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nos, as if observing with the eye of his soul the things that were happening, was calling upon divine aid for those who were struggling in the confession of the faith. And once while he was praying to God with his companions according to his custom, suddenly being filled with struggle and turmoil, it was clear to those present that he was as if seeing a strange vision, and distressed by the sight, and holding his hearing, as if some sound were reaching him. And after no small interval had passed, having remained all the time in between unbending and motionless, then, as if the vision before him had come to a good end, he both returned to his usual state, and praised God in a most brilliant voice, uttering the hymn of victory and thanksgiving, which we hear David saying in many places in the psalter, “Blessed be God, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.” And when those around him were in a state of wonder, and deemed it worthy to learn what the vision was that had appeared before his eyes, it is said that he told them that he had seen a great fall at that very hour, the devil having been wrestled down by a certain youth in the struggles for piety. But when they still did not understand what was said, he explained to them more clearly, that at that very hour, by a mightier alliance, a certain youth of noble birth, had struggled in the toils of the faith, having been brought by the executioners before the magistrate. And he added the name, calling him Troadius; and that after many tortures, which he nobly endured, he had bound on the crown of martyrdom.
But the deacon, being astonished at what he heard, and daring neither to disbelieve any of the things said; and at the same time thinking it to be beyond human nature, for one who was far from the city, with no man having announced the events concerning it, to speak to his companions about the events there as if he were present at the deeds, he becomes a suppliant to the teacher to be permitted to see and know the things that had been done; and not to be hindered by him from going to the very places where the wonder had occurred. But when he said that it was a fearful thing to be in the midst of murderers, and often to suffer some undesirable thing from the insolence of the adversary, the deacon said that he would take courage in the aid of his prayers, uttering this voice to him: “You commend me to God, and no fear even of the enemy will lay hold of me.” And when he had sent forth with him the help of God through prayer, as if a fellow-traveler, he confidently went on his way, turning to none of those he met. And having arrived inside the city in the evening, and having become weary from the 46.952 journey, he thought it necessary to relieve his weariness with a bath. But a certain man-slaying demon held sway in that place, haunting the bath, whose destructive power became active after dark against those who approached, and for this reason that bath was inaccessible and unused after sunset; approaching it, he asked the one in charge to open the door, and to give him entrance and not to begrudge him the healing from the bath. But when he testified that no one who dared the water at that hour returned on his own feet, but that the demon overpowered everyone after evening, and that many had already suffered irreparable things through ignorance, whom lamentations and wailings succeeded instead of the hoped-for relief; as he was relating these and such things, that one did not at all give up his desire, but insisted, compelling him in every way to let him inside. And he, making it a gain not to share the danger of the stranger's ignorance, having made the lock for him, departed far from the bath. And when he was inside, having stripped, certain manifold occasions for fears and terrors were devised by the demon, all sorts of phantoms showing a nature mixed with fire and smoke, falling upon his eyes in the form of men and beasts, resounding in his ears, approaching his breath, pouring round about his body. He
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νος, οἷον ἐφορῶν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ γινόμενα, τὴν θείαν ἐπεκαλεῖτο συμμαχίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐναθλούν των τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ τῆς πίστεως. Καί ποτε μετὰ τῶν συνόντων κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες τῷ Θεῷ προσευχόμενος, ἀθρόως ἀγῶνός τε καὶ θορύβου καταπλησθεὶς, ἔνδηλος ἦν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν οἷον ξενιζόμενος, καὶ ἐναγωνιῶν τῷ θεάματι, καὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐπέχων, καθάπερ ἤχου τινὸς πρὸς αὐτὸν διαβαίνοντος. Καὶ διαγενομένου διαστήματος οὐκ ὀλίγου, μείνας πάντα τὸν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ χρόνον, ἀκλινὴς καὶ ἀκίνητος, εἶθ' ὥσπερ τοῦ προκειμένου θεάματος εἰς ἀγαθὸν καταλήξαντος, πάλιν ἐπανῆλθέ τε πρὸς τὸ σύνηθες, καὶ ἀνευφήμησε τὸν Θεὸν ἐν λαμπροτάτῃ φωνῇ, τὸν ἐπινίκιόν τε καὶ εὐχαριστήριον ὕμνον ἐπιφθεγξάμενος, ὃν πολλαχῆ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἀκούομεν λέγοντος, τὸ Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς εἰς θήραν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν. Τῶν δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν θαυμαστικῶς διατεθέντων, καὶ μαθεῖν ἀξιούντων, ὅ τί ποτε εἴη τὸ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ γενόμενον θέαμα, εἰπεῖν λέγεται, μέγα πτῶμα κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην ἑωρα κέναι, καταπαλαισθέντος τοῦ διαβόλου ὑπὸ νεανίου τινὸς ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀγῶσι. Τῶν δὲ ἀγνοούν των ἔτι τὸ εἰρημένον, σαφέστερον αὐτοῖς διηγεῖται, ὅτι συμμαχίᾳ κρείττονι κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην νεα νίας τις τῶν εὐπατριδῶν, τοῖς ἱδρῶσι τῆς πίστεως ἐνηγωνίσατο, προσαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν δημίων τῷ ἄρχοντι. Προσέθηκε δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα, Τρωάδιον αὐτὸν ὀνομά σας· καὶ ὅτι μετὰ πολλὰς βασάνους, αἷς γενναίως ἐνεκαρτέρησε, τὸν διὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας ἀνεδήσατο στέφανον.
