51

uninitiated, but raised in the country, and living on the mountain tops, carrying all simplicity in his soul and not even having studied the divine oracles? Therefore, having shown his spiritual wisdom and the boldness fitting for a righteous man—"for the righteous is confident as a lion"—I will move on to his miracles. 13.9 A certain woman of the nobility fell into an affliction of some gluttony, and some called the affliction the working of a demon, while others considered it an illness of the body; but whether it was this or that, it was of this kind: they said that she, eating thirty birds a day, did not extinguish her appetite with satiety, but still longed for more. Thus, as her substance was being spent on this, her relatives, taking pity, supplicated that divine man. And he arrived and prayed, and placing his right hand upon water, and imprinting the seal of salvation, and commanding her to drink, he healed the affliction. And he so greatly blunted the excess of her appetite that for the time thereafter a very small portion of a bird each day fulfilled her need for food. This affliction, then, received such a cure. 13.10 And when a certain girl, still kept in her chamber, suddenly received the working of an evil demon, her father ran to the divine man, beseeching and entreating and begging for his little daughter to receive healing. And he, having prayed, commanded the demon to depart from the girl at once. But it said that it had not entered willingly, but had been compelled by a sorcerer's spell; and it also gave the name of the one who had compelled it and said that love was the cause of the sorcery. 13.11 But upon hearing these things, the father could not bear the assault of his anger, nor did he wait for the healing of his child, but going to the magistrate of the greater magistrates, who presided over several provinces, he brought a charge against the man and recounted the affair. And he, having been brought in, denied it and called the charge a slander. But the other called as a witness not another, but the demon who had served the sorcery, and he besought the judge to run to that divine man and to receive the testimony of the demon. But when he said it was not lawful, nor indeed holy, for the interrogation to take place in an ascetic's dwelling, the girl's father promised to bring the divine Macedonius to the court; and running off, he both persuaded and brought him. And sitting outside the government house, the judge became not a judge but a spectator; for the great Macedonius performed the duties of a judge, using the power dwelling within him and commanding the demon to leave aside its usual falsehood, and to recount with truth the whole tragedy of the affair. And it, being pressed by the greatest necessity, also pointed out the man who had compelled it with sorcerous chants, and the maidservant through whom that potion was brought to the girl. And as it hastened to speak of other things as well, which it had done, having been compelled by certain others—having burned one man's house, having destroyed another's possessions, having harmed another in some other way—the man of God commanded it to be silent and at once to go far away from both the girl and the city. And it, as if obeying a master's law, did what was commanded and immediately fled. 13.12 Thus, having freed her from that madness, the divine man also snatched that wretched man from the indictment and prevented the judge's death-dealing sentence, saying that it was not holy for slaughter to be imposed upon the convictions brought about through him, but rather that salvation through repentance should be granted to him. These things, then, are sufficient to show the abundance of the divine power granted to him; but I will nevertheless recount other things as well.

