The Life of Our Holy Mother Pelagia the Nun, Who Was Once a Harlo

The Eighth Day


of the Month of October

The Life of Our Holy Mother Pelagia


the Nun, Who Was Once a Harlot,


Written by James, a Deacon of the Church of Heliopolis

From The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Volume 2: October,

compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov

Translated into English and published by Chrysostom Press www.chrysostompress.org

We ought ever to offer abundant thanks to our Lord,
Who desires not the death of sinners but patiently awaits their return
to life through repentance. Therefore I, James the sinner, write to
you, holy brethren, of a wondrous thing which has come to pass in our
day, that hearing or reading of it, you may be much edified.

Once, the most pious Archbishop of Antioch summoned
eight bishops from the surrounding cities to confer with him concerning
certain matters pertaining to the Church. Among them was my own Bishop,
the holy man of God Nonnus, who came from Heliopolis, taking me with
him. He was a very great man, a perfect monk, who, by reason of his
virtuous life, was taken from his Monastery of Tabenna and made a
bishop. When the bishops had assembled in the Church of the Holy Martyr
Julian, they wished to hear a word of edification from Nonnus, and all
sat down before the doors of the church. Nonnus began to speak of such
things as would serve for the benefit and salvation of his hearers, and
all marvelled at his holy teaching. And lo, a woman, an unbeliever, who
was the most notorious harlot in all of Antioch, passed before the
doors of the church. She was very haughty and was adorned in costly
robes and gold, precious stones, and pearls, and she was accompanied by
a multitude of youths and maidens, splendidly clad, who wore necklaces
of gold. Such was the beauty of her face, that carnal men could not
grow weary of the sight of it. As she passed by us, the air was
entirely filled with fragrance, and seeing that her head was uncovered
and her shoulders naked, the bishops lowered their eyes and sighed,
turning away their faces as if from great sin. But the blessed Nonnus
stared at her long and intently until she passed out of sight. Then he
turned toward the bishops and said, "Did not the wonderful beauty of
that woman delight you?"

But they did not answer him. And Nonnus lowered his
head and wept, and his tears fell upon his handkerchief and his breast.
He sighed from the depths of his heart and again asked the bishops,
"Did not her beauty delight you?"

But they remained silent. Then said Nonnus, "Truly, I
learned much from her, for the Lord will set that woman before us at
His dread judgment and on her account condemn us. For what do you
think? How many hours has this woman remained in her room, bathing and
clothing herself, adorning herself in every way, gazing into her
mirror, her every thought and concern directed toward appearing as the
fairest of women in the eyes of her mortal admirers. But we who have in
heaven a Bridegroom eternal, upon Whom the angels desire to gaze, take
no thought for the adornment of our wretched souls, which are vile,
naked, and full of shame. We do not care to wash them with tears of
repentance and to clothe them with the comeliness of the virtues, that
they might be pleasing in God’s sight and that we be not put to shame
and cast out at the wedding of the Lamb."

When he had concluded his admonition, the blessed
Nonnus took me, his sinful deacon, and we went to the room which we had
been given adjoining the Church of Saint Julian. My Bishop went into
his chamber and flung himself down, face to the ground, and said
weeping, "0 Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me, who am a sinner and
unworthy, forasmuch as that woman’s concern for the adornment of her
body surpasseth all my labors on behalf of my wretched soul! She taketh
great care to beautify herself, that she might satisfy her mortal
admirers, but I make no effort to please Thee, my God, and remain
indolent and heedless. How can I dare to face Thee? With what words
shall I justify myself before Thee? Woe is me, who am a sinner! I stand
before Thy holy altar and offer not the fair soul Thou askest of me.
The woman, in her vanity, hath set as her purpose to present herself as
pleasing to mortal men and hath accomplished that which she resolved to
do, but sloth hath made of me a liar. Naked am I, for I have not kept
Thy commandments, but I trust not in my works, and through Thy
compassion do I hope to be saved!"

As Saint Nonnus said these things, he wept
continuously. Moreover, he prayed for that woman, saying, "0 Lord,
suffer not the work of Thy hands to perish, and permit not such beauty
to remain in subjection to the demons. But do Thou turn her to Thyself,
that Thy holy name may be glorified in her, for all things are possible
for Thee."

A day and a night passed, and Sunday dawned, and my
teacher Saint Nonnus said to me, "Brother James, I wish to tell you of
the dream which I had last night. It seemed to me that as I was
standing in the corner of the holy altar during the course of the
service, a black dove, vile and covered with filth, flew about me; and
I was unable to endure its stench. When the deacon exclaimed,
’Catechumens, depart,’ the dove flew away, and I saw it no more until
the Liturgy was completed. After the dismissal, as we left the church,
I suddenly caught sight of the dove again, and it flew about me once
more. I stretched forth my hand and laid hold of it and plunged it into
the font of water which stood in the narthex of the church. In that
water it was cleansed of all defilement, and when it flew off, it was
as pure and white as snow, and it flew up to heaven and became
invisible."

