Book 9

I command you, he said, to keep purity and let not any thought come into your heart about another man’s wife, or about fornication or any such wicked things; for by doing this you do great sin. But if you always remember your own wife you will never sin.

For if this desire enter your heart you will sin, and if you do other such-like wicked things you commit sin. For this desire is a great sin for the servant of God. And if any man commit this wicked deed he works death for himself.

See to it then, abstain from this desire, for where holiness lives, lawlessness ought not to enter the heart of a righteous man.

I said to him, Sir, allow me to ask you a few questions. Say on, said he. Sir, said I, if a man have a wife faithful in the Lord, and he finds her out in some adultery, does the husband sin if he lives with her?

So long as he is ignorant, said he, he does not sin, but if the husband knows her sin, and the wife does not repent, but remains in her fornication, and the husband go on living with her, he becomes a partaker of her sin, and shares in her adultery.

What then, said I, sir, shall the husband do if the wife remain in this disposition? Let him put her away, he said, and let the husband remain by himself. But if he put his wife away and marry another he also commits adultery himself.

If then, said I, sir, after the wife be put away she repent, and wish to return to her own husband, shall she not be received?

Yes, said he; if the husband do not receive her he sins and covers himself with great sin; but it is necessary to receive the sinner who repents, but not often, for the servants of God have but one repentance. Therefore, for the sake of repentance the husband ought not to marry. This is the course of action for wife and husband.

Not only, said he, is it adultery if a man defile his flesh, but whosoever acts as do the heathen is also guilty of adultery, so that if anyone continue in such practices, and repent not, depart from him and do not live with him, otherwise you are also a sharer in his sin.

For this reason it was enjoined on you to live by yourselves, whether husband or wife, for in such cases repentance is possible.

I, therefore, said he, am not giving an opportunity to laxity that this business be thus concluded, but in order that he who has sinned sin no more, and for his former sin there is one who can give healing, for he it is who has the power over all.

And I asked him again, saying: If the Lord has thought me worthy for you always to live with me, suffer yet a few words of mine, since I have no understanding and my heart has been hardened by my former deeds; give me understanding, for I am very foolish and have absolutely no understanding.

He answered me and said, I am set over repentance, and I give understanding to all those who repent. Or do you not think, said he, that this very repentance is itself understanding? To repent, said he, is great understanding. For the sinner understands that he has done wickedly before the Lord, and the deed which he wrought comes into his heart, and he repents and no longer does wickedly, but does good abundantly, and humbles his soul and punishes it because he sinned. You see, therefore, that repentance is great understanding.

For this reason then, sir, said I, I enquire accurately from you as to all things. First, because I am a sinner, that I may know what I must do to live, because my sins are many and manifold.

You shall live, he said, if you keep my commandments and walk in them, and whosoever shall hear and keep these commandments shall live to God.

I will yet, sir, said I, continue to ask. Say on, said he. I have heard, sir, said I, from some teachers that there is no second repentance beyond the one given when we went down into the water and received remission of our former sins.

He said to me, You have heard correctly, for that is so. For he who has received remission of sin ought never to sin again, but to live in purity.

But since you ask accurately concerning all things, I will explain this also to you without giving an excuse to those who in the future shall believe or to those who have already believed on the Lord. For those who have already believed or shall believe in the future, have no repentance of sins, but have remission of their former sin.

For those, then, who were called before these days, did the Lord appoint repentance, for the Lord knows the heart, and knowing all things beforehand he knew the weakness of man and the subtlety of the devil, that he will do some evil to the servants of God, and will do them mischief.

The Lord, therefore, being merciful, had mercy on his creation, and established this repentance, and to me was the control of this repentance given.

But I tell you, said he, after that great and holy calling, if a man be tempted by the devil and sin, he has one repentance, but if he sin and repent repeatedly it is unprofitable for such a man, for scarcely shall he live.

I said to him, I attained life when I heard these things thus accurately from you, for I know that if I do not again add to my sins I shall be saved. You shall be saved, said he, and all who do these things.

I asked him again, saying, Sir, since you for once endure me explain this also to me. Say on, said he. If, sir, said I, a wife, or on the other hand a husband, die, and the survivor marry, does the one who marries commit sin?

He does not sin, said he, but if he remain single he gains for himself more exceeding honour and great glory with the Lord, but even if he marry he does not sin.

Preserve therefore purity and holiness, and you shall live to God. Keep from henceforth, from the day on which you were handed over to me, these things which I tell you and shall tell you, and I will dwell in your house.

And for your former transgression there shall be remission if you keep my commandments, and all men shall obtain a remission, if they keep these commandments of mine and walk in this purity.