44 (3). To a Fallen Monk
I I 2
SAI:><T BASIL
44. To a FaUen Monk!
We do not say, 'Rejoice,' for there is no rejoicing for the wicked. Nay, disbelief still holds me fast, nor does my mind conceive so heinous an offense and so great a crime as you have committed, if the facts are really as they now appear to all. I wonder how such great wisdom was swallowed up; how such great strictness of life became relaxed; whence came such blindness that enwrapped you; how, without taking thought of anything at all, you wrought such terrible and such great destruction of souls. If this report is true, you have both consigned your own soul to the abyss and you have weakened the fervor of all who hear of this impiety.
You have been a traitor to the faith; you have failed in the struggle for good. Therefore, I grieve for you. What priest, hearing the sad story, will not lament? What ecclesiastic does not strike his breast? What layman is not saddened? What ascetic does not mourn? Perchance, even the sun has been darkened at your fall and the powers of the heavens have been made to totter because of your destruction. Even the rocks, devoid of feeling, have wept at your madness; even your enemies have lamented over your lawlessness. o appalling hardness! 0 strange cruelty! You did not fear God, nor did you reverence men, nor feel shame before your friends, but you have suffered shipwreck of all things at once; of all alike you have stripped yourself. Therefore, again I grieve for you, wretched man! You who were announcing your ardor for the kingdom have fallen from the As in the case of Letter 42, no ancient manuscript of the correspond. ence of St. Basil contains this letter. The family Ac alone recognizes it. It was first edited at Venice in 1535 with Letter 42. A few of the important manuscripts of homilies contain it, but, as it is not in the general tradition of manuscripts of homilies in which Letters 45 and 46 are found, it is considered as not even belonging to the homilies.
LETTERS
kingdom. You who were insplrmg all with a reverence for the doctrine did not have the fear of God before your eyes.
You who preach holiness are found to be polluted. You who glory in poverty are caught stealing money. You who through your guidance point out the punishment of God have drawn down chastisement upon yourself. How shall I bewail you?
How shall I grieve for you? How has the morning star, rising early, fallen and been shattered upon the earth? The two ears of everyone who hears of it will ring. How did the Nazarite2 who shone brighter than gold become darker than soot?
The worthy son of Sion,3 how did he become an unclean vessel? The remembrance of him whose knowledge of the Holy Scripture was talked about by all has today passed away with the echo of their voices. He who was quick of apprehension has perished quickly. He who had a manifold mind perpetrated a multifold offense. For those who were helped by your teaching have been injured by your destruction. Those who lent their ears to your instructions have closed their ears at your destruction. But I, lamenting and downcast, utterly despairing, eating ashes like bread and throwing sackcloth over my wound-I thus recount all your praises, or, rather, I draw up a funeral oration; I continue unconsolable and neglected, because consolation has been hidden from my eyes, and it is not possible for me to apply a salve nor oil nor a bandage, for my wound is painful. How shall I be healed?
If, then, any hope of salvation is still left to you, if any slight remembrance of God, if any desire for future rewards, if any fear of the punishments reserved for the unrepentant, come back quickly to sobriety; raise your eyes to the heavens; return to your senses; cease your wickedness; shake off the 2 Cf. Lam. 4.7·8.
3 Cf. Osee 8.8.
SAINT BASIL
drunkenness that has drenched you; stand up against him who has overthrown you. Have the strength to rise up from the earth. Remember the Good Shepherd, how He will pursue and deliver you. And if there be but 'two legs, or the tip of an ear,'4 leap back from him who has wounded you. Remember the compassion of God, how He heals with olive oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written, how he that falleth rises again, and he that is turned away turns again,S he that has been smitten is healed, he that is caught by wild beasts escapes, and he that confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he return and Jive. 6 Be not contemptuous7 as' one who has fallen into the depths of sins.
There is still time for patience, time for forbearance, time for healing, time for amendment. Have you slipped? Rise up.
Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners/ but turn aside; for then you will be saved when turning back you bewail your sins. In fact, from labors there is health; from sweat, salvation. So take heed, lest, in wishing to keep your contracts with others, you transgress your covenants with God which you confessed before many witnesses.9 Do not, therefore, because of certain human considerations, hesitate to come to me. For, receiving my dead, I shall lament; I shall care for him; 'I shall weep bitterly for the devastation of the daughter of my people.'lo All welcome you; all will aid you in your sufferings. Do not lose heart; be mindful of the days of old. There is salvation; there is amendment. Have courage; do not despair. There is no law which passes sentence
4 Cf. Amos. 3.12.
5 Cf. Jer. B.4.
6 Cf. Ezech. 18.32.
7 Cf. Provo IB.3.
8 Cf. Ps. l.l.
9 Cf. I Tim. 6.12.
10 Cf. Isa. 22.4.