Exhortatio Ad Sponsam Christi [Eius Opera Prodierunt Sub Nomine Athanasii]

EXHORTATION TO THE BRIDE OF CHRIST. How great a blessedness holy virginity possesses in the heavens, we are taught not only by the testimonies of the Scriptures but also by the custom of the Church: for we learn that a particular merit belongs to it, to which a special consecration pertains. For although the whole multitude of the faithful receives equal gifts of grace and all glory in the same blessings of the Sacraments, these women have something of their own beyond the rest, since from that holy and immaculate flock of the Church, as holier and purer victims, they are chosen by the Holy Spirit according to the merits of their own will, and are offered through the High Priest to the altar of God. Truly a worthy sacrifice to the Lord is the offering of so precious an animal, and no offering pleases Him more than that of His own image. For I think the Apostle spoke especially of such as these: "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living, holy, God-pleasing sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1). Therefore, virginity possesses both what others have and what others do not have: while it obtains both a common and a particular grace, and rejoices, so to speak, in the special privilege of its consecration. For ecclesiastical authority permits us to call virgins the brides of Christ; since it veils those whom it consecrates to the Lord in the manner of brides, showing that those who have shunned carnal union will especially have a spiritual marriage.

And they are worthily united to God spiritually through a comparison with marriage, who have spurned human marriages for the sake of His love. In them is especially fulfilled that saying of the Apostle: "He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). It is a great and immortal thing, and almost beyond bodily nature, to lull lust to sleep and to extinguish the flame of desire kindled by the torches of youth through the strength of the mind, and by spiritual effort to exclude the force of innate pleasure, to live contrary to the custom of the human race, to despise the comforts of spouses, to scorn the sweetness of children, and to count whatever advantages of the present life there may be as nothing for the sake of the hope of future blessedness. This, as I have said, is a great and admirable virtue, and not undeservedly destined for a vast reward on account of the magnitude of its labor. "I will give," says the Lord, "to my eunuchs in my house, and in my wall a chosen place better than to the sons and daughters of Israel; I will give them an alternate name which will not fail" (Isa. 56:4). Concerning which eunuchs the Lord repeats in the Gospel, saying: "For there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:12). Great indeed is the labor of chastity, but greater is the reward: a temporal guard, but an eternal recompense. For concerning these, the blessed apostle John also speaks, that they follow the lamb wherever it goes (Rev. 14:4).

Think that it is to be understood thus: no place in the heavenly court is closed to them, and all the dwellings of the divine mansions are opened to them. But so that the merit of virginity may shine more brightly, and how worthy it is of God may be more clearly understood, let this be considered: that our Lord and Savior God, when He deigned to assume a human form for the sake of the salvation of the human race, chose no other than a virginal womb. And to show that such a state pleased Him greatly, and to intimate the good of chastity to both sexes, He had a virgin as mother while remaining a virgin Himself; in Himself He gave an example of virginity to men, and in His mother to women: whereby it was demonstrated that in both sexes the blessed integrity of divinity is held and has merited fullness; since in the mother was everything that was possessed in the Son. But why do I strive to reveal the excellent and sublime merit of chastity, and to show the good of glorious virginity, when I am not unaware that many have spoken fully on this matter, and have proven its blessedness by the clearest reasoning, and that it cannot come into doubt for any wise person that that thing is of greater merit which is of greater labor? For whoever thinks chastity is either of no reward or of little reward, it is certain that he either is ignorant of, or does not willingly bear, the labor. Hence those always detract from chastity who either do not have it, or are compelled to have it unwillingly.

Now, therefore, since we have briefly shown both the labor and the merit of integrity, we must keep watch more diligently, lest a thing which stands by great virtue and is destined for a vast reward be able to lack its fruit. For the more precious any kind of thing is, the more carefully it is guarded. And since there are many things which lack their own good unless they are aided by the help of other things—as is the case with the species of honey, which, unless it is preserved by the protection of wax and the cells of the honeycomb, and (to speak more truly) nourished, loses its natural grace and cannot subsist by itself—and as with the species of wine, which, unless the vessel is of good odor and is refreshed by more frequent applications of pitch, loses its innate power of sweetness—so we must provide more attentively, lest perhaps other things be necessary for virginity, without which it may by no means suffice to bear fruit, and so great a labor will profit nothing, while it is vainly believed to be of use that which is possessed without necessary things. For unless I am mistaken, the integrity of chastity is preserved for the reward of the heavenly kingdom, which it is quite certain no one can attain without the merit of eternal life. And that eternal life cannot be merited except through the observance of all divine precepts, as Scripture testifies, saying: "If you wish to come to life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17).

