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? And what are you suffering?" He says to them: "By birth I am an Egyptian; and since I departed from my true fatherland, I have fallen in with three creditors; and two of them have left me, having been paid their debt, having nothing to accuse me of; but the one does not leave me." Those men, therefore, being curious about the creditors, so that they might inform themselves, asked him: "Where are they, and who are they? Who is it that is troubling you? Show him to us so that we may help you." 37.7 Then he says to them: "Avarice and gluttony and fornication have troubled me from my youth; I have been freed from two of them, avarice and fornication; they no longer trouble me; but from gluttony I am not able to be freed. For it is the fourth day that I have not eaten, and my stomach continues to trouble me, demanding the customary debt without which I am not able to live." Then some of the philosophers, suspecting it to be a pretense, give him a coin; and having received it, he put it down in a bakery, and taking one loaf of bread, he immediately departed, leaving the city and never returning to it. 37.8 Then the philosophers knew that he was truly virtuous, and giving the baker the price of the bread, they took back the coin. And having come to the regions around Lacedaemon, he heard that one of the leading men of the city was a Manichaean along with his whole household, though he was virtuous in other respects. To this man he again sold himself, according to the first drama; and within two years, having turned him away from the heresy, he brought this man's free wife to the church. Then, loving him, they no longer treated him as a slave but as a true brother or father, and they glorified God. 37.9 This man once threw himself onto a ship that was about to sail to Rome; the sailors, suspecting that he had either paid his fare or possessed the money for his expenses in gold, received him without inquiry, each thinking that another had taken his belongings. When they had set sail and were about five hundred stadia from Alexandria, the passengers began to eat around sunset, after the sailors had eaten. 37.10 So they saw that he did not eat on the first day, and they expected it was because of the voyage; likewise also on the second, and the third, and the fourth. On the fifth day, they see him sitting quietly while everyone else was eating, and they say to him: "Why do you not eat, man?" He says to them: "Because I have nothing." So they inquired among themselves: "Who took his belongings or his money for expenses?" 37.11 And when they found that no one had, they began to contend with him and say: "How did you come on board without money for expenses? From where will you give us the fare? Or from where will you get food?" He says to them: "I have nothing; take me back and throw me where you found me." But they would not have gladly turned back even for a hundred gold pieces, but were accomplishing their purpose. So he was thus on the ship, and they found themselves feeding him all the way to Rome. 37.12 So having arrived in Rome, he inquired who might be a