Scene
III
Abraham
Brother Ephrem, Brother Ephrem! When anything happens, good or bad, it is to you I turn. It is your counsel I seek. Do not turn your face away, brother—do not be impatient, but help me.
Ephrem
Abraham, Abraham, what has come to you? What is the cause of this immoderate grief? Ought a hermit to weep and groan after the manner of the world?
Abraham
Was any hermit ever so stricken? I cannot bear my sorrow.
Ephrem
Brother, no more of this. To the point; what has happened?
Abraham
Mary! Mary! my adopted child! Mary, whom I cared for so lovingly and taught with all my skill for ten years! Mary—
Ephrem
Well, what is it?
Abraham
Oh God! She is lost!
Ephrem
Lost? What do you mean?
Abraham
Most miserably. Afterwards she ran away.
Ephrem
But by what wiles did the ancient enemy bring about her undoing?
Abraham
By the wiles of false love. Dressed in a monk’s habit, the hypocrite went to see her often. He succeeded in making the poor ignorant child love him. She leapt from the window of her cell for an evil deed.
Ephrem
I shudder as I listen to you.
Abraham
When the unhappy girl knew that she was ruined, she beat her breast and dug her nails into her face. She tore her garments, pulled out her hair. Her despairing cries were terrible to hear.
Ephrem
I am not surprised. For such a fall a whole fountain of tears should rise.
Abraham
She moaned out that she could never be the same—
Ephrem
Poor, miserable girl!
Abraham
And reproached herself for having forgotten our warning.
Ephrem
She might well do so.
Abraham
She cried that all her vigils, prayers, and fasts had been thrown away.
Ephrem
If she perseveres in this penitence she will be saved.
Abraham
She has not persevered. She has added worse to her evil deed.
Ephrem
Oh, this moves me to the depths of my heart!
Abraham
After all these tears and lamentations she was overcome by remorse, and fell headlong into the abyss of despair.
Ephrem
A bitter business!
Abraham
She despaired of being able to win pardon, and resolved to go back to the world and its vanities.
Ephrem
I cannot remember when the devil could boast of such a triumph over the hermits.
Abraham
Now we are at the mercy of the demons.
Ephrem
I marvel that she could have escaped without your knowledge.
Abraham
If I had not been so blind! I ought to have paid more heed to that terrible vision. Yes, I see now that it was sent to warn me.
Ephrem
What vision?
Abraham
I dreamed I was standing at the door of my cell, and that a huge dragon with a loathsome stench rushed violently towards me. I saw that the creature was attracted by a little white dove at my side. It pounced on the dove, devoured it, and vanished.
Ephrem
There is no doubt what this vision meant.
Abraham
When I woke I turned over in my mind what I had seen, and took it as a sign of some persecution threatening the Church, through which many of the faithful would be drawn into error. I prostrated myself in prayer, and implored Him Who knows the future to enlighten me.
Ephrem
You did right.
Abraham
On the third night after the vision, when for weariness I had fallen asleep, I saw the beast again, but now it was lying dead at my feet, and the dove was flying heavenwards safe and unhurt.
Ephrem
I am rejoiced to hear this, for to my thinking it means that some day Mary will return to you.
Abraham
I was trying to get rid of the uneasiness with which the first vision had filled me by thinking of the second, when my little pupil in her cell came to my mind. I remembered, although at the time I was not alarmed, that for two days I had not heard her chanting the divine praises.
Ephrem
You were too tardy in noticing this.
Abraham
I admit it. I went at once to her cell, and, knocking at the window, I called her again and again, “Mary! My child! Mary!”
Ephrem
You called in vain?
Abraham
“Mary,” I said. “Mary, my child, what is wrong? Why are you not saying your office?” It was only when I did not hear the faintest sound that I suspected.
Ephrem
What did you do then?
Abraham
When I could no longer doubt that she had gone, I was struck with fear to my very bowels. I trembled in every limb.
Ephrem
I do not wonder, since I, hearing of it, find myself trembling all over.
Abraham
Then I wept and cried out to the empty air, “What wolf has seized my lamb? What thief has stolen my little daughter?”
Ephrem
You had good cause to weep! To lose her whom you had cherished so tenderly!
Abraham
At last some people came up who knew what had happened. From them I learned that she had gone back to the world.
Ephrem
Where is she now?
Abraham
No one knows.
Ephrem
What is to be done?
Abraham
I have a faithful friend, who is searching all the cities and towns in the country. He says he will never give up until he finds her.
Ephrem
And if he finds her—what then?
Abraham
Then I shall change these clothes, and in the guise of a worldling seek her out. It may be that she will heed what I say, and even after this shipwreck turn again to the harbour of her innocence and peace.
Ephrem
And suppose that in the world they offer you flesh meat and wine?
Abraham
If they do, I shall not refuse; otherwise I might be recognized.
Ephrem
No one will blame you, brother. It will be but praiseworthy discretion on your part to loosen the bridle of strict observance for the sake of bringing back a soul.
Abraham
I am the more eager to try now I know you approve.
Ephrem
He Who knows the secret places of the heart can tell with what motive every action is done. That scrupulous and fair Judge will not condemn a man for relaxing our strict rule for a time and descending to the level of weaker mortals if by so doing he can make more sure of rescuing an errant soul.
Abraham
Help me with your prayers. Pray that I may not be caught in the snares of the devil.
Ephrem
May He Who is supreme good itself, without Whom no good thing can be done, bless your enterprise and bring it to a happy end!