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to fight beforehand, he becomes an adviser to the Church to yield a little to the fearful attack, thinking it better to save their souls through flight, than standing in the battle-line of the contests, to become deserters of the faith; and so that the people might be especially persuaded, that saving the faith through flight brought no danger to the soul, by his own example, he becomes an advocate for withdrawal; himself withdrawing before the others from the onslaught of danger; At the same time, this was also of the greatest concern to the rulers, that through him, as though a general had been captured, the entire battle-line of the faith would be dissolved, and for this 46.948 reason they were eager to get him into their hands. But he had occupied a certain desolate hill, having with him the one from the temple-warden who was at first brought to the faith, already serving through the grace of the diaconate. And with the persecutors following in his tracks in a great multitude, someone having revealed to them the place in which he was hiding; some, having taken up positions in a circle at the foot of the hill, kept watch, so that he might not be able to escape from anywhere, if he should turn to this; but others, ascending the mountain, searching every part, were already becoming visible to the great man, running straight up towards him.

But he, having commanded the one with him to stand before God with a firm and unwavering trust, and to entrust his salvation to him, stretching out his hands in prayer, and not to let his faith be driven out by fear even if the persecutors should come near; and he made himself an example of the command to the deacon, looking towards heaven with an unswerving gaze, and with his hands outstretched in an upright posture; and they were in this state. But those who ran up to them, having looked around the place everywhere, and having searched with all accuracy every thicket of bush, and every projection of rock, and every hollow from a ravine, go down again to the foot of the hill, so that those who had turned to flight for fear of the searchers might fall into the hands of those stationed in a circle below. So when he was neither found by these, nor was he with those; but the one who had observed the place of the great man’s stay described it by signs, in which the seekers were asserting that they had seen no one, except only two trees standing a little apart from each other. And when the seekers had departed, the informer, having been left behind, and finding both the great man and the one with him in prayer, and recognizing the divine protection, by which they had been thought to be trees by the persecutors, he both falls down before him and believes in the Word. And he who was a short while before a persecutor, became one of the fugitives. Therefore, as they remained in the desert for a long time (for the war against the faith was prevailing, with the governor raging terribly against those who were added to the word of piety), and with everyone having turned to flight; since the matter concerning the great man was hopeless to them, as he would never fall into the hands of the persecutors; then turning their raging madness against the rest, they searched everywhere throughout the nation for all alike, men and women and children, for whom the name of Christ was venerable; and they dragged them to the city, and filled the prisons, making piety an accusation against them in place of any other crime, so that at that time the courts were occupied with no common business, but this alone was the concern of the rulers, to inflict all manner of tortures and every kind of torment by design against those who held fast to the faith. 46.949 And then it becomes even more evident to all, that that great man planned nothing without God. For having preserved himself for the people through flight, he was a common alliance for all who were contending for the faith. For just as we hear concerning Moses, that standing far off from the battle-line of the Amalekites, through prayer he instilled power into his countrymen against their opponents; in the same way also there

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προαγωνίσασθαι, σύμβουλος γίνεται τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ μικρὸν ὑποχωρῆσαι τῇ φοβερᾷ προσβολῇ, κρεῖττον εἶναι ἡγούμενος διὰ φυγῆς τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν περισώσασθαι, ἢ ἑστῶτας ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγώνων παρατάξεως, λιποτάκτους γενέσθαι τῆς πί στεως· καὶ ὡς ἂν μάλιστα πεισθεῖεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, μηδένα κίνδυνον φέρειν τῇ ψυχῇ, τὸ τὴν πίστιν διὰ φυγῆς περισώσασθαι, τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι, σύμβουλος τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως γίνεται· αὐτὸς πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀναχωρήσας τῇ τοῦ κινδύνου φορᾷ· ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς κρατοῦσι διὰ σπουδῆς μάλιστα ἦν, τὸ δι' ἐκείνου καθάπερ στρατηγοῦ χειρωθέντος, πᾶσαν διαλῦσαι τῆς πίστεως τὴν παράταξιν, καὶ τούτου 46.948 χάριν ἐκεῖνον ὑπὸ χεῖρα ποιήσασθαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δι εσπούδαστο. Ὁ δὲ ἦν ἔρημόν τινα καταλαβὼν λοφιὰν, ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἐκ νεωκόρου κατ' ἀρχὰς προσαχθέντα τῇ πίστει, ἤδη τῇ χάριτι τῆς διακονίας ὑπηρετούμενον. Τῶν δὲ διωκόντων κατ' ἴχνος ἑπομένων ἐν πλήθει πολλῷ, μηνύσαντος αὐτοῖς τὸν τόπον τινὸς ἐν ᾧ κατ εκρύπτετο· οἱ μὲν ἐν κύκλῳ τὴν ὑπώρειαν τῆς λο φιᾶς διαλαβόντες ἐφύλαττον, ὅπως ἂν μηδαμόθεν αὐτῷ γένοιτο διαφυγεῖν, εἴπερ εἰς τοῦτο τραπείη· οἱ δὲ προσβάντες τῷ ὄρει, κατὰ πᾶν μέρος διερευνώμενοι, ἤδη καταφανεῖς ἐγίνοντο τῷ μεγάλῳ, κατ' εὐθεῖαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνατρέχοντες.

