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receiving back the former adoption as sons, and, having completed the entire dispensation in the flesh for our sake, having accepted both cross and death and having wondrously united earthly things with heavenly things, and having risen from the dead and been taken up into heaven with glory and sat down at the right hand of the majesty of the Father, He sent forth the Paraclete Spirit to His eyewitnesses and initiates, according to the promise, in the form of fiery tongues, and He sent them to all the nations to enlighten those sitting in the darkness of ignorance, and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 8 so that from thence some of them, having been allotted the eastern regions, and others the western, were to go about, and to run through the northern and southern climes, fulfilling the charge commanded to them, at that time also the most holy Thomas, being one of the twelvefold phalanx of Christ’s disciples, was sent out to the land of the Indians, preaching to them the saving message. And with the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that followed, the darkness of superstition was driven away and, being delivered from idolatrous libations and abominations, they were added to the unerring faith, and, thus being refashioned by apostolic hands, they were made Christ’s own through baptism, and, growing through partial additions, they advanced in the blameless faith, and were building churches throughout all the lands. And when monasteries began to be established in Egypt and multitudes of monks to be gathered, and the fame of their virtue and angel-imitating life spread to the ends of the inhabited world, it also came to the Indians, and stirred them up to a like zeal, so that many of them, leaving all things behind, took to the deserts and in a mortal body undertook the life of the bodiless ones. With matters being in such a good state, and with many, as the saying goes, flying up to heaven on golden wings, there arises a certain king in that same country, Abenner by name, who had become great in wealth and power and in victory over his opponents, and noble in 10 wars, and priding himself on the size of his body and at the same time on the beauty of his face, and boasting in all the worldly and quickly fading advantages; but in his soul being oppressed by extreme poverty and suffocated by many evils, being of the Hellenic portion, and being exceedingly terrified by the superstitious error of the idols. And this man, living with much luxury and enjoyment of the sweet and pleasant things of life, and being deprived of none of his wants and desires, had one thing that cut short his gladness and cast his soul into cares: the evil of childlessness. For being destitute of children, he was very anxious how, being loosed from such a bond, he might be called a father of children, a thing most desired by many. Such was the king, and so was his mind. But the most glorious race of Christians and the multitudes of monks, holding the king's majesty as nothing, and not fearing his threat at all, advanced by the grace of Christ, increasing to a number beyond telling, and making little account of the king, but holding fast exceedingly to the things that lead to the service of God. And for this reason many of those who had undertaken the monastic order despised equally all the pleasant things here, but had this one thing alone as their love: piety, and they thirsted for death for Christ's sake, and they longed for the blessedness from there. They preached therefore, not with any fear or reservation, but also with very great boldness the saving name of God, and there was nothing on their lips but 12 Christ, and they openly showed to all both the fluid and quickly fading nature of present things and the stable and incorruptible nature of the life to come, and as it were opportunities

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τὴν προτέραν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολαβόντες, καί, πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τελέσας οἰκονομίαν, σταυρόν τε καὶ θάνατον καταδεξάμενος καὶ τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις παραδόξως ἑνοποιήσας τὰ ἐπίγεια, ἀναστὰς δὲ ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ μετὰ δόξης εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀναληφθεὶς καὶ ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς μεγαλωσύνης καθίσας, τὸ παράκλητον Πνεῦμα τοῖς αὐτόπταις αὐτοῦ καὶ μύσταις, κατὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, ἐν εἴδει γλωσσῶν πυρίνων ἐξαπέστειλε, καὶ ἔπεμψεν αὐτοὺς εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη φωτίσαι τοὺς ἐν σκότει τῆς ἀγνοίας καθημένους, καὶ βαπτίζειν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, 8 ὡς ἐντεῦθεν τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν τὰς ἑῴας λήξεις, τοὺς δὲ τὰς ἑσπερίους λαχόντας περιέρχεσθαι, βόρειά τε καὶ νότια διαθέειν κλίματα, τὸ προστεταγμένον αὐτοῖς πληροῦντας, διάγγελμα τότε καὶ ὁ ἱερώτατος Θωμᾶς, εἷς ὑπάρχων τῆς δωδεκαρίθμου φάλαγγος τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰνδῶν ἐξεπέμπετο, κηρύττων αὐτοῖς τὸ σωτήριον κήρυγμα. τοῦ Κυρίου δὲ συνεργοῦντος καὶ τὸν λόγον βεβαιοῦντος διὰ τῶν ἐπακολουθούντων σημείων, τὸ μὲν τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ἀπηλάθη σκότος καί, τῶν εἰδωλικῶν σπονδῶν τε καὶ βδελυγμάτων ἀπαλλαγέντες, τῇ ἀπλανεῖ προσετέθησαν πίστει, καί, οὕτω ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς μεταπλασθέντες χερσί, Χριστῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ᾠκειώθησαν, καί, ταῖς κατὰ μέρος προσθήκαις αὐξανόμενοι, προέκοπτον ἐν τῇ ἀμωμήτῳ πίστει, ἐκκλησίας τε ἀνὰ πάσας ᾠκοδόμουν τὰς χώρας. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἤρξατο μοναστήρια συνίστασθαι καὶ τὰ τῶν μοναχῶν ἀθροίζεσθαι πλήθη, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀγγελομιμήτου διαγωγῆς ἡ φήμη τὰ πέρατα διελάμβανε τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ εἰς Ἰνδοὺς ἧκε, πρὸς τὸν ὅμοιον ζῆλον καὶ τούτους διήγειρεν, ὡς πολλοὺς αὐτῶν, πάντα καταλιπόντας, καταλαβεῖν τὰς ἐρήμους καὶ ἐν σώματι θνητῷ τὴν πολιτείαν ἀνειληφέναι τῶν ἀσωμάτων. οὕτω καλῶς ἐχόντων τῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ χρυσαῖς πτέρυξι, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, εἰς οὐρανοὺς πολλῶν ἀνιπταμένων, ἀνίσταταί τις βασιλεὺς ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ χώρᾳ, Ἀβεννὴρ τοὔνομα, μέγας μὲν γενόμενος πλούτῳ καὶ δυναστείᾳ καὶ τῇ κατὰ τῶν ἀντικειμένων νίκῃ, γενναῖός τε ἐν 10 πολέμοις, καὶ μεγέθει σώματος ἅμα δὲ καὶ προσώπου ὡραιότητι σεμνυνόμενος, πᾶσί τε τοῖς κοσμικοῖς καὶ θᾶττον μαραινομένοις προτερήμασιν ἐγκαυχώμενος· κατὰ ψυχὴν δὲ ἐσχάτῃ πιεζόμενος πτωχείᾳ καὶ πολλοῖς κακοῖς συμπνιγόμενος, τῆς ἑλληνικῆς ὑπάρχων μοίρας, καὶ σφόδρα περὶ τὴν δεισιδαίμονα πλάνην τῶν εἰδώλων ἐπτοημένος. πολλῇ δὲ συζῶν οὗτος τρυφῇ καὶ ἀπολαύσει τῶν ἡδέων καὶ τερπνῶν τοῦ βίου, καὶ ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν θελημάτων καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν αὐτοῦ ἀποστερούμενος, ἓν εἶχε τὸ τὴν εὐφροσύνην αὐτῷ ἐγκόπτον καὶ μερίμναις αὐτοῦ βάλλον τὴν ψυχήν, τὸ τῆς ἀτεκνίας κακόν. ἔρημος γὰρ ὑπάρχων παίδων, διὰ φροντίδος εἶχε πολλῆς ὅπως, τοῦ τοιούτου λυθεὶς δεσμοῦ, τέκνων κληθείη πατήρ, πρᾶγμα τοῖς πολλοῖς εὐκταιότατον. τοιοῦτος μὲν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ οὕτως ἔχων τῆς γνώμης. Τὸ δὲ εὐκλεέστατον γένος τῶν χριστιανῶν καὶ τὰ τῶν μοναχῶν πλήθη παρ' οὐδὲν θέμενοι τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως σέβας, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ μὴ δεδοικότες ὅλως ἀπειλήν, προέκοπτον τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτι, εἰς λόγου κρείττονα πληθὺν ἐπιδιδόντες, καὶ βραχὺν μὲν ποιούμενοι τοῦ βασιλέως λόγον, τῶν δὲ πρὸς θεραπείαν φερόντων Θεοῦ διαφερόντως ἐχόμενοι. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλοὶ τῶν τὴν μοναδικὴν ἐπανῃρημένων τάξιν, πάντα μὲν ἐπίσης τὰ ἐνταῦθα τερπνὰ διέπτυον, πρὸς ἓν δὲ μόνον τοῦτο εἶχον ἐρωτικῶς, τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ θάνατον ἐδίψων, καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ὠρέγοντο μακαριότητος. ἐκήρυττον οὖν, οὐ φόβῳ τινὶ καὶ ὑποστολῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν εὐπαρρησιάστως τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ σωτήριον ὄνομα, καὶ οὐδὲν ὅ τι 12 μὴ Χριστὸς αὐτοῖς διὰ στόματος ἦν, τήν τε ῥευστὴν καὶ εὐμάραντον φύσιν τῶν παρόντων καὶ τὸ πάγιον καὶ ἄφθαρτον τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς φανερῶς πᾶσιν ὑπεδείκνυον, καὶ οἱονεὶ ἀφορμὰς