137. To The Monk Lanfranc.
The Letters of St. Anselm NOTES 1. See Ep 125.
2. See Epp 128, 129.
3. Archbishop Lanfranc died on 24 May 1089.
4. The Synod of Soissons made Roscelin recant in 1092, see Ep 128.
5. See Ep 126.
6. The Apostles' Creed.
7. The Nicene Creed.
8. The Athanasian Creed.
9. Gal 1:8.
137. TO THE MONK LANFRANC.
Anselm solemnly exhorts young Lanfranc to give up the abbacy of Saint Wandrille which he had assumed against the will of Anselm, his own abbot.
BROTHER ANSELM, ALTHOUGH UNWORTHY, NEVERTHELESS ABBOT
OF THE MONASTERY OF BEC: TO BROTHER LANFRANC1, MONK OF
THE SAME COMMUNITY, WISHING HE MAY TURN FROM EVIL AND
DO GOOD.2
I, BROTHER ANSELM, your friend in God, your faithful counselor, [and] by divine providence and your election, your abbot: in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I admon ish, I advise and command you, brother Lanfranc, to read through this well-meant letter of mine attentively more than two or three times, and within your heart standing in the presence of the strict Judge in whose sight you always are, to meditate on my words and advice. If by some chance someone should happen to read this letter, you not having seen it or having refused to read it, I adjure him by almighty
God not to withhold such saving advice from your soul but to disclose this foregoing command of mine to you either by making you hear it or read it, and to show this same letter to you for you to read entirely. If he refuses to do this,
God will demand from him an accounting for your sin such that there will be no excuse for him on the day... of the reve lation of the righteous judgement of God A
The Letters of St. Anselm
Before you accepted the gift of the abbacy41 told you and others, secretly and publicly, with heart and mouth, that I did not want you to accept it, did not approve it, did not advise it, would never command you to accept it; and that if you did accept it without my instructions you would never receive the abbatial blessing from any bishop with my con sent. And yet, what I was going to feel when you did ac cept that gift was hidden from me by I know not what divine judgement. But once it had been done, the grave serious ness of the matter suddenly invaded my heart and the ter rible judgement of God revealed itself. When I heard, my belly trembled.51 considered it and was terrified. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake.61 realized what a detestable affair this was before God and before all who are enlight ened by him. Hence I say what saddens first you and through you our entire order, and most of all me, your sor rowing and blushing father, and your mother, our church; we have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those who are round about us,1 and to all those who hear about it. You have become an example of dishonor and de struction to the Church of God, for whose cause you had made yourself the source and the leader in our day and in this country.
Bear with me for speaking so severely my son, for it is not anger out of hatred which pushes me, but grief out of love which compels me. The sorrowing brother longs to come to the rescue of his brother about to perish. The trembling shepherd rushes to snatch the sheep of his awesome master from the jaws of the lion. The sorrowing father pursues the son for whom he must grieve, to pre vent him from rushing into hell. Return, therefore, return to your heart. Scrutinize your conduct and examine your mind. You have rejected eternal guidance and held fast to reproachable advice. For the Lord.. . rejects the counsel of princes, but the counsel of the Lord remains forever.8 Indeed,
Christ, the Truth, did not make you abbot; your own greed did, and the foolhardiness of those who do not understand
The Letters of St. Anselm the things of God.9 Remember that he who does not enter by the gate into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.10 The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy.11
My son, you did not enter through the gate because you did not enter through Christ. You did not enter through Christ because you did not enter through Truth. Not through Truth because not through righteousness. A monk does not enter into the abbacy through righteousness if he does not enter through election according to the Rule and through obedience. You cannot excuse yourself by saying to me: I did not enter through disobedience, because you did not forbid me. To forfeit righteousness it is enough that you did not enter through obedience. It is true that I did not say: 'I forbid you' or T command you to do it'. I con sidered it sufficient for an intelligent person that, I repeat edly said: 'my heart does not wish or approve it. My mouth does not advise it, did not command and will not command it. If you accept the abbacy without my instructions, you will never receive a blessing from the archbishop'. For a monk should not wait for an oral command when he knows the will or the advice of his abbot. If you did not enter through the door, therefore, it is difficult for me to say, but you should ponder and perceive what Truth, who witnesses what you have come to, will call you. c. 1089/92.
NOTES 1. The nephew of Archbishop Lanfranc; see Ep 25, and Rule I: 285-288.
2. Ps 36:27.
3. Rom 2:5.
4. Abbot Gerbert of Saint Wandrille died on 4 September 1089; see also VA 77.
5. Hab 3:16.
6. Jer 23:9.
7. Ps 78:4.
8. Ps 32:10.
9. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14.
10. Jn 10:1.
11. Jn 10:10.