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

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 said to them, he says, "I will only enter and look around and then I will depart." 18.8 So having entered, he says, I found a bronze bucket hanging and an iron chain by the well, the rest consumed by time, and the fruit of pomegranates having nothing inside because they had been dried up by the sun." So thus having returned he arrived after twenty days. But when the water he was carrying and the loaves ran out, he was in great distress. And as he was close to collapsing, a certain maiden appeared to him, as he related, wearing a clean linen garment and holding a vessel of dripping water; 18.9 whom he said was far from him, about a stadion away, and for three days he journeyed, seeing her with the vessel as if she were standing still but being unable to catch her, as in dreams, but in the hope of drinking he persevered and was strengthened. After which a herd of buffalo appeared, of which one stood still, having a calf; for there are many in those places; and as he said, her udder was flowing with milk. So going under and suckling, he was satisfied. And the buffalo came as far as his cell, suckling him, but not receiving her calf. 18.10 Another time, while digging a well near some shoots of brushwood, he was bitten by an asp; for the creature is deadly; so taking it with both hands and seizing it by the jaws, he tore it apart, saying to it: "If God did not send you, how did you dare to come?" And he had different cells in the desert: one in Scetis, in the inner, most remote desert, and one in Libya, and one in the so-called Cells, and one on the mountain of Nitria. Of which some are without windows, into which it was said he would stay during the forty days in darkness; and another one was narrower, in which he could not stretch out his feet; and another was wider, in which he would meet those who visited him. 18.11 This man healed such a multitude of demoniacs as could not be reckoned by number. And while we were there a noble virgin was brought from Thessalonica, who had been paralyzed for many years. Her, in twenty days, anointing with holy oil with his own hands and praying, he sent away healthy to her own city. Who, having departed, sent him a great offering. 18.12 This man, having heard that the Tabennesiotes have a great way of life, disguised himself and took on the worldly appearance of a laborer, and in fifteen days went up to the Thebaid, traveling through the desert. And having come to the monastery of the Tabennesiotes, he sought out their archimandrite, named Pachomius, a most proven man and having the gift of prophecy; from whom the matter concerning Macarius was hidden. So having met him, he says: "I beseech you, receive me into your monastery that I may become a monk." 18.13 Pachomius says to him: "You have now reached old age, and you cannot practice