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to be written. Therefore, I shall write the life only of those who have appeared like luminaries in the east, and with their rays have taken possession of the ends of the world. The account will proceed in a narrative style, not using the rules of encomia, but making the narration of a few things without artifice. p.10 And I ask those who will read this God-loving history or ascetic way of life—for let anyone call the writing what he wishes—not to disbelieve what is said, if they should hear anything beyond their own power, nor to measure their virtue by their own, but to know clearly that God is accustomed to measure the gifts of the all-holy Spirit by the dispositions of the pious, and gives greater things to the more perfect. Let these things have been said by me to those who have not been initiated very precisely into divine matters; for the initiates of the inner sanctuaries of the Spirit know the bounties of the Spirit and what wonders it works through men among men, drawing the unbelievers to the knowledge of God by the magnitude of its portents. But he who will disbelieve what is about to be said by us, it is clear that he does not believe as true even those things which happened through Moses and Joshua and Elijah and Elisha, but considers a myth also the miracles that happened through the holy apostles. But if truth bears witness to those things, let him believe that these things too are free from falsehood; for the grace that was at work in those men, this same grace has also done through these men what it has done. For grace is ever-flowing, and choosing those who are worthy, it gushes forth through them the streams of its beneficence as if through certain springs. p.11 Of some of the things that will be said, I myself was an eyewitness; but as many things as I have not seen, I have heard from those who had seen them, men who were lovers of virtue and had been deemed worthy of seeing them and of their teaching; and trustworthy are not only Matthew and John, the great and first of the evangelists, who were eyewitnesses of the Lord's miracles, in writing the evangelical teaching, but also Luke and Mark, whom those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word precisely instructed, not only in what the Lord suffered and did, but also in what he continued to teach. But nevertheless, even though the blessed Luke was not an eyewitness, beginning his writing, he says he is making his narrative about the things that have been fulfilled. And we, hearing that he was not an eyewitness of these same narratives, but received this teaching from others, pay no less heed to him and to Mark than to Matthew and to John; for each is trustworthy in his narration, since indeed he was taught by those who had seen. Therefore, we too will say some things as eyewitnesses, and other things having trusted those eyewitnesses who narrated them, men who emulated their life. I have spent more words on this, wishing to persuade you that I will narrate true things. I shall begin the narrative, having taken it from this point. 1.t JAMES 1.1 Moses, the divine lawgiver, who laid bare the bottom of the sea and flooded the waterless desert with waters and performed all the other wonders, wrote the way of life of the saints of old, not using the wisdom which he had received from the Egyptians, but having received the splendor of grace from above. For from where else could he have learned of the virtue of Abel, and the love of God of Enoch, and the righteousness of Noah, and the pious priesthood of Melchizedek, and the call of Abraham, his faith, his endurance, his diligent hospitality, the much-famed sacrifice of his son, and the list of the other achievements and, to speak concisely, the contests, the victories, the proclamations of those divine men, if he had not received the rays of the intellectual and divine Spirit? Of this at present I also have need of the

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συγγραφῆναι. Μόνων τοίνυν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἕω φωστήρων δίκην ἀναφανέντων, καὶ ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τέρματα κατειληφότων, ἀναγράψω τὸν βίον. Ἀφηγηματικῶς δὲ ὁ λόγος προβήσεται, οὐ νόμοις ἐγκωμίων χρώμενος, ἀλλ' ὀλίγων τινῶν ἀτεχνῶς ποιούμενος τὴν διήγησιν. p.10 Ἀξιῶ δὲ τοὺς ἐντευξομένους τῇδε τῇ φιλοθέῳ ἱστορίᾳ ἢ ἀσκητικῇ πολιτείᾳ-ὡς γὰρ βούλεταί τις καλείτω τὸ σύγγραμμα-μὴ ἀπιστεῖν τοῖς λεγομένοις, εἴ τι ὑπὲρ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀκούοιεν δύναμιν, μηδὲ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐκείνων μετρεῖν ἀρετήν, ἀλλ' εἰδέναι σαφῶς ὡς ταῖς τῶν εὐσεβῶν γνώμαις μετρεῖν εἴωθεν ὁ θεὸς τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος τὰ χαρίσματα, καὶ ταῖς τελειοτέραις τὰ μείζονα δίδωσιν. Ταῦτα δέ μοι πρὸς τοὺς οὐ λίαν ἀκριβῶς τὰ θεῖα μεμυημένους εἰρήσθω· οἱ γὰρ μύσται τῶν ἀδύτων τοῦ πνεύματος ἴσασι τὰς φιλοτιμίας τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ οἷα δι' ἀνθρώπων ἐν ἀνθρώποις θαυματουργεῖ, τῇ τῶν τεράτων μεγαλουργίᾳ τοὺς ἀπίστους εἰς θεογνωσίαν ἐφελκόμενον. Ὁ δὲ τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν ῥηθησομένοις ἀπιστήσων, εὔδηλον ὡς οὐδὲ τοῖς διὰ Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἰησοῦ καὶ Ἠλία καὶ Ἐλισσαίου γεγενημένοις ὡς ἀληθέσι πιστεύει, μῦθον δὲ ἡγεῖται καὶ τὰς διὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων γεγενημένας θαυματουργίας. Εἰ δὲ ἐκείνοις ἀλήθεια μαρτυρεῖ, ψεύδους ἐλεύθερα εἶναι πιστευέτω καὶ ταῦτα· ἡ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἐνεργήσασα χάρις, αὕτη καὶ διὰ τούτων πεποίηκεν ἃ πεποίηκεν. Ἀέναος δὲ ἡ χάρις, καὶ τοὺς ἀξίους ἐκλεγομένη, οἷον διά τινων κρουνῶν ἀναβλύζει διὰ τούτων τῆς εὐεργεσίας τὰ νάματα. p.11 Τῶν δὲ λεχθησομένων ἐνίων μὲν αὐτόπτης ἐγενόμην ἐγώ· ὅσα δὲ μὴ τεθέαμαι, παρὰ τῶν ἐκείνους τεθεαμένων ἀκήκοα, ἀνδρῶν ἀρετῆς ἐραστῶν καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων θέας καὶ διδασκαλίας ἠξιωμένων· ἀξιόχρεως δὲ καὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν συγγράφων διδασκαλίαν οὐ μόνον Ματθαῖος καὶ Ἰωάννης, οἱ μεγάλοι καὶ πρῶτοι τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, οἱ τῶν δεσποτικῶν θαυμάτων αὐτόπται, ἀλλὰ καὶ Λουκᾶς καὶ Μάρκος, οὓς οἱ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται τοῦ λόγου, οὐ μόνον ἃ πέπονθέ τε καὶ δέδρακεν ὁ δεσπότης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἃ διδάσκων διετέλεσεν, ἀκριβῶς ἐξεπαίδευσαν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ μὴ γεγενημένος αὐτόπτης ὁ μακάριος Λουκᾶς, τῆς συγγραφῆς ἀρξάμενος, περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων πραγμάτων ποιεῖ σθαί φησι τὴν διήγησιν. Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀκούοντες ὅτι οὐκ αὐτόπτης ἐγένετο τούτων αὐτῶν τῶν διηγημάτων, ἀλλὰ παρ' ἄλλων ταύτην τὴν διδασκαλίαν παρέλαβεν, οὐδὲν ἧττον αὐτῷ καὶ Μάρκῳ προσέχομεν ἢ Ματθαίῳ καὶ Ἰωάννῃ· ἀξιόχρεως γὰρ ἑκάτερος διηγούμενος, ἅτε δὴ παρὰ τῶν τεθεαμένων δεδιδαγμένος. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰ μὲν ἐροῦμεν ὡς αὐτόπται, τὰ δὲ τοῖς αὐτόπταις διηγησαμένοις πεπιστευκότες, ἀνδράσι τὸν ἐκείνων βίον ἐζηλωκόσιν. Πλείονας δὲ περὶ τούτου δεδαπάνηκα λόγους, πεῖσαι βου λόμενος ὡς ἀληθῆ διηγήσομαι. Ἄρξομαι δὲ τῆς διηγήσεως ἔνθεν ἑλών. 1.t ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ 1.1 Μωϋσῆς, ὁ θεῖος νομοθέτης, ὁ τῆς θαλάττης τὸν πυθμένα γυμνώσας καὶ τὴν ἄνικμον ἔρημον ὕδασι κατα κλύσας καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα θαυματουργήσας, τῶν πάλαι γεγενημένων ἁγίων τὴν πολιτείαν συνέγραψεν, οὐ τῇ σοφίᾳ χρησάμενος, ἣν παρὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων παρέλαβεν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος τὴν αἴγλην δεξάμενος. Πόθεν γὰρ ἂν ἔμαθεν ἄλλοθεν τοῦ Ἄβελ τὴν ἀρετήν, καὶ τοῦ Ἐνὼχ τὸ φιλόθεον, καὶ τοῦ Νῶε τὸ δίκαιον, καὶ τὴν εὐσεβῆ τοῦ Μελχισεδὲκ ἱερωσύνην, καὶ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ τὴν κλῆσιν, τὴν πίστιν, τὴν καρτερίαν, τὴν ἐπιμελῆ φιλοξενίαν, τὴν πολυθρύλητον τοῦ παιδὸς ἱερουργίαν, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἄλλων κατορθωμάτων κατάλογον καί, συντόμως εἰπεῖν, τῶν θεσπεσίων ἐκείνων ἀνδρῶν τοὺς ἀγῶνας, τὰς νίκας, τὰς ἀναρρήσεις, εἰ μὴ τοῦ νοεροῦ καὶ θείου πνεύματος τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἐδέξατο; Ταύτης ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος κἀμοὶ δεῖ τῆς