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displaying a zeal equal to men's, and freeing their sex from the ancestral shame. 29.2 And now I will mention Marana and Cyra, who have conquered all the others in the contests of endurance. Their fatherland was Beroea, their family distinguished in their fatherland, and their upbringing befitted their family; but scorning all these things, and enclosing a small plot a short distance from the city, and going inside it, they walled up the door with mud and stones. And when virgins were eager to share this life with them, having built a small dwelling outside this enclosure, they ordered them to live in it. And through a certain small window they watch what is done by them; and they often rouse them to prayer, and set them on fire with divine love. But these women, having neither house nor hut, embrace life in the open air. 29.3 But instead of the door, a certain small window has been constructed for them through which they both receive their necessary food and converse with the women who come to them. And the season of Pentecost is appointed for this intercourse. For during the rest of the time they embrace the quiet life. But Marana alone speaks with those who come; for no one has ever heard the other one speaking. 29.4 They wear iron and bear such a heavy load that Cyra, having a weaker body, is bent down to the ground and is hardly able to straighten her body. And they have very large cloaks so that behind they are drawn out and completely cover their feet, and in front they are let down as far as the girdle itself, completely concealing the face, neck, chest, and hands. 29.5 I have often seen these women, having gone inside that door. For they urged me to dig it open, honoring the preeminence of the priesthood. I saw, therefore, the weight of that iron, bearable not even for a noble man; and after much entreaty I was able to have it removed for the moment, but after my departure, they again put it around their own limbs, the collar on the neck, the girdle on the waist, and on their hands and feet the parts assigned to them. 29.6 And they live in this manner, having completed not only five or ten or fifteen years, but forty-two. And having struggled for so long a time, as if having just begun the contests, they love the toils. For imagining the beauty of the bridegroom, they bear the labor of the race very easily and readily and they hasten to reach the end of the contests, seeing in it the beloved standing and showing the crown of victory. For this reason, receiving the assault of rain and snow and sun, they are not troubled, nor do they feel pain, but from things that seem grievous they reap gladness. 29.7 And emulating the fast of the divine Moses, they three times remained without food for such a period. For after forty days they partook of a little food. And three times they also emulated the abstinence of the divine Daniel, completing three weeks of days and then supplying food to the body. And once, longing to see the holy places of the saving passions of Christ, they ran to Aelia, enjoying no food along the way, but having arrived in that city and having fulfilled their veneration, they partook of food and returned again, completing the journey without food; and there are not fewer than twenty stages. And desiring to see the shrine in Isauria of Thecla, the beautifully victorious, in order that of the one concerning the

