Часть 2

We also saw another holy man, named Apollos, in Thebaid, within the boundaries of Ermipolis. The Savior came to this city with the Virgin Mary and righteous Joseph, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, who says: “Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud and will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians made with hands will shake at His presence and fall to the ground” (Is. 19:1). We also saw a church there, in which all the idols fell face down to the ground when the Savior entered the city. So we saw this man in the desert, where he had a monastery under the mountain and was the father of about five hundred monks. He gained fame in Thebaid. His deeds were great, and the Lord worked great miracles through him and performed many signs. Since childhood, he demonstrated great feats and already in old age received such grace. Being eighty years old, he built a great monastery of five hundred perfect men, almost all of whom could work miracles. At the age of fifteen, having retired from the world and having spent forty years in the desert, he laboriously labored in every virtue and finally, they say, heard the voice of God saying to him: “Apollos! Apollos! Through you I will bring down the wisdom of the Egyptians and the understanding of the pagans. Together with them you will destroy the wise men of Babylon and destroy all demonic ministry. Now go out into the world. You will bring forth for Me a chosen people, zealous for good deeds (1 Pet. 3:13). And again a voice came to him: “Go, because whatever you ask from God, you will receive.” Hearing this, he immediately went into the world (this was during the reign of Julian) and after a while he came to the nearby desert. Having occupied one small cave under the mountain, he began to live in it. His whole occupation consisted in the fact that, on his knees, he constantly offered prayers to God - a hundred at night and the same number during the day. His food then, as before, was miraculously sent by God - it was brought to him in the desert by an Angel. His clothing consisted of leviton 19, which others call colovium, and a small cloth on his head. And this robe did not wear out in the desert. In this desert, which was not far from the inhabited country, by the power of the Spirit he performed miracles and wondrous healings, all of which, due to their extreme miraculousness, are impossible to retell, as we heard from the elders who lived with him and were themselves perfect and ruled many brethren. Thus, this man soon became glorious, like a new prophet and apostle who appeared in our time. As soon as a great rumor spread about him, all the monks who lived in different places around him began to constantly come to him and betrayed their souls to him, as if they were their own father. He called others to contemplation, persuaded others to practice active virtue, and first he himself showed in practice what he persuaded others to do in words. Often, showing them an example of asceticism, he ate food with them only on Sundays, and, moreover, ate only vegetables that grew naturally from the ground, and without eating bread, beans, or even tree fruits or anything boiled. Once (this was during the reign of Julian), having heard that his brother, who had been taken into military service, was sitting tied up in prison, Apollos came to him with his brethren to advise and instill in him that he should courageously endure the labors and despise the dangers that threatened him; He said that now was the time for him to strive and that his soul was being tested by these temptations. When with these words he strengthened the soul of his brother, the captain, informed by someone about the brethren, in a fit of anger ran there, put locks on the doors of the prison, locked Apollos and the monks who were with him there, as capable of military service, and, having assigned enough guards to them, went home, but did not want to listen to their requests. At midnight, a luminous Angel appeared to the guards and illuminated everyone in the prison with light, so that the guards became speechless with horror. Having come to their senses, they opened the doors and asked all the brothers to come out - it was better, they said, to die for them than to offend the freedom granted from above to the innocent prisoners. Then the captain and other commanders, having come to the prison in the morning, earnestly asked these men to leave even the city, because, he said, his house fell from an earthquake and crushed the best of his servants. Hearing about this, they, singing songs of thanks to God, returned to the desert and then stayed together, having, according to the apostolic word, “one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). Apollos taught them to be daily adorned with virtues and to reflect the insidious actions of the devil on their thoughts immediately at their very beginning. “When the serpent’s head is broken,” he said, “then his whole body is dead, and the Lord commands us to break the serpent’s head. This obliges us to ensure that we not only purge shameful dreams from our minds, but also at first do not allow evil and unclean thoughts into our souls.” He also taught that the brethren should try to surpass each other in virtues, so that no one would seem inferior to another in perfection. “Let the evidence of your success in virtues,” he said, “be the acquisition of dispassion and abstinence from food, because this is the beginning of the gifts of God. And when someone receives from God the power to perform miracles, do not be proud, as if you already have enough of everything, do not be arrogant with the thought that you are higher than others, and do not show everyone that you have received such grace - otherwise you deceive yourself and, caught in thoughts, are deprived of grace.” There was such high teaching in his conversations! Subsequently, we often heard the same thing from him. But in deeds he did even more, for everything he asked was immediately granted to him by God. He also had some revelations, for example, he saw his older brother, who lived with him for a long time in the desert, was more perfect in life than he himself, and died in the desert. In a dream, it seemed to him that his brother was among the apostles, left him his virtues as an inheritance and was praying to God for him, asking him to quickly remove him from earth and rest with him in heaven. But the Savior told him that Apollos needed to remain on earth a little longer to achieve perfection, while there were many zealots of his life, for he would be entrusted with a great many monks and a certain pious army, so that he would receive from the All-Good the glory worthy of his labors. What he saw happened. According to rumors about him, many monks flocked to him from everywhere and, according to his teachings and conversations, very many completely renounced the world. Thus, in his mountain there was a company of up to five hundred brothers who had a hostel and one meal. It seemed that it was a well-ordered regiment of angels, dressed in full armor, and the words of Scripture were fulfilled on them: “The thirsty desert rejoiced” (Is. 35: 1). “You who are not sick, break apart and cry, for many are more empty children than those who have husbands” (Isa. 54:1). Although this prophetic word was fulfilled in the Church of the pagans, it also came true in the Egyptian desert, which presented God with more children than inhabited countries - where in the cities are there such a large number of monks being saved, how many of them are there for God in the Egyptian desert? There are as many people here (in the cities) as there are monks there in the deserts. And it seems to me that the apostolic word is fulfilled over them too: “Where sin has abounded, there is grace abounding” (Rom. 5:20). Various and wicked idolatry once multiplied in Egypt, more than in other countries: they worshiped dogs, monkeys and some other animals; they adored garlic, onions, and many insignificant plants. Saint Apollos himself told me about this and explained the reason for the former polytheism. “The pagans who lived among us before,” he said, “idolized the ox because, with its help, they worked the land and got bread, and the waters of the Nile because they watered all the fields. And they adored their very land because it was more fruitful than all other countries. Finally, and so on: they revered dogs, monkeys and other worthless animals and plants because their occupation was the reason for salvation for people during the time of Pharaoh, when he was drowned while chasing Israel. Anyone who was busy with something and did not go with Pharaoh idolized it, saying: “This today became a god for me, because because of this I did not perish with Pharaoh.” This is what Saint Apollos said, but primarily before words it is necessary to describe what he acquired in deeds. Not far from it formerly lived pagans in all places; Demons were revered in nearby villages. In one of them there was a huge church and in it a famous idol. It was made of wood. The wicked priests solemnly carried it around the villages, raging along with the people. This holiday is celebrated in the same way as in honor of Nile water. It happened at this time that Saint Apollos was passing there with several brothers. As soon as he saw the people frantically raging in that country, he, kneeling before the Savior, suddenly made the pagans motionless. Since they could not move from their place, no matter how much they pushed each other, they were in the heat all day long, not understanding why this happened to them. Then their priests said that one Christian living in the desert, within their borders, namely Apollos, had done this to them, and they began to ask him to save them from trouble. Meanwhile, those who lived further from there, hearing their cry and lamentable cry, came to them and asked: “What happened to you and how?” Some answered that they did not know, but only suspected one husband, and said that he should be asked for mercy; others claimed that they saw him passing by them, and asked those who came to give them help as soon as possible. They brought oxen and tried to move the idol, but it, along with the priests themselves, remained motionless. Finally, not finding any other means of deliverance, they sent their neighbors to ask Apollos, so that if he delivered them, they would leave their error. When they told Apollos about this, the man of God went to them as quickly as he could and, after praying, freed everyone from those bonds. After this, they all unanimously rushed to him, believed in the Savior of all and the miraculous God, and consigned the idol to fire. Having announced them all, he joined them to the Church. Many of them still live in monasteries. Thus, his fame spread everywhere and many believed in the Lord, so that there was no longer even the name of the pagans in the area around him (Apollos). After a little time, two villages argued among themselves over arable land and started an internecine war. As soon as news of this reached the holy man, he immediately went to them to persuade them to peace. One opposing side did not agree and contradicted him, hoping for a certain leader of a bandit gang, a very brave man in the war. Apollos, seeing that he was contradicting, said to him: “If you, friend, listen to me, then I will beg my Master to forgive your sins.” He, having heard this, immediately threw down his weapon and, falling at his feet, reconciled both sides and convinced his people to go home. When they, having reconciled, left, then their famous defender followed the holy man, demanding from him the fulfillment of his promise. Blessed Apollos took him with him and in the nearby desert convinced him and asked him to be patient, saying that God could grant him forgiveness. Night fell, and in a dream they both saw that they were standing in heaven before the throne of Christ and watching how the Angels, together with the righteous, worshiped God. When they, having fallen together, worshiped the Savior, a voice from God came to them: “What fellowship has light with darkness? ...or which part will I return with the infidel?” (2 Cor. 6, 14, 15). Why does this murderer, unworthy of such a vision, stand with the righteous? Anyway, go ahead; the man who converted so late has been given to you.” Having seen and heard very many other miracles, which neither a word nor an ear dares to hear, they woke up and told those who were with them about it. Everyone was extremely surprised by the story of both of them about the same vision. And from now on, the former murderer began to live with the ascetics and, until his death, engaged in correcting his life, from a wolf he became a gentle lamb. And on it the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: “... the wolf and the lamb will graze together... and the lion, like the ox, will eat chaff” (Is. 11, 6, 7). Indeed, there one could see that the Ethiopians labored together with the monks and surpassed many in virtues; and the word of Scripture was fulfilled over them: “Ethiopia will go before her hand to God” (Ps. 67:32). One day, the pagans argued with the Christian villagers about their borders. Many armed men appeared on both sides. Apollos came to them to reconcile them. But the leader of the pagans, a cruel and ferocious man, opposed him and stubbornly said: “I will not make peace until death.” Apollos said to him: “Let that be done to you that you have chosen for yourself: no one else will perish but you, and when you die, the earth will not be your tomb, but the bellies of beasts and kites will be filled with you.” This word immediately came true: no one on either side, except this leader, died; They buried him in the sand and in the morning they found that kites and hyenas had torn him to pieces. The pagans, seeing such a miracle and the fulfillment of what was said, all believed in the Savior, and Apollos was proclaimed a prophet. Even before this, Saint Apollos lived in a mountain cave with five brothers, who were his first disciples when he had just emerged from the desert. The Easter holiday came, and they, having served God in the cave, wanted to taste what was available. And they only had some dry bread and a few vegetables. Apollos said to them: “Children! If we are faithful and true children of Christ, then each of us ask God for whatever food he pleases.” But they left everything to him, considering themselves unworthy of such grace. When he himself prayed with a joyful face and everyone shouted: “Amen,” some unknown men immediately appeared at the cave, who said they were strangers from afar, and brought with them everything that the brethren had not even heard of and that would not be born in Egypt, namely: all kinds of garden fruits - grapes, pomegranates, figs and nuts - everything that was not yet time to ripen, and honeycombs, and a vessel of fresh milk, and ten large, clean and warm loaves - everything that would be born in a foreign country. The men who brought it just gave it away as something sent from some noble and rich man and immediately left hastily. Having taken the food, the brethren fed themselves with this until Pentecost, and they themselves marveled and said that truly this had been sent to them from God. One of the monks asked the abba to immediately pray for him, so that he might be granted some kind of gift of grace. When this man prayed, he was given the grace-filled gift of humility and meekness, so that everyone marveled at how he acquired great meekness. The fathers who lived with him told us about these miracles of Apollos, and many brethren also testified. Not long before that, there was a famine throughout the Thebaid. The inhabitants of the cities, knowing from rumor that the monks who lived with Apollos had already received food miraculously on several occasions, all went to him with their wives and children to ask for blessings and food. Not at all afraid that there would be a shortage of food, he gave everyone who came so much that everyone had enough for the day. When only three large baskets of bread remained, and meanwhile the hunger intensified, he ordered these baskets to be brought, from which the monks wanted to take bread for themselves that very day, and in the hearing of all the brothers and people he said loudly: “Can the hand of the Lord not fill these baskets? This is what the Holy Spirit says: “The bread in these baskets will not fail until everyone has tasted the new bread.” Those who went there actually claimed that everyone had enough bread for four months. He did the same with the oil and wheat, so that Satan appeared to him and said: “Are you Elijah or any other of the prophets and apostles, who are doing this?” He answered him: “Weren’t the holy prophets and apostles the people who gave us over to do this? Or was there God then, but now He is not? God can always do this: nothing is impossible for Him. If God is good, then why are you angry? And shouldn’t we be told what we saw, that is, that those who served bread brought full baskets to the brethren for a meal and again took them back full after the five hundred brethren had been fed?” I must also say how amazed we were when we saw another miracle. Three of us, brothers, went to him. His brothers recognized us when they saw us from afar, because they had previously heard from Apollos about our coming to him. Having arrived hastily, they met us with singing (this was their custom in relation to all monks), bowing with their faces to the ground, kissed us and, pointing to us to each other, said: “Here come those brothers about whom our father predicted to us in three days that in three days three brothers from Jerusalem would come to us.” And some walked ahead of us, others behind us, and everyone sang until we came to Apollos himself. Abba Apollos, having heard the singing, came out to meet us, as he usually did in relation to all the brethren. Seeing us, he first bowed to the ground and, standing up, kissed us, then brought us into his room, prayed and, washing our feet with his own hands, asked us to rest. This is what he did with all the brothers who came to him. The brethren who lived with him did not take food before partaking of the Eucharist of Christ. They did this at nine o'clock in the afternoon. After eating, they sat down to listen to him, and he taught them all the commandments until dusk. After that, some of them withdrew into the desert and there read the Holy Scriptures by heart the whole night, others remained there, constantly praising God with songs until daylight. I myself saw with my own eyes how they began their chants in the evening and did not stop singing even until the morning. And many of them only came down from the mountain at the ninth hour and, having received the Eucharist, again ascended the mountain and were content with only spiritual food until another ninth hour. Many of them did this for many days. With all this, as one could see, they rejoiced while living in the desert - no one can point out here on earth such joy and bodily joy. There was no one boring or sad between them. If anyone ever seemed sad, Abba Apollos immediately asked him about the cause of grief and revealed what was in everyone’s secret hearts. “Those who are to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven should not grieve,” he said, “on the path of salvation; Let the pagans groan, the Jews weep, the sinners mourn, but the righteous should rejoice. And if those who think about earthly things find joy in earthly things, how can we, who have been given so much hope, not rejoice unceasingly, when the Apostle urges us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)”? However, who can depict the sweetness of the conversations of Abba Apollos and his other virtues, which we kept silent about because of their extreme miraculousness, although we heard from him and from others?! Often, when privately talking with us about asceticism, he spoke about how to receive the brethren, that is, what should be bowed to the coming brethren, for, he said, “you bow not to them, but to God; when you see your brother, you see the Lord your God, and this we received from Abraham.” He also said that the brethren should be strongly invited to calm down - we learned this from Lot, who “forced” the Angels (Gen. 19:3). Also: that monks should, if they can, partake of the Holy Mysteries every day, because whoever moves away from the Holy Mysteries moves away from God. For example, whoever constantly partakes always receives the Savior into himself, for the Savior Himself says: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). So, it is useful for monks to constantly remember saving suffering and daily be ready to be worthy of receiving the Holy and Heavenly Mysteries, for in this way we are worthy of remission of sins. “It is also impermissible,” he said, “to break general fasts without any need, for on Wednesday the Savior was betrayed, and on Friday he was crucified. Therefore, whoever breaks the fast, together with his enemies, betrays and crucifies the Savior. If a brother comes to you during Lent and needs reassurance, offer a meal to him alone; if he does not like it, do not force it, for we all have a common tradition about fasting.” He much condemned those who carry weapons and grow their hair, for such people, according to him, are vain and try to please people. They should exhaust their bodies with fasting and do good in secret, but they, on the contrary, expose themselves to everyone. However, why say too much? All his instructions exactly corresponded to his life and it is impossible to retell or describe them in a worthy manner. Thus, having talked with us about many things several times over the course of a whole week, he, dismissing us, said: “Have peace among yourselves and do not be separated from each other on the way.” When he said to the brethren who were with him, would any of them like to take us to the other fathers, and when almost all of them expressed their readiness, Saint Apollos chose from them three