The life of the captive monk Malchus

Essay by blzh. Jerome of Stridon "The Life of the Captive Monk Malchus" was written in Bethlehem in 390-391. It tells the story of a pious elder, Syrian by origin, who lived in a spiritual marriage with his wife. Malchus personally tells the blj. Jerome about the circumstances of entering the monastery in the Chalcis desert, about the subsequent exit from the monastery, captivity among the Bedouins, forced marriage, escape from captivity with his wife and return to Syria. The main theme of the essay is maintaining chastity. *The title of the work in Latin is Vita Malchi monachi captivi. Those preparing for a naval battle first in the port and on a calm sea stop the movement of the rudders, fold the oars, prepare the iron paws and anchors; and placing the soldiers on the deck, they teach them to stand firmly in a shaky and shaky place. This is so that, having studied an example war, they will not be afraid when they are in an actual battle. So I, after a long silence (I was forced into silence by the one for whom my speech serves as execution), I want to first test myself in a small story and, as it were, clean off some rust from my tongue in order to be able to begin a more extensive story. For I decided (if, of course, the Lord continues to live, and if those who revile me leave their persecution at least in view of the fact that I am running away and hiding from them) to describe from the coming of the Savior to our age, i.e. from the apostles to the last days of our time, how and through whom the Church of Christ came into being, and how, having strengthened, it grew during persecution and was crowned with martyrdom, and after it came under the protection of Christian sovereigns, strengthened in power and wealth, it weakened in virtues. But more about that at another time. Now let's proceed to the assumption. At a distance of about thirty miles from the Syrian city of Antioch, somewhat to the east, is the village of Maronia. This village, after many owners and guardians, during the time when I lived in Syria as a boy, came into the possession of my relative, Pope Evagrius. I named it here in order to show how I learned what I want to write about. So, there lived an old man named Malchus, whom we could call in Latin king 1 by nationality and language, Syrian, so that in the strict sense he was a native inhabitant of that place. He lived with an old woman, very decrepit and, apparently, already close to death. Both of them were so zealously pious and attended church so often that they could have been considered the Zechariah and Elizabeth of the Gospels if John had been between them. When, out of curiosity, I asked the local residents what kind of connection there was between them: whether it was marital, or blood, or spiritual, they all unanimously answered that they were holy, pleasing people, and hinted at something amazing. Carried away by curiosity, I persistently approached this man, and carefully finding out the truth of the matter, I learned the following from him. “I,” he said, “by birth, am a farmer from a Nizivian village, was alone with my parents. When they forced me, as a branch of my family and the heir of my family, to marry, I answered that I would rather be a monk. No matter how much they pursued me - my father with threats, and my mother with caresses, this only served to cause me to run away from home and from my parents. But since I could not go to the east due to the proximity of the Persian border and the Roman military guard, I turned to the west, having with me some small travel supply that barely provided for my most basic needs. So what? However, I reached the Chalcis desert, which lies south of Imma and Beroi. Having found monks there, I devoted myself to their guidance, acquiring food with the labor of my hands and curbing the voluptuousness of the flesh by fasting. Many years later, the desire to go home awoke in me. My mother was still alive, but I heard about my father that he had died. Therefore, I wanted to console her widowhood, and then, having sold it to the estate, give part of it to the poor, invest part in a monastery, and leave part (why am I ashamed to admit my treachery?) for my own expenses. My abbot began to shout that this was a devilish temptation, and that the machinations of an ancient enemy were hidden under a plausible pretext. This means that the dog returns to his vomit. He presented me with many examples from the Scriptures, including, among other things, that the original reason for the fall of Adam and Eve was the hope of becoming a deity. Unable to convince, he fell to his knees and begged me not to leave him, so that I wouldn’t ruin myself—taking his hand to his forehead, he wouldn’t look back. Alas for me, poor: I won the most pitiful victory over the warner, believing that he was not concerned about my salvation, but about his own benefits... So, escorting me out of the monastery, as if I were a dead person for burial, and saying goodbye for the last time, he said: “I see you marked with the seal of the son of Satan; I don’t ask for reasons, I don’t accept apologies. A sheep running out of a sheepfold immediately falls into the wolf’s mouth.” If you go from Beroi to Edessa, then next to the high road there is a desert, along which the Saracens wander everywhere, it is unknown where they have a permanent residence. Their fear gathers those traveling in those places into large societies in order to ward off the threatening disaster with mutual help. My companions were men, women, old people, youths, children, about seventy in number. And then suddenly the Ishmaelites attack, sitting on horses and camels, with hairy and bandaged heads and half-naked, meanwhile dragging caps and huge boots: quivers hung over their shoulders; shaking large bows, they held long spears; They did not go to battle, but to plunder. We were robbed, scattered, dragged in different directions. And so I, having returned to my possession the inheritance left long ago and bitterly repenting of my action, went into slavery together with another woman to the one master who had inherited it. We were led, even transported, high on camels; and across the whole vast desert, constantly in danger of falling, we hung rather than sat. Half-raw meat was our food, camel's milk was our drink. Finally, having crossed a large river, we reached the interior of the desert, where, having heard the order to honor the people's mistress and children according to custom, we bowed our heads. Here, as if imprisoned in a dungeon, I learned to walk in different clothes, that is, naked: because the immoderation of the climate did not allow me to cover up anything other than the shameful. I was given the opportunity to tend sheep, and in comparison with the misfortunes I had endured, I found consolation in the fact that I saw less often my masters and those who were in the same slavery as me. I saw in myself something reminiscent of St. James; brought to mind Moses: and they were once also shepherds in the wilderness. I ate fresh cheese and milk; He prayed incessantly, sang psalms that he learned in the monastery. My captivity gave me pleasure; and I thanked the court of God for having found in the desert a monk whom I would have lost in my homeland. But nothing is safe from the devil; His wiles are numerous and tireless! So his hatred found me, hiding in the unknown. The master, seeing that his flock was increasing, and not noticing any deception in me (because I knew the apostolic commandment that slaves should serve their masters as God (Eph. 6:5-8)), out of a desire to reward me, in order to make me even more faithful to himself, gave me a well-known woman who was in the same slavery with me, a woman who had once been taken captive. When I refused and said that I was a Christian, that it was not permissible for me to take the wife of a living husband (because her husband, taken captive with us, was taken away by another master), the inexorable master, becoming enraged, began to chop me down with a naked sword. If I had not immediately stretched out my hands and taken the woman, he would have shed my blood in the same place. A more than usual gloomy night was already approaching, and for me an extremely fast night. I am leading my new wife into a dilapidated cave: grief is driving our wedding - we curse each other and do not admit it. Then I felt completely captivated. Prostrated on the ground, I began to mourn the monasticism that I had lost, saying: “How far have I lived, unfortunate one? Where have my atrocities brought me? “When my head began to turn grey, I changed from a virgin to a man.” What good is it that I left my parents, my homeland, my household for the sake of the Lord, when I do what - in order not to do - I despised all the above! Is it perhaps because I am losing this because I wished to return to my homeland? What are we going to do, soul: will we die or will we win? Will we wait for the hand of the Lord, or will we plunge into ourselves with the edge of our own sword? Turn the sword on yourself: your death must be more terrible than the death of your body. And slavish chastity has its martyrdom. Let the witness of Christ lie unburied in the desert; I will be my own persecutor and martyr.” Having said this, I pulled out a sword, sparkling in the darkness, and turning its edge towards me, I said: goodbye, unfortunate woman; Let me be better for you as a martyr than as a husband. Then she, falling at my feet, said: “I beg you by Jesus Christ and conjure you at this solemn moment, do not shed your blood on my head. If you want to die, turn your sword on me first. Let us better connect with each other this way. Even if my husband had returned, I would have retained the purity that captivity taught me, or I would have perished sooner than I lost it. Why would you die for fear of copulating with me? I myself would die if you wanted this copulation. So, let me be your wife of chastity; let the union of the soul be sweeter for you than the body. The gentlemen will consider you a husband. Christ will know for his brother. We will easily convince them of our marriage when they see that we love each other so much.” I admit I was amazed; surprised by female virtue, he fell in love with his wife much more. However, I never looked at her naked body, never touched her flesh: I was afraid of losing during peace what I had saved during the battle. A lot of days passed in such a marriage; our marriage made us more amiable to the gentlemen. They had no suspicions about our flight, although it happened that I, as a reliable shepherd of the flock, went into the desert for entire months. After a long time, sitting alone in the desert and seeing nothing but heaven and earth, I began to reflect in silence with myself; Among many other things, I remembered the cohabitation of the monks, and especially the face of my father, who taught me, held me, lost me. As I was thinking this way, my eyes fell on a herd of ants that swarmed along the narrow path. Burdens larger than the size of the body were visible. Some of them were dragging some grass seeds with their mouth pincers; others carried the earth out of the holes and blocked the flow of water with embankments. Others, bearing in mind the onset of winter, gnawed the brought seeds so that they would not germinate in the granaries when the earth became damp; and these carried out the bodies of the dead with solemn lamentation. But what is even more surprising, with such an extraordinary number of them, the one leaving did not interfere with the one entering; and even better - when they saw that someone was falling under a burden and heaviness, they offered their shoulders and helped. In general, this day gave me a wonderful sight. Recalling on this occasion Solomon, who refers us to the prudence of the ant and arouses lazy souls by his example, I began to be burdened by captivity, to dream of monastery cells, to want to lead a life similar to the life of these ants, where they work for the community, have no personal property, but everything belongs to everyone. When I returned to the den, my wife met me. I could not hide my emotional sorrow on my face. She asked what made me so depressed. I heard the reason. I persuade her to run away; she doesn't refuse. I ask you to remain silent, he makes a promise; and whispering for a long time, we hesitate between hope and fear. I had two goats of amazing size in my herd. Having killed them, I make skins (for water), and prepare their meat for my journey. And on the very first evening, when the gentlemen thought that we were sleeping somewhere, we set off, carrying furs and pieces of meat. And when we reached the river, which was ten miles away, then, having inflated the bellows and sat down on them, we set off across the water, only lightly paddling with our feet; this is so that the river will carry us down and wash us to the other bank much further than we went into it, and so that those pursuing us will lose track. But meanwhile the meat was wet and partly was lost; We barely had food left for three days. We drank until we were full, preparing ourselves for future thirst. We run, constantly looking back; and we set out more at night than during the day, partly fearing an attack from the Saracens wandering everywhere, partly due to the excessive heat of the sun. Poor me, I am horrified even as I tell it, and although I feel safe with all my soul, my whole body trembles with horror. Three days later we saw quite clearly two riders who were quickly rushing on camels. Our mind, sensing something bad, immediately imagined the master and the thought of death; the sun itself has darkened in our eyes. Horrified and realizing that the footprints in the sand had given us away, we saw on our right side a cave that went deep into the ground. So, fearing poisonous animals (because echidnas, adders, scorpions and other similar animals, avoiding the heat of the sun, usually seek shade), although we entered the cave, we did not go far, so that, running away from death, we would not meet death; but immediately at the very entrance on the left side they hid in a hole. We thought like this: if the Lord helps the unfortunate, we will be saved; if he despises sinners, we will find a coffin there. Can you imagine what was in our souls, how much fear we experienced, when the master and one of those who were with us in his slavery stopped at a cave not far away, and followed the tracks to the very place in which we were hiding? Oh, death is incomparably harder when you wait for it than when it actually comes! Here again, out of fear and horror, my tongue can barely move, and as if I don’t dare to utter a word under the master’s cry... He sent a slave to pull us out of the crevasse; and he himself held the camels and, with a drawn sword, waited for our exit. Meanwhile the servant went inside three or four cubits; from the place where we were hiding, we saw his back (because such is the property of the eyes that those who enter the darkness after the sunlight see nothing); a voice was heard throughout the cave: “Come out, you slackers, come out, you hanged men: why are you standing, why are you delaying? come out, the lord is calling.” He was still talking, when suddenly we saw through the darkness that a lioness rushed at him and, choking his throat, dragged the bloodied man into the depths (of the cave). Good Jesus, how much horror we experienced then, how much joy! The master did not know when our enemy died before our eyes. Seeing that he was hesitating, he thought that two of us were resisting one. Unable to control his anger, he both held the sword and entered the cave. But, cursing the servant with a furious cry for his slowness, he had not yet reached the place where we were hiding when he was captured by the beast. Who would ever believe that a wild beast fought for us in our face? When one danger had passed, another destruction was before our eyes; it was no easier to be subjected to the wrath of a lion than to be subjected to the wrath of a man. We felt fear in our souls and, not daring to even move, waited to see what would happen, having in such danger, instead of a stone wall, the only fence in the consciousness of our purity. But the lioness, fearing cunning and feeling that they were looking at her, early in the morning carried out a lion cub in her teeth and left us our shelter. Not quite confident in our safety, however, we did not immediately rush out; but they waited a long time and, thinking about going out, imagined the possibility of meeting her. When the fear passed and that day passed, we went out in the evening; and they saw camels, which they called dromedaries because of their extreme running speed. They chewed the previous food, removing it again from the stomach into which it was lowered. Having boarded them, and delighted with the new provisions for the road, we finally reached the Roman camp through the desert on the tenth day. Presented to the tribune, we told him everything in order; from there they sent us to Sabian, the ruler of Mesopotamia, and we received money for the camels. But since my former abbot had already died, having moved to these places, I again became a monk, and handed her over to the virgins: because, although I loved her as a sister, I did not trust her as a sister. This is what old Malchus told me as a child. And I, also an old man, told you, outlined for the pure the story of purity. I convince virgins to keep clean. You, in turn, will tell your descendants; let them know that chastity can never be taken away, neither under swords, nor in the desert, nor among wild beasts; and a man devoted to Christ may die, but cannot be conquered. That is, from the Hebrew מֶלֶךְ ‎ (melech) - king. You might be interested in: