St Basil the Great Letter to a Fallen Virgin1

Now is the time to utter aloud those words of the Prophet who said: 'Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for the slain of the daughter of my people?'2 For, even if deep silence enfolds them and they lie dispossessed once and for all of their sense by the horrible deed (for by the deadly blow they have been deprived already of the very awareness of their condition), still we must not tearlessly disregard so great a fall. For, if Jeremias judged those whose bodies were smitten in war worthy of innumerable laments, what should be said regarding so terrible a disaster to souls? 'Thy slain, it is said, are not slain by the sword, and thy dead are not dead in battle.3 But, I bewail the sharp sting which causes real death, that is, grievous sin, and the fiery darts of the Evil One, barbarously burning soul and body alike.Surely, the laws of God would groan mightily at beholding such guilt upon earth, since they were ever forbidding and crying out of old, indeed: 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife;4 and, through the holy Gospels: 'Anyone who even looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' 5 But, they now behold the Lord's bride herself, whose head is Christ, fearlessly committing adultery, at which the very spirits of the saints would lament: Phinehas the zealous, because he can no longer take the lance in his hand and with physical punishment avenge the defilement; and John the Baptist, because he is not able to leave his heavenly abode as he left the desert and to hasten to rebuke the transgression, and, if he should need to endure any suffering, rather to lose his head than his freedom of speech. Now, if like the blessed Abel,6 John himself, 'though he is dead, yet speaks' to us, even now he cries out and shouts more loudly than he did then concerning Herodias: 'It is not lawful for thee to have her.57 At any rate, even though the body oi John according to the law of nature has accepted the divine sentence, and his tongue is silent, yet 'the word of God is not bound.' 8 For, if he, because the marriage of a fellow servant was set at naught, exercised his freedom of speech even to death, how would he feel when he beheld such insolence concerning the sacred bridal chamber of the Lord?But you have thrown off the yoke of that divine union; you have fled the undefiled bridal chamber of the true king, have shamefully fallen into that disgraceful and sacrilegious seduction, and, since you may In no way escape this bitter charge, and as there is no means or method by which you may hide this horror, you rush recklessly on, Then, inasmuch as a sinner, on falling into the depths of sin, becomes thereafter contemptuous, you deny those covenants with your true Bridegroom, protesting that you neither are nor ever promised to be a virgin; you who both received and made show of many declarations of virginity.Recall your glorious profession which you made before God, the angels, and men.9 Remember the august company, the holy chorus of virgins, the assembly of the Lord, and the Church of saints. Call to mind, also, your grandmother, old In Christ, but still young and strong in virtue, and your mother, vying with her in the Lord and striving by new and unusual toils to destroy former habits. Remember, also, your sister, who is likewise both imitating and aspiring to surpass them, and who by the advantage of her virginity is outstripping the virtuous actions of her elders and is industriously summoning, both by word and by life, you her sister, as she thought, to a contest of like eagerness. Recall these, and also the angelic chorus singing with them to God, the spiritual life in the flesh, and the heavenly life on earth. Remember your unperturbed days, your enlightened nights, your spiritual songs, the melodious chanting of psalms, the holy prayers, the pure and undefiled bed, the procession of virgins, the temperate table, and you yourself saying fervent prayers that your virginity be kept unstained.Where, now, is that dignified appearance, and where the well-ordered disposition, the simple clothing becoming to a virgin, the beautiful blush of modesty, and the seemly pallor which blooms through self-control and watchings, and has a radiance more charming than any fresh complexion? How often in your prayers to keep your virginity unspotted did you, perhaps, shed tears? And how many letters did you write to holy men, through which you asked them to pray earnestly for you, not in order that you might attain human marriage, much less this disgraceful corruption, but in order that you might not fall away from the Lord Jesus? And how often did you receive gifts from your Bridegroom? And why should I even mention the honors received through Him from His ministers? The companionship with virgins? The processions with them? The salutations from them? The praises of your virginity? The virginal blessings?10 The letters written to you as a virgin? But, now, having received a little breath of 'the spirit of the air, which now works on the unbelievers,11 you have denied all those things; and that precious and highly prized possession you have exchanged for a brief pleasure, which indeed satisfies12 for a time, but later will be found more bitter than gall.In his grief over these things, who would not say: 'How is the faithful city, Sion, become a harlot?'13 And how would not the Lord14 Himself say to any one of those who are now walking about In the spirit of Jeremias: 'Hast thou seen what things the virgin of Israel hath done to me? I espoused her to myself in faith and in purity, in justice and judgment, and in mercy and in commiserations, as I promised to her through Osee, the prophet. But she has loved strangers; and while I, her husband, am living, she is called an adulteress, and does not to fear to be with another man. And that, then, does the friend of the bride who gave her to her husband, the holy and blessed Paul, say, both that Paul of old and the Paul of today, under whom as mediator and teacher you left the paternal home and were united with the Lord?15 Would not each in a state of intense grief over such an evil say : For the fear which I feared hath come upon me; and that which I was afraid of hath befallen me?16 For I betrothed you to one spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ'17 and I feared always lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his guile, so your minds may at some time be corrupted.'18 On this account I always tried with innumerable holy diversions to restrain the tumult of your passions, and with numberless safeguards to watch over the bride of the Lord, and I always described the life of the unmarried, sayIng that truly the 'unmarried woman alone thinks about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy In body and in spirit.'19 I set forth the dignity of virginity, and, addressing you as 'the temple of God,'20 I tried as it were to give wings to your eagerness, raising you up to Jesus; and I strove to aid you by fear of evil not to fall, saying: 'If anyone destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy.21 Indeed, I also added the security that might come from my prayers if by some means 'your body and soul and spirit might be preserved sound, blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.22 But, in all these things I spent myself in vain for you, and the end of those sweet labors proved bitter to me; and I have to lament again over her in whom I should have rejoiced. For, lo! you were deceived by the serpent, more bitterly than Eve. Not only was 'your mind corrupted,23 but even your very body as well; and even that terrible horror, which I hesitate to mention, and yet am not able to pass over in silence (for it is as a burning and flaming fire in my bones, and I am completely weakened and am not able to endure), taking 'the members of Christ, you have made them members of a harlot.24This alone among all evils is without comparison; this is a new act of shamelessness in life. 'Pass over,' the Lord says, 'to the isles of Cethim, and see; and send into Cedar, and consider diligently, ... if there hath been done anything like this, if a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not gods.25 But, the virgin 'has changed her glory,' and her glory is in her shame. 'Heaven was amazed at this, and the earth 'shuddered more violently than ever before.' And now, too, the Lord says: My virgin has done two evils; she has forsaken me,' the true and holy Bridegroom of holy souls, and she has fled to an impious and lawless destroyer of soul and body alike. She departed from God her Saviour, and she 'yielded her members as slaves of uncleanness and iniquity,' 'and she forgot me, and went after her lover, from whom she will receive no good.26'It were better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that anyone should cause the virgin of the Lord to sin.'27 Was any surly slave so mad as to throw himself upon his master's bed? Or what robber was ever led on to such folly as to lay violent hands upon the very offerings made to God not lifeless vessels, but living bodies possessing an indwelling soul made to the image of God? Of whom since time began has it been heard that he dared in the midst of the city and at high noon to draw the figures of unclean swine upon the statue of the king? If anyone violates a human marriage, he dies without pity in the presence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishments do you think he deserves who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has corrupted the virgin vowed to Him and has insulted the spirit of virginity?28 'But she was willing, he [the corrupter] says; 'and I did not force her against her will' Why, that abandoned Egyptian mistress herself was madly in love with the fair Joseph, but the madness of the licentious woman did not overcome the virtue of the chaste man; not even when she laid violent hands upon him was he forced into sin. 'But this, he says, 'had been determined by that woman, and she was no longer a virgin; and if I had not been willing, she would have been corrupted by another.' For indeed, it is said, 'the Son of man must be betrayed, but woe to that man by whom He was betrayed;29 and 'it must needs be that scandals come, but woe to that man through whom they come.' 30In addition to these things, 'Shall not he that falleth rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?31 Why, then, is the virgin 'turned away with a stubborn revolting,' even though she heard Christ, her Spouse, saying through Jeremias: 'And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return'?32 'Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?' 33 Indeed, many safeguards against the evil would you find in the divine Scripture, and many remedies which from destruction bring salvation: the mysteries of death and resurrection; the words of the terrible judgment and everlasting punishment; the doctrines of repentance and the forgiveness of sin; those innumerable examples of conversion; the drachma, the sheep, the son who spent his livelihood with harlots, was lost and found, was dead and alive again.34 Let us use these safeguards against evil; through them, let us heal our soul.But, take thought of the last day (for, indeed, not you alone will live an eternal life), the distress, the suffocation, the hour of death, the instant sentence of God, the angels hastening on, the soul in the midst of these things terribly disturbed, bitterly scourged by a guilty conscience and piteously turning now to earthly things, and now to the inexorable necessity of that long life to come. Picture in your mind, I pray, the final end of human life, when the Son of God will come in His glory with His angels. For, He 'shall come and shall not keep silence,35 when He comes to judge the living and the dead and to give to each according to his deed, when that trumpet sending forth a great and terrible call shall awaken all who through the ages have been sleeping. 