Ἐκεῖνος δὲ διακελευσάμενος τῷ μετ' αὐτοῦ, στερεᾷ τε καὶ ἀδιστάκτῳ τῇ πε ποιθήσει στῆναι πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ καταπιστεῦσαι τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῷ, τὰς χεῖρας εἰς προσευχὴν ἀνα τείναντα, καὶ μηδὲ εἰ πλησίον γένοιντο οἱ διώκοντες ἐκκρουσθῆναι τῷ φόβῳ τὴν πίστιν· ὑπόδειγμα δὲ τῆς παραγγελίας ἑαυτὸν ἐποίει τῷ διακόνῳ, βλέπων τε πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀμετατρέπτῳ ὄμματι, καὶ τεταμέναις ταῖς χερσὶν ἐν ὀρθίῳ τῷ σχήματι· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν τού τοις ἦσαν. Οἱ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀναδραμόντες, πανταχῆ τὸν τόπον περισκεψάμενοι, καὶ πᾶσαν ἔνστασιν θάμνου, καὶ πᾶσαν πέτρας προσβολὴν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐκ χαράδρας κοιλότητα μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας διερευνη σάμενοι, πάλιν τὴν ὑπώρειαν καταλαμβάνουσιν, ὡς φόβῳ τῶν διερευνωμένων εἰς φυγὴν τραπόντων τοῖς κάτω περιεστοιχισμένοις ὑπὸ χεῖρα γενέσθαι. Ὡς οὖν οὔτε παρὰ τούτων εὑρέθη, καὶ παρ' ἐκείνοις οὐκ ἦν· ὁ δὲ τὸν τόπον τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου διαγωγῆς κατα σκεψάμενος σημείοις ὑπέγραφεν, ἐν ᾧ διεβεβαιοῦντο οἱ ζητοῦντες μηδένα ἑωρακέναι, πλὴν εἰ μὴ δύο δέν δρα μόνον μικρὸν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διεστηκότα. Ἀνακε χωρηκότων δὲ τῶν ζητούντων, ὑπολειφθεὶς ὁ μηνυτὴς, καὶ καταλαβὼν ἐν προσευχῇ αὐτόν τε τὸν μέγαν καὶ τὸν σὺν αὐτῷ, καὶ γνοὺς τὴν θείαν φρουρὰν, δι' ἧς ἐκεῖνοι δένδρα τοῖς διώκουσιν ἐνομίσθησαν, προσ πίπτει τε αὐτῷ, καὶ πιστεύει τῷ λόγῳ. Καὶ ὁ πρὸ βραχέος διώκτης, εἷς τῶν φευγόντων ἐγένετο. Μενόν των τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον χρόνον πολὺν (ἐπεκρά τει γὰρ ὁ κατὰ τῆς πίστεως πόλεμος, χαλεπῶς τοῦ καθηγουμένου κατὰ τῶν προστιθεμένων τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εὐσεβείας λυσσῶντος), καὶ πάντων πρὸς φυγὴν τε τραμμένων· ἐπειδὴ τὸ κατὰ τὸν μέγαν αὐτοῖς ἀπ' ἐλπίδος ἦν, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ χεῖρά ποτε γενόμενον τοῖς διώκουσι· τότε κατὰ τῶν ὑπολοίπων τὴν λυσσώδη μανίαν ἑαυτῶν τρέψαντες, πανταχῆ κατὰ τὸ ἔθνος διηρευνῶντο πάντας ὁμοίως ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας, ὅσοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ σεβά σμιον ἦν· καὶ εἷλκον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὰ δεσμω τήρια κατεπλήρουν, ἀντ' ἄλλης τινὸς ἀδικίας ἔγκλημα ποιούμενοι κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ὡς μηδενὶ τότε τῶν κοινῶν προσασχολεῖσθαι τὰ δικαστήρια, ἢ τοῦτο μόνον διὰ σπουδῆς τοῖς κρατοῦσιν εἶναι, τὸ πάντας αἰκισμοὺς καὶ παντοίας στρεβλώσεις δι' ἐπινοίας ἐπάγειν κατὰ τῶν ἀντεχομένων τῆς πίστεως. 46.949 Ἔνθα δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον πᾶσι κατάδηλον γίνεται, τὸ μηδὲν ἀθεεὶ τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον βουλεύεσθαι. Φυλάξας γὰρ ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῆς φυγῆς τῷ λαῷ, κοινὴ συμμαχία τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ἀγωνιζομένοις ἅπασιν ἦν. Καθάπερ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἀκούομεν, ὅτι πόῤ ῥωθεν ἀφεστηκὼς τῆς τῶν Ἀμαληκιτῶν παρατάξεως, διὰ προσευχῆς ἐνετίθει τοῖς ὁμοφύλοις κατὰ τῶν ὑπ εναντίων τὴν δύναμιν· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