asceticism; the brothers are ascetics, and you cannot bear their labors; and you will be scandalized and will leave speaking ill of them." And he did not receive him either the first time or the second, for up to seven days. But when he persevered, remaining fasting, later he says to him: "Receive me, abba, and if I do not fast like them and work, order me to be cast out." He persuades the brothers to receive him; and the community of the one monastery is fourteen hundred men to this day. 18.14 So he entered; and after a little time had passed, the forty days arrived, and he saw each one practicing different disciplines: one eating in the evening, another every two days, another every five; and still another standing through the whole night, but sitting during the day. So having soaked a multitude of palm-fronds, he stood in a corner, and until the forty days were fulfilled and Easter had come he did not touch bread, nor water; he did not bend a knee, he did not lie down; except for a few cabbage leaves he took nothing, and this on Sunday, so that he might seem to be eating. 18.15 And if ever he went out for his need, he quickly came in again and stood, not speaking to anyone, not opening his mouth, but standing in silence; except for the prayer in his heart and the palm-fronds

κόρακες κατὰ τῆς ὄψεώς μου, καὶ λέγοντες· "Τί θέλεις, Μακάριε; Τί θέλεις, μοναχέ; Τί ἦλθες ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν τόπον; Οὐ δύνασαι μεῖναι ὧδε". Εἶπον οὖν αὐτοῖς, φησίν, ὅτι "Εἰσέλθω μόνον καὶ ἱστορήσω καὶ ἀπέρχομαι". 18.8 Εἰσελ θὼν οὖν, φησίν, εὗρον κάδιον χαλκοῦν κρεμάμενον καὶ ἅλυσιν σιδηρᾶν κατὰ τοῦ φρέατος, λοιπὸν τῷ χρόνῳ ἀναλωθέντα, καὶ καρπὸν ῥοῶν οὐκ ἐχουσῶν ἔνδον οὐδὲν τῷ ἐξηράνθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου". Οὕτως οὖν ὑποστρέψας ἦλθε διὰ εἴκοσι ἡμερῶν. Ἐκλείψαντος δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐβάσταζε καὶ τῶν ἄρτων, ἐν πολλῇ περιστάσει ἐγένετο. Καὶ ὡς ἐγγὺς ἐγένετο τοῦ ὀκλάσαι ὤφθη αὐτῷ κόρη τις, ὡς διηγήσατο, καθαρὰν ὀθόνην φοροῦσα καὶ κατέχουσα βαυκάλιον ὕδατος στάζον· 18.9 ἣν ἔλεγεν ἄποθεν αὐτοῦ εἶναι, ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίου, καὶ ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τρεῖς ὁδεύειν, βλέπων μὲν αὐτὴν μετὰ τοῦ βαυκα λίου ὡς ἑστῶσαν καταλαβεῖν δὲ μὴ δυνάμενος, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ὀνείρων, τῇ δὲ ἐλπίδι τοῦ πιεῖν ὑπομείνας ηὐτόνει. Μεθ' ἣν ἐφάνη πλῆθος βουβάλων, ἐξ ὧν ἡ μία ἔστη ἔχουσα μόσ χον· εἰσὶ γὰρ πολλαὶ ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις· καὶ ὡς ἔλεγεν ὅτι ἔρρει αὐτῆς τὸ οὖθαρ τοῦ γάλακτος. Ὑπεισελθὼν οὖν καὶ θηλάσας ἠρκέσθη. Καὶ ἕως τοῦ κελλίου αὐτοῦ ἦλθεν ἡ βούβαλος θηλάζουσα αὐτόν, τὸ δὲ μοσχάριον αὐτῆς μὴ δε χομένη. 