11.
But I shall give a more particular account of one case here which occurred among us: 1 There was with us a certain Serapion, an aged believer. He had spent his long life blamelessly, but had fallen in the time of trial (the persecution). Often did this man pray (for absolution), and no one gave heed to him; 2 for he had sacrificed to the idols. Falling sick, he continued three successive days dumb and senseless. Recovering a little on the fourth day, he called to him his grandchild, and said, "My son, how long do you detain me? Hasten, I entreat you, and absolve me quickly. Summon one of the presbyters to me." And when he had said this, he became speechless again. The boy ran for the presbyter; but it was night, and the man was sick, and was consequently unable to come. But as an injunction had been issued by me, 3 that persons at the point of death, if they requested it then, and especially if they had earnestly sought it before, should be absolved, 4 in order that they might depart this life in cheerful hope, he gave the boy a small portion of the Eucharist, 5 telling him to steep it in water 6 and drop it into the old man's mouth. The boy returned bearing the portion; and as he came near, and before he had yet entered, Serapion again recovered, and said, "You have come, my child, and the presbyter was unable to come; but do quickly what you were instructed to do, and so let me depart." The boy steeped the morsel in water, and at once dropped it into the (old man's) mouth; and after he had swallowed a little of it, he forthwith gave up the ghost. Was he not then manifestly preserved? and did he not continue in life just until he could be absolved, and until through the wiping away of his sins he could be acknowledged 7 for the many good acts he had done?
Eusebius introduces this in words to the following effect: "Writing to this same Fabius, who seemed to incline somewhat to this schism, Dionysius of Alexandria, after setting forth in his letter many other matters which bore on repentance, and after describing the conflicts of the martyrs who had recently suffered in Alexandria, relates among other things one specially wonderful fact, which I have deemed proper for insertion in this history, and which is as follows." ↩
That is, none either of the clergy or of the people were moved by his prayers to consider him a proper subject for absolution; for the people's suffrages were also necessary for the reception into the Church of any who had lapsed, and been on that account cut off from it. And sometimes the bishop himself asked the people to allow absolution to be given to the suppliant, as we see in Cyprian's Epistle 53, to Cornelius [vol. v. p. 336, this series], and in Tertullian On Modesty, ch. xiii. [vol. iv. p. 86, this series]. Oftener, however, the people themselves made intercession with the bishop for the admission of penitents; of which we have a notable instance in the Epistle of Cornelius to Fabius of Antioch about that bishop who had ordained Novatianus. See also Cyprian, Epistle 59 [vol. v. p. 355].--Vales. ↩
In the African Synod, which met about the time that Dionysus wrote, it was decreed that absolution should be granted to lapsed persons who were near their end, provided that they had sought it earnestly before their illness. See Cyprian in the Epistle to Antonianus [vol. v. p. 327, this series].--Vales. ↩
aphiesthai. There is a longer reading in Codices Fuk. and Savil., viz.: ton theion doron tes metadoseos axiousthai kai houtos aphiesthai, "be deemed worthy of the imparting of the divine gifts, and thus be absolved." ↩
Valesius thinks that this custom prevailed for a long time, and cites a synodical letter of Ratherius, bishop of Verona (which has also been ascribed to Udalricus by Gretserus, who has published it along with his Life of Gregory VII.), in which the practice is expressly forbidden in these terms: "And let no one presume to give the communion to a laic or a woman for the purpose of conveying it to an infirm person." ↩
apobrexai. Rufinus renders it by infundere. References to this custom are found in Adamanus, in the second book of the Miracles of St. Columba, ch 6; in Bede, Life of St. Cuthbert, ch. 31, and in the poem on the life of the same; in Theodorus Campidunensis, Life of St. Magnus, ch. 22; in Paulus Bernriedensis, Life of Gregory VII., p. 113. ↩
homologethenai. Langus, Wolfius, and Musculus render it confiteri, "confess." Christophorsonus makes it in numerum confessorum referri, "reckoned in the number of confessors:" which may be allowed if it is understood to be a reckoning by Christ. For Dionysius alludes to those words of Christ in the Gospel: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father."--Vales. ↩
