14

at the same time, the lamentations of the women were interrupting the psalmody with their wails; But I, although my soul was in a bad state because of the misfortune, nevertheless considered from the circumstances, as was possible, that nothing of the things fitting for such a funeral should be omitted, but having separated by gender the crowd that had flocked together, and having mixed the multitude of women with the choir of virgins, and the crowd of men with the order of monks, I arranged for the psalmody to become one, both rhythmic and harmonious, from both groups, as if in a choral dance, blended in an orderly way through the common singing of all. As the day advanced little by little and the whole place around the outskirts was becoming crowded with the multitude flocking together, the one who presided over those places through the episcopate, Araxius was his name (for he was present with the full body of the priesthood), having come forward, asked to move the body forward gently, since the distance between was great and the crowd would be an obstacle to faster movement, and at the same time as he said these things, he called forward all those who shared the priesthood with him, so that the body might be carried by them.

34 When this was decided and the task was at hand, I, getting under the bier and having called him to the other side, and two others honored in the clergy having taken up the rear part of the bier, I went forward, proceeding at a walking pace, as was fitting, and our movement was made little by little. For with the people crowded around the bier and everyone insatiably gazing at that holy sight, it was not easy for us to complete our journey with facility; and on each side a considerable crowd of deacons and attendants went before, processing in rows before the body, all holding lamps of wax in their hands, and what was taking place was a kind of mystical procession, with the psalmody being chanted in unison from the first to the last, as in the hymnody of the three children. Since there were seven or eight stadia between the outskirts and the house of the holy martyrs, in which the bodies of her parents also lay, we barely completed the journey through almost the whole day. For the crowd, both that which had gathered and that which was always being added to it, did not allow the procession to proceed as planned. When, therefore, we were established within the doors of the house, we put down the bier and first turned to prayer; but the prayer becomes an occasion for lamentation for the people. For when the psalmody was silenced and the virgins looked upon that holy face, and the tomb of her parents was already being uncovered, in which it had been decided she should be laid, one of them cried out in a disorderly way, that "after this hour we will no longer look upon this godlike face," so that the other virgins also cried out the same with her, a disorderly confusion dissolved that orderly and sacred psalmody, as all were overcome by the wailing of the virgins. And with difficulty at last, as we gestured for silence and the herald led into prayer and called out the customary phrases to the church, the people settled into the posture of prayer.

35 And when the prayer came to a fitting end, a certain fear of the divine commandment entered me, which forbids uncovering the nakedness of a father or mother. And how, I said, will I be free from such a condemnation, when looking upon the bodies of the parents at the common nakedness of human nature, they having decayed, as is likely, and decomposed and been changed into a hideous and uncomely formlessness? And as I considered these things, and as Noah's indignation against his son intensified my fear, the story of Noah advises what should be done. For they were covered with a clean linen cloth before the bodies came into our sight as the lid was lifted, with each end of the linen cloth being brought up against it; and thus with the bodies concealed by the linen cloth, I and the aforementioned bishop of the place, lifting that holy body from the bier, laid it down beside the mother, common to both women

14

ἅμα καὶ γυναι κῶν ἐπεθορύβει ταῖς οἰμωγαῖς τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν· ἐγὼ δὲ καίτοι γε κακῶς τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὸ τῆς συμφορᾶς διακείμενος ὅμως ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων ἐπενόουν, ὡς ἦν δυνατόν, μηδὲν τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ κηδείᾳ πρεπόντων παραλειφθῆναι, ἀλλὰ διαστήσας κατὰ γένος τὸν συρρυέντα λαὸν καὶ τὸ ἐν γυναιξὶ πλῆθος τῷ τῶν παρθένων συγκαταμίξας χορῷ, τὸν δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν δῆμον τῷ τῶν μοναζόντων τάγματι, μίαν ἐξ ἑκατέρων εὔρυθμόν τε καὶ ἐναρμόνιον καθάπερ ἐν χοροστασίᾳ τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν γίνεσθαι παρεσκεύασα διὰ τῆς κοινῆς πάντων συνῳδίας εὐκόσμως συγκεκραμένην. Ὡς δὲ προῄει κατ' ὀλίγον ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἐστενοχωρεῖτο πᾶς ὁ περὶ τὴν ἐσχατιὰν τόπος τῷ πλήθει τῶν συρρυέντων, παρα στὰς ὁ τῶν τόπων ἐκείνων διὰ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς προεστώς, Ἀράξιος ὄνομα αὐτῷ (παρῆν γὰρ σὺν παντὶ τῷ τῆς ἱερω σύνης πληρώματι), προάγειν ἠρέμα παρεκάλει τὸ σκήνωμα ὡς πολλοῦ τε ὄντος τοῦ μεταξὺ διαστήματος καὶ τοῦ πλή θους πρὸς τὴν ὀξυτέραν κίνησιν ἐμποδὼν γενησομένου, καὶ ἅμα ταῦτα λέγων προσεκαλεῖτο πάντας τοὺς τῆς ἱερωσύνης αὐτῷ συμμετέχοντας, ὡς ἂν δι' ἐκείνων κομι σθείη τὸ σκήνωμα.