Therefore, only he who has kept all the commandments of the law has life; and he who has not had life cannot be a possessor of the heavenly kingdom, in which not the dead, but the living, each one, will reign. Virginity alone, therefore, will avail nothing for one who hopes for the glory of the heavenly kingdom, unless she also possesses that to which perpetual life is promised, through which the reward of the heavenly kingdom is obtained. Therefore, before all else, those who preserve chastity and integrity and hope for its recompense from the equity of God must guard the precepts of the commandments, lest the labor of glorious chastity and continence be brought to naught. No wise or reading person is ignorant that virginity is above a commandment or precept, as the Apostle says: "Concerning virgins, however, I have no command from the Lord, but I give advice" (1 Cor. 7:25). Therefore, when he gives advice for obtaining virginity, he does not establish a precept; he has professed that it is above a mandate or precept. Therefore, whoever preserves virginity does more than is commanded. For then having done more than is ordered will profit, if one does what is ordered. Desiring to fulfill the divine counsel, first of all keep the commandment: wishing to obtain the reward of virginity, embrace the merits of life, so that your chastity can be rewarded. For just as the reward of the commandments bestows life, so, on the contrary, their transgression generates death.

And he who through transgression has been consigned to death will not be able to hope for the crown of virginity; nor, placed in punishment, can he expect the reward of chastity. For there are three kinds through which the possession of the heavenly kingdom is entered. The first is chastity; the second, contempt of the world; the third, indeed, justice: which, as they are connected, greatly benefit those who possess them; so, when divided, they can scarcely be of use: since each of them is demanded not for its own sake alone, but for the sake of another. First, therefore, chastity is sought, so that contempt of the world may more easily follow: because the world can be more lightly contemned by those who are not bound by the bonds of marriage. Contempt of the world, indeed, is required so that justice may be preserved; which those who are entangled in the affairs of worldly goods and mundane pleasures can hardly fulfill! Therefore, whoever possesses the first kind, chastity, but does not obtain the second, which is contempt of the world, possesses the first almost to no purpose, when he does not have the second, for the sake of which the first was sought. And if he has the first and the second, but lacks the third, which is justice, he labors in vain: since the two former are required chiefly for the sake of justice. For what good is it to have chastity for the sake of contempt of the world, and not to have that for the sake of which you have it; or why do you contemn worldly things, if you do not guard justice, for the sake of which it is fitting for you to have chastity and contempt of the world?

For just as the first kind exists for the sake of the second, so the first and second exist for the sake of the third; and if the third is lacking, neither the first nor the second will avail. Perhaps you say: "Teach me, then, what justice is, so that if I come to know it, I may more easily be able to fulfill it." I will speak briefly, as best I can, and I will use the simplicity of common words, because the matter we are dealing with is such that it ought by no means to be obscured by the more ornate speeches of eloquence, but rather unfolded by the simpler narratives of plain speech; for a thing necessary for all ought to be shown in common speech. Justice, therefore, is nothing other than not sinning. Not sinning, moreover, is keeping the precepts of the law. The observance of the precepts, however, is maintained in a twofold manner: that you do none of the things that are forbidden, and that you strive to fulfill all that are commanded. This is what is said: "Turn away from evil, and do good" (Psalm 33:15). For I do not want you to think that justice consists in not doing evil, since not doing good is also evil, and in both a transgression of the law is committed. For He who said, "Turn away from evil," also said, "Do good." If you have turned away from evil and have not done good, you are a transgressor of the law, which is fulfilled not only in the abhorrence of evil deeds, but also in the perfection of good works.

For this is not only commanded of you, that you not strip a clothed man of his garments; but also that you cover a stripped man with your own: nor only that you not take away bread from one who has it, but that you gladly share your own with one who has none: nor only that you not drive a poor man from his lodging; but that you receive into your own one who has been driven out and has none. For the commandment is given to us, to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). How do we weep with them, if we share in none of their needs, nor offer them any help in the causes for which they weep? For God does not seek the fruitless moisture of our tears; but because tears are a sign of sorrow, He wants you to feel another's distress as your own; and just as you would wish to be helped if you were in such tribulation, so you should help another, according to that saying: Whatever good things you wish men to do to you, do likewise to them (Matt. 7:11). For to weep with one who weeps, and to give nothing to the weeping one when you can, is a sign of mockery, not of piety. Finally, our Savior wept with Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and He showed the affection of immense mercy by the testimony of tears, and the signs of true piety were soon followed by deeds, when Lazarus, for whose sake the tears were shed, was raised and restored to his sisters. This was to weep piously with those who weep: to remove the occasion for weeping. But, you will say, He did it as one who is powerful.

Indeed, nothing impossible is commanded of you: he who has done what he could has fulfilled all. But, as we had begun to say, it is not enough for a Christian to abstain from evils, unless he also fulfills the duties of good works. This is especially proven by that testimony in which the Lord threatens that those will be guilty of eternal fire who, although they have done nothing evil, have not done everything that is good, saying: "Then the King will say to those who are on the left: Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat," etc. (Matthew 25:41). He did not say: "Depart from me, accursed ones, because you have committed murder, adultery, or thefts": for they are condemned and sentenced to the torments of eternal hell not because they had done evil, but because they had not done good; not because they had committed what is forbidden, but because they had refused to fulfill what was commanded. Hence it must be noted what hope those can have who still do some of the things that are forbidden, when even those who have not done what is commanded are guilty. For I do not want you to flatter yourself in this, if you have not done some things because you have done other things, since it is written: "He who has kept the whole law but offends in one point has become guilty of all" (James 2:10). For Adam sinned once, and died: and do you think you live while committing often that which, when another committed it once, killed him?

Do you think he committed a great crime, for which he was justly condemned to a harsher penalty? Let us therefore see what he did against the commandment. He ate from the fruit of the tree. What then? Did God punish man with death because of the fruit of the tree? Not because of the fruit of the tree, but because of contempt for the commandment. Therefore it is not a matter of the quality of the sin, but of the transgression of the commandment. And He who said to Adam that he should not eat from the fruit of the tree; He Himself commanded you that you should not curse, not lie, not slander, not listen to a slanderer, that you should not swear at all, not covet, not envy, not be lukewarm, not be avaricious; that you should return no evil for evil, that you should love your enemies, that you should bless those who curse you, that you should pray for your slanderers and for your persecutors, that you should offer the other cheek to one who strikes you, that you should not litigate in a secular court, that if someone wishes to take away your possessions, you should lose them willingly, that you should admit into your breast the evil neither of anger, nor of jealousy, nor of spite, that you should flee the sin of avarice, that you should beware of the evil of all pride and boasting, and live humble and meek after the example of Christ: avoiding the company of evil men to such an extent that you do not even take food with fornicators, or with the avaricious, or with those who curse, or with the envious, or with slanderers, or with drunkards, or with the rapacious. If you have despised Him in any matter, if He spared Adam, He will spare you as well.

Indeed, he should have been spared more, for he was still raw and new, and was not deterred by the example of anyone who had sinned before him and died because of his sin. For you, however, after so many teachings, after the Law, after the Prophets, after the Gospels, after the Apostles, if you should wish to transgress, I do not know how pardon could be granted. Or do you flatter yourself on the prerogative of virginity? Remember that Adam and Eve sinned as virgins, and bodily integrity did not avail those who sinned. A virgin who sins is to be compared to Eve, not to Mary. We do not deny the remedy of penance in the present time, but we urge that one ought to hope for a reward rather than for pardon. For it is shameful for those who look forward to the palm of virginity to seek indulgence for their fault, and to incur something illicit when they have castrated themselves even from what is licit. Indeed, it is licit to enter into the bond of marriage. And just as those are to be praised who, for the love of Christ and the glory of the heavenly kingdom, have spurned the union of marriage, so those are not to be condemned who, out of a desire for innocence, not yet devoted to God, avail themselves of the apostolic remedy. Therefore, as we have said, those who abandon marriage spurn not what is illicit, but what is licit.

But if they swear, if they curse, if they slander, if they endure hearing slanderers, if they return evil for evil, if they incur the charge of covetousness in others’ goods or of avarice in their own, if they harbor the poisons of jealousy or envy, if they speak or think anything indecent contrary to the legal and apostolic precepts; if they go forth adorned and decked out in the pursuit of pleasing the flesh; if they do any of those things which, as is customary, are unlawful—what will it profit them to have spurned what was permitted, and to practice what is not permitted? If you wish to benefit from having despised what was lawful, see to it that you do none of those things which are not lawful. For it is foolish to have feared what is lesser, and not to fear what is greater; or not to avoid those things which are forbidden, if those which are granted have been evaded. For the Apostle says: “The unmarried woman thinks about the things of the Lord, how to please God, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman thinks about the things of this world, how to please her husband” (1 Cor. 7:34). He asserts that the married woman pleases her husband by thinking about worldly things; the unmarried woman, however, pleases God, because she has no care for the world. Therefore, let her who has no husband, and yet thinks about worldly things, tell me: whom does she desire to please? Will not the married woman begin to be preferred to her? For the married woman, by thinking about worldly things, at least pleases her husband; but this one can please neither a husband, whom she does not have, nor God.

Nor is it fitting for us to pass over in silence what he said: "The unmarried woman thinks about the things of the Lord, how she may please God, so that she may be holy in body and spirit" (1 Cor. 7:34). What, then, are the things of the Lord? Let the Apostle say: Whatever is holy, whatever is just, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute. Whatever virtue, whatever praise of discipline (Ps. 4:8). These are the things of the Lord, which holy, true, and apostolic virgins meditate and ponder day and night without any interval of time. The kingdom of heaven is the Lord's; the resurrection of the dead is the Lord's; immortality is the Lord's; incorruption is the Lord's; the splendor of the sun that is promised to the saints is the Lord's, as it is written in the Gospel: "Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father" (Matt. 13). The many abodes of the saints in the heavens are the Lord's; the thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold fruit is the Lord's. These things they ponder, and by what works they may merit the things that are the Lord's, they ponder. The law of the New and Old Testament is also the Lord's, in which the holy words of his mouth shine forth; if virgins meditate on these without ceasing, they ponder the things that are the Lord's; and that prophetic saying is fulfilled in them: "Eternal foundations upon solid rock: and the commandments of the Lord in the heart of a holy woman" (Ecclus. 26:24). It follows: "How she may please God." God, I say, not men: "So that she may be holy in body and spirit" (1 Cor. 7:34).

He did not say that she should be holy in a single member or in body only; but that she should be holy in body and spirit. For a member is one part of the body: the body, however, is the whole joining together of all the members. Therefore, when he says: that she should be holy in body, he testifies that she ought to be sanctified in all her members. Because the sanctification of the other members will not avail, if corruption is found even in one. And then she will not be holy in body, which consists of all the members, if it has been polluted by the defilement of even one. But so that what I say may become clearer and more evident; suppose there is a woman who is pure in the sanctification of all her members, and only her tongue sins, by which she blasphemes or bears false witness; will all the members free that one? Or will the others be judged on account of that one? Therefore, if the sanctification of the other members will not avail when there is a blemish in one, how much more, if all are corrupted by the foulness of various sins, will the integrity of one avail nothing? Hence I beseech you, virgin, do not flatter yourself with chastity alone, do not trust in the integrity of a single member: but according to the Apostle, preserve the sanctity of your body for God alone. Keep your head clean from every defilement: for it is a crime, after the sanctification of chrism, for it to be sullied with the rouge or powder of saffron or any other pigment; or to be adorned with gold or gems of any earthly kind: which already shines with the splendor of heavenly ornament.

