have by him; then he came to Abbâ Poemen, and said unto him, “Behold from this day onwards I repent, O father, but I entreat thee to pray to God on my behalf so that He may receive my repentance.” And Abbâ Poeman said unto him, “If thou repentest with all thy heart, I believe that God will bestow forgiveness upon thee; and do not despair of thy redemption.” And the brother went and built for himself a place of retreat, and he made therein an entrance through which he used to come to visit the old man; and he would go to Abbâ Poemen thereby, and the old man would reveal unto him the way of God, and thus he profited spiritually. And the brother laboured in fasting, and in prayer, and he wept and sighed, and grieved sorely for his sin; and [at length] it was revealed unto the old man on behalf of the brother that God had accepted his repentance.
Chapter xxxiv: Of a certain Brother who denied [Christ] because of the Daughter of a Heathen Priest
ONCE a certain brother was engaged in a war against fornication, and he happened to pass through a village in Egypt where he saw the daughter of a heathen priest, and he loved her, and he said to her father, “Give her to me to wife.” And the priest answered and said unto him, “I cannot give her to thee before learning from the god [his will in the matter]”; and he went to his devil, and said unto him, “Behold, a certain monk wisheth to take my daughter to wife; shall I give her to him or not?” And the devil made him answer, saying, “Seek out and enquire if he will deny his God, and his baptism, and the vows which he made before entering the monastic life.” And having gone to the brother the priest told him that he would accept him [as his daughter’s husband] if he would deny both these things (sic), and the priest also said unto him, “Wilt thou deny the baptism wherewith thou wast baptized?” And the brother answered and said, “Yea, I will”; and straightway he saw the Spirit of God go forth from his mouth in the form of a dove, and ascend into heaven. Then the priest went to the devil and told him what the brother had said, “Behold, he hath promised to deny all three things”; and the devil answered and said unto him, “Thou shalt not give [him] thy daughter, for his God hath not departed from him, for He is still helping him, and will accept him if he repenteth.” And the priest came and said to that brother, “I cannot give her to thee, for thy God is with thee, and He will not leave thee, but will help thee.” Now when the brother heard this he said within himself, “So God keepeth such great grace as this for thee, and will still help thee!”
