Everything Depends on the End

Of these three callings, then, the first two may seem to rest on better foundations. Yet we sometimes find that even from the third grade, which seems the lowest and the coldest, men have become perfect and most fervent in spirit. They have become like those who made an admirable beginning in coming to the Lord’s service, and who spent the rest of their lives as well in a fervor of spirit worthy of all praise. And again we find that very many from the higher grade have grown cold, and have often come to a miserable end. It did the first group no harm that they seemed to be converted not of their own free will but by force and compulsion, since the loving kindness of the Lord secured for them the opportunity to repent. In the same way it did the second group no good that the early days of their conversion were so bright, because they took no care to bring the rest of their lives to a fitting end. [a]

Take the case of Abbot Moses, who lived in a place in the desert called Calamus. Nothing was lacking to his merits and his perfect blessedness because he had been driven to flee to the monastery through fear of death, which hung over him on account of a murder. For he made such use of his forced conversion that with ready zeal he turned it into a willing one, and climbed to the very summit of perfection. On the other hand, to very many, whose names I ought not to mention, it has been of no use that they entered the Lord’s service with a better beginning than his. For afterward sloth and hardness of heart crept over them, and they fell into a dangerous sluggishness, and into the bottomless pit of death.

We see an example of this plainly shown in the call of the apostles. For what good was it to Judas that he had of his own free will taken up the highest rank, the apostleship, in the same way in which Peter and the rest of the apostles had been summoned? He let the splendid beginning of his call end in ruin through avarice and greed, and as a cruel murderer he even rushed into betraying the Lord. Or what harm was it to Paul that he was suddenly blinded, and seemed to be drawn against his will into the way of salvation? For afterward he followed the Lord with complete fervor of soul. What he had begun by compulsion he completed by a free and willing devotion, and he brought to a magnificent end a life made glorious by such great deeds. Everything, therefore, depends on the end. One who was consecrated at the outset by a noble conversion may turn out a failure through carelessness, and one who was compelled by necessity to take up the monastic life may be made perfect through the fear of God and earnestness.