After he had related the dream to me, the blessed
Nonnus took me and entered the cathedral with the other bishops. After
greeting the Archbishop, they celebrated the divine service, and when
the sacred service was finished, the Archbishop of Antioch requested
the blessed Nonnus to instruct the people. Nonnus opened his mouth and
taught the people; and his words were not contrived in accordance with
the wisdom of this world but were simple, full of power, and served for
the enlightenment of all, for the wisdom of God dwelt within him and
the Holy Spirit spoke through his lips. He spoke of the dread judgment
and of the reward of the righteous and of sinners, and all the people
were moved to compunction by his words, and the floor of the church was
wet with their tears.

Through the providence of the merciful God, it
happened that the whore of whom our story tells, who had never before
entered a church nor given thought to her sins, passed by and went into
the church. As she listened to Saint Nonnus’ teaching, the fear of God
came upon her, and she pondered her sins and the eternal torments they
merited, which Saint Nonnus described. She fell into despair, and a
flood of tears flowed from her eyes, and she was unable to cease
weeping on account of her broken heart. And she summoned two of her
pages and said to them, "Remain here until the holy man who is speaking
departs. Then follow him, and observe where he is staying, and return
and tell me."

The youths did as they were instructed and told her
that the saint was staying at the church of the martyr Saint Julian.
She immediately sat down and wrote the following letter to the blessed
Nonnus with her own hand:

"To Christ’s holy disciple from the devil’s disciple,
a sinful woman. I have heard that your God has bowed the heavens and
come down to earth, not to save the righteous but sinners. Such was His
humility, that He ate with publicans, and He upon Whom the cherubim
dare not gaze lived among sinners and spoke with harlots. Therefore, my
lord, since you are a true servant of Christ (as I hear from the
Christians), do not spurn me who with your help seek to draw near the
Saviour of the world and to behold His most holy countenance."

Such was the harlot’s letter to the saint. Nonnus took
it and read it and replied to her thus: "God knows who you are and what
are your thoughts and intention. But I say to you: do not tempt me, for
I am a sinful minister of God. If you truly desire to believe in my God
and to see me, there are other bishops with me. Come, therefore, and
see me in their presence, for you shall not meet with me alone."

When the sinful woman received Nonnus’ letter and read
it, she was filled with great joy and hastened to the Church of Saint
Julian, and she sent word to the blessed Nonnus that she had come.
Nonnus called the other seven bishops and admitted her into their
presence. When she came into the place where the holy bishops were
assembled, she cast herself to the floor, weeping, took Saint Nonnus by
the feet, and said, "I beg you, my lord, do as your Teacher, the Lord
Jesus Christ: show mercy to me and make me a Christian. Wash me clean
through Holy Baptism, for I am a sea of sins, my lord, and an abyss of
iniquity."

The face of every bishop and cleric present was wet
with tears as they saw how the harlot had come with such repentance and
faith. The blessed one could scarcely prevail upon her to arise from
his feet, and he said to her, "The canons of the Church permit no whore
to be baptized unless sureties be provided that she not fall again into
her former unclean way of life."

When the harlot heard Nonnus’ reply, she again flung
herself at his feet, washing his feet with tears and wiping them with
her hair as once did the harlot in the Gospel to Christ. She said, "You
shall answer to God for my soul if you do not baptize me this day. God
shall require my soul out of your hand and charge you with my wicked
deeds. If you deny me Baptism, you shall give account for my impure and
vile life. If you do not make me a stranger to my evil works, may your
God reject you and may you become a worshipper of idols. If you do not
make me today a bride of Christ and lead me to your God, may you have
no portion with Him and with His saints."

Hearing and seeing how the harlot burned with such
blessed desire, all gave glory to God, Who loves mankind. Immediately,
the blessed one sent me, the lowly James, to the Archbishop, to tell
him of these things. When the Archbishop heard of them, he rejoiced
greatly and said to me, "Go tell your Bishop: ’Holy father, this matter
has been entrusted to you, for I know well that you are the lips of
which God has said, If thou bring forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." Then he called for the lady Romana, the first deaconess of the church, and he sent her with me.

When we returned, we found Pelagia still lying on the
ground, clasping the feet of the blessed Nonnus, who was scarcely able
to persuade her to rise. He said to her, "Arise, daughter, that you may
be catechized before Baptism."

When Pelagia arose, the Bishop said to her, "Confess your past sins."

