are such as these, then what must those things be that remain stably? As long as we have time, therefore, come, beloved, let us heal the wounds of the soul with tears, and by not raising our hands against ourselves, let us not undergo such punishment. For one, he says, building, and one destroying, what do they contribute more than labors? If, indeed, ^B Jeremiah lamented the temple constructed of stones when it was razed, saying: "Leave me, I will weep bitterly; do not strive to console me," how much more does it behoove one to weep for the soul, which is holier than that, in which is not a golden urn having manna, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity inhabiting it? If we sympathize with those who are dying, who is so uncompassionate as not to weep for his own soul that is dying? For he who pampers the body with pleasures kills his own soul; but he who takes care of the soul does not make the body healthy. Whence let us not shed tears for the dead, but for ourselves; let us remember, brethren, that the time is shortened, and the judgment is at the doors; which, even if it were further off, one ought not even so to be confident. "The night is advanced," he says, let us wake up finally from our dreams; for the present things are sweet, but nothing is more deceitful than a dream. No one ought to sleep while seeing the sun. Let us therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, as it is written; and just as it is easy to be baptized into water, so it is easy for the soul to repent. The robber ^C did not require time; the martyrs were crowned in a moment; but if we have sinned things unpardonable and unto death, having the saving medicines, let us not despair; for it is not falling that is burdensome, but not to have risen after falling—that is satanic and destructive. Whence also the good God and our Master cried aloud: "Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there?" Then if the body is suffering, we call physicians, and we seek herbs, and we set everything in motion, that we may heal the injured limb; but we neglect the soul laboring with vices, and have no greater concern for our own part. Let us fear him who can ^D

destroy both soul and body in hell, even before the time of torments. Come, let us cast ourselves into the sea of God’s mercies, saying: *Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow* (Ps. L, 9). For God, the good shepherd, has stood ready to rescue us from the mouth of the lion, before he can devour us; and he cries out even now, saying: *Child, you have sinned; do not add to it* (Eccli. XXI, 1). Does he who falls not rise again? Or does he who turns away not return? *Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your bruises* (Jerem. III, 22). Jesus does not lie when he says: *I came not to judge the world, but to save the world* (Joan. XII, 47). Let us merely repent, for he does not so much desire the death of the sinner as that he should turn and live (Ezech. XVIII, 32). An insane lover does not love his beloved as much as God loves a repenting soul, [B] whom, recalling, he says: *And after all these things, I said: Return to me* (Jerem. III, 7). Such is the kindness of the Master: he turns away no one who runs to him, but reaches out his hand, saying: *Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts* (Ps. XCIV, 8). For if a physician, while insulted by the one being treated, does not neglect his remedies nor take vengeance on the sick person, how much more our physician of souls! Only let us not despair of ourselves; for an athlete who has often fallen and afterward been healed becomes more approved at the end than those who have not fallen; many merchants reduced to poverty have again become rich, and having suffered shipwreck, have again traded and lived. For did God prepare the fire for us? No, but for the devil and his angels; only let us not kindle the fire for ourselves, hearing: *Go in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled* (Isa. L, 11). There is no disease which the physician’s remedy cannot cure. ^C

But you say: I cannot perform perfect repentance. If you cannot become the sun, be at least a star; only ascend above the earth, begin to emulate the luminous stars. It is better for you to have even a few merits than to have none at all. Christ accounts to your credit a cup of cold water (Matth. X, 42), visiting the sick, and descending into prison at the same time. For if we give an account of words and thoughts, how much more shall we not lose the reward for righteous deeds, even if the things done are of the most trivial kind? ^D Therefore, let us labor for a little time, lest we fall away from eternal goods. For if it were granted to endure a thousand deaths, so that we might see Christ coming in his glory, and no longer see through enigmas, but behold the King with our very eyes, who would not judge it to be chosen? For if one desires to see the beauty appearing here, having a substance of ash, dust, and worm from corruption, and phlegm and rheum, how much more if we were to see the immaculate appearance of Christ! If Peter and his companions [saw] a certain dim shadow of his glory

and said, "It is good for us to be here," what shall we say, who wait to behold him in his terrible glory? If we consider those who stand by a king here to be blessed, seeing a golden chariot, and purple, and a crown, what manner of people ought we to be who stand beside him who is to judge the whole world? For if someone were to call you to an earthly kingdom, and the road had precipices, and crags, and much hardship, would you not endure everything for the sake of reigning? Do not say, "Because of the sins I have committed, I cannot turn to God." Even David the king fell, but he rose again in such a way as to become the patron of his own descendants. If, therefore, the devil has tripped us up, let us raise ourselves up. For Christ receives ^B us, coming to meet us as the father did the son. Let us consider that after reigning, and living in luxury, and doing everything, Solomon said: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." Therefore, if those sitting in the theater—sometimes even slaves, and thieves, and robbers, and the vilest of men—were to praise us, would we not strive in every way to snatch at that praise? But where angels and archangels, and the rest of the powers, and the theater of all of them are about to proclaim us, what ought we to do for his sake? Shall harlots and tax collectors go before us into the kingdom? There are suitable remedies in the divine Scriptures: Ahab, being pricked in heart, earned through this ^C medicine [the remission of] the threats; the Ninevites [did so] through fasting; Balthasar escaped the sentence through almsgiving; the harlot reconciled the Master with her tears. Paul, confessing his sin, became the teacher of those who repent; the thief, having believed, became a citizen of paradise. Taking these plasters, let us heal our own wounds, saying, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; and, Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." For the Physician, accepting us, will say, "I am he who blots out your sins, and I will remember them no more." ^D See how many medicines the Physician has prepared for you! Choose yourself whatever you wish; he has shown you a variety of remedies according to the difference of the wounds. If you cannot show mercy as Balthasar did, then be pricked in heart as Ahab was. If you cannot fast as the Ninevites did, at least wash away your sins with tears as the harlot did. If you cannot fast, nor confess your sins, flee to the mercy of God, saying with David: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy." For it is not the bite of a viper, so that I might apply the medicine onto it, nor a stain caused by mud, that I might wash it off with water; but the wound is from the bite of the devil, being in need of the mercy of thy loving-kindness. Only approach asking, and the lover of mankind will instill the oil, he who said, "If a man turns from his wicked way, I will not remember his iniquities that he has committed." Only reveal your

^A passion, and say: "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on my body and my soul; have mercy on me both here and in the world to come. Have mercy on me both because of the weakness of my nature and because of thy goodness." Only desire to be healed; for the Physician seeks your salvation, he who reclaimed the wandering sheep, he who sent to the crossroads to call the wicked and the good. Behold, even now he sells you the kingdom of heaven: if you do not have an obol with which to buy, buy it with a sigh. Instead of a crust of bread, he pays you back with the kingdom of heaven. Behold also the Prophet crying out, saying: "Who wishes to buy life? Who is the man who desires life, who loves to see good days?" Those who do not have money, he says, come and buy without money. For what does God seek from us? You do not have, he says, money? Or compunction? Or power? Or weeping? Or any other of the things that are sought? "Refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile," and it will suffice for your salvation. See if you have fasted, do not think highly of yourself; if you have given alms, do not be vainglorious; but rather, when the fast has passed, reckon what you have gained from the abstinence; did you emerge such as you entered? See what blemish you have washed away from yourself, or in what you have become better, or what progress you have achieved, or what flaw you have corrected, if you have ceased from anger or railing, if you have not slandered a brother, if you have ceased from swearing, or if you have wrought some other good thing. If, however, you have only abstained from foods, and have not wrought any other good, what have you profited by not eating? For perhaps he will say to you: "Yes, you were not able to fast, why were you not reconciled to your enemies? Why did you remain holding spite and envy? And why were you also inflamed against the one who grieved you?" Not only this, but you also remained in the memory of evils, than which there is no worse evil. For he who has committed a bodily sin, has done an evil, and soon ceased. But he who remembers evils, night and day, and every hour, commits the sin. If you remember these things, you will never remember an insult. Wherefore, because someone subjected you to an insult, do not you subject the Teacher, God, to an insult; for in the theater of the world all these things will be revealed. Wherefore, before we fall into the mire of perdition, let us flee such a punishment and reflect that no one will deliver us from those dreadful judgments: not even Noah himself, not Moses, not Daniel, not Abraham, who loved his children and guests so much, will deliver us from the punishment. Let us reflect that we are liable for many sins, both manifest and hidden. "For if thou shouldst observe iniquities, O Lord, O Lord, who shall withstand?" And what do I say of the hidden things? If he should demand from us penalties for the manifest ones, what forgiveness shall we have? If he should examine the sloth in our prayers, or the negligence in our fasts, and the fact that when we stand before him we do not offer him as much honor as soldiers do to commanders, nor as much as friends do to friends? With what great attention we address a friend! Yet when we pray to God for our sins we are slothful, and with our knees bent on the ground, we are outwardly absorbed in thought. If he were to begin from these things, and wish to demand an account: where

^A then shall we be able to hide? And what if he should bring into the midst the accusations which we make against one another? If he should also examine our curious glances, and search out our wicked desires; and if he should also demand an account of our revilings: shall we be able to open our mouth? And if he should also demand an account of the vainglory which we sustain while praying, fasting, and giving alms—shall we be able to look up toward heaven? And if he should also [demand an account] of the snares which we weave against one another, and [if he should ask how it is that] when present we speak [to them] as friends, but when absent we speak ill—what kind of punishments shall we undergo? ^B If he should also calculate our oaths and lies, and our envies, or our unjust angers; if he should also take account of our perjuries, or look upon the sorrows by which we are afflicted because of the fame and reputation of our friends, or [if he see us] rejoicing and insulting others who are suffering evil; and if he should demand an account of the slothfulness [we show] in the assemblies, when God himself speaks through the Scriptures, but we, leaving him, speak with our fellow-servants: what kind of reckoning shall we have to suffer?

Wherefore, let us always have Gehenna before our eyes. For if Gehenna were not threatened, how much more, now that it is hanging over us, ought we to remember our own transgressions? Remember the eternal Judge. Behold, I announce the punishment to you, that you may flee the danger. If he should say to you, "Fast," you plead infirmity; if he should say to you, "Have mercy," you excuse yourself with poverty; if he should say to you, "Come to the assembly," you set your own negligence before yourself; if he should say to you, "Do not be angry"—what have you to say against this, where neither ignorance nor business prevents you ^C from performing virtue? Being, therefore, inexcusable for sin, how will you be able to stretch out your hands to heaven? How [will you be able] to move your tongue? How to ask for forgiveness? You have been wronged, you have been deprived of your goods, you have been ill-spoken of, you have been greatly harmed; wait for the sentence of the magistrate. For if you do not beat a slave of someone who has heaped insults upon you, but bring [his case] to his master, how much more [should you do so] toward Him who said: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord? You have fasted from food? See what sin you have thereby washed away, or in what you have become better than yourself, or what progress you have acquired, or what discovered fault you have corrected. Knowing, therefore, that you are about to stand before the judgment seat of the Lord, where ^D the cleverness of the tongue does not avail, nor do advocates assist, [and] as your soul is to pass through fire, send forth the dew, move the fountains of tears. You have the well; draw out the sorrow from the depth of the heart, move the twin pupils, and let flow the streams of tears; let the tear be to you in proportion to the things sinned. If you have transgressed in some small thing, a small tear is sufficient; but if your fault is great, let a greater torrent of tears be yours. But if you also possess purity, lend your tear to another, and weep for a brother who has lapsed; but would that we might at least weep for our own sins!

^A Where sin has arisen, let the fountain of healing also arise, and before the door is shut, let us repent. Where there is sin, there let the solution also be. Let there not be sin here, and repentance in heaven; for the Savior who redeems us has authority on earth to forgive sins. Hence, "let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. x, 12). But let him who has already slipped and fallen rise up, that he may not be shattered. And if someone is even shattered, the Lord is present to raise up those who are broken. It happens that we are almost moved, as the holy David says: "My feet had almost stumbled" (Ps. LXXII, 2). "If I said," he says, "My foot has slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord, helped me" (Ps. XCIII, 18). It is possible to be cast down and yet not fall. For "I was pushed and overthrown that I might fall, and the Lord took me up" (Ps. CXVII, 13). There is also a remedy for one who has fallen, that he should not remain in his fall. "Shall one who falls not arise?" (Jer. viii, 4). There is hope of salvation even for the one who is broken; for "The Lord," he says, "raises up those who are broken" (Ps. CXLV, 8). But see that you do not grow slack upon hearing of the goodness of God; for "God," he says, "is a judge, righteous and strong, and patient, and not venting His wrath every day" (Ps. VII, 12), inasmuch as He is ^B merciful, because He accepts repentance. "But if you have not turned, He will sharpen His sword" (Ps. VII, 13). For now, it does not strike; it only gleams, that having beheld its brightness and become afraid, you may not reach the point of being punished. The sword does not strike, but terrifies, that its fear may stir you to repentance. "He has bent His bow and made it ready" (Ps. VII, 13); He has bent it, but has not sent the arrow, that He might frighten you by the display. The Judge is prepared; do not despise the bow, for it is bent. Do not grow slack because you do not yet see the arrow, nor grow self-indulgent because of His long-suffering. Hearken to this word of salvation: "Be well-disposed to your adversary" (Matth. v, 25). You journey every day with an adversary whose company you cannot escape. Paul instructs you, saying: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these," he says, "are opposed to each other" (Gal. v, 17). Let the spirit be opposed to the flesh, supported by the expected hopes, comparing the desire of the world and the kingdom of heaven. For the flesh inclines to the dust, but let the soul strive to imitate the divine image. Thus, be well-disposed to your adversary while you are in the way with him, that is, in this life; for when the journey is completed, there is no longer a time of repentance for you. See ^C that the adversary does not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the avenging powers, and you be cast into prison, into the outer darkness, until you repay the last farthing (Matth. v, 25, 26), being judged not only for deeds, but also for inward thoughts. Knowing all these things, then, let us help ourselves. For then we shall know how bitter pleasure is, when we know by experience of what bitterness it becomes the provider.

Knowing, therefore, with whom we have our struggle, let us call upon the merciful God, that we may not be handed over to the demons, saying with blessed David: "Do not hand me over..."

to those who treat me unjustly." ^A For they themselves incite us to sin, and they themselves become our accusers; for not only will the devil open his mouth against us, but the demons themselves will also say: "Were we not your ministers when you became angry, or when you sought vain glory, or when you spoke ill of a brother?" Let us fear, brethren, that day in which our own thoughts will become harsher judges against us. Let us not, therefore, wait for our adversaries to be our witnesses, but rather let us entreat the Lord God. For even if the flesh with which we are clothed is weak, great is Christ who is able to aid and to save us in His kingdom. It is necessary to love the Lord, both as beautiful, and as a benefactor, and as one who loves those who serve Him genuinely. For we ourselves also love certain people for this reason, because of these three things: either because of beauty, or because of a benefit, or if someone loves us. What, then, is more beautiful than the Lord Christ? As David says: "Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men." ^B And who is such a benefactor, as to have prepared for those who love Him what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not ascended into the heart of man? And who has ever loved us so, to cry out like a loving father: "Will a woman forget her offspring? But even if a woman should forget, yet I will not forget you," 17 says the Lord. Loving Him, David yearned to behold Him, saying: "When shall I come, and appear before the face of God?" For he did not tolerate the delay, but was burning to depart from here, hastening to behold the yearned-for Christ. O the purpose of a God-loving soul, and one lifted up on wings toward things above! Desire this also, O soul, passing by all things that are seen, and always remembering eternal life and the immortal kingdom, ^C the dance with the angels, the unblemished glory, the manner of life with the Lord, delivered from all pain. Consider that life has nothing except tears and reproaches and insults and despondencies and negligence and labors and diseases and old age and sins and death. Thinking on these things, David—the calumnies, the widowhoods, the orphanages, the poverties, the hardships, the punishments, the downfalls—desiring to be delivered from these, said: "When shall I come, and appear before the face of God? So that I may finally depart where there is peace, joy, love, longsuffering, the brightness of the saints, and all other good things with care-freeness, which no word can express." ^D Whence you, too, expecting to enjoy such delights, do not despise your life. For if he who is despised by you were vile or poor, you might rightly doze off; but if it is the splendid and glorious Christ, the Lord of all the kingdom, who is expected, let your lamp shine daily, (and) be ready for the meeting of the Bridegroom, that you also may hear: "Enter into the joy of your Lord." 19

