the poor man by receiving his benevolence. When you hear of “Christ’s hand,” understand the palm that holds the ends of the earth. He stretches out his right hand therefore in an ineffable manner, secretly receives the small coins, marks the face of the giver, accepts the good deed on earth, and prepares the rewards in heaven. And how and when does the repayment take place? When, he says, the Son of man comes in the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory: and all nations shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats: and he sets the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left: and he shall say to them on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father; for you have found the Judge to be a debtor; do not fear the throne, but run as to one who has been benefited, to him who is seated; what I have set forth for you, I bring forward—a promissory note; I do not hide the good deed, lest you be deprived of the philanthropy; I do not deny the gift; for I hasten to the repayment. Come, you who have shown the seed of compassion, I have prepared for you the harvest of joy. Say, Master, the cause. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. Let no one therefore send away the poor man as if he were destitute; for in despising the hungry, he overlooks the Judge of the ages to come. Let us therefore acquire as a debtor him who is about to judge there. For he who has pity on the poor, he says, lends to God (Prov. 19:17). Let us strive to be worthy to be set on the right side, let us hate the loathsome kinship of the goats, let us pursue the communion of the lambs; for we have the power to choose the better part. For this reason the Judge foretold to us that terrifying tribunal there, and the severity of the sentence, so that we might avoid suffering evil by learning of the threat. Let us not pass by the command of Paul which says: Godliness is a great gain (1 Tim. 6:6). It is not subject to an account-taker (nor in the time of the Judge is it a matter of severity): he does not fear the accuser’s outcry at the throne; he does not await condemnation, but awaits an intercession; for it is an enjoyment of goods that lacks nothing, an inalienable wealth, an unending honor, an untreasured gain, a help that leads the way, a grace that accompanies, a healing of the heart, an exultation of the soul, a glorying of the conscience, an accessible apology, an occasion for boldness. Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come; of which may we also be found worthy to attain, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
A MONITION ON THE FOLLOWING ORATION
This short oration appears to be a fragment; nor is it something we would venture to restore concerning those things which have perished. For we are not compelled to make a work worthy of darkness public, unless the earlier Savile had published it. We usually interpret a text that is generally obscure or corrupted by conjecture.
THE WRETCHED ARE PREACHED AGAINST WHO CORRUPT THE VIRGINS OF CHRIST
A What is this for us, O miserable and wretched guides of evil desires? How do you wish to escape the hands of the living God? What will you do when he who has betrothed this one comes to judge the living and the dead? And what defense will you make, having committed such lawless deeds against the brides of Christ? Have you so despised this? Have you not trembled? Have you not feared? Have you not shuddered? Have you not spared your own souls? Do you not know that there is no other lawlessness such as this? Do you not know that the virgins are the temple of God? Do you not know that the Spirit of God was dwelling in them? Those who daily converse with Christ concerning the dowry that is everlasting and remaining for ages, and whom Paul brought forward to present as chaste virgins to Christ, you have mingled with mire and stench? B O how have you dared to corrupt the brides of Christ, being procurers of evil desire? If one were to dare to commit such things against a fellow-servant maiden, he does not go unpunished; but against the bride of Christ—so to be armed, do you then expect to escape justice? Have you not heard the Apostle saying, "Judgment is merciless to him who has showed no mercy" (Jas. 2:13)? And what then is more unpitiable than this? For with one sword you work two murders, killing both yourselves and them; for this is death in the sight of those who are wise. O who would not groan? Who would not mourn? Who would not beat his breast and lament the untimely murder? Who would not weep for the premature death? Who would not feel pain at the unjust wound? Provision and dowries are guarded under the law for the man who is joined in incorruptibility to the heavenly bridegroom Christ; and is virginity betrayed to the adulterer? C But someone will say: "I was joined to Christ by necessity, not by choice to be joined to him, but to a fellow-servant." Miserable woman, have you dared at all to speak for yourself, that even if you did not have the intention or love toward him, the Master desired you? Hear, O wretched one, and I will speak to you, and be convinced even by the things of the world. I speak of worldly matters: D If one man carries off a girl in place of another, as the equality of status is tested, the abduction is authoritative for the one who did it, and the law and the king yield to the abduction. For he did not abduct and take in order to insult, but in order to honor, and the dowries and gifts prevail. If then for men there is no change, since it follows the original purpose, what will you plead, you who were abducted by the Master beyond all expectation? For I do not call that necessity by which you were deemed worthy to be joined to the Master, but the economy and philanthropy of the Master; so that under the guise of necessity you, the unworthy one, might gain the immortal marriage that is above you. Do not therefore say, "I chose to be a virgin by necessity"; do not be ungrateful to the heavenly bridegroom, because he deemed you worthy to be taken without a dowry, ignoble, and