men, strong in word and in life and who knew the languages - Greek, Roman and Egyptian, and, releasing us with them, ordered them not to leave us until we saw all the fathers (only whoever wanted to see them all would not have time to do this for the rest of my life). Finally, he blessed us and sent us away with these words: “May the Lord bless you from Zion, and you will see good Jerusalem all the days of your life” (Ps. 127:6). When we were walking through the desert at noon, we suddenly saw a huge dragon, like a log, crawling across the sand. When we saw him, we were very scared. But the brothers who accompanied us urged us not to be afraid, but to be calm and follow the trail of the dragon. “You will see,” they said, “our faith.” They hoped to kill him with their own hands. “We have already killed many dragons, and asps, and kerasts with our hands,” they said. The Scripture was fulfilled over them: “Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent and on the scorpion and on all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). But we, out of disbelief, and even more out of fear, asked them to follow not the trail of the dragon, but the straight road. Then one brother from among them, leaving us in place, with great courage rushed into the desert following the tracks of the beast. Having found his lair not far away, he loudly shouted to us that the dragon was in the cave, and called us to see what would happen, while the other brothers urged us not to be afraid. When we went to see the beast with great fear, one brother accidentally met us and, grabbing us with his hands, dragged us into his monastery and said that we could not bear the rage of that beast. Moreover, they have never seen him. And he said about himself that he had often seen this animal, that it was extremely large and had more than fifteen cubits. Having ordered us to stop, he himself went to that brother and asked him to leave the cave, because he did not want to leave this place until he killed the dragon. However, he begged him and brought him to us, and he reproached us for our lack of faith. Having rested with this brother, whose monastery was located one mile from that place, we became quite stronger in strength. This brother told us that in the place where he lived, there was one holy man, from whom he studied, named Ammun, who performed many miracles in that place. Robbers often came to him and took his bread and food. But one day he went into the desert, brought with him two large dragons and ordered them to stand guard at his door. The robbers came, as usual, and when they saw the miracle, they became speechless with horror and fell on their faces. Ammun, coming out, saw that they were dumb and almost half-dead, picked them up and began to reproach them like this: “Look how much more ferocious you are than the animals; for the sake of God they obey our will, but you do not fear God and do not respect Christian piety.” Then, leading them into the cell itself, he offered them a meal and exhorted them to change their lives. Having left their former life, they turned out to be better than many, and after a while they themselves began to perform the same signs. At one time, the same brother said, a large dragon devastated the neighboring country and destroyed many animals. Then those living near the desert all came together to the Abba and asked to exterminate this beast in their country. But he, as if he could not do anything for them, let them go in sorrow, and he himself, getting up the next morning, followed the tracks of the beast. When Abba knelt down three times to pray, the beast came to him with a strong whistle, emitting a terrible breath, puffing up, hissing and emitting a fetid odor. Abba was not at all afraid and, turning to the dragon, said: “May Christ, the Son of the Living God, who has the power to crush the great beast, strike you.” As soon as he said this, the dragon immediately sat down, vomiting all the poison from his mouth along with blood. Coming the next day and seeing this great miracle, the villagers could not stand the smell from the dragon and covered the beast with a heap of sand. Abba was also with them, for they alone did not dare to approach the dragon, although he was already dead. And before, the brother continued, when the dragon was still alive, one youth suddenly saw him, tending a flock. Frightened, he fell dead and lay lifeless all day in a field near the desert. In the evening, his relatives found him and, noticing that he was still breathing a little, only all swollen from the blow, they brought him to the Abba, but meanwhile they did not know why this happened. When Abba prayed and anointed the youth with oil, he stood up and told them what he had seen. This especially prompted this husband to decide to destroy the dragon. About Abba Copria the Presbyter One presbyter named Coprius had a monastery in the desert not far from there. This was a holy man, almost ninety years old, the abbot of fifty brethren. He also did a lot of miracles: he healed illnesses, performed many healings, cast out demons, performed many signs, and some of them before our eyes. Having seen and prayed for us, he washed our feet and asked us what was happening in the world. But we asked that he would tell us better about the virtues of his life and how God had bestowed gifts on him and how he received this grace. Without any pride, he began to tell us about his life and that of his predecessors, great men, many of whom were superior to him and whose lives he imitated. “Children,” he said, “there is nothing surprising in my deeds in comparison with the exploits of our fathers.” While Presbyter Coprius was still talking about this, one of our brothers, who did not believe his words, dozed off and saw that in the hands of that man there was a wonderful book covered with golden letters, and that some gray-haired man came up and menacingly said to him: “Why don’t you listen to the reading and are dozing?” The frightened brother immediately told us in Latin what he had heard and seen. He also told us about this, how one villager came with a basket filled with sand, and, approaching, waited for his brother to finish his story. We asked the presbyter what this villager with the sand wanted. Abba said to us in response: “Children, it would not behoove us to boast before you and talk about the glorious deeds of our fathers, so that, having become proud in mind, we would not lose our reward. But since you came to us from such a distant country, for such zeal and seeking of benefit I will not deprive you of edification, but in the presence of the brethren I will tell you what God has done through us. The country neighboring us was barren, and the villagers who owned it, having sowed grain, could hardly harvest it twice as much as was sown, for the worm, emerging in the ear, damaged the entire harvest. The farmers, who had been announced by us and had become Christians, asked us to pray for the harvest. I told them: “If you have faith in God, then this desert sand will bear fruit for you.” They immediately filled their bosoms with this sand that we walk on and brought it to us, asking for our blessing. When I prayed that it would be according to their faith, they sowed it in the fields along with grain, and suddenly their land became more fruitful than any land in Egypt. Thus, having become accustomed to doing this, they come to us every year with the same request.” “Another great miracle,” continued the Abba, “God allowed me to perform in the presence of many. One day I came to the city and met a Manichaean 20 who was deceiving the people. Since I could not convince him in front of the people, I turned to the crowd and said: “Light a big fire in the square; we will both enter the fire, and whoever of us remains unharmed by it, his faith is good.” This was done: the people hastily lit a fire and dragged the Manichaean along with me into the fire. But the Manichaean said: “Let each of us separately enter the fire, and you yourself, who ordered this, must enter first.” When I, having marked myself with the name of Christ, climbed onto the fire, the flame parted on two sides and did not harm me at all, although I stayed in it for half an hour. The people, seeing the miracle, raised a cry and forced the Manichaean to enter the fire, but he was afraid and did not want to do this. Then the people grabbed him and pushed him into the middle of the fire. He was completely engulfed in flames and was immediately driven out of the city with dishonor as the people shouted: “Burn the deceiver alive!” And the people took me by the arms and, glorifying God, escorted me to the church. At another time, when I passed through one temple, several pagans were making sacrifices to their idols. I said to them: "Why do you, intelligent beings, make sacrifices to the unreasonable? Through this you become no more intelligent than they." And since my words were true, they immediately followed me and believed in the Savior. I once had a garden not far from a field for the brothers who came to us, and one poor man cultivated it. One day a pagan came there to steal vegetables. When he stole and came home, he could not cook them for three days: they remained in the cauldron the same as they were taken, because the water did not heat up at all. Then this man, having come to his senses, took the vegetables and brought them to us, begging us to forgive his sin and make him a Christian, which was done. At this very time, brother wanderers came to us, and vegetables were brought to us especially for them at the right time. Having tasted them, we thanked God for receiving double joy, that is, for the fact that both the person was saved and the brethren were strengthened.” One day, Abba Surus, Abba Isaiah and Abba Paul, pious men and ascetics, came together to visit the great confessor - Abba Anuvius. He lived three days' journey from them. And they say to each other: “Let each of us show his way of life and how he is honored by God here on earth.” Abba Surus told them: “I ask God for a gift, so that by the power of the Spirit we can reach that place without fatigue.” And as soon as he prayed, a ready ship and a favorable wind immediately appeared, and in an instant they found themselves in place, although they were sailing against the current. Isaiah tells them: “What wonder, friends, if a man meets us and tells us the life of each of us?” Paul says to them: “What if God revealed to us that in three days He will take Anubius to Himself?” When they went forward to the place of residence of Anuvius, this man, coming out to meet them, greeted them. Paul said to him, “Tell us your deeds, for the day after tomorrow you will go to God.” Abba Anuvius said to them: “Blessed is God, who informed me about this, as well as about your arrival and asceticism.” Having spoken about the exploits of each of them, he then began to talk about his own exploits as follows: “Since the time I confessed the name of the Savior on earth, no lie has come from my mouth. I did not eat earthly food, for the Angel feeds me daily with heavenly food 21 . There was no desire in my heart for anything other than God. God did not hide from me what was happening on earth. The light did not leave my eyes: I did not sleep during the day or rest at night, seeking God, and the Angel was always with me, showing the powers of the world. The light of my mind did not go out. Everything I asked from God, I soon received. Many times have I seen dozens of Angels standing before God; I saw the faces of the righteous; saw hosts of martyrs; saw them all praising God; I saw Satan being burned; I saw his angels suffering punishment; I saw the righteous always having fun.” Having told this and much more for three days, the abba betrayed his soul. She was immediately received by the Angels and the faces of the martyrs and carried to heaven, and the brethren saw this and heard their chants. Another Abba, named Hellin, who had labored in virtue since childhood, often brought fire in his bosom to the brethren who lived in his neighborhood, arousing in them a desire to show signs. He told them: “If you truly strive, then show signs of virtue.” One day, when he was alone in the desert, he wanted honey. Soon he found a honeycomb under a stone and said: “Get away from me unbridled lust, for it is written: “Walk in the Spirit and do not commit carnal lusts” (Gal. 5:16)” - and, leaving the honeycomb, he left. Also: after fasting in the desert for three weeks, he found scattered fruits and said: “I will not eat or touch them, lest I cause my brother, that is, my soul, to stumble, for it is written: “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4).” After fasting for another week, he finally fell asleep. An angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Get up and eat whatever you find.” He stood up and, looking around, saw a source, near which luxurious plants had grown. He took drink and food from plants and claimed that he had never tasted anything more pleasant in his life. Having found a small cave in that place, he stayed there for several days without food. Finally, when he felt the need for food, he knelt down and began to pray - and immediately he was offered all sorts of dishes, warm bread, olives and various fruits. Once he visited his brothers and, having taught them many instructions, hastily retired into the desert, taking with him some necessary things. Seeing several wild donkeys in the pasture, he said to them: “In the name of Christ, let one of you come to me and take on my burden.” And immediately one came running to him. Having placed his things on it, he sat on it and one day arrived at the cave. One day, when he laid out the loaves and fruits in the sun, the animals that usually came to the source came up to them, and as soon as they touched the loaves, they immediately died. One Sunday he came to some monks and said to them: “Why weren’t you getting ready for worship today?” When they answered that the presbyter (who lived on the opposite bank) had not come, he told them: “I’ll go and call him.” They said that it was impossible to cross the stream because of its depth. Moreover, they said, in this place lives a huge beast - a crocodile, which destroyed many people. He immediately got up and walked towards the stream, and suddenly the beast, taking him on its back, carried him to the other bank. Having found the presbyter in the field, he asked him not to leave the brethren. This, seeing that he was dressed in rags, sewn from many scraps, asked him where he got the rags, and added: “Brother, the robe of your soul is beautiful!” And, marveling at his humility and poverty, he followed him to the river. But then they did not find the boat, and Abba Ellin began to call the crocodile in a loud voice. The crocodile immediately appeared at his call and offered his back. Abba Hellin also invited the presbyter to sit with him, but he, seeing the beast, was afraid and stepped back. He and the brothers who lived on the other bank watched in horror as the Abba swam across the stream on a beast. Coming out onto land, he brought the beast with him and said that it was better for him to die and be punished for the souls he had destroyed. The beast immediately fell and died. Having stayed with the brethren for three days, all this time the abba taught them the commandments and revealed to them the innermost intentions of each one. One, he said, suffers anxiety from lustful thoughts, another from vanity, a third from lust, and another from anger; he called one meek, the other peace-loving; in one he denounced vices, in the other he praised virtues. Hearing this, they were surprised and said that it was true. Then he said to them: “Prepare vegetables for us, for today many brothers will come to us.” Indeed, the brothers came while they were preparing and kissed each other. One of these brothers, wanting to live with the Abba in the desert, asked him about it. When Abba said that he could not endure the temptations of demons, he insistently began to assert that he would endure everything. Abba Hellin accepted him and ordered him to live in another cave. At first the demons confused him a lot with shameful thoughts, then, appearing at night, they began to strangle him. He fled from the cave and told Abba Hellin about what had happened. Abba, having outlined that place, ordered him to continue to remain there without fear. One day, when they did not have enough bread in the cave, an Angel came in the form of a brother and brought them food. At another time, ten brothers searched for him in the desert and remained without food for seven days. Finally, Abba met them and told them to rest in a cave. When they reminded him of food, he, having nothing to offer them, said: “God is able to prepare a meal in the desert,” and immediately a handsome young man appeared and knocked on the door while they were praying. They opened the door and saw a young man with a large basket filled with bread and olives. Having accepted this, they tasted the food and thanked the Lord, and the boy immediately became invisible. Abba Kopri, having told us this and many other amazing things and treated us kindly, brought us into his garden and showed us palm trees and other fruitful trees. He himself planted them in the desert, excited by the faith of the villagers, to whom he told that the desert can bear fruit for those who have faith in God. “For when I saw that they sowed sand and their field became fruitful,” he said, “I myself did the same and received success.” About Abba Apelles the Presbyter We also saw another presbyter in the Upper Country, a righteous man named Apelles. He first practiced the craft of a coppersmith, and then turned to asceticism. One day, when the devil came to him in the form of a woman, he, while making copper things for the monks, deliberately grabbed a red-hot iron with his hand and burned the woman’s entire face and body. And the brethren heard her screaming in the cell. From that time on, this man always took a hot iron with his hand without any harm. He received us friendly and this is what he told us about the godly men who lived with him and who are still alive today. There is in this desert, he said, our brother John, who, however, is not of our century, for he surpasses today’s monks in virtues. No one can find him soon, because he always walks through the desert from place to place. At first he stood under one rock for three years, spending all this time in unceasing prayer, never sat down or went to bed, and only had a few sleeps while standing. Only on Sundays he accepted the Eucharist, which the presbyter brought him, and did not eat anything else. One day Satan, taking on the image of a presbyter, hurriedly comes to him and pretends to want to give him Communion. But Blessed John, recognizing him, said to him: “Father of all deception and all wickedness, enemy of all truth! You not only constantly deceive the souls of Christians, but you also dare to mock the very Holy Sacraments.” The devil answered him: “I almost failed to catch you. In this way I seduced one of your brothers and, depriving him of his reason, drove him to madness. Many righteous people prayed a lot for him and were barely able to bring him to his senses.” Having said this, the demon left him. When, from prolonged standing, his legs cracked and began to fester, then an Angel appeared and, touching his lips, said: “The Lord will be true food for you, and the Holy Spirit will be true drink, but now for now there is enough spiritual drink and food for you, so that otherwise, from satiety, you will not vomit them,” and, having healed him, brought him from his place. After that, he began to wander through the desert and eat plants. On Sunday he appeared at the same place to receive Communion. Having begged several palm branches from the presbyter, he made belts for animals from them. When one lame man decided to go to him for healing, as soon as he sat on the donkey and his feet barely touched the belt made by the holy man, he was immediately healed. Sometimes Abba sent a blessing to the sick, and they were immediately freed from their illness. One day he received a revelation about his monasteries that some of the brethren were leading bad lives. Then he wrote a message through the presbyter to all of them, in which it was said that some of them do not care, and others are jealous of virtue. It was revealed that this was so. He also wrote to the fathers that some of them do not care about the salvation of their brothers, while others rather instruct them, and he declared what punishments and honors both of them deserve. Also, calling others to the highest perfection, he inspired them that, moving away from the sensory, they should ascend to the spiritual, since it was already time to lead such a life. “We,” he said, “must not remain children and infants forever, but must ascend to the most perfect understanding, reach manhood and rise to the greatest virtues.” Father told us this and much more about Abba John, but we did not write all of this because of its extreme miraculousness - not because it was not true, but because of the unbelief of some. We ourselves are completely convinced of the truth of this, for many great men who saw all this with their own eyes told us the same thing. We also saw another place where Paphnutius the hermit lived, a great and virtuous man, who recently died in the vicinity of Herakleia of Thebaid. Many people said a lot about him. After lengthy asceticism, Paphnutius prayed to God to reveal to him which of those perfect in holiness he would be like. An angel appeared to him and said: “You are like such and such a flute player 22 who lives in the city.” Paphnutius hastily went to that flute player and asked him about his lifestyle and affairs. The flute player told him that he (as in fact was) a sinful man, lived a drunken and depraved life, and that he had recently stopped being a bandit and became a flute player. When Paphnutius began to ask him what good he had ever done, the flute player replied that