great male or female ascetic in the city. Among these he also met a certain Domninus, a disciple of Origen, whose bed after his death healed the sick. Having met him, therefore, and been helped by him—for he was a man polished in both character and knowledge—and having learned from him who else there might be, male or female ascetic, he learned about a certain virgin living in seclusion who met with no one. 37.13 And having learned where she was staying, he went away and says to the old woman who served her: "Tell the virgin that 'I must meet with you, for God has sent me.'" So after waiting two or three days, he met with her and says to her: "Why do you sit still?" She says to him: "I am not sitting still, but I am journeying." He says to her: "Where are you journeying?" She says to him: "To God." He says to her: "Are you alive or dead?" She says to him: "I trust in God that I have died; for one who is alive in the flesh will surely not journey." He says to her: "Therefore, that you may convince me that you have died, do what I do." She says to him: "Command me things that are possible, and I will do them." 37.14 He answered her: "To one who is dead, all things are possible, except to be impious." Then he says to her: "Go out and come forth." She answered him: "It is the twenty-fifth year that I have not come forth;
προσδραμόντες ἅπαντες, τριβωνοφόροι τε καὶ βιρροφόροι, λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "Τί ἔχεις; Καὶ πόθεν εἶ; Καὶ τί πάσχεις;" Λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Τῷ μὲν γένει εἰμὶ Αἰγύπτιος· ἀφ' οὗ δὲ τῆς ἀληθινῆς μου πατρίδος ἀπέστην τρισὶ δανεισταῖς περιέπεσα· καὶ οἱ μὲν δύο μου ἀπηλλάγησαν πληρωθέντες τὸ χρέος, οὐκ ἔχοντες ὃ ἐγκαλέσουσιν· ὁ δὲ εἷς μου οὐκ ἀπαλλάττεται". Φιλο πραγμονοῦντες οὖν ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς δανειστὰς ἵνα αὐτοὺς πλη ροφήσωσιν, ἠρώτων αὐτόν· "Ποῦ εἰσί, καὶ τίνες εἰσί; Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ὀχλῶν σοι; δεῖξον ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ἵνα σοι βοηθήσωμεν". 37.7 Τότε λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Ὤχλησάν μοι ἐκ νεότητος φιλαρ γυρία καὶ γαστριμαργία καὶ πορνεία· τῶν δύο ἀπηλλάγην, φιλαργυρίας καὶ πορνείας· οὐκέτι μοι ὀχλοῦσι· γαστριμαργίας δὲ ἀπαλλαγῆναι οὐ δύναμαι. Τετάρτην γὰρ ἔχω ἡμέραν μὴ φαγών, καὶ παραμένει μοι ὀχλοῦσα ἡ γαστὴρ καὶ ζητοῦσα τὸ σύνηθες χρέος οὗ ἄνευ ζῆσαι οὐ δύναμαι". Τότε τινὲς τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑπονοήσαντες εἶναι αὐτὸ σκηνήν, διδόασιν αὐτῷ νόμισμα· καὶ δεξάμενος ἔθηκεν ἐν ἀρτοπωλείῳ, καὶ λαβὼν ἕνα ἄρτον ἀνεχώρησε παραχρῆμα ὁδεύσας τῆς πόλεως καὶ μηκέτι ὑποστρέψας εἰς αὐτήν. 37.8 Τότε ἔγνωσαν οἱ φιλόσοφοι ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἐνάρετος ἦν, καὶ δόντες τῷ ἀρτο πώλῃ τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ ἄρτου ἔλαβον τὸ νόμισμα. Ἐλθὼν δὲ εἰς τοὺς περὶ Λακεδαίμονας τόπους ἤκουσέ τινα τῶν πρώ των τῆς πόλεως Μανιχαῖον εἶναι ἅμα παντὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, ἐνάρετον ὄντα τὰ ἄλλα. Τούτῳ πάλιν πέπρακεν ἑαυτὸν κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον δρᾶμα· καὶ ἐντὸς δύο ἐτῶν