Thessaloniki, and after showing the written instruction, I divided the property with his brothers. And I sold to them the estates allotted to me for three thousand gold pieces, and the clothing and silverware I brought with me, along with another one thousand four hundred gold pieces, and having collected everything within three months, I sailed back, arriving in twelve days at the port of Ascalon, and from there, having hired beasts of burden and loaded them, I went up to the holy city. And as soon as the thrice-blessed one saw me, he embraced me with joy and tears (for joy can also move one to tears), but I did not recognize him; for he had a very robust body and a ruddy complexion. And I rolled my eyes, gazing at him intently.

7 But he, understanding and smiling gracefully, said: Do not be amazed, brother Mark, seeing me healthy and strong, but learn the cause of my health and then be greatly amazed at the ineffable love for mankind of Christ, how things despaired of by men are easily set right by him. And I begged him to tell me the cause of his health and how he had overcome such an affliction. And he answered me: About forty days ago, while I was at the vigil of the holy Sunday, an inexpressible pain of the liver seized me, and unable to bear the agony, I went and lay down near the holy skull, and from the great pain I fell into a kind of ecstasy, and I saw the Savior nailed to a cross and one of the thieves hanging with him on another cross, and I began to cry out and say the words of the thief: "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." And the Savior, answering, says to the hanging thief: Come down from the cross and save that man who is lying there, just as you also were saved. And coming down from the cross, the thief embraced me and kissed me, and extending his right hand, he raised me up, saying: Come to the Savior. And immediately I arose and ran to him, and I saw him having come down from the cross and saying to me: Take this wood and keep it. And having taken that same precious wood and holding it, I immediately came to myself from the ecstasy, and from that very hour I no longer had any pain, nor is the place of the affliction evident.

8 And when I heard these things, I was greatly amazed and glorified God who always shows mercy to those who call upon him, and much more to those who genuinely and sincerely beseech him. From that time I was built up even more in the man (for I truly considered him a servant of God), and having restored to him all that I had brought, I remained with him, ministering to him and enjoying his spiritual words; for he was truly a blameless man, most gentle, merciful, possessing also discernment of the divine scripture and resolving the difficult passages in it as well as anyone (and he was not without secular learning either), responding to and silencing unbelievers and heretics, a lover of the poor, sympathetic, quick to tears, honoring elders as fathers, younger men as brothers, children as his own offspring, having a mild and humble character and speech, not in pretense but in truth (for there was no guile in him), most temperate, so as to reach perfect dispassion, not given to anger, not bearing grudges, not letting the sun go down on his anger, having all passions dead, except for the anger which he stirred up against the enemies of the faith.

9 And having received from me the money and the other things I brought, and having sold the clothing and made most of the silver into precious vessels, he gave the rest within a short time to those in need, not only in the holy city, but also in other cities and villages and monasteries, especially to those in Egypt; for the monasteries there were very poor. But also to the sojourning strangers he became a second Abraham. Whence in a very short time all his property

Θεσσαλονίκην, καὶ ἐμφανίσας τὴν ἔγγραφον ἐντολήν, διένειμον τὰ πράγματα μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφῶν. ∆ιαπέπρακα δὲ αὐτοῖς τὰ λαχόντα μοι κτήματα χρυσῶν τρισχιλίων, τὰ δὲ ἐσθήματα καὶ ἀργυρώματα ἤγαγον μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἄλλους χρυσοῦς χιλίους τετρακοσίους, καὶ συναγαγὼν πάντα διὰ μηνῶν τριῶν, ἐπανέπλευσα φθάσας δι' ἡμερῶν δέκα δύο εἰς τὸ ἐμπορεῖον Ἀσκάλωνος, κἀκεῖθεν μισθωσάμενος κτήνη καὶ ταῦτα φορτώσας, ἀνῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν. Εὐθέως δὲ ὡς ἐθεάσατό με ὁ τρισμακάριος, περιεπτύξατό με μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ δακρύων (δύναται καὶ χαρὰ κινῆσαι δάκρυον), ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνων· εἶχεν γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ἐρρωμένον σφόδρα καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἐρυθράν. Ἀνεκύλιον δὲ τοὺς ἐμοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς πυκνῶς αὐτῷ ἐνορῶν.

7 Αὐτὸς δὲ νοήσας καὶ ὑπομειδιάσας χαριεντῶς ἔφη· Μὴ θαυμάσῃς, ἀδελφὲ Μάρκε, ὁρῶν με ὑγιῆ καὶ ἐρρωμένον, ἀλλὰ μάθε τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὑγείας καὶ τότε ὑπερθαύμασον τὴν ἄφατον φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πῶς τὰ ἀπελπισμένα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παρ' αὐτῷ εὐδιόρθωτα τυγχάνει. Ἐγὼ δὲ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν μοι τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὑγείας καὶ πῶς τοιοῦτον πάθος περιέγραψεν. Ὃ δέ μοι ἀπεκρίνατο· Πρὸ ἡμερῶν περί που τεσσαράκοντα, ἐμοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῇ ἀγρυπνίᾳ τῆς ἁγίας κυριακῆς, κατέσχεν με ἄφατος ὀδύνη τοῦ ἥπατος, καὶ μὴ φέρων τὴν ἀλγηδόνα, ἀπελθὼν ἀνεκλίθην πλησίον τοῦ ἁγίου κρανίου, καὶ ἐκ τῆς πολλῆς ὀδύνης ἐγενόμην ὡς ἐν ἐκστάσει, καὶ ὁρῶ τὸν σωτῆρα καθηλωμένον ἐν σταυρῷ καὶ ἕνα τῶν λῃστῶν σὺν αὐτῷ κρεμάμενον ἐν ἄλλῳ σταυρῷ, καὶ ἄρχομαι κράζειν καὶ λέγειν τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ λῃστοῦ· «Μνήσθητί μου, κύριε, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου». Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει τῷ κρεμαμένῳ λῃστῇ· Κάτελθε ἐκ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ σῶσον ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀνακείμενον ὥσπερ καὶ σὺ ἐσώθης. Καὶ κατελθὼν ὁ λῃστὴς ἐκ τοῦ σταυροῦ περιέλαβέν με καὶ κατεφίλησεν, καὶ προτείνας τὴν δεξιὰν ἀνέστησέν με λέγων· Ἐλθὲ πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα. Καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέστην καὶ ἔδραμον πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ ὁρῶ αὐτὸν καταβάντα ἐκ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ λέγοντά μοι· Λάβε τὸ ξύλον τοῦτο καὶ φύλαξον. Καὶ λαβὼν τὸ αὐτὸ τίμιον ξύλον καὶ βαστάσας, εὐθέως ἦλθον εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκστάσεως, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ὥρας οὐκέτι μοι ὀδύνη ἐγένετο, οὐδὲ ὁ τόπος τοῦ πάθους δῆλός ἐστιν.

8 Ἐγὼ δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας, ὑπερεθαύμασα καὶ ἐδόξασα τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἀεὶ ἔλεος ποιοῦντα τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον τοῖς γνησίως καὶ εἰλικρινῶς δεομένοις αὐτόν. Ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ περισσότερον οἰκοδομήθην εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα (ὄντως γὰρ αὐτὸν εἶχον δοῦλον θεοῦ), καὶ ἀποκαταστήσας αὐτῷ πάντα ὅσα ἐνήνοχα, ἔμεινα παρ' αὐτῷ ἐξυπηρετούμενος αὐτῷ καὶ ἀπολαύων τῶν πνευματικῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων· ὄντως γὰρ ἦν ἄμεμπτος ἄνθρωπος, πραότατος, ἐλεήμων, ἔχων καὶ τὸ διακριτικὸν τῆς θείας γραφῆς καὶ διαλύων τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ ἀπορούμενα εἰ καί τις ἄλλος (ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῆς ἔξωθεν παιδείας ἦν ἄμοιρος), ἀπαντῶν καὶ ἀποστομίζων ἀπίστους καὶ κακοπίστους, φιλόπτωχος, συμπαθητικός, ἐγγὺς ἔχων τὸ δάκρυον, γέροντας τιμῶν ὡς πατέρας, νεωτέρους ὡς ἀδελφούς, παιδία ὡς τέκνα, ἤπιον καὶ ταπεινὸν ἔχων τὸ ἦθος καὶ τὸν λόγον, οὐκ ἐν προσποιήσει ἀλλ' ἀληθείᾳ (οὔτε γὰρ ἦν δόλος ἐν αὐτῷ), σωφρονέστατος ὡς αὐτὸν φθάσαι τὴν τελείαν ἀπάθειαν, ἀόργητος, ἀμνησίκακος, μὴ συγχωρῶν τὸν ἥλιον δῦναι ἐπὶ τῷ παροργισμῷ αὐτοῦ, πάντα ἔχων τὰ πάθη νεκρά, πλὴν τοῦ θυμοῦ ὃν ἐκίνει κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τῆς πίστεως.

9 Λαβὼν δὲ παρ' ἐμοῦ τὰ χρήματα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἃ ἤνεγκα, καὶ πωλήσας τά τε ἐσθήματα καὶ ποιήσας τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ ἀργύρου τίμια σκεύη, τὰ λοιπὰ εἴσω ὀλίγου χρόνου δέδωκεν τοῖς δεομένοις, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ πόλει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἄλλαις πόλεσι καὶ κώμαις καὶ μοναστηρίοις, μάλιστα τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ· πολὺ γὰρ ἦν πτωχὰ τὰ ἐκεῖσε μοναστήρια. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ξένοις τοῖς ἐνδημοῦσιν δεύτερος Ἀβραὰμ ἐγένετο. Ὅθεν διὰ βραχυτάτου χρόνου πᾶσαν τὴν περιουσίαν αὐτοῦ