he did not know anything good about himself, except that once, while still a robber, at night he delivered from the robbers a Christian virgin whom they wanted to dishonor, and escorted her to the village. “Another time,” the flute player continued, “I met a beautiful woman wandering in the desert. She fled from the mayor's servants and from the judges because her husband owed money to the treasury, and mourned her wanderings. I asked her the reason for her tears. “Don’t ask me anything, sir,” she said, “and don’t be curious about the unfortunate woman, but take me and take me wherever you want, as your slave, for after my husband was beaten many times over the course of two years because he owes the treasury three hundred gold coins, and was imprisoned, and my three dearest sons were sold, I am fleeing, moving from place to place and, since I was often caught and every time They beat me without mercy, I am now wandering through the desert and for the third day now I have been left without food.” I took pity on her and brought her to the cave, gave her three hundred gold coins and escorted her to the city. So I freed her with her children and her husband.” Paphnutius said to him: “Although I do not know that I have done anything like that, you, without a doubt, have heard that I am famous for my asceticism, for I did not spend my life in carelessness. And so God revealed to me about you that you are in no way inferior to me in good deeds. Therefore, when God cares so much about you, brother, do not leave your soul neglected, to chance.” The flute player immediately threw the flute out of his hands and, exchanging the euphony of the musical song for spiritual sweet singing, followed this husband into the desert. For three years he labored as much as he could, spending his life singing psalms and praying; Finally he passed into heaven and rested, numbered among the saints and the ranks of the righteous. Having led this zealous ascetic of virtue to God, Paphnutius began to lead a more perfect life in comparison with his former one and again prayed to God to reveal to him which of the saints he was like. Again the voice of God came to him: “You are like the elder of the nearest village.” Paphnutius immediately went to him. When he knocked on his door, he, according to custom, came out and received the guest. Having washed his feet and offered him a meal, he asked him to taste the food. But Paphnutius began to ask him about his affairs and said: “Tell me your way of life, for you have surpassed many monks, as God revealed to me.” He answered him that he was a sinful man and unworthy even of the name of monks. However, Paphnutius began to urgently question him, and he answered like this: “I had no need to talk about my affairs, but since you say that you came at the command of God, I will tell you about myself. This is already the thirtieth year since I separated from my wife, having lived with her for only three years and having given birth to three sons from her, who serve me in my affairs. I still haven’t given up my love of strangeness. None of the villagers will boast that he received the stranger before me. The poor or the stranger did not leave my house empty-handed, without first receiving what he needed for the journey. I did not let the poor man, depressed by misfortunes, pass without giving him sufficient consolation. I was not partial to my son at the trial. Foreign fruits did not enter my house. There was no enmity that I did not reconcile. Nobody accused my sons of indecent acts. My flocks did not touch other people's fruits. I did not sow my fields first, but, leaving them to everyone, I myself used only what was left. I did not allow the rich to oppress the poor. All my life I have never upset anyone, I have never condemned anyone. This is what, as I remember, I did according to the will of God.” Hearing about the virtues of this man, Paphnutius kissed his head and said: “May the Lord bless you from Zion, and see the good things of Jerusalem” (Ps. 127:5). You still lack the most important of the virtues—much-wise knowledge of God, which you cannot acquire unless you renounce the world, take up the cross and follow the Savior.” Hearing this, he immediately, without even making any orders regarding his property, followed this husband up the mountain. When they came to the river and did not find any boat here, Paphnutius ordered him to go across the river, which no one had ever crossed in this place because of its depth. They crossed so that the water was only up to their waists. Then Paphnutius left him in one place, and he himself, being separated from him, prayed to God that he might be better than such people. A little time later, Paphnutius saw that the angels took the soul of this man, glorifying God and saying: “Blessed is he whom you have chosen and accepted, who will dwell in Your courts” (Ps. 64:5). The saints answered them and exclaimed: “There is peace for many who love Your law” (Ps. 119:165). Then Paphnutius learned that this husband had died. Continuing to constantly pray to God and struggling even more in fasting, Paphnutius again prayed to God to reveal to him who he was like. And again the voice of God said: “You are like a merchant looking for good pearls. Get up and do not hesitate: a man to whom you are like will meet you.” He went and saw an Alexandrian merchant. This was a pious and Christ-loving man, he traded for twenty thousand gold coins, having a hundred ships, and was now returning from Upper Thebaid. He distributed all his property and all the profits from trade to the poor and monks, and this time, with his sons, he carried ten bags of vegetables to Paphnutius. “What is this, my dear?” - Paphnutius told him. He answered him: “These are the fruits of trade, brought to God to strengthen the righteous.” “What then,” Paphnutius said to him, “and you will not accept our name?” When he admitted that he really wanted this, Paphnutius said to him: “How long will you engage in earthly trade and not take up the heavenly purchase? Leave this to others, and while the time is so favorable, follow the Savior, to Whom you will come a little later.” The merchant, without any delay, ordered his sons to divide everything that he had left among the poor, and he himself went to the mountain, imprisoned himself in the place where two people had labored before him, and constantly prayed to God. A little time passed, and he, leaving his body, became a celestial. Paphnutius, having sent this man also to heaven, finally himself, not having the strength to continue his asceticism, began to depart. Then an Angel appeared to him and said: “Finally, you too, blessed one, go to the eternal villages. The prophets have come to accept you into their host. This was not revealed to you before, lest you become proud and lose your merit.” Having lived one more day and told everything to the elders who came to him by revelation, he betrayed his spirit. The elders clearly saw how he was received by the faces of the righteous and angels praising God. About the martyrs Apollonius and Philemon There was a monk in Thebaid named Apollonius. He showed many miraculous experiences of his holiness and was awarded the diaconate. Having succeeded in all the virtues of men who became famous during the persecution, he encouraged the confessors of Christ and made many martyrs, and finally he himself was taken and kept in prison. The most worthless pagans came to him there and spoke insulting and blasphemous speeches to him. Among them was a musician, a man known for his atrocities. He came and began to revile Apollonius, calling him a wicked man, a slanderer, a deceiver; He said that everyone hated him and that he should die as soon as possible. Apollonius said to him: “May the Lord have mercy on you and not make you sinful for what you said.” Hearing this, the musician (whose name was Philemon) was struck to the core by the words of Apollonius. He immediately went to the court, appeared before the judge and said to him in front of the people: “You are acting unfairly, judge, punishing pious and innocent men. Christians don’t do or say anything bad—they even bless their enemies.” Listening to him, the judge at first thought that he was pretending and joking, but seeing that he did not stop saying the same thing, he said to him: “You must have lost your mind.” “Unfair judge! - he answered. “I’m not crazy, I’m a Christian.” Then the judge, together with the people, tried to win him over to their side with various affections, but, seeing him adamant, subjected him to all kinds of torture. The judge, who ordered the arrest and reviled Apollonius in every possible way, tortured him as a deceiver. But Apollonius said to him: “I would like you, judge, and all those present here to follow me in my error.” As soon as he said this, the judge ordered him and Philemon to be thrown into the fire in the eyes of all the people. When both of them were on fire and the judge still remained in place, blessed Apollonius cried out to God in the hearing of all the people and the judge: “Do not, O Lord, betray the souls that confess to You to beasts” (Ps. 73:19), but clearly show yourself to us.” And then a cloud came down, like dew and bright, and covered these men and put out the fire. The surprised judge and people exclaimed: “One God, Christian!” But some malicious person notified the mayor of Alexandria about this. This one, choosing rude and cruel officials and guards, sent them to bring the judge and Philemon bound. Apollonius and some other confessors were taken with them. During the journey, grace descended on Apollonius, and he began to teach the soldiers. When these, moved, believed in the Savior, they all appeared together as prisoners at the court. The mayor, looking at them and seeing their steadfastness in faith, ordered to throw them all into the depths of the sea. This was a symbol of baptism for them. Relatives, having found their bodies washed up on the shore, built one tomb for all of them, where many miracles were performed from them. Such was the grace in Apollonius that, no matter what he prayed for, he was soon heard - so the Savior honored him! And we saw him and the others who were tormented with him and prayed during their torment, and then, having worshiped God, we kissed their bodies in Thebaid. About Abba Dioscorus the Presbyter We also saw another presbyter in Thebaid, named Dioscorus, the father of a hundred monks. When they were about to begin the Divine Mysteries, he told them: “See that none of you who had unclean dreams at night dare to approach the Holy Mysteries, and that no one falls asleep with unclean dreams. What happens without dreams does not happen according to everyone’s will, but depends on nature, on the excess of matter, and therefore is not imputed to sin. And dreams depend on arbitrariness and testify to the impurity of the soul. So, a monk must conquer the law of nature and not indulge in any carnal impurity, but he must emaciate the flesh and not allow it to become fat. Try to exhaust the body with long fasts, otherwise it will excite us to impure desires, and a monk should never allow himself to indulge in them, for how will he differ from the laity? We often see that lay people also abstain from pleasures for the health of the body or for some other reasons - shouldn’t a monk even more take care of the soul and the health of the mind and spirit?” We also came to Nitria, where we saw many great hermits. Of these, some are natives, others are aliens; some surpass others in virtues and, zealously practicing asceticism and demonstrating every virtue, surpass each other in lifestyle. Some of them were engaged in contemplation, others led an active life. Some of them, seeing that we were walking from afar through the desert, came out to meet us with water, others washed our feet, others cleaned our clothes, others invited us to a meal, others encouraged us to learn virtues, others to engage in contemplation and knowledge of God. Anyone who could did his best to serve us. And how can one retell all their virtues when it is impossible to speak about them in a dignified manner? They live in the desert, and their cells are one from the other at such a distance that from a distance they can neither recognize nor quickly see each other, nor hear what the other is saying; They all live separately - in seclusion. Only on Saturday and Sunday do they gather in churches and receive each other. Many of them often do not leave their cells for four days, so they see each other only in church meetings. Some of them come to these meetings three or four miles away - they live so far from each other! They have such love for each other and for the other brethren that if someone expresses a desire to be saved with them, each of them rushes to give him his cell for repose. We saw one father there, named Ammonius. He had beautiful cells, a courtyard, a well and other necessary accessories. When any brother who wanted to be saved came to him and told him to find a cell for him to live in, Ammonius immediately left, ordering him not to leave his cell until he found a comfortable home for him, and, leaving him his cell with everything that was in it, he himself went far away and locked himself in some small cell. If many people came who wanted to be saved, he gathered all the brethren. Then one brought stones, the other brought water, and the cells were built on the same day. Those who were to live in these cells were invited by the brethren to a public meal for consolation, and while they were still being consoled, each of the brethren, taking from his cell a mantle or a basket of bread and other necessary things, took them to new cells - so that no one knew what each one was offering. Coming in the evening, the future inhabitants of the cells suddenly found everything they needed in them. Many of these brothers ate neither bread nor fruit, but only potions. Some did not sleep all night, but sat or stood and spent time in prayer until the morning. We also saw in Thebaid the monastery of a certain Isidore, surrounded by a large stone wall and containing a thousand monks. It had wells, and gardens, and everything that was needed, for none of the monks ever leaves there. Their gatekeeper was a presbyter who did not let anyone out or in, unless someone declared a desire to live there hopelessly until his death. He received and treated those who came to the gate in a small hotel, and in the morning, having given a blessing, he released them in peace. Only two presbyters, who were in charge of the affairs of the brethren, went out and brought them everything they needed. The presbyter standing at the gate told us that those living in the monastery were so holy that everyone could perform signs and that none of them had ever been sick to the point of death. When the time came for the death of one of them, he, having previously announced this to everyone, lay down and died. There is another desert in Egypt, on the seashore, but it is very difficult to approach it. Many great hermits live in it. It lies near the town of Diolka. There we saw a presbyter, a holy father, very humble and who had seen visions many times, named Ammon. Once, during the service of God, he saw an Angel who, standing on the right side of the altar, noted the brothers who were approaching the Eucharist, wrote down their names in a book and blotted out the names of those who did not come to church. They died three days later. He was often tormented by demons and reduced to such weakness that he could not stand before the altar and offer gifts. But the angel who appeared, taking him by the hand, immediately restored his strength and made him healthy in front of the altar. The brothers, seeing his suffering, were amazed. In Diolka we also saw another Abba, John, the abbot of the monasteries. He had the appearance of Abraham, and the brother of Aaron, performed miracles and healings and restored health to many who were paralyzed and suffering from gout. We saw in Thebaid a high mountain lying by the river, very terrible and rocky. Monks lived there in caves. Their abbot was someone named Pitirion, one of Anthony's students, the third of those who were in this place. He successfully cast out demons, and often performed other signs, for, having inherited the place of Anthony and his disciple Ammon, he worthily inherited gifts of grace from them. He talked with us a lot and spoke with particular force about the discernment of spirits, saying that some demons watch our passions and often turn them to evil. “So, children,” he told us, “whoever wants to cast out demons must first enslave the passions, for whatever passion someone conquers, he will also cast out the demon. Little by little you must enslave your passions in order to drive out the demons of these passions. For example, the demon acts through gluttony. If you overcome gluttony, then drive out its demon.” This husband ate flour soup twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, and, having become accustomed to it, could not take any other food. About Abba Eulogy the Presbyter We also saw another presbyter named Eulogius, who, while offering gifts to God, received such grace of knowledge that he recognized the thoughts of each of the monks who came. Often, when he noticed that some monks wanted to approach the altar, he restrained them and said: “How dare you approach the Holy Mysteries with bad thoughts? Behold, that night you had an unclean, prodigal thought.” Another, he said, reflected in his mind that there is no difference in whether someone approaches the Holy Gifts as a sinner or a righteous person. Another had doubts about the Gifts themselves and thought: “Will they sanctify me when I approach them?” “So, remove yourself for a while from the Holy Sacraments and repent from your heart, in order to receive remission of sins and become worthy of communion with Christ. If you do not first clear your thoughts, you cannot begin to receive the grace of Christ.” About Abba Serapion the Presbyter We saw within the Arsinoeans a presbyter named Serapion, the abbot of many monasteries and the abbot of many brotherhoods, numbering up to ten thousand. Through the brethren, he collected a lot of household supplies, for during the harvest they all brought their fruits to him, which they received instead of payment for harvesting the fields - each year twelve artaba 26 of bread, which is equal to forty of our measures. And the Abba used all this to help the poor, so that no one suffered need in the surrounding area. We sent bread to the poor even in Alexandria. However, the above-mentioned fathers, who lived throughout Egypt, do not neglect the same stewardship: from the labors of the brethren, they send ships to the poor in Alexandria, filled with bread and clothing, because they rarely suffer need. The deeds of Posidonius the Theban, a very experienced and patient man in life, are so numerous that it is impossible to retell them. He was so meek, such a strict ascetic and had so much kindness that I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone like him. In Bethlehem, when he had his stay on the other side of Pimenia, I lived with him for one year and saw many of his virtues. One day he told me the following from his life: “Having lived for one year in a place called Porfirit, during that entire year I did not meet a single person, did not hear a human voice and did not eat bread, but ate either small dates or wild herbs, if I found them somewhere. One day, when I ran out of food, I left the cave with the intention of going to populated areas. Having walked the whole day, I barely walked two miles from the cave, and when I looked around, I saw a horseman in military clothing with a helmet in the form of a crown on his head. Assuming that it was a warrior, I returned again to the cave and, entering it, found a basket of grapes and recently picked figs. I gladly took them and lived in the cave for two months, eating this delicious food.” And in Bethlehem, the venerable Posidonius performed this miracle. One pregnant woman was possessed by an unclean spirit, and when the time came for her to give birth, she suffered and was tormented by the spirit. While the wife was raging, her husband came to Saint Posidonius and asked him to come to him. He came and began to pray. We came with him to pray. After the second kneeling, he cast out the spirit and then, standing up, said to us: “Pray now, I ask you; when the unclean spirit comes out, there must be some sign so that we can be convinced that he really has come out.” And then the demon suddenly came out and brought down the entire wall of the house from the foundation. This woman did not speak for six years, but after the demon was cast out, she gave birth and began to speak. I also learned the prophecy of this man, that is, the glorious Posidonius. There lived in those places one presbyter, Jerome, who was adorned with great knowledge in Roman literature and excellent talents, but had such envy that it darkened all the dignity of his learning. Having lived with him for many days, Saint Posidonius said in my ear the following: “Although the noble Paula, who cares about him, will die, as I think, without suffering from his envy, yet for the sake of this man not a single holy man will live in these places. His envy will even touch his own brother.” And so it happened. He drove out from there the blessed Oxyperennius, an Italian, and another, a certain Egyptian, also Peter and Simeon, the wonderful men about whom I have already spoken. This was told to me by Posidonius, the strictest ascetic of virtue, who had not eaten bread for forty years and never remembered evil even until noon. Such feats and signs were performed by the glorious ascetic of Christ Posidonius, who possessed foreknowledge - the most excellent gift of all. And among such feats came the glorious end of the blessed one’s life. There was a man named Serapion, an Egyptian by birth, who was nicknamed Sindonite because he never wore anything other than a sindon 27 . He practiced a lot in non-covetousness, for which he was called dispassionate. Having learned to read and write well, he read all the Divine Scriptures by heart. Due to his non-covetousness and zeal for the word of God, he could not stay in his cell, so as not to get carried away by earthly things, but he spent his apostolic life with love and, traveling through populated areas, became so perfect in the feat of non-covetousness that he acquired complete dispassion. He was born with this disposition (for people have different dispositions, not nature itself). The fathers said that, having taken one of his peers as an ascetic, in one city he sold himself for twenty coins to pagan comedians and, having sealed these coins, kept them with him. Until then, he remained with them, eating nothing but bread and water, and constantly preaching the word of God with his lips, until he made the comedians Christians and convinced them to leave the theater. Having thus stayed with them for a long time, the blessed one first converted the comedian himself, then his wife and, finally, their entire family. They said that while he was unknown, he washed both of their feet. Having received baptism, they both left the theater, began to live honestly and piously and, highly respecting Serapion, said to him: “Now, brother, we will set you free, because you yourself freed us from shameful slavery.” Then the Great Serapion answered them: “Since my God arranged, and you helped, that your souls would be saved through me, then I will tell you the whole secret of this matter. Taking pity on your souls, which were in great error, I, a free ascetic, an Egyptian by birth, for the sake of your salvation, sold myself to you, so that you would be freed from great sins. And now I rejoice that God did this through my humility. Take your gold; I’ll leave you and go help others.” They urgently asked him to stay and said: “We will always honor you as the father and ruler of our souls, just stay with us.” But, unable to convince him, they said: “Give this gold to the poor - it was the guarantee of our salvation.” Serapion answered them: “Give it back, for it is yours, and I do not give other people’s money to the poor.” After that, they asked him to visit them at least after a year. This holy servant of Christ, constantly traveling, once arrived in Greece, and during the three days that he stayed in Athens, no one gave him bread, and he had no money. He, poor man, had neither a mantle, nor a staff, nor anything like that, except for the one sindon with which he was dressed. The fourth day had already arrived, and he, having not eaten anything during these days, became very hungry. Standing on one hill of the city, where officials were gathering, he began to scream and sob heavily, saying with applause: “Athenians, help!” All those wearing cloaks and clothes 28 ran up to him and asked: “What’s the matter with you? Where are you from? What are you suffering from? He answered them: “I am an Egyptian by birth, a monk by way of life. Having left my fatherland, I fell into the hands of three lenders. Two of them left me because they received a debt and had no reason to blame me, but the third is not far behind, and I have nothing to satisfy him with.” The people around Serapion, curious about the creditors with the intention of satisfying them, asked him: “Where are these people who are bothering you, and who are they? Show them to us so we can help you." Then he said to them: “From my youth I was tormented by the love of money, carnal lust and gluttony. I have freed myself from two things – from the love of money and lust, for I have neither gold nor any other property. I do not enjoy the pleasures that support this illness. Therefore, these passions no longer bother me. But I just can’t free myself from gluttony. Now for the fourth day I have been left without food, and the cruel creditor, the belly, is constantly tormenting me, demanding the usual debt and not allowing me to live unless I pay him.” Then some of the philosophers thought that this whole story was deliberately invented, but they gave him one piece of gold. Serapion took it to the bread shop and, taking one piece of bread, immediately left the city and never returned to it. Then the philosophers learned that this man was leading a truly virtuous life, and, having paid what the bread was worth, they took back the gold coin. Having retired from there to the vicinity of Lacedaemon, blessed Serapion heard that one of the first people of the city, a man, however, virtuous by faith, with his entire household, was a Manichaean. This best of the monks, just as before, sold himself to this man and in two years managed to reject him and his wife with his entire household from heresy and join them to the Church. They loved him not as a slave, but more than their own brother and father; they kept him in great honor and glorified God with him. Having taught them many instructions, Serapion, this spiritual adamant, after some time withdrew from them, giving these masters the money for which he sold himself, and, having absolutely nothing with him, boarded a ship, as if he should have sailed to Rome. The shipbuilders, looking at Serapion, believed that he had already transferred his belongings to the ship or that he would spend gold on expenses, and therefore accepted him without questioning, each thinking that the other had taken his belongings. After sailing, they were already five hundred stades from Alexandria, and around sunset they dined themselves beforehand, then the others on the ship began to eat. Seeing that Serapion did not eat on the first day, they assumed that this traveler received an aversion to food as a result of swimming; the same thing happened on the second, and the same on the third and fourth day. But on the fifth, during a common dinner, seeing that he was sitting quietly again, they said to him: “Why aren’t you eating, my dear?” “I have nothing to eat,” he answered them. Hearing this, the shipmen began to ask each other who took his supplies onto the ship. When they found out that no one took it (for he had nothing), they began to scold him and said: “How did you come here without any supplies? What will you feed on during your voyage?” And also: “How will you pay us for transportation?” He answered indifferently: “I have nothing. Take me and leave me where you found me.” The shipmen tell him: “Why are you angry? With the present, thanks to God, fair wind, we will not agree to do this, even if you gave us a hundred gold pieces. We will go to our place and complete the journey ahead.” Thus, Serapion stayed on the ship without worries and the shipmen fed him all the way to Rome. Arriving in Rome, the ascetic of Christ inquired who was the best ascetic or ascetic in this city. By the way, he met with one valiant man in asceticism, Origen’s student Domnin, who accomplished great feats. There was a rumor about him that he had done many miracles. They said that after his death, even his bed healed diseases. Having met him and received instructions from him (for this man was distinguished in character, knowledge, word, and life), Serapion asked him: “What other ascetic or ascetic is there?” - and learned from him about one virgin who was in silence, who lived for twenty-five years, locked in her cell, and never saw anyone. So, this glorious man, recognizing the house, went there and said to the old woman who was serving her: “Tell the girl that a certain monk certainly wants to see her.” The old woman answered him that this recluse had not seen anyone for many years. But he repeated: “Go and tell her that I must see her, for God sent me to her.” However, she didn’t listen even here. After staying for three days, Serapion finally saw her and said: “Why are you sitting here?” “I’m not sitting,” she answered, “but I’m walking.” “Where are you going?” – Serapion asked her. “To my God,” answered the girl. “Are you alive or dead?” - the servant of God tells her. “I believe in my God that I died to the world,” she answers, “for whoever lives according to the flesh will not go to God.” Hearing this, blessed Serapion said: “In order to assure me that you have died for the world, do what I am doing.” She answered him: “Order, but only what is possible, and I will do it.” “For a dead man like you, everything is possible except wickedness,” he answered, and then he said to her: “Go downstairs and take a walk.” “I haven’t gone out for twenty-five years,” she answered him, “how can I go now?” “Behold,” said Serapion, “didn’t you say: “I am dead for this world”? It is obvious, therefore, that the world does not exist for you. And if so, then the dead person doesn’t feel anything, and for you it should be absolutely the same whether you go out or not.” The girl, hearing this, left. When she went out and reached one church, the blessed one, entering the church, said to her there: “If you want to convince me that you are dead and no longer live for people to please them, do what I can do, and then you will convince me that you really died for this world.” “What should I do?” - asked the girl. “Take off your whole dress, like I do,” he said, “put it on your shoulders and walk around the city, and without shame I will walk ahead of you in the same form.” “But if,” she answered, “I do this, then I will seduce many with such shamelessness and someone will say that she is crazy or raging.” “What does it matter to you if they say this,” answered Blessed Serapion. “After all, you say that you died for people, but a dead person has no need to care whether someone scolds him or laughs at him, because he is insensitive to everything.” Then this girl says to him: “I ask you, order me to do any other feat, and I will do it; Now I haven’t reached it yet, but I’m only praying to get to that point.” After this, the servant of God, the impassive Serapion, said to her: “See, sister, do not magnify yourself as if you are holier than all, and do not boast that you died for this world. You found out that you are still alive and you please people. I can be more dead than you, and that I am dead to the world, I can prove by deed - precisely by the fact that I look at it indifferently, for, without being ashamed or tempted, I can do what I ordered you.” With these words, having taught her humility and crushed her pride, the blessed one left her perfect and departed from her. Such is the life of Serapion, a dispassionate and extremely non-covetous husband. The virtuous sage of Christ performed many glorious and amazing deeds related to dispassion, but we have described a few of the many and shown the purity of his life. This immortal husband died in the sixtieth year of his life and was buried in the desert itself. About Evagrius, the famous deacon Finding it unfair to remain silent about the deeds of Evagrius, the famous deacon of Christ, a man of apostolic life, - on the contrary, recognizing it as fair to commit them to the Scriptures for the edification of readers and glorifying the goodness of our Savior, I will first suggest how he entered into monasticism and how, having labored worthy of his vow, he died in the desert for fifty-four years, according to the words of Scripture: “Having died in a small place, he fulfilled a year of duty, for his soul was pleasing to the Lord” (Wisdom 4:13–14). He was a Pontian by birth, from an Iberian city, the son of a presbyter, and was appointed reader to the Church of Argos by Saint Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea. After the repose of the holy Archbishop Basil, Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, brother of Archbishop Basil, who had gained apostolic glory, the wisest, most dispassionate and very famous for his learning, paying attention to the abilities of Evagrius, ordained him as a deacon. Having come from there to the Great Council of Constantinople, holy Bishop Gregory left him with the blessed Bishop Nektarios, as the most skillful in refuting all heresies. And he began to become famous in the great city, courageously defeating all heresy with words. It happened that this husband, who was respected throughout the city for his excellent honesty of morals, was wounded by passionate love for a woman, as he himself told us later, when he had already freed himself from this temptation. The woman fell in love with him, and she was from a noble house. Evagrius, fearing God, ashamed of his conscience, imagining the filth of vice and the gloating of heretics, earnestly prayed to God to prevent the intention of the woman, who, being inflamed with passion, was trying to draw him into sin. He wanted to move away from her, but could not, held back by the bonds of her favors. A little later after the prayer with which he prevented the commission of a sin, an angel appeared to him in a vision in the clothes of a warrior of the eparch 29 and, taking him, led him as if to a judgment seat, threw him into prison, surrounded his neck with iron chains and tied his hands with iron chains. Meanwhile, those who came to him did not tell him the reason for his imprisonment. He himself, tormented by his conscience, thought that he had been subjected to this for that matter, and believed that the woman’s husband had denounced him. He was extremely embarrassed when others were being tried and when others were being tortured for a similar crime. After such great fear and immeasurable torment, the Angel, who had so frightened him in the vision, took on the image of his sincere friend and came as if to visit him. It seemed that he was extremely amazed and saddened that his friend was enduring diarrhea and being imprisoned among forty criminals, and he said to him: “Mr. Deacon! Why are you so dishonestly kept with criminals?” “I really don’t know,” he answered. “However, I have a suspicion that such and such an eparch denounced me out of insane jealousy, and I am afraid that the mayor may not have been bribed by him and that I will not be subjected to the most severe punishment.” Then the one who appeared to him in the form of a friend said: “Do you want to listen to your friend? I advise you not to stay in this city." Evagrius answered him: “If God frees me from this misfortune and you then see me in Constantinople, know that I am justly subjected to such punishment and deserve even more.” The friend said to him: “When this happens, I will bring the Gospel, and you swear to me on it that you will leave this city and take care of your soul, and I will deliver you from this trouble.” Evagrius said: “I ask you, I will swear to you as you wish, just deliver me from this dark cloud.” After this, he brought the Gospel and demanded an oath. Evagrius swore on the Gospel not to stay here except for one day, and then only in order to transfer his clothes to the ship. After pronouncing the oath, alarmed, he came out of the state in which he had been at night. Getting up, he thought: “Even if the oath was made in a frenzy, but still I swore.” So, having transferred everything he had onto the ship, he sailed to Jerusalem and there he was received by blessed Melania the Roman. Then the devil again hardened his heart, like the heart of Pharaoh, and he, like an ardent youth, again fell into doubt and wavered in his soul, not saying a word to anyone, and there again he changed his clothes and his mind was overcome by oratorical vanity. But God, who keeps us all from destruction, plunged him into another misfortune here - he sent him a fever and with a serious illness for six months exhausted his flesh, which prevented him from being virtuous. When the doctors already doubted him and could not find a way to cure him, blessed Melania said: “I don’t like your long illness, my son. Tell me what is in your soul, for this is not your real illness.” He confessed to her everything that happened to him in Constantinople. The blessed one said to him: “Give me your word before God that you will decide to lead a monastic life, and although I am a sinner, I will pray to the Lord that time for conversion and continuation of life will be given to you.” He agreed. When she prayed, he recovered in a few days. Upon recovery, having received a monastic robe from her herself, Evagrius went to Mount Nitria in Egypt, where he lived for two years, and on the third he retired to the desert. He lived for fourteen years in the so-called Cells and ate a liter of bread a day, and at three months he consumed a sextarium of 30 oils - this is how this man, brought up in bliss and luxury, fasted! He composed a hundred prayers and wrote down how much food he consumed each year (he wrote beautifully in cursive handwriting). Over the course of fifteen years, having purified his mind, he was awarded the gift of knowledge, wisdom, and discernment of spirits. He compiled three books entitled “Sacred”, “On Monasticism”, “On Refutation” and set out in them remedies against demons. Sometimes the demon of fornication would violently rise up against him, as he himself told us, and then he would sit naked in a well all night during the winter, so that his body would become numb. At other times, the spirit of blasphemy tormented him - and then he did not enter under the roof for forty days, so that his body, like that of wild animals, was covered with many insects. One day, three demons appeared to him in the clothes of clergy to compete with him about faith: one called himself an Arian 31, another a Eunomian 32, the third an Apollinarian 33. But he soon defeated them with spiritual wisdom. Another day, when the key to the church disappeared, Evagrius, overshadowing the castle with the sign of the cross and calling on the name of Christ, pushed the door with his hand and opened it. He was beaten by demons so many times and suffered so many temptations from various demons that it is difficult to list them. He predicted to one of his disciples everything that would happen to him in eighteen years, and predicted in detail. This blessed man said: “Since I came into the desert, I have not eaten any salad, no greens, no fresh plants, no fruits of trees, no grapes, I have not washed my body, I have not eaten meat, bread, wine, or anything that is cooked on fire, except for some raw vegetables and a small amount of water.” Finally, after he had lived in this way for sixteen years without taking cooked food, and when his body became weak and his stomach was upset, he felt the need for food cooked on fire and began to eat bread. But for the last two years I have not eaten boiled vegetables, except for mush or beans. Thus the blessed one mortified his body and revived his soul with the Holy Spirit, receiving communion in church on the feast of the Epiphany. This valiant ascetic of Christ told us before his death: “For three years now, carnal lust has not bothered me.” If after such a virtuous life, after such ascetic, tireless labors and constant vigil in prayer, a hater of goodness and a destructive demon attacked this righteous man like this, then how much can careless people endure from an unclean demon or from their own negligence?! When this saint was announced about the death of his father, he said to the announcer: “Stop speaking blasphemy - my Father is immortal!” Hitherto - the high life of the glorious Evagrius, full of virtuous deeds. Someone named Pior, an Egyptian by birth, renounced the world at a young age, withdrew from his father’s house and, out of an abundance of spiritual love, vowed to God not to see any of his relatives again. Fifty years later, his sister, already old, learned from someone that her brother was alive, and decided to see him at all costs. Unable to go into the desert, she asked the local bishop to write to the hermits so that they would send Pior to meet with her. After much coercion to obey his fathers, he decided to go, taking another one with him, and let his sister’s house know that her brother Pior had arrived and was standing outside the door. Guessing from the creaking of the door that his sister was coming to meet him, Pior closed his eyes and loudly spoke to her: “Sister, it’s me—Pior, your brother; Look at me as much as you want.” Having received what she wanted, she glorified God and, although she insisted a lot, she did not convince him to enter the house. He, having prayed on the threshold, returned again to his native desert and there perfected himself in ascetic virtue. About this holy man they tell about this wonderful experience of his patience. At the place where he lived, he dug a well and found the most bitter water, but despite this, he remained there until his death and drank this bitter water alone, which revealed the patience of this courageous warrior of Christ. Many of the monks, most experienced men, after the death of this immortal vied with each other to stay in his cell, but could not live even one year, because the water there is extremely bitter, and the place is very scary and devoid of any comforts of life. Moses of Libya was a very meek and loving husband. He was awarded the gift of healings. He himself told me: “I entered the monastery very young and began to dig a large well, twenty feet wide. We, eighty people, dug for three days, and we had already dug down an ordinary vein, as one could see, but we did not find any water. Very saddened, we thought about leaving work. At the very time we were discussing this, blessed Pior, an old man dressed in a mantle, came to us from the deep desert, in the very (sixth) hour of the heat, and, greeting us, said to us after the greeting: “Why have you lost heart, you of little faith? I have seen that you have been faint-hearted since yesterday.” Having said this, he lowered the ladder into the hole of the well and said a prayer with us, then he took a spade and, striking the ground three times, said: “God of the holy patriarchs! Do not leave Your servants in vain, but send them water for their benefit.” And immediately the water began to flow so that it splashed all of us. Following this, having made a prayer again, he walked away. No matter how much we forced him to dine with us, he did not agree, saying: “Why I was sent, I did it, but I wasn’t sent for that.” Such