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τοῖς ἀνδράσι προθυμίαν ἐπιδεικνύμεναι, καὶ τῆς προγονικῆς αἰσχύνης τὸ γένος ἐλευθεροῦσαι. 29.2 Μαράνας δὲ καὶ Κύρας ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος μνησθήσομαι αἳ τὰς ἄλλας ἁπάσας τοῖς τῆς καρτερίας νενικήκασιν ἄθλοις. Ταύταις πατρὶς μὲν ἡ Βέροια, γένος δὲ τὸ τῆς πατρίδος ἐπίσημον, τροφὴ δὲ τῷ γένει συμβαίνουσα· ἀλλὰ τούτων ἁπάντων ὑπεριδοῦσαι, καὶ βραχύ τι πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως χωρίον περιλαβοῦσαι, καὶ εἴσω τούτου γενόμεναι, πηλῷ καὶ λίθοις τὴν θύραν ἀνῳκοδόμησαν. Κοινωνῆσαι δὲ αὐταῖς τοῦδε τοῦ βίου τὰς παρθένους προθυμηθείσας, ἔξω τοῦδε τοῦ περιβόλου σμικρὸν δειμάμεναι καταγώγιον, ἐν ἐκείνῳ διάγειν ἐκέλευσαν. Ἐφορῶσι δὲ αὗται διὰ σμικρᾶς τινος θυρίδος τὰ ὑπ' ἐκείνων γιγνόμενα· καὶ εἴς τε προσευχὴν θαμὰ διανιστᾶσι, καὶ εἰς τὸν θεῖον ἔρωτα πυρπολοῦσιν. Αὗται δὲ οὔτε οἶκον οὔτε καλύβην ἔχουσαι, τὸν ὑπαίθριον ἀσπά ζονται βίον. 29.3 Ἀντὶ δὲ τῆς θύρας βραχεῖά τις αὐταῖς θυρὶς κατε σκεύασται δι' ἧς τήν τε ἀναγκαίαν τροφὴν εἰσδέχονται καὶ ταῖς πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀφικνουμέναις προσδιαλέγονται γυναιξίν. Εἰς δὲ ταύτην ὥρισται τὴν συνουσίαν τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς ὁ καιρός. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν ἄλλον χρόνον τὸν ἡσύχιον ἀσπάζονται βίον. Ἡ Μαράνα δὲ μόνη ταῖς ἀφικνουμέναις προσδια λέγεται· τῆς γὰρ ἑτέρας οὐδεὶς ἀκήκοε πώποτε φθεγγομένης. 29.4 Σιδηροφοροῦσι δὲ καὶ τοσοῦτον φέρουσι φορτίον ὡς τὴν Κύραν, ἀσθενέστερον σῶμα λαχοῦσαν, μέχρι τῆς γῆς κατακάμπτεσθαι καὶ ἀνορθοῦν τὸ σῶμα ἥκιστα δύνασθαι. Τὰ δὲ περιβόλαια μέγιστα ἔχουσιν ὡς ὄπισθεν μὲν ἀποσύ ρεσθαι καὶ ἀκριβῶς συγκαλύπτειν τὼ πόδε, ἔμπροσθεν δὲ μέχρις αὐτῆς τῆς ζώνης καθίεσθαι, τὸ πρόσωπον ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸν αὐχένα καὶ τὰ στήθη καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀκριβῶς κατακρύπτοντα. 29.5 Ταύτας δὲ πολλάκις ἐθεασάμην εἴσω τῆς θύρας ἐκείνης γενόμενος. ∆ιορύξαι γάρ μοι παρεκελεύσαντο τῆς ἱερωσύνης τὴν προεδρίαν τιμῶσαι. Εἶδον τοίνυν οὐδὲ ἀνδρὶ γενναίῳ φορητὸν τὸν ἐκείνου τοῦ σιδήρου σταθμόν· καὶ πολλὰ λιπαρήσας παραυτίκα μὲν ἀφελεῖν ἠδυνήθην, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναχώρησιν, πάλιν αὐτὸν τοῖς οἰκείοις περιέθεσαν μέλεσιν, αὐχενὶ μὲν τὸν περιαυχένιον, ἰξύϊ δὲ τὴν ζώνην, χερσὶ δὲ καὶ ποσὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀπονενεμημένα. 29.6 Καὶ τοῦτον βιοτεύουσι τὸν τρόπον, οὐ πέντε ἢ δέκα ἢ πεντεκαίδεκα μόνα ἐξανύσασαι ἔτη, ἀλλὰ δύο καὶ τεσσα ράκοντα. Καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀγωνισάμενοι χρόνον ὡς ἄρτι τῶν ἀγώνων ἁψάμεναι τῶν ἱδρώτων ἐρῶσι. Τὸ γὰρ τοῦ νυμφίου φανταζόμεναι κάλλος εὐπετῶς μάλα καὶ ῥᾳδίως φέρουσι τοῦ δρόμου τὸν πόνον καὶ καταλαβεῖν ἐπείγονται τῶν ἀγώνων τὸ τέλος, ἐν ἐκείνῳ τὸν ἐρώμενον ἑστῶτα βλέπουσαι καὶ τῆς νίκης ὑποδεικνύντα τὸν στέφανον. Τούτου εἵνεκα καὶ ὑετοῦ καὶ νιφετοῦ καὶ ἡλίου δεχόμεναι προσβολὴν οὐκ ἀνιῶνται, οὐδὲ ἀλγύνονται, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν δοκούντων ἀνιαρῶν θυμηδίαν καρποῦνται. 29.7 Καὶ τοῦ μὲν θεσπεσίου Μωϋσέως τὴν νηστείαν ζηλώσασαι τρὶς ἄσιτοι τοσοῦτον διετέλεσαν χρόνον. ∆ιὰ τεσσαράκοντα γὰρ ἡμερῶν τροφῆς βραχείας μετέλαβον. Τρὶς δὲ καὶ τοῦ θείου ∆ανιὴλ τὴν ἀπαστίαν ἐζήλωσαν, τρεῖς ἑβδομάδας ἡμερῶν ἐξανύουσαι καὶ τότε τροφὴν χορηγοῦσαι τῷ σώματι. Ποθήσασαι δέ ποτε τῶν σωτηρίων τοῦ Χριστοῦ παθημάτων τοὺς ἱεροὺς θεάσασθαι τόπους ἔδραμον εἰς τὴν Αἰλίαν, οὐδεμιᾶς κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐδωδῆς ἀπολαύσασαι, ἀλλ' εἰς ἐκείνην ἀφικόμεναι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν προσκύνησιν ἐκπληρώσασαι, τροφῆς μετέλαβον καὶ πάλιν ἐπανῆλθον ἄσιτοι τὴν πορείαν ἀνύσασαι· σταθμοὶ δέ εἰσιν οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν εἴκοσι. Καὶ τῆς καλλινίκου δὲ Θέκλης ἐπιθυμήσασαι θεάσασθαι τὸν ἐν Ἰσαυρίᾳ σηκὸν ἵνα τῆς περὶ τὸν