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

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 Mareotis, lived as a solitary for sixty years. This man, having become an ascetic to the highest degree and discerning, was deemed worthy of a gift, so that everyone who was grieving any grief whatsoever, on meeting him, would depart without grief. He was also an acquaintance of the blessed Antony; and he lived even to our days. Whom I, for my part, did not meet on account of the length of the journey; 24.2 but the companions of the holy Ammonius and Evagrius, having met me, related that "We found him having fallen into such a sickness, in the very regions of the testicles and the penis, having developed an ulcer called a gangrene. Whom we found being cared for by a certain physician, and working with his hands and weaving palm-branches and speaking to us, while the rest of his body was being operated on; who was so disposed as if another were being cut. So when his members were cut off just like hairs, he was without sensation by the excess of divine preparation. 24.3 And while we were somewhat grieved on the one hand, and on the other hand sickened that such a life had fallen into such a suffering and such surgeries, he says to us: 'Little children, be not harmed by the matter; for nothing of what God does, he does with malice, but for a good end. For perhaps these members were also liable to punishment, and it is expedient for them to pay the penalty here rather than after the departure from the stadium.' Thus therefore, having comforted and supported us, he edified us." And I have related these things so that we may not be astonished when we see certain holy men having fallen into such sufferings. 25 .tConcerning Valens 25.1 A certain Valens was a Palestinian by race, but a Corinthian in mind; for the holy Paul attributed the passion of being puffed up to the Corinthians. This man, having taken to the desert, lived with us for many years; who drove to such a degree of pride as to be deceived by demons. For from being deceived little by little, they prepared him to think great things of himself, as if angels were meeting with him. 25.2 On one of the days, then, as they related, while working in the dark he dropped the needle with which he was sewing his basket; and when he could not find it, the demon made a lamp and he found the needle. Again, being puffed up at this, he thought great things of himself, and he was so puffed up as even to despise the communion of the mysteries. And it happened that some visitors came and brought sweetmeats in the church for the brotherhood. 25.3 So the holy Macarius, our presbyter, taking them, sent to each of us in our cell a handful, among whom also to Valens. So Valens, taking hold of the one who brought it, both insulted and struck him, and says to him: "Go and say to Macarius: 'I am not your inferior, that you should send me a blessing.'" So Macarius, knowing that he was being deluded, went to exhort him after one day, and says to him: "Valens, you are being deluded; stop." And when he did not listen to his counsels, he departed. 25.4 So the demon, being fully assured that he was completely persuaded by his error, goes and fashions himself into the Savior, and appears at night in a vision of a thousand angels holding lamps and a fiery wheel, in which he seemed to fashion the Savior, and one going before and saying: "Christ has loved your way of life and the boldness of your life, and has come to see you. Go out of your cell, therefore, and do nothing else but, seeing him from afar, bow down and worship, and enter into your cell." 25.5 So going out and seeing the torch-bearing array, and the antichrist from about a stadium's distance, he fell down and worshipped. To such an extent, therefore, was he again deranged in mind the next day, as to enter into the church, and with the brotherhood assembled, to say: "I have no need of communion; for I have seen Christ today." Then the fathers, having bound him and put him in irons for one year, cured him, casting down his conceit by prayers and indifference and a more quiet life, and as it is said: Opposites are the cures for opposites. 25.6 And it is necessary also the lives of such men

