After Confession, a certain warrior happened to lapse into fornication with a farmer’s wife. He died after committing adultery. And the monks of a nearby monastery had mercy and buried him in the monastery church, and they held the third hour of the prayer service. As they were singing the ninth hour of prayer, they heard a wail from the grave: have mercy on me, servants of God. After unearthing the coffin, they discovered the sitting warrior inside. Once they had extracted him, they began questioning him about what had happened. But he, choking on his tears, could tell them nothing and asked only that they bring him to Bishop Gelasy. And only on the fourth day was he able to tell the bishop what happened. As he was dying in sin, the warrior saw certain monsters, figures more terrifying than any torments, and his soul began thrashing at the sight of them. He also saw two fine young men in white robes and his soul flew into their arms. And they raised his soul into the air and led him through a series of ordeals, carrying with them a small chest containing this warrior’s good deeds. And for each wicked deed there was, in the chest, a good deed and it would be taken from the chest, to cover the cost of the wicked deed. But the warrior lacked enough good deeds for the last ordeal, which was related to fornication. When the demons brought out all the carnal and debauched sins he had committed since the days of his adolescence, the angels said: God has forgiven him everything he committed before he confessed. To which their formidable adversaries replied: that is so but it was after Confession that he committed adultery with the farmer’s wife and then died immediately. The angels were saddened after hearing those words, and they left, for they had no more good deeds with which to cover that sin. And then the demons grabbed him and the earth parted and they threw him into a narrow, dark place. He dwelled there, weeping, from the third hour until the ninth, when he suddenly saw two angels coming down toward him. And he began praying to them that they would take him out of the dungeon and rid him of this frightful trouble. So they answered him: you are summoning us in vain, for nobody who turns up here can leave here until the actual resurrection of the world. But the warrior continued to weep and pray to them, saying he would serve to benefit the living after returning to earth. And then one of the angels asked his friend: will you vouch for this person? And the second angel answered: I will vouch for him. They then brought the warrior’s soul to the coffin and ordered it to enter the body. And the soul glowed like a bead, though the dead body reeked and was black as mire. And the warrior’s soul exclaimed that it did not want to enter the body, for the body was so darkened. The angels then told the warrior: you must redeem from within a body that has trespassed. And the soul entered the body through its lips and resurrected it. After hearing what was told, Bishop Gelasy ordered that food be given to the warrior. He kissed the food and immediately refused to eat it. And he lived forty days, fasting and keeping vigil, and he told of what he saw and appealed for redemption and learned his own death would come in three days. Reliable fathers related this for our spiritual benefit.
Emperor Theophilos was an iconoclast, and this brought great sorrow to Empress Theodora. It happened that Theophilos got sick with a fierce illness, through God’s rage. His jaws came apart so his mouth would not close, making his appearance ridiculous and frightening. And so the empress took the icon of the All-Pure Mother of God, placed it to his mouth, and his mouth closed again. But in a short time Theophilos vanished from this lyfe and became deade from that illness. The empress was horribly saddened for she knew her husband would be taken for torture with heretics, and so she thought unceasingly about how she could help him. She freed those banished and in dungeons and implored the patriarch that all bishops and the priestly and monastic rank pray for the Lord to rid Theophilos the emperor of his torment. At first the patriarch would not yield but, touched by the empress’s pleas, he said: the Lord’s will shall be. He ordered that all the bishops and the priestly and monastic ranks pray for Emperor Theophilos. The patriarch himself wrote down the names of all the heretic emperors and placed that writing on the table of the altar of Hagia Sophia. And they prayed for Theophilos during the first week of Great Lent. When the patriarch came on Friday to take his writing, all the names on it were intact but God’s judgment had blotted out Theophilos’s name. And an angel sayde to him: your prayer was herde, O bishop, and Emperor Theophilos received mercy, so do not trouble the Divine one about this more. We will behold, O brethren, the benevolence of our Lord God and we acknowledge how much the prayers of his bishops can do. We marvel at the blest empress Theodora’s faith and love for God: it has been spake of such wives, since she will save her husband in death. Neverthelesse we remember that since the soul is one, there is but one time for lyfe, and we do not trust in the offerings of others to save us.
Amvrosy’s manuscripts are currently kept in the Kirillo-Belozersk collection of the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). Researchers who study them unanimously note that the writer’s hand is firm and the script round. In their opinion, this attests to the strength and inner harmony Amvrosy acquired, and the tall height of the letter known as er indicates that he had left the kitchen for good by this time and questions related to food for his earthly body were of little interest.
At Confession, Amvrosy told Elder Innokenty:
At worship services I am not always attentive and at times I ponder unrelated things. Yesterday, for example, I was remembering one of the unforgettable Ambrogio’s visions.
What was it about, in brief? asked the elder.
Here is what Amvrosy told the elder.
August 30, 1907, the village of Magnano. Francesca Flecchia, a young girl of twelve years whose origins trace back to Alberto Flecchia, Ambrogio’s brother, wakes up due to a vague feeling of fear. The fear is rising from somewhere in her belly. She feels a roiling deep inside, jumps out of bed, and runs to the privy that stands in the yard. She begins to feel better there. Francesca cracks the privy door open and watches what is happening in the yard. Her grandmother is standing in a flickering ray of morning sun. It is coming through the branches of a stone pine: it is the branches that make the ray flicker. Her grandmother is pale and wrinkled. Her grandmother is pensive. Francesca notices, with sadness, that she has never seen her grandmother like this. Maybe it is also because of the stone pine. Or maybe her grandmother is just relaxed because she does not know someone is observing her. Francesca has already seen how a person can look young when out and about but then age immediately upon walking around a corner. Certain things depend on willpower but it is impossible to bend one’s will constantly. Francesca sees that her grandmother truly is old. She understands where her grandmother’s old age will lead her. The girl’s stomach is seized by a spasm once again and tears flow from her eyes. Her grandmother disappears into the summer kitchen.