are the wondrous miracles of Pior, the strong pillar of patience, and such is the end of his virtue. For the bitter water, he now tastes with great spiritual joy from the eternal stream of sweetness.” A man named Chronius, originally from a village called Finik, measured five thousand steps from his village, which was near the desert, counting with his right foot; then, having prayed, he dug a well there and found very good water, which was kept seven cubits deep. He built a small hut there for himself and from the day he settled in this secluded refuge, he prayed to God so that he would not return to the inhabited country. After a few years, he was awarded the presbytery, and up to twenty brethren gathered around him. They say about the virtue of his asceticism that he stood at the altar for sixty years, performing sacred acts, and during all this time he did not leave the desert and ate bread only from the labor of his hands. Living with him was a certain Jacob, one of his neighbors, nicknamed Lame, a significant man. Both of them were known to Blessed Anthony. One day Paphnutius, called Cephala, a wonderful man, came there. He had the gift of knowledge of the Divine Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and explained all Scripture without reading Scripture. However, he was so modest that he hid this prophetic gift within himself. They say in praise of his virtue that for eighty years he did not have two women together 34. Having met with these fathers, I and the blessed deacons Evagrius and Albinus asked them about the reasons for the brethren’s falls or deviation from the good life. It happened that in those days the ascetic Heremon died while sitting and was found dead on a chair with work in his hands. It happened that another brother, while digging a well, was covered with earth, and another third brother, on his way from the monastery, died of thirst. We remembered Stephen, who fell into shameful debauchery, and Eucarpius and Iron of Alexandria, also Valens of Palestine and Ptolemy the Egyptian of the hermitage. When we asked why, with such a virtuous life in the desert, some are deceived by their thoughts, others are caught by gluttony, and others fall into debauchery, the holy fathers and with them the experienced Paphnutius gave us this answer. Everything that happens happens in two ways: either by the good will of God, or by God’s permission. When they do good deeds for the glory of God, this happens with the good pleasure of God, and what is associated with harm, with danger and with disaster, is done with God’s permission. Permission occurs in relation to those whom God abandons for their foolishness and unbelief, for it is impossible for a right-thinking and pious person to be abandoned and fall in a shameful manner or be deceived by demons. But those who practice virtue either with an impure purpose, or out of man-pleasing and pride of mind, are also subject to fall. God leaves such people for the sake of their own conversion, so that through abandonment they, having felt a change in their condition, would correct either their intention or deed, for sometimes they sin in intention, sometimes in deed itself, when they have a vicious goal in mind or (consciously) do something wrong. It happens, for example, that a depraved person with a bad intention gives alms to young women for a shameful purpose. Meanwhile, it is a good deed to give benefits, for example, to an orphan, a nun, or an ascetic. It also happens that with good intentions they give alms to the sick, the old, or those who have lost wealth, but they give it sparingly and with grumbling. In this case, the goal is good, but the deed itself is unworthy of the goal, for alms should be given cheerfully and without stinginess. The saints also said that many souls have special predispositions: in others there is a natural kindness of the soul, in others there is a tendency to asceticism. But when acting according to a natural inclination and kindness are not directed either towards goodness or towards a godly goal, when those who have a special gift of teaching do not give thanks to the giver of good things to God, but attribute this to their own will, benevolence and ability, then they are abandoned by Providence and fall into shameful deeds or into shameful passions and shame. And so, abandoned by Providence, they, because of the dishonor and humiliation that befell them, little by little put aside the arrogance of their imaginary virtue and cease to trust themselves, but give thanks to God who gives everything. When a proud person, puffed up by the superiority of his mind, attributes the very gifts of his soul and the methods for acquiring knowledge not to God, but to his own efforts or nature, then God takes away from him the Angel who is appointed by Providence to guard this gift. As soon as the Angel retreats, this man, who is puffed up in his mind, is taken possession of by the enemy, and he falls into debauchery, so that this bestial or dog-like debauchery will drive out demonic arrogance, that is, exaltation, from the person, so that after the removal of the witness of chastity, the words of such people do not deserve credibility, since the pious flee the teaching that comes from such lips, like a source filled with leeches, and is fulfilled on them what is said in Scripture: “To the sinner God said: You will tell all my justifications and accept My covenant with your lips” (Ps. 49:16). And in fact, souls infected with passions are like various springs: the souls of gluttons and wine drinkers are like dirty springs; the souls of money lovers and covetous people - to springs filled with toads; the souls of the proud and envious, who have the ability to learn, are like springs in which snakes live, for their minds always stagnate, like rotten water in a swamp, because no one wants to draw from there because of the bitterness of their character and the stench of unclean deeds. Therefore, David prays to God to grant him three gifts: goodness, teaching and knowledge, 35 for without goodness knowledge is useless. But if such a person corrects himself, removing from himself the reason for which God leaves him, that is, arrogance, and accepts humility, recognizes his limitations and does not exalt himself over others, but thanks God, then he will again be given firm knowledge, for spiritual words, not accompanied by an honest and chaste life, are like ears of corn damaged by the wind, which, although they look like ears of corn, are deprived of nutrition. grains So, any fall - whether it happens through the tongue, or sight, or smell, or action, or through the whole body - to the extent of arrogance or conceit occurs as a result of abandonment by God, who also spares those abandoned, for if, and despite the vicious life of such people, God began to testify to the height of their minds by His assistance to their teaching, they, exalted in arrogance, with all their depravity, would become demons. And this is what else these best of the fathers, the reverend men, told us: “When you see someone who is depraved in life, but who is captivating in words, remember about the demon who talked, as it is said in the Gospel, with the Lord, and about the testimony of Scripture, which says: “The serpent was the wisest of all the beasts that are on the earth” (Gen. 3:1). This wisdom served him more to his detriment, because it was not accompanied by virtue.” So, a faithful and good husband should have in his thoughts only what God inspires, must say what he thinks, and do what he says, for if the truth of the word is not accompanied by a virtuous life and also a noble, good disposition, then this, according to the word of blessed Job, is bread without salt 36 . There is no way they will eat it, and if anyone does eat it, they will suffer great health problems. “If,” they said, “anyone eats bread without salt, even if there is taste in empty words, then it will only be for those who do not have evidence of good deeds.” God leaves people for various reasons. Sometimes this happens in order for hidden virtue to be revealed, such as, for example, the virtue of the great ascetic Job, with whom God talked and said: “Do not reject My judgment; Do you think that I have created you differently, and will you appear truthful?” (Job 40:3). “You are known to Me from the beginning, to Me, Who sees the hidden and penetrates into the depths of human thoughts. But since these virtues of yours were unknown to people and the malicious suspected that you pleased Me because of your wealth, I brought such a disaster on you - I took away your wealth in order to show them your grateful wisdom.” Sometimes God leaves a person in order to turn him away from pride and remove him from conceit or arrogance. This can be seen in the blessed Apostle Paul. And he was subjected to disasters, strangulations and various deprivations, which is why he said: “... let me be a dirty trickster of the flesh, the angel of Satan, and do evil things to me, lest I be arrogant” (2 Cor. 12:7), that is, so that a serene and prosperous state and honor for great miracles would not plunge him into devilish pride, if he rested safely. The paralytic was abandoned for his sins, to whom Jesus Christ said: “... behold, you are healthy; Let no one sin, lest it be worse” (John 5:14). Judas was also abandoned, who preferred silver to the Word of Life, which is why he hanged himself (Acts 1:18). Esau was also abandoned, which is why he fell into intemperance and preferred rough food to his father’s blessing (Gen. 25:30-34). Having known all this by the Holy Spirit, the blessed Apostle Paul said about those who were abandoned in this way: “Because they were not tempted to have God in their minds, for this reason God gave them over to an unskilled mind to do unspeakable things” (Rom. 1:28). And about others who thought about themselves that they had knowledge of God with a depraved heart and vanity, he said: “Having understood God without glorifying or thanking God, they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened; “to be wise, foolish”, struck by the demon of conceit and foolishness, “so God gave them up” in the passion of dishonor, “to defile their bodies” (Rom. 1, 21–22, 24). From this we must know that it is impossible for someone who is not abandoned by God’s Providence to fall into intemperance, but people are abandoned by God and indulge in such troubles for their own negligence and carelessness. I lived for four years in the Thebaid city of Antinoe and during that time I learned about all the monasteries there. Around the city live up to twenty thousand men who feed on the labor of their hands and strive very zealously in virtue. Among them there are also hermits who have imprisoned themselves in mountain caves. Among them is the hermit Solomon, a very meek and temperate man with the gift of patience. He said about himself that he had been living in a cave for the fiftieth year, feeding on the labor of his hands, and had studied all the Holy Scriptures. In another cave lives Presbyter Dorofey, a kind man. For his blameless life, he was awarded the priesthood and officiates for the brethren living in caves. One day, the younger Melania, the granddaughter of the elder Melania (whom I’ll talk about later), sent this unmercenary five hundred pieces of gold and asked him to distribute them to the local brethren. But he, taking three gold coins, sent the rest to the hermit Diocles, a man of great knowledge, saying: “Brother Diocles is smarter than me and can use them profitably, because he knows better than me who really needs help, and these are enough for me.” This Diocles began his education in grammar, then devoted himself to philosophy, and finally grace attracted him to heavenly wisdom. In the twenty-eighth year of his life, leaving worldly sciences, he devoted himself to the heavenly teachings of Christ, and for the thirty-fifth year he has been living in caves. He told us: “The mind, having ceased to contemplate God in thought, becomes either a demon or a beast.” When we began to ask how this happens, he said: “The mind of a person, as soon as it moves away from the contemplation of God, necessarily falls into the power of either the demon of lust, which drags him towards debauchery, or the evil spirit of irritability, from which insane impulses are born.” He called voluptuous lust a bestial quality, and a rush of irritability - demonic. I objected to him: “How is it possible for a person’s mind to be constantly with God?” “In every thought and in every deed,” he answered, “the soul participates, but it is with God only when it piously and reverently reflects on Him.” Not far from this most valiant ascetic lived a certain Capito, who from robbers became an experienced monk. He lived for fifty years in caves four miles from the city of Antinoi and did not leave his cave even to the Nile River, saying that he could not yet meet with people, because to this day the enemy was opposing him. Near these men we saw another hermit who also lived in caves. In his dreams, being deceived by dreams of vanity, he himself deceived those who came to him and were deceived, and, according to Scripture, he became, “a man without understanding, caught behind the wall and driven away the winds, and made faith sleep” (Sir. 34:2). Although he retained chastity in body, of course, because of old age and time, and perhaps because of vanity, he destroyed the wisdom of virtue, being corrupted by shameful vanity and thereby falling away from a pious life. You, of course, have heard about the affairs of Ephraim, a deacon of the Edessa Church. He is worthy to be remembered by the pious servants of Christ. Having worthily completed the path of the Holy Spirit and not deviating at all from the right path, he was awarded the gift of natural knowledge, followed by theology and, finally, blessedness. He constantly led a very solitary life and edified those who came to him for quite a few years, and finally left his cell for the following reason. When there was a severe famine in the city of Edessa, this divine man, taking pity on the villagers who were dying of hunger, went to the rich citizens and said to them: “Why do you have no compassion for the perishing people and rot your wealth to the condemnation of your souls?” They, having come up with a seemingly plausible excuse, said to the saint: “We have no one to trust the distribution of bread to the hungry, because everyone is engaged in trade.” Virtuous Ephraim says to them: “What do you think of me? Who do you consider me to be?” “We consider you a man of God. (This is the real truth; everything is not feigned, but truly they had great respect for him.) “If you think so about me,” the servant of Christ said to them, “entrust me with the care of the hungry.” The vain rich people said to him: “Oh, if only you were worthy!” Ephraim, the chosen one of God, answered them: “Behold, from now on I am appointed by you as a trustee for the poor” - and, taking silver from them, he built houses with different departments, put up to three hundred beds in them, took care of the sick and fed the hungry, buried the dying, and in which there was still hope for life, he looked after them and fed them. In a word, he gave shelter and food every day from what was delivered to him to everyone who ran to him from hunger. After a year, when fertility followed and everyone went to their homes, this illustrious man, no longer having anything to do for himself, again returned to his cell and died a month later, inheriting the blessed land of the meek. In addition to his other exploits, God finally gave him this service to receive the most glorious crowns for his meekness of character. This most famous man left behind him works, many of which are worthy of study and testify to his great virtue. I heard about a certain Julian, who lived in the country of Edessa, the greatest ascetic. He exhausted his flesh to the extreme, wore only bones and skin, and in the last days of his life he was awarded the gift of healing. You have probably heard about the deeds of Blessed Innocent, Presbyter of Olives from many great men; nevertheless, you will learn from us, the humble ones, who lived with him for three years, for the virtues of this man, hidden from those, became known to us. However, it is not easy to tell about his virtues to one or two or even ten people. This excellent ascetic was extremely simple, belonged to the number of glorious men at the court of Tsar Constantine, renounced the world and left married life, although he already had a son named Paul, who served in the army of the royal bodyguards. One old woman in the vicinity of Lazarium was tending sheep and lost one of them: she was kidnapped by the local youths. The old woman came to this man of God in tears. “Show me,” he told her, “the place where you lost her.” She went to Lazarus. The Great One followed her. Arriving at the place, he began to pray. Meanwhile, those who stole the sheep killed it and hid the meat in the vineyard. While the monk was praying, and none of the culprits confessed, by the action of grace a raven flew in from somewhere and, sitting over the theft, grabbed one piece of meat and flew away again. Noticing this, the blessed one went to that place and found meat and thieves. Then the young men who had stolen the sheep fell at his feet, confessed their guilt and paid for the sheep what it was worth. Thus they were admonished in advance not to do the same. I recognized another man in Jerusalem named Adolius, a native of Tarsus. Arriving in Jerusalem, he followed the unpaved path of virtue - not the one along which we, ordinary people, walked, but some strange and new one, which he himself paved for himself and on which he labored beyond human strength, so that even the most evil demons trembled at the severity of his excellent life and did not dare to approach him. Due to his excessive abstinence and wakefulness, he seemed like a ghost, because during the entire Pentecost he ate every five days, and then in moderation, and at other times - on the third day. The following is especially great and surprising in his virtue: from the evening even until the morning hour, when the brethren again gathered in prayer churches, this faster and ascetic stood on the Mount of Olives, on the Hill of the Ascension, from where Jesus ascended - he stood, sang psalms and prayed. And he did this at all times; Whether it snowed, or rained, or hailed, he remained motionless. Having fulfilled the usual prayer rule, he knocked on all the cells with an alarm hammer and called the brethren to the houses of prayer for the morning praise, in each cell he sang one or two antiphons with them and, having prayed in this way, went to his cell before dawn. I myself know for sure that often, when the brethren undressed him during the heat and wrung out his clothes, sweat flowed from them, as if they had been washed in water; then they put other clothes on him until they dried. Having rested until the third hour, he spent the remaining hours until the evening again in psalmody and prayer. Such is the virtue of the high patience of Adolius, a hard stone who was a Tarsian by birth. Having perfected himself to the end through the deeds of patience, he rested in eternal sleep and was buried in Jerusalem. A certain Abraham, an Egyptian by birth, a zealous monk, led a very harsh and strict life in the desert, but his mind was struck by extreme conceit. Arriving at church, he entered into an argument with the presbyters and said: “I myself was ordained this night as a presbyter by Jesus Christ Himself, and you must accept me as a presbyter ready to officiate.” The Holy Fathers brought him out of the desert and, forcing him to lead a different, simpler life, healed him of pride. Having brought Abraham to the consciousness of his own weakness, they proved that this hermit was seduced by the demon of pride, and with their holy prayers they restored him to his former virtuous life. I also knew another memorable man in the caves of Jericho, carved out in ancient times by the Amorites 37, who fled and took refuge in them (precisely in Mount Luke) from Joshua, who besieged the city. This man, named Elpidius, a Cappadocian by birth, was subsequently awarded the presbytery at the local monastery and was ordained by the Cappadocian chorebishop 38 Timothy, a most worthy man. Having arrived, he settled in one of the caves and showed such feats of abstinence that he surpassed everyone. For twenty-five years he ate food only on Saturdays and Sundays, and at night he stood and sang. Like a queen bee, he lived among the brethren and populated this mountain like a city. Each one could see different types of asceticism there. This reliable Elpidius, who truly enjoyed hope and endured sorrows for the sake of Christ, was stung by a scorpion during the night psalmody, when we sang along with him. Having pushed it with his foot, he did not even change his position and with this patience suppressed the pain caused by the scorpion. Also: one day a certain brother was holding a branch of grapes in his hands. The blessed one, then sitting on the edge of the mountain, took it and stuck it into the ground, as if planting it, although it was not at the right time. The branch took hold, and such grapes grew that they covered the entire church. Together with this holy ascetic of Christ, the famous servant of God Enesius, a praiseworthy man, astonished with his exploits. And his brother Eustathius, equally honorable to him, diligently went through a sorrowful life in Christ. And blessed Elpidius, exhausting his body, achieved such dispassion that the entire composition of his bones was visible. His zealous disciples, among the stories about his virtues, also convey that in all twenty-five years he never turned to the west and, although the door of his cave was at the height of the mountain, after the sixth hour he never saw the sun, which was then above his head and inclined to the west; Never in all his twenty-five years had he seen the stars that rose in the west. This great ascetic of patience, from the time he entered the cave, did not leave the mountain until his death. These are the extraordinary deeds of the crowned and invincible fighter Elpidius, who now lives in paradise with those like him. This immortal Elpidius had a disciple named Sisinius, who came from a slave state, but was free in faith, a Cappadocian by birth. (We must mean the race of saints for the glory of Christ, who ennobles us and leads us to blessed and true nobility - to the Kingdom of Heaven.) Fiercely loving the ascetic virtues, Sisinius stayed with blessed Elpidius for six or seven years and, having studied the virtues of this man and firmness in ascetic labors, finally imprisoned himself in a tomb. For three years he stood in the tomb, spending time in prayer; neither day nor night he did not sit down, did not lie down, did not go out. He was awarded the gift of casting out demons, and now, having returned to his fatherland, he was awarded the presbyterate, after he formed a brotherhood of husbands and wives, and gave evidence of dispassion by organizing a chaste life, for he cast out his own male lust, and tamed the female lust through abstinence, so that the Scripture was fulfilled: “... in Christ Jesus ... there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3, 28). In denouncing the stingy rich, he was extremely hospitable, although he had no property. I knew one Palestinian elder named Gaddan. He lived in the vicinity of Jordan and spent his entire life without a roof. The Jews who lived near the Dead Sea, envious of this blessed hermit, one day attacked him with a drawn sword. But then a miracle happened: when the Jews raised the sword and wanted to kill Haddan, the hand of the one holding the sword withered, and the sword insensitively fell from him. Such was the help of God that assisted Saint Haddan, and such was the virtue of the blessed man until his death. There was also a very famous monk named Elijah, who lived in the same place in a cave, led a very virtuous and pious life, constantly practiced abstinence and prayer and warmly received everyone who came. When one day many brothers came to him (they had to pass by him), he did not have enough loaves, and he assured us with an oath: “I almost lost my spirit from lack of food, and so, entering the cell in great sadness about how to fulfill the duty of love to those who came to me, I found three large fresh loaves, which I took and joyfully offered to them. The twenty men ate their fill, and there was only one loaf left; I took this bread and consumed it for twenty-five days.” Such grace was with the hospitable Elijah, who was destined for rewards for his labors from the philanthropic Master! A layman named Savvaty, originally from Jericho, who had a wife, out of fear of God loved the monks so much that at night he walked around the cells and the entire desert and at each monastery secretly placed one measure of dates and a sufficient amount of vegetables, because the Jordanian ascetics did not eat bread. One day, when this lover of monks, who was preparing meals for abstainers, was carrying to the saints what they needed for their ascetic life, a lion met him. The crafty enemy of the monks, out of envy, aroused an indomitable beast against their servant in order to deprive the first of food and prevent the latter from reaching his goal. The beast, jumping out at him from behind a monument erected over one of the monks, hit him with its paw and threw him to the ground. But He who taught lions to fast under Daniel, and this lion, although he was very hungry, forbade him to devour the lover of the commandments. So, the lion grabbed the elder’s donkey and left. The One who gave Savvaty life also quenched the hunger of the beast. In Galatia we met and lived for a long time with the most God-loving presbyter Philorom, the greatest and most patient ascetic. He was born of a slave mother and a free father. In his Christian life, he showed such perfection of virtue that even the most invincible ascetics of their kind respected his equal-angelic life and virtuous asceticism. This valiant ascetic of Christ Philorom renounced the world in the days of the wicked king Julian and boldly spoke with this wicked man. Julian ordered his servants to shave him and beat him severely. He generously endured this torment and even thanked the king, as he himself told us. At first, this valiant man, according to him, was attacked by fornication and gluttony, but he drove out these painful passions. Like a strong fire with a lot of water, he extinguished the passions with strict abstinence, wearing chains, seclusion, abstinence from food and wheat bread and in general from everything cooked. He labored in this way for eighteen years. Having conquered disorderly passions, he sang a victorious song to Christ: “I will exalt You, O Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not made my enemies rejoice over me” (Ps. 29:2). Subject to various attacks by evil spirits, he stayed in one monastery for forty years. Philorom said that at thirty-two years old he had not eaten a single fruit. “And when,” he says, “one day I was overcome by excessive timidity, so that even during the day I became afraid, in order to get rid of this fear, I locked myself in a tomb for six years.” In this way he freed himself from fear and patiently endured the battle with the spirit that had caused him such timidity. Blessed Archbishop Vasily had special care for this glorious man, who looked with consolation at the severity of his life, constancy and hard work. Filorom, even now, when he is already eighty years old, does not leave behind his cane and writing paper. This blessed one said that from the time he was enlightened and reborn by water and the Spirit, until this day he never ate anyone else’s bread for free, but was nourished by his own labors, and before God he told us that he distributed two hundred and fifty pieces of gold, earned by his labors, to the crippled and never offended anyone. He also went to Rome to pray in the sacred church of the blessed and holy apostles of Christ Peter and Paul; I also went to Alexandria to pray in the church of the honest ascetic Mark. “I was honored,” he said, “by vow, to go twice on foot to worship the holy places in Jerusalem, and I bought it for my own expenses.” He also told us for our benefit: “I don’t remember when with my mind I departed from my God.” Such are the exploits of blessed Philorom and such is his invincible victory! As a reward for his blessed labors, he was finally given an unfading crown of glory. In Ancyra of Galatia, in the city itself, I met with one noble dignitary, Severian, and his wife Bosporia, and became briefly acquainted with them. They were so full of good hopes that, as if they saw the future, they did not even care about the children. They spent the income from the estates on the poor, despite the fact that they had four sons and two daughters, to whom they did not give any property, except for those who got married. They said to the rest of their children: “After our death, everything will be yours, and while we are alive, we will collect the fruits of our acquisitions and share them with churches, monasteries, hospices and with all those in need; their prayers will bring you, children, and us, instead of this temporary and difficult life, eternal life.” And that’s another virtue they had. When a severe famine came and all the people suffered from it in their wombs, then they converted all the heretics there to Orthodoxy by opening granaries in many of their estates and giving their supplies to feed the poor. Such extraordinary love for mankind brought the heretics into agreement with the right faith, and they glorified God for the simplicity of faith and the excessive charity of these spouses. Another amazing feat of theirs was that their lifestyle was modest: their clothes were extremely simple and the cheapest; they were very frugal in costs; they ate simple food and only as much as was needed to maintain life; strictly observed chastity before God; spent most of the time in the fields; they especially loved to remain silent; They always avoided cities (and the vices that were born there) so that through participation in the fun of the people they would not be carried away by the noise of the city and not deviate from the will of God. For all such deeds of a virtuous life, these blessed ones already see with intelligent eyes the eternal blessings prepared for them by the glory of God. In the same city we met another monk who refused to accept ordination as a presbyter. He entered monasticism after spending some time in military service. For twenty years he led an ascetic life, remaining under the bishop of the city, a man of excellent holiness. He is so philanthropic and merciful that he goes around cities to help those in need; does not leave without care either guards, or hospitals, or hostels, neither rich nor poor, but gives help to everyone; teaches the hard-hearted and unmerciful rich people about the benevolence of mercy; takes care of each of the poor so that he has what he needs; He reconciles those at war, delivers clothes to the naked, and means of healing to the sick. What usually happens in all big cities also happens here. In the threshold of the church lie many crippled people asking for daily food, some married, some unmarried. It happened one night that the wife of one of them gave birth on the eve, and, moreover, during winter. When she was screaming and suffering from this unbearable illness, the blessed one, who was then praying in the church, heard her cry, stopped his usual prayers, went out to look and, not finding anyone who would help her in this need, he himself took the place of a midwife and did not disdain the uncleanness that usually happens to wives who give birth, because his deep mercy made him insensitive. The clothes this lover of Christ wears are not even worth an ovol. His food is not inferior to clothing. He has no time to study books, because matters of philanthropy distract him from reading. If one of the brothers gives him a book, he immediately sells it and distributes the proceeds to the poor. When they ask him: “Why sell this?” - he answers: “How can I assure my Teacher that I have carefully studied His rules if I do not follow the example of Him Himself?” This immortal, who spent his life in such deeds, even to this day throughout the entire surrounding country always retains a living memory, and he himself enjoys eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven, receiving a worthy reward for his righteous labors: having here fed the hungry and clothed the naked, he now tastes all sorts of joys from the One who rewards good deeds. There was one old man who had no property and was merciful, named Vissarion. Arriving in one village, he saw a dead beggar in the market without any clothes, and he himself was wearing only one piece of shit, according to the commandment of the Gospel, and also a small cap on his shoulders 40. Apart from this necessary attire, he had nothing. He always carried the Gospel under his arm in order to test himself in constant obedience to the word of God or in order to have with him the teaching, which he carried out in his own deed. This man led such a wonderful and blameless life that, like an earthly angel, he holyly walked the heavenly path. So, when he saw the dead body, he immediately took off his cap and covered the dead man with it. Having walked away a little, he met a beggar, completely naked, stopped and began to think: “Why do I, having renounced the world, put on clothes, while my brother is freezing from the cold? If I let him die, then, of course, I will be the cause of the death of my neighbor. Well? Should I tear my clothes and divide them into pieces, or should I give them all to him who was created in the image of God? But what will be the benefit to both me and him if I tear it apart in pieces? Reasoning in this way, he said: “Will I really suffer any harm when I do more than what is commanded?” And so this good ascetic, diligently and quickly calling the poor man into the vestibule of one house, put his sap on him and let him go, and he himself, remaining naked, covered himself with his hands and sat down on his knees; only under his arm was the word of God, which makes people rich. At this time, by the will of Providence, one guardian of order was passing here; he recognized the elder and said to his comrade: “Look, is this elder Abba Vissarion?” He answered: “Indeed he is.” Then the first one got off his horse and asked the saint: “Who stripped you?” Abba extended his hand with the Gospel and said: “This is what stripped me!” The guardian of order immediately took off his clothes and said: “Here you are, a perfect warrior!” The saint took it and immediately departed secretly from the world, carrying with him what looked like a small monastic robe. He tried to avoid praise from the person who recognized his virtue, and secretly expected hidden glory. Having fulfilled exactly the gospel rule and no longer having anything worldly in his soul, he showed further experience of the most perfect observance of the Divine commandment. On the road he saw a poor man and immediately ran to the market where he had been recently and sold the Gospel. A few days later, a disciple of this Abba named Dula asked the elder: “Where, Abba, is your little book?” The elder calmly and intelligently answered him: “Don’t be sad, brother! To show that I have faith and obedience to the word of God, I sold this very word, which always told me: “Sell what you have and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21).” This great Abba performed many other feats of virtue. May we also be worthy to have a part with him, by the grace of Christ. Amen. I thought it necessary to mention in this book about valiant and pious wives, to whom God, along with the men who lived virtuously for Him, gave a crown as a reward, so that careless women would not become pampered and would not plead that they are too weak for deeds of virtue and a pious life. I saw many pious people among them and met many virgins and widows who courageously labored in virtue. The Most Blessed Melania was a Spaniard or Roman by birth, the daughter of the proconsul Marcellinus, the wife of a noble dignitary, whose name I do not remember well. In her twenty-second year she became a widow, and after the death of her husband, inflamed with Divine love, she betrothed herself to the Eternal Bridegroom, loved Him to the end and did not tell anyone anything about this, for time itself presented her with an obstacle. Having asked Valens, who was reigning at that time, to be named guardian of her son, she herself took all her property and, having loaded the ship, hastily set off with several servants and maidservants to Alexandria. Arriving there, she sold the estate there and, exchanging it for money, went to Mount Nitria, where she found the holy fathers: blessed Pamvo, the servant of Christ Arsisius, the Great Serapion, Saint Paphnutius, the glorious Isidore the Confessor, the Bishop of Ermipolis and the righteous Dioscorus. After staying with them for about six months, she walked around the desert and saw all the husbands. After this, when the prefect of Alexandria expelled the holy fathers Isidore, Pisimius, Adelphius, Paphnutius, Pambo, Ammonius and some others to Caesarea Palestine - all twelve bishops and presbyters and, moreover, clergy and hermits, so that together with the twelve bishops and presbyters their number was one hundred and twenty-six people - then this one went with them blessed one and helped them with her property. But since it was forbidden to provide services to them, as Saints Pisimius, Isidore, Paphnutius and Ammonius, with whom I met, told me, this valiant wife put on a servant’s dress and in the evening brought them everything they needed. The 41 Palestinian proconsul found out about this and, wanting to get self-interest from her, decided to scare her: he grabbed her and put her in prison, because he did not know that she was of noble origin. While in prison, the God-loving woman said to the proconsul: “I am the daughter of such and such, I was married to such and such a noble dignitary, and now I am a servant of Christ; do not consider me low, judging by my poor clothes. If I want, I can show my dignity and avenge myself, and you can neither intimidate me nor take anything from my property. So, so that you, out of ignorance, do not fall under accusation, here I have explained myself to you, for, they say, the insensitive should be treated proudly, like a dog or a kite, and boldly step on them if they are insolent.” The judge, hearing this, came to his senses, apologized, asked her forgiveness and allowed her to have unhindered communication with the holy men. After those holy men were summoned again to Alexandria, Melania built a monastery in Jerusalem, in which she lived for twenty-seven years and gathered fifty virgins. With her lived the most noble, similar in lifestyle, the most valiant Rufinus, a native of Italy, from the city of Aquileia, who was later awarded the presbytery. Among the brethren there was no one more learned and more modest than him. For twenty-seven years, both of them with Melania received those who came to Jerusalem for worship - bishops and monks, virgins and married, noble and simple - and together they calmed down everyone who needed their help and supported them at their own expense. From the schism of Paul of Samosat 42, they joined about four hundred monastics to Orthodoxy and convinced everyone who fell into the Doukhobor heresy and brought them to the Church, and zealously supported the local clergy with gifts and methods of support. In such and such matters they led a pious life, without harming anyone, but bringing benefit to almost the entire world. I have already briefly mentioned the wonderful Saint Melania, and now I will weave the rest, or, more correctly, what remains in my memory of her virtues into a patterned fabric of words and tell about the untold blessings of this most God-loving wife. From them, with her own labors, she wove for herself a blessed robe of incorruptibility, from her property she beautifully crafted, for her honest head, an unfading crown of glory and, adorned with it, went to the Lord with great boldness. However, if I began to retell everything I know about the exploits of this blessed one, I would not have enough time. What wealth she used on the poor, driven by heavenly jealousy! I think if the flames of fire fell on such a huge amount of the estate, it would not be able to destroy it. However, it is not only my business to talk about this, but also those of those living in Persia, Britain and all the islands, because neither the west, nor the east, nor the north, nor the south were deprived of the benefits and gifts of this immortal wife. Having lived in a foreign country for thirty-seven years, she supplied churches, monasteries, hospice houses, and prisons from her own property. In general, none of those who came left her without assistance, because her relatives, the son himself and her attorneys brought her money every day, as if adding oil to a pure lamp, which, burning with the clear flame of mercy, illuminated everyone with free-willed giving. When she gave alms so generously and constantly, she herself finally did not have a single inch of land left. Her affection for her son did not distract her from her desire for the desert; love for her only son did not remove her from love for Christ - on the contrary, through her holy prayers, this young man achieved great success in the sciences and purity of character; married, brilliant by worldly standards, received secular honors and had two children. After a long time, when this worthy wife heard about her granddaughter that she was married and intended to renounce the world, fearing that she would somehow be drawn into an unjust teaching, or heresy, or into a vicious life, she boarded a ship and, sailing from Caesarea, arrived in Rome twenty days later. Then she was already sixty years old. During her stay here, she instructed in the faith and made a Christian the blessed, venerable and famous husband Apronian, who was a pagan; convinced him to live chastely with his wife, her niece, blessed Avitha; She also confirmed her granddaughter, the younger Melania, and her husband Pinian in the same way. Having instructed her daughter-in-law, the wife of her son Albina, and convinced them all to sell the estate, she led them out of Rome and brought them into a good and calm haven of life. This is how she defeated all the noble Roman dignitaries and their wives, who prevented her from renouncing the rest of her property. The servant of Christ told them: “Children! For four hundred years it is written that “..the last hour is already” (1 John 2:18). Why do you indulge in a vain life? Be careful that the days of the Antichrist do not overtake you - then you will no longer be able to enjoy your wealth and the acquisitions of your ancestors!” With such words, having distracted them all from the world, she led them to the monastic life. Publicola, her youngest son, having been taught in the faith, she took to Sicily, then she sold all the rest of her property and, taking the money, went again to Jerusalem, distributed the property within forty days and rested very quietly in a good old age, leaving behind her a glorious memory, adorned with mercy and enriched with the fruits of good deeds. In Jerusalem, she left behind a monastery and funds for its maintenance. When all the blessed Melania, instructed in the faith, left Rome, the storm of the barbarian invasion, long predicted in the prophecies, rushed towards Rome and did not even leave the copper statues in the forum, but destroyed everything with barbaric cruelty and gave it over to destruction, so that Rome, which had flourished for one thousand two hundred years, according to the word of the Sibyl, became a village. Then those instructed (by Melania) rejoiced that they did not fall under the horrors of