THE BOOK OF THE FALLEN

And so peace has been restored to the Church, most beloved brethren, and — which recently seemed difficult for those of little faith, and impossible for the unbelievers — by the help and retribution of the Lord, peace has again been granted to us! Again the soul becomes joyful: the storm and the cloud of persecution have been dispersed — calm and clear weather has come. We must praise and solemnly thank God for His blessings and gifts (although even during the persecution our lips did not cease to give thanks to Him, for the enemy is not given so much power that he deprives us of 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 with all our strength). The day desired by all came, and after the terrible and terrible darkness of the long night, the world shone, illumined by the light of the Lord.

With joyful eyes we gaze upon the confessors, glorious for the confession of their good name, worthy of praise for their valor and faith; clinging to the holy embrace, with insatiable love we embrace those who have been so long desired. Before us is the radiant host of Christ's soldiers, who, being ready to endure prison, armed to endure death, by their steadfastness calmed the storm of persecution that had befallen them. You bravely resisted the world; 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 have 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 idolatrous remains. Your head has remained free from the impious and lawless veil 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 she open her gates, so that you may enter in united troops, bearing monuments of victory over the defeated enemy! With triumphant men come women who have conquered even their own sex in peace; Virgins come with the sheer glory of their belligerence, and youths whose valor exceeds their years. Your glory is followed by the rest of the multitude of "settled"; with very close to yours and with almost the same laudable distinctions, and they follow in your footsteps; and in them is the same sincerity of heart, the same wholeness of unshakable faith. Established on the unshakable foundations of the commandments of heaven and strengthened by the traditions of the Gospel, they feared neither the prescribed exiles, nor the tortures determined for them: neither the loss of property, nor the tortures of the body. For the test of faith, dates were appointed; but whoever remembers that he has renounced the world does not know any worldly date: he no longer thinks of earthly times who expects eternity from God. Let no one, most beloved brethren, diminish this glory; let no one with malicious slander implore the undamaged firmness of the "standing". When the time appointed for renunciation of the faith has passed, the one who did not renounce in time thereby confessed that he was a Christian. To fall into the hands of the Gentiles and confess the Lord there is the first victorious distinction; to hide oneself cautiously, in order to preserve oneself for the Lord through this, is the second step to glory. There is a confession of the whole people; here is the secret. He overcomes the judge of the world; but this one, being content with his judge God, keeps his conscience pure in the purity 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, is only postponed: having left the inheritance, he hid himself because he did not want to renounce, and he would certainly have confessed Christ if he had been arrested.

These heavenly crowns of martyrs, these spiritual distinctions of confessors, these greatest and superior virtues of the steadfast brethren are darkened by one sorrow—the sorrow that the cruel enemy, by his devastating defeat, has overthrown a part torn from our intestines. What should I do in this case, most beloved brethren? What should I, who am overwhelmed by various 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 insensible and hard-hearted, so alien to brotherly love, that, seeing the manifold ruins of his neighbors, being in the midst of their deplorable and utterly disfigured remains, he could keep his eyes dry, and, with involuntary weeping, would not reveal his condolences with tears before his voice? I am sick, brethren, sick with you, and neither my own chastity nor my private health serve to alleviate my illness: the wound inflicted on the flock mainly affects the pastor. My heart is united with each of you; With each one I share the burden of sorrow and deprivation: I weep with those who weep, I weep with those who weep, and with those who lie down I consider myself to be lying down. And my limbs, together with yours, are pierced by the same arrows of the fierce enemy: the same fierce swords have passed through my womb. My spirit could not be detached and free from the misfortune of persecution: in the prostrate brothers, love overthrew me.

Yet, most beloved brethren, it is necessary to be truthful; The gloomy darkness of hostile persecution should not have so blinded the mind and feeling that there would be no light left at all, no torch at which to discern the divine destinies. If we find out the cause of the injury, then we will find a cure for the wound. The Lord wanted to test His family, and since the long peace had damaged the teaching handed down to us from above, the heavenly Providence itself restored the lying and, if I may say so, almost dormant faith. At the same time, while we deserved more, the all-merciful Lord arranged everything so that what happened seemed more like a trial than a persecution. After all, everyone began to care about the increase of their inheritance and, forgetting how the faithful acted under the apostles and how they should always act, with an insatiable desire they rushed to increase their possessions. There was no sincere piety in the priests, pure faith in the ministers, mercy in works, and good order in morals. The men disfigured their beards, the women flushed their faces. The eyes, the work of God's hands, are distorted; Her hair is decorated with lies. They resort to insidious tricks to catch the hearts of ordinary people, and they lure their brothers with seductive baits. They make conjugal unions with unbelievers, the members of Christ offer them to the pagans. Not only do they swear recklessly, but they also commit perjury. With proud arrogance they despise the primates of the church, slander each other with poisonous lips, and produce mutual strife with stubborn hatred. A great many bishops, who should exhort others and be an example to them, have ceased to care for the divine, and have begun to care for the things of the world: having left the cathedra, having left the people, they wander about in foreign regions, trying not to miss the days of trade for selfish gain, and when the brethren in the Church hunger, they, carried away by covetousness, insidiously take possession of the brethren's income, 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 decree was expressed: "If they forsake My law, and do not go in My judgments; If My righteousness be defiled, and keep My commandments not, will I punish them with the rod of their iniquity, and with the stripes of their iniquity (Psalm 88:31-33)? All this is foretold and foretold to us in advance. But we, not caring about the law given to us and about its fulfillment, despising the commandments of the Lord, made it our sins that more cruel means were required for the correction of the crime and for the divine test. And then, even if it is too late, for us to turn to the fear of the Lord, in order to patiently and courageously undergo this correction of ours and the divine test of ours – but no! Immediately, at the first words of the threatening enemy, a large number of the brothers sold their faith and, not being overthrown by the storm of persecution, overthrew themselves by a voluntary fall.

What, tell me, has happened unheard-of, what is new, to betray the mystery of Christ with reckless haste, as if something unknown and unexpected had happened? Did not the prophets first announce this, and then the apostles? Have not men filled with the Holy Spirit foretold that the righteous would always be persecuted and oppressed by the Gentiles? Does not the Divine Scripture, which always strengthens our faith and inspires the servants of God with a heavenly voice, say first: "Fear the Lord thy God, and unto that one ambassador thou shalt live" (Deuteronomy 6:13)? And then, does it not point to the wrath and indignation of God, and frighten with execution, saying: "And I bow down to them, because I made their fingers, and man bowed down, and man humbled himself, I will not endure them" (Isaiah 2:8-9)? And again God says: "Whosoever ye offer sacrifice to God, let it be consumed by death, but only to the Lord alone" (Exodus 22:20). Further. The Lord, the Teacher in word and the Finisher in deed, teaching what is to be done, and doing what He taught, did He not first foretell in the Gospel all that is now being done and will be done? Is it not predestined in advance for eternal torments for those who reject Him, and salvific rewards for those who confess Him? O wickedness! All this is forgotten, everything has gone out of memory for some. They did not even wait to go, at least not when they were captured; to renounce when asked. Many were defeated before the battle, overthrown without a fight, and did not even leave for themselves a visible pretext that they sacrificed to idols under compulsion. They willingly flee to the marketplace, voluntarily hasten to death, as if they were glad of the opportunity that presented themselves, which they had always looked forward to! How many rulers there had been respite because of the coming evening, and how many had even asked that their destruction should not be postponed! What power can he express for the purification of his crime who has used all his effort to perish? And was it possible that when he walked to the Capitol, when he began to perform a grave crime, his legs did not give way, his eyes did not darken, his womb did not tremble, and his muscles did not weaken? Had not his sense been dulled, his tongue had not become numb, and his words had not dried up? And could a servant of God, who had already renounced the devil and the world, stand there, speak and renounce Christ? Was not the altar to which he approached a deadly fire to him? Should he not have been afraid of the devil's altar, which he saw smoking and emitting a foul smell, and flee from it as from a funeral pyre that threatens his life? Why, wretched one, do you proclaim with you another sacrifice to be slaughtered? You yourself are a sacrifice on this altar, you yourself have come for your slaughter. You have slain your salvation, your hope there, you have burned your faith with those deadly fires.

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, for the complete completeness of the crime, even infants brought or attracted by the hands of their parents — minors — lost what they received soon after their birth. Will they not say, when the Day of Judgment comes, "We have done nothing wrong, leaving the food and the cup of the Lord, we have not hastened voluntarily to the Gentile feast. We have been ruined by the treachery of others; we consider our parents to be our murderers: they have torn us away from the Mother Church, from the Father-God, and we, small, foolish, who do not understand the importance of such a grave crime, have become accomplices in iniquity through others, caught by the cunning of others. And alas! There is no just and true reason that would justify such a crime.