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but putting forward his own seal, and calling on the name of Christ, he passed through the first house unharmed.

But having gone into the inner part, he encountered more difficult sights, the demon having changed its appearance into a more fearful one; and at the same time he thought the house was being shaken by an earthquake, and the ground splitting open to reveal the bare flame below, and fiery sparks were being sent forth from the waters, and again for him the same weapon, the seal, and the name of Christ, and the help through the prayers of his teacher, scattered the fearful things that were appearing and happening. But having already committed himself to the water, and hastening toward the exit, he was again hindered, the demon having taken hold of the door. But again this hindrance also was automatically loosed by the same power, with the door yielding to the seal. And when all things had gone according to his mind, the demon is said to have cried out to him with a human voice, not to reckon that power to himself by which he escaped destruction; for the voice of the one who commended him to the guardian granted him his safety. Having been saved, therefore, in the aforesaid manner, he caused astonishment to the overseers of the place, since none of those who had ever dared the water at that hour had appeared among the living.

And when he had related his own story to them, and knew that the heroic deeds of the martyrs in the city had happened in this manner, which the great man had foretold while living in the desert, adding to the narratives 46.953 and wonders concerning him, through what he saw, and through what he heard, and through what by his own experience he was taught the power of the great man's faith, to which the demon bore witness, he runs back again to his teacher; for those of his own time, and for those after these things leaving a common safeguard, that each person commend himself to God through the priests. And now this saying is throughout the whole Church, but especially among those people, a memorial of the help that was then given to the man by Gregory. And that tyranny having already been dissolved by divine assistance, and peace again succeeding in human life, during which devotion to the Divine was set before all with unhindered authority, having gone down again to the city, and having traveled through the whole country round about, he made an addition to the devotion of the peoples everywhere concerning the Divine, having established festivals for those who had contended for the faith. And having received the bodies of the martyrs, one in one place and another in another, coming together during the yearly period of the annual cycle, they rejoiced, celebrating in honor of the martyrs. For indeed this too was a proof of his great wisdom, that in reshaping all the generation of his time at once to a new life, like some charioteer taking charge of nature, and having yoked them safely with the reins of faith and the knowledge of God, he yielded a little for the obedient people to leap for joy under the yoke of faith. For perceiving that the childish and uneducated part of the multitude remains in the error concerning idols through bodily pleasures; in order that the principal thing at least might be accomplished among them, to look to God instead of to vain objects of worship, he allowed them to be gladdened by the memorials of the holy martyrs, and to feast, and to rejoice, so that in time of its own accord their life would be changed to a more reverent and exact one, with faith leading the way to that, which indeed has already been accomplished among many, all enjoyment from the pleasures of the body having been transferred to the spiritual form of gladness. And administering the Church in this way, and being eager before his departure from this life to see all converted from idols to the saving faith; when he foreknew his own departure, he diligently searched all the surrounding district, wishing to learn if any

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δὲ τὴν σφραγίδα ἑαυτοῦ προβαλλόμενος, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνακαλῶν ὄνομα, ἀπαθὴς τὸν πρῶτον διεξῆλθε τὸν οἶκον.

Ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ ἐνδότερον χωρήσας, χαλεπωτέροις ἐνέτυχε τοῖς θεάμασιν, εἰς φοβερωτέραν μετασκευασθέντος τοῦ δαιμονίου τὴν ὄψιν· καὶ ἅμα σεισμῷ κατακλονεῖσθαι τὸν οἶκον ᾤετο, καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος ὑποῤῥηγνύμενον γυ μνὴν ὑποδεικνύειν τὴν κάτω φλόγα, σπινθῆράς τε φλογώδεις ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκπέμπεσθαι, καὶ πάλιν αὐτῷ τὸ ἴσον ὅπλον ἡ σφραγὶς, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα, καὶ ἡ διὰ τῶν εὐχῶν τοῦ διδασκάλου βοήθεια, τὰ φοβερὰ τῶν φαινομένων τε καὶ γινομένων διέχεεν. Ἀνεθεὶς δὲ ἤδη τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον σπεύ δων, πάλιν ἐκωλύετο, τοῦ δαιμονίου τῆς θύρας ἀντει λημμένου. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν τὸ κώλυμα διὰ τῆς ἴσης δυνάμεως αὐτομάτως ἐλύετο, τῇ σφραγίδι τῆς θύρας ὑποχωρούσης. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ προὐ κεχωρήκει τὰ πάντα, ἐκβοῆσαι λέγεται πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φωνῇ τὸ δαιμόνιον, μὴ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὴν δύνα μιν ἐκείνην λογίσασθαι, δι' ἧς τὸν ὄλεθρον ἔφυγεν· ἡ γὰρ φωνὴ τοῦ παραθεμένου αὐτὸν τῷ φυλάσσοντι τὸ ἀπαθὲς ἐχαρίσατο. ∆ιασωθεὶς τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον, ἔκ πληξιν παρεῖχε τοῖς ἐπιστατοῦσι τοῦ τόπου, οὐδενὸς τῶν πώποτε κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην κατατολμησάν των τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν τοῖς ζῶσι φανέντος.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ τούτοις τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν διηγήσατο, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τῶν μαρτύρων ἀνδραγαθήματα τοῦτον ἔγνω γεγενη μένα τὸν τρόπον, ὃν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρημίας ὁ μέγας διάγων προδιηγήσατο, προσθεὶς τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγήμασί 46.953 τε καὶ θαύμασι, δι' ὧν τε εἶδε, καὶ δι' ὧν ἤκουσε, καὶ δι' ὧν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ πείρᾳ τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου πίστεως ἐδιδάχθη τὴν δύναμιν, ᾗ προσεμαρτύρησε τὸ δαιμό νιον, πάλιν ἀνατρέχει πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον· τοῖς τε κατ' αὐτὸν, καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα κοινὸν ἀφεὶς φυλα κτήριον, τὸ διὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἕκαστον ἑαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ παρατίθεσθαι. Καὶ νῦν ἐστι μὲν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ παρ' ἐκείνοις ἡ τοιαύτη φωνὴ, τῆς τότε γεγενημένης τῷ ἀνδρὶ παρὰ τοῦ Γρηγορίου βοηθείας μνημόσυνον. Τῆς δὲ τυραννίδος ἐκείνης ἤδη κατὰ θείαν συμμαχίαν διαλυθείσης, καὶ πάλιν εἰρήνης τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν διαδεξαμένης, καθ' ἣν ἄνετος ἦν κατ' ἐξουσίαν προκειμένη πᾶσιν ἡ περὶ τὸ Θεῖον σπουδὴ, καταβὰς πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πᾶσαν περινοστήσας ἐν κύκλῳ τὴν χώραν, προσ θήκην ἐποιεῖτο τοῖς ἁπανταχοῦ λαοῖς τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον σπουδῆς, τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐνηθληκότων τῇ πίστει πανηγύρεις νομοθετήσας. Καὶ διαλαβόντες ἄλλος ἀλ λαχῆ τῶν μαρτύρων τὰ σώματα, κατὰ τὴν ἐτήσιον τοῦ ἐνιαυσιαίου κύκλου περίοδον συνιόντες, ἠγάλ λοντο τῇ τιμῇ τῶν μαρτύρων πανηγυρίζοντες. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς μεγάλης αὐτοῦ σοφίας ἀπό δειξις ἦν, ὅτι πρὸς καινὸν βίον μεταῤῥυθμίζων πᾶ σαν ἀθρόως τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν γενεὰν, οἷόν τις ἡνίοχος ἐπιστὰς τῇ φύσει, καὶ τοῖς τῆς πίστεως καὶ θεο γνωσίας χαλινοῖς ἀσφαλῶς αὐτοὺς ὑποζεύξας, ἐνεδί δου τι μικρὸν τῷ ζυγῷ τῆς πίστεως δι' εὐφροσύνης ὑποσκιρτᾷν τὸ ὑπήκοον. Συνιδὼν γὰρ ὅτι ταῖς σω ματικαῖς θυμηδίαις τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνῃ παρα μένει τὸ νηπιῶδες τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον· ὡς ἂν τὸ προηγούμενον τέως ἐν αὐτοῖς μάλιστα κατορ θωθείη, τὸ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀντὶ τῶν ματαίων σεβασμάτων βλέπειν, ἐπαφῆκεν αὐτοῖς ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἐμφαιδρύνεσθαι μνήμαις, καὶ εὐπαθεῖν, καὶ ἀγάλλε σθαι, ὡς χρόνῳ ποτὲ κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον πρὸς σεμνό τερόν τε καὶ ἀκριβέστερον μετατεθησομένου τοῦ βίου, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο καθηγουμένης τῆς πίστεως, ὅπερ δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἤδη κατωρθώθη, πάσης θυμηδίας ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἡδέων πρὸς τὸ πνευ ματικὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης εἶδος μετατεθείσης. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐμπολιτευόμενος τῇ Ἐκκλη σίᾳ, καὶ σπουδὴν ἔχων πρὸ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ βίου μετα στάσεως πάντας ἰδεῖν πρὸς τὴν σωτήριον πίστιν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων μεταθέντας· ἐπειδὴ προέγνω ἑαυτοῦ τὴν μετάστασιν, σπουδῇ πᾶσάν τε τὴν περιοικίδα διηρευνήσατο, μαθεῖν θέλων εἴ τινες