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

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 a basket of two modii with sand and placing it on his shoulders, he moved about through the desert. Theosebius the cosmetor, an Antiochene by race, met him and says to him: "What are you carrying, Abba? Give the burden to me, and do not trouble yourself". And he says to him: "I trouble the one who troubles me; for being at ease, he suggests travels to me". So after moving about for a long time, he entered his cell, having crushed his body. 18.25 This holy Macarius related to us, for he was a presbyter, that "I observed at the time of the distribution of the mysteries that I never gave the offering to Mark the ascetic, but an angel gave it to him from the altar; and I saw only the wrist of the hand of the one giving it". This Mark was younger, knowing the old and new scripture by heart, exceedingly meek, self-controlled if anyone ever was. 18.26 So one day, having the opportunity, I, in his extreme old age, went and sat down by his door, considering him more than a man, as being an ancient, listening to what he said or what he was doing. And being quite alone inside, having already reached about a hundred years and having lost his teeth, he was fighting with himself and with the devil, and said: "What do you want, you evil old man? Behold, you have touched oil and partaken of wine; what more do you want, you grey-haired glutton?" insulting himself. Then also to the devil: "Do I still owe you anything? You find nothing; depart from me." And as if chirping he spoke to himself: "Come here, grey-haired glutton; how long will I be with you?" 18.27 And Paphnutius, his disciple, related to us that one day a hyena, taking its cub, which was blind, brought it to Macarius; and knocking on the door of the courtyard with her head, she entered while he was sitting outside, and threw the cub under his feet. And the saint, taking it and spitting on its eyes, prayed, and immediately it regained its sight. And after its mother nursed it, she took it and went away. 18.28 And the next day she brought the skin of a large sheep to the saint. And the blessed Melania told me that "I received that sheepskin from Macarius as a gift." And what is so wonderful if he who tamed the lions for Daniel also made the hyena understand? And he said that from the time he was baptized he did not spit on the ground, being in the sixtieth year since he was baptized. 18.29 His appearance was somewhat curtailed, sparse, having hair only on his lip and at the tip of his chin; for by the excess of his asceticism not even the hairs of his beard grew. I once approached him when I was suffering from acedia, and I say to him: "Abba, what shall I do? For my thoughts afflict me, saying, 'You are doing nothing, depart from here'." And he says to me that, "Say to them: 'For Christ's sake I guard the walls'." These few things out of many I have related to you of the holy Macarius. 