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

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; so that if ever some success should befall them, they might not think great things of themselves because of their virtue. For often even virtue becomes a cause of falling, when it is not performed with a right intention; for it is written: "I have seen a righteous man perishing in his righteousness; and this too is vanity". 26 .tConcerning Heron 26.1 There was a certain Heron, a neighbor of mine, an Alexandrian by race, a witty young man, clever in mind, pure in his life; who himself also, after many labors, being struck with pride, became insolent and thought great things of himself against the fathers, insulting even the blessed Evagrius, saying that, "Those who obey your teaching are deceived; for one ought not to pay attention to other teachers besides Christ". And he misused the testimony for the purpose of his own folly, and said that, "The Savior Himself said: 'Call no man teacher on earth'". 26.2 He was so greatly darkened that later he was even put in irons, not even being willing to approach the mysteries. But the truth is dear. He was exceedingly austere in his way of life, so that many of his acquaintances related that he would often eat only after three months, being content with the communion of the mysteries and if ever any wild vegetable appeared. And I myself had experience of him with the blessed Albanius when going to Scetis. 26.3 And Scetis was forty miles from us; in these forty miles we ate a second time and drank water a third time, but he, having tasted nothing, walking on foot, recited from memory fifteen psalms, then the great one, then the epistle to the Hebrews, then Isaiah and some part of Jeremiah, then Luke the evangelist, then the proverbs. And while these things were so, we were not able to keep up with him as he walked. 26.4 This man, at last, as if driven by a fire, was not able to sit in his cell; but having gone away to Alexandria by providence, as the saying goes, he drove out a nail with a nail. For he fell willingly into indifference, later finding an involuntary salvation. For he went to the theater and the hippodromes and spent his time in taverns; and thus being gluttonous and a drunkard, he fell into the mire of desire for women. 26.5 And as he planned to sin, meeting a certain actress, he was discussing things relating to his sore. While these things were being arranged, a carbuncle came upon his glans, and he was so sick for a six-month period that his members putrefied and fell off. But later, having become well without those members and having returned to a godly mind, he came confessing all these things to the fathers; but not managing to act, he fell asleep after a few days. 27 .tConcerning Ptolemy 27.1 Again, another named Ptolemy lived a life difficult or impossible to describe; for he lived beyond Scetis in the place called 'the Ladder'; it is a place so called where no one is able to live, as the well of the brothers is eighteen miles away. Therefore, having carried many Cilician jars, he brought them there, and in the months of December and January, collecting the dew—for it is very dewy in those parts then—with a sponge from the stones, he survived for fifteen years living there. 27.2 Who, having been alienated from teaching and the company and help of holy men, and from constant communion of the mysteries, was so far driven from the straight path as to say that these things are nothing, but rather to be carried aloft, wandering until now in Egypt and having given himself over to gluttony and drunkenness, speaking to no one about anything. And this calamity befell Ptolemy from irrational conceit, according to what is written: "Those who have no guidance fall like leaves". 28 .tConcerning a fallen virgin 28.1 Again, I knew a virgin in Jerusalem who wore sackcloth for six years and was enclosed, partaking of nothing that leads to pleasure; who later was abandoned because of an excess of

