De corruptoribus virginum

A Lament against those who corrupt the virgins of Christ. What is it to us, wretched and miserable guides of evil pleasures? How do you expect to escape the hands of the living God? What will you do when He who betrothed her comes to judge the living and the dead? What defense will you offer, having committed such lawless acts against the brides of Christ? Have you so greatly despised? Did you not tremble? Did you not fear? Did you not shudder? Did you not spare your own souls? Do you not know that there is no other lawlessness like this? Do you not know that the virgins are a temple of God? Do you not know that the Spirit of God dwelt in them? Those who daily converse with Christ about the inexhaustible and eternal dowries, and whom Paul brought forward to present as pure virgins to Christ, have you befouled with filth and stench? Oh, how did you dare to corrupt the brides of Christ, agents of evil desire? If someone dares to do such things against a fellow slave-girl, he does not go unpunished; but when you arm yourselves against the brides of Christ, who are the common property of both them and you, do you expect to escape justice? Have you not heard the Apostle saying, "Merciless is the judgment for him who has not shown mercy"? And what is more merciless than this? For with one sword you commit two murders, killing both yourselves and them; for this is death in the eyes of the right-minded. Oh, who would not groan? Who would not mourn? Who would not beat his breast and lament the untimely murder? Who would not weep over the premature death, who would not grieve over the unjust blow?

A dowry and a marriage contract are preserved for the lawful husband who is joined in incorruption to the heavenly bridegroom Christ—and is virginity betrayed to an adulterer? But someone will say: "I was joined to Christ by necessity; I was not of my own intention joined to him, but to a fellow servant." Wretched woman, have you dared to declaim against yourself that, even though you had no intention or love for him, the Master desired you? Listen, miserable one, and I will tell you, and be informed even from worldly matters. I speak of worldly things: If one man seizes a girl instead of another, when equality of status is considered, the seizure is valid for the one who did it, and law and king permit the seizure. For he did not seize and take her to insult her, but to honor her, and a dowry and gifts prevail. If, then, among humans there is no change, because it follows the prior intention, what will you plead, you who were seized by the Master beyond expectation? For I do not call that necessity by which you were deemed worthy to be joined to the Master, but an economy and philanthropy of the Master, so that under the guise of necessity you, the unworthy one, might gain the incorruptible marriage above you. Do not say, then, "I chose virginity by necessity"; do not be ungrateful to the heavenly bridegroom, because he deemed it worthy to take you without dowry, without lineage, and as a slave—for you are his slave, even if you do not wish it. Therefore, I beseech you, O virgin, to become obedient without any contradiction or shameful deliberations. And if you have not yet rejected the spiritual marriage, keep the covenants securely; but if you have transgressed and fallen, rise, rise, I beseech you.

The good and philanthropic Master, who was dishonored by you, stands before you and does not cast out your cohabitation; give him your hand. For since you insulted the first right hand, at least do not reject this one. He does not disdain your wounds; for he heals the wound of the soul and the body; for he is a compassionate physician. Reveal to him through confession the passion, so that he may invisibly apply the saving remedy; for he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to you as you lie prostrate; rise up, then, take up your bed, and go to your house, that is, to the harbor of repentance. No longer attend either with your fleshly eyes or with those of your mind to that adulterer, the procurer of Gehenna and the sleepless worm. "Take it up," he says, "take it up from here; for I do not want you to lie prostrate." Tear apart the symbol of sin; wash with tears, not in the baptismal font, but in the church; for God is able to grant you your former rank. Do not teach the potter how to correct his own clay. Have you sinned? Be still; do not say, "And how is it possible for me to come to my former rank?" Do not say this, O virgin; for God is the one who justifies, and who is the one who condemns? Hear how the Master rebukes despair through the prophet Jeremiah, saying: "Is there no resin in Gilead, or is there no physician there? Why has no healing come for the daughter of my people?

Oh the compassionate physician! He does not reproach for the fault, but for the neglect. He did not say, "Why were you struck?" but, "Why were you not healed?" He did not say, "Why did you fall?" but, "Why did you not rise?" That the Lord wishes to present you more radiant through repentance, hear him speaking through the prophet Isaiah: "If your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten them as snow; if they be as crimson, I will whiten them as wool." Neither would the Apostle have grieved an untimely pain, had he not first accepted the covenants of the Master's goodness. He would not have said, "My children, whom I again labor in birth until Christ is formed in you." For, he says, since you surrendered the soul made in the image of God to the soul-destroying demon, making the members of Christ the members of a harlot, I do not cease mourning and grieving until I see Christ formed again in you, clothed with the beauty of chastity. Do not cast away the prize of repentance, I beseech, I entreat and implore. Be manly, be chaste, anoint yourself spiritually. The Apostle multiplies his exhortation: "I intercede for Christ's sake, be reconciled to God." The Apostle entreats, that he may recall the one betrothed to Christ who dissolved the covenants. The philanthropic Master says: "I bear no grudge for the insult that occurred. My bed has been insulted, my union has been dishonored. But I charge you with none of the things that have happened, of what you have done.