19 .tConcerning Moses the Ethiopian 19.1 A certain man named Moses, an Ethiopian by race, black, was a servant of a certain official; whom his own master cast out on account of his great wickedness and robbery; for it was said that he even went as far as murder; for I am compelled to speak of his evil deeds, so that I may show the virtue of his repentance. At any rate, they related that he was also the leader of a band of robbers; whose deed also is seen among the works of robbers, that he once bore a grudge against a certain shepherd who had hindered him in some affair with his dogs at night; 19.2 wishing to kill him, he went around the place where he had the station for the sheep; and it was reported to him that he was beyond the Nile; and with the river flooding and measuring about one mile, holding his dagger in his mouth and placing his tunic on his head, he crossed the river thus by swimming. While he was swimming across, therefore, the shepherd was able to escape his notice by burying himself in the sand. So slaughtering the four choicest rams and tying them with a rope, he swam across again; 19.3 and coming to a small farmstead, he skinned them, and having eaten the best parts of the meat and sold the skins for wine and drunk a saïtes of about eighteen Italian sextarii,

σαλεύσετε, οὐ μὴ ὑμῶν ἀκούσω". 18.24 Ἐπὶ πολὺ οὖν πεσὼν ἀνέστη. Ἐπιγενομένης δὲ νυκτὸς πάλιν αὐτῷ ἐπέθεντο· καὶ σπυρίδα μοδίων δύο ψάμμου πληρώσας καὶ θεὶς ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων, διεκίνει ἀνὰ τὴν ἔρημον. Συνήντησεν οὖν αὐτῷ Θεοσέβιος ὁ κοσμήτωρ, Ἀντιοχεὺς τῷ γένει, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· "Τί βαστάζεις, ἀββᾶ; παραχώρησον ἐμοὶ τὸ φορτίον, καὶ μὴ σκύλλου"· Ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐτῷ· "Σκύλλω τὸν σκύλλοντά με· ἄνετος γὰρ ὢν ἀποδημίας μοι ὑποβάλλει". Ἐπὶ πολὺ οὖν διακινήσας εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν κέλλαν, συντρίψας τὸ σῶμα. 18.25 Οὗτος ἡμῖν ὁ ἅγιος Μακάριος διηγήσατο, ἦν γὰρ πρεσβύτερος, ὅτι "Ἐπεσημηνάμην κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς διαδόσεως τῶν μυστηρίων ὅτι Μάρκῳ τῷ ἀσκητῇ οὐδέποτε ἔδωκα ἐγὼ προσφοράν, ἀλλὰ ἄγγελος αὐτῷ ἐπεδίδου ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου· μόνον δὲ τὸν ἀστράγαλον ἐθεώρουν τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ διδόντος". Μάρκος δὲ οὗτος νεώτερος ἦν, παλαιὰν καὶ καινὴν γραφὴν ἀποστηθίζων, πραῢς καθ' ὑπερβολήν, σώφρων εἰ καί τις ἄλλος. 18.26 Μιᾶς οὖν τῶν ἡμερῶν εὐκαιρηθεὶς ἐγώ, εἰς τὸ ἔσχατον αὐτοῦ γῆρας, ἀπέρχομαι καὶ παρακαθέζομαι αὐτοῦ τῇ θύρᾳ νομίσας αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἅτε ἀρχαῖον, ἀκροώμενος τί λέγει ἢ τί διαπράττεται. Καὶ μονώτατος ὢν ἔνδον, περὶ τὰ ἑκατὸν ἐλάσας ἔτη ἤδη καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας ἀπολέσας, ἑαυτῷ διεμάχετο καὶ τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ ἔλεγε· "Τί θέλεις, κακόγηρε; Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἐλαίου ἥψω καὶ οἴνου μετέλαβες· λοιπὸν τί θέλεις, πολιόφαγε;" ἑαυτὸν ὑβρίζων. Εἶτα καὶ τῷ διαβόλῳ· "Μὴ ἀκμήν τί