Part 1 of 2
AN elder in the monastery of St Paul in Jarrow, so Bede tells us, once met a man who knew St Fursey, the Irishman who established a monastery in East Anglia in the 630s, and was famous for his visions.*
Bede learnt how back in Ireland, Fursey had fallen ill and had a near-death experience in which he was led as if to heaven’s gate. Dark yet shapeless demons persistently accused him of various crimes, but were out-debated by two angels of God. “Do not be filled with fear” they told Fursey; “you have a defence.”
The angels waved small faults aside, and assured Fursey that while there was even the slightest chance of a change of heart, God stood by ready to forgive anything.* But the devils hurled Scriptural passages like darts, demanding what they called justice. Unless, they sneered, God himself was untruthful. “You, adversary — do not revile,” warned the angels sternly, “while you are ignorant of the hidden judgments of the Lord.”
For an account of St Fursey’s life, see ‘Saint Fursey Of Ireland’ by Dmitry Lapa, at Orthodox Christianity.
“One who has departed unrepentant and with an evil life” said St John Damascene (?675-749), a contemporary of St Bede and a vigorous champion of human freewill, “cannot be helped by anyone in any way. But the one who has departed even with the slightest virtue, but who had no time to increase this virtue because of indolence, indifference, procrastination, or timidity — the Lord who is a righteous judge and master will not forget such a one.”
Précis
Seventh-century Irish missionary St Fursey was well known for a vision of the afterlife, in which he was subjected to a barrage of of accusations from demons like so many lawyers. They demanded that God punish Fursey for his sins, only for two angels to leap to his defence, and dismiss all charges out of hand. (56 / 60 words)
Part Two
IN the company of the two angels, Fursey saw the devils’ lies spreading like wildfire on earth, until Christianity seemed so full of contradictions – now enticingly lax, now dispiritingly severe – that many hearts abandoned themselves to their worst passions without repentance.* That tragedy alone, said the angels, brought sadness into heaven.
So Fursey was sent back to teach men the truth about God’s infinite patience.* Before he left, two monks who had recently died gave him plenty of wise advice, above all that Scripture alone pricks the heart: the laws of church or state achieve very little where souls have not been healed by hearing it. Then Fursey climbed reluctantly back into his lifeless body, and found himself back in Ireland.
Fursey laboured many more years in Ireland, East Anglia and northern France, preaching hope and repentance with readings from Scripture, and healing the sick. “Let anyone read the little book of his life” Bede urged, “and I believe he will reap much spiritual profit.”
The strategy of the demons in Fursey’s vision is summed up by his contemporary, St John Climacus (579-649) of St Catherine’s monastery in Sinai: “Before our fall the demons say that God is merciful, but after it they say that he is inexorable.”
See 1 Timothy 2:3-4, where St Paul says that God our Saviour “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”.
Précis
After his vision of the afterlife and God’s merciful judgment, he was sent back to earth to convince Christians to be confident of forgiveness, yet always to repent since unrepentance alone disqualifies the soul from blessedness. Fursey’s visions made a great impression on his near-contemporary, St Bede, who recommended others to read the saint’s life. (55 / 60 words)