It is necessary to be vigilant and to pray at every time, beloved. For if, when God said to the devil: "Do not touch Job," 20 the evil one remained (in his assault), thinking he would cast him down_

how much more does he seek to manage us, whom he has already made subject to his will? There is need, therefore, for ^A vigilance, beloved. For the soldier sleeps not in a bed, but on the ground; the fisherman fishes not while sleeping, but standing, sometimes passing the whole night; the farmer exercises all vigilance, that the Lord’s vineyard may not be damaged; and the shepherd passes the night in the open air, keeping watch over the flock, just as Jacob said: "I was consumed by the heat by day, and by the frost by night, and sleep departed from my eyes." 21 And what is the reason for this vigilance of his? That not a single sheep might become prey to wild beasts. If there is such care for an irrational sheep, what kind should those have who are concerned for the rational soul—a soul most precious of all, which does not have the value of the whole world combined, which rises again with us, is defended with us, and stands with us before the divine tribunal? On account of this, that man of labor, Jacob, placed a ^B stone under his head when sleeping, that he might see the intellectual stone in his sleep; and hence he saw the ladder reaching even to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending, offering to God the prayers from us, and bringing down the gifts from the Lord. The athlete is not anointed with ointment; for such an effort belongs to those who have already been defeated. Nothing is more unclean for the soul than when the body has such sweetness of perfume. But just as those who suffer from a discharge fill both their hands and garments with the flowing humor, so the unclean flow of the soul becomes known through the fragrance of the body. Therefore it is fitting to choose a hard life, and not to flow away in pleasures. But what utility has an ivory bed, or one plated with silver? This care is superfluous, and provokes ^C wrath from above. And while other sins of ours have some pleasure, what enjoyment is there in sleeping on a silver bed? Whence also the prophet, detesting this bed, said: "Woe to those who sleep on ivory beds, and are wanton upon their couches." 22 Do you wish to see a royal bed full of virtues? Look at the bed of David, upon which, like pearls, the tears of the Prophet were frozen every night upon his footstool, which were also written for our admonition, that, following in their footsteps, we might flee the coming judgment. Whence let us repent before that tribunal; for there you will no longer be master of your own repentance. The Lord wishes us to be prepared; for this reason He has also made our departure uncertain, ^D so that we might be perpetually anxious. For if, in the courts here, those who are brought in falter and freeze with fear just by hearing the voice of the herald, how much more ought we to tremble who are about to stand before the divine tribunal? You have lamented vehemently in silence; for the conscience is always pricked, but especially when we discuss the judgment. Therefore, through words, reproofs are good. Would that that rich man were reproved, and not that his tongue were burned there! Have you desired virginity? Keep the commandments, and the Lord Himself will minister it to you. For if you say while praying: "Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of the eye," 23 He will say to you in return: "Keep my commandments, and live: and my words as the apple of the eye."

