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

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 the one who had drawn the sword withered, and the sword fell from the right hand of the one holding it. 51 .tConcerning Elias 51.1 Elias, again living as a solitary in the same places, dwelt in a cave, living a most venerable and lawful life. One day, when many brethren had come to him, for the place was a thoroughfare, he ran short of loaves. And he assured us that, "Being disheartened at the matter, I entered my cell and found three loaves; and though there were twenty who ate their fill of them, one remained over, which I used for twenty-five days." 52 .tConcerning Sabas 52.1 [A certain Sabas by name, a layman, by birth from Jericho, who had a wife, became so fond of monks that he would go around the cells and the desert at night, and at each monastery he would place outside one modius of dates and a sufficiency of vegetables, because the ascetics along the Jordan did not eat bread. One day a lion met him, and seizing him at the first milestone it pushed and overthrew him, and taking the donkey, departed.] 53 .tConcerning Abramius 53.1 There was a certain Abramius, an Egyptian by birth, who lived a most harsh and savage life in the desert. He, being struck in his mind by an untimely conceit, came into the church and contended with the presbyters, saying, "I was ordained a presbyter by Christ this night, so receive me as I celebrate the rites." The fathers separated him from the desert, and led him to a more coarse and ordinary life, and cured him of his pride, bringing him to a knowledge of his own weakness, having been made a sport of by the demon. 54 .tFurther concerning Saint Melania 54.1 Concerning the wonderful and holy Melania, I have already narrated cursorily above, but nonetheless I shall now weave the remaining things into the account. How much substance she consumed, burning it as if with fire in her divine zeal, is not for me to narrate but also for those who inhabit Persia. For no one missed out on her good works, not east nor west nor north nor south. 54.2 For in her thirty-seventh year of living abroad, at her own expense she assisted churches and monasteries and strangers and prisoners, with her kinsmen and her son himself and her own stewards supplying her with the money. She, having persevered for so long in her life abroad, acquired not even a span of earth, was not drawn away by desire for her son, nor did longing for her only-begotten son distract her from her love for Christ; 54.3 but through her prayers, the younger man reached the pinnacle of education and character and an illustrious marriage, and attained worldly dignities; and he had two children. Therefore after many years, hearing about the situation of her granddaughter, that she had married and was choosing to renounce the world, fearing lest they might be wrecked by false teaching or heresy or an evil life, as an old woman of sixty she boarded a ship, and sailing from Caesarea in twenty days she arrived in Rome. 54.4 And there, meeting the most blessed and noteworthy man Apronianus, who was a pagan, she catechized and made him a Christian, persuading him also to live in continence with his own wife, her niece, called Avita. And having strengthened her own granddaughter Melania along with her husband Pinianus, and having catechized Albina her daughter-in-law, the wife of her son, and having prepared all of them to sell their possessions, she led them out of Rome, and brought them to the venerable and peaceful harbor of life. 54.5 And so she fought like a beast against all the senators and the free women who were hindering her in the renunciation of the remaining households. But she said to them: "Children, it was written four hundred years ago that 'It is the last hour.' Why do you delight in the vanity of this life, lest the days of the antichrist arrive, and you not enjoy your wealth and ancestral properties." 54.6 And having liberated all these

