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| Chapter I. Discourse of Abbot Nesteros on the threefold system of gifts.
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Chapter I.
Discourse of Abbot Nesteros on the threefold system of
gifts.
After evening service we
sat down together on the mats as usual ready for the promised
narration: and when we had kept silence for some little time out of
reverence for the Elder, he anticipated the silence of our respect by
such words as these. The previous order of our discourse had brought us
to the exposition of the system of spiritual gifts, which we have
learnt from the tradition of the Elders is a threefold one. The first
indeed is for the sake of healing, when the grace of signs accompanies
certain elect and righteous men on account of the merits of their
holiness, as it is clear that the apostles and many of the saints
wrought signs and wonders in accordance with the authority of the Lord
Who says: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,
cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”1938
The second when for the edification of
the church or on account of the faith of those who bring their sick, or
of those who are to be cured, the virtue of health proceeds even from
sinners and men unworthy of it. Of whom the Saviour says in the gospel:
“Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils, and in Thy
name done many mighty works? And then I will confess to them, I never
knew you: Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity.”1939
And on the other hand, if the faith of
those who bring them or of the sick is wanting, it prevents those on
whom the gifts of healing are conferred from exercising their powers of
healing. On which subject Luke the Evangelist says: “And Jesus
could not there do any mighty work because of their
unbelief.”1940
Whence also the
Lord Himself says: “Many lepers were in Israel in the days of
Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the
Syrian.”1941
The third method
of healing is copied by the deceit and contrivance of devils, that,
when a man who is enslaved to evident sins is out of admiration for his
miracles regarded as a saint and a servant of God, men may be
persuaded
to copy his
sins and thus an opening being made for cavilling, the sanctity of
religion may be brought into disgrace, or else that he, who believes
that he possesses the gift of healing, may be puffed up by pride of
heart and so fall more grievously. Hence it is that invoking the names
of those, who, as they know, have no merits of holiness or any
spiritual fruits, they pretend that by their merits they are disturbed
and made to flee from the bodies they have possessed. Of which it says
in Deuteronomy: “If there rise up in the midst of thee a prophet,
or one who says that he has seen a dream, and declare a sign and a
wonder, and that which he hath spoken cometh to pass, and he say to
thee: Let us go and follow after other gods whom thou knowest not, and
let us serve them: thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or of
that dreamer, for the Lord thy God is tempting thee that it may appear
whether thou lovest Him or not, with all thy heart and with all thy
soul.”1942
And in the
gospel it says: “There shall arise false Christs and false
prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so that, if it were
possible, even the elect should be led astray.”1943
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