Ἐκπλαγεὶς δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ὁ διάκονος, καὶ οὔτε ἀπιστεῖν τινι τῶν λεγομένων τολμῶν· καὶ ἅμα κρεῖττον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως εἶναι νομίσας, τὸ πόῤῥωθεν ὄντα τῆς πόλεως, μηδενὸς ἀνθρώπου τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διαγγείλαντος, ὡς ἐφεστῶτα τοῖς πράγμασι λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς συνόντας περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ γενομένων, ἱκέτης γίνεται τοῦ διδασκάλου ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπιτραπῆ ναι καὶ γνῶναι τὰ πεπραγμένα· καὶ μὴ κωλυθῆναι παρ' αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι μέχρι τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν, ἐν οἷς τὸ θαῦμα ἐγένετο. Τοῦ δὲ φοβερὸν εἶναι λέγοντος, τὸ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν φονευτῶν γενέσθαι, καὶ πολλάκις ἐξ ἐπηρείας τοῦ ἀντικειμένου τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων παθεῖν, ἐπιθαρσεῖν ἔλεγεν ὁ διάκονος τῇ τῶν εὐχῶν αὐτοῦ συμμαχίᾳ, φθεγξάμενος ταύτην πρὸς αὐτὸν τὴν φω νήν· Σύ με παράθου τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ οὐδείς μοι φό βος καὶ τῶν πολεμίων καθάψεται. Τοῦ δὲ καθάπερ συνέμπορον αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ βοήθειαν διὰ τῆς εὐ χῆς συνεκπέμψαντος, πεποιθὼς τὴν ὁδὸν διῄει, πρὸς οὐδένα τῶν ἀπαντώντων ἐπιστρεφόμενος. Ἑσπέριος δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐντὸς γεγονὼς, καὶ κοπώδης ἐκ τῆς 46.952 ὁδοιπορίας γενόμενος, λουτρῷ θεραπεῦσαι τὸν κόπον ἀναγκαῖον ᾠήθη. Ἐπεκράτει δὲ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον δαίμων τις ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἐπιχωριάζων τῷ λουτρῷ, οὗ ἡ φθοροποιὸς δύναμις ἐνεργὸς μετὰ σκότος κατὰ τῶν προσεγγιζόντων ἐγίνετο, καὶ τούτου χάριν ἄβατον τὸ λουτρὸν ἦν ἐκεῖνο μετὰ τὰς ἡλίου δυσμὰς καὶ ἀνενέργητον· ᾧ παραστὰς ἠξίου τὸν ἐπιτεταγμένον ἀνοῖξαι τὴν θύραν, δοῦναί τε τὴν εἴσοδον αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ φθονῆσαι τῆς ἐκ τοῦ λουτροῦ θεραπείας. Τοῦ δὲ μαρτυρουμένου μηδένα τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκεί νην κατατολμώντων τοῦ ὕδατος ἰδίοις ὑποστρέψαι ποσὶν, ἀλλὰ πάντων μετὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν κατακρατεῖν τὸ δαιμόνιον, καὶ πολλοὺς ὑπ' ἀγνοίας ἤδη παθεῖν τὰ ἀνήκεστα, οὓς ἀντὶ τῆς ἐλπισθείσης ἀνέσεως θρῆνοι καὶ οἰμωγαὶ διεδέξαντο· ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοι αῦτα διεξιόντος, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνος ὑφίει τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ἀλλ' ἐνέκειτο παντὶ τρόπῳ καταναγ κάζων αὐτὸν, εἰς τὰ ἐντὸς παραδέξασθαι. Ὁ δὲ τὸ μὴ συγκινδυνεῦσαι τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ξένου, κέρδος ποιούμενος, τὴν κλεῖν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ποιησάμενος, πόῤῥω τοῦ λουτροῦ ἀπαλλάσσεται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ γυ μνωθεὶς ἐντὸς ἦν, πολύτροποί τινες φόβων καὶ κατ απλήξεων ἀφορμαὶ παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου συνεσκευά ζοντο, φάσματα παντοδαπὰ πυρὶ καὶ καπνῷ μεμι γμένην τὴν φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενα, ἐν ἀνθρώπων καὶ θηρίων μορφῇ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐμπίπτοντα, ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἐνηχοῦντα, τῷ ἄσθματι προσεγγίζοντα, κύκλῳ περὶ τὸ σῶμα χεόμενα. Ὁ