γυμνώσαντες ἐπῆλ θον. Καὶ συνέβη πρᾶγμα τοιοῦτον· ἐν τῷ τὸ ξίφος ἐπᾶραι καὶ βουληθῆναι σπᾶσαι κατὰ τοῦ Γαδδανᾶ ἀπεξηράνθη ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ τὸ ξίφος γυμνώσαντος, πεσόντος τοῦ ξίφους ἀπὸ τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ ἔχοντος. 51 .tΠερὶ Ἠλία 51.1 Ἠλίας πάλιν μονάζων ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τόποις ἐν σπηλαίῳ κατῴκει σεμνοτάτου βίου καὶ ἐνθέσμου ὑπάρχων. Οὗτος μιᾶς τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῷ ἐπεληλυθότων πλειό νων, ἦν γὰρ πάροδος ὁ τόπος, ἐλείφθη ἄρτων. Καὶ ἐπλη ροφόρησεν ἡμᾶς ὅτιπερ "Λιποθυμήσας ἐν τῷ πράγματι εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ τρεῖς εὗρον ἄρτους· καὶ φαγόντων εἴκοσι ὄντων εἰς κόρον ἀπ' αὐτῶν εἷς περιέσσευσεν, ᾧ ἐχρη σάμην ἐπὶ εἰκοσιπέντε ἡμέρας". 52 .tΠερὶ Σαβᾶ 52.1 [Σαβᾶς τις ὀνόματι, κοσμικός, τῷ γένει Ἱεριχούν τιος, γυναῖκα ἔχων, τοσοῦτον ἐγένετο φιλομόναχος ὡς κυ κλεύειν ἀνὰ τὰς κέλλας καὶ τὴν ἔρημον ἐν ταῖς νυξί, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην μονὴν ἔξω τιθέναι φοινίκων μόδιον ἕνα καὶ λαχάνων τὸ αὔταρκες, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐσθίειν ἄρτον τοὺς ἀσκητὰς τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἰορδάνην. Τούτῳ μιᾶς τῶν ἡμερῶν λέων ὑπήντησε, καὶ καταλαβὼν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ σημείου ἑνὸς ὦσε καὶ κατέστρεψε, καὶ τὸν ὄνον λαβὼν ἀνεχώρησεν.] 53 .tΠερὶ Ἀβραμίου 53.1 Ἀβράμιός τις γέγονε τῷ γένει Αἰγύπτιος, τραχύτα τον καὶ ἀγριώτατον βίον ζήσας ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Ὃς πληγεὶς τὴν φρένα ὑπὸ ἀκαίρου οἰήσεως ἐλθὼν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ διε μάχετο τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις λέγων ὅτι "Πρεσβύτερος ἐχειρο τονήθην παρὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτί, καὶ δέξασθέ με ἱερατεύοντα". Ὃν οἱ πατέρες διαχωρίσαντες τῆς ἐρήμου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν παχύτερον καὶ ἀδιαφορώτερον ἀγαγόντες βίον, ἀπεθεράπευσαν τῆς ὑπερηφανίας, εἰς γνῶσιν αὐτὸν ἀγαγόν τες τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας παιχθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος. 54 .tἜτι περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Μελανίου 54.1 Περὶ τῆς θαυμασίας καὶ ἁγίας Μελανίου ἀκρο θιγῶς μὲν καὶ ἄνω διηγησάμην, οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ τὰ λείψανα νῦν ἐξυφανῶ τῷ λόγῳ. Αὕτη μὲν ὅσην ὕλην ἀνήλωσεν ἐν τῷ θείῳ ζήλῳ καθάπερ πυρὶ φλέξασα οὐκ ἐμὸν τὸ διηγή σασθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τὴν Περσίδα οἰκούντων. Τῆς γὰρ εὐποιίας αὐτῆς οὐκ ἠστόχησεν οὐδείς, οὐκ ἀνατολὴ οὐ δύσις οὐκ ἄρκτος οὐ μεσημβρία. 54.2 Τριακοστὸν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἕβδομον ἔτος ξενιτεύσασα ἰδίοις ἀναλώμασιν ἐπήρκεσε καὶ ἐκκλησίαις καὶ μοναστηρίοις καὶ ξένοις καὶ φυλακαῖς, χορη γούντων αὐτῇ καὶ τῶν πρὸς γένος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπιτρόπων τὰ χρήματα. Ἥτις ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐγκαρ τερήσασα τῇ ξενιτείᾳ οὐδὲ σπιθαμὴν ἐκτήσατο γῆς, οὐκ ἐξειλκύσθη ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐπιθυμίας, οὐκ ἐμέρισεν αὐτὴν τῆς πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγάπης ὁ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ πόθος· 54.3 ἀλλὰ ταῖς προσευχαῖς αὐτῆς ὁ νεώτερος εἰς ἄκρον παι δείας καὶ τρόπων ἤλασε καὶ γάμον τὸν ἐπίδοξον, καὶ ἔντος τῶν κοσμικῶν ἀξιωμάτων ἐγένετο· ὃς ἔσχε καὶ τέκνα δύο. Μετὰ πολλοὺς οὖν χρόνους ἀκούσασα περὶ τῆς καταστάσεως τῆς ἐγγόνης, ὅτι ἔγημε καὶ προαιρεῖται ἀποτάξασθαι, φοβη θεῖσα μήποτε περιρραγῶσι κακοδιδασκαλίᾳ ἢ αἱρέσει ἢ κα κοζωίᾳ, ἑξήκοντα ἐτῶν γραῦς ἐνέβαλεν ἑαυτὴν εἰς πλοῖον, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Καισαρέων ἀποπλεύσασα δι' εἴκοσι ἡμερῶν παραγίνεται εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην. 54.4 Κἀκεῖσε συντυχοῦσα τὸν μὲν μακαριώτατον ἄνδρα καὶ ἀξιόλογον Ἀπρονιανόν, Ἕλληνα ὄντα, κατήχησε καὶ χριστιανὸν ἐποίησε, πείσασα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐγκρατεύεσθαι μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικός, ἀνεψιᾶς ταύτης, καλουμένης Ἀβίτας. Στερεώσασα δὲ καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐγγόνην Μελάνιον σὺν τῷ ταύτης ἀνδρὶ Πινιανῷ, καὶ κατηχήσασα Ἀλβίναν τὴν ἑαυτῆς νύμφην, γυναῖκα δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτῆς, καὶ παρασκευάσασα πάντας τούτους διαπωλῆσαι τὰ ὑπάρ χοντα αὐτοῖς, τῆς Ῥώμης ἐξήγαγε, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν σεμνὸν καὶ γαληνιῶντα λιμένα τοῦ βίου ἤγαγε. 54.5 Καὶ οὕτως πρὸς πάντας ἐθηριομάχησε τοὺς συγκλητικοὺς καὶ τὰς ἐλευθέρας κωλύοντας αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀποταξίᾳ τῶν λοιπῶν οἴκων. Ἡ δὲ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· "Παιδία, γέγραπται πρὸ τετρακοσίων ἐτῶν ὅτι "Ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστί". Τί ἐμφιλοχωρεῖτε τῇ μα ταιότητι τοῦ βίου, μήποτε φθάσωσιν αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ ἀντι χρίστου, καὶ μὴ ἀπολαύσητε ὑμῶν τοῦ πλούτου καὶ τῶν προγονικῶν πραγμάτων." 54.6 Καὶ τούτους πάντας ἐλευ θερώσασα