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 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 troubled by fleshly desire, - after so great a life and labor and toil and unceasing prayer". To him the death of his father was announced and he says to the one who announced it: "Cease your blasphemy; for my father is immortal". 39 .tConcerning Pior 39.1 A certain Pior, a young Egyptian, having renounced the world, went out from his paternal home, and gave his word to God, through an excess of zeal, to no longer see any of his own family. Therefore, after fifty years, his sister, having grown old and hearing that he was alive, was driven to distraction if she could not see him. But being unable to come into the utter desert, she begged the local bishop to write to the fathers in the desert, so that they might send him and she might see him. Therefore, much force having been put upon him, he decided to take one other with him and to go. 39.2 And he sent word to his sister's house that "Your brother Pior has arrived". So, standing outside and hearing the sound of the door that the old woman had come out to meet him, he closed his eyes and shouted to her: "So-and-so, so-and-so, I am Pior your brother, it is I; look at me as much as you wish". She, therefore, having been assured and having glorified God, and not having persuaded him to enter her house, returned to her own house; and he, having said a prayer at the doorposts, departed again into the desert. 39.3 And this wonder of his is reported, that in the place where he lived, he dug and found very bitter water; and until he died he remained there, content with the bitterness of the water in order to show his own endurance. Therefore many of the monks after his death, striving to remain in his cell for a year, were not strong enough to complete it; for the place is fearful and desolate. 39.4 Moses the Libyan, a very gentle and most loving man, was counted worthy of the gift of healing. He related to me that, "When I was a young man in the monastery, we dug a very large well, twenty feet in width; in this, after eighty men had dug for three days and had passed the usual and suspected vein by about a cubit, we did not find water. Being very grieved, therefore, we were considering abandoning the work; and Pior, having appeared from the utter desert in the very sixth hour of the heat, an old man clothed in a sheepskin, greeted us and said after the greeting: 'Why have you become fainthearted, O you of little faith? For I have seen you being fainthearted since yesterday'. 39.5 And having gone down the ladder into the pit of the well, he said a prayer with them; and taking the pickaxe, he said after striking a third blow: 'O God of the holy patriarchs, do not make the labor of your servants useless, but send to them their need of water'. And immediately water gushed forth so that all were sprinkled. Then praying again he departed. And when they compelled him to eat, he would not endure it, saying: 'That for which I was sent has been accomplished; but for that I was not sent'". 40 .tConcerning Ephraim 40.1 You have surely heard the things concerning Ephraim, the deacon of the church of the Edessenes; for he has become one of those worthy to be remembered by the holy ones. He, having worthily completed the way of the spirit and not having turned from the straight path, was counted worthy of the gift of natural knowledge, which is followed by theology and ultimate blessedness. Having always practiced the quiet life, therefore, and edifying those he met for a sufficient number of years, he later came forth from his cell for the following reason: 40.2 When a great famine overtook the city of the Edessenes, having pitied the entire country which was perishing, he approached those who were rich in substance and said to them: "For what reason do you not have mercy on human nature which is perishing, but let your wealth rot to the condemnation of your souls?" After considering, therefore, they said to him, "We do not have anyone we can trust to minister to the hungry; for all make a trade of the goods". He says to them, "What do I seem to you?" And he had a great reputation among all, not falsely but truly. 40.3 They say to him: "We know you to be a man of God". "Therefore," he says, "trust me; behold through