σοι χρεωστῶ; οὐδὲν εὑρίσκεις· ἄπελθε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ". Καὶ ὡς τερετίζων ἑαυτῷ διελέγετο· "∆εῦρο, πολιόφαγε· ἕως πότε ἔσομαι μετὰ σοῦ;" 18.27 ∆ιηγεῖτο δὲ ἡμῖν Παφνούτιος ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ, ὅτι μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὕαινα λαβοῦσα τὸν ἑαυτῆς σκύμνον, τυφλὸν ὄντα, ἤνεγκε τῷ Μακαρίῳ· καὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ κρούσασα τῆς αὐλῆς τὴν θύραν εἰσῆλθεν ἔξω αὐτοῦ καθημένου, καὶ ἔρριψεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ τὸν σκύμνον. Λαβὼν δὲ ὁ ἅγιος καὶ ἐπιπτύσας τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπηύξατο, καὶ παραχρῆμα ἀνέβλεψε. Καὶ θηλάσασα αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ λαβοῦσα αὐτὸν ἀπῆλθε. 18.28 Καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ ἡμέρᾳ κώδιον μεγάλου προβάτου ἐνή νοχε τῷ ἁγίῳ. Ὡς δὲ ἡ μακαρία Μελάνιόν μοι εἶπεν ὅτι "Παρὰ τοῦ Μακαρίου ἐγὼ ἔλαβον τὸ κώδιον ἐκεῖνο ξένιον". Καὶ τί θαυμαστὸν εἰ ὁ τοὺς λέοντας τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ἡμερώσας, καὶ τὴν ὕαιναν ἐσυνέτισεν; Ἔλεγε δὲ ὅτι ἀφ' οὗ ἐβαπτίσθη οὐκ ἔπτυσε χαμαί, ἑξηκοστὸν ἔχων ἔτος ἀφ' οὗ ἐβαπτίσθη. 18.29 Ἦν δὲ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ὑποκόλοβον, σπανόν, ἐπὶ τοῦ χείλους μόνον ἔχον τρίχας, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ πώγωνος· ὑπερβολῇ γὰρ ἀσκήσεως οὐδὲ αἱ τρίχες τῆς γενειάδος αὐτοῦ ἐφύησαν. Τούτῳ ἐγὼ προσῆλθόν ποτε ἀκηδιάσας, καὶ λέγω αὐτῷ· "Ἀββᾶ, τί ποιήσω; ὅτι θλίβουσί με οἱ λογισμοὶ λέγοντες ὅτι Οὐδὲν ποιεῖς, ἄπελθε ἔνθεν". Καὶ λέγει μοι ὅτι "Εἰπὲ αὐτοῖς· Ἐγὼ διὰ Χριστὸν τοὺς τοίχους τηρῶ". Ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ὀλίγα σοι ἐσήμηνα τοῦ ἁγίου Μακαρίου. 19 .tΠερὶ Μωσέως τοῦ Αἰθίοποσ 19.1 Μωσῆς οὕτω τις καλούμενος, Αἰθίοψ τῷ γένει, μέλας, οἰκέτης ὑπῆρχε πολιτευομένου τινός· ὃν διὰ πολλὴν δυστροπίαν καὶ λῃστείαν ἔρριψεν ὁ ἴδιος δεσπότης· ἐλέγετο γὰρ καὶ μέχρι φόνων φθάνειν· ἀναγκάζομαι γὰρ λέγειν αὐτοῦ τὰ τῆς πονηρίας, ἵνα δείξω αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς μετανοίας. ∆ιηγοῦντο γοῦν ὅτι καὶ ἀφηγούμενος ἦν λῃστη ρίου ἑνός· οὗ καὶ τὸ ἔργον φαίνεται ἐν τοῖς λῃστρικοῖς, ὅτι ποιμένι τινὶ ἐμνησικάκησέ ποτε παρεμποδίσαντι αὐτῷ εἰς πρᾶγμά τι μετὰ τῶν κυνῶν ἐν νυκτί· 19.2 ὃν ἀποκτεῖναι θελήσας περινοστεῖ τὸν τόπον ἔνθα τὴν στάσιν εἶχε τὴν τῶν προβάτων· καὶ ἐμηνύθη αὐτῷ πέραν τοῦ Νείλου· καὶ πλημμυροῦντος τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ κρατοῦντος ὡσεὶ σημεῖον ἕν, δακὼν τὴν μάκαιραν ἐν τῷ στόματι καὶ τὸν χιτωνίσκον θεὶς τῇ κεφαλῇ διεπέρασεν οὕτω κολυμβήσας τὸν ποταμόν. Ἐν τῷ τοῦτον οὖν διακολυμβᾶν ἠδυνήθη ὁ ποιμὴν διαλα θεῖν αὐτόν, ἑαυτὸν καταχώσας εἰς τὴν ἄμμον. Τοὺς οὖν ἐξ ἐπιλογῆς τέσσαρας κριοὺς σφάξας καὶ δήσας σειρᾷ, διε κολύμβησεν αὖθις· 19.3 καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς μικρὸν προαύλιον ἀπέδειρε, καὶ φαγὼν τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν κρεῶν καὶ εἰς οἶνον διαπωλήσας τὰ κώδια καὶ σαΐτην πιὼν ὡς ἰταλικῶν δεκαοκτὼ ξεστῶν,