34 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο ἐδέδοκτο καὶ ἐν χερσὶν ἦν ἡ σπουδή, ὑποβὰς τὴν κλίνην ἐγὼ κἀκεῖνον ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος προσκαλεσάμενος, ἄλλων τε δύο τῶν ἐν τῷ κλήρῳ τετιμη μένων τὸ ὀπίσθιον τῆς κλίνης μέρος ὑπολαβόντων, ᾔειν τοῦ πρόσω ἐχόμενος βάδην, ὡς εἰκός, καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον ἡμῖν γινομένης τῆς κινήσεως. Τοῦ γὰρ λαοῦ περὶ τὴν κλίνην πεπυκνωμένου καὶ πάντων ἀπλήστως ἐχόντων τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐκείνου θεάματος οὐκ ἦν εὔπορον ἐν εὐκολίᾳ τὴν πορείαν ἡμῖν διανύεσθαι· προηγεῖτο δὲ καθ' ἑκάτερον μέρος διακόνων τε καὶ ὑπηρετῶν πλῆθος οὐκ ὀλίγον στοιχη δὸν τοῦ σκηνώματος προπομπεύοντες, ἐκ κηροῦ λαμπάδας διὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντες πάντες, καὶ ἦν τις μυστικὴ πομπὴ τὸ γινό μενον, ὁμοφώνως τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἀπ' ἄκρων ἐπὶ ἐσχάτους καθάπερ ἐν τῇ τῶν τριῶν παίδων ὑμνῳδίᾳ μελῳδουμένης. Ἑπτὰ δὲ ὄντων ἢ ὀκτὼ τῶν διὰ μέσου σταδίων ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων οἶκον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ τῶν γονέων ἀπέκειτο σώματα, διὰ πάσης σχεδὸν τῆς ἡμέρας μόλις τὴν ὁδὸν διηνύσαμεν. Οὐ γὰρ εἴα τὸ πλῆθος τό τε συνερχόμενον καὶ τὸ ἀεὶ προσγινόμενον κατὰ γνώμην τὴν πρόοδον γίνεσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν ἐντὸς τῶν θυρῶν τοῦ οἴκου κατέστημεν, ἀποθέμενοι τὴν κλίνην τὰ πρῶτα εἰς προσευχὴν ἐτρεπόμεθα· ἡ δὲ εὐχὴ θρήνων γίνεται ἀφορμὴ τῷ λαῷ. Τῆς γὰρ ψαλμῳδίας κατασιγασθείσης ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐκεῖνο πρόσωπον αἱ παρθένοι προσέβλεψαν καὶ ἡ σορὸς ἤδη τῶν γονέων ἀπεκαλύπτετο, ἐν ᾗ καταθέσθαι δεδογμένον ἦν, μιᾶς τινος ἀτάκτως ἐκβοησάσης, ὅτι οὐκέτι μετὰ τὴν ὥραν ταύτην τὸ θεοειδὲς τοῦτο προσβλέ ψομεν πρόσωπον, ὡς καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ παρθένοι τὸ ἴσον μετ' αὐτῆς ἐξεβόησαν, σύγχυσις ἄτακτος τὴν εὔτακτον ἐκείνην καὶ ἱεροπρεπῆ ψαλμῳδίαν διέχεε, πάντων πρὸς τὴν τῶν παρθένων οἰμωγὴν ἐπικλασθέντων. Μόλις δέ ποτε καὶ ἡμῶν τὴν σιωπὴν διανευόντων καὶ τοῦ κήρυκος εἰς εὐχὴν ὑφηγουμένου καὶ τὰς συνήθεις ἐμβοῶντος τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ φωνάς, κατέστη πρὸς τὸ σχῆμα τῆς εὐχῆς ὁ λαός.

35 Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ πρέπον ἡ προσευχὴ πέρας ἔλαβε, φόβος μέ τις τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς εἰσέρχεται τῆς κωλυούσης πατρὸς ἢ μητρὸς ἀνακαλύπτειν ἀσχημοσύνην. Καὶ πῶς, ἔφην, ἔξω τοῦ τοιούτου γενήσομαι κατακρίματος, ἐν τοῖς τῶν γονέων σώμασι βλέπων τὴν κοινὴν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀσχημοσύνην, διαπεπτωκότων ὡς εἰκὸς καὶ λελυμένων καὶ εἰς εἰδεχθῆ καὶ δυσάντητον ἀμορφίαν μεταβληθέντων; Ταῦτα δέ μοι λογιζομένῳ καὶ τῆς τοῦ Νῶε κατὰ τοῦ παιδὸς ἀγανακτήσεως ἐπιτεινούσης τὸν φόβον συμβουλεύει τὸ πρακτέον ἡ ἱστορία τοῦ Νῶε. Ἐπεκαλύφθη γὰρ σινδόνι καθαρᾷ πρὶν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν γενέσθαι τὰ σώματα τῇ τοῦ πώματος ἐπάρσει καθ' ἑκάτερον ἄκρον τῆς σινδόνος ἀντεισιούσης· καὶ οὕτως ὑποκρυφθέντων τῇ σινδόνι τῶν σωμάτων ἀράμενοι τῆς κλίνης τὸ ἱερὸν ἐκεῖνο σῶμα ἐγώ τε καὶ ὁ μνημονευθεὶς τῶν τόπων ἐπίσκοπος τῇ μητρὶ παρακατεκλίναμεν κοινὴν ἀμφοτέραις