nevertheless, rebukes by means of words are good. Would that that rich man also were rebuked, and that he were not tortured in that place in his tongue! Have you desired virginity? Keep the commandments, and the Lord will provide it for you. ^A For if you say while praying: “Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of the eye,” He Himself will also say to you: “Keep My commandments, and you shall live; and My words as the apple of your eyes.” For when you are thus disposed, having made your anxiety His own, He says: “He that toucheth you, is as he that toucheth the apple of His eye.” Having therefore put your hand to the plough, do not turn back, lest you become a pillar of salt; let your tongue always speak of judgment, uttering nothing idle, nothing from anger, nothing from sorrow, nothing from any other passion, but rather let it speak of the punishments ^B that are there; so that, fearing those terrible tribunals, it may itself become better; let His law be always in your mouth, so that your steps also may proceed according to the will of God. Always have the Lawgiver in your mouth; let Him be your companion and associate. For even if you see someone prospering or even reigning, know that as the flower of the grass he shall quickly wither. Let him revel in delicacies; but you, revel in the Lord Christ. Many virgins have suffered martyrdom; if others have overcome death, can you not overcome concupiscence? It behooves you to mortify your members, not only controlling concupiscence, but also wrath and anger. Let your tongue have its measures; see that your conscience does not condemn you before the time. Death comes, ^C and all things are revealed. We do not wish to suffer, shame before anyone now; but there, before so many myriads, where shall we hide? John was pure, and for this reason he leaned upon the breast of Christ; let the soul that desires to be betrothed to Christ guard its purity, so that the tree may be known from its fruit. For, He says, “The just shall announce the manifest faith.” Remember this confession always, and take the last day into your mind. See to it, therefore, that you do not perish through your tongue; for the tongue, it says, is that which stains the whole body; and the body being stained, it is necessary that the mind also be corrupted, as it is written: “Evil communications corrupt good manners”; and Paul says: “Men corrupted ^D in mind.” Seek Paul as Thecla did, that you may hear the things spoken to you by him. You have need of wings; if you do not have them and do not hasten to have them, you boast in vain. Let your eye proclaim the reverence dwelling within; let your gaze be downward, so that your mind may be upward. There is need of much watchfulness; for our adversary is watchful. He cast us out of paradise; now he does not permit us to return to heaven. See that you do not make the spiritual wine useless by water; have, instead of bread, the meditation of the divine Scriptures, and instead of wine, the commandments of the Savior. Hear Him who says: “I want you to be free from anxieties, and to care for nothing, except the kingdom.” Have you desired to ascend into the heavens with an earthly body? Make your flesh lean, so that you may be agile for the ascent.

If a horse eats too much, he does not run; the athlete does not eat whatever he wishes. If Israel had not eaten, and become fat, he would not have kicked ^A away. Therefore, always keep your eye fixed upwards, where your beloved bridegroom is; by longing, overcome passions. Prayer and fasting assist you, and the divine Scriptures advise you. Do not grow weary in the struggles for the crown. You have from this the earnest-money of eternal life and rest; for you do not suffer a drunken husband, you do not have labor pains, you do not give birth, you do not weep because a child has died, or is suffering from some illness; you do not worry that your husband might delay in returning from a trip. You have been freed from giving birth, and from feeding, and from nurturing. Follow your bridegroom, Christ, who is leading you into the kingdom of the heavens; follow according to the word that says: “If you walk straight toward me, I also will walk straight with you; but if you walk crookedly, I also will walk crookedly with you.” Always await the Master who is coming. For if the one who says, “My Lord delays his coming,” is cut in two when he arrives, what might he suffer who does not await his glorious coming at all?

If, therefore, you wish to be made like Christ, follow his footsteps; for the gate is narrow, and the righteous will enter into it. Do you hear the prophet Daniel saying: ^B “I, Daniel, was mourning; for three weeks I ate no bread, and wine did not enter my mouth.” John lived in the desert; he had no vineyard, so that he would not make himself earthly. He was a lamp; for this reason, he protected himself against the gusts of the winds. Remember these teachings as well. You have chosen a heavenly way of life, fight the good fight of faith, seeing the victory in the struggle, in the victory the crown, and Jesus as the judge of the contest; only let your course be secure. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Have you ever seen portraits, how some have faces long, very large, and beautiful, while others are deformed and laughable? So will he reveal all things as on a tablet. Therefore, flee that most horrifying disgrace, and praise, and say: “Keep me, O Lord, because I have hoped in Thee, because You do not need my goods.” For He does not need our things, but He seeks our salvation. ^C Whence let us offer ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice, a rational service; not through fire, but through long-suffering. “For he who endures to the end, this one will be saved,” He says. Therefore, having chosen a tranquil and undisturbed life, run well, so that you may attain, as it is written. For it is no small danger for one who has confessed purity not to keep it. Therefore, also discipline your tongue, restrain your eye, extending your hands in prayer, moving your feet as the Master created them; be modest in attire, chaste in meetings, maintaining stability in your gait, in your diet what is sufficient, in self-control what is laborious, and what is humble; [seek] mercy, the love of brothers, the sharing of possessions, soundness of faith, and never ever to forget that fearful judgment. ^D These things, however, while all small when spoken of, are truly great