It is indeed a great insult to divine grace to prefer worldly and secular adornment. Cleanse your forehead, so that it may blush at human, not divine, works, and receive that confusion which begets not sin, but the glory of God. As Scripture says: There is a confusion that leads to sin, and there is a confusion that leads to glory (Ecclus. iv, 25). Cleanse your neck, so that it may not bear golden hairnets and hanging necklaces, but rather carry those ornaments of which Scripture says: Let mercy and faith not fail you; hang them, however, in your heart as on your neck (Prov. iii, 15). Cleanse your eyes, by withdrawing them from all lust, never turning them away from the sight of the poor, and preserving them, free from all cosmetics, in the sincerity of those things which were made by God. Cleanse your tongue from falsehood: because a mouth that lies kills the soul (Wisd. i, 11). Cleanse it from detraction, from swearing, from flattery, from perjury. Do not think it a reversed order that I said the tongue should be cleansed from swearing before perjury: because you will more easily avoid perjury if you do not swear at all. Let that saying be fulfilled in you: Restrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips not speak deceit (Ps. xxxiii). And remember the Apostle saying: Bless, and do not curse (Rom. xii, 14).

But recall this more often: See that no one returns evil for good to anyone, nor curse for curse; but on the contrary, bless, because you are called to this, that you might possess blessing as an inheritance (1 Pet. 3:9); and this: If anyone does not offend in tongue, he is perfect (Jas. 3:2). For it is unlawful that those lips with which you confess, entreat, bless, and praise the Lord should be polluted by any filth of sin. I know not with what conscience and tongue a person prays to God, when he either lies, or curses, or slanders. God hears holy lips; and He quickly grants the prayers which an immaculate tongue pronounces. Cleanse your ears, so that they may offer hearing only to holy and true words; so that they may never receive obscene, or shameful, or worldly words, nor hear anyone speaking ill of another, because of what Scripture says: Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue (Sir. 28:29); so that you may be able to have a share with him of whom it is said, that he was just in hearing and sight; that is, he sinned neither with his ears nor with his eyes. Let your hands not be stretched out for receiving, but closed for giving, nor ready for striking, but sufficiently prompt for all works of mercy and piety.

Wash your feet, lest they go along the broad and spacious way which leads to the splendid and costly banquets of the world; but rather let them walk the steeper and narrower path which stretches toward heaven, because it is written: Make straight the way for your feet (Isa. 57:14). Recognize that your limbs were formed by God the craftsman not for vices, but for virtue: and when you have cleansed every joint from every filth of sin, and have been sanctified in your whole body, then understand that chastity will benefit you, and await the palm of virginity with full confidence. What it means to be holy in body, I think I have set forth briefly but fully; now we must know what follows—and in spirit—that is, that what it is wicked to do in deed, it is not even lawful to conceive in thought. For she is holy both in body and in spirit who sins neither in mind nor in heart, knowing that God is the inspector even of the heart; and therefore she takes care to keep her mind as well as her body clean from sin in every way, knowing that it is written: Guard your heart with all watchfulness (Prov. 4:23); and again: The Lord loves holy hearts; and all the immaculate are acceptable to him; and elsewhere: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). This I think is said of those whom conscience convicts of no fault of sin. Concerning these I believe John said in his Epistle: If our heart does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask we shall receive from him (1 John 3:20).

Do not think that you have escaped the crime of sin if the will is not followed by the effect, since it is written: "Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart" (Matt. 5:17). Nor say, "I thought about it, but I did not complete it," because even to desire is unlawful. Hence blessed Peter commands, saying: "Purifying your souls" (1 Pet. 1:22); for if he had known of no defilement of the soul, he would not have desired it to be purified. But we must also consider more attentively that passage which contains: "These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they have remained virgins: these follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rev. 14:4), and we must observe whether it is by the merit of integrity and chastity alone that they are joined to the divine retinue and traverse all the courts of heaven, or whether there are other things as well, joined to which virginity attains the glory of such blessedness. But how shall we be able to know this? From what follows, unless I am mistaken, in which it is written: "These are the firstfruits bought from among men for God and the Lamb, and no lie was found in their mouth; for they are without stain" (Rev. 14:5). You see, therefore, that they are not said to cling to the Lord's footsteps in only one respect; but rather those who, besides virginity, have also led a life unstained by any contagion of sin.

