CONFERENCE OF ABBOT PINUFIUS.
ON THE END OF PENITENCE AND THE MARKS OF
SATISFACTION.
Complete Contents.
Other version available: text. [30K].
Of the humility of Abbot Pinufius, and of his
hiding-place.
NOW that I am going to relate the precepts of that excellent and
remarkable man, Abbot Pinufius, on the end of penitence, I fancy that
I can dispose of a very large part of my material, if out of
consideration lest I weary my reader, I here pass over in silence the
praise of his humility, which I touched on in a brief discourse in the
fourth book of the Institutes,[48]
which was entitled "Of the rules to be observed by
renunciants," especially as many who have no knowledge of that
work, may happen to read this, and then all the authority of the
utterances will be weakened if there is no account of the virtues of
the speaker. For this man when he was presiding as Abbot and
Presbyter over a large coenobium not far from Panephysis, a city, as
was there said, of Egypt, and when all that province had praised him
to the skies for his virtues and miracles, so that he already seemed
to himself to have received the reward of his labours in the
remuneration of the praise of men, as he was afraid lest the emptiness
of popular favour, which he especially disliked, might interfere with
the fruits of an eternal reward, he secretly fled from his monastery
and made his way to the furthest recesses of the monks of
Tabennæ,[49] where he chose not
the solitude of the desert, not that freedom from care of which the
life of one alone affords, which even those who are imperfect and who
cannot endure the effort which obedience requires in the coenobium,
sometimes seek after with proud presumption, but he chose to submit
himself to a most famous monastery. Where, however, that he might not
be betrayed by any signs of his dress, he clothed himself in a secular
garb, and lay before the doors with tears, as is the custom there, for
many days, and clinging to the knees of all after being daily repulsed
by those who to test his purpose said that now in extreme old age he
was seeking this holy life not in sincerity, but driven by the lack of
food, at last he obtained admission, and there he was told off to help
a young brother who had been given the charge of a garden, and when he
not only fulfilled with such marvellous and holy humility everything
which his chief ordered him or which the care of the work entrusted to
him demanded, but also performed in stealthy labour by night certain
necessary offices which were avoided by the rest out of disgust for
them, so that when morning dawned, all the congregation was delighted
at such useful works but knew not their author; and when he had passed
nearly three years there rejoicing in the labours, which he had
desired, but to which he as so unfairly subjected, it happened that a
certain brother known to him came there from the same parts of Egypt
from which he himself had come. And this man for a time hesitated
because the meanness of his clothes and of his office prevented him
from readily recognizing him at once, but after looking very closely
at him, fell at his feet, and first astonished all the brethren, and
afterwards, when he betrayed his name, which the fame of his special
sanctity had made known to them also, he smote them with sorrow and
compunction because they had told off a man of his virtues and a
priest to such mean offices. But he, shedding copious tears, and
charging the accident of his betrayal to the serious envy of the
devil, was brought in honourable custody by his brethren surrounding
him to the monastery; and after that he had stayed there for a short
time, he was once more troubled by the respect shown to his dignity
and rank, and stealthily embarked on board ship and sailed to the
Palestinian province of Syria, where he was received as a beginner and
a novice in the house of that monastery in which we were living, and
was charged by the Abbot to stop in our cell. But not even there
could his virtues and merits long remain secret. For he was
discovered and betrayed in the same way, and brought back to his own
monastery with the utmost honour and respect.
Of our coming to him.
WHEN then after no long time a desire for holy instruction had urged
us also to visit Egypt, we sought him out with the utmost eagerness
and devotion and were welcomed by him with such kindness and courtesy
that he actually honoured us, as former sharers of the same cell with
him, with a lodging in his own cell which he had built in the furthest
corner of his garden. And there when in the presence of all the
brethren at service he had delivered to one of the brethren who was
submitting to the rule of the monastery sufficiently difficult and
elevated precepts, which as we said, I summarized as briefly as I
could in the fourth book of the Institutes, the heights of a true
renunciation seemed to us so unattainable and so marvellous that we
did not think that such humble folks as we could ever scale them. And
therefore, cast down in despair, and not concealing in our looks the
inner bitterness of our thoughts, we came back to the blessed old man
with a tolerably anxious heart: and when he at once asked the reason
why we were so sad, Abbot Germanus groaned deeply and replied as
follows.
A question on the end of penitence and the marks of
satisfaction.
AS your grand and splendid exposition of a doctrine new to us has
opened out to us a more difficult road to the most glorious
renunciation, and has removed the scales from our eyes, and shown to
us its summit raised in the heavens, so are we proportionately cast
down with a greater weight of despair. Since, when we measure its
vastness against our puny strength, and compare the excessively humble
character of our ignorance with the boundless height of virtue shown
to us, we feel that we are so small that we not only cannot attain to
it, but that we are sure to fall short in what we have. For as we are
weighed down by the burden of excessive despair, we fall away somehow
from the lowest depths to still lower ones. Accordingly there is one
and only one support which can provide a cure for our wounds; viz.,
for us to learn something of the end of penitence and especially on
the marks of satisfaction, that we may feel sure of the forgiveness of
past sins, and so be spurred on to scale the heights of the perfection
described above.
The answer on the humility shown by our
request.
PINUFIUS: I am indeed delighted at the very plentiful fruits of your
humility, which indeed I saw with no indifferent concern, when I was
formerly received in the habitation of that cell of yours, and I am
very glad that you welcome with such respect the charge given by us,
the least of all Christians, and the words that I have taken the
liberty of saying so that if I am not mistaken you carry them out as
soon as ever they are spoken by us; and though, as I remember, the
importance of the words scarcely deserves the efforts you bestow on
them, yet you so conceal the merits of your virtue, as if no breath
ever reached you of those things which you are daily practising. But
because this fact is worthy of the highest praise; viz., that you
declare that those institutes of the saints are still unknown to you
as if you were still beginners we will, as briefly as possible,
summarize what you so eagerly ask of us. For we must even beyond our
powers and ability, obey the commands of such old friends as you. And
so on the value and appeasing power of penitence many have published a
great deal, not only in words but also in writing, showing how useful
it is, how strong, and full of grace, so that when God is offended by
our past sins, and on the point of inflicting a most just punishment
for such offences, it somehow, if it is not wrong to say so, stops
Him, and, if I may so say, stays the right hand of the Avenger even
against His will. But I have no doubt that all this is well known to
you, either from your natural wisdom, or from your unwearied study of
Holy Scripture, so that from this the first shoots, so to speak, of
your conversion sprang up. Finally, you are anxious not about the
character of penitence but about its end, and the marks of
satisfaction, and so by a very shrewd question ask what has been left
out by others.
Of the method of penitence and the proof of
pardon.
WHEREFORE in order to satisfy as briefly and shortly as possible, your
desire and question, the full and perfect description of penitence is,
never again to yield to those sins for which we do penance, or for
which our conscience is pricked. But the proof of satisfaction and
pardon is for us to have expelled the love of them from our hearts.
For each one may be sure that he is not yet free from his former sins
as long as any image of those sins which he has committed or of others
like them dances before his eyes, and I will not say a delight in--but
the recollection of--them haunts his inmost soul while he is devoting
himself to satisfaction for them and to tears. And so one who is on
the watch to make satisfaction may then feel sure that he is free from
his sins and that he has obtained pardon for past faults, when he
never feels that his heart is stirred by the allurements and
imaginations of these same sins. Wherefore the truest test of
penitence and witness of pardon is found in our own conscience, which
even before the day of judgment and of knowledge, while we are still
in the flesh, discloses our acquittal from guilt, and reveals the end
of satisfaction and the grace of forgiveness. And that what has been
said may be more significantly expressed, then only should we believe
that the stains of past sins are forgiven us, when the desires for
present delights as well as the passions have been expelled from our
heart.
A question whether our sins ought to be remembered
out of contrition of heart.
GERMANUS: And whence can there be aroused in us this holy and salutary
contrition from humiliation, which is described as follows in the
person of the penitent: "I have acknowledged my sin, and mine
unrighteousness have I not hid. I said: I will acknowledge against
myself mine unrighteousness to the Lord," so that we may be able
effectually to say also what follows: "And Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my heart;"[50] or how,
when we kneel in prayer shall we be able to stir ourselves up to tears
of confession, by which we may be able to obtain pardon for our
offences, according to these words: "Every night will I wash my
bed: I will water my couch with tears;"[51] if we expel from our hearts all
recollection of our faults, though on the contrary we are bidden
carefully to preserve the remembrance of them, as the Lord says:
"And thine iniquities I will not remember: but do thou recollect
them"?[52] Wherefore not only
when I am at work, but also when I am at prayer I try of set purpose
to recall to my mind the recollection of my sins, that I may be more
effectually inclined to true humility and contrition of heart, and
venture to say with the prophet: "Look upon my humility and my
labour: and forgive me all my sins."[53]
The answer showing how far we ought to preserve the
recollection of previous actions.
PINUFIUS: Your question, as has been already said above, was not
raised with regard to the character of penitence, but with regard to
its end, and the marks of satisfaction: to which, as I think, a fair
and pertinent reply has been given. But what you have said as to the
remembrance of sins is sufficiently useful and needful to men who are
still doing penance, that they may with constant smiting of the breast
say: "For I acknowledge my wickedness: and my sin is ever before
me;" and this too: "And I will think for my sin."[54] While then we do penance, and are
still grieved by the recollection of faulty actions, the shower of
tears which is caused by the confession of our faults is sure to
quench the fire of our conscience. But when, while a man is still in
this state of humility of heart and contrition of spirit and
continuing to labour and to weep, the remembrance of these things
fades away, and the thorns of conscience are by God's grace extracted
from his inmost heart, then it is clear that he has attained to the
end of satisfaction and the reward of pardon, and that he is purged
from the stain of the sins he has committed. To which state of
forgetfulness we can only attain by the obliteration of our former
sins and likings, and by perfect and complete purity of heart. And
this most certainly will not be attained by any of those who from
sloth or carelessness have failed to purge out their faults, but only
by one who by constantly continuing to groan and sigh sorrowfully has
removed every spot of his former stains, and by the goodness of his
heart and his labour has proclaimed to the Lord: "I have
acknowledged my sin, and mine unrighteousness have I not hid;"
and: "My tears have been my meat day and night;" so that in
the end it may be vouchsafed to him to hear these words: "Let thy
voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for there is a
reward for thy labour, saith the Lord;"[55] and these words also may be uttered of
him by the voice of the Lord: "I have blotted out as a cloud
thine iniquities,and as a mist thy sins:" and again: "I even
I am He that blotteth out thine iniquities for mine own sake, and
thine offences I will no longer remember;"[56] and so, when he is freed from the
"cords of his sins," by which "everyone is
bound,"[57] he will with all
thanksgiving sing to the Lord: "Thou hast broken my chains: I
will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise."[58]
Of the various fruits of penitence.
FOR after that grace of baptism which is common to all, and that most
precious gift of martyrdom which is gained by being washed in blood,
there are many fruits of penitence by which we can succeed in
expiating our sins. For eternal salvation is not only promised to the
bare fact of penitence, of which the blessed Apostle Peter says:
"Repent and be converted that your sins may be forgiven;"
and John the Baptist and the Lord Himself: "Repent ye, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand:"[59]
but also by the affection of love is the weight of our sins
overwhelmed: for "charity covers a multitude of sins."[60] In the same way also by the fruits of
almsgiving a remedy is provided for our wounds, because "As water
extinguishes fire, so does almsgiving extinguish sin."[61] So also by the shedding of tears is
gained the washing away of offences, for "Every night I will wash
my bed: I will water my couch with tears." Finally to show that
they are not shed in vain, he adds: "Depart from me all ye that
work iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of my
weeping."[62] Moreover by means
of confession of sins, their absolution is granted: for "I said:
I will confess against myself my sin to the Lord: and Thou forgavest
the iniquity of my heart;" and again: "Declare thine
iniquities first, that thou mayest be justified."[63] By afflicting the heart and body also
is forgiveness of sins committed in like manner obtained, for he says:
"Look on my humility and my labour, and forgive me all my
sins;" and more especially by amendment of life: "Take
away," he says, "the evil of your thoughts from mine eyes.
Cease to do evil, learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed: judge the orphan, defend the widow. And come, reason with
Me, saith the Lord: and though your sins were as scarlet, yet shall
they be as white as snow, though they were red as crimson, they shall
be as white as wool."[64]
Sometimes too the pardon of our sins is obtained by the intercession
of the saints, for "if a man knows his brother to sin a sin not
unto death, he asks, and He will give to him his life, for him that
sinneth not unto death;" and again: "Is any sick among you?
Let him send for the Elders of the Church and they shall pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if
he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him."[65] Sometimes too by the virtue of
compassion and faith the stains of sin are removed, according to this
passage: "By compassion and faith sins are purged away."[66] And often by the conversion and
salvation of those who are saved by our warnings and preaching:
"For he who converts a sinner from the error of his way, shall
save his soul from death, and cover a multitude of sins."[67] Moreover by pardon and forgiveness on
our part we obtain pardon of our sins: "For if ye forgive men
their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your
sins."[68] You see then what
great means of obtaining mercy the compassion of our Saviour hs laid
open to us, so that no one when longing for salvation need be crushed
by despair, as he sees himself called to life by so many remedies.