αὐτοῖς τελευτᾷ, κοινωνήσας εἰς τὰ Ἐπιφάνια εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. Ἀφηγεῖτο οὖν ἡμῖν περὶ τὸν θάνατον ὅτι "Τρίτον ἔτος ἔχω μὴ ὀχλούμενος ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμίας σαρκικῆς, - μετὰ τοσοῦτον βίον καὶ κόπον καὶ πόνον καὶ προσευχὴν ἀδιάλειπτον". Τούτῳ ἐμηνύθη ἡ τελευτὴ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ λέγει τῷ ἀναγγείλαντι· "Παῦσαι βλασφημῶν· ὁ γὰρ ἐμὸς πατὴρ ἀθάνατός ἐστιν". 39 .tΠερὶ Πίωρ 39.1 Πίωρ τις Αἰγύπτιος νέος ἀποταξάμενος ἐξῆλθε τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρικοῦ, καὶ λόγον ἔδωκε τῷ θεῷ δι' ὑπερ βολὴν ζήλου μηκέτι ἰδεῖν τινα τῶν ἰδίων. Μετὰ οὖν πεν τήκοντα ἔτη ἡ ἀδελφὴ τούτου γηράσασα καὶ ἀκούσασα ὅτι ζῇ, εἰς ἔκστασιν ἤλαυνεν ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὸν ἴδῃ. Ἐλθεῖν δὲ μὴ δυναμένη ἐν τῇ πανερήμῳ, ἱκέτευσε τὸν κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐπίσκοπον γράψαι τοῖς πατράσι τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἵνα αὐτὸν ἀποστείλωσι καὶ ἴδῃ αὐτόν. Βίας οὖν αὐτῷ πολλῆς περιτεθείσης ἔδοξεν ἄλλον ἕνα παραλαβεῖν καὶ ὑπά γειν. 39.2 Καὶ ἐσήμανεν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ὅτι "Ὁ ἀδελφός σου Πίωρ παρεγένετο". Στὰς οὖν ἔξω καὶ τοῦ ψόφου τῆς θύρας αἰσθόμενος ὅτι ἐξῆλθεν εἰς συνάν τησιν ἡ γραῦς, καμμύσας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐβόησεν πρὸς αὐτήν· "Ἡ δεῖνα, ἡ δεῖνα, ἐγώ εἰμι Πίωρ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ἐγώ εἰμι· βλέπε με ὅσον θέλεις". Πληροφορηθεῖσα οὖν ἐκείνη καὶ δοξάσασα τὸν θεόν, καὶ μὴ πείσασα αὐτὸν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς, ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν· ὁ δὲ εὐχὴν ποιήσας εἰς τὰς φλιὰς ἀπεδήμησε πάλιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. 39.3 Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ θαῦμα φέρεται, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν ᾤκησεν ὀρύξας εὗρεν ὕδωρ πικρότατον· καὶ μέχρις οὗ ἐτελεύτησεν ἐκεῖ παρέμεινε, στοιχήσας τῇ πικρότητι τοῦ ὕδατος ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ὑπομονήν. Πολλοὶ οὖν τῶν μοναχῶν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ φιλονεικήσαντες μεῖναι ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ αὐτοῦ ἐνιαυτὸν οὐκ ἴσχυσαν ἐκτε λέσαι· ἔστι γὰρ φοβερὸς ὁ τόπος καὶ ἀπαράκλητος. 39.4 Μωσῆς ὁ Λίβυς, ἀνὴρ πραότατος λίαν καὶ ἀγαπη τικώτατος, κατηξιώθη χαρίσματος ἰαμάτων. Οὗτός μοι διηγήσατο ὅτι "Ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ ὢν νέος φρέαρ ὠρύ ξαμεν μέγιστον, εἴκοσι ποδῶν πλάτος· ἐν τούτῳ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐκχοίσαντες ἄνδρες ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τὴν συνήθη καὶ ὕποπτον φλέβα παρελθόντες ὡς πῆχυν, οὐχ εὕρομεν ὕδωρ. Πάνυ οὖν λυπηθέντες ἐσκεπτόμεθα ἀναχωρῆσαι τοῦ ἔργου· καὶ ἐπιστὰς ὁ Πίωρ ἐκ τῆς πανερήμου ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἕκτῃ τοῦ καύματος, γέρων περιβεβλημένος τὴν μηλωτήν, ἠσπάσατο ἡμᾶς καὶ λέγει μετὰ τὸν ἀσπασμόν· "Τί ἐμι κροψυχήσατε, ὀλιγόπιστοι; Ἑώρακα γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ ἐχθὲς μικροψυχοῦντας". 39.5 Καὶ κατελθὼν ἐν τῇ κλίμακι εἰς τὸ ὄρυγμα τοῦ φρέατος ποιεῖ εὐχὴν σὺν αὐτοῖς· καὶ λαβὼν τὸν ὄρυγα λέγει κατενεγκὼν τρίτην πληγήν· "Ὁ θεὸς τῶν ἁγίων πατριαρχῶν, μὴ ἀχρειώσῃς τὸν πόνον τῶν δούλων σου, ἀλλὰ ἀπόστειλον αὐτοῖς τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων χρείαν". Καὶ παραχρῆμα ἐξεπήδησεν ὕδωρ ὡς ῥαντισθῆναι ὅλους. Πάλιν οὖν προσευξάμενος ᾤχετο. Ἀναγκαζόντων οὖν αὐτὸν φαγεῖν οὐκ ἠνέσχετο εἰπών· "∆ι' ὃ ἀπεστά λην ἠνύσθη· δι' ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὐκ ἀπεστάλην"". 40 .tΠερὶ Ἐφραίμ 40.1 Τὰ κατὰ Ἐφραὶμ τὸν διάκονον τῆς Ἐδεσηνῶν ἐκκλησίας πάντως ἀκήκοας· γέγονε γὰρ εἷς τῶν μνημο νεύεσθαι ἀξίων παρὰ τῶν ὁσίων. Οὗτος ἀξίως τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ὁδὸν ἐξανύσας καὶ μὴ ἐκτραπεὶς τῆς εὐθείας κατηξιώθη χαρίσματος γνώσεως φυσικῆς, ἣν διαδέχεται θεολογία καὶ ἐσχάτη μακαριότης. Τὸν ἥσυχον οὖν ἀεὶ ἐξ ασκήσας βίον καὶ τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας οἰκοδομῶν ἐπὶ ἔτη ἱκανά, ἐς ὕστερον προῆλθε τῆς κέλλης ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε· 40.2 λιμοῦ καταλαβόντος μεγάλου τὴν Ἐδεσηνῶν πόλιν κατ οικτειρήσας πᾶσαν τὴν ἀγροικίαν διαφθειρομένην προσῆλθε τοῖς ἁδροῖς ἐν ὕλῃ καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἐλεᾶτε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν διαφθειρομένην, ἀλλὰ τὸν πλοῦτον ὑμῶν σήπετε εἰς κατάκριμα τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν;" Σκεψάμενοι οὖν λέγουσιν αὐτῷ ὅτι "Οὐκ ἔχομεν τίνι πι στεύσομεν πρὸς τὸ διακονῆσαι τοῖς λιμώττουσι· πάντες γὰρ καπηλεύουσι τὰ πράγματα". Λέγει αὐτοῖς· "Τί ὑμῖν δοκῶ ἐγώ;" Εἶχε δὲ μεγάλην ὑπόληψιν παρὰ πᾶσιν, οὐ ψευδῶς ἀλλ' ἀληθῶς. 40.3 Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· "Ἄνθρωπόν σε οἴδαμεν θεοῦ". "Οὐκοῦν ἐμοί, φησίν, ἐμπιστεύσατε· ἰδοὺ δι'