φρόνησιν οὐκέτι μοι ἤγγισεν". 24 .tΠερὶ Στεφάνου τοῦ Λίβυοσ 24.1 Στέφανός τις Λίβυς τῷ γένει ἐκ πλαγίου τῆς Μαρμαρικῆς καὶ τοῦ Μαρεώτου ἐκαθέσθη ἐπὶ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη. Οὗτος εἰς ἄκρον γενόμενος ἀσκητὴς καὶ διακριτικὸς κατηξιώθη χαρίσματος ὥστε πάντα τὸν λυπούμενον οἱαν δήποτε λύπην συντυχόντα αὐτῷ ἄλυπον ἀναχωρεῖν. Γνώ ριμος δὲ ἦν καὶ τῷ μακαρίῳ Ἀντωνίῳ· ἔφθασε δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἡμερῶν. Ὧ ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ συνέτυχον διὰ τὸ μῆκος τοῦ τόπου· 24.2 οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν ἅγιον Ἀμμώνιον καὶ Εὐάγριον συντυχόντες μοι διηγήσαντο ὅτι "Κατελά βομεν αὐτὸν ἀρρωστίᾳ τοιαύτῃ περιπεσόντα κατ' αὐτοὺς τοὺς τόπους τῶν διδύμων καὶ τῆς βαλάνου ἕλκος ποιήσαντα τὸ λεγόμενον φαγέδαιναν. Ὃν εὕρομεν τημελούμενον ὑπὸ ἰατροῦ τινός, καὶ ταῖς μὲν χερσὶν ἐργαζόμενον καὶ πλέ κοντα θαλλοὺς καὶ λαλοῦντα ἡμῖν, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν σῶμα χειριζόμενον· ὃς οὕτως ἦν διακείμενος ὡς ἄλλου τεμνομένου. Ἀποκοπέντων οὖν τῶν μελῶν καθάπερ τριχῶν, ἀναίσθητος ἦν ὑπερβολῇ παρασκευῆς θεϊκῆς. 24.3 Ἡμῶν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὑπολυπουμένων, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ σιαινομένων ὅτι τοιοῦτος βίος τοιούτῳ περιπέπτωκε πάθει καὶ χειρουργίαις τοιαύταις, λέγει ἡμῖν· "Τεκνία, μηδὲν βλαβῆτε ἀπὸ τοῦ πράγματος· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὧν ποιεῖ ὁ θεὸς κακίᾳ ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ τέλει χρηστῷ. Ἴσως γὰρ καὶ ὑπεύθυνα ἦσαν τὰ μέλη κολάσεως, καὶ συμφέρον ἐστὶν αὐτὰ ὧδε δοῦναι τὴν δίκην ἢ μετὰ τὴν ἔξοδον τοῦ σταδίου". Οὕτως οὖν ἡμᾶς παρακαλέσας καὶ ὑποστηρίξας ᾠκοδόμησε". Ταῦτα δὲ διηγησάμην ἵνα μὴ ξενιζώμεθα ὅταν ἁγίους τινὰς ἴδωμεν τοιούτοις περιπε σόντας πάθεσιν. 25 .tΠερὶ Οὐάλεντοσ 25.1 Οὐάλης τις γέγονε τῷ μὲν γένει Παλαιστῖνος, τῇ δὲ γνώμῃ Κορίνθιος· Κορινθίοις γὰρ προσῆψε τὸ πάθος τῆς φυσιώσεως ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος. Οὗτος τὴν ἔρημον κατα λαβὼν ᾤκησε μεθ' ἡμῶν ἐπὶ πλείονα ἔτη· ὃς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἤλασεν ὑπερηφανίας ὡς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ἀπατηθῆναι. Ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπατᾶσθαι αὐτὸν παρεσκεύασαν αὐτὸν μέγα φρονῆσαι, ὡς ἀγγέλων αὐτῷ συντυγχανόντων. 25.2 Μιᾶς γοῦν τῶν ἡμερῶν, ὡς διηγοῦντο, ὅτι ἐργαζόμενος ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ τὴν βελόνην ἀφῆκεν ἐν ᾗ κατέρραπτε τὴν σπυρίδα· καὶ μὴ εὑρόντος αὐτὴν αὐτοῦ, λαμπάδα ἐποίησεν ὁ δαίμων καὶ εὗρε τὴν βελόνην. Πάλιν φυσιωθεὶς ἐπὶ τούτῳ μέγα ἐφρόνει, καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐφυσιώθη ὡς καὶ τῆς κοι νωνίας τῶν μυστηρίων αὐτὸν καταφρονῆσαι. Συνέβη δὲ ἐλθόν τας τινὰς ξένους τραγήματα ἐνεγκεῖν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἀδελφότητι. 25.3 Λαβὼν οὖν ὁ ἅγιος Μακάριος ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἡμῶν, ἀπέστειλεν ἡμῖν ἑκάστῳ εἰς τὴν κέλλαν πρὸς δράκα, ἐν οἷς καὶ τῷ Οὐάλεντι. Λαβὼν οὖν ὁ Οὐάλης τὸν ἀπενεγ κόντα καὶ ὕβρισε καὶ ἐτύπτησε, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· "Ἄπελθε καὶ εἰπὲ Μακαρίῳ· "Οὐκ εἰμί σου χείρων, ἵνα σὺ ἐμοὶ εὐλογίαν πέμψῃς"". Γνοὺς οὖν ὁ Μακάριος ὅτι ἐνεπαίχθη ἀπῆλθεν αὐτὸν παρακαλέσαι μετὰ μίαν ἡμέραν, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· "Οὐάλη, ἐνεπαίχθης· παῦσαι". Καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἤκουσεν αὐτοῦ τῶν παραινέσεων ἀνεχώρησε. 25.4 Πληροφορηθεὶς οὖν ὁ δαίμων ὅτι εἰς ἄκρον αὐτοῦ ἐπείσθη τῇ πλάνῃ, ἀπέρχεται καὶ σχηματίζει ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸν σωτῆρα, καὶ παραγίνεται ἐν νυκτὶ ἐν φαντασίᾳ ἀγγέλων χιλίων λαμπάδας ἐχόντων καὶ τροχὸν πύρινον, ἐν ᾧ ἔδοξε τὸν σωτῆρα σχηματίζειν, καὶ ἕνα προλαμβάνοντα καὶ λέγοντα· "Ἠράσθη σου ὁ Χριστὸς τῇ πολιτείᾳ καὶ τῇ παρρησίᾳ τοῦ βίου, καὶ ἦλθεν ἰδεῖν σε. Ἔξελθε οὖν τῆς κέλλης, καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο ποιήσῃς ἀλλ' ἢ πόρρωθεν αὐτὸν ἰδὼν κύψας προσκύνησον, καὶ εἴσελθέ σου εἰς τὴν κέλλαν". 25.5 Ἐξελθὼν οὖν καὶ θεασάμενος τὴν παράταξιν λαμπαδηφόρον, ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίου δὲ τὸν ἀντίχριστον, πεσὼν προσεκύνησεν. Ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον οὖν πάλιν τὴν ἄλλην ἡμέραν ἐφρενοβλάβησεν, ὡς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ συνηγμένης τῆς ἀδελφότητος εἰπεῖν· "Ἐγὼ κοινωνίας χρείαν οὐκ ἔχω· τὸν γὰρ Χριστὸν ἑώρακα σήμερον". Τότε δήσαντες αὐτὸν οἱ πατέρες καὶ σιδηρώσαντες ἐπὶ ἔτος ἓν ἀπεθερά πευσαν, εὐχαῖς καὶ ἀδιαφορίᾳ καὶ ἀπραγοτέρῳ βίῳ τὸ οἴημα αὐτοῦ καθελόντες, καὶ ὡς λέγεται· Τὰ ἐναντία τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἰάματα. 25.6 Ἀναγκαῖον δέ ἐστι καὶ τοὺς τῶν τοιούτων βίους