About the fallen

The treatise “On the Fallen” was written by Sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage in the spring of 251 or at the end of 250 - beginning of 251. The work is of a church-disciplinary nature. The main question is about joining the Church of those who fell during the persecution of Decius. Presumably the treatise was read at the Council of Carthage in 251 under the chairmanship of the schemm. Cyprian and became the basis for resolving the issue of the fallen for the entire African Church. The author thanks God for the end of the persecution and expresses joy at the firmness shown by many disciples and confessors. He says that “to fall into the hands of the pagans and there confess the Lord is the first victory; to carefully hide in order to thereby preserve oneself for the Lord is the second step to glory.” St. Cyprian perceives the persecution of Christians as a test sent by the Lord for violating church discipline during a period of peace. He laments the falling away of a significant number of Christians and divides the fallen into several categories: - those who made sacrifices to idols and voluntarily renounced their faith after the first threats. They can hardly earn forgiveness; - those who were broken only after torture and torture. They deserve leniency; - those who received false testimony (libellus) about the performance of the sacrifice. They did not defile their hands, but they stained their conscience. All fallen must be allowed to repent, after which they can receive absolution through the priests. Exploring the causes of the fall, the author points to insufficient repentance for previous sins and a weakening of the spirit of Christian life. St. Cyprian sharply condemns the practice of some confessors to imprudently admit the fallen to the church sacraments by giving them communicative letters. Thus, confessors give them an invalid and false peace, harmful for those who give and not at all useful for those who receive. Reconciliation with the Church must be preceded by sincere repentance: “God is always loving and good as a Father; but He is also terrible in His greatness as a Judge. No matter how much we have sinned, so much must we cry. A deep wound must be healed diligently and for a long time. Repentance should not be less than a crime.” The treatise touches on the doctrine of the Eucharist, which is the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross. The priest before the throne takes the place of Christ and accurately reproduces what the Lord has done for us. St. Cyprian confesses the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. *The title of the work in Latin is De lapsis. So peace has been returned to the Church, beloved brothers, and - what recently seemed difficult for those of little faith, and impossible for the unbelievers - with the help and retribution of the Lord, peace has again been granted to us! My soul feels joyful again: the storm and the cloud of persecution are dissipated - calm and clear weather has arrived. We must praise and solemnly thank God for His blessings and gifts (although even during the persecution our lips did not cease to send thanks to Him, for the enemy was not given so much power that he would take away from us the opportunity to always and everywhere bless and glorify the Lord - from us who love Him with all our heart, with all our soul and strength). The day everyone had longed for came, and after the terrible and terrible darkness of a long night, the world shone, illuminated by the light of the Lord. With joyful eyes we look at the confessors, glorious by the confession of a good name, worthy of praise for their valor and faith; clinging to the holy embrace, with insatiable love we embrace those long desired. Before us is a bright host of soldiers of Christ, who, being ready to endure prison, armed to endure death, with their steadfastness calmed the storm of the persecution that had befallen them. You have stood up to the world with courage; a brilliant spectacle was presented to God; were an example for subsequent brothers. A pious voice proclaimed Christ, in whom, according to your confession, you once and for all believed. Glorious hands, accustomed only to divine actions, refused to serve in sacrilegious sacrifices. The lips, sanctified by heavenly food, after the Body and Blood of the Lord did not want to touch anything pagan - they spat on the idol’s remains. Your head remained free from the wicked and lawless cover with which the captive heads of those who offered sacrifices were covered there; a pure forehead with the sign of God could not wear the devil’s crown - it preserved itself for the crown of the Lord. Oh, with what delight the Mother Church welcomes you into her arms as you return from battle! With what bliss and with what joy does it open its gates so that you can enter in united troops, bearing monuments of victory over the defeated enemy! With the triumphant husbands come also the wives, in the image of having conquered even their own sex in peace; both maidens come with the extreme glory of their warlikeness, and youths whose valor exceeds their years. Your glory is followed by the rest of the multitude of “stayers”; with very close to yours and almost identical commendable differences, and they follow in your footsteps; and in them there is the same sincerity of the heart, the same integrity of unshakable faith. Established on the unshakable foundations of the heavenly commandments and strengthened by the gospel traditions, they were not afraid of either the prescribed exiles or the torments prescribed for them: neither the loss of property, nor the torture of the body. Time limits were set for the test of faith; but whoever remembers that he has renounced the world does not know any temporal term: he who expects eternity from God no longer thinks about earthly times. Let no one, beloved brothers, let no one diminish this glory; Let no one belittle the undamaged firmness of those who “resist” with malicious slander. When the time appointed for renouncing the faith had passed, those who did not renounce within the time limit thereby confessed that they were Christians. To fall into the hands of the pagans and there to confess the Lord is the first victory; to carefully hide in order to preserve oneself for the Lord through this is the second step to glory. There the confession is nationwide; here is a secret. He defeats the worldly judge; and