ἐνθεῖναι τῷ βιβλιδαρίῳ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων, καθάπερ καὶ ἁγίοις φυτοῖς τοῦ παραδείσου τὸ ξύλον τὸ γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ· ἵνα εἴ ποτε αὐτοῖς συμβαίη κατόρθωμά τι, μὴ μέγα φρονήσωσιν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρετῇ. Πολλάκις γὰρ καὶ ἀρετὴ ὑπόθεσις γίνεται πτώσεως, ὅταν μὴ σκοπῷ ὀρθῷ ἐπιτελεσθῇ· γέγραπται γάρ· "Εἶδον δίκαιον ἀπολλύ μενον ἐν δικαιώματι αὐτοῦ· καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης". 26 .tΠερὶ Ἥρωνοσ 26.1 Ἥρων τις γέγονε γειτνιῶν μοι, Ἀλεξανδρεὺς τῷ γένει ἀστεῖος νεώτερος, εὐφυὴς τὴν διάνοιαν, καθαρὸς τὸν βίον· ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ πόνους πολλοὺς τύφῳ βληθεὶς ἐξετραχηλιάσθη καὶ κατὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐφρόνησε μέγα, ὑβρίσας καὶ τὸν μακάριον Εὐάγριον, λέγων ὅτι "Οἱ πειθό μενοι τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ σου ἀπατῶνται· οὐ χρὴ γὰρ διδασκάλοις ἑτέροις προσέχειν παρεκτὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ". Ἀπεχρήσατο δὲ καὶ τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μωρίας, καὶ ἔλεγεν ὅτι "Αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ εἶπε· "Μὴ καλέσητε διδάσκαλον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς"". 26.2 Ὃς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον καὶ αὐτὸς ἐσκοτώθη ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ὕστερον σιδηρωθῆναι, μὴ θέλοντα μηδὲ τοῖς μυστηρίοις προσέρχεσθαι. Φίλη δὲ ἡ ἀλήθεια. Καθ' ὑπερ βολὴν ἦν λεπτὸς τῇ πολιτείᾳ, ὡς πολλοὺς διηγεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐν συνηθείᾳ ὅτι πολλάκις διὰ τριῶν μηνῶν ἐσθίει, ἀρκού μενος τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν μυστηρίων καὶ εἴ που ἂν φανῇ ἀγριολάχανον. Πεῖραν δὲ αὐτοῦ εἴληφα κἀγὼ μετὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἀλβανίου ἀπιὼν ἐπὶ τὴν Σκῆτιν. 26.3 Ἀπεῖχε δὲ ἡμῶν ἡ Σκῆτις τεσσαράκοντα σημεῖα· ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τεσσαράκοντα σημείοις ἡμεῖς δεύτερον βεβρώκαμεν καὶ τρίτον ἐπίομεν ὕδωρ, ἐκεῖνος δὲ μηδενὸς γευσάμενος πεζὸς βαδίζων ἀπεστήθισε δεκαπέντε ψαλμούς, εἶτα τὸν μέγαν, εἶτα τὴν πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολήν, εἶτα τὸν Ἠσαΐαν καὶ μέρος τι τοῦ Ἱερεμίου, εἶτα Λουκᾶν τὸν εὐαγγελιστήν, εἶτα τὰς παροιμίας. Καὶ τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων καταλαμ βάνειν αὐτὸν οὐκ ἠδυνάμεθα βαδίζοντα. 26.4 Οὗτος τελευ ταῖον ὡς ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἐλαυνόμενος ἐν τῇ κέλλῃ μὲν αὐτοῦ καθεσθῆναι οὐκ ἠδυνήθη· ἀπελθὼν δὲ εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάν δρειαν κατ' οἰκονομίαν, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ἥλῳ τὸν ἧλον ἐξέκρουσε. Περιέπεσε γὰρ ἑκουσίως τῇ ἀδιαφορίᾳ, ἐς ὕστερον ἀκούσιον εὑράμενος σωτηρίαν. Παρέβαλε γὰρ θεάτρῳ καὶ ἱπποδρομίαις καὶ τὰς διατριβὰς εἶχεν ἐν καπηλείοις· οὕτως δὲ γαστριμαργῶν καὶ οἰνοφλυγῶν ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸν βόρβορον τῆς γυναικείας ἐπιθυμίας. 26.5 Καὶ ὡς ἐσκέπτετο ἁμαρτῆσαι, μιμάδι τινὶ συντυχὼν τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἕλκος αὐτοῦ διελέγετο. Τούτων οὕτως διαπραττομένων γέγονεν αὐτῷ ἄνθραξ κατ' αὐτῆς τῆς βαλάνου, καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐνόσησεν ἑξαμη νιαῖον χρόνον ὡς κατασαπῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ μόρια καὶ ἀπο πεσεῖν. Ὕστερον δὲ ὑγιάνας ἄνευ τῶν μελῶν ἐκείνων καὶ ἐπανελθὼν εἰς φρόνημα θεϊκόν, ἦλθεν ἐξομολογούμενος ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς πατράσιν· ἐνεργῆσαι δὲ μὴ φθάσας ἐκοιμήθη μετ' ὀλίγας ἡμέρας. 27 .tΠερὶ Πτολεμαίου 27.1 Ἄλλος πάλιν Πτολεμαῖος ὀνόματι δυσδιήγητον ἢ ἀνεκδιήγητον ζήσας βίον· ᾤκησε γὰρ ἐπέκεινα τῆς Σκή τεως εἰς τὴν λεγομένην Κλίμακα· τόπος δέ ἐστιν οὕτω καλούμενος εἰς ὃν οἰκῆσαι οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ δε καοκτὼ σημείων εἶναι τὸ φρέαρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν. Βαστά σας οὖν ἐκεῖνος κεράμια κιλικίσια πολλὰ ἀπήνεγκε, καὶ τῷ δεκεμβρίῳ καὶ ἰαννουαρίῳ μηνὶ συνάγων τὴν δρόσον -δροσίζει γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς μέρεσι τότε πολλά-σπόγγῳ ἐκ τῶν λίθων, διήρκεσεν ἐπὶ ἔτη δεκαπέντε οἰκήσας ἐκεῖ. 27.2 Ὃς ἀποξενωθεὶς διδασκαλίας καὶ συντυχίας ἀνδρῶν ὁσίων καὶ ὠφελείας, καὶ συνεχοῦς κοινωνίας τῶν μυστηρίων, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξέστη τῆς εὐθείας ὡς λέγειν μηδὲν εἶναι τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλ' ἢ φέρεσθαι μετέωρον ἄχρι τῆς δεῦρο ἀλώμενον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἔκδοτον ἑαυτὸν δεδωκότα γα στριμαργίᾳ καὶ οἰνοφλυγίᾳ, μηδενὶ μηδὲν ὁμιλοῦντα. Καὶ αὕτη δὲ ἡ συμφορὰ συνέβη Πτολεμαίῳ ἐκ τῆς ἀλόγου οἰήσεως, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· "Οἷς μὴ ὑπάρχει κυβέρνη σις πίπτουσιν ὥσπερ φύλλα". 28 .tΠερὶ ἐκπεσούσης παρθένου 28.1 Παρθένον πάλιν ἔγνων ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις σακκοφοροῦ σαν ἐπὶ ἑξαετίαν καὶ ἐγκεκλεισμένην, μηδενὸς τῶν εἰς ἡδονὴν συντεινόντων λαμβάνουσαν· ἥτις ἐς ὕστερον ἐγκα ταλειφθεῖσα ὑπερβολῇ