Remember the Good Shepherd, Who, coming after you, will take you away, even if there are only "two legs, or ears of the ear" (Amos 3:12). Jump away from the one who wounded you. Remember the mercies of God, Who heals with oil and wine. Do not lose hope of salvation. Bring to mind what is written that "he who falls rises and turns away" (cf. Jeremiah 8:4), that he who is stricken is healed, that he who is caught by beasts is saved, that he who confesses is not rejected, because the Lord "does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should be converted and live" (cf. Ezek. 18:32). Do not give yourself over to negligence, as one who has fallen "into the depths of evil" (Proverbs 18:3). Now is the time of reprieve, the time of long-suffering, the time of healing, the time of correction. Have you crawled? "Arise." Have you sinned? "Cease, do not stand in the way of sinners, but flee from it. When you are converted and arise, then you will be saved, because health is acquired by labor, salvation is later. Therefore, if you wish to keep the covenants with others, see to it that you do not break the covenants with God which you have made in the presence of many witnesses.

And so, do not hesitate, according to some human calculations, to come to me, because, having restored my dead man, I will weep, I will nurse, I will weep bitterly for the crushing of the daughter of my race. Everyone will receive you, everyone will work with you. Do not lose cheerfulness, remember the days of old. Salvation is possible, correction is possible. Go for it, don't despair. There is no law that condemns to death without mercy, but there is grace that postpones punishment and awaits correction. The doors are not yet locked, the Bridegroom hears, sin does not yet reign. Renew the struggle, do not delay, be merciful to yourself and to all of us in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

42 (45). To the fallen monk

(A certain man, having renounced a large possession, entered monasticism, but after a very pious life he fell into fornication and other iniquities. St. Basil, who once lived with him in Jerusalem, shows him the greatness of sin and temptation, then, reassuring him with God's mercy, calls him to podvig by the example of Jews and pagans who are led to piety)

The thought of you pierces the bowels of my heart with a twofold fear. Or some state of lack of compassion leads me to the guilt of hating people; or again, when I want to be compassionate and soften to misfortune, it produces an unkind change. Wherefore, intending to write this letter, though I have strengthened my numbing hand with the help of reason, yet I have not been able to change my face, which is troubled by sorrow for thee, and I am so ashamed of thee that my lips immediately clench to weep. Alas for me! What shall I write or discuss, left at the crossroads? If I recall to my memory your original vain behavior, when wealth surrounded you and this creeping glory on earth, then I am horrified. When you were accompanied by a multitude of flatterers, and the momentary pleasure of luxury with obvious danger and unrighteous gains; and on the one hand, the fear of your superiors scattered your thoughts of salvation, and on the other hand, the disturbances of the people threw your house into confusion, and the continuity of calamities involuntarily turned your thoughts to Him Who is able to help you; when little by little you began to think about the Saviour, Who both strikes you with fear of your own benefit, so He delivers and covers you, although you laugh at Him in time of safety; when you began to exercise yourself in the acquisition of honest morals, looking with contempt at your miserable wealth, renouncing the care of your home and cohabitation with your spouse; and having soared wholly on high, like a pilgrim and a wanderer, passing through villages and cities, I came to Jerusalem, where I also lived with you, delighting my ascetic labors; when, spending whole weeks in fasting for God, thou didst accustom thyself to wisdom, as if fleeing from the treatment of men, and at the same time adapting silence and solitude to thyself, avoiding social disturbances, covering thy body with coarse sackcloth, and tightening thy loins with a stiff girdle, thou didst patiently break thy bones: from the refusal to eat thou didst bring the empty intestines to such a thing, that they clung to the backbone parts, and though he renounced the gentle sling, yet his stomach, which shrank like a pumpkin, made him cling to his kidneys; and, having exhausted all the fat of the flesh, courageously drying up all the paths in the lower parts of the body, shutting up the womb by frequent sojourn without food, made the ribs, like a given roof, shade the surface of the womb, and with the exhaustion of the entire bodily composition, confessing to God in the hours of the night, softened the irrigated brada with streams of tears... And why should I describe all this in detail? Remember how many holy lips you have drawn to your kiss, how many sanctified bodies you have touched with your embraces, how many have clasped your hands as undefiled, how many servants of God have flowed to your knees as worshippers?

And what is the end of all this? Rumors accusing us of fornication, flying faster than arrows, pierce our ears, tearing our inward parts with an even sharper sting. What inexhaustible trick of the charmer has brought you to this fatal fall? What cunning snares of the devil, having entangled you, have made null and void the suggestions of virtue? What is the use of the stories of your labors now? Or should we not believe this either? And how can you not give faith to that which has been hidden for a time on the basis of what is apparently clear, if you have bound by terrible oaths the soul flowing to God, when everything that is greater than "it" and "neither" is directly attributed to the devil (cf. Matt. 5:37)? That is why you have subjected yourself to the responsibility of disastrous perjury, and at the same time you have humiliated the character of asceticism, you have brought dishonor to the Apostles and the Lord Himself, you have shamed the praise of purity, and you have ridiculed the vow of chastity. The subject of the sad tale was we for the captives; both Jews and Greeks represent us at the spectacles. In the thoughts of the monks you have made a division; He brought the stricter ones into fear and timidity, made them even more amazed at the power of the devil; and in the indifferent he instilled a passion for intemperance. You, for your part, have nullified even the praise of Christ, Who says: "Be of good cheer, I will overcome the world" (John 16:33) and the prince of peace. To the solution for the fatherland the cup of infamy; he fulfilled what was said in Proverbs: "As a deer is wounded by an arrow in the pit" (Proverbs 7:23) But what now, brother? The pillar of the fortress has not yet fallen, the healing of conversion has not been desecrated, the city of refuge has not been shut up. Do not remain in the depths of evil, do not give yourself over to a murderer. The Lord knows how to raise up the broken. Do not run far, but flow to us. Take upon thyself again the labors of youth; By new good deeds destroy in yourself the creeping and filthy love of voluptuousness. Lift up your gaze to the day of death, which has already drawn so close to our life, and understand that at last Jews and Gentiles are being brought to piety, and do not completely deny the Savior of the world. Let not this most terrible sentence befall you: "I do not know you whence I am" (Luke 13:27).

43 (46). To the fallen maiden

(He strongly reproaches the fallen virgin, proves the obligation of the vow given and broken by her to preserve her virginity, expresses her sorrow that, having left the Bridegroom of Christ, she gave herself over to the corrupter; finally, by fear of death, Judgment and eternal punishment, as well as hope in God's mercy, he tries to dispose her to repentance)

Now is the time to proclaim this prophetic word and say: "Who will give water to my head, and let me clean up the fountain of tears? and I weep... For the slain daughter of my people?" (Jeremiah 9:1). Though their deep silence envelops them, though they are once and for all crushed by calamity, and the very feeling of suffering has been taken away from them by a deadly blow, yet we must not leave such a defeat without tears. And if Jeremiah found worthy of a thousand times lamentation those who are struck down in battle, what should be said about such a calamity of souls? "Thy wounds," it is said, "shall not be wounded by swords, but lower than thy slain shall be slain" (Isaiah 22:2). On the contrary, I weep over the sting of true death – the grave sin and the flaming arrows of the evil one, which mercilessly burn souls along with bodies.

Seeing such a crime on earth, without a doubt, God's laws will loudly complain, which always forbid and cry out both in antiquity: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" (Deuteronomy 5:21), and in the Holy Gospels: "For whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed fornication with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28); but now they see that the bride of the Lord herself, whose head is Christ, is shamelessly committing adultery. The very spirits of the saints will complain; and Phinehas is jealous that now it is impossible for him to take the "sulitsa" (javelin, lance) in his hands, to punish the crime bodily; and John the Baptist, that he could not, having left the heavenly abodes, as the wilderness was then, come to denounce iniquity, and if it was necessary to suffer, he would rather lose his head than give up boldness. Or perhaps John (if, like Blessed Abel, he still speaks to us) still cries out and cries out louder than he did then about Herodias: "Thou shalt not be worthy to have her" (cf. Matt. 14:4). For although the body of John, according to the necessary requirement of nature, submitted to the Divine decree, and the tongue of John is silent, nevertheless "the word of God does not fit" (2 Tim. 2:9). Whoever stretched out his boldness even to death, when the marriage of a slave like him was destroyed, will he endure seeing such a desecration of the holy Lord's bridal chamber?

But you, who threw off the yoke of this Divine union, fled from the most pure bridal chamber of the true King, and abominably fell into this dishonorable and impious corruption, since you can no longer escape this bitter accusation, and you have neither the means nor the opportunity to conceal evil, you now give yourself over to insolence. And just as the "wicked" one, having fallen "into the depths of evil, is negligent" (cf. Proverbs 18:3), so you deny the very conditions with the true Bridegroom and cry out that you are not a virgin and never promised to be a virgin, although you have accepted many of the conditions of virginity, and have shown many in practice.

Bring to mind the beautiful confession that you made before God, angels and men. Bring to your mind the venerable synod, the sacred countenance of the virgins, the assembly of the Lord and the saints of the Church, and thy grandmother, aged in Christ, who is becoming younger and still blossoming in virtue, and the mother who competes with her in the Lord and strives by some new and extraordinary labors to eradicate the traces of habit in herself, as well as the sister who equally imitates both, and in others strengthens and surpasses them, and in virginal advantages exceeds the merits of her ancestors, and you, her sister, as she had hitherto revered you, both in word and deed tirelessly calls you to equal podvig. Bring them to your memory, and with them the angelic countenance is around God, and the spiritual life in the flesh, and the heavenly abode on earth. Bring to mind the serene days illumined by the light of the night, the spiritual songs, the euphonious psalmody, the holy prayers, the pure and undefiled bed, the virginal repentance, the abstinent meal, beautifully promising that thy virgin will be preserved unmolested.