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

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 ascetic practice according to a divine purpose and the love of God, but according to a human pretense, which is of vainglory and corrupt intention. For since her thoughts were occupied with condemning others, the guardian of her chastity was not present. 29 .tAbout Elias 29.1 A certain ascetic named Elias was a great friend to virgins; for there are such souls whose end bears witness to their virtue. He, taking pity on the order of the ascetic women, in the city of Athribis, having the funds, built a large monastery, and he gathered all the wandering women into the monastery, taking care of them accordingly, providing for them every comfort, and gardens and facilities, and whatever life requires. These women, having been drawn from various ways of life, made continuous quarrels with one another. 29.2 Therefore, since it was necessary for him both to listen to them and to make peace—for he had gathered about three hundred—he was compelled to mediate for two years. Being young in age, for he was about thirty or forty years old, he was tempted by pleasure; and withdrawing from the monastery, he wandered fasting through the desert for two days, praying this: "Lord, either kill me so that I may not see them afflicted, or take away my passion so that I may care for them according to reason." 29.3 When evening came, then, he fell asleep in the desert, and three angels came to him, as he himself related, and they took hold of him and said: "Why did you leave the monastery of the women?" To whom he related the matter: "Because I was afraid that I might harm both them and myself." They say to him: "Therefore, if we relieve you of the passion, will you go back and care for them?" To these things he agreed. They demand an oath from him. 29.4 And he said the oath was of this kind: "Swear to us, 'By the one who cares for me, I will care for them.'" And he swore to them; then one took hold of his hands and one his feet, and the third, taking a razor, cut out his testicles, not in reality but in appearance. It seemed then in his trance, as one might say, that he had been completely cured. They ask him: "Have you felt any benefit?" He says to them: "I have been greatly relieved and I am persuaded that I have been freed from the passion." 29.5 They say to him: "Go, then." And after five days, while the monastery was mourning, he returned and entered, and from then on he remained inside in a side cell, from which, being nearer, he continuously corrected them as much as he could. And he lived for another forty years, assuring the fathers that "Passion no longer enters my mind." This was the gift of that holy man who thus cared for the monastery. 30 .tAbout Dorotheus 30.1 Whom Dorotheus succeeded, a most proven man who had grown old in a good and active life; although unable to remain in the monastery itself in this way, being shut up in an upper room, he made a window looking out onto the monastery of the women, which he would both close and open; therefore, he sat unceasingly by the window, arranging for them a life without quarrels. And so he grew old up in the upper room, with neither the women coming up nor he being able to go down; for there was no ladder set up. 31 .tAbout Piamoun 31.1 Piamoun was a virgin who lived the years of her life with her own mother, eating every other day in the evening and spinning flax. She was deemed worthy of the gift of prophecy. Among these things it once happened in Egypt, during the inundation, that one village attacked another; for they fight over the water-allotments, with the result that murders and slaughterings follow. Therefore, a more powerful village attacked her village, and men came in a multitude with spears and clubs to destroy her village. 31.2 And an angel stood beside her, revealing to her their attack. And having summoned the elders of the village, she says: "Go out and meet those who are coming against you from this village, lest you also perish with the village, and beseech them to cease from their hostility." But the elders, being afraid, fall at her feet, beseeching and

