ABBESS. You are most welcome, venerated Father Paphnutius. Blessed is your visit, beloved of the Most High.
PAPHNUTIUS. May the grace of Him Who is Father of all pour into your heart the beatitude of everlasting peace!
ABBESS. And what has brought your holiness to my humble dwelling?
PAPHNUTIUS. I need your help.
ABBESS. Speak but the word. You will find me eager to do all in my power to carry out your wishes.
PAPHNUTIUS. Oh, Abbess, I have brought you a little wild gazelle who has been snatched half dead from the jaws of wolves. Show it compassion, nurse it with all your tenderness, until it has shed its rough goatskin and put on the soft fleece of a lamb.
ABBESS. Explain yourself further.
PAPHNUTIUS. You see this woman. From her youth she has led the life of a harlot. She has given herself up to base pleasures—
ABBESS. What misery!
PAPHNUTIUS. She cannot offer the excuse that she was a Pagan to whom such pleasures bring no remorse of conscience. She wore the baptismal robes of a child of God when she gave herself to the flames of profane love. She was not tempted. She chose this evil life. She was ruined by her own will.