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

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 need, so that I may not be compelled also to go out." For all the others go forth to the church on Sunday for the sake of communion; but she remains clothed in rags in the monastery, sitting unceasingly at her work. And she had so comely an appearance that even the very steadfast man would almost be deceived by her beauty, if she did not have a surpassing guard of her chastity, compelling with her modesty the licentious eye to reverence and fear. 60 .tConcerning a certain virgin and Colluthus the martyr 60.1 Another, a neighbor of mine, whose face I have not seen, for she never went out, as they say, from the time she renounced the world; and having completed sixty years in the ascetic life with her own mother, she was later about to depart this life. And the martyr of that place, named Colluthus, standing by her, says to her: "Today you are about to journey to the Master and see all the saints; come therefore and have breakfast with us in the martyrium." Rising therefore at dawn and dressing herself and taking in her own basket bread and olives and small vegetables, after so many years going out and going away to the martyrium she prayed. 60.2 And having watched for a time in the whole day when no one was inside, sitting down she calls upon the martyr, saying: "Bless my foods, holy Colluthus, and accompany me with your prayers." So after eating and praying again, she came to her house around sunset. And giving her mother the treatise of Clement the Stromateus on the prophet Amos, she said: "Give it to the exiled bishop, and say to him: 'Pray for me; for I am on my journey.'" And she died that very night without suffering from fever nor having a headache, but having buried herself. 61 .tConcerning Melania the Younger 61.1 Since I promised above to narrate concerning the child Melania, I must needs pay the debt; for it is not just to disregard her youth in the flesh and to cast aside such virtue unrecorded, she who differed much from both simple and earnest old women. Her parents, forcing her, led her to marriage with one of the first men of Rome; she, always being pricked by the accounts of her grandmother, was so spurred on as to be unable to serve the marriage. 61.2 For when two male children were born to her, and both had died, she was driven to such a hatred of marriage as to say to her husband Pinianus, the son of Severus the former prefect, "If you choose to live a life of asceticism with me according to the rule of chastity, I acknowledge you as master and lord of my life; but if this seems burdensome to you as a younger man, take all my possessions and free my body, so that I may fulfill my desire toward God, becoming heir to the zeal of my grandmother, whose name I also have. 61.3 For if God wished us to have children, He would not have taken those born from me prematurely." So when they had struggled together for a long time, later God, taking pity on the young man, put in him also the zeal for renunciation, so that what is written was fulfilled in them: "For what do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband?" So having been married at thirteen years of age and having lived with her husband for seven years, in her twentieth year she renounced the world. And first she donated her silk half-cloaks to the altars; and the holy Olympias also did this. 61.4 And cutting up the rest of her silks, she made various ecclesiastical furnishings. And entrusting her silver and gold to a certain presbyter, Paul, a monk of Dalmatia, she sent them by sea to the East, to Egypt and the Thebaid ten thousand nomismata, to Antioch and its regions ten thousand nomismata, to Palestine fifteen thousand nomismata, to the churches on the islands and to those in exile ten thousand nomismata, likewise providing for the churches in the West herself, 61.5 all these things and four times as much, as before God, snatching them from the mouth of the lion Alaric by the faith

ταύτης, Ταὼρ ὀνόματι, ἔχουσα τριάκοντα ἔτη ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ, ἱμάτιον καινὸν ἢ μαφόριον ἢ ὑπόδημα λαβεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησεν οὐδέποτε, λέγουσα ὅτι "Οὐ χρείαν ἔχω, ἵνα μὴ ἀναγκασθῶ καὶ προελθεῖν". Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλαι πᾶσαι κατὰ κυριακὴν προέρχονται ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ χάριν τῆς κοινωνίας· ἐκείνη δὲ μένει ῥακοδυτοῦσα ἐν τῇ μονῇ, ἀδιαλείπτως ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ καθεζομένη. Οὕτω δὲ εὐφυεστάτην εἶχε τὴν ὄψιν ὡς ἐγγὺς γενέσθαι καὶ τὸν πάνυ στερρὸν ἀπατᾶσθαι τῷ ταύτης κάλλει, εἰ μὴ φρουρὸν εἶχεν ὑπερβάλλοντα τὴν σωφροσύνην εἰς αἰδὼ καὶ φόβον συνωθοῦσα τῇ κοσμιότητι τὸν ἀκόλαστον ὀφθαλμόν. 60 .tΠερὶ παρθένου τινὸς καὶ Κολλούθου τοῦ μάρτυροσ 60.1 Ἄλλη τις γειτνιῶσά μοι, ἧς τὴν ὄψιν οὐχ ἑώρακα, προῆλθε γὰρ οὐδέποτε, ὡς λέγουσιν, ἀρ' οὗ καὶ ἀπετάξατο· πληρώσασα δὲ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη ἐν τῇ ἀσκήσει μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς ἰδίας, ἐς ὕστερον ἔμελλε μεταβαίνειν τὸν βίον. Καὶ παραστὰς αὐτῇ ὁ μάρτυς ὁ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, Κόλλουθος ὀνόματι, λέγει αὐτῇ· "Σήμερον μέλλεις ὁδεύειν πρὸς τὸν δεσπότην καὶ ὁρᾶν πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους· ἐλθοῦσα οὖν ἀρίστησον μεθ' ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ". Ἀναστᾶσα οὖν ὄρθρου καὶ ἐνδυ σαμένη καὶ λαβοῦσα ἐν τῇ σπυρίδι τῇ ἑαυτῆς ἄρτον καὶ ἐλαίας καὶ λεπτολάχανα, μετὰ τοσαῦτα ἔτη ἐξελθοῦσα καὶ ἀπελθοῦσα εἰς τὸ μαρτύριον ηὔξατο. 60.2 Καὶ καιρὸν ἐπι τηρήσασα τῆς πάσης ἡμέρας ἐν ᾧ οὐδεὶς ἦν ἔνδον, καθεσ θεῖσα προσκαλεῖται τὸν μάρτυρα λέγουσα· "Εὐλόγησόν μου τὰ βρώματα, ἅγιε Κόλλουθε, καὶ συνόδευσόν μοι ταῖς προ σευχαῖς σου". Φαγοῦσα οὖν καὶ πάλιν προσευξαμένη ἦλθε περὶ ἡλίου δυσμὰς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ. Καὶ δοῦσα τῇ μητρὶ τῇ ἑαυτῆς σύγγραμμα Κλήμεντος τοῦ Στρωματέως εἰς τὸν προφήτην Ἀμώς, εἶπε· "∆ὸς αὐτὸ τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ τῷ ἐξω ρισμένῳ, καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτῷ· "Εὖξαι περὶ ἐμοῦ· ὁδεύω γάρ"". Καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ νυκτὶ μὴ πυρέξασα μὴ κεφαλ αλγήσασα, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὴν ἐνταφιάσασα. 61 .tΠερὶ Μελανίου τῆς νέασ 61.1 Ἐπειδὴ προϋπεσχόμην ἀνωτέρω διηγήσασθαι περὶ τῆς παιδὸς Μελανίου ἀναγκαίως τὸ χρέος ἀποδίδωμι· οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον ὑπεριδόντας τὸ αὐτῆς νεώτερον ἐν σαρκὶ τοσαύ την ἀρετὴν ἀστηλίτευτον καταρρῖψαι, γραΐδων ἀτεχνῶς καὶ σπουδαίων κατὰ πολὺ διαφέρουσαν. Ταύτην βιασάμενοι οἱ γονεῖς ἤγαγον ἐπὶ γάμον ἐκ τῶν πρώτων τῆς Ῥώμης· ἥτις ἀεὶ τοῖς διηγήμασι τῆς ἑαυτῆς μάμμης νυττομένη, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐκεντρώθη ὡς μὴ δυνηθῆναι ἐξυπηρετήσασθαι τῷ γάμῳ. 61.2 Γενομένων γὰρ αὐτῇ παιδίων ἀρρένων δύο, καὶ ἀμφοτέρων τελευτησάντων, εἰς τοσοῦτον μῖσος τοῦ γάμου ἤλασεν ὡς εἰπεῖν τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς Πινιανῷ, τῷ υἱῷ Σευήρου τοῦ ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων, ὅτι "Εἰ μὲν αἱρῆσαι συνασκη θῆναι κἀμοὶ κατὰ τὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης λόγον, καὶ δε σπότην σε οἶδα καὶ κύριον τῆς ἐμῆς ζωῆς· εἰ δὲ βαρύ σοι τοῦτο καταφαίνεται ὡς νεωτέρῳ, πάντα μου λαβὼν τὰ πράγματα ἐλευθέρωσόν μου τὸ σῶμα, ἵνα πληρώσω μου τὴν κατὰ θεὸν ἐπιθυμίαν, κληρονόμος γενομένη τῆς μάμμης τοῦ ζήλου, ἧς καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἔχω. 61.3 Εἰ γὰρ ἐβούλετο παιδοποιεῖν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, οὐκ ἄν μου ἐλάμβανεν ἄωρα τὰ τεχθέντα". Ἐπὶ πολὺ οὖν ζυγομαχησάντων αὐτῶν ἐς ὕστε ρον ὁ θεὸς κατοικτείρας τὸν νέον ἐνέθηκεν καὶ τούτῳ ζῆλον ἀποταξίας, ὡς ἐπ' αὐτοὺς πληροῦσθαι τὸ γεγραμ μένον· "Τί γὰρ οἶδας, γύναι, εἰ τὸν ἄνδρα σώσεις;" Γαμη θεῖσα οὖν ἐπὶ δεκατριῶν ἐτῶν καὶ συζήσασα τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἔτη ἑπτά, τῷ εἰκοστῷ ἀπετάξατο. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὰ σηρικὰ ἡμιφόρια τοῖς θυσιαστηρίοις ἐδωρήσατο· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἡ ἁγία πεποίηκεν Ὀλυμπιάς. 61.4 Τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ σηρικὰ συγκόψασα διάφορα ἐποίησεν ἐκκλησιαστικὰ ἔπιπλα. Τὸν δὲ ἄργυρον καὶ τὸν χρυσὸν ἐμπιστεύσασα Παύλῳ τινὶ πρεσ βυτέρῳ, μοναχῷ ∆αλματίας, διὰ θαλάσσης ἀπέστειλεν ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ, Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Θηβαΐδι νομίσματα μύρια, Ἀν τιοχείᾳ καὶ τοῖς μέρεσι ταύτης μύρια νομίσματα, Παλαι στίνῃ νομίσματα μύρια πεντακισχίλια, ταῖς ἐν νήσοις ἐκκλη σίαις καὶ τοῖς ἐν ἐξορίαις νομίσματα μύρια, ταῖς κατὰ τὴν δύσιν ἐκκλησίαις ὡσαύτως δι' ἑαυτῆς χορηγοῦσα, 61.5 ταῦτα πάντα καὶ τετραπλασίονα τούτων ὡς ἐπὶ θεοῦ ἐξαρ πάσασα ἐκ τοῦ στόματος λέοντος Ἀλαρίχου τῇ πίστει τῇ