51

ἀμύητος, ἐν ἀγροικίᾳ δὲ τεθραμμένος, ταῖς δὲ τῶν ὀρῶν ἐνδιαιτώμενος κορυφαῖς, ἁπλότητα δὲ πᾶσαν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ περιφέρων καὶ οὐδὲ τοῖς θείοις λογίοις ἐσχολακώς; Τοιγαροῦν καὶ τὴν πνευματικὴν αὐτοῦ σοφίαν δηλώσας καὶ τὴν δικαίῳ πρέ πουσαν παρρησίαν-"δίκαιος γὰρ ὡς λέων πέποιθεν"- ἐπὶ τὰ θαύματα μεταβήσομαι. 13.9 Γυνή τις τῶν εὐπατρίδων τινὸς ἀδηφαγίας περιέπεσε πάθει καὶ οἱ μὲν δαίμονος τὸ πάθος ἐκάλουν ἐνέργειαν, οἱ δὲ σώματος ἀρρωστίαν ἐνόμιζον· εἴτε δὲ τοῦτο, εἴτε ἐκεῖνο ἦν, τοιόνδε ἦν· τριάκοντα αὐτὴν ἔλεγον τῆς ἡμέρας ὄρνεις ἐσθίουσαν μὴ σβεννύναι κόρῳ τὴν ἔφεσιν, ἀλλ' ἔτι ἑτέρων ὀρέγεσθαι. Οὕτω τοίνυν εἰς αὐτὴν τῆς οὐσίας δαπανωμένης, οἰκτείραντες οἱ προσήκοντες τὸν θεῖον ἐκεῖνον ἱκετεύουσιν ἄνθρωπον. Ὁ δὲ ἀφίκετο καὶ προσηύξατο καὶ ὕδατι τὴν δεξιὰν ἐπιθεὶς καὶ τὴν σωτήριον ἐντυπώσας σφραγῖδα καὶ πιεῖν κελεύσας τὸ πάθος ἰάσατο. Καὶ οὕτω σφόδρα ἤμβλυνε τὴν τῆς ὀρέξεως ἀμετρίαν ὡς εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον βραχύ τι μορίον ὄρνιθος καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὴν τῆς τροφῆς αὐτῇ χρείαν πληροῦν. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ πάθος τοιαύτην θεραπείαν ἐδέξατο. 13.10 Κόρης δέ τινος ἔτι θαλαμευομένης καὶ πονηροῦ δαίμονος ἐξαπιναίως δεξαμένης ἐνέργειαν, ἔδραμεν ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς τὸν θεῖον ἄνθρωπον, ἀντιβολῶν καὶ ποτνιώμενος καὶ τυχεῖν ἰάσεως παρακαλῶν τὸ θυγάτριον. Ὁ δὲ προσευ ξάμενος ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς κόρης παραυτίκα τὸν δαίμονα. Ὁ δὲ ἔφασκε μὴ ἑκὼν ὑπεισδύναι, ἀλλὰ μαγγανείᾳ βιασθῆναι γοητευτικῇ· ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ βιασαμένου προσηγορίαν καὶ ἔρωτα εἶναι τὴν τῆς γοητείας αἰτίαν. 13.11 Ἀλλὰ τούτων ἀκούσας οὐκ ἤνεγκεν ὁ πατὴρ τὴν τοῦ θυμοῦ προσβολὴν οὐδὲ τὴν τῆς παιδὸς ἀνέμεινε θεραπείαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῶν μειζόνων ἀρχόντων καταλαβὼν ἄρχοντα τῶν πλειόνων ἐθνῶν προστατεύοντα, γράφεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ διηγεῖται τὸ δρᾶμα. Ὁ δὲ ἀγώγιμος γεγονὼς ἠρνεῖτο καὶ συκοφαντίαν ὠνόμαζε τὴν γραφήν. Ὁ δὲ μάρτυρα ἐκάλει οὐχ ἕτερον, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῇ γοητείᾳ διακονήσαντα δαίμονα καὶ τὸν δικαστὴν ἱκέτευε παρὰ τὸν θεῖον ἐκεῖνον ἄνθρωπον δραμεῖν καὶ τὴν τοῦ δαίμονος δέξασθαι μαρτυρίαν. Τοῦ δὲ λέγοντος οὐκ ἔννομον εἶναι οὐδὲ μὴν ὅσιον ἐν ἀσκη τικῷ χωρίῳ γενέσθαι τὴν βάσανον, ἄξειν εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον ὁ τῆς κόρης πατὴρ τὸν θεῖον ὑπέσχετο Μακεδόνιον· καὶ δραμὼν ἔπεισέ τε καὶ ἤγαγεν. Ἔξω δὲ τοῦ ἀρχείου καθίσας ὁ δικαστὴς οὐ δικαστὴς ἐγένετο ἀλλὰ θεατής· τὰ δικαστῶν γὰρ ὁ μέγας Μακεδόνιος ἔδρα, τῇ ἐνοικούσῃ δυνάμει χρώ μενος καὶ τῷ δαίμονι παρακελευόμενος τὸ μὲν σύνηθες ψεῦδος ἐᾶν, σὺν ἀληθείᾳ δὲ πᾶσαν τοῦ πράγματος διηγεῖσθαι τὴν τραγῳδίαν. Ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς μεγίστης ἀνάγκης ὠθούμενος καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ὑπεδείκνυ τὸν ταῖς γοητευτικαῖς ᾠδαῖς βιασάμενον καὶ τὴν παιδίσκην δι' ἧς ὁ κυκεὼν ἐκεῖνος προσηνέχθη τῇ κόρῃ. Ὡς δὲ καὶ ἕτερα λέγειν ἠπείγετο ἃ ὑπ' ἄλλων τινῶν βιασθεὶς ἐδεδράκει, τοῦ μὲν ἐμπρήσας τὴν οἰκίαν, τοῦ δὲ τὰ κτήματα διαφθείρας, τὸν δὲ ἄλλο τι λυμηνάμενος, σιγὴν ἄγειν ἐκέλευσεν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος καὶ παραυτίκα πόρρω που καὶ τῆς κόρης καὶ τοῦ ἄστεως γενέσθαι. Ὁ δὲ ὡς δεσποτικῷ πειθόμενος νόμῳ τὸ κελευσθὲν ἐποίει καὶ εὐθὺς ἐδραπέτευεν. 13.12 Οὕτω δὲ ταύτην ὁ θεῖος ἄνθρωπος τῆς μανίας ἐκείνης ἐλευθερώσας καὶ τὸν δείλαιον ἐκεῖνον ἐξήρπασε τῆς γραφῆς καὶ τοῦ δικαστοῦ τὴν θανατηφόρον ἐκώλυσε ψῆφον, οὐχ ὅσιον εἶναι φήσας τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένοις ἐλέγχοις ἐπιτεθῆναι σφαγὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὴν διὰ μετανοίας αὐτῷ σωτηρίαν χορηγηθῆναι. Ἀπόχρη μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτα τὴν τῆς παρασχεθείσης αὐτῷ θείας δυνάμεως δεῖξαι περιουσίαν· ἐγὼ δὲ ὅμως καὶ ἕτερα διηγήσομαι.