this one, content with God as his judge, keeps his conscience pure in the integrity of his heart. Courage is more visible there; here the anxiety itself is calmer. As his hour approaches, he is found already ripe; and this, perhaps, was only delayed: having left the hereditary property, he hid for the fact that he did not want to renounce, and he, of course, would have confessed Christ if he had been captured. These heavenly crowns of martyrs, these spiritual distinctions of confessors, these greatest and excellent virtues of the steadfast brothers are darkened by one sorrow - the sorrow that the cruel enemy, with his devastating defeat, overthrew the part that was torn from our insides. What should I do about this, dearest brothers? What should I, overwhelmed by different thoughts, say? Tears, more than words, are needed to express the pain with which we must mourn the ulcer of our body - the manifold death of a people, once numerous. And who would be so insensitive and hard-hearted, so alien to brotherly love, that, seeing the manifold ruins of his neighbors, being among their deplorable and extremely disfigured remains, he could keep his eyes dry and, with an involuntary sob breaking out, would not reveal his condolences with tears before his voice? I am sick, brothers, I am sick together with you, and neither my own integrity nor my private health serves to mitigate my illness: the wound inflicted on the flock primarily affects the shepherd. My heart is connected to each of you; with everyone I share the burden of sorrow and hardship: with those who weep I weep, with those who weep I weep, with those who lie down and I consider myself lying down. And my members, along with yours, were pierced by the same arrows of the furious enemy: the same fierce swords passed through my womb. My spirit could not be removed and free from the scourge of persecution: in the defeated brothers, love also cast me down. However, beloved brothers, one must be truthful; the gloomy darkness of hostile persecution should not have blinded the mind and feeling so much that there was no light left at all, no light left in which one could discern divine destinies. If we find out the cause of the lesion, then there will be a cure for the wound. The Lord wanted to test his family, and since the long-lasting peace damaged the teaching handed down to us from above, heavenly Providence itself restored the lying and, so to speak, almost dormant faith. Moreover, while we deserved more, the all-merciful Lord arranged everything so that what happened seemed more like a test than persecution. After all, everyone began to worry about increasing their inherited wealth and, forgetting about how believers acted under the apostles and how they should always act, they rushed with an insatiable desire to increase their property. Sincere piety was no longer noticeable in priests, pure faith in ministers, mercy in deeds, deanery in morals. The men disfigured their beards, the women painted their faces. The eyes - the creation of God's hands - are distorted; hair is decorated with lies. They resort to insidious tricks to capture the hearts of ordinary people, and lure brothers with seductive baits. They enter into marital unions with infidels, and offer members of Christ to the pagans. They not only swear recklessly, but also commit perjury. With proud arrogance they despise the leaders of the church, with poisonous lips they slander each other, and with stubborn hatred they create mutual discord. Very many bishops, who should admonish others and be an example for them, having ceased to care about the divine, began to care about the worldly: having left the see, leaving the people, they wander through foreign regions, trying not to miss trading days for selfish profit, and when the brothers in the Church are hungry, they, carried away by covetousness, insidiously take over the fraternal incomes and, lending more often, increase their profits. What did we not deserve to endure for such sins, when even earlier, as a warning to us, the following divine definition was expressed: “If they forsake ... My law and do not walk in My destinies; If they profane My justifications and do not keep My commandments, I will visit them with the rod of iniquity, and with the stripes of their iniquity” (Ps 89.31-33)? All this is foreshadowed and predicted to us in advance. But we, not caring about the law given to us and about fulfilling it, despising the commands of the Lord, made it our sins that more cruel means were required to correct the crime and for the divine test. And then, even if it’s too late, we should turn to the fear of the Lord in order to patiently and courageously undergo this correction and divine test of ours - but no! Immediately, at the first words of the threatening enemy, a large number of brothers sold their faith and, not being overthrown by the storm of persecution, overthrew themselves by voluntary fall. What, tell me, happened that was unheard of, what was new, so that we should betray the sacrament of Christ with reckless haste, as if something unknown and unexpected had happened? Did not the prophets announce this first, and then the apostles? Did not men filled with the Holy Spirit predict that the righteous would always be persecuted and oppressed by the pagans? Does not the Divine Scripture, which always strengthens our faith and inspires the servants of God with a heavenly voice, first say: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him only” (Deut. 6.13)? And then doesn’t it point to the anger and indignation of God and doesn’t it threaten execution, saying: “And having bowed down to those who have made their fingers: the man bowed down and the man humbled himself, and I will not endure them” (Isaiah 2.8-9)? And again God says: “Whoever sacrifices to God, let him be consumed by death, but only to the Lord” (Exodus 22.20). Next. The Lord, Teacher in word and Perfecter in deed, teaching what should be done and doing what he taught, did not he previously foretell in the Gospel everything that is happening now and will happen? Isn’t He preordaining eternal torment for those who reject Him and saving rewards for those who confess Him? O wickedness! All this has been forgotten, all has faded from the memory of some. They did not even wait to go, at least not until they were captured; deny when asked. Many were defeated before the battle, overthrown without a fight and did not even leave for themselves