^A For the kingdom of heaven, he says, is like ten virgins—not like the sun, not the moon, not the stars, not the ornaments themselves, not gold, nor silver, nor beauty that fades, nor heaven itself. What, then, does the kingdom possess, if not a security richer than all else, regarding which Paul, the groomsman of Christ, said: "I want you to be free from anxieties"? Whence one must pray that if anyone is ill, he may be healed, so that the possession may remain. Pray, therefore, to God with the holy one, saying: "Seven times a day I have praised you." For if the meeting with a good man renders the one he meets better, how much more does conversing with God by night and by day? For who, thinking that God is present, sins? Remember what is said: "Pray without ceasing." Prayer by way of the mouth is good, but far better is the sacrifice that becomes yours before God through those supplicating in the Spirit. ^B Premeditate on dying, mortifying the members that are upon the earth; for the day of the Lord comes like a thief. If, when you are asked for your soul, you begin to say: "Allow me to repent; I will fast, I will show mercy," the Master will say to you: "Did you not hear: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near?" And Paul said: "While we have time, let us do good," for there is no need of much time for one who wishes to be saved. For the thief was saved in a moment by believing, and he gained the unfailing treasure of the kingdom. The holy martyrs were justified in a single hour; they gave their blood—do you, in place of blood, bring forth tears. He is truthful who says: "I will have all men to be saved." Therefore, He instructs us not only from the divine Scriptures, but He also teaches us through the misfortunes of others. ^C For doctors for this reason perform surgery in public and cauterize, and high officials, sitting upon a high tribunal, scourge the guilty, so that in the evils of others we may come to compunction, whence, being strengthened, we may be led toward knowledge, and from knowledge, having arrived at charity through the virtues that follow, we may hasten through it toward the inheritance, stripping off sin and putting on the moderation of character, persevering in prayer, as it is written. For who, while watching, was ever wounded? For no one who is watching is ever harmed. Pastors stand guard even when wolves are not present; dogs follow, even if the wild beasts are not there. Whence it is advantageous always to be sober; for even if there were no reward ^D for labors, the exercise will do you no harm. Listen, therefore, to the good counselors, not those who are parents according to the flesh, but those who are more solicitous according to the Spirit, sympathizing with the weaker ones and saying: "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" Whence it is fitting to apply the medicine of the Word. For a soul that has once tasted sin and remains without sorrow brings much increase to the malady. For just as a spark, if it manages to lay hold of fuel, thereafter consumes everything, so too the nature of sin, once it has laid hold of the thoughts of the soul, and there is no one to quench it, becomes more difficult, and with difficulty...

