CHAPTER XXXVI

OF THE HARLOT WHOM SERAPION CONVERTED

ABBÂ SERAPION once came and passed through a certain village in Egypt, and he saw a harlot standing in his cell, and the old man said unto her, “Remain here until the evening, for I wish to come with thee, and to pass this night with thee”; and the harlot said, “It is well, O father.” Then she made ready, and prepared her bed, and she awaited the old man with that which he required. Now when it was evening, Abbâ Serapion came, but he brought nothing with him, and he went into her cell, and said unto her, “Is thy bed ready?” And she said unto him, “Yea, father”; and they shut themselves in. Then the old man answered and said unto her, “Wait a little, because I must perform a certain thing which is a law unto us.” And he began to recite the Book of the Psalms of David from the beginning, and with every Psalm he offered up a prayer on her behalf, and he made supplication before God that she might repent and live, and God hearkened unto him. And the harlot stood up in fear by the side of the old man and prayed also, and when Abbâ Serapion had finished all the Psalms she fell down upon the ground, and he began to repeat many verses from the [books of the] Apostles. When he had finished his service, God having opened the heart of that woman, she knew that Abbâ Serapion had not come unto her for the purposes of sin, but that he might redeem her, and she fell on her face before him, and said unto him, “Perform an act of grace for me, O father, and take me to any place whatsoever wherein I can please God.” And he took her to an abode of nuns and placed her therein and he said to the mistress of the convent, “Take this sister, O mother, and lay not upon her the rules and the yoke like the [other] sisters, but whatsoever she requireth that give her; and in proportion as she findeth rest let her submit to be led.” And when the woman had dwelt in the nunnery for a few days, she said, “I am a sinful woman, and I wish to eat only in the evening”; and after a few days more she said, “Many sins lie to my charge, and I therefore beg that I may eat once every four days,” and she did so; and after a few days more she besought the mistress of the nunnery, saying, “Do an act of grace for me. Since I have made God exceedingly angry, take me into a cell and wall it up, and through a small opening therein give me a little bread and work for my hands [to do].” And the abbess of the nunnery hearkened unto her, and did thus, and in this wise that woman pleased God all the days of her life.