18.10 Ἄλλοτε πάλιν ὀρύσσων φρέαρ πλησίον βλαστῶν φρυ γάνων ὑπὸ ἀσπίδος ἐδήχθη· ἀναιρετικὸν δέ ἐστι τὸ ζῷον· λαβὼν οὖν αὐτὴν ταῖς δύο χερσὶν ἀπὸ τῶν χελυνίων κρα τήσας διέσχισεν, εἰπὼν αὐτῇ· "Μὴ ἀποστείλαντός σε τοῦ θεοῦ, πῶς ἐτόλμησας ἐλθεῖν;" Εἶχε δὲ κέλλας διαφόρους ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· μίαν ἐν τῇ Σκήτει τῇ ἐνδοτέρᾳ πανερήμῳ, καὶ μίαν εἰς Λίβα, καὶ μίαν εἰς τὰ λεγόμενα Κελλία, καὶ μίαν εἰς τὸ ὄρος τῆς Νιτρίας. Ὧν ἔνιαί εἰσιν ἀθυρίδωτοι, εἰς ἃς ἐλέγετο καθέζεσθαι τῇ τεσ σαρακοστῇ ἐν σκοτίᾳ· ἡ δὲ ἄλλη στενωτέρα, εἰς ἣν ἐκτεῖναι πόδας οὐκ ἴσχυεν· ἄλλη δὲ πλατυτέρα, ἐν ᾗ συνετύγχανε τοῖς φοιτῶσι πρὸς αὐτόν. 18.11 Οὗτος τοσοῦτον πλῆθος δαιμονιζομένων ἐθεράπευσεν ὡς ἀριθμῷ μὴ ὑποπεσεῖν. Ὄντων δὲ ἡμῶν ἐκεῖ παρθένος ἠνέχθη ἀπὸ Θεσσαλονίκης εὐγενής, πολυετίαν ἔχουσα ἐν παραλύσει. Ταύτην ἐν εἴκοσι ἡμέραις ἐλαίῳ ἁγίῳ ἀλείφων ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ χερσὶ καὶ προσευχόμενος, ὑγιῆ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν πόλιν. Ἥτις ἀπελθοῦσα πολλὴν καρποφορίαν αὐτῷ ἀπέστειλεν. 18.12 Οὗτος ἀκούσας ὅτι μεγάλην ἔχουσι πολιτείαν οἱ Ταβεννησιῶται, μεταμφιασάμενος καὶ λαβὼν κοσμικὸν σχῆ μα ἐργάτου, δι' ἡμερῶν δεκαπέντε ἀνῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Θηβαΐδα διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου ὁδεύσας. Καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐν τῷ ἀσκητηρίῳ τῶν Ταβεννησιωτῶν ἐπεζήτει τὸν ἀρχιμανδρίτην τούτων, Παχώ μιον ὀνόματι, ἄνδρα δοκιμώτατον καὶ χάρισμα ἔχοντα προφη τείας· ᾧ ἀπεκρύβη τὰ κατὰ τὸν Μακάριον. Περιτυχὼν οὖν αὐτῷ λέγει· "∆έομαί σου, δέξαι με εἰς τὴν μονήν σου ἵνα γένωμαι μοναχός". 18.13 Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Παχώμιος· "Λοι πὸν εἰς γῆρας ἤλασας, καὶ ἀσκεῖν οὐ δύνασαι· οἱ ἀδελφοί εἰσιν ἀσκηταί, καὶ οὐ φέρεις αὐτῶν τοὺς πόνους· καὶ σκαν δαλίζῃ καὶ ἐκβαίνεις κακολογῶν αὐτούς". Καὶ οὐκ ἐδέξατο αὐτὸν οὔτε τὴν πρώτην οὔτε τὴν δευτέραν, μέχρις ἡμερῶν ἑπτά. Ὡς δὲ ηὐτόνησε παραμένων νῆστις, ὕστερον λέγει αὐτῷ· "∆έξαι με, ἀββᾶ, καὶ ἐὰν μὴ νηστεύσω κατ' αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐργάσωμαι, κέλευσόν με ἐκριφῆναι". Πείθει τοὺς ἀδελ φοὺς εἰσδέξασθαι αὐτόν· ἔστι δὲ τὸ σύστημα τῆς μιᾶς μονῆς χίλιοι τετρακόσιοι ἄνδρες μέχρι τῆς σήμερον. 18.14 Εἰσῆλθεν οὖν· παρελθόντος δὲ χρόνου ὀλίγου ἐπέστη ἡ τεσσαρακοστή, καὶ εἶδεν ἕκαστον διαφόρους πολιτείας ἀσκοῦντα· τὸν μὲν ἐσθίοντα ἑσπέρας, τὸν δὲ διὰ δύο, τὸν δὲ διὰ πέντε· ἄλλον δὲ πάλιν ἑστῶτα διὰ πάσης νυκτός, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δὲ καθήμενον. Βρέξας οὖν θαλλοὺς τοὺς ἐκ φοινίκων εἰς πλῆθος ἔστη ἐν γωνίᾳ μιᾷ, καὶ μέχρις οὗ αἱ τεσσαράκοντα ἐπληρώθησαν ἡμέραι καὶ τὸ πάσχα παραγέγονεν οὐκ ἄρτου ἥψατο, οὐχ ὕδατος· οὐ γόνυ ἔκαμψεν, οὐκ ἀνέπεσε· παρεκτὸς φύλλων κράμβης ὀλίγων οὐκ ἐλάμβανε, καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ κυριακήν, ἵνα δόξῃ ἐσθίειν. 18.15 Καὶ εἴ ποτε ἐξέβαινεν εἰς τὴν χρείαν ἑαυτοῦ, θᾶττον πάλιν εἰσιὼν ἵστατο, μὴ λαλήσας μηδενί, μὴ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα, ἀλλὰ σιωπῇ ἐστώς· ἐκτὸς δὲ προσ ευχῆς τῆς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ τῶν θαλλῶν