Why, when the enemy was waging war, did you not stand against him? How did you not turn aside his venomous darts with the sign of my cross? Did I not dwell in a virgin’s womb for this reason, that the nature once dishonored through deceit might be honored through virginity? For the enemy took Eve captive when she was a virgin, and through virginity I again led her into paradise. Did you not hear me saying that there is no one who has left father or mother or home and renounced all worldly things who will not receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life? Did you not hear me through the prophet Isaiah saying, Those who serve me will rejoice? Did I not through my servant Isaiah promise those who keep their body in chastity that they would inherit many goods and better fruits than sons and daughters? Did not John the son of Zebedee, through virginity, become called by me Son of Thunder and son of my mother? How did you not hear my apostle Paul saying, Take no thought for the flesh? Yes, Lord, she says, but have pity on your unworthy handmaid, and do not convict me in your wrath, nor discipline me in your anger. For the primal and man-slaying enemy shot a venomous dart at me, and it ran around my heart and kidneys and the rest of my senses, and I forgot your fear and your just retribution; for the fire that arose within darkened the eyes of my mind.

Yet I am without excuse, O Master, for not having called upon you then for my aid. But I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, having abandoned you and served a passion of shame and dishonor. Then he himself will say to you: It would have been well for you to have considered, before those who demand your soul were sent away from you so quickly; and where then was your confession and repentance? For this reason I say, Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Yet from now on, sin no more, nor, having abandoned me, be called an adulteress. And so we also beseech you: Be reconciled to God, and speak thus, O virgin: I will wash my hands in innocent waters, and I will encircle your altar, O Lord, because you have raised up the one who lay prostrate, you have brought to life the one who was dead, you have made bright the one who was defiled, you have drawn up with the hook of piety the one who was sunk in sin, you have claimed as your own the one who had gone astray, you have ransomed the captive, you did not punish the one who insulted you, you recalled the one who fled, you washed the one who was bloodied, you tore away the one who was hunted by pleasure, you made the one worthy of Tartarus a citizen of heaven, you freed from Gehenna, you delivered from the sword, you loosed from bonds, you deemed worthy of eternal life, you snatched from danger, you put the devil to shame, you tore up the bond. O husbandman of good tears, what is more glorious than these wonders? Therefore, come together, all you who have fallen into such a danger of shipwreck, know, learn, be taught, that the fruit of sin is death, but the fruit of the Spirit is life and peace and sanctification.

All of you who now and always wish to escape this death, take everything that is said as a means of salvation. And meditate on this always, all of you, but especially the monastics and the virgins who have dedicated your bodies to the Lord: walk in the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh produced the fruit of sin, which is death; but the spiritual fruit is eternal life, incorruption, sanctification, and peace both in soul and body. Therefore, let this be known to all of you: no virtue is more honorable than virginity among every plant of virtue, nor is any equal to it found, unless that monk or that virgin does not commit spiritual fornication in thought; for the consent of the thoughts completes the whole action. For the one who said this is truthful: "Everyone who looks at a woman with the desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." And there is no separation between male and female; for we are all of the same mixture, as the Gospel says: it speaks of the will of man, and the will of the flesh, having said that both are one and the same. Therefore, the virgin of Christ must keep her whole self blameless and incorrupt, and her heart toward her bridegroom and creator Christ, as if seeing with the eyes of the mind the one who is beautiful beyond the sons of men, and to turn away from every idle word not for edification, and not to associate fearlessly with any male, especially those who walk disorderly. But if there is any assurance concerning the benefit of the soul, one must not reject men who walk decorously.

One must not be bold, nor spend time with women, nor jest with shameless women; and an oath should never pass from the mouth. For the Lord's command is that it does not permit you to swear even by your own head, saying, "Everything beyond 'Yes' and 'No' comes from the evil one." And drive away foul and shameless thoughts and all the temptations of the flesh by fear and longing for Christ and by the sign of his cross. Behold, fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and children all, I have set before you what is beneficial, I mean for the monastics and the virgins. Guard these things, and you will not stumble, but you also will be deemed worthy to be declared heirs of Christ, worthy and heirs of all the prepared goods. May the Father of mercies and God of all consolation declare you worthy and heirs, by the grace and mercies and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father is due glory, honor, and worship, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.