Therefore, the virgin especially spurns marriage, so that, being more secure, she may more easily guard herself from every fault and fulfill all the commandments of the law, which is also required of those who marry. For if she does not marry, and yet does those things from which even married women are commanded to be free, what good will it do her not to have married? For although no Christian is permitted to sin, and all who are purified by the sanctification of the spiritual bath ought to lead an immaculate life, so that they may be admitted to the innermost parts of the Church, which is described as without spot, without wrinkle, without anything of that kind, yet it is much more necessary for the virgin to fulfill this, whom neither husband, nor children, nor any other necessity prevents from completing the divine Scripture; nor, if she sins, can she be defended by any excuse. O Virgin, keep the purpose destined for you with a great reward. Virginity and chastity are splendid in the sight of God, if they are not weakened by other falls into sins and evils. Recognize your state, recognize your place, recognize your purpose. You are called the bride of Christ; see that you admit nothing unworthy of him to whom you appear betrothed: he will quickly write a bill of divorce if he sees even one adultery in you.

For whatever woman is betrothed with the pledges of a human marriage immediately inquires carefully and diligently from the household, the intimates, the friends of the groom, and even from the servants, what sort of character the young man has, what he especially loves, what he approves, by what practice he lives, by what custom he governs himself, what feasts he uses, what things particularly delight and please him. When she has learned these things, she so tempers herself in all things that her compliance, her cheerfulness, her diligence, her life may accord with the character of the groom. And you, who have Christ as a groom, inquire from his household and intimates about the character of your groom, and search strenuously and diligently: in what things he especially delights, what sort of arrangement of garments he loves in you, what kind of adornment he desires. Let his most intimate Peter tell you, who does not permit even bodily adornment to married women, as he wrote in his epistle: "Women likewise subject to their husbands, so that if any do not believe the word, they may be gained through the women's conversation without a word: considering in the fear of God your chaste conversation, whose adornment is not external hair-dressing, or the encircling of gold, or the cultivation of garments, but the man hidden in the heart, in incorruptibility and a modest spirit, which is rich in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3, following).

Let another apostle, the blessed Paul, who writes to Timothy the bishop, testify likewise concerning the discipline of faithful women: "Women likewise, adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety in their attire, not with curled hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly garments, but with what becomes women promising chastity through good conduct" (1 Tim. 2:9). But perhaps you say: why did the same apostles not command these things to virgins? Because they judged it unnecessary: lest such a reminder to virgins should seem an injury rather than a correction. But they never believed that these would be of such great temerity as to presume upon carnal ornaments and earthly things not even granted to married women. Truly, a Virgin ought to adorn and compose herself: for how will she be able to please her spouse unless she proceeds composed and adorned? Let her indeed be adorned, but with interior ornaments, and composed spiritually, not carnally: because God considers not the beauty of the body, but of the soul in her. Therefore you also, whoever you are who desire your soul to be loved and inhabited by God, compose it with all diligence, and adorn it with spiritual garments. Let nothing unseemly, nothing foul appear in it. Let it shine with the gold of justice, gleam with the gems of sanctity, and glitter with the most precious pearl of chastity.

Instead of byssus and silk, let her be clothed in the tunic of mercy and piety, according to what is written: "Therefore clothe yourselves, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, with the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, etc." (Colossians 3:12). And let her not seek the beauty of white lead or any other pigment, but let her have the whiteness of innocence and simplicity. Let her possess the rosy color of modesty and the purple of shame and modesty. Let her be washed with the celestial nitre of doctrine, and cleansed with spiritual lamentations. Let no stain of malice, no stain of the devil remain in her; and lest she ever reek with the odor of sin, let her be anointed with the ointment of most sweet wisdom and knowledge. God seeks this kind of adornment, and he desires a soul so composed. Remember that you are called a daughter of God, according to what is said: "Hear, O daughter, and see" (Psalm 44:11). But you yourself, whenever you name God as father, testify that you are a daughter of God. Therefore, if you are a daughter of God, see that you do nothing that is unseemly for God the Father; but do everything as a daughter of God. Know how the daughters of the nobles of this world conduct themselves, what manners they become accustomed to, and by what disciplines they train themselves. So great is the modesty in some, so great the gravity, so great the decorum, that they exceed the custom of other men in view of human nobility; and lest they brand a mark of infamy upon their honorable parents through their own fall, they strive to make for themselves, among men, a second nature, as it were, of custom.