devastation, and for the favorable change in their circumstances and their glorious salvation they glorified God, who by his very deeds showed the infidels that, with general enslavement, only families were saved who, through the efforts of the glorious and immortal Melania, sacrificed themselves entirely to the Lord, while those who opposed salvation repented, but it was too late and useless. Since we promised above to talk about the younger Melania, we now need to fulfill our promise. And it would be unfair on our part, out of disrespect for her bodily youth, to remain silent about such a virtue, which, perhaps, places her much higher than many reasonable and zealous old women. She, still young in years, but already an old woman in the knowledge of piety, was forced by her parents to marry and married off to a Roman nobleman, while she, nourished by the words of her grandmother, was so imbued with them that she could not have any attachment to married life. When the two sons born to her both died, she felt such disgust for marriage that she said to her husband Pinian, the son of the mayor of the North: “If you agree to live chastely with me, I will honor you as my master and recognize you as the ruler of my life; If, in your youth, this seems difficult to you, take all my property, just leave my body alone so that I can fulfill my godly desire and become the heir to the godly virtues of my grandmother, whose name I bear. If God wanted us to live in this world and enjoy its blessings, He would not have taken the children born to me so early.” They disagreed with each other for a long time. Finally, God, having mercy on the young husband, gave him the desire for a godly life, and he renounced all worldly goods, so that the word of the apostle was fulfilled: “What are you, wife, if you save your husband? Or what do you tell your husband if you save your wife?” (1 Cor. 7:16). Thus, having been married for thirteen years and having lived with her husband for seven, Melania renounced the world in her twentieth year and first distributed all her silk bedspreads to churches (as did the venerable Olympias), and cut other silk clothes into pieces and made various church utensils from them; she entrusted silver and gold to one presbyter, Paul, a Dalmatian monk, to send by sea to the east; ten thousand gold coins - to Egypt and Thebaid; ten thousand - to Antioch and its environs; fifteen thousand - to Palestine; ten thousand - to the churches located on the islands, and in favor of those expelled, and to the Western churches, monasteries, hosts and all those in need, she distributed and is distributing four times more with her own hands. So, by the grace of God, by the power of her faith she snatched her acquisitions from the mouth of the lion - Alaric 43. The slaves who wished were set free. However, most of them wanted to serve her brother, to whom she gave them up. She sold all the property she had in Italy, Aquitaine, Terracina and Gaul, and gave away the money, not leaving even three gold coins. But she kept with her what was in Sicily, Campania and Africa to help the monasteries and all those in need. Such is the wisdom of the most God-loving Melania the Younger, who showed a God-enlightened, senile mind in disposing of great wealth. Her asceticism is as follows: she eats food every other day, and before that, after five days; she herself serves her slaves, whom she has made her associates; She aroused zeal for God in many of her relatives, so that they, like her, began to lead a godly life. This is the life of the younger Melania about our Lord Jesus Christ. Her mother Albina is with her, just like her, who labored and voluntarily gave away her property. They live in their possessions, either in Sicily or in Campania, with maidens and slaves. Also Pinian, once her husband (of the younger Melania), and now, by the will of Christ, a unanimous companion in virtue, labors with thirty monks, reads the Divine Scripture and is engaged in cultivating the garden and interviewing. They honored us a lot when we came to Rome in large numbers for the sake of the blessed Bishop John, reassured us in the hotel and provided us with ample travel supplies. Thus, with great joy, they acquire eternal life through God-given works of perfect life. Their relative Pammachius, who was proconsul, similarly renounced the world, led a pious life. He departed to the Lord, partly distributing his property during his lifetime, and partly at his death giving away to the poor. In like manner, one named Macarius of the Vicar and Constantine, who was a companion of the Italian prefects, both famous and very learned men, achieved high piety. They, I think, are still alive and, striving in high piety, expect a blessed and incorruptible life. The daughter of Blessed Pavla Eustochia still labors in Bethlehem. I have not seen her, but they say she is a most chaste wife and has a community of fifty virgins. I also knew Veneria, the daughter of the dignitary Kallodin, who beautifully scattered the camel’s burden and got rid of the ulcers caused by wealth. I also knew blessed Theodora, the daughter of a tribune, who reached such poverty that she herself accepted alms and died. In the seaside monastery of Hesychia I also knew Usia, a most respectable woman in all respects. I also knew her sister Adolia, who was also virtuous, and although not as much as she, she showed zeal for God according to her strength. I also knew Vasianilla, the daughter of the military leader Kandian. She diligently and reverently practiced virtue and to this day still strives courageously. I also knew Photina, a most chaste virgin, the daughter of the Laodicean presbyter Theoctistus. And in Rome I saw the good Azella, a virgin of Christ, who grew old immaculately in a monastery, a very meek woman, who had Christian meetings. And in them I saw converted men and women. I also saw the blessed Avita, worthy of God, with her husband Aprikian and their daughter Eunomia, pleasing God in everything. They easily and quickly turned from a distracted and luxurious life to a virtuous and abstinent life, for which they were awarded Christian death and were completely freed from all sin. Known during their lifetime, they left a good memory of themselves even after death. There are many other maidens in the city of Ankyra - about two thousand or more. They all strive in a holy, virtuous life, maintain abstinence and live very humbly, as befits the meek. There are also famous and excellent wives who perform godly deeds with great zeal. Among them, Magna is distinguished by her piety, her wife is the most respectable and experienced in life. I don’t know whether to call her a virgin or a widow, because she, having married under her mother’s compulsion, rejected her husband under various pretexts, pretended to have physical illnesses, and thus remained inviolable and blameless, as her relatives say. When her husband soon died and she remained the only heir after him, then, exchanging temporary benefits for eternal ones, she devoted herself entirely to God, cared most of all about eternal life, ruled her slaves meekly and led the most strict and chaste life. She was so perfect in her manners that the very sight of her, full of piety, aroused respect for her in famous bishops. With the fire of non-acquisitiveness, she burned great and excessive wealth, and then what remained for her needs, she assigned to monasteries, to the poor, to hospice houses and churches, to the poor, wanderers, bishops, orphans and widows - and in general, with love, she gave benefits to all those in need, doing works of piety in secret, both personally and through her faithful slaves. She did not leave the church, especially at night, and performed every ascetic virtue in the hope of eternal life. About the virgin who sheltered blessed Athanasius I know a virgin in Alexandria who was about seventy years old when I met her. The whole clergy testified about her that in her youth, when she was about twenty years old and when she was very beautiful, virtuous men ran away from her beauty, so as not to be subjected to any criticism based on suspicion. But it happened that the Arians, building forges 44 against the blessed Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, through Eusebius, who was then the commander under the emperor Constantius, slandered him for serious crimes. Fleeing from an unjust trial, Blessed Athanasius did not dare to entrust himself to a relative, a friend, a cleric, or any other acquaintance. When those sent by the mayor accidentally came to the bishop's house and began to look for him, he, taking his surplice and phelonion, ran to the mentioned virgin at midnight. She was amazed at the strangeness of this act and fell into some fear. But the bishop began to tell her: “The Arians are looking for me, having slandered me for serious crimes. But, so as not to expose myself to an insane sentence, and not to lead those who wanted to condemn me into sin, I decided to run away; and so God revealed to me that night that I cannot be saved from anyone else but from you.” Out of great joy, the virgin, abandoning all doubt, completely surrendered to the Lord and zealously sheltered the holy bishop for about six years, while Emperor Constantius was alive: she herself washed his feet, corrected all his needs, obtained and delivered books to him. In all of Alexandria no one knew where blessed Bishop Athanasius lived. When the death of Emperor Constantius was announced and the rumor reached Athanasius, he put on light clothes and at night again appeared in the church. Seeing him, everyone was amazed and thought that he had risen from the dead. Friends meanwhile complained that, out of ignorance, they could not find his refuge. The blessed one, in justification, said to his sincere friends and acquaintances: “I did not take refuge with you so that you could rightly swear that you do not know my whereabouts, and, on the other hand, I was afraid of searches, and I took refuge with her because no one could suspect me of this because of her beauty and youth. Thus, I achieved two benefits: I served her salvation and preserved my own honor and safety.” In the city of Antinoi there are twelve convents where they lead a godly life. There I saw a servant of God named Amatalida, an old woman who had been in asceticism for eighty years, as she herself and others who lived with her said. Sixty young women lived with her, who, under the guidance of this good old woman, holyly passed through the field of asceticism. They all loved her very much, they were hopelessly held in the monastery by their immeasurable love for her, and with her holy instructions they gradually improved in chastity. The old woman reached such a degree of dispassion that when I came to her and sat down, she came and sat down next to me and, out of abundance of boldness in Christ, laid her hands on my shoulders. In the same monastery, a virgin named Taora, a disciple of that old woman, had lived for thirty years. She never wanted to take any new clothes, nor an amice 45, nor shoes, saying: “I don’t need this, otherwise I will be forced to go out.” And in fact, when the other sisters on the master’s holidays were going to church for communion, she sat hopelessly in her cell in rags, doing her work. Her face was so beautiful that even the most resolute person, being near her, could have been seduced by her beauty if she had not had an excellent fear of chastity and with her modesty had not brought even the most shameless eye to shame and fear. About a Virgin and Kolluf There was another true virgin who vigilantly performed the work of asceticism. She did not live at a far distance from me, but I did not see her in person, for, as those who knew her said, she never left her cell - since she renounced the world - and spent sixty years in asceticism with her mother. When the time finally came for her to pass from this life to the imperishable life, the holy martyr Kolluf, who was famous for his courage in that place, appeared to her and said: “Today you will go to your Lord and see all the saints. So, come and share a meal with us in the monastery.” The blessed one, getting up early in the morning, got dressed, put bread, olives and some vegetables in her basket, and after so many years of her seclusion, she went to the church of the martyr. Here she prayed, sat down and waited all day for a convenient time to eat. At the ninth hour, when the time had already come to taste the food and there was no one in the church, she laid out the food and turned to the martyr with the following prayer: “Bless my food, Saint Kolluf, and may your prayers accompany me.” After this, she sat down and ate, then, after praying some more, she came home around sunset and handed her mother the interpretation of the stromatoscribe Clement 46 on the prophet Amos with the following words: “Tell this to the bishop sent to prison, and tell him to pray for me, for I am going to the Lord.” She died that same night. Not suffering from fever or headache, she prepared herself for burial and gave up her spirit into the hands of God. About the one who slandered one reader The daughter of one presbyter in Caesarea in Palestine, a girl, fell and was taught by her seducer to slander the reader of this city and lay the blame of her shame on him. Having become pregnant, she named the reader in response to questions from her father. Hearing this and being embarrassed, the presbyter reported to the bishop, and the bishop immediately convened a church council. They called the reader and began to ask him how it was. The reader, being interrogated by the bishop, did not confess. And could he confess to something he didn’t do? The angry bishop said to him in a stern voice: “So you do not confess to the crime and do not repent, you unfortunate and full of uncleanness?” “I swear to you,” answered the reader, “I told the absolute truth that I have no part in this matter; I am not guilty of even thinking about her. If you want me to say something that actually didn’t happen, then it’s my fault.” When he said this, the bishop removed him from his position as reader. After this, the reader threw himself at the feet of the bishop and began to beg him: “If, just because I said: “Yes, I fell with her,” you, Vladyka, decided to deprive me of an honorary degree and found me unworthy of the position of cleric under your holiness, then order that from now on she be given to me as a wife, for now I am no longer a cleric, and she is not a maiden.” Having heard this, the bishop and the presbyter, the father of this girl, agreed to give her to the reader in the thought that the young man was firmly attached to her and could no longer leave his connection. The young man, having received her into the hands of the bishop and her father, persuaded her to follow him to the convent and begged the abbess thereof to keep her until she was relieved of her burden. Having left the girl in the monastery, the reader himself locked himself in an unclean cell and began to lead an extremely harsh life, falling to Christ with a contrite heart, with many tears and lamentations. “You know, Lord, my affairs,” he said, “because You know everything and nothing is hidden from You. There is not a single secret place in which one can hide from Your all-pervading power. You know everything before anything happens. You alone see the depths of thoughts and see every movement of thought clearly. You are a strict tester of everything that is hidden in the soul, and a Righteous Judge. You are a helper to the offended. You Yourself are the defender of the slandered, inaccessible to any deception, for any untruth is not pleasing to You and the scales of Your righteousness always lean towards the side of justice. An unapproachable light is always inherent in You, and every human deed is accomplished in Your eyes! So, Your righteous and unchangeable judgment must also reveal my truth.” While the young man was diligently praying and patiently fasting, the time for childbirth was already approaching for the girl, and when this time came, the righteous judgment of God began to open, which subjected the slanderer to cruel and unbearable suffering. An immense multitude of groans, unspeakable pangs of birth, terrible visions of hellish torments greatly tormented the unfortunate woman: the baby did not come out of the womb. A day passed, then another - the torment became more unbearable; the third came, the fourth - the torment became a thousand times heavier; then followed the fifth, sixth and most difficult seventh days, and the unfortunate woman was at the door of death from severe torment. All those days she did not take any food at all and had no sleep at all. But following the birth pains, which were constantly growing with new force, through the prayers of the young man, the heart of the sinner and false witness, hitherto not bowed by incredible suffering, finally bowed. She confessed, and her confession was accompanied by pitiful cries. “Alas for me, unfortunate! - she screamed. “I face the danger of perishing—me, burdened with two sins: slander and fornication; I ruined my virginity and surrendered myself to shame; I was defiled by another, and I accused the reader.” Hearing this, the virgins of the monastery announced everything to her father. The father, fearing that he would not be recognized as a participant in the slander, did not believe what was said and kept silent about everything. But the righteous judgment of God, which reveals everything, continued to strike the unfortunate woman with incessant sorrows. When she was no longer able to endure the struggle between life and death, and yet did not cease to suffer, the eighth day came, then the ninth, which covered the unfortunate woman with the deepest darkness of unabated torment. Her strong cries finally became unbearable for those around her, and they hastily let the bishop know that it was now the ninth day since so-and-so admitted that she had wrongfully accused the reader and therefore could not give birth because she had slandered him. The bishop, having listened to the virgins, sent two deacons to the reader to announce everything to him and tell him to pray for the deliverance of the unfortunate wife from torment. But the determined young man did not give them an answer and did not even open the doors. From the time he retired to his cell, he constantly followed the usual rule of fasting and prayed to God. Finally, the father took pity on his daughter and, coming to the bishop, persistently asked him to bring prayers for her in the church. But when everyone prayed to the Lord, even then the unfortunate woman was not freed from torment, for the prayers of the slandered person for his justification, bowing to the Lord, prevented the prayers of the church from being heard. Under such circumstances, the bishop decided to go himself to the cell in which the reader was, and when he began to knock on the door, the reader did not want to open the door for him. The bishop, having stood outside the door for a long time while he was inside, finally ordered the doors to be removed. They found the young man prostrate on the ground in earnest prayer, and the bishop, after much exhortation, raised him and said: “Brother, Reader Eustathius! According to God's vision, slander is open, your prayers are heard; have pity on the one who has sinned against you, who has suffered from severe suffering; forgive her sins, for through your prayers she endures this; tell the Lord that he may relieve her of her burden.” When the venerable reader prayed earnestly with the bishop, the unfortunate woman immediately freed herself from torment, gave birth to a child and began to ask everyone to forgive her iniquity for the sake of the prayers of the righteous man, whom for his courage everyone has since put in the rank of martyrs, for, having laid aside all worries, he ascended to such a height of virtue that he was awarded a spiritual gift. I wrote this so that for slander no one would fall into the snare of the enemy and would not be subjected to unbearable suffering in this life, as happened with the mentioned false witness, and after being separated from the flesh, so that he would not be given over to eternal and endless torment, for the slanderer angers God. And whoever, having been slandered, endures complacently and through prayer achieves the discovery of slander in anticipation of the righteous judgment of God, he, like that reader crowned by Christ, here, as much as possible, will be glorified and awarded eternal crowns. So, let us truly recognize the invincible power of prayer, which affirms believers, has mercy on sinners, helps those who practice virtue, overcomes every creature, bows down the Creator of all, brings crowns to those who pursue a pious life, denounces slanderers and bestows the Kingdom of Heaven on those who endure slander with firmness. At this time it happened that we, several brothers, went from Aelia to Egypt to see off the blessed virgin Salvia, sister of the eparch Rufinus. Yuvin was with us, then still a deacon, and now already a bishop of the Church of Ascalon, a pious and learned man. When we arrived in Pelusia, it became extremely hot, and Yuvinus, taking a washstand, washed his hands and feet with cold water, then spread his skin on the ground and lay down to rest. Noticing this, Blessed Salvia, like a smart mother caring for her own son, began to reproach him for pampering his body, and said: “Why, at such an age, when your blood is still boiling, do you pamper your body, as if you don’t know what harm this can do to you? Believe me, son, she continued, now I am already sixty years old, and except for the tips of my fingers, and even when I was just preparing for communion, I did not wash my face, legs, or any other part of the body. When I happened to suffer from various ailments and doctors forced me to use the bathhouse, I did not dare to repay the debt to the flesh, did not go to bed, and did not allow myself to be carried on a stretcher on the road.” Salvia was very learned, loved