On the Descent of the Holy Spirit and the Death of the Poor Man Evprepian 1
Brethren and fathers, we are now at Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, for the Lord says: ‘It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I do go, I will send Him to you; and when He comes, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:7–8, 13). Oh, what a promise and what a privilege! He did not promise to send an angel or a man, but the Spirit Himself, consubstantial with Him! Therefore, the Only-Begotten Son ascends to heaven, having fulfilled the Father’s work; The Holy Spirit descends—not another God, God forbid! But another Comforter, as it is written, and, oh, what unspeakable love for mankind! God Himself becomes our Comforter! Therefore, He comforts our troubled and weary souls, lest we lose hope in times of tribulation; and the Holy Apostle bears witness, saying: ‘From without, struggles; from within, fears’; but God, who comforts the humble, has comforted us through the coming of Titus (2 Cor. 7:5–6). He comforts our hearts, which are terrified by the terrors of the demons, lifting them, through boldness, to a state of unshakeable fortitude. And Saint David testifies, saying: ‘You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me’ (Ps. 85:17). [He] urges 2 our troubled mind to find peace and tranquillity. And the Apostle testifies, saying: ‘Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God!’ (2 Cor. 5:20). Have you seen what an unfathomable gift this is? Have you seen what an incomparable gift this is? On high, the Only-Begotten Son intercedes for us with the Father, as it is written: ‘Who is at the right hand of the Father, who also intercedes for us’ (Rom. 8:34). Below, the Holy Spirit comforts us in many ways. How shall we repay the Lord for these things? We must rather take heed 3 to what follows, saying: All my bones shall say: ‘O Lord, O Lord, who is like You, You who deliver the poor from the hand of those stronger than they, and the poor and needy from the hand of their oppressors’ (Ps. 34:10). And again: ‘My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth’ (Ps. 123:8). And: ‘Had the Lord not come to my aid, my soul would have been but a hair’s breadth from the grave’ (Ps. 93:17). And again: ‘The Lord is my help; I will not fear what man can do to me’ (Ps. 117:6). Therefore, since we have such a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the invincible Power, the Great Defender, God and our Champion fighting alongside us, let us not be afraid, brethren and fathers, of the enemy’s threats; let us not be terrified by the powers of the adversary; but, as those who have Him as our companion and helper by our side in the struggles of asceticism and witness, let us strive with even greater courage and steadfastness to live our lives day by day, without being lured by the dragon’s deceptions, without allowing ourselves to be weakened by his ceaseless assaults upon us.
“…since we have such a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the invincible Power…, let us not be afraid, brothers and fathers, of the enemy, let us not be terrified by the powers of the adversary.”
Let us quench the fire of carnal love 4, for it sets our soul’s home ablaze. It is not pleasure, but deep sorrow; it is not a cause for joy, but a wandering of the mind and a cunning alienation. And this is known all too well by those who have cleansed themselves of the body’s passions and whose ardour is directed solely towards God. What could be sweeter and more delightful than this 5? Undoubtedly, one such as this 6 [is] in the body yet above the body, in the world yet above the world, in this life yet living above the things that are seen. In one such as this, the waves of grace, stirred by the gentle breezes of the Spirit, completely soothe the soul. But what [is happening]? The love of pleasure, when it overcomes us, leads us so far astray and so thoroughly confuses us 7 that it bends us down low, to the earth, to the flesh, to the blood, and from there alienates us entirely from the Good God. Have you not heard what befell the unfortunate Evprepian? For we have recently received word that he has died; and he died – oh, poor me! – not by temporal death, but by eternal death, for he became entangled with Eve, and took his own life because of her. Alas, what has become of him, the wretch! You know how the torch of true faith and righteous living used to shine above his head. Was he not once imprisoned alongside me for bearing witness to the faith? At Sacudion 8 was he not promoted to the rank of iconomos? Was it not for our confession of faith that he cast aside his robes to enter the fray in the arena, being flogged twice and enduring it all valiantly? What happened next? As steward, having charge of the monastery’s purse and all that was placed therein, he was dazzled by gold and, allowing himself to be overcome by the love of money, like Judas, he betrayed—alas! – Christ, for, on the one hand, he renounced his vow of celibacy, and on the other hand, like Gehazi (4 Kings 5:20–27), he bought fields and vineyards, cattle and sheep, and inherited not only that man’s leprosy, but, in my estimation, something far more dreadful than that. Behold, my brothers, what the love of money brings about. Let us flee, I beg you, from this passion, for this is where betrayal is hatched. Behold what a lack of faith can bring. Let us flee from darkness, for it tears us from the Master’s embrace; let us also flee from every other passion that besets our poor soul; I speak of anger, of envy, of rage, of self-love, of stubbornness in one’s own opinions, of living in solitude. Take care not to dwell in solitude, lest you be afflicted by the Lord’s curse that hangs over you. For it is said: ‘Woe to the one who is alone, for if he should fall, there is no one to help him up!’ (Eccl. 4:10). This is what befell the man in question: for if he had had someone with him, even if he had fallen, he could have risen again with the help of his companion, and could have repented of his sin once more. But, having no such companion, the poor man perished after he had gone to his place. This misfortune 9 is truly a cause for weeping and sorrow, brothers; and let us be filled with fear and trembling 10 at this example. ‘Let anyone who stands take heed lest they fall,’ says Scripture (1 Cor. 10:12). Let him who walks the right path take care lest he stumble, heeding the stumbling of him who went before him on the right path. One might have said that an angel would sooner fall than that brother; yet, because he slumbered, he fell; and the cause is the love of money. I would not speak to you of the love of money, were it not that you are in danger of falling into the snare of the love of money, now that everyone is forced to settle in a different place because of the persecution 11, and when you must provide for the necessities of life – unless, that is, you guard yourselves with great care. For this reason, some choose not to have a companion, so that they may amass more gold; for this reason, others show no desire even for brotherly love, for they harbour their passions under the same roof as themselves; for this reason, not even their feet can stay still, but they wander here and there, like little puppies, in the hope that they might be able to get some money from a devout man; for this reason, some have bought slaves, being themselves slaves to their passions, thereby forfeiting the honour befitting a master. Others keep hoarding, for their own use, other things they do not strictly need, turning themselves into peddlers and middlemen and amassing a merchant’s profit.
Behold, brothers, the judgement of God; take heed to the all-seeing eye of God, which watches over you without ceasing and from which no one escapes unnoticed, even if they have done something in the secret recesses of their heart, let alone the things a person does in public. Take heed to the sentence of death, for even now two of our brothers have departed from this life, Miles and Barnabas, and two others before them, and one by one we are passing on to the other side. May death not catch anyone unprepared, I pray, nor anyone who is not yet perfected. It is no small loss to be deprived of God, of the Kingdom of Heaven, of the eternal judgement and reward, which no flesh can endure, not even in imagination, let alone in reality. This will be our fate if we do not do what is pleasing to God. Therefore, so that we may escape the wrath that is to come upon the sons of disobedience (Eph. 5:6), let us, I beseech you, carry out what has been commanded, and honour God from this very moment. To the extent that anyone realises their own need, let them purify themselves, renew their soul, [guiding it] towards the will of God. For the Lord is near to all who call upon Him (Ps. 144:18) and every day He accepts our repentance, every day He takes away our sins and ceaselessly urges us to choose eternal life, which we may be deemed worthy to attain, in Christ Himself, our Lord, to Whom [to whom] be glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
- 1
This is the same Euprepian (Greek: Εὐπρεπιανός, Latin: Euprepianus) to whom Saint Theodore refers in Letter 36 (PG 99, 1031 ff.) and in Letter 41 (PG 99, 1057 ff.). A. Tougard, the annotator of Emmanuel Auvray’s edition (Paris, 1891), mentions other passages in which Euprepian is referred to, particularly in collections of letters to which I have not had access.
- 2
In Greek, the verb παρακαλέω, which belongs to the same word family as Παράκλητος (Comforter), means, amongst other things, both ‘to comfort’ and ‘to urge’. For this reason, the play on words in the original cannot be rendered in Romanian. Furthermore, the Greek term Παράκλητος also means ‘one who assists you in a legal proceeding’, i.e. a lawyer, hence the idea of an intermediary or mediator.
- 3
Lit.: Let us face up to what lies ahead.
- 4
In the original: ἔρως.
- 5
Rather than for someone to have cleansed themselves of the desires of the flesh and to desire God alone.
- 6
That is to say, one who has directed his longing solely towards God.
- 7
The original text is somewhat more rhetorical than our translation suggests: he leads us astray with such deviation and bewilders us with such folly.
- 8
Sacudion (also known as Sakkoudion) is the monastery where Saint Theodore took his monastic vows (in 781) and where his uncle, Platon, was the abbot.
- 9
Lit.: tragedy, tragic sketch.
- 10
Lit.: [worthy] of fear and trembling is the parable.
- 11
This episode brings to mind the context and the all-too-well-remembered consequences of the infamous Decree 410 of 1959.