Weeping, Pelagia said, "Were I to try my conscience, I
should find in myself not a single good deed. I know only that my sins
are greater in number than the sands of the sea and that all the water
in the ocean is not sufficient to wash clean the defilement of my evil
works. But I set my hope upon your God, that He will lift the burden of
my iniquities and look mercifully upon me."

The Bishop asked her, "What is your name?"

She replied, "I was named Pelagia by my parents, but
the people of Antioch call me Margarita, because of the beautiful and
precious pearls with which I have adorned myself through my sins."

Then the Bishop made Pelagia a catechumen and baptized
her in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and he anointed her with chrism and communed her of the most precious
and life-giving Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto the
remission of her sins. The deaconess Romana was made her spiritual
mother, and Romana received her out of the baptismal font and led her
to the room set apart for the catechumens where we awaited her. Said
the blessed Nonnus to the other bishops, "Come to the supper, brethren,
and let us rejoice with the angels of God, for the lost sheep has been
found. With spiritual joy let us eat food cooked with oil and drink
wine."

When all had come, they began to eat with the newly
baptized one. And suddenly a demon began to cry out as it were with a
human voice, so that all could hear, saying, "Woe, woe, what things I
suffer from this babbling winebibber! 0 you wicked old man! Was it not
sufficient for you to have stolen thirty thousand Saracens from me and
to have baptized them? Were you not satisfied to have taken from me
Heliopolis, which once was mine, and to have led it to your God, with
all its inhabitants, who once worshipped me? But now you have cut off
my last hope! What shall I do, 0 you evil and deceptive monk? No longer
can I suffer your impudence! Cursed be the day on which you were born,
wicked elder: the flood of your tears has inundated my dwelling and
made it desolate." These things the devil cried out before the doors of
the room in which we sat, and all that were present heard his voice.

And the devil said to the newly baptized one, "What
have you done to me, 0 my lady Pelagia? You have emulated my Judas, for
he, although honored with the glorious rank of an apostle, betrayed his
Lord; and you have done the same to me!"

Then the Bishop commanded the handmaiden of God
Pelagia to sign herself with the Cross, and she made the sign of the
Cross of Christ upon herself and said to the devil, "May Jesus Christ
drive you away and deliver me from you!" When she had said this, the
devil immediately fled.

Two days later, while Pelagia was sleeping at the
house of Romana, her spiritual mother, the devil came and awoke her and
began to say to her, "My lady Margarita, what evil have I done you? Did
I not adorn you with precious stones and with ornaments and beautiful
robes? I beg you, tell me how I have offended you, and I shall
immediately do whatever you command. Only turn not away from me, and do
not make me a laughingstock."

Pelagia guarded herself with the sign of the Cross and
said, "My Lord Jesus Christ has snatched me out of your teeth and has
prepared me to be His bride in His heavenly bridal chamber. He it is
Who shall drive you away from me." And the devil immediately vanished.

Pelagia quickly awoke the holy Romana and said to her, "0 my mother, pray for me, for the evil one pursues me!"

Romana said to Pelagia, "Be not afraid of him, for now he dreads even your shadow and trembles at the sight of it."

On the third day after her Baptism, Pelagia summoned
one of her pages and said to him, "Go to my house, and make a list of
whatever is in my jewelry boxes and all my ornaments, and bring here
everything you find."

The boy went and did as he had been told. Then the
blessed Pelagia called for Saint Nonnus the Bishop and delivered all
those things into his hands, saying, "This is the wealth with which
Satan has enriched me: I give it up into your holy hands. Do with it as
you wish, for now I seek only the riches of my Lord Jesus Christ."

The blessed Bishop Nonnus summoned the steward of the
church and in the presence of all gave him those costly things and said
to him, "I adjure you in the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity:
of this gold give nothing to the episcopal treasury, neither to that of
the church, nor do you take a portion thereof, nor any of the clergy;
but distribute it wisely to orphans, to the poor, and to the infirm
with your own hands, that what were sinful riches may become a wealth
of righteousness. If you transgress against my command, may there be an
anathema upon your house, and may your portion be with them who cried
out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!"

The handmaiden of God Pelagia kept no part of her
wealth for her sustenance but was fed by the lady Romana the deaconess,
for she had vowed that the riches gained by sin she would not use to
buy food. Moreover, she summoned all her menservants and maidservants
and set them free, giving each of them much silver and gold. She said
to them, "Children, I release you from temporal bondage: strive to be
free from servitude to the vain world, which is full of sin, so that as
we were once together in this world, we may all be granted to inherit
that life which is blessed." When she had said this to them, she let
them depart.

