Bishop Augustine of Damascus had once excommunicated a rich knight who refused to tithe. One holy day, the bishop entered the church and before the mass ordered all those who had been excommunicated or otherwise outlawed to leave the church and its grounds during the mass. As soon as the mass had begun, many of the graves in the churchyard opened, their skeletal remains gathered together and fled the churchyard.
The living who were attending the mass were terrified, and with cries and a great tumult took refuge in the church. Learning of this, Augustine went outside and demanded from the risen remains, one of which was unusually large, what in the name of Christ and the holy virgin was the meaning of this miracle.
The largest risen entity replied that those who had left their graves were during their lifetimes outlawed by the church and had died before their ban had been lifted; they therefore were obliged to follow the order of the bishop, whose holiness was held in highest honor.
Augustine asked the entity who he was in life, to which the entity replied that he had been a knight and who because of his failure to tithe had been banned. At the same moment the living knight who had been found guilty for the same reason entered the churchyard gate and fell before the bishop, eyes raining with tears of regret, begging for forgiveness.
Augustine lifted the ban on the dead as though they were still alive, and the dead remains returned to their graves, which closed over them.