And so you too, consider your origin, behold your lineage, take note of the glory of your nobility: recognize that you are not the daughter of a man, but of God, and adorned with the nobility of divine birth. Conduct yourself in such a way that your heavenly birth may be apparent in you, and your divine nobility may shine forth. Let there be in you a new gravity, an admirable honesty, an astonishing modesty, a wondrous patience, a virginal gait, and the bearing and speech of true chastity, always modest and to be uttered at the proper time; so that whoever sees you may marvel and say: What is this patience of such new gravity among humans? What modesty of shame? What honesty of decorum? What maturity of wisdom? This is not human training, nor mortal discipline: something heavenly in an earthly body breathes forth to me. I think that God dwells in certain human beings. And when he has recognized that you are a handmaid of Christ, he will be seized with greater wonder, and will consider what kind of Lord that must be, whose handmaid is such as this.

If you wish, therefore, to be with Christ and to have a share with Christ, you must live by Christ’s example, who was so foreign to all malice and wickedness that he did not even return harm to his enemies, but rather prayed even for them. For I do not wish you to consider as Christian souls those who, I do not say hate their brothers or sisters, but who do not love their neighbors with their whole heart and conscience before the testimony of God; since for Christians, by the likeness of Christ, it is necessary to love even enemies. If you desire to have fellowship with the saints, cleanse your breast from every thought of malice and wickedness. Let no one deceive you, let no one seduce you with deceitful speech. The heavenly court will receive only the holy, the just, the simple, the innocent, and the pure. Malice has no place with God. It is necessary for one who desires to reign with Christ to be free from all wickedness and deceit. Nothing is so contrary, nothing so abominable to God as to hate someone, to wish to harm someone; nothing is so acceptable as to love all. The Prophet, knowing this, bears witness, saying: “You who love the Lord, hate evil” (Ps. 96:10).

See that you do not in any way love human glory; lest your portion also be counted among those of whom it is said: “How can you believe, seeking glory from one another?” (John 5:44). And of whom it is said through the Prophet: “Increase evils upon them, increase evils upon the glorious of the earth.” And elsewhere: “Be ashamed of your boasting, of the reproach in the sight of God” (Isaiah 45). For I do not want you to look to those who are virgins of the world, not of Christ; who, forgetful of their purpose and profession, delight in pleasures, take pleasure in riches, and are delighted by the origin of bodily nobility. If they truly believed themselves to be daughters of God, they would never, after their divine birth, admire human nobility, nor glory in any honored father: if they felt they had God as their Father, they would not love the nobility of the flesh. Why do you flatter yourself and take complacency in the nobility of your lineage? From the beginning, God made two men, from whom the whole forest of the human race descended: worldly nobility was not bestowed by the equity of nature, but by the ambition of desire.

Certainly, through the generation of the divine washing we are all made equal, and there can be no distinction among those whom a second birth has generated; through it, both rich and poor, both free and slave, both noble and ignoble become a son of God; and earthly nobility is overshadowed by the splendor of heavenly glory, and nowhere at all does it still appear: while those who were formerly unequal in worldly honors are equally clothed with the glory of heavenly and divine nobility. There is now no place for ignobility, nor is anyone degenerate whom the sublimity of divine birth adorns, except among those who do not think heavenly things should be preferred to human ones; or if they do think so, how vain it is that they prefer themselves to others in lesser matters, when they know them to be their equals in greater ones, and consider them as if placed below them on earth, when they believe them to be their equals in heavenly things? But you, whoever you are, a virgin of Christ, not of the world, flee all glory of the present life, so that you may attain that which is promised in the future.

Avoid words of contention and causes of ill will; also shun occasions of discord and quarrels. For if, according to the Apostle’s teaching, a servant of the Lord ought not to quarrel (2 Tim. 2:24), how much more a handmaid of God, whose sex, being more modest, should have a more modest mind. Restrain your tongue from evil speech, and impose the bridle of the Law upon your mouth, so that if you ever speak, when it would be a sin to be silent, take care that you say nothing that might incur reproach. A word once uttered is a stone let fly; therefore it must be pondered long before it is spoken. Blessed indeed are the lips that never emit what they would wish to recall. The speech of a chaste mind ought also to be chaste, always building up rather than ever destroying the hearers, according to the Apostle’s command: “Let no evil word proceed from your mouth; but if any good word for the edification of faith, let it give grace to the hearers” (Eph. 4:29). A tongue is precious to God that knows how to frame words only about divine things; and a mouth is holy from which heavenly utterances are always brought forth. Deter detractors of the absent as evil persons by the authority of Scripture, because the Prophet counts this among the virtues of a perfect man, if before the sight of a just man the evil one who has brought unproven charges against his neighbor is brought to nothing. It is not lawful for you to listen patiently to the vituperation of another, because you do not wish yours to be received by others (Ps. 74:5).