any visible pretext, as if they were sacrificing to idols under duress. They willingly run to the marketplace, voluntarily hasten to death - as if they were glad to see an opportunity that they had always been looking forward to! How many rulers there gave a reprieve because evening had come, and how many even asked that their destruction not be delayed! What power can one who has used all his effort to perish express to cleanse his crime? And was it really possible that when he walked to the Capitol, when he began to carry out a grave crime, his legs did not give way, his gaze did not darken, his womb did not tremble, his muscles did not weaken? Hasn't his senses become dulled, his tongue hasn't become numb, his words haven't dried up? And could a servant of God stand there, speak and renounce Christ, who had already renounced the devil and the world? Wasn’t the altar to which he approached a deadly fire for him? Shouldn't he have been afraid of the devil's altar, which he saw smoking and emitting a foul odor, and run from it as from a funeral pyre threatening his life? Why, unfortunate one, are you still proclaiming a sacrifice for slaughter? You yourself are a victim on this altar, you yourself came for your slaughter. You pawned your salvation, your hope there, with those disastrous fires you burned your faith. For many, their own destruction was not enough - the people were moved to destruction by mutual exhortations: they mutually offered each other to drink death from a deadly vessel. Moreover, to complete the crime, even babies brought or attracted by the hands of their parents are young children - and they lost what they received soon after their birth. Will they not say, when the Day of Judgment comes: “We did nothing wrong, leaving food and the cup of the Lord, we did not rush voluntarily to a pagan feast. We were destroyed by the treachery of others; We consider our parents to be our murderers: they tore us away from the Mother Church, from the Father God, and we, small, unreasonable, not understanding the importance of such a grave crime, became through others accomplices of lawlessness - caught in the cunning of others. And alas! There is no just or right reason that would justify such a crime. It was necessary to leave the fatherland, to leave an inherited property: for who among those who are born and then die will not someday have to part with the fatherland and leave their inheritance? Only there is no need to leave Christ; Only the loss of salvation and the loss of an eternal home need be feared. Here the Holy Spirit calls through the prophet: “Retreat, retreat, come out from here and do not touch uncleanness, come out from among it, separate yourself, you who bear the vessels of the Lord” (Isaiah 52.11). And here those who are themselves the vessels of the Lord and the church of God do not come from the environment and do not retreat in order to avoid touching uncleanness and not being forced to defile themselves with food sacrificed to idols! A voice is still heard from heaven, teaching the servants of God how they should act: “Come out of her, my people, and do not partake of her sin, and do not be harmed by her wounds” (Rev 18.4). He who departs and retreats avoids participation in sin; and whoever becomes an accomplice in a crime exposes himself to blows. That is why the Lord commanded to hide and run away during persecution: this is what He taught and this is what He Himself did. The crown is given according to God's honor, and it cannot be received until the hour comes to accept it. And therefore, whoever, abiding in Christ, retreats for a while, does not renounce the faith, but only waits for time. If someone fell without hiding, it means that he remained with the intention of renouncing. We should not, beloved brothers, hide the truth, we should not remain silent about the occasion and reason for our defeat. Many were deceived by blind love for their inherited property: those who were bound by their wealth, like shackles, were not ready and could not retreat. For those who remained, these were bonds, these were chains that restrained their valor, suppressed faith, conquered the mind, shackled the soul and, tied to earthly things, became prey and food for the serpent, devouring, according to God’s verdict, the earth. That is why the Lord, instructing us in goodness and warning us for the future, said: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor: and have treasure in heaven, and come after Me” (Matthew 19.21). If the rich did this, they would not perish through their wealth; if they had laid up their treasure in heaven, then they would now have no domestic enemy and conqueror: heart, soul and feeling would be in heaven, if there was treasure in heaven, and the world could not defeat one who had nothing in the world to conquer. Detached and free, he would follow the Lord, as the apostles and many under the apostles did, as others often did, who, having left their property and relatives, clung to Christ in an indissoluble union. Otherwise, how can those who are held back by the bonds of inheritance follow Christ? How to reach the sky, ascend to the heights and to the heavenly ones who are burdened with earthly desires? Slaves of their wealth - they consider themselves owners, when in fact they are possessed; no, they are not masters, but slaves of their money! The apostle designates this time and these people, saying: “But those who want to get rich fall into adversity and snares, and into many foolish and destructive lusts, which plunge people into destruction and destruction; For the love of money is the root of all evil, for which no one desires, having gone astray from the faith, and having brought upon himself many sicknesses” (1 Tim. 6.9-10). Meanwhile, what rewards does the Lord promise us for disdaining property? What benefits does He reward for these small and insignificant temporary losses? “There is no one,” he says, “who will leave home, or parents, or brothers, or sisters, or wife, or children, for the sake of God, in abundance in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18.29-30). Knowing this and having a correct concept of the truth of the promises of the Lord, we should not only not fear, but also desire such loss, especially since the Lord again proclaims and exhorts: “Blessed will you be when men hate you, and when they separate you and revile you and carry your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of man, rejoice in that day, for behold, your reward is great in heaven” (Luke 6.22–23). “But then torture came and those who resisted were threatened with severe torment.” But can someone who has been overcome by torture refer to torture? Can anyone who is overcome by pain find an excuse in pain? He can only plead, saying: “I wanted to fight courageously and, remembering my oath, armed myself with the armor of devotion and the faithful, but in the battle, various torments and prolonged torture overpowered me, the fighter. The mind remained unshakable, the faith was strong, and the unyielding soul struggled for a long time with painful executions. But when the brutality of the hard-hearted judge intensified and I, already exhausted, began to be flogged with rods, beaten with sticks, stretched on a wooden horse, scraped with claws, roasted on fire, then my flesh abandoned me in the battle, the weakness of the womb gave way, and it was not my spirit that fainted in illness, but my body.” Such a circumstance can promote forgiveness. Such an excuse may deserve compassion. So once upon a time, here too, the Lord granted forgiveness to Castus and Emilius: He made those defeated in the first battle victors in the second, and those who first yielded to the fire later became stronger than the fire and won victory over what they themselves had previously been defeated by. But they begged for mercy not with tears, but with wounds, not only with a tearful voice, but with ulcers and body diseases - instead of sobs, blood flowed from them, ichor oozed from their half-burnt entrails. What wounds can the vanquished now show, what ulcers of gaping entrails, what injuries to members, when faith was not destroyed in battle, but treachery prevented the battle? There cannot be an excuse for the necessity of a crime where the crime was voluntary. However, I say this not in order to increase the guilt of the brothers, but in order to more encourage them to satisfactory prayer. The Scripture says: “Your evil flatters you and troubles the paths of your feet” (Isaiah 3.12). He who caresses a sinner with flattering caresses only disposes him more towards sin and does not suppress crimes, but feeds him. But whoever exposes his brother with strict advice and instructs him together contributes to his salvation. “If I love them,” says the Lord, “I rebuke and punish” (Rev 3.19). Thus, a priest of God should not deceive with flattering services, but provide for saving medicines. The doctor who lightly only palpates the swollen convolutions of wounds is not skillful: by keeping the poison contained inside, in deep depressions, he only increases its strength. It is necessary to open the wound, cut it and, having cleared it of pus, apply a strong plaster to it. Let the patient cry out, let him scream, let him complain about unbearable pain - he will thank you later when he feels healthy. And then, beloved brothers, a new kind of defeat appeared, and, as if the storm of persecution were not raging enough, to compensate for it, seductive evil and destruction arose under the guise of compassion. Some, contrary to the essence of the Gospel, contrary to the law of the Lord and God, out of their recklessness allow the imprudent to communicate, give them an invalid and false peace, harmful for those who give and not at all useful for those who receive. They do not seek recovery in patience and true healing in satisfaction. Repentance has been driven out of hearts, the memory of the gravest and most extreme lawlessness has been erased. The wounds of the dying are closed, and the deadly ulcer, deeply embedded within, is covered with feigned compassion. Returning from the altars of the devil, with unclean and smoke-infected hands, they approach the shrine of the Lord. Those who regurgitate idolatrous food with lips that even now exhale their iniquity and smell of fatal infection, accept the Body of the Lord, despite the fact that Divine Scripture forbids this, crying loudly: “Let everyone who is clean eat meat; But even if a soul eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of salvation that is for the Lord, and its uncleanness is on it, its soul will perish from its people" (Lev. 7.19-20). The Apostle testifies to the same thing, saying: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons" (1 Cor 10.21). but he makes the following threat to the stubborn and rebellious: “Whoever eats this bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11.27). Having imputed this to nothing and despising all this, before atonement for their sins, confessing their crime, clearing their conscience with the Sacrament of repentance and the laying on of the priestly hand to appease the Lord, who is indignant and threatening for the insult inflicted on Him, they rape His Body and Blood and, thus, with their hands and lips they now sin against the Lord more than when they rejected the Lord. They consider as peace what some people offer them as peace in false words. No - this is not peace, but abuse. Why call a lie a blessing? Why give the name of piety to wickedness? Why, having prevented repentant weeping, feignedly enter into communication with those who must constantly weep and beg their Lord? It is to the fallen what hail is to fruit, a storm is to trees, a pestilence is to flocks, a hurricane is to ships. They take away the consolation of an eternal reward, they uproot a tree, with disastrous speech they imperceptibly lead them towards a deadly infection, they direct the ship towards underwater rocks so that it does not enter the pier. This indulgence does not bring peace, but destroys; it does not provide communication, but serves as an obstacle to salvation. This is another persecution, another temptation, in which the cunning enemy, who continues to attack the fallen, produces secret devastation in that the sobbing stops, the illness becomes silent, the sigh of the heart is suppressed, the tears stop, and the fallen cease to appease the offended Lord with prolonged and complete repentance, while the Scripture says: “remember... from where you slept, and repent” (Rev. 2.5). Let no one deceive himself, let no one deceive himself. Only the Lord can have mercy; He alone can grant remission of sins committed against Him, since He bore our sins, and suffered for us, and God betrayed Him for our sins. Man cannot be higher than God, and a slave cannot release by indulgence or grant what has been committed against the Lord as a grave sin. Let not ignorance of what is said in Scripture be added to the crime of the fallen: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man” (Jer 17.5). One must beg the Lord; The Lord must be appeased by our repentance. Who said that He rejects the one who rejects, and Who alone received all judgment from the Father. We believe that the merits of the martyrs and the deeds of the righteous can do a lot for the Judge, but this refers to the time when, with the end of this age and the world, His people will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Meanwhile, if anyone thinks that he, a foolish person, through his untimely haste, can grant remission of sins to everyone or dares to abolish the commandments of the Lord, then he not only does not help, but also harms the fallen. Not to obey the sentence, to think that one should not pray to God for mercy and, having despised the Lord, to rely on one’s own strength means inviting anger upon oneself. Under the altar of God, the souls of the beaten martyrs cry out in a loud voice: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood from those living on the earth?” (Rev 6.10). And meanwhile they are commanded to calm down and be patient. Is it good, therefore, to wish that someone could, in spite of the Judge, forgive indiscriminately and absolve sins, protect others without first being avenged himself? Do the martyrs command to do anything? If this is fair, permissible, and not contrary to the Lord himself, then the priest of God must do: it is easy and convenient to agree to fulfillment when moderation is observed in the petition. Do the martyrs command to do anything? If what is commanded is not written in the law of the Lord, then it is first necessary to find out whether they have asked from the Lord what they require, and then do what is commanded: for the greatness of God does not always permit that which is given a human promise. And Moses once asked for the sins of the people, but did not ask for forgiveness of those who sinned. “I pray to you,” he said, “Lord: people have sinned this great sin and created for themselves gods of gold: and now, if you forgive them their sin, forgive them; and if not, blot me out of your book, you wrote it in the book. And the Lord spoke to Moses: If anyone sins against me, I will blot him out of my book” (Ex. 32.31-33). He, a friend of God, who often spoke face to face with the Lord, could not receive what he asked and with his prayer did not atone for the insult that brought God’s indignation! God praises Jeremiah and speaks of his destiny: “Before I created you in the womb, I knew you; ordained you" (Jer 1.5); and yet, when he often prayed and asked for the sins of the people, God said: “Do not pray for these people, and do not ask that they may receive mercy, and do not pray, come to Me for them, lest I hear you” (Jer 7.16). Who is more righteous than Noah, who alone was found righteous when the whole earth was filled with sins? Who is more glorious than Daniel, more steadfast in his strength of faith in enduring torment? To whom did God favor more than him, who won the fight so many times and remained alive in victory? Who is more active than Job, more steadfast in temptation, more patient in illness, more submissive in fear, more true in faith? And yet, when the prophet Ezekiel pleaded for the people's crime, God said that even if they had pleaded, He would not have respected their prayers. “If the earth sins against Me,” He says, “it should feed on sin, I will stretch out My hand over it and wipe away the grain, and I will cause famine to fall upon it, and I will take away men and beasts from it. And if these three men are among it, Noah and Daniel and Job... neither their sons nor their daughters will be saved, but only these alone will be saved” (Ezek). 14:13–14, 16) So, everything that is asked for depends not on the reasoning of the one asking, but on the will of the giver, and a human decision has no significance or power if it is not confirmed by the judgment of God. But the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven; I will deny him and I” (Matthew 10.32–33). If He does not reject the one who rejects, then He does not confess the one who confesses. The Gospel cannot be steadfast in one way and yielding in another—either both must remain in force, or both must lose the force of truth. If those who deny are not guilty of a crime, then those who confess will not receive a reward for their valor. Further, if the faith that triumphs is crowned, then it is necessary that the defeated treachery be punished. Thus, martyrs either can do nothing if the Gospel can be violated; or if it cannot be violated, then those who become martyrs according to the Gospel cannot do anything contrary to the Gospel. No one, beloved brothers, let no one dishonor the dignity of the martyrs, let no one take away their glory and crowns. Their strength of unharmed faith is unshakable, and he who has all his hope and faith and valor in Christ cannot say or do anything contrary to Christ. Those who themselves have fulfilled God’s commands cannot demand from bishops anything contrary to the command of God. And who is this greater from God, surpassing His goodness with his mercy, who would want to destroy what God has allowed, or would come to the idea that he can support us with his help, as if God has little power to protect his Church? Did this really happen without the knowledge of God? Did everything really happen without His permission? The Divine Scripture admonishes the foolish and, as a reminder to those who forget, says: “Who gave Jacob and Israel to those who took him captive to plunder? Is it not God who sinned against Him and did not desire to walk in His ways, nor to listen...to Him? And bring upon her the wrath of his wrath” (Isaiah 42.24–25). And in another place it testifies thus: “The hand of the Lord cannot save through food? Or have you grown so heavy that you cannot hear? But your sins are dividing between you and God, and sin for your sakes, turn away its face from you, lest it have mercy” (Isaiah 59.1-2). Let us pay special attention to our sins and, having analyzed our actions and spiritual secrets, weigh the merits of our conscience. Let us remember that we did not walk in the ways of the Lord, rejected the law of God, and never wanted to keep His saving commandments and commandments. And what good can you say about what fear or what faith you attribute to someone whom danger could not correct and persecution itself did not transform? The proud and straight neck did not bend, despite the fact that it fell; the arrogant and arrogant spirit is not tamed, although it is defeated. The one lying down threatens those standing, the wounded one threatens the uninjured, and the blasphemer is indignant at the priests of God for not suddenly allowing him to receive the Body of the Lord with unclean hands and drink the Blood of the Lord with defiled lips. O thy extreme madness, furious one! You are indignant at the one who is trying to turn away the wrath of God from you; you threaten the one who begs God’s mercy for you, who feels your wound, which you do not feel, sheds tears for you, which you yourself, perhaps, do not shed. In this way you only aggravate and increase your crime and, being yourself unforgiving towards the leaders and priests of God, do you really think that the Lord can be merciful to you? It is better to accept and admit to yourself what we say. Why don’t your deaf ears hear the saving commandments expressed by us? Why do blind eyes not see the repentance we indicate? Why does the stricken and alienated mind not understand the life benefits that we extract and offer from the heavenly Scriptures? However, if unbelievers have no faith in the future, then at least let the present frighten them. Here before our eyes are the executions that befell those who denied Christ, whose sad outcome we mourn. They cannot remain unpunished here either, although the day of punishment has not yet arrived: some are punished temporarily so that others can reform; torments for a few are examples for all. Thus, one who entered the capitol to renounce, as soon as he denied Christ, became speechless. The punishment began where the crime began, so that, deprived of the gift of speech to ask for mercy, he could no longer ask. Another, while in the bathhouse (for the only thing missing from her crime and sins was to go immediately to the bathhouse, as soon as she lost the grace of the vital font), the unclean one, being seized by an unclean spirit, bit her tongue, with which she either ungodly ate or spoke. After eating the wicked food, the enraged lips armed themselves for their own destruction. She herself became her own executioner and after that she could not stay alive for long: she died, exhausted by diseases of the womb and viscera. But listen to what happened in front of me, to which I myself witnessed. Some parents, running away in anxiety and confusion, left their little daughter in the care of a nurse. She took her to the rulers; and they - since the baby could not, due to her youth, eat meat - gave her to eat in front of the idol, where the people flocked, bread mixed with wine left over from the offerings to idols. The daughter was subsequently handed over to her mother. But the girl could neither detect nor express the crime that had been committed, just as she could neither understand it nor resist it before. So, out of ignorance, it happened that the mother brought it with her when we performed the Divine service. The little one, finding herself among the saints and not being able to withstand our prayers and supplications, began to sob and rush in all directions like a madwoman: a young soul at such a tender age, as if under the torture of an executioner, showed with all sorts of signs the consciousness of her crime. When, at the end of the Divine service, the deacon began to offer the cup to those present and, after others had accepted it, it was her turn, the little one, by inspiration from above, turned away her face, clenched her lips, covered her mouth, and refused the cup. However, the deacon insisted and, despite resistance, poured some of the sacrament into her mouth. Then hiccups and vomiting followed: the Eucharist could not remain in the body and mouth of the damaged innards. Such is the power, such is the greatness of the Lord! Before His light the darkest secrets are revealed, and hidden crimes did not deceive the priest of God. The incident described concerns a child who, due to his youth, could not report someone else’s atrocity against him. And here is another case: during our sacred rite, one adult and already mature woman secretly approached and, having taken not food, but a sword for herself, swallowed as if a deadly poison, began to suffer and writhe, as if in a fever, and then, having suffered the disease not of persecution, but of her sin, she died in writhing and convulsions. The hidden crime of a feigned conscience did not remain unpunished for long: the one who deceived a person found an avenger in God. Another woman, who attempted with unworthy hands to open her ark, in which the shrine of the Lord was kept, was frightened by the fire that came from there and did not dare to touch it. Also, someone, also defiled, who, after the priest had performed the Divine Service, dared to accept part of the sacrament along with the others, could neither taste the shrine of the Lord nor touch it: opening his hands, he saw that he was carrying ashes in them. This incident indicates that the Lord retreats when they deny Him, and that what is acceptable does not in the least serve to save the unworthy, since saving grace, after the removal of holiness, turns into ashes. And how many who do not repent and do not come to the consciousness of their sin are daily possessed by evil spirits! How many, completely losing their minds, are tormented by frantic demons! However, there is no need to monitor the outcome of each: with the variety of misadventures in the world, the punishment for sins is as different as the number of sinners is large. It is better for everyone to think not about what another has suffered, but about what he himself deserves to suffer. No one thinks that he has escaped execution if it is postponed for a while; all the more so may he be afraid of the execution that the wrath of the Judge God has provided for himself. Let also those who, although they have not desecrated their hands with wicked sacrifices, have nevertheless stained their consciences with writings (libellis), do not flatter themselves that they do not need to repent. After all, this is also the confession of the renunciant; what happened testifies to a Christian who refuses: he recognized himself as having done what another actually did on his behalf. And as the Scripture says: “No one can work for two masters” (Matthew 6.24), then he served a worldly master who fulfilled his command and obeyed the command of man rather than God. Let it seem to him that what he has done should seem less ugly and criminal in the eyes of people. However, he could not hide and run away from God the Judge when the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms: “Your eyes have seen what I have done” (Ps 139.16); and again: “a person sees on his face. But God looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16.7). Also, the Lord himself reminds and foreshadows this, saying: “and all the churches will understand that I am the one who tests the hearts and the wombs” (Rev 2.23). He also sees the hidden, discerns the secret and hidden. No one can hide from the eyes of God, Who says: “God draw near, I am, ... and not God from afar. What if someone hides himself in the hidden, and I will not see him? ...Do I not fill heaven and earth with food?” (Jer 23.23–24)? He sees the heart dispositions of everyone; He will judge not by our deeds alone, but also by our words and thoughts; thoughts and desires that arose in the innermost recesses of the heart are clear before Him. Finally, how much higher in faith, better in fear are those who, although they have not committed a crime either through sacrifices to idols or through writing, but because they thought about it, with pain and sincerity they confess it before the priests of God, cleanse their conscience with confession, lay down the burden of their spirit, seek a saving medicine for their small and light wounds, remembering what is said in Scripture: “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6.7). You cannot mock and mock God, you cannot deceive Him with any cunning deceit. Yes, he sins more who, reasoning about God as a person, thinks to avoid punishment for a crime when the crime was committed by him secretly. Christ in his commandments says: “If anyone... is ashamed of Me..., the Son of man will be ashamed of Him” (Mk 8.38). And does anyone consider himself a Christian who is ashamed or afraid of being a Christian? How can one be with Christ who is ashamed or afraid to belong to Christ? Of course, he sinned less by not seeing idols, not denying the holiness of the faith in the eyes of the approaching and cursing people, not staining his hands with idolatrous sacrifices, not desecrating his lips with unclean foods. All this helps to reduce guilt, but not to ensure that the conscience remains innocent. It is easier for him to achieve forgiveness for a crime, but he is not completely free from crime. Let him not cease to bring repentance and ask the Lord for mercy, so that what seems like a small sin does not become large through neglect of repentance. I beg you, dearest brothers! Let everyone confess his sin while the sinner is still in this world, while his confession can be accepted, while satisfaction and remission through the priests please the Lord. Let us turn to the Lord with all our thoughts and, expressing repentance for the crime with true sorrow, we will implore God’s mercy. Let the soul prostrate itself before Him, let sorrow satisfy Him, let all hope be placed on Him! And how we should pray, He Himself teaches. “Turn,” he says, “to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning, and rend your hearts, and not your garments” (Joel 2.12–13). Let us turn to the Lord with all our hearts, let us appease His anger and indignation, as He Himself inspires, by fasting, crying and weeping! But can one be considered lamenting from the bottom of his heart, beseeching the Lord by fasting, crying and sobbing by one who, from the very beginning of the crime, washes himself daily in a bathhouse with women, who, satiated with abundant feasts, fattening himself with fatty dishes, the next day regurgitates undigested food and does not share his food and drink with the needy beggars? How does one mourn his death who acts cheerfully and joyfully, and when the Scripture says: “Do not shave your arms” (Lev. 19:27), shaves his beard and adorns his face? Or is he trying to please someone now that he has become disgusted with God? Does she also groan and lament who dresses herself in precious clothing, but does not think about the clothing of Christ that she has lost? Who puts on expensive jewelry and artistic necklaces and does not mourn the loss of divine and heavenly decoration? Even if you dress up in foreign clothes and silk dresses, you are naked. Even if you adorn yourself with gold, pearls, and precious stones, without the adornment of Christ you are ugly. Tidying up your hair, at least stop doing it now - in sorrow! Rubbing your eyebrows with black powder, at least now wash your eyes with tears! After all, if you had lost through death someone dear to you, then you would surely have complained and cried - with an untidy face, a change of clothes, unkempt hair, a gloomy appearance and drooping lips, you would have expressed your grief. But you, unfortunate one, have lost your soul; having died spiritually, you have experienced yourself here and, walking, you carry your corpse; and yet you do not cry bitterly, do not grieve constantly, do not seclude yourself in order to either hide the shame of the crime or continue to lament! This is the worst sinful wound, this is a greater crime - to sin and not repent, to commit a crime and not mourn it! The glorious and noble youths, Ananias, Azariah and Misail, did not consider it unnecessary to confess to God, even among the flames and fire of a red-hot furnace; being calm in conscience, having more than once pleased the Lord by testifying to their faith and fear towards Him, they, however, even amid the brilliant proofs of their virtues, did not cease to maintain humility and satisfy the Lord. Divine Scripture says that Azariah, standing, prayed and, opening his lips, together with his comrades confessed to God in the midst of the fire (Dan 3.25–45). Likewise, Daniel, despite the repeated approval of his faith and integrity, despite the fact that the Lord often showed him his favor for his virtues and praiseworthy qualities, still tries to please God by fasting, is exposed in sackcloth and ashes, bringing confession and saying: “Lord God, great and wonderful, keep Your covenant and Your mercy to those who love You and keep Your commandments! We have sinned, we have been lawless, we have been dishonest, we have apostatized and strayed from Your commandments and from Your judgments and have not obeyed Your servant the prophets who spoke in Your name to our kings...and to all the people of the earth. You, Lord, have the truth, but we are ashamed” (Dan 9.4–7). This is how meek, simple and blameless people acted to please the Majesty of God; and now those who have denied the Lord refuse to satisfy the Lord and plead with Him! I pray you, brothers, resort to saving means, listen to sound advice: combine your tears with our tears, add your lamentations to our lamentations! We ask you so that we can ask for you. We first turn to you those prayers with which we beg the Lord for your mercy. Bring complete repentance, prove the sorrow of the sick and mourning spirit! Do not be disturbed by the unreasonable error or vainglorious recklessness of some who, being obsessed with such a serious crime, are at the same time stricken with blindness of mind, so as not to understand and mourn their sins. This is the greatest punishment of an angry God, as the Scripture says: “The Lord give you the spirit of compunction” (Isaiah 29.10); and again: “Because of the love of the truth, I did not accept the hedgehog to be saved; and for this reason God will send upon them the power of flattery, so that they may believe a lie, so that all who did not believe the truth, but were pleased with unrighteousness, may receive judgment” (2 Thess. 2:10-12). Pleased with themselves in untruth, maddened by the perversion of a stricken mind, they despise the commandments of the Lord, neglect healing the wound, and do not want to repent. Reckless before committing a crime, they are stubborn even after the crime; unstable before, they are still disobedient. When they should have stood, they lay down; when they should lie down and prostrate themselves before God, they find it necessary to stand. They have appropriated to themselves a world that no one is giving them. Deceived by a false promise and united with apostates and treacherous people, they accept lies for truth; They consider it indispensable to communicate with those who do not have communication with them; they believe people in spite of God, whereas they did not believe God in spite of people. Avoid such people as much as you can! With salutary caution, move away from those who cling to what is harmful. their union! “Their word...spreads like a cancer” (2 Tim 2:17); conversation spreads like an infection; harmful and poisonous confidence kills worse than any persecution. There remains repentance that could satisfy, but those who reject repentance for crime block the path to satisfaction. Thus, when some foolishly promise false salvation, while others believe it, hope for true salvation is taken away. But you, beloved brothers, who nurture the fear of God in yourselves, whose spirit, although fallen, nevertheless remembers its misfortune, carefully, with repentance and contrition, consider your sins, recognize the full gravity of the crime of conscience, open the eyes of your heart to the understanding of your sin, without, however, despairing of the Lord’s mercy, but also without appropriating forgiveness for yourself. God is always loving and good as a Father; but He is also terrible in His greatness as a Judge. No matter how much we have sinned, so much must we cry. A deep wound must be healed diligently and for a long time. Repentance should not be less than a crime. Do you think that it will soon be possible to appease God, whom you denied with treacherous words, to whom you preferred your inheritance, whose church you desecrated with a sacrilegious infection? Do you think that it is easy for you to receive pardon from Him Whom you did not recognize as yours? We need to pray harder and ask; one must spend the day in weeping, the night in vigil and tears, fill the entire time with mournful lamentation, throw oneself down to the ground, wallow in ashes, sackcloth and dirt, after the lost garments of Christ, no longer desire any decoration, after the food of the devil, love fasting, adhere to good deeds, by which sins are cleansed, give alms often, by which souls are freed from death. What the enemy stole, may Christ receive. One should no longer cherish or love inheritances by which someone was deceived and defeated. One must move away from property as from an enemy, running away from it as from a robber, and fear it as a sword and poison to those who possess it. What remains will only serve to atone for their crime and guilt. Let it be strictly and generously used for good deeds, let all income be spent on healing the wound, let all our wealth and property be given for increase to the Lord, who will judge us. This is how faith flourished under the apostles! This is how the first Christians fulfilled the commands of Christ! They willingly and generously gave everything to the apostles for division and thereby atone for less sins. If someone prays with all his heart, if he expresses repentance with true lamentation and tears, if by righteous and unceasing deeds he bends the Lord to the remission of sin, then He who promised His mercy can have mercy on him, saying: “When you return to breathe, then you will be saved and understand where you were” (Isaiah 30.15); and again: “I do not want the sinner [dying] to die, but to be converted... and live to be him” (Ezek 33.11). Likewise, the prophet Joel announces the mercy of the Lord at the inspiration of the Lord himself: “turn,” he says, “to the Lord your God; For you are merciful and generous, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and repent of your evil” (Joel 2.13). He can grant mercy, He can reject His sentence. He can mercifully forgive the one who repents, the one who does good, the one who prays; can count as such what the martyrs and priests asked for. And whoever especially motivates him with his satisfaction, whoever appeases His anger and the insult that became the cause of His indignation with righteous prayer, to him He again bestows weapons in which the vanquished could put on, renews and strengthens strength to encourage the restored faith. The warrior will enter his battle again, repeat the battle again, challenge the enemy, but having become stronger for the fight through illness. Whoever in this way satisfies God, who, having repented of his transgression and is ashamed of his sin, through the very pain of the fall, acquires more valor and faith, he, heard and helped by the Lord, whom he has recently grieved, will rejoice the Church and will earn from God not only forgiveness, but also a crown.