'And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment.'36 Recall Daniel's37 divine vision, how he brings the judgment before our eyes. 'I beheld, he says, 'till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat; his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool . . .,38 the wheels of it like a burning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him; thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him; the judgment sat, and the books were opened, revealing clearly in the hearing of all the angels and men the good things, the bad, the seen, the hidden, the actions, the words, the thoughts, all things at once. How must those who have lived wickedly be affected by these things? Where, then, will that soul hide itself, which is suddenly exposed, filled with shames before the eyes of so many spectators? With what sort of body will it endure those countless and insupportable scourgings, where there is unquenchable fire, and the worm39 punishes without end, the dark and horrible abyss of Hades, the bitter wailings, violent screaming, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and horrors which have no end? Nor is there after death any relief from these woes, nor any method or device of escaping the bitter punishments.It is possible now to avoid them. While we are able, let us lift up ourselves from our fall, let us not despair of our salvation, if only we depart from our sins. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 'Come, let us adore and fall down and weep before Him.40 The Word calling us to repentance cries out and exclaims: 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.41 Therefore, there is a way of salvation, if only we will it. Death prevailing has swallowed us up, but be assured that God has again wiped away every tear from the face of all who repent.42 The Lord is faithful in all His words.43 He does not deceive when He says: lf your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.44 The great Physician of souls is ready to cure your suffering; He is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all those enslaved by sin. His words, pronounced by that sweet and saving mouth, are: 'It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick. . . . For I have come to call sinners to repentance, 'not the just.45 What, therefore, is your excuse, or that of any other person, since He utters these words? The Lord wishes to free you from the pain of the wound, and to show you light after darkness. The Good Shepherd, leaving those that have not strayed, seeks you. If you will surrender yourself, He will not hold back, nor will He in His kindness disdain to lift you up on His own shoulders, rejoicing that He has found His sheep that was lost.The Father stands and awaits your return from your wandering. Only turn to Him and, while you are still afar off. He will run and fall upon your neck, and with loving embraces will enfold you, now cleansed by your repentance. And He will put the best robe on your soul which has stripped off the old man with his works; and He will put a ring on your hands, washed of the blood of death; and He will put shoes on your feet, since they have turned from the way of evil to the course of the gospel of peace. And He will announce a day of joy and gladness for His own, both angels and men, and will celebrate in every way your salvation. He says: 'Amen I say to you that there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner who repents.'46 And if any one of those who seem to stand shall bring a charge that you have been quickly received, the good Father Himself will answer for you and say : 'But it is fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this My daughter was dead and is come to life again; she was lost and is found.47NOTES1) Cf. Letter 45 n. 1.2) Cf. Jer. 9.1. (Septuagint) , St. Basil omits the words, 'for this my people, day and night, after 'weep.3) Cf. Isa. 22.2.4) Deut. 5.21.5) Cf. Matt. 5.28 (St. Basil quotes almost verbatim)6) Cf. Heb 11.4.7) Matt. 14.4.8) 2 Tim. 2.9.9) Cf. 1 Tim. 6.2.10) The sacerdotal benedictions given to nuns by the priests.11) Cf Eph. 2.2.12) Literally, 'oils your throat.13) Cf. Isa. 1.21.14) These quoted words are adapted from three sources: Jer. 18.13, 'Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath heardsuch horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?'; Osee 2.19, 'And I will espouse thee to me forever; and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations'; Rom 7.3. 'Therefore while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she be with another man; but if her husband dies, she is set free from the law of the husband, so that she is not an adulteress if she has been with another man.'15) The two Pauls to whom St. Basil is referring are Paul, a priest who received her when she took her vows, and St. Paul.16) Job 3.25 (almost verbatim from the Septuagint) . The rest of the quotations in the assumed rebuke of Paul, the priest, are taken from St. Paul's Epistles.17) Cf. 2 Cor. 11.2.18) Cf. 2 Cor. 11.3.19) Cf. I Cor. 7.3420) Cf. 1 Cor. 3.16.21) 1 Cor. 3.1722) Cf. 1 Thess. 5.23.23) Cf. 2 Cor. 11.3.24) Cf. 1 Cor. 6.15.25) Cf. Jer. 2.1041.26) A fusion and adaptation of Jer. 2-12-15, Rom. 6.19, and Osee 2.13 (Septuagint) .27) Cf. Luke 17.2.28) Cf. Heb. 10.29.29) Cf. Mark 14.21.30) Cf. Matt. 18.7.31) Jer. 8.4.32) Jer. 3 7 (Septuaglnt) . The Douay version reads: 'done all these things, instead of 'committed all these fornications.'33) Jer. 8.22.34) Cf. Luke 15.35) Cf. Ps. 49.3.36) John 5.29.37) Dan. 7.9-10.38) St. Basil omits 'his throne like flames of fire.39) Cf. Mark 9.44, 46, 48.40) CL Ps. 95 6.41) Matt. 11.28.42) CL Isa. 25.8 (Septuagint) . The Douay version differs somewhat in text.43) Cf. Ps. 145.17.44) Isa. 1.18.45) Matt. 9.12-13.46) Cf. Luke 15.7.47) Cf. Luke 15 32.