Also known as "Marriage is the Grave of Love" Zhang Baotong 2016.7.4

The Chapel of the Holy Spirit was not very large, but it finally gave Eloise a place to stay. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoWithin a few days, the nuns who had stayed in the monastery of Argenteuil and who had been separated gathered in the church of the Holy Spirit. They packed up their lodgings and, with the help of Abelard and others, soon converted a school into a convent and named it the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. Abelard personally helped them lay the foundation there.

Later, with the approval and assistance of the local bishop, Abelard wrote an application for a property grant agreement and sent it to Pope Innocent II. Innocent II soon issued a decree confirming that the gifts given by Abelard would forever belong to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit and their successors. This made the formerly destitute nuns the true owners of the convent.

The nuns continued their monastic life, but they focused more of their passion on the service of the locals, who felt a deep sense of compassion and kindness for the friendship of the sisters. As a result, they receive more gifts and gifts in a year than Abelard would have received in a hundred years of his stay here. Because of the weakness and pity of women, their needs and pains attract people's attention and sympathy strongly, and their virtues are more pleasing to God and men. Eloise continued to be the abbot of the monastery, not coming out often, but shutting herself in her hut and meditating and praying wholeheartedly. The nuns who lived with her did not need her management, because her words had become their spiritual guide.

At this time, Abelard seemed to have regained his life. He lived in a hut not far from the monastery and often preached to nearby villagers, but he could visit the monastery as he pleased. At the request of Eloise, he made canons for them, wrote numerous hymns and sermons, and worked tirelessly for the monastery. He gave the nuns the hymns, liturgies, sermons, and articles of his own. In return, Eloise gave Abelard a library for his own writings and a sanctuary from the intrusion of the church elites, so that he could write in peace.

The two of them saw each other almost often, but they strictly followed the monastic life to which they had become accustomed, precipitating their love for each other in a quiet way. The love between them does not have the physical love driven by the desires of the past, but it grows day by day with spiritual encouragement and intellectual discussion, as well as a love for God. It's a more sacred way of loving each other.

Together, they discussed the formulation of canons, the improvement of monasteries, and even the transformation of monastic life. Thanks to their efforts, the nuns in the convent of the Holy Spirit lived without violating the canons, changing the dull and boring atmosphere of the past and becoming more relaxed and rich. They made the work and service of the nuns more out of visceral consciousness than out of helplessness.

Although they could see each other from time to time, they were more interested in expressing their feelings for each other through letters. Because through letters, they can express more clearly their words and thoughts that cannot be expressed orally. One day, he wrote to Eloise, "I am so old that I cannot bear to be separated from you whom I love, and I am still easily shaken by the desires and pleasures of this world." Moreover, he also attached a short poem to the letter:

"Under the moon, your tears covered my eyes

The bright moonlight takes you into my dreams

Love from heaven in the clouds

My lover, my lover, my daughter and my bride

As long as human beings are still living and feeling

You will be immortalized in this eternal poem!"

In her reply to him, she revealed her anguish, "Obey your will and restrain all desires, my dearest brother Abelard. How I wish you could lift the veil of my nun, so that we may rejoice together in that love of life and death, and walk together towards total destruction. For you alone have the power to grieve me and make me happy. ”

In his letter he said to her, "My dearest sister Eloise, humbly accept the misfortune of our fate, and accept the punishment of God for the sins we have committed in the past. Concentrate on your prayers, stop your sorrow immediately, and sincerely repent with the hope of being reunited in heaven. In addition, I ask you to bury me in the land of the Holy Spirit after my death. ”

In the second letter, she repeats her infatuation and shows her disrespect for God. She said, "I was afraid to offend you more than to offend God, and I longed to please you more than to please God." Look at how miserable my life will be, if I endure all these things in vain, and there is no hope of reward in the future. You, like everyone else, have long been deceived by my disguise to misunderstand my hypocrisy about religion. ”

He was saddened to see her letter, but he replied to her, "My beloved sister Eloise, I must tell you that it is Christ who truly loves you, not me. My love for you is only lust and lust, not pure love, you satisfy my poor desires, and this is all my love. Weep for Jesus Christ, not for your womanizer, weep for your Savior, not for me, a filthy man. ”

Her third letter shows that she acknowledges the destruction of his worldly love, and she simply asks him to establish a new set of rules that will allow her and her nuns to live a normal religious life. He agreed, and drafted a very modest and appropriate set of protocols for them. He wrote the admonitions to enlighten them, and gave them to Eloise, with a soft postscript: "In the Lord I bid farewell to his servant, who was once beloved by me in the world, and who is now beloved by me in Christ." In his aching heart, he still loved her.

They once went together to visit the local bishop, and when they reached the main road in front of the monastery, she suddenly said to him affectionately, "Every time I walk with you, I feel that we are both making love together." ”

Such words would not have surprised him at all, for they were more moving to his ears than the most classic verses. Now, however, he was taken by surprise. He believed what she had said to him in her letter: that she had entered the convent in obedience to his wishes, that though she was very sincere to God, it was only a mask for her, and that her heart was still stirred by the temptation of love. He didn't know how to answer this, but he felt very sad in his heart, because he had caused her to be like this.