Глава XIX. О чудотворцах

1. Do not live with someone who is proud, lest the action of the Holy Spirit be withdrawn from your soul, and thereby you become the dwelling place of every evil passion. If, O man, you observe such precautions and, having abandoned everything, you always remember God in truth, then soon your soul will see the light of Christ in itself, and you will not be darkened forever. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. 2. They said about an old man who lived in Thebaid and was from the lower reaches of Egypt, that he took into his hands kerasts (horned snakes), poisonous reptiles, scorpions and other snakes and tore them in two. The brethren, having given him the throwing, asked him: tell us, for what work did you receive such grace? He said: forgive me, fathers, but if anyone acquires purity, then everything will submit to him, as Adam did when he was in paradise before breaking the commandment. 3. Abraham, a disciple of Abba Sisoes, was once tempted by a demon. The elder, having learned about his fall, stood up and, stretching out his hands to heaven, said: God! Whether you want it or not, I will not leave You until You heal him. And he was immediately healed. 4. Once a layman went with his son to Abba Siso on the mountain of Abba Anthony, but on the way his son died. The father was not embarrassed, with faith he brought him to the elder and fell before him with his son, as if bowing to him to receive the blessing from the elder. However, the father got up, left his son at the feet of the old man and went out. The elder, thinking that he was lying down for the sake of worship, for he did not know about his death, says to him: get up and go out. He got up and left. The father, seeing him, was amazed and, entering, bowed to the elder and told him about this incident. The elder, having heard about this, was saddened, for he did not want this to happen, and his disciple commanded the layman not to tell anyone about this until the death of the elder. 5. They said about Saint Spyridon that he had a maiden daughter named Irina, as pious as her father. One of their acquaintances deposited some precious jewelry with her for safekeeping. In order to more accurately preserve what was entrusted to her, she hid it in the ground. A little later, she died, and after a while the one who entrusted the thing to her came and, not finding the girl alive, began to demand from her father, now intimidating him, now begging him. The elder, considering it a sin to lose the entrusted thing, came to the grave of his daughter and asked God to show him the promised resurrection ahead of time and was not deceived in his hope: the maiden immediately appeared to her father alive and, indicating the place where the jewelry lay, left. The elder took what was hidden and gave it to the owner. 6. Two brothers, sincere, lived in Skete. It happened that one of them fell ill, then another brother came to church and asked the elder to make an offering for him. The presbyter, having heard about this, said to the brethren: let's go and visit our brother! They came, prayed for him and left. On another Sunday, the presbyter asks the brother: how is it for the brother? He answered: pray for him. And the presbyter again took the brethren and went with them to the sick man. When they came and sat down near it, it began to run out. Meanwhile, the brethren began to argue with each other - some said that he had been granted the Comforter, while others doubted it. Hearing this, his brother said to them: Do you want to know who has the power? Then, turning to his brother, he asked: are you leaving, my brother? He replied: I’m leaving, but pray for me. He said to him, “Truly, my brother, I will not allow you to go before me.” Then, turning to the brothers who had come, he said: Give me the mat! He took the mat, bowed his head and was the first to betray his soul, and after him the sick man died. Then the fathers, having removed both, carried them out and buried them, rejoicing that they had received the mental light. 7. The brother had an old man and, seeing that he cleaned up the dead well, asked him: Will you clean up me like this when I die? The elder replied: I will remove you in such a way that you will say: enough is enough. After a short time, the brother died, and the elder’s word was fulfilled, for, having removed him piously, he asked him in front of everyone: did I remove you well, child, or is there something else missing? And the brother let out a voice: well, father, you have fulfilled your promise. 8. The fathers said: there was one Abba of Cenobius, and it happened that the brother serving him, offended by something, left the monastery and retired to another place. The elder constantly went to him and asked him to return, but he did not agree. The elder did this for three years, and the brother, finally convinced, returned. The elder ordered him to go collect something in heaps, and the servant, fulfilling the order, through the action of the devil, damaged his eye. The elder, grieving over this, consoled him in his suffering, but the servant said to him: I myself am to blame - I suffered this for the troubles I caused you. After a while, the eye disease went away, but the vision damage remained. One day the elder ordered him to go cut the fronds, and when he was doing this work, due to the action of the devil, a branch jumped off and struck his other eye. Then he came to the monastery and fell silent, doing nothing more. And the elder again grieved for him. Finally the time came for the elder’s calling, and he, foreknowledge of this, sent for the brethren and said: My calling is near; So, look after yourself. Then everyone, approaching him, asked: to whom are you leaving us, Abba? But the elder was silent. Then he sent for the blind man and told him about his calling. He began to cry and asked: to whom are you leaving me, blind? The elder said to him: pray that I will have boldness before God, and I hope that on Sunday you will perform the service. A few days after his death, the blind man regained his sight and became the abbot of Konovia. 9. One of the elders sent his disciple to bring water. The well was far from their cell, and the brother forgot to take the rope and found out about it when he had already arrived at the well. Then, having made a prayer, he called out: well, my abba said, fill the jugs with water! The water immediately rose up, and when the brother scooped it up, the water sank back to its place. 10. One wandering elder stayed on Mount Paisiya. One of the courtiers who was possessed was brought to him, and he healed him. The healed man brought him a bag full of gold, but the elder did not want to accept it and, seeing that he was grieving over it, he took the empty bag and ordered the gold to be given to the poor in alms. From the bag, which was hairy and hard, the elder made himself a cenobius 26 and wore it for a long time, crushing his flesh. 11. They said about one elder who lived in Skete that a demon came to him, wanting to enter, but he tied him up outside his cell. Then another demon came and tied him up too. Finally a third came and, finding the two tied up, asked them: why did you stop here outside? They answered him: He who sits inside does not allow us to enter. Enraged, he tried to enter, but the elder tied him up too. Then, afraid of the elder’s prayers, they began to ask him: let us go! He said to them: Come. And they left in shame. 12. They said about one old man that his cell was always bright both during the day, and since he read and worked during the day, so at night. 13. An old man and his brother once went to draw water. The brother, having come to the lake before him, saw the dragon and returned to the old man. The elder says to him: go and trample his head with your foot. But he was afraid and did not go. When the elder came, the serpent, seeing him, was ashamed and crawled away into the desert. 14. Another time, having the need to cross the river Chryzoroya, he said a prayer and crossed it to the other bank on foot. In surprise, the brother bowed to him and asked: how did you feel your feet while walking on the water? The elder replied: I felt water on my heel, and then it was hard. 15. The brother said: at another time we went to one old man; the sun began to set, and the elder, having prayed, said: I pray to You, Lord! May the sun stand until I reach Your servant. And so it was. 16. One demoniac came to Skete. There was a prayer for him in the church, but the demon did not come out, because he was fierce. The clerics said: what should we do with this demon? No one can expel him except Abba Vissarion, but if we ask him, he will not even go to church. Here's how we'll do it! He comes to church first of all. We will make sure that the sick person sleeps in his place, and when the elder comes, we will stand in prayer and tell him: Wake up your brother too, Abba! And they did so. When the elder came in the morning, they began to pray and said to him: wake up your brother too! The elder said to him: get up and go out. Immediately the demon came out of him and he was healed. 17. The disciples of Abba Gelasius said that one day they brought them fish, and the cook, having fried it, took it to the cellarer. For some reason, the cellarer left the cellar room, leaving the fish in a vessel on the floor and ordering the boy, a pupil of Blessed Gelasius, to guard it until he returned, but the boy was seduced and began to eat the fish. When the cellarer entered and saw him eating while sitting on the floor, he became angry and carelessly kicked him. The boy coughed and died. The cellarer, overcome with fear, laid him on his bed and, having covered him, went, fell at the feet of Abba Gelasius and told him about what had happened. The elder forbade him to talk about this to anyone else, and ordered him in the evening, when everyone had calmed down, to take the boy to the deacon, lay him in front of the altar and leave, which the cellarer did. Then the elder himself came and began to pray, and when the hour of midnight psalmody came and the brethren had gathered, the elder came out of the deacon room and was followed by a boy. Until the death of the elder, no one knew about this matter except himself and the cellarer. 18. One of the fathers told about Abba Xoe of Thebes: he once went to Mount Sinai and, when he was returning from there, he met his brother, who said to him with a sigh: Abba, we are suffering from lack of rain. The elder asked him: why don’t you pray and ask God? The brother answered: we pray and ask, but there is still no rain. The elder says to him: Are you really praying carelessly?! Do you want to know that this is so? And, stretching out his hands to the sky, he began to pray. Immediately it began to rain. Seeing this, the brother, horrified, fell on his face and bowed to the elder, and the elder ran away. The brother told everyone what had happened, and everyone who heard glorified God. 19. Abba Xanthius once came from Skete to Terenuf. Because he was tired, they brought some wine to where he stopped. Some, having heard about his coming, brought the demoniac to him. The demon began to revile the old man: have you brought me to this wine drinker? The elder did not want to expel him, but because of the reproach he said: I believe in Christ that I will not finish this cup until you leave. When the elder began to drink, the demon cried out: You are burning me, you are burning me! And before the elder finished the cup, he came out by the grace of Christ. 20. One woman, who had a disease on her chest called cancer, heard about Abba Longinus and sought to see him. Abba lived in Ennate of Alexandria, and when the woman was looking for him, the blessed one happened to collect firewood there on the seashore. Seeing the elder and not knowing that it was he himself, she asked him: Abba, where does Abba Longinus, the servant of God, live? He replied: what do you want from this hypocrite? Don't go to him, he's a hypocrite. But what's wrong with you? The woman showed him the disease. He crossed that place and sent her away, saying: Go, and God will heal you, but Longinus can do nothing to help you. The woman went, believing his word, and was immediately healed. After this, telling about this matter to some and describing the signs of the elder, she learned that it was Abba Longinus himself. 21. At another time they brought a demoniac to Abba Longinus, but he said to them: what can I do for you? Better go to Abba Zinon. When Abba Zinon began to lean on the demon, driving him out, he began to shout: do you think, Abba Zinon, I’m leaving because of you? Here Abba Longinus is there praying against me and presses me, and I go out, afraid of his prayers, but I would not give you an answer. 22. Another time, a woman who had an incurable disease in her arms came to him with another woman, and stood outside his cell at the north window, afraid to enter. He told her: get out of here, wife! But she didn't leave and didn't stop looking at him through the window without saying anything. The elder understood her illness in spirit, stood up and, closing the window, said: go, now you have nothing. And she was healed from that hour. 23. At another time, someone came to him, took his cuculi and carried it to one suffering person. As soon as he approached the door, the sufferer cried out: why did you bring Longinus here to drive me out? And immediately the demon came out of him, and he became well. 24. Abba Sisoes said: when I was in Skete with Abba Macarius, seven of us went to reap with him. While we were reaping, behind us a widow was gathering ears of corn and crying incessantly. The elder called the owner of the field and asked him: what is wrong with this old woman, that she is constantly crying? He answered: her husband took the things for safekeeping and accidentally died without telling where he put them. The owner of those things wants to take her and her children as slaves. The elder tells him: tell her to come to us when we are resting during the heat. The woman approached, and the elder asked her: Why do you always cry so much? She answered: my husband took the things for safekeeping and died without telling where he put them. The elder says to her: go show me where you buried him? Then he took his brothers with him and went with her. Arriving at the place, the elder said to her: now go to your house. Then, having prayed with the brethren, the elder called out to the dead: so-and-so! Where did you put the things entrusted to you? He answered: they are hidden in my house, at the foot of the bed. The elder says to him: sleep again until the day of resurrection. The brothers who saw this fell in fear at the feet of the elder, who said to them: “This was not done for my sake, for I am nothing, but for the sake of the widow and orphans, God did this deed.” But the great thing is that God wants the soul to be sinless, and then whatever it asks for, it will receive. Then he went to the widow and told her where the entrusted things were. She took them, gave them to the owner and freed her children. And everyone who heard about this glorified God. 25. They said about Abba Macarius that, one day walking from Skete with a load of baskets, he, tired, sat down and began to pray, saying: God! You know that I have no more strength. And immediately he found himself at the river. 26. A man in Egypt had a paralytic son. He brought him to the cell of Abba Macarius and, leaving him crying at the door, he himself went far away. The elder saw the crying baby and asked him: who brought you here? The boy answered: my father left me here and left. The elder told him: get up and catch up with him. The boy immediately recovered, stood up and caught up with his father, and they went to their house. 27. Once Abba Milisius, passing through one place, saw that someone was holding a monk, accusing him of committing murder. The elder, having questioned his brother, learned that he had been slandered, and asked those who were holding him: where is the murdered man? They showed him. Approaching the dead man, he ordered everyone to pray, and when the elder himself stretched out his hands to God, the dead man stood up. The elder asked him in front of everyone: tell us who killed you? He said: when I came to church, I gave money to the presbyter, he killed me, then he took me to the monastery of this Abba and threw me away. But I ask you, take the money from him and give it to my children. Then the elder said to him: go to sleep until the Lord comes and awakens you! He walked away and rested. 28. Once upon a time many elders came to Abba Pimen. Then one of the relatives of Abba Pimen, whose son’s face had turned back due to the action of the devil, took his son and, sitting outside the monastery, wept. One of the elders happened to come out, and when he saw him, he asked: Why are you crying, man? He answered: I am a relative of Abba Pimen, and this is what trouble happened to my son! We wanted to bring him to the elder, but we were afraid, because he did not want to see us. And now, if he finds out that I’m here, he’ll send me away. Seeing your arrival here, I dared to come. So, Abba, have pity on me - take my son and pray for him! The elder took it and, entering, out of prudent caution, did not bring it directly to Abba Pimen, but, starting with the younger brethren, said: Cross this child. When everyone had crossed it in order, he finally brought it to Abba Pimen, but Abba did not want to let him near him. Everyone began to ask him, saying: like everyone else, so are you, father. He sighed and, getting up, began to pray: God! Heal Your creation, so that the enemy does not possess it. Then he crossed him. He was immediately healed and was given to his father healthy. 29. One Saracen, a Hellenic by faith, told those living in Klysma and us: I went to the mountain of Abba Anthony to hunt. Having arrived there, he saw a monk on the mountain, sitting, holding a book and reading it. Approaching, I wanted to take aim in order to intimidate him or even kill him, but as soon as I came close, he extended his right hand to me and said: stop! And I stood there day and night, not being able to move in the least from the place where I stood. Then I tell him: for the sake of God, whom you honor, let me go. He said: Go in peace. Then I was able to leave the place where I was standing, and I was surprised at the boldness of that husband. 30. Near the Dead Sea there is a mountain called Ommardin, very high. On this mountain lived hermits who had their own garden, six signs away from them. There the hermits had a gardener, one of their own. When they needed to send to the garden for vegetables, they equipped their donkey and said to him: go into the garden to the gardener and bring vegetables. The donkey went to the gardener alone and, when he came to the door, hit it with his head. The gardener immediately loaded him with vegetables and released him. And everyone saw how the donkey climbed the mountain alone and served only the elders, and did not let anyone else near. 31. Within the borders of Asia there was one stylite, very virtuous and glorious. Below he had a monastery. A certain need arose, and the brothers convinced him to go to Constantinople to ask for the king. Arriving there, he stayed at a hotel at an orphanage. Since it was winter then, some sat near the lit coals and warmed themselves. They were heretics. When he sat down with them, they began to tempt him with their heresy. He said to them: I believe correctly, but if you believe better, do what I do. Then he stood on the fire without shoes, stood there for quite a long time and did not get burned. Seeing this, they were ashamed, amazed by this wondrous miracle; and all who heard glorified God. You might be interested in: