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

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 become a bishop?" I said to him, "I am". And he says to me, "Where?" I said, "In the kitchens, in the taverns, over the tables, over the wine jars; I oversee them, and if a wine is sour, I set it aside, but the good I drink; likewise I also oversee the pot, and if it lacks salt or any of the seasonings, I add and season it, and so I eat it. This is my episcopate; for gluttony has ordained me". 35.11 Smiling, he says to me: "Leave off the jests; you are to be ordained a bishop and to labor much and be afflicted; if, therefore, you flee afflictions, do not leave the desert; for in the desert no one is to ordain you bishop". So, having departed from him, I came to the desert to my usual place, having related these very things to the blessed fathers; who, after two months, sailed and came and met with him. But I forgot his words. For after three years I fell sick with an illness of the spleen and stomach; 35.12 from there I was sent to Alexandria by the brothers, having developed dropsy. From Alexandria the physicians advised, for the sake of the air, that I go to Palestine; for it has a thin air, with respect to our constitution; from Palestine I went to Bithynia; and there—I know not how, whether from human effort, or from the good pleasure of the Mighty One; God would know—I was deemed worthy of the ordination beyond me, having shared in the adversity concerning the blessed John; 35.13 and for eleven months, hiding in a dark cell, I remembered that blessed man, that he had foretold to me these things which I suffered. And he also related this to me, as if obliged through the narrative to bring me to the endurance of the desert: "For forty-eight years I have been in this cell; I have not seen a woman's face, nor the form of a coin; I have not seen anyone chewing; no one has seen me eating or drinking". 35.14 This man did not meet with the servant of God Poemenia when she visited for the sake of inquiry, but he did reveal to her some secret things. And he instructed her, when coming from the Thebaid, not to turn aside to Alexandria, "Since you are to fall into temptations". But she, having been deceived or having forgotten, turned aside to Alexandria to see the city. And on the way, near the city of Nikiou, her ships put in for the sake of rest. 35.15 So the servants, going out because of some disorderliness, joined battle with the locals, who were desperate men; who took the finger of one eunuch, killed another, and dunked Dionysius the most holy bishop into the river, not knowing who he was, and they crushed her herself with insults and threats, having wounded all the remaining servants. 36 .tConcerning Posidonius 36.1 The things concerning Posidonius the Theban are many and hard to relate, how gentle and how most ascetic he was, and how much simplicity he had in himself; I do not know if I have met anyone like him. For I lived with him for one year in Bethlehem when he was dwelling beyond the Poemenion, and I observed his many virtues; 36.2 among which he himself related to me on one of the days that "Having dwelt in the region of Porphyrites for one year, I did not meet a person for the whole year, I did not hear conversation, I did not touch bread; but I subsisted on a few dates and if I found any wild herbs. At a time when my food was running out, I went out of the cave to go to the inhabited world. 36.3 And having walked through the whole day, I was scarcely two milestones from the cave. Looking around, therefore, I see a horseman having the appearance of a soldier, having a tiara-like helmet on his head; and expecting him to be a soldier, I hastened to the cave, and I found a basket of grapes and freshly cut figs; which I took and, becoming overjoyed, went into the cave, having that food for comfort for two months". 36.4 And he performed this miracle in Bethlehem: a certain pregnant woman had an unclean spirit, and in the very

