Note 436 — THIRD SECTION. Relation of the Physician to Diseases consequent upon the Use or Misuse of the Genital Organs. (continued 2)

Johannes Moschus, Pratum spirituale (Meadow of the Soul) ch. 14. in Magna Bibliotheca veterum Patrum (Great Library of the Ancient Fathers) Vol. XIII. Paris 1644. fol., p. 1062. Ὁ Ἀββᾶς Πολυχρόνιος πάλιν ἡμῖν διηγήσατο, ἡμῖν λέγων, ὅτι ἐν τῷ κοινοβίω τοῦ Πενθουκλὰ, ἀδελφὸς ἦν πάνυ προσέχων αὑτὸν καὶ ἀσκητής· ἐπολεμήθη δὲ εἰς πορνείαν, καὶ μὴ εἰσενεγκὼν τὸν πολέμον, ἐξῆλθεν τοῦ μοναστηρίου καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Ἰεριχὼ πληρῶσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὡς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ καταγώγιον τῆς πορνείας, εὐθέως ἐλεπρούθη ὅλως· καὶ θεασάμενος ἑαυτὸν ἐν τοιούτῳ σχήματι, εὐθέως ἐπέστρεψεν εἰς τὸ μοναστήριον αὐτοῦ, εὐχαριστῶν τῷ θεῷ καὶ λέγων, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐπήγαμέν μοι τὴν τοιαύτην νόσον, ἵνα ἡ ψυχή μου σωθῇ. (The Abbot Polychronius again related an incident to us, telling us how in the Monastery of Penthula there was a brother well self-disciplined and ascetic. But he was sorely tempted to fornication, and unable to fight the temptation, he went forth from the Monastery and departed to Jericho to fulfil his desire; and when he entered into the common house of fornication, straightway he became leprous all over. And when he saw himself in such a case, straightway he returned to his Monastery, blessing God and saying, “God hath brought down this disease upon me, that my soul might be saved”).