divine books, turned nights into days, using a lot of oil for illumination, and re-read all the works of ancient interpreters, including three million explanatory verses of Origen, two hundred and fifty thousand of Gregory, Pierius, Stephen, Basil and other scientists. She did not just skim through them, as it happened, but read each book seven or eight times with great attention. Through this, freed from false knowledge, she was first inspired by the grace of God, then by the power of spiritual words and good hopes. Thus, having made herself a spiritual bird and flying through the darkness of this life, she soared to Christ to receive endless rewards from Him. Following in her footsteps and imitating all the virtues of her holy spiritual life was the praiseworthy Olympias, who with great zeal ascended the path leading to heaven and followed the rules of Divine Scripture in everything. In flesh she was the daughter of the proconsul Seleucus, and in spirit she was a true child of God, the granddaughter of the eparch Aulavius ​​and for several days the bride of Nevridius, the eparch of Constantinople, but in fact she did not marry anyone. They say that until her death she remained an immaculate virgin, a cohabitant of the Divine word, an ally of true humility, a generous helper of all those in need. She gave away all her extremely great wealth and helped just everyone without distinction. Neither city, nor village, nor desert, nor island, nor distant countries were deprived of the bounty of this glorious maiden. She also gave to churches for sacred needs, helped monasteries, communal monasteries, almshouses, prisons, those in exile, and generally sent alms throughout the universe. The blessed one reached the last degree of humility, beyond which it was impossible to achieve: a life without vanity, an open appearance, a sincere disposition, a face without any embellishment, an emaciated body, a modest mind, a mind devoid of pride, a serene heart, vigilant vigilance, an inquisitive spirit, immeasurable love, immense charity, poor clothes, excessive abstinence, a thought directed towards God, eternal hopes, indescribable works of mercy - these are her decorations! She suffered many temptations from the actions of one who is evil by his own will and alien to all good; she struggled a lot in the battle for divine truth; spent days and nights in endless tears; obeyed “every creature of man for the Lord’s sake” (1 Pet. 2:13); She submitted to her bishops with all piety, revered the priesthood, respected the clergy, revered asceticism, received virgins, helped widows, fed orphans, guarded the elders, visited the sick, cried with sinners, returned the lost to the path, sympathized with everyone, generously benefited the poor, instructed many wives who were behind the pagans in the faith, gave them the means to food and throughout her life she left behind the eternally unforgettable name of a benefactress. Having redeemed countless slaves from slavery, she made them equal to her nobility, or rather, in their clothes they seemed nobler than this saint, for it is hardly possible to find clothes poorer than what she wore. The clothes of this holy virgin, even dressed in tattered rags, would seem worthless. Her meekness was such that it surpassed the simplicity of the children themselves. None of those close to her ever noticed that this Christ-bearer reproached anyone. Her entire painful life was spent in heartfelt contrition and in an abundant outpouring of tears; One could rather see a spring without water during the heat than her drooping eyes, always contemplating Christ without tears. So what am I saying? The more my thoughts dwell on the story of the exploits and virtues of this soul, solid as a stone, the further my words remain behind her deeds. And let no one think that I am speaking in an embellished manner about the dispassion of the praiseworthy Olympias, who was all a valuable vessel of the Holy Spirit. I saw with my own eyes the life and angelic disposition of this blessed virgin, as her spiritual and sincere friend and closest relative, so she instructed me to distribute her wealth. With all her wealth, she did not care at all about her flesh, obeyed her superiors, obeyed the authorities, submitted to the bishops, honored the elders, respected the entire clergy and was honored with confession in the struggle for the truth, having been subjected to many storms of grave accusations. All pious residents of Constantinople consider her to be a confessor in her life. In the deeds undertaken for God, she found death for herself and, having died in them, gained blessed glory, was crowned and triumphs in an endless age together with godly souls similar to her, was forever installed in incorruptible abodes and will receive rewards from the Lord God for good deeds. Following in the footsteps of the Olympics, blessed Candida, the daughter of the military leader Troyan, led her life in a manner worthy of the Lord. She achieved high purity, decently decorated the churches, out of reverence for the Sacraments of Christ she honored the bishops, respected, as it should, the entire clergy of Christ and, having instructed her daughter in the faith, she canonized her as a virgin, as a gift to Christ from her bosom. Finally, she herself followed her daughter with chastity, purity and distribution of wealth. I saw that this valiant wife worked whole nights to exhaust her flesh, grinding flour with her own hands and baking prosphora. “Since fasting alone is not enough,” she said, “I add to it a grueling vigil in order to crush Esau’s lust.” She did not eat animal meat at all, but ate only fish, butter and vegetables, and this only on holidays; at any other time she was content with water mixed with vinegar and dry bread. Having lived such a harsh life, this illustrious wife rested in blessed peace and now enjoys the eternal blessings prepared for those who love a virtuous life. Like this virtuous wife, the glorious Gelasia, the daughter of a certain tribune, zealously walked the path of immortality and piously bore the yoke of virginity. This excellent wife is credited with the virtue that the sun never set on her anger on a slave, or on a maid, or on anyone else. Having avoided the path of memory malice leading to eternal death, the blessed one followed the path that leads to eternal life. One girl, named Juliana, in Caesarea Cappadocia was considered the most learned and zealous in the faith. She took in Origen, the writer, when he fled from pagan persecution, and at her own expense secretly sheltered him for two years, feeding him from her labors. I found this in an ancient book written in verse by the hand of Origen. I found this book in Caesarea with the maiden Juliana, when I myself was hiding with her. She said that she received it from Symmachus, the Jewish interpreter. I have outlined the virtues of these glorious women not without a purpose, but so that we know that from different cases, if we want, we can derive many different benefits. The story of Hippolytus, friend of the Apostle In another book, inscribed with the name of Hippolytus, a friend of the apostle, I found the following story. In Corinth there was one most noble and most beautiful maiden who lived a virtuous life. During the time of the persecutors, she was slandered before the pagan judge of that time, as if she spoke badly about the times of that time, about kings and idols. The dealers in debauchery furthermore exposed her beauty to the woman-loving and wicked judge, and he willingly accepted the accusation with bestial ears and lustful thoughts. When the virgin was brought to this villain, he became even more enraged with lust. The wicked turned all his tricks against her, but, unable to persuade the servant of God, he subjected her to various torments. Having met with failure here too and not having the strength to deviate her from confessing Christ, the barbarian, burning with passion for her, betrayed her to such a reproach: he sent the chaste maiden to a dishonest house and ordered the owner to say: “Take her and daily give me three gold coins for her.” The owner, who mined gold in a shameful way, began to offer it to anyone in his obscene house. Having learned about this, dissolute people, like vultures, rushed into the obscene house, gave money for defilement and wanted to persuade her to corrupt her. But the chaste virgin rejected their seductive speeches and strongly begged them to abandon their intentions, calling herself sick. They believed her words, and the blessed one removed the frantic ones from her for some time, and she herself turned to God with fervent prayers and, with a contrite prayer, bowed Him to mercy. God, the knower of the heart, saw how the chaste virgin guarded her purity with all her heart and, as the Guardian of the salvation of all people, arranged the following in these days. One young man, named Magistrian, beautiful in appearance, pious in soul, inflamed by God with spiritual zeal to the point of contempt for death, under the pretext of debauchery in the dead of evening, entered the keeper of the house and, giving him five pieces of gold, said: “Let me spend the night with this maiden.” Entering a special room with her, he said to her: “Get up, save yourself,” and, taking off her clothes, he put on her his dress, tunic, cloak and everything male and said to her: “Cover yourself with the hem of your cloak and go out.” She did so and, having protected herself entirely with the sign of the cross, she left this place uncorrupted, undefiled, and was completely saved by the grace of Christ and the efforts of the young man, who with his own blood freed her from dishonorable corruption. The next day the matter was found out and Magistrian was brought before a cruel judge. The wicked interrogated the glorious martyr of Christ and, having learned everything, ordered him to be thrown to the beasts, so that the devil, a hater of all good, would be put to shame in this too, for, thinking to subject the courageous young man to shameful punishment, he made him a doubly martyr of Christ. Magistrian fought courageously for his immortal soul, and valiantly endured suffering for the glorious and blessed virgin, and therefore was awarded a double honor from Christ and glorious blessed crowns from His love for mankind. I remember another story that is useful to retell. They say that the persecutor Magnentin, having criminal connections with many pagans, tried to establish the same with Christian women. But the latter wished better to die than to sell their chastity. When Magnentin arrived in one city, he liked the wife of one of the advisers to the mayor. Her frightened husband said to Magnentin: “Come, take her.” Soldiers were sent for her, but she told them: “Wait a little while I take care of my usual outfits.” She went to the bedroom, took a sword and pierced her womb with it. Listen and be ashamed, virgins, who recognize themselves as brides of Christ and betray Him with their unclean lusts. May the Lord grant each of us to maintain chastity and exclaim with the Psalmist: “Nail my flesh with the fear of Thy, for I am afraid of Thy judgments” (Ps. 119:120) - and with the Apostle: “I live as no one, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). May it be given to you to say with chastity: “I am my brother and my brother to me” (Song. 6:2). We also saw other fathers and monks throughout Egypt who performed many signs and wonders. We did not mention them because of their large number, but we said a little instead of a lot. For what can we say about the Upper Thebaid, in which there are venerable men, there are countless monks whose life no one would believe - so it surpasses the ordinary way of human life? They even now raise the dead and walk on the waters, like Peter. Everything that the Savior did through the holy apostles, they are doing at the present time. But we did not dare to see these holy men for the reason that if we had crossed the Likon, we would have faced great danger from robbers. We saw even those fathers about whom it was said not without danger; It was not without difficulty that they also saw the holy women, but they had to endure a lot in advance and even endangered their lives in order to see them. Seven times we almost lost our lives, and on the eighth time only God saved us from death, for once we walked through the desert for five days and almost died of hunger and thirst. Another time we found ourselves in rotten swamps filled with sharp stones, and wounded our legs so that the pain was unbearable, and almost died from the cold. The third time we got stuck in the mud up to our loins, 47 and there was no one to pull us out. Then we exclaimed with blessed David: “Save me, O God, as water came down into my soul. The charcoal burner is in deep darkness, and there is no constancy... Save me from charring” (Ps. 68: 2–3, 15). The fourth time we walked on water for four days, when it stood in large quantities during the flood of the Nile, so that at its mouth we were completely drowned. Then we exclaimed: “Let no storm of water drown me, let the depth below devour me” (Ps. 68:16). The fifth time we were caught by robbers on the seashore, when we were going to Diolk. They wanted to catch us and chased us until finally we could hardly catch our breath, for they were chasing us ten thousand steps. The sixth time, while sailing along the Nile, we almost drowned. The seventh time, when we were on Lake Mareotide, on the shores of which cotton paper will be born, we were thrown onto one small deserted island - here we stayed for three days in the open air and suffered a lot from cold and rain, since it was just before Epiphany. It would be unnecessary to recount the eighth disaster, although it is not useless. When we went to the Nitrian Mountain, there was a large hole on this side in which many crocodiles remained after the water left the fields. Approaching this pit, we saw three crocodiles on the edge of it and thought that they were dead. But the crocodiles suddenly rushed at us. We cried out loudly: “Christ! Help us! And immediately, as if an Angel stopped the animals, and they rushed into the water, and we quickly ran to Mount Nitria and remembered the words of Job: “Seven times I will sweep you away from troubles, but evil will not touch us” (Job 5:19). We thank the Lord, who delivered us from so many dangers and made us worthy to see many great things. About a certain brother who lived with me I will say a few words about my brother, who lived with me from my youth and still lives, and then I will finish my speech. I learned that for a long time he had led the most virtuous life with zeal and curbed passions. I know for sure that he did not eat greedily, and did not fast excessively, he conquered, it seems to me, the passion for the love of money, he was very far from vanity, he was always content with what he had, did not adorn himself with clothes, gave thanks when he was shown contempt or disrespect, was exposed to dangers for sincere friends, endured temptations from a thousand or more demons. One day a demon met him and said to him: “Give me the word to sin even once and just name some rich and noble wife - I will immediately bring her to you.” Another time, a blasphemous demon, who had been attacking him for fourteen days, as he himself told me, dragged him by the leg at night and said in a man’s voice: “Do not bow to Christ, and I will not approach you.” And he answered: “For this very reason I will bow to Him and glorify Him, because you hate Him; I will always ask Him and, as long as the spirit is in me, I will not stop praying to Him, because serving God is hateful to you.” Having visited one hundred and six cities and having stayed in many for a long time, he, by the grace of Christ, did not experience temptation from his wife, even in a dream, except that he fought with the demon of fornication. I know that three times, having a need for food, he received it from the hands of the holy Angels. Once being in the farthest desert and having absolutely no food with him, he found three warm loaves of bread, another time barley loaves, and the third time wine and loaves. I also know that when he had no food, he heard the voice of an Angel: “Go and take some butter and bread from such and such a man.” And he, without any doubt, went to whom he was sent. And this man, seeing him, said: “Aren’t you such and such a monk?” “Yes, I’m the one,” he answered. After this, he announced that the owner of the house ordered to give him thirty measures of wheat and twelve sextarius 48 of oil. I can boast of such a person as this man was and as I knew him. I know that he wept for people who were in need and lack because of poverty, and gave them everything he had, except perhaps his body. I know that he cried for sinners and with his tears brought them to repentance. He once told me: “I asked God not to punish anyone, especially the evil rich, because they gave me something necessary for food.” It is enough for me that, by the grace of God, I was worthy to remember all this and convey it in writing, for I think, not without the will of God, you had the good idea to order my weakness to write this book and convey in writing the life of the holy and blessed fathers. And you, most faithful servant of Christ, venerable Lavs, the most dear and close chapter to me, by diligently reading this book, through the knowledge of the virtuous life of famous ascetics, their deeds, labors, patience and such a strict life, you will bring considerable benefit to your immortal soul on the day of the resurrection of the righteous. Follow them zealously, feeding on good and imperishable hope and always looking at future days as shorter in comparison with the past; pray for me too, keeping yourself impeccable and honest, as I know you to be, as you were for me from the time of Tatian’s consulate until this day, when I found you even better, which is why they made you the chief (bed keeper - Ed.) at the bed of the most pious king. In whom such an honorable place, and such wealth, and power have not weakened the fear of God, he completely belongs to Christ, to whom the devil said: “... I will give all this to you, if you fall down in worship.” But the Lord put him to shame, saying: “... follow me” (Matthew 4:9-10). Imitating Him, you also rejected the wealth pouring on you and the transitory glory of this life and desired the heavenly immortal life and the eternal kingdom, constant glory and unspeakable blessings, “which eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has the heart of man sighed” (1 Cor. 2:9), of which may the Lord make us heirs with all the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs and holy men mentioned in this book, by the grace of our Savior Himself - Christ, with whom glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Leviton - underwear with short sleeves made of white linen. Manichaean is a follower of the Gnostic heresy, named after its founder Mani, who lived in the 3rd century. Rufinus conveys the words of Anuvius as follows: “From the time I confessed the name of our Savior in persecution, I saw that after confessing the truth, no lie would come out of my mouth and that, having loved heavenly things, I would not love anything earthly, and the grace of the Lord helped me in this, for with His assistance I had no need for anything earthly, and He provided me with all the food that I desired through the ministry of Angels” (Ibid. Ch. 10). Sozomen notes about Nitria: “This country is called Nitria - saltpeter, because it is adjacent to the place where saltpeter is mined. There were a considerable number of monastics there, but there were about fifty monasteries adjacent to each other. In some there was a dormitory, and in others they lived separately” Sozomen. Church history. Book 6. Ch. 3). Versta is a distance equal to 1.0668 km. Rufinus and Socrates call him Piammon. Artab is a container for measuring liquid and granular bodies, equal to 52.48 liters. Vira is a monetary penalty for the murder of a free person. Here, apparently, we mean tax collectors and overseers. Eparch (eparch) – mayor, regional governor. The sextarium was one-sixth of a Roman conga, which could hold three mugs. An Arian is a follower of a heresy named after its founder, the presbyter of the Alexandrian Church Arius. Condemned at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325. Eunomian is a supporter of the heresiarch Eunomius (4th century), a representative of extreme Arianism. Apollinarian is a follower of the heresy of Apollinaris (3rd century), who was the bishop of Laodicea. Condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381. Srachitsa – tunic, linen or woolen underwear, shirt. “Teach me goodness and punishment and reason” (Ps. 119:66). “Will bread be eaten without salt, or is there taste in vain words?” (Job 6, 6). Amorites - mountain dwellers, or mountain people; warlike tribes that once inhabited Palestine. Chorebishop (rural bishop) - a person who had a presbyterian, and sometimes an episcopal degree, authorized by the bishop of the city. He was the conductor of episcopal power in rural and village churches. Another martyr, Philorom, is mentioned by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, Book 13, Chapter 10) and Nicephorus (Church History, Book 7, Chapter 9). He suffered during the reign of Diocletian, and the one described by Palladium suffered for his faith under Julian. Epancha is a wide long sleeveless cloak. Proconsul is the governor of a province, usually from among the former consuls (elected senior officials). Paul of Samosata is a heretic, anti-trinitarian, opponent of the dogma of the Holy Trinity. Condemned by the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451. Alaric is the king of the Visigoths who captured and sacked Rome. Coves - malice, intrigues. Naramnik (naramnik) - outer clothing placed on the ramen (shoulders). meaning Clement of Alexandria. – Ed. Sextarium is a measure of the volume of liquid and granular bodies, equal to 0.55 liters. You might be interested in: