Lausiac History (recension G)

 having written down the lives of the fathers, Abraham and those who followed, Moses and Elijah and John, they did not relate them in order to glorify

 goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control, is acknowledged. Pref.14 For Paul himself said: For the fruit of the spirit is such and such things.

 being virgins but he entrusted them to Christ, saying: He who created you will provide for your life, as also for me. And there was with his sister

 a judge who orders one to be submitted to debauchery. 3.4 So that one, having gone mad, orders her, having been stripped, to be thrown into the cauld

 but haughty in disposition, exceedingly rich in money, giving † not † to a stranger, not to a virgin, not to the church, not an obol to a poor person.

 So having met and spent three years with the monasteries around Alexandria, with about two thousand most excellent and very zealous men, departing fro

 Lord and what do you command now? I command, he said, that each of us from now on remain by himself. But she did not agree, saying Let us rema

 without a fever, not having been sick, but sewing up the basket, being seventy years old who, having sent for me, and while the last stitch was on it

 at the martyrium called Roufinianais. Whose tomb is said to heal all who suffer from fever.] 12 .tConcerning Benjamin 12.1 In this mountain of Nitria

 were perfected. And some were pleased by this one, others by that one. When a dispute therefore arose among the brotherhood over the praises, they go

 therefore also to banish you from this. 16.3 Therefore, knowing that he had been mocked, he returned again to his first cell. And having completed th

 the tax-collectors are upon you, whose disease you also suffer. And it happened that he disobeyed after the death of Macarius, after another fifteen

 the saint, taking him, prayed over him, beseeching God. And after one or two days, when the affliction subsided, the holy Macarius says to her: 17.13

 ravens before my sight, and saying: What do you want, Macarius? What do you want, monk? Why have you come to our place? You cannot remain here. So I

 he did nothing with his hands. Therefore, when all the ascetics saw this, they rose up against the abbot, saying: From where have you brought us this

 you shall be shaken, I shall not hear you. 18.24 So after falling for a long time, he rose. And when night came, they attacked him again and filling

 fifty miles he went away to where he had his company. This so great man, at long last being pricked with compunction by some circumstance, gave himsel

 so that we should fear these flies more than he feared the demons. This was the way of life of Moses the Ethiopian, who was himself also numbered amon

 of Eulogius and worthily nourished by the disease. But after fifteen years a demon dwelt in him and he rebelled against Eulogius and he began to assa

 Do not turn aside anywhere, depart do not be separated from one another, but go to your cell where you have spent your time. For God is already sendi

 to them a way of life such as never in youth. 22.5 And having moistened palm leaves he says to him: “Take these, weave a rope as I do.” The old man we

 And standing by the rocks on the mountain he prays and says thus: You see, Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, that I will not come

 wisdom no longer approached me. 24 .tConcerning Stephen the Libyan 24.1 A certain Stephen, a Libyan by race, from the region of Marmarica and Mareoti

 to place in the little book for the security of the readers, just as among the holy plants of paradise was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

 he fell into a fall of pride. And opening the window, she received the one serving her and was mixed with him, because she had not maintained her asce

 saying to her, We do not dare to meet them for we know their drunkenness and their recklessness. 31.3 But if you will have mercy both on the whole v

 to the angel that the prayers are few, the angel says to him: I have prescribed these things so that even the lesser ones may be able to complete the

 matter. So when the elder came, the other sisters reported the matter and he ordered that not a single one of their offerings be accepted and as for

 having been enclosed for years and receiving his needs through a window from the one who served him, he was deemed worthy of the gift of prophecy. Amo

 sufficiently, I thanked God when I learned that the pretexts driving me had been accomplished. 35.10 Then again he says to me, joking: Do you want to

 about to give birth, she was having a difficult labor, the spirit crushing her. So while the woman was demon-possessed, her husband came and begged th

 All ran up to him, both those wearing the tribon and those wearing the birrus, saying to him: What is the matter with you? And where are you from? An

 and why should I go out? He says to her: If you have died to the world and the world to you, it is the same to you to go out and not to go out ther

 suggests. 38.6 He says to him: If you listen to your friend, it is not expedient for you to live in this city. Evagrius says to him: If God delive

 he died among them, having partaken of communion on Epiphany in the church. He told us then about death that, It is the third year I have not been tr

 I appoint myself as a host for you. And taking money and partitioning the porticoes and setting up about three hundred beds, he nursed the starving,

 the hill of the ascension from where Jesus was taken up, he continued standing and singing psalms and praying and whether it snowed or it rained or i

 of those boiled by fire. Having persevered in these for eighteen years, he sang the hymn of victory to Christ. This man, having been warred against in

 in Jerusalem for the sake of a vow, bishops and monks and virgins, at their own expense they edified all whom they met, and they healed the schism of

 to many souls, in some there is an excellence of intellect, in others a fitness for discipline. But when neither the action nor the excellence is for

 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure 47.16 lest ever with the won

 having drawn [their swords], they attacked. And such a thing happened: when he raised the sword and was about to draw it against Gaddana, the hand of

 she led to the solitary life. And having catechized her younger son Publicola, she led him to Sicily and having sold all her remaining property and r

 to her own daughter. 57.2 I knew this woman, who labored through every night, grinding with her hands for the subduing of the body, explaining that,

 of this one, named Taor, who, having been thirty years in the monastery, never wished to receive a new garment or veil or sandal, saying, I have no n

 of her own. And she freed the eight thousand slaves who wished it, for the rest did not wish it but chose to serve her brother to whom she conceded t

 was said to be most learned and most faithful who received Origen the writer, as he was fleeing the insurrection of the Greeks, for two years at her

 they may stir up some of the civil disturbances, falling away from their purpose. 67 .tConcerning Magna 67.1 In this city of Ancyra many other virgins

 to slander a certain lector of the city. And when she was already pregnant, being questioned by her father, she accused the lector. But the presbyter,

 warm loaves in his sheepskin at another time again wine and loaves. At another time again, when he was speaking, I knew that You are in need go the

without a fever, not having been sick, but sewing up the basket, being seventy years old; who, having sent for me, and while the last stitch was on its way to completion, being about to expire, says to me: "Receive this basket from my hands, so that you may remember me; for I have nothing else to leave you"". Whom she buried, and having wrapped the body in linen cloths, she laid it to rest; and so she departed from the desert, keeping the basket with her until death. 10.6 This Pambo, as he was dying, at the very hour of his passing, is said to have said this in the presence of Origen the presbyter and steward, and Ammonius, men of great renown, and other brothers: "Since I came to this place in the desert and built my cell and lived here, I do not remember eating 'bread for nothing' except from my own hands; I have not regretted a word that I have spoken up to this present hour; and so I go to God as one who has not yet even begun to worship God". 10.7 Origen and Ammonius also bore witness to him, relating to us that "Whenever he was asked about a saying from Scripture or some other practical matter, he never answered immediately, but would say: 'I have not yet found it'. Often even three months would pass and he would not give an answer, saying he had not comprehended it. Thus, however, they received his decisions, which were made with careful consideration according to God, as if from God. For he was said to have possessed this virtue even beyond the great Antony and beyond all others, that of precision in speech". 10.8 The following story is also told of Pambo, that Pior the ascetic, having visited him, brought his own bread, and being reproached by him: "Why have you done this?" he answered: "So that I might not be a burden to you," he says. He taught him explicitly in silence; for after a time, visiting him, he was carrying his bread soaked, and being asked, he said: "So that I might not burden you, I even soaked it". 11 .tConcerning Ammonius 11.1 This Ammonius, his disciple, along with three other brothers and his two sisters, having driven to the height of the love of God, took possession of the desert, the sisters establishing a monastery of their own and he one of his own, so that they were a considerable distance from each other. But since the man was exceedingly learned, and a certain city desired him for the office of bishop, they approached the blessed Timothy, asking him to ordain him as bishop for them. 11.2 And he says to them: "Bring him to me and I will ordain him". When therefore they went with assistance and he saw that he was caught, he begged them and swore an oath not to accept ordination, nor to leave the desert; and they did not grant his request. Therefore in their sight he took a pair of scissors and cut off his left ear to the root, saying to them: "From now on, at least, be convinced that it is impossible for me, as the law forbids one with a severed ear to be brought to the priesthood". 11.3 So leaving him they departed, and going away they told the bishop. And he says to them: "Let this law be observed among the Jews; but as for me, even if you bring me a man with his nose cut off, if he is worthy in character, I will ordain him". So they went again and begged him; and he swore to them that "If you compel me, I will cut out my tongue". So leaving him they departed. 11.4 This marvel is related of this Ammonius, that whenever pleasure arose in his flesh he did not spare it, but heating an iron he would apply it to his own limbs, so that he was always ulcerated. His diet, moreover, was of raw food from youth until death; for he never ate anything that had passed through fire except bread. Having memorized the Old and New Scripture, he also went through 600 myriads in the writings of the renowned men Origen and Didymus and Pierius and Stephanus, as the fathers of the desert testify of him. 11.5 He was an exhorter to the brothers in the desert, if ever there was one. To him the blessed Evagrius, a spirit-bearing and discerning man, gave his vote, saying that "I have never seen a man more dispassionate than he". [This man having once come to the city of Constantine on account of a need, ... after a short time he fell asleep, and is buried in the

ἀπύρεκτος, μὴ νοσήσας, ἀλλὰ τὴν σπυρίδα καταράπτων, ἐτῶν ὢν ἑβδομήκοντα· ὃς μεταστειλάμενός με, καὶ τοῦ τε λευταίου κεντήματος πρὸς ἀπαρτισμὸν ὄντος, μέλλων ἐκλεί πειν λέγει μοι· "∆έξαι ταύτην τὴν σπυρίδα ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν, ἵνα μέμνησαί μου· ἄλλο γάρ σοι οὐκ ἔχω τί κατα λείψω"". Ὃν ἐνταφιάσασα καὶ ὀθονίοις τὸ σῶμα ἑλίξασα κατέθετο· καὶ οὕτως ἀνεχώρησε τῆς ἐρήμου, ἕως θανάτου τὴν σπυρίδα ἔχουσα μεθ' ἑαυτῆς. 10.6 Οὗτος ὁ Παμβὼ τελευτῶν, κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ὥραν τοῦ ἐκλιμπάνειν παρεστῶσι Ὠριγένει τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ καὶ οἰκο νόμῳ καὶ Ἀμμωνίῳ, ἀνδράσι περιβοήτοις, καὶ λοιποῖς ἀδελφοῖς, τοῦτο λέγεται εἰρηκέναι, ὅτι "Ἀφ' οὗ ἦλθον εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ᾠκοδόμησά μου τὴν κέλλαν καὶ ᾤκησα, ἐκτὸς τῶν χειρῶν μου οὐ μέμνημαι "δωρεὰν ἄρτον" φαγών· οὐ μεταμεμέλημαι ἐπὶ λόγῳ ᾧ ἐλάλησα ἕως τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας· καὶ οὕτως ἀπέρχομαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὡς μηδὲ ἀρξάμενος θεοσεβεῖν". 10.7 Προσεμαρτύρουν δὲ αὐτῷ ἀφηγούμενοι ἡμῖν Ὠριγένης τε καὶ Ἀμμώνιος ὅτι "Οὐδέποτε ἐρωτηθεὶς λόγον γραφικὸν ἢ ἄλλον τινὰ πραγματικὸν παραυτὰ ἀπεκρίνατο, ἀλλ' ἔλεγεν· "Οὐδέπω εὕρηκα". Πολ λάκις δὲ παρῆλθε καὶ τρίμηνον καὶ ἀπόκρισιν οὐκ ἐδίδου, λέγων μὴ κατειληφέναι. Οὕτω μέντοι τὰς ἀποφάσεις αὐτοῦ ἐδέχοντο, γινομένας περιεσκεμμένως κατὰ θεόν, ὡς ἀπὸ θεοῦ. Ταύτην γὰρ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐλέγετο καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν μέγαν Ἀντώνιον καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντας ἐσχηκέναι, τὴν εἰς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τοῦ λόγου". 10.8 Φέρεται δὲ τοιαύτη πρᾶξις τοῦ Παμβώ, ὅτι Πίωρ ὁ ἀσκητὴς παραβαλὼν αὐτῷ ἴδιον ἀπήνεγκεν ἄρτον, καὶ ἐγκλη θεὶς παρ' αὐτοῦ· "Τίνος ἕνεκεν τοῦτο πεποίηκας;" ἀπεκρί νατο· "Ἵνα σε μὴ βαρήσω", φησίν. Ὃν σιγῇ ῥητῶς ἐπαίδευσε· μετὰ χρόνον γὰρ παραβαλὼν αὐτῷ, βρέξας τὸν ἄρτον ἐβάσταζε, καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς εἶπεν· "Ἵνα μή σε βαρήσω καὶ ἔβρεξα". 11 .tΠερὶ Ἀμμωνίου 11.1 Ἀμμώνιος οὗτος ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ ἅμα τρισὶν ἀδελφοῖς ἑτέροις καὶ δυσὶν ἀδελφαῖς αὐτοῦ εἰς ἄκρον φιλο θείας ἐλάσαντες, κατειλήφασι τὴν ἔρημον, κἀκεῖναι κατ' ἰδίαν ποιήσασαι μονὴν καὶ οὗτος κατ' ἰδίαν, ὡς ἱκανὸν ἀπέχειν μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν φιλόλογος ἦν ὁ ἀνήρ, καὶ πόλις τις ἠράσθη αὐτοῦ εἰς λόγον ἐπισκόπου, προσῆλθον τῷ μακαρίῳ Τιμοθέῳ παρακαλέσαντες αὐτὸν χει ροτονῆσαι αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς ἐπίσκοπον. 11.2 Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Ἀγάγετέ μοι αὐτὸν καὶ χειροτονῶ αὐτόν". Ὡς οὖν ἀπῆλθον μετὰ βοηθείας καὶ εἶδεν ὅτι κατελήφθη, παρεκάλεσεν αὐτοὺς καὶ διωμόσατο μὴ καταδέχεσθαι χειροτονίαν, μηδὲ ἐξέρχε σθαι τῆς ἐρήμου· καὶ οὐ συνεχώρησαν αὐτῷ. Βλεπόντων οὖν αὐτῶν λαβὼν ψαλίδα τὸ οὖς αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀριστερὸν ἕως πυθμέ νος ἐψάλισε, λέγων αὐτοῖς· "Κἂν ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν πληροφο ρήθητε ὅτι ἀδύνατόν μοι γενέσθαι, τοῦ νόμου ἀπαγορεύοντος ὠτότμητον εἰς ἱερωσύνην μὴ ἀπάγεσθαι". 11.3 Οὕτως οὖν ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἀνεχώρησαν, καὶ ἀπελθόντες εἶπον τῷ ἐπισκό πῳ. Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Οὗτος ὁ νόμος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις πολιτευέσθω· ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ ῥινότμητον ἐὰν ἐνέγκητε, ἄξιον ὄντα τοῖς τρόποις, χειροτονῶ". Ἀπελθόντες οὖν πάλιν παρ εκάλουν αὐτόν· καὶ διώμνυτο αὐτοῖς ὅτι "Ἐάν με ἀναγ κάσητε, τὴν γλῶσσάν μου ἀποτέμνω". Οὕτως οὖν ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἀνεχώρησαν. 11.4 Τούτου τοῦ Ἀμμωνίου φέρεται τὸ θαῦμα τοῦτο, ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἡδονῆς αὐτῷ ἐπαναστάσης τοῦ σαρκίου αὐτοῦ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλὰ σίδηρον ἐκπυρώσας προσετίθει τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέλεσιν, ὡς πάντοτε αὐτὸν ἡλκωμένον εἶναι. Ἡ μέντοι τρά πεζα αὐτοῦ γέγονεν ἐκ νεότητος ὠμοφαγία ἕως θανάτου· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὃ διὰ πυρὸς διήρχετο ἔφαγέ ποτε ἐκτὸς ἄρτου. Παλαιὰν καὶ καινὴν γραφὴν ἀποστηθίσας καὶ ἐν συγγράμ μασιν ἀνδρῶν ἐλλογίμων Ὠριγένους καὶ ∆ιδύμου καὶ Πιερίου καὶ Στεφάνου διῆλθε μυριάδας ἑξακοσίας, ὡς μαρτυροῦσιν αὐτῷ οἱ τῆς ἐρήμου πατέρες. 11.5 Παρακλητικὸς δὲ ἦν τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἀδελφοῖς εἰ καί τις ἄλλος. Τούτῳ ψήφους ἐδίδου ὁ μακάριος Εὐάγριος ἀνὴρ πνευματοφόρος καὶ διακρι τικός, λέγων ὅτι "Οὐδέποτε αὐτοῦ ἀπαθέστερον ἑώρακα ἄνθρωπον". [Οὗτος ἐν Κωνσταντίνου πόλει ποτὲ παραγενόμενος διὰ χρείαν, ... μετ' ὀλίγον χρόνον κοιμᾶται, καὶ θάπτεται ἐν τῷ