St. Athanasius: The Paradise of the Holy Fathers

[Stone]

CHAPTER XXXVI

OF THE HARLOT WHOM SERAPION CONVERTED

ABBÂ SERAPION once came and passed through a certain village in Egypt, and he saw a harlot standing in his cell, and the old man said unto her, “Remain here until the evening, for I wish to come with thee, and to pass this night with thee”; and the harlot said, “It is well, O father.” Then she made ready, and prepared her bed, and she awaited the old man with that which he required. Now when it was evening, Abbâ Serapion came, but he brought nothing with him, and he went into her cell, and said unto her, “Is thy bed ready?” And she said unto him, “Yea, father”; and they shut themselves in. Then the old man answered and said unto her, “Wait a little, because I must perform a certain thing which is a law unto us.” And he began to recite the Book of the Psalms of David from the beginning, and with every Psalm he offered up a prayer on her behalf, and he made supplication before God that she might repent and live, and God hearkened unto him. And the harlot stood up in fear by the side of the old man and prayed also, and when Abbâ Serapion had finished all the Psalms she fell down upon the ground, and he began to repeat many verses from the [books of the] Apostles. When he had finished his service, God having opened the heart of that woman, she knew that Abbâ Serapion had not come unto her for the purposes of sin, but that he might redeem her, and she fell on her face before him, and said unto him, “Perform an act of grace for me, O father, and take me to any place whatsoever wherein I can please God.” And he took her to an abode of nuns and placed her therein and he said to the mistress of the convent, “Take this sister, O mother, and lay not upon her the rules and the yoke like the [other] sisters, but whatsoever she requireth that give her; and in proportion as she findeth rest let her submit to be led.” And when the woman had dwelt in the nunnery for a few days, she said, “I am a sinful woman, and I wish to eat only in the evening”; and after a few days more she said, “Many sins lie to my charge, and I therefore beg that I may eat once every four days,” and she did so; and after a few days more she besought the mistress of the nunnery, saying, “Do an act of grace for me. Since I have made God exceedingly angry, take me into a cell and wall it up, and through a small opening therein give me a little bread and work for my hands [to do].” And the abbess of the nunnery hearkened unto her, and did thus, and in this wise that woman pleased God all the days of her life.

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CHAPTER XXXVII

OF THE HARLOT WHOM A SUBDEACON DROVE OUT OF THE CHURCH

A CERTAIN old man said: There was a harlot who was so beautiful and so rich that all princes flocked unto her. One day she went into the church and desired to pass inside the gates, but a subdeacon who was standing at the door would not allow her to do so, and he said, “Thou art not allowed to enter into the house of God, because thou art an unclean woman.” Now whilst they were striving together, the Bishop heard the sound of the noise, and he went out to see [what was the matter]. And the harlot said unto him, “He would not permit me to go into the church,” and the Bishop said to her, “Thou art not permitted [to do so] because thou art unclean.” Then having repented within herself, she said, “I will never play the whore again.” And the Bishop said unto her, “If thou wilt strip thyself of all thy possessions, I shall know of a certainty that thou dost repent”; then she brought her possessions, and the Bishop took them, and divided them in the fear of God among the needy. And the woman went into the church, and wept and said, “If it hath happened to me thus in this world, what would have happened to me in the next?” And she repented, and became a chosen vessel.

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CHAPTER XXXVIII

OF ABBA APOLLO WHO WAS IN SCETE

THEY say concerning Abbâ Apollo, who lived in Scete, that he was originally a rude and brutish herdsman, and that he [once] saw in the fields a woman who was with child, and that, through the operation of the devil, he said, “I wish to know the condition of the child which is in the womb of this woman,” and that he ripped her open and saw the child in her belly; then straightway he repented, and he purged his heart, and having repented he went to Scete, and revealed unto the fathers what he had done. And when he heard them singing the Psalms, and saying, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and with difficulty [we come] to fourscore years” (Psalm 90:10), he said to the old men, “I am forty years old this day, and I have never yet made a prayer; and now, if I live for forty years more, I will never rest, nor cease, nor refrain from praying to God continually that He may forgive me my sins.” And from that time onwards he did even as he had said, for he never toiled with the work of his hands, but he was always supplicating God, and saying, “I, O my Lord, like a man, have sinned, and do Thou, like God, forgive me”; and he prayed this prayer both by night and by day instead of reciting Psalms. And a certain brother who used to dwell with him once heard him say in his prayer, now as he spake he wept, and groaned from the bottom of his heart, and sighed in grief of heart, “O my Lord, I have vexed Thee, have pity upon me, and forgive me so that I may enjoy a little rest.” Then a voice came to him, which said, “Thy sins have been forgiven thee, and also the murder of the woman; but the murder of the child is not yet forgiven thee.” And one of the old men said, “The murder of the child also was forgiven to him, but God left him to work because this would prove beneficial to his soul.”

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CHAPTER XXXIX

OF COSMAS WHO WAS IN MOUNT SINAI

A CERTAIN brother asked an old man, and said unto him, “How is it that Satan bringeth temptations upon holy men?” And the old man said, “I have heard that there was a holy man whose name was Cosmas, who used to dwell in Mount Sinai. And behold, a certain man went to the tabernacle (or tent) of a husbandman, and finding his daughter by herself, he lay with her, and then said to her, When thy father cometh say unto him, “Abbâ Cosmas, the monk, hath lain with me”; and when her father came, she told him [thus]. Then he took his sword, and came against the old man, and when he had knocked at the door, and the old man had gone forth, he lifted up his sword to slay him, but his hand withered straightway; and he went to the church and told the people there what the old man had done. And the fathers sent after him and brought him there, and having upbraided him, and beaten him with many stripes they wished to drive him out of the monastery; but he entreated them, saying, “Allow me [to stay] here that I may repent, for God’s sake,” and they separated him [from the brotherhood] for three years, and they laid down the command that no man was to go to him. And he passed three years in coming [to the church] Sunday by Sunday, and in repenting, and he besought [the fathers] always to pray for him, and at length the devil entered into him that had committed the act of which the old man had been accused, and, being urged by him, he said, “I committed the act.” Then all the people were gathered together, and they went to the old man and expressed their penitence, and said unto him, “Forgive us, O father”; and he said unto them, “I have indeed forgiven you, but it is impossible for me to remain with you henceforth, because I have not found in any one of you discretion sufficient to make him to sympathize with me.” And so he departed from them. Behold, how temptations come upon holy men!