For if you plead that owing to weakness of the flesh you cannot get
rid of your sins by fasting, and you cannot say: "My knees are
weak from fasting, and my flesh is changed for oil; for I have eaten
ashes for my bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,"[69] then atone for them by profuse
almsgiving. If you have nothing that you can give to the needy
(although the claims of want and poverty exclude none from this
office, since the two mites of the widow are ranked higher than the
splendid gifts of the rich, and the Lord promises that He will give a
reward for a cup of cold water), at least you can purge them away by
amendment of life. But if you cannot secure perfection in goodness by
the eradication of all your faults, you can show a pious anxiety for
the good and salvation of another. But if you complain that you are
not equal to this service, you can cover your sins by the affection of
love. And if in this also some sluggishness of mind makes you weak,
at least you should submissively with a feeling of humility entreat
for remedies for your wounds by the prayers and intercession of the
saints. Finally who is there who cannot humbly say: "I have
acknowledged my sin: and mine unrighteousness have I not hid;" so
that by this confession he may be able also to add this: "And
Thou forgavest the iniquity of my heart."[70] But if shame holds you back, and you
blush to reveal them before men, you should not cease to confess them
with constant supplication to Him from Whom they cannot be hid, and to
say to Him: "I acknowledge mine iniquity, and my sin is ever
before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before
Thee;"[71] as He is wont to heal
them without any publication which brings shame, and to forgive sins
without any reproaching. And further besides that ready and sure aid
the Divine condescension has afforded us another also that is still
easier, and has entrusted the possession of the remedy to our own
will, so that we can infer from our own feelings the forgiveness of
our offences, when we say to Him: "Forgive us our debts as
we also forgive our debtors."[72]
Whoever then desires to obtain forgiveness of his sins, should study
to fit himself for it by these means. Let not the stubbornness of an
obdurate heart turn away any from the saving remedy and the fount of
so much goodness, because even if we have done all these things, they
will not be able to expiate our offences, unless they are blotted out
by the goodness and mercy of the Lord, who when He sees the service of
pious efforts offered by us with a humble heart, supports our small
and puny efforts with the utmost bounty, and says: "I even I am
He that blotteth out thine iniquities for Mine own sake, and I will
remember thy sins no more."[73]
Whoever then is aiming at this condition, which we have mentioned,
will seek the grace of satisfaction by daily fasting and mortification
of heart and body, for, as it is written, "Without shedding of
blood there is no remission;" [74]
and this not without good reason. For "flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God."[75]
And therefore one who would withhold "the sword of the spirit
which is the word of God"[76] from
this shedding of blood certainly comes under the lash of that curse of
Jeremiah's; for "Cursed," says he "is he who withholds
his sword from blood."[77] For
this is the sword which for our good sheds that bad blood whereby the
material of our sins lives; and cuts off and pares away everything
carnal and earthly which it finds to have grown up in the members of
our soul; and makes men die to sin and live to God, and flourish with
spiritual virtues. And so he will begin to weep no more at the
recollection of former sins, but at the hope of what is to come, and,
thinking less of past evils than of good things to come, will shed
tears not from sorrow at his sins, but from delight in that eternal
joy, and "forgetting those things which are behind," i.e.,
carnal sins, will press on "to those before,"[78] i.e., to spiritual gifts and
virtues.
How valuable to the perfect is the forgetfulness of
sin.
BUT with regard to this that you said a little way back; viz., that
you of set purpose go over the recollections of past sins, this ought
certainly not to be done, nay, if it forcibly surprises you, it must
be at once expelled. For it greatly hinders the soul from the
contemplation of purity, and especially in the case of one who is
living in solitude, as it entangles him in the stains of this world
and swamps him in foul sins. For while you are recalling those things
which you did through ignorance or wantonness in accordance with the
prince of this world, though I grant you that while you are engaged in
these thoughts no delight in them steals in, yet at least the mere
taint of the ancient filthiness is sure to corrupt your soul with its
foul stink, and to shut out the spiritual fragrance of goodness, i.e.,
the odour of a sweet savour. When then the recollection of past sins
comes over your mind, you must recoil from it just as an honest and
upright man runs away if he is sought out in public by an immodest and
wanton woman either by words or by embraces. And certainly unless he
at once withdraws himself from contact with her, and if he allows
himself to linger the very least in impure talk, even if he refuses
his consent to the shameful pleasures, yet he cannot avoid the brand
of infamy and scorn in the judgment of all the passers by. So then we
also, if by noxious recollections we are led to thoughts of this kind,
ought at once to desist from dwelling upon them and to fulfil what we
are commanded by Solomon: "But go forth," says he, "do
not linger in her place, nor fix thine eye on her;"[79] lest if the angels see us taken up
with unclean and foul thoughts, they may not be able to say to us in
passing by: "The blessing of the Lord be upon you."[80] For it is impossible for the soul to
continue in good thoughts, when the main part of the heart is taken up
with foul and earthly considerations. For this saying of Solomon's is
true: "When thine eyes look on a strange woman, then shall thy
mouth speak wickedly, and thou shalt lie as it were in the midst of
the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm. But thou shalt say: They
have beaten me, but I felt no pain; and they mocked me, but I felt
not."[81] So then we should
forsake not only all foul but even all earthly thoughts and ever raise
the desires of our soul to heavenly things, in accordance with this
saying of our Saviour: "For where I am," He says,
"there also shall My servant be."[82] For it often happens that when anyone
out of pity is in thought going over his own falls or those of other
faulty persons, he is affected by the delight and assent to this most
subtle attack, and that which was undertaken and started with a show
of goodness ends with a filthy and damaging termination, for
"there are ways which appear to men to be right, but the ends
thereof will come to the depths of hell."[83]
How the recollection of our sins should be
avoided.
WHEREFORE we must endeavour to rouse ourselves to this praiseworthy
contrition, by aiming at virtue and by the desire for the kingdom of
heaven rather than by dangerous recollections of sins, for a man is
sure to be suffocated by the pestilential smells of the sewer as long
as he chooses to stand over it or to stir its filth.
Of the marks of satisfaction, and the removal of
past sins.
BUT we know, as we have often said, that then only have we made
satisfaction for past sins, when the very motions and feelings,
through which, we were guilty of what we have to sorrow for, have been
eradicated from our hearts. But no one should fancy that he can
secure this, unless he has first with all the fervour of his spirit
cut off the opportunities and occasions, owing to which he fell into
those sins; as for instance, if through dangerous familiarity with a
woman he has fallen into fornication or adultery, he must take the
utmost pains to avoid even looking on one; or if he has been overcome
by too much wine and over-eating, he should chastise with the utmost
severity his craving for immoderate food. And again if he has been
led astray by the desire for and love of money, and has fallen into
perjury or theft or murder or blasphemy, he should cut off the
occasion for avarice, which has allured and deceived him. If he is
driven by the passion of pride into the sin of anger, he should with
all the virtue of humility, remove the incentive to arrogance. And
so, in order that each single sin may be destroyed, the occasion and
opportunity by which or for which it was committed should be first got
rid of. For by this curative treatment we can certainly attain to
forgetfulness of the sins we have committed.
Wherein we must do penance for a time only; and
wherein it can have no end.
BUT that description of the forgetfulness spoken of only has to do
with capital offences, which are also condemned by the mosaic law, the
inclination to which is destroyed and put an end to by a good life,
and so also the penance for them has an end. But for those small
offences in which, as it is written, "the righteous falls seven
times and will rise again"[84]
penitence will never cease. For either through ignorance, or
forgetfulness, or thought, or word, or surprise, or necessity, or
weakness of the flesh, or defilement in a dream, we often fall every
day either against our will or voluntarily; offences for which David
also prays the Lord, and asks for purification and pardon, and says:
"Who can understand sins? from my secret ones cleanse me; and
from those of others spare Thy servant;" and the Apostle:
"For the good which I would I do not, and the evil which I would
not, that I do." For which also the same man exclaims with a
sigh "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?"[85] For we
slip into these so easily as it were by a law of nature, that however
carefully and guardedly we are on the lookout against them, we cannot
altogether avoid them. Since it was of these that one of the
disciples, whom Jesus loved, declared and laid down absolutely saying:
"If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and His word
is not in us."[86] Further for a
man who is anxious to reach the heights of perfection it will not
greatly help him to have arrived at the end of penitence, i.e., to
restrain himself from unlawful acts, unless he has always urged
himself forward in unwearied course to those virtues whereby we come
to the signs of satisfaction. For it will not be enough for a man to
have kept himself clear from those foul stains of sins which the Lord
hates, unless he has also secured by purity of heart and perfect
Apostolical love that sweet fragrance of virtue in which the Lord
delights.
Thus far Abbot Pinufius discoursed on the marks of satisfaction and
the end of penitence. And although he pressed us with anxious love to
decide to stay in his coenobium, yet when he could not retain us, as
we were incited by the fame of the desert of Scete, he sent us on our
way.
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