ἀποστήσας αὐτὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως καὶ τὴν τούτου ἐλευθέραν προσήγαγε τῇ ἐκ κλησίᾳ. Τότε αὐτὸν ἀγαπήσαντες οὐκέτι ὡς οἰκέτην ἀλλ' ὡς γνήσιον ἀδελφὸν ἢ πατέρα εἶχον καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν θεόν. 37.9 Οὗτος ἔβαλεν ἑαυτόν ποτε εἰς πλοῖον ὡς ὀφείλοντα πλεῦσαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμην· οἱ ναυτικοὶ ὑπονοήσαντες ὅτι ἢ δαπάνας εἰσήνεγκεν ἢ ἐν χρυσῷ κέκτηται τὰ ἀναλώματα, ἀπεριέργως αὐτὸν ἐδέξαντο, ἄλλος ἄλλον νομίσαντες εἰληφέ ναι αὐτοῦ τὰ σκεύη. Ἐν τῷ ἀποπλεῦσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ γενέσθαι ἀπὸ σταδίων πεντακοσίων Ἀλεξανδρείας ἤρξαντο οἱ ἐπι βάται περὶ δυσμὰς ἡλίου ἐσθίειν, τῶν ναυτικῶν προφαγόν των. 37.10 Εἶδον οὖν αὐτὸν ὅτι οὐκ ἐσθίει τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν, καὶ προσεδόκησαν διὰ τὸν πλοῦν· ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν δευτέραν, καὶ τὴν τρίτην, καὶ τὴν τετάρτην. Τῇ πέμπτῃ ἡμέρᾳ βλέπουσιν αὐτὸν καθεζόμενον ἡσυχῇ ἐν τῷ πάντας ἐσθίειν, καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "∆ιὰ τί οὐκ ἐσθίεις, ἄνθρωπε;" Λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Ὅτι οὐκ ἔχω". Περιειργάσαντο οὖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους· "Τίς αὐτοῦ ἔλαβε τὰ σκεύη ἢ τὰ ἀναλώματα;" 37.11 Καὶ ὡς εὗρον ὅτι οὐδείς, ἤρξαντο διαμάχεσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ λέγειν· "Πῶς εἰσῆλθες ἄνευ ἀναλωμάτων; Πόθεν ἡμῖν ἔχεις δοῦναι τὸ ναῦλον; Ἢ πόθεν ἔχεις τραφῆναι;" Λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Ἐγὼ πρᾶγμα οὐκ ἔχω· ἀπενέγκατέ με καὶ ῥίψατε ὅπου με εὕρατε". Ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οὐδὲ ἑκατὸν χρυσίνων ἡδέως ἂν ἔλυον, ἀλλ' ἤνυον τὸν σκοπὸν αὐτῶν. Οὕτως οὖν ἦν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ καὶ εὑρέθησαν τρέφοντες αὐτὸν ἕως Ῥώμης. 37.12 Ἐλθὼν οὖν ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ περιειργάζετο τίς εἴη μέγας ἀσκητὴς ἢ ἀσκήτρια ἐν τῇ πόλει. Ἐν οἷς περιέτυχε καὶ ∆ομνίνῳ τινὶ μαθητῇ Ὠριγένους, οὗ ἡ κλίνη μετὰ θάνατον νοσοῦντας ἰάσατο. Περιτυχὼν οὖν αὐτῷ καὶ ὠφεληθεὶς παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἀνὴρ γὰρ ἦν τετορνευμένος ἔν τε ἤθει καὶ γνώσει, μαθὼν παρ' αὐτοῦ τίς ἄλλος εἴη, ἀσκητὴς ἢ ἀσκήτρια, ἔγνω περὶ ἡσυχαζούσης τινὸς παρθένου ἥτις οὐδενὶ συνετύγχανε. 37.13 Καὶ μαθὼν ποῦ μένει ἀπῆλθε καὶ λέγει τῇ ὑπηρετούσῃ αὐτῇ γραΐδι· "Εἶπον τῇ παρθένῳ ὅτι "Ἀναγκαίως σοι ἔχω συντυχεῖν, ὁ θεὸς γάρ με ἀπέστειλε"". Παραμείνας οὖν δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ὕστερον αὐτῇ συνέτυχε καὶ λέγει αὐτῇ· "Τί καθέζῃ;" Λέγει αὐτῷ· "Οὐ καθέζομαι ἀλλὰ ὁδεύω". Λέγει αὐτῇ· "Ποῦ ὁδεύεις;" Λέγει αὐτῷ· "Πρὸς τὸν θεόν". Λέγει αὐτῇ· "Ζῇς ἢ ἀπέθανες;" Λέγει αὐτῷ· "Πιστεύω εἰς τὸν θεὸν ὅτι ἀπέθανον· ζῶν γὰρ σαρκί τις οὐ μὴ ὁδεύσῃ". Λέγει αὐτῇ· "Οὐκοῦν ἵνα με πληροφορήσῃς ὅτι ἀπέθανες ποίησον ὃ ποιῶ". Λέγει αὐτῷ· "∆υνατά μοι ἐπίταξον καὶ ποιῶ". 37.14 Ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῇ· "Νεκρῷ πάν τα ἐστὶ δυνατά, παρεκτὸς τοῦ ἀσεβῆσαι". Τότε λέγει αὐτῇ· "Ἔξελθε καὶ πρόελθε". Ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῷ ἐκείνη· "Εἰκοστὸν πέμπτον ἔτος ἔχω καὶ οὐ προῆλθον·