^A is stirred up towards a greater contempt. Thus, often, those who do not quench the flame at the beginning have arrived at a great shipwreck. For sin, having nothing to restrain it from advancing further, is like a horse that has broken its bridle and thrown its rider. For those who are ill, as long as they admit those who treat them, have much hope of health; but when they fall into frenzy, they are incurable, with no one treating them, not because of the nature of the disease, but because of the absence of the one who treats. It is necessary, therefore, to drive back the corruption of sin as one would an unruly horse. For after the end of life, there are no occasions for right actions or for noble deeds, just as for athletes, after the contests have passed, there is no way to obtain crowns. Therefore, desiring the glory of the crown, let us flee from being subject to the reproach of calumniators. For if anyone’s work, he says, is burned up, he shall suffer loss ^B. To be reproached is spoken of regarding the worse thing; and would that we became those burned by fire. If, therefore, we do not wish to be reproached, let us not reproach anyone. For he says: Do not reproach a man turning away from sin. For if, he says, an adulterer, when he is caught, suffers pains and punishments, yet his reproach will not be erased: how much more so in that judgment, which is not dissolved by gifts, nor by any other things? Therefore, open your mouth with the word of God, and do not speak idly; for if we shall give an account for every idle word, how much more for a deed not done according to the commandment? Let not, therefore, the sweetness of visible things deceive you. For just as it is not possible to grasp a shadow, so neither is it to grasp human affairs: for some are dissolved without an end, and others before the end, and they flow past more swiftly than a torrent. But the future things know no change, do not know old age, have no turning, but always flourish ^C and remain in a beautiful variety. Do not admire riches, which do not remain with their possessors, but change their masters, and leap from this one to another, and again from that one to a further one; it is fitting to spit upon all these: for it is enough only to hear him who says that the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. It is written: God is a judge, just and strong, and long-suffering. You have need of much wakefulness, that you may guard your house because of the thief. For your adversary the devil seeks to supplant you, that you may not ascend from where he fell. Many are his crafts: flee from him, that you may say: He shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters, and from a harsh word. You have need not only of a lamp, but also of eternal light ^D because of the ambushes of those who meet you. Possessing feet, you cannot walk, unless you have the law of God as a lamp: possessing hands, you cannot feel, unless the light is present: possessing eyes, you cannot see, unless the light appears: you travel the way daily, and you have need of a lamp, lest you fall to your ruin. Be everywhere superior to the snares, crying out: Escape to the mountain like

a sparrow. And who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly away and find rest? ^A The eye is called the "pupil," so that just as it is enclosed by two eyelids as if in a certain chamber, so also the virgin may remain. In the same way, God has enclosed the tongue behind two barriers, I mean the teeth and the lips, so that like a modest virgin it may speak nothing rashly, but rather, looking forward to the things of judgment, may say: "What is the river of fire? What is that outer darkness of fire? What is the gnashing of teeth?" ^B Taking these things to heart, strive to please your bridegroom, Christ. He is away for the present; keep your conscience for Him, until He comes in His glory, singing, "My soul is in your hands always, and I have not forgotten your law." As long as you are elevated, you do not fall into snares, so that you may be able to say in understanding: "My soul has been delivered like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Always fear the Judge, and if you do not desire to live with the angels, at least do not converse with the devil. Watch: for death comes like a thief. Light your lamp; let your torch be bright, so that when you slumber it is not found lacking oil. Do not count the hardship, but the boldness; not the stripes, but the honors; do not count the things that fall, but those that are well-pleasing. ^C The holy Stephen did not look at the stones below, but at the rewards above; the martyrs gave their souls; let us at least offer our own scourging. Sweet does sleep appear in the night; but know well that nothing is sweeter than psalmody. Yet is it hard for you to sleep on the ground? Consider that the martyrs were thrown upon coals. But does fasting make your mouth bitter? Christ, who created the sweetness of honey, tasted of gall for your sake. Yet you weep for your own sake; you have never wept as Paul did for the salvation of others. In these things console yourself; the labor is for a short time, and the rest is for ages of ages. Mortify the pain through anticipation, for joy succeeds affliction. Consider that pleasure, which is thought to be for a time, brings about eternal punishment, and flee from delight because of the affliction. Do not let the devil use your members as arrows against you—the eye, the hearing, the mouth, the hand—do not let him send you the arrow of gluttony. ^D For I know how the people of that time, who crossed the sea with fasting, were struck by drunkenness and suffered shipwreck on the mainland. Look at their failure and flee from the fall. For if the Lord Christ did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you if you are negligent. But if you have fought with your whole soul and with complete faith, you shall rejoice with all the saints by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and supreme power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.