ὑπερηφανίας περιέπεσε πτώσει. Καὶ ἀνοίξασα τὴν θυρίδα εἰσεδέξατο τὸν ὑπηρετούμενον καὶ αὐτῷ συνεφύρη ἐν τῷ μὴ κατὰ θεϊκὴν πρόθεσιν καὶ ἀγάπην θεοῦ ἐσχηκέναι τὴν ἄσκησιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ σκηνὴν ἀνθρω πίνην, ὅ ἐστι κενοδοξίας καὶ σαθρᾶς προαιρέσεως. Τῶν γὰρ λογισμῶν αὐτῆς ἀπασχοληθέντων εἰς τὸ καταγινώσ κειν τῶν ἄλλων, οὐκ ἦν ὁ φύλαξ τῆς σωφροσύνης. 29 .tΠερὶ Ἠλία 29.1 Ἠλίας τις ἀσκητὴς σφόδρα γέγονε φιλοπάρθενος· εἰσὶ γὰρ τοιαῦται ψυχαὶ αἷς μαρτυρεῖ τὸ τέλος κατὰ ἀρετήν. Ὃς κατοικτειρήσας τὸ τάγμα τῶν ἀσκητριῶν, ἐν Ἀθριβῇ τῇ πόλει ἔχων ἀναλώματα ᾠκοδόμησε μέγα μοναστήριον, καὶ συνήγαγε πάσας τὰς ἀλωμένας ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ ἀκολούθως αὐτῶν φροντίζων, ποιήσας αὐταῖς ἀνάπαυσιν πᾶσαν καὶ κήπους καὶ χρηστήρια καὶ ὧν ἀπαιτεῖ ὁ βίος. Αὗται ἐκ διαφόρων βίων ἠγμέναι συνεχεῖς ἐποίουν μάχας μετ' ἀλλήλων. 29.2 Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐχρῆν αὐτὸν καὶ διακούειν καὶ εἰρηνεύειν, συνήγαγε γὰρ ὡς τριακοσίας, ἀνάγκην εἶχε μεσιτεύειν ἐπὶ δύο ἔτη. Νέαν ἄγων τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἦν γὰρ ὡς τριάκοντα ἐτῶν ἢ τεσσαράκοντα, οὗτος ἐπειράσθη καθ' ἡδονήν· καὶ ἀναχωρήσας τοῦ μοναστηρίου νῆστις ἐπλανᾶτο ἀνὰ τὴν ἔρημον ἐπὶ ἡμέρας δύο, τοῦτο δεόμενος ὅτι "Κύριε, ἢ ἀπόκτεινόν με ἵνα μὴ ἴδω αὐτὰς θλιβομένας, ἢ τὸ πάθος μου λαβὲ ἵνα φροντίζω αὐτῶν κατὰ λόγον". 29.3 Ἑσπέρας οὖν γενομένης ὕπνωσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἐλθόντες πρὸς αὐτὸν ἄγγελοι τρεῖς, ὡς αὐτὸς διηγεῖτο, κατέσχον αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσι· "Τί ἐξῆλθες τοῦ μοναστηρίου τῶν γυναικῶν;" Οἷς διηγεῖτο τὸ πρᾶγμα· "Ὅτι ἐφοβήθην μήποτε κἀκείνας βλάψω καὶ ἐμαυτόν". Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "Οὐκοῦν ἐάν σε τοῦ πάθους ἀπαλλάξωμεν ἀπέρχῃ καὶ φροντίζεις αὐτῶν;" Ἐπὶ τούτοις συνέθετο. Εἰσπράττονται αὐτὸν ὅρκον. 29.4 Τὸν δὲ ὅρκον ἔλεγε τοιοῦτον εἶναι· "Ὄμοσον ἡμῖν ὅτι Μὰ τὸν φροντίζοντά μου φροντίζω αὐτῶν". Καὶ ὤμοσεν αὐτοῖς· τότε κατέσχον αὐτοῦ εἷς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ εἷς τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ὁ τρίτος λαβὼν ξυρὸν ἐξέτεμεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς διδύμους, οὐ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀλλὰ κατὰ φαντασίαν. Ἔδοξεν οὖν τῇ ἐκστάσει, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, καὶ ἀποτεθεραπεῦσθαι. Ἐπερωτῶσιν αὐτόν· "Ἠισθήθης ὠφελείας;" Λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Σφόδρα ἐκου φίσθην καὶ πέπεισμαι ἀπηλλάχθαι τοῦ πάθους". 29.5 Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "Ἄπελθε οὖν". Καὶ ὑποστρέψας μετὰ πέντε ἡμέρας πενθοῦντος τοῦ μοναστηρίου εἰσῆλθε καὶ ἔνδον ἔμεινεν ἔκτοτε ἐν κελλίῳ πλαγίῳ, ἐξ οὗ ἐγγύτερος ὢν συνεχῶς αὐτὰς διωρθοῦτο τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτῷ. Ἔζησε δὲ ἄλλα τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη διαβεβαιούμενος τοῖς πατράσιν ὅτι "Εἰς τὴν διάνοιάν μου οὐκ ἀναβαίνει πάθος". Τοῦτο τὸ χάρισμα τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου ὃς οὕτως ἐφρόντισε τοῦ μοναστηρίου. 30 .tΠερὶ ∆ωροθέου 30.1 Ὃν διαδέχεται ∆ωρόθεος, ἀνὴρ δοκιμώτατος γηρά σας ἐν βίῳ χρηστῷ καὶ ἐμπράκτῳ· μὴ δυνηθεὶς μὲν οὕτως ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ μοναστηρίῳ μεῖναι, ἐν ἀνώγεῳ δὲ ἀποκε κλεισμένος θυρίδα ἐποίησεν ὁρῶσαν ἐπὶ τὸ μοναστήριον τῶν γυναικῶν, ἣν καὶ ἔκλειε καὶ ἤνοιγεν· ἀδιαλείπτως οὖν παρεκαθέζετο τῇ θυρίδι τὴν ἀμαχίαν αὐταῖς μνη στευόμενος. Καὶ οὕτως ἐπεγήρασεν ἄνω εἰς τὸ ἀνώγεων, μήτε τῶν γυναικῶν ἄνω ἀνερχομένων μήτε ἐκείνου δυνα μένου κάτω κατελθεῖν· οὐ γὰρ εἱστήκει κλῖμαξ. 31 .tΠερὶ Πιαμοῦν 31.1 Πιαμοῦν γέγονε παρθένος ἥτις τὰ ἔτη τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῆς ἔζησε μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς ἰδίας μίαν παρὰ μίαν ἐσθίουσα ἐν ἑσπέρᾳ καὶ νήθουσα λίνον. Αὕτη κατηξιώθη χαρίσματος προρρήσεων. Ἐν οἷς συνέβη ποτὲ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῆς ἀναβάσεως οὔσης κώμην κώμῃ ἐπιθέσθαι· μάχονται γὰρ εἰς τὰς ὑδρομερισίας, ὡς καὶ φόνους παρακολουθεῖν καὶ κατακοπάς. ∆υνατωτέρα οὖν κώμη ἐπέθετο τῇ ταύ της κώμῃ, καὶ ἤρχοντο ἄνδρες ἐν πλήθει μετὰ δοράτων καὶ ῥοπάλων κόψαι τὴν κώμην αὐτῆς. 31.2 Παρέστη δὲ αὐτῇ ἄγγελος ἀποκαλύπτων αὐτῇ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν τούτων. Καὶ μεταστειλαμένη τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῆς κώμης λέγει· "Ἐξέλθατε καὶ ἀπαντήσατε τοῖς ἐρχομένοις ἐκ τῆσδε τῆς κώμης καθ' ὑμῶν, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς συναπόλησθε τῇ κώμῃ, καὶ παρακαλέσατε αὐτοὺς λωφῆσαι τῆς ἀηδίας". Φοβη θέντες δὲ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι πίπτουσιν εἰς τοὺς πόδας αὐτῆς παρακαλοῦντες καὶ