It is indeed unjust, whatever comes against Christ’s Gospel, if you suffer to be inflicted on another what would be troublesome to you from another. Always accustom your tongue to speak of good things, and direct your hearing more to the praise of the good than to the censure of the evil. See that whatever good you do, you do for God’s sake, knowing that you will receive from the Lord only that reward for a thing which you have accomplished for the sake of His fear and love. Strive to be holy rather than to seem so; for it is of no profit to be esteemed what one is not, and it is a double guilt to lack what is believed and to feign what you do not have. Delight more in fasts than in feasts, mindful of that widow who did not depart from the temple, serving God day and night with fasts and prayers. And if a widow in Judea was such, how much more ought a virgin of Christ now be. Love rather the banquet of divine reading, and long to be satiated with spiritual feasts; and seek rather those foods by which the soul is refreshed more than the body. Flee the kinds of meat and wine as fuel for heat and incitements to lust, and then, if at all, use a little wine when stomach pain or excessive bodily weakness compels it. Conquer anger; restrain animosity; and whatever it is that, after the deed, brings repentance, shun as an abomination near to sin.

It is fitting that the mind of a bride of Christ be tranquil and quiet, and free from every disturbance of fury, since it desires to be a dwelling place of God; who testifies through the Prophet and says: "Upon whom else shall I rest, but upon the humble and quiet one, and the one trembling at my words" (Isaiah 66:3)? Believe God to be the overseer of all your works and thoughts, and beware lest you either do or think anything unworthy of the divine eyes. When you wish to celebrate prayer, show yourself as one who is about to speak with the Lord. When you recite a psalm, recognize whose words you speak; and delight more in compunction of the mind than in the sweetness of the voice. For God approves the tears of the psalm-singer more than the grace of the voice, as the Prophet says: "Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice before him with fear" (Psalm 2:11). Where there is fear and trembling, there is not elation of the voice, but a tearful and sorrowful abasement of the soul. Apply diligence to all your actions, because it is written: "Cursed is the man who does the work of the Lord negligently" (Jeremiah 46:10). Let grace increase in you with the years, let righteousness increase with age; and let your faith appear the more perfect the older you are: because our Lord Jesus, who left us an example of living, advanced not only in bodily age, but also in wisdom and spiritual grace before God and men (Luke 2:25). Every time in which you do not feel yourself improved, I consider you to have lost.

Preserve the virginity you have undertaken to its very end; for it is not merely to have begun, but to have perfected, that is the mark of virtue, as the Lord says in the Gospel: "He who perseveres to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 22:10). Beware lest you give anyone occasion for lust; for your spouse, God, is jealous: an adulteress against Christ is more guilty than one against a husband. Hence the Roman Church, animated without doubt by the Apostolic spirit whose seat it holds, has recently established so severe a sentence of this kind that it would scarcely deem even penance worthy for one who had defiled a body consecrated to God with licentious pollution. Therefore be a form of living for all, be an example; precede in action those whom you surpass in the sanctification of chastity. Show yourself a virgin in all things; let nothing corrupt be presented to your head, whose body is whole, so that your conversation may also be inviolable.

And since, as we stated at the beginning of the letter, you have been made a sacrifice of God—which assuredly imparts its own sanctity even to others, so that whoever worthily partakes of it also becomes a participant in sanctification—thus also through you, as through a divine offering, may the rest be sanctified, with whom you so conduct yourself in all things that whoever touches your life either by hearing or by sight may feel the power of sanctification, and may understand that so great a grace is poured into him from your way of life that, while he desires to imitate you, he himself may become worthy of the sacrifice of God.