On the eighth day after her enlightenment, the day
when the newly christened lay aside the white robes which they receive
in Baptism, Pelagia arose very early in the morning. Now that day was a
Sunday. She removed the white baptismal robe with which she was clad
and put on a hair shirt. Then she took old clothing which belonged to
the blessed Nonnus and hid herself from all, departing from the city of
Antioch to a place known to no one. Romana the deaconess in her sorrow
wept much for her, but God, Who knows all things, revealed to the
blessed Nonnus that Pelagia had gone to Jerusalem. And Nonnus consoled
Romana, saying, "Do not weep, daughter, but rather rejoice, for like
Mary, Pelagia hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

A few days later, the Archbishop permitted us to
leave, and we returned to our own homes. Three years after this, I
conceived a desire to go to Jerusalem and to venerate the Holy Tomb of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I asked my Bishop, the blessed Nonnus, to permit
me to depart, and he consented, saying to me, "Brother James, when you
go to the holy places, search out a monk named Palagius living in
seclusion. He is a eunuch and a most virtuous man. When you find him,
speak with him, for you will be much edified by him as he is a true
servant of Christ and a perfect monk." This Nonnus said concerning the
handmaiden of God Pelagia, but he did not reveal to me what he knew of
her. For she had gone to Jerusalem and had erected a cell for herself
on the Mount of Olives, where our Lord prayed, shutting herself up
there and devoting her life to God.

I departed for the holy places and venerated the Tomb
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the precious Cross. The next day I began
to search for the monk named Pelagius, as my Bishop had instructed me,
and I found his cell on the Mount of Olives. His cell had no door but
was enclosed on every side: I saw only a small window in one of the
walls. I knocked on it, and the handmaiden of God opened it, and when
she saw me, she recognized me but said nothing. But I did not know her,
for how could she be recognized when her exquisite beauty had withered
like a flower? Her eyes were deeply sunken, and the bones in her face
protruded because of her great and boundless fasting. All who lived in
Jerusalem and the surrounding region thought her to be a eunuch, and no
man knew that she was a woman; neither did I know, for my bishop had
said she was a monk who was a eunuch, and so I received a blessing from
her as from a monk. Then she said to me, "Brother, are you not James,
the deacon of the blessed Bishop Nonnus?"

I marvelled that she knew my name and that I was the deacon of the blessed Nonnus and answered, "Yes, my lord."

She said to me, "Beseech your Bishop to pray for me, for he is truly a holy man and an apostle of Christ."

When Pelagia had said this, she shut the window and
began to chant the Third Hour. After praying, I departed, having
received much profit from the sight of her face and from her sweet
words.

After leaving Pelagia, I visited the monasteries there
and their brethren and spoke with holy men, receiving their blessing
and much benefit from them. In every community the eunuch Pelagius was
praised, and all were profited by his life. Because of this, I wished
to return to him and to comfort my soul by hearing his edifying words.
And so I returned to his cell, said the prayer, knocked upon his
window, and dared to call his name, saying, "Open, Abba Pelagius"; but
he did not answer me.

I thought that he was praying or resting, and so I
waited a little and again prayed and tapped for him to open for me, but
there was no reply. Once again I waited for a time and then knocked.
For three days I remained outside the window, and every few hours I
knocked, for I greatly desired to see his holy face and to receive his
blessing, but no voice replied. I said to myself, "Either he has left
his cell, and it is empty, or he has reposed."

I dared to force open the window and saw that he lay
dead upon the floor; therefore, I was frightened and lamented greatly
since I was not deemed worthy to receive his final blessing. I then
shut the window, went to Jerusalem, and told the holy fathers who dwelt
there that Abba Pelagius the eunuch had reposed. Immediately word
spread throughout Jerusalem that Saint Pelagius, the wonder-working
monk, had reposed in the Lord. Monks from every monastery and an
innumerable multitude of people from throughout the city of Jerusalem,
from Jericho, and from the far side of the Jordan gathered to bury his
holy remains, and after breaking open the window of his cell, they made
an opening large enough for a man to enter. Through it, certain pious
men went into the cell and removed the precious relics. Then came the
Patriarch of Jerusalem with many of the fathers; and when, according to
custom, they began to anoint the body with spices, they saw that the
saint was a woman. Crying out with tears they said, "0 God, Who art
wondrous in the saints, glory to Thee! For many are the hidden saints
whom Thou hast on earth; not men alone but women as well!"

The clergy and monastics wished to conceal this secret
from the people but were unable to do so, for God did not wish that it
be hidden but rather desired that it be known, that His handmaiden
might be glorified. Many people assembled there, and nuns came forth
from their convents with candles and censers, chanting psalms and
hymns. They took Pelagia’s precious and holy body and with fitting
reverence returned it to the cell in which she had labored, burying it
there.

Such was the life of this former harlot; such the
conversion of her who was perishing; such her labors and struggles, by
which she pleased God. May we be granted to receive mercy with her on
the day of judgment from our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory,
together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the
ages of ages. Amen.