ἱκανῶς, ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ θεῷ τὰς ἐλαυνούσας με προφάσεις ἠνυσμένας μαθών. 35.10 Εἶτα πάλιν λέγει μοι χαριεντιζόμενος· "Θέλεις ἐπίσκοπος γενέσθαι;" Εἶπον αὐτῷ ὅτι "Εἰμί". Καὶ λέγει μοι· "Ποῦ;" Εἶπον ὅτι "Εἰς τὰ μαγειρεῖα, εἰς τὰ καπηλεῖα, εἰς τὰς τραπέζας, εἰς τὰ κεράμια· ἐπισκοπῶ αὐτά, καὶ ἐὰν ᾖ οἰνάριον ὄξινον ἀφορίζω αὐτό, τὸ δὲ χρη στὸν πίνω· ὁμοίως ἐπισκοπῶ καὶ τὴν χύτραν, καὶ ἐὰν λείπῃ ἅλας ἤ τι τῶν ἀρτυμάτων βάλλω καὶ ἀρτύω, καὶ οὕτως αὐτὴν ἐσθίω. Αὕτη μού ἐστιν ἡ ἐπισκοπή· ἐχειροτόνησε γάρ με ἡ γαστριμαργία". 35.11 Λέγει μοι οὗτος μειδιάσας· "Ἄφες τὰ παίγνια· ἐπίσκοπος ἔχεις χειροτονηθῆναι καὶ πολλὰ καμεῖν καὶ θλιβῆναι· εἰ τοίνυν φεύγεις τὰς θλίψεις, μὴ ἐξέλθῃς τῆς ἐρήμου· ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐπίσκοπόν σε οὐδεὶς ἔχει χειροτονῆσαι". Ἀναχωρήσας οὖν αὐτοῦ ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον εἰς τὸν τόπον μου τὸν συνήθη, αὐτὰ ταῦτα διηγησάμενος τοῖς μακαρίοις πατράσιν· οἵτινες μετὰ δύο μῆνας πλεύσαντες ἦλθον καὶ συνέτυχον αὐτῷ. Ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων αὐτοῦ ἐπελαθόμην. Μετὰ γὰρ τρία ἔτη ἠρρώστησα ἀρρωστίαν τὴν ἀπὸ σπληνὸς καὶ στομάχου· 35.12 ἐκεῖθεν ἀπεστάλην ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν παρὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ὕδρωπα μελετήσας. Ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας συμβουλεύσαντες οἱ ἰατροί, τῶν ἀέρων ἕνεκεν, καταλαμβάνειν με τὴν Παλαιστίνην· ἔχει γὰρ λεπτοὺς ἀέρας, ὡς πρὸς τὴν κρᾶσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν· ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιστίνης κατέλαβον τὴν Βιθυνίαν· καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ- οὐκ οἶδα πῶς, εἴτε ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης σπουδῆς, εἴτε ἐξ εὐδοκίας τοῦ κρείττονος· θεὸς ἂν εἰδείη-κατηξιώθην τῆς ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ χειροτονίας κοινωνήσας τῇ περιστάσει τῇ κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Ἰωάννην· 35.13 καὶ ἐπὶ ἕνδεκα μῆνας ἐν ζοφερῷ κελλίῳ κρυπτόμενος ἐμνήσθην τοῦ μακαρίου ἐκείνου, ὅτι ταῦτά μοι προειρήκει ἅπερ ὑπέστην. Καὶ τοῦτο δέ μοι διηγεῖτο ὡς ὀφείλων με διὰ τοῦ διηγήματος ἀγαγεῖν εἰς ὑπομονὴν τῆς ἐρήμου, ὅτι "Τεσσαρακοντα οκτὼ ἔτη ἔχω ἐν τῇ κέλλῃ ταύτῃ· οὐ γυναικὸς πρόσωπον εἶδον, οὐ νομίσματος ἰδέαν· οὐ μασώμενόν τινα εἶδον· οὐκ ἐσθίοντα, οὐ πίνοντά με εἶδέ τις". 35.14 Οὗτος καὶ τῇ δούλῃ τοῦ θεοῦ Ποιμενίῃ παραβα λούσῃ ἱστορίας χάριν οὐ συντετύχηκε μέν, ἐδήλωσε δὲ αὐτῇ τινὰ καὶ τῶν ἀπορρήτων. Παρήγγειλε δὲ αὐτῇ κατ ερχομένῃ ἀπὸ Θηβαΐδος μὴ ἐκνεῦσαι εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, "Ἐπεὶ πειρασμοῖς ἔχεις περιπεσεῖν". Ἡ δὲ παραλογισαμένη ἢ ἐπιλαθομένη ἐξένευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἱστορῆσαι τὴν πόλιν. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν πλησίον Νικίους τῆς πόλεως παρέβαλεν αὐτῆς τὰ πλοῖα ἀναπαύσεως χάριν. 35.15 Ἐξελθόντες οὖν οἱ παῖδες ἐξ ἀταξίας τινὸς συνέ βαλον μάχην μετὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, ἀνδρῶν ἀπονενοημένων· οἵτινες ἑνὸς μὲν εὐνούχου δάκτυλον ἦραν, ἄλλον δὲ ἐφό νευσαν, ∆ιονύσιον δὲ τὸν ἁγιώτατον ἐπίσκοπον καὶ εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἔβαψαν ἀγνοήσαντες, κἀκείνην αὐτὴν λοιδορίαις καὶ ἀπειλαῖς συνέτριψαν, τοὺς λοιποὺς πάντας τραυματί σαντες παῖδας. 36 .tΠερὶ Ποσειδωνίου 36.1 Τὰ κατὰ Ποσειδώνιον τὸν Θηβαῖον πολλὰ μὲν καὶ δυσδιήγητα, πῶς τε ἦν πραῢς καὶ ὅπως ἀσκητικώ τατος, καὶ πόσην τινὰ εἶχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀκακίαν, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ συντετύχηκά τινι. Συνέζησα γὰρ τούτῳ ἐπὶ ἔτος ἓν ἐν Βηθλεὲμ ὁπηνίκα ἐκαθέσθη ἐπέκεινα τοῦ Ποιμενίου, καὶ πολλὰς αὐτοῦ κατεῖδον ἀρετάς· 36.2 ἐν οἷς μοι αὐτὸς διηγεῖτο μιᾶς τῶν ἡμερῶν ὅτιπερ "Εἰς τὸν Πορφυρίτην τόπον οἰκήσας ἔτος ἓν ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ συντετύχηκα ὅλῳ τῷ ἔτει, οὐχ ὁμιλίας ἀκήκοα, οὐκ ἄρτου ἡψάμην· ἀλλ' ἢ βρα χέσι φοινικίοις διεγενόμην καὶ εἴ που βοτάνας εὗρον ἀγρίας. Ἐν οἷς ποτὲ ἐκλειπόντων μου τῶν βρωμάτων, ἐξῆλθον τοῦ σπηλαίου ἐπὶ τὸ ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην. 36.3 Καὶ περιπατήσας διὰ πάσης τῆς ἡμέρας μόλις ἀπέσχον τοῦ σπηλαίου σημεῖα δύο. Περιβλεψάμενος οὖν ὁρῶ ἱππέα στρα τιώτου ἔχοντα σχῆμα, τιαρηφόρον κράνος ἔχοντα ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς· καὶ προσδοκήσας αὐτὸν εἶναι στρατιώτην ὥρμησα ἕως τοῦ σπηλαίου, καὶ εὗρον κάρταλον σταφυλῶν καὶ συκῶν νεαροτμήτων· ὃν λαβὼν καὶ περιχαρὴς γενόμενος εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον, ἐπὶ μῆνας δύο ἔχων ἐκεῖνα τὰ βρώματα παραμυθίαν". 36.4 Τοῦτο δὲ πεποίηκε τὸ θαῦμα ἐν Βηθλεέμ· γυνή τις ἐγκύμων πνεῦμα εἶχεν ἀκάθαρτον, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