a slave; for you are his slave, even if you do not wish it. Wherefore I entreat, O virgin, that you become obedient without any contradiction and shameful thoughts. And if you have not yet renounced the spiritual marriage, guard the covenants securely; but if you have transgressed and fallen, rise up, rise up, I entreat. For the good and philanthropic Master stands by you, who was insulted by you; he does not cast away your living together; give him your hand. Since you have insulted the first right hand, do not renounce this one. He does not disdain your wounds; for he heals the wound of the soul and the body; for he is a compassionate physician. Uncover the passion to him through confession, so that he may invisibly place upon you the saving medicine; for he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to you who are lying down; rise up then, take up your mat, and go into your house, that is, into the harbor of repentance. No longer give heed either to the carnal eyes, or to those of the mind upon that adulterer, the procurer of Gehenna and the undying worm. Take up, he says, take it up from there; for I do not want you to lie down. Tear apart the symbol of sin; wash yourself with tears, not in the font, but in the church; for God is able to grant you your first dignity. Do not teach the potter how he should correct his own vessel. Have you sinned? Be silent; do not say, "And how is it possible for me to arrive at my first dignity?" Do not say this, O virgin; for God is the one who justifies, and who is he that condemns? Hear the Master, how he upbraids despair through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: "Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not gone up?" O the compassionate physician! He does not reproach for the transgression, but for the neglect; he did not say, "Why were you struck?" but, "Why were you not healed?" He did not say, "Why did you fall?" but "Why did you not rise?" That the Lord desires to present you more brilliant through repentance, hear him speaking through Isaiah the prophet: "If they be [scarlet]..."
and confession? For I say, "Watch, for you do not know the day nor the hour" (Matt. 24:42). But from this point on, do not sin, and do not, by forsaking me, be called an adulteress. And we, too, beseech you, "Be reconciled to God," and you, O virgin, say thus: "I will wash my hands among the innocent, and will compass thine altar, O Lord" (Ps. 25:6); because you have raised up the one lying fallen, you have brought to life the one dead, you have made the defiled one splendid, you have drawn out the one drowned in sin with the hook of piety, you have led back the one who had wandered, you have redeemed the captive, you have not taken vengeance on the one who offered insult, you have recalled the fugitive, you have washed the one stained with blood, you have recovered the one captured by pleasure as if by hunting, you have made a citizen of heaven out of one worthy of Tartarus, you have delivered from Gehenna, you have redeemed from the sword, you have loosed from chains, you have deemed worthy of eternal life, you have rescued from danger, you have put the devil to shame, you have torn up the bond. O husbandman of goodly tears! What is more splendid than these miracles? Gather together, therefore, all you who have fallen into the danger of such a shipwreck; know, learn, be instructed, that the fruit of sin is death, but the fruit of the Spirit is life, peace, and sanctification. Whoever, therefore, wishes now and always to escape this death, receive all these words as an argument for salvation, and let all meditate on this always, but especially the monks and virgins, who have consecrated your bodies to the Lord; "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). For the concupiscence of the flesh has brought forth the fruit of sin, which is death; but the fruit of the Spirit is eternal life, incorruption, sanctification, and peace of soul and body. Wherefore let this be known to all of you, that no virtue is more precious than virginity for every sprout of piety; but also that nothing similar to this can be found, if that monk or virgin does not commit fornication in their mind: for the consent of the thoughts completes the whole act. For he is not a liar who said: "Everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). For no distinction is made between the male and the female; for we are all from the same lump, as the Gospel says, when it states that the will of man and the will of the flesh are the same thing (John 1:13). Therefore, it behooves A the virgin of Christ to keep herself entirely with an immaculate heart and incorrupt for her spouse as for Christ the Creator, and to look with the eyes of her mind upon Him who is "fairer in form than the children of men": to avert oneself from any idle word that is not for edification: not to consort freely with men, especially if they are immodest. But if business must be done concerning the utility of the soul, modest and temperate men are not to be repelled. One must not act with excessive familiarity nor linger; one must not converse with immodest women; let no oath proceed from your mouth: for it is a commandment of the Lord that it is not even permitted to swear by your head: "Everything," he says, "which is more than Yea and Nay, is from evil" (Matt. 5:37). Sordid and dishonest thoughts and all temptations of the flesh are to be driven away by the fear and love of Christ and by the sign of His cross. Behold, parents and mothers, brothers and sisters and children, and all things, I have commended to you, namely to the monks and virgins. Keep these things, and you shall not fall; but you also shall be worthy, who are declared the heirs of Christ, of all which goods, which have been prepared, may the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation make us worthy, by the grace, mercies, and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father be glory, honor, and adoration with the most holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. B