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and moved by 6.2.16 the phantoms of pleasures, he wore down his body with countless ascetic practices, at one time contenting himself with a little bread without relish and accomplishing a great deal of work and praying the fiftieth psalm, at another time for six whole years he stood and prayed 6.2.17 every night, neither bending his knee nor closing his eyes in sleep. At other times, going around the dwellings of the monks by night, he secretly filled each one's water jar; and this was very laborious; for the place from which they drew water was ten stades away for some, twenty for others, and thirty or more for others. But for a long time he retained his former strength, although he was eager to destroy it by many ascetic practices and oppressed his body with hardships. 6.2.18 At any rate, it is said that once, when robbers raided the house in which he was practicing philosophy alone, he seized them all and bound them, and though there were four of them, he put them on his shoulders and brought them to the church, and entrusted their case to his fellow monks, 6.2.1 as it was no longer lawful for him to harm anyone. For they say that no one had undergone such a great transformation from vice to virtue, so as to attain the height of monastic philosophy, and to inspire extraordinary fear in the demons, and to become an elder of the monks in Scetis. Such a man as he was, therefore, having left behind many excellent disciples, died when he was about seventy-five years old. 6.2. During this reign lived Paul and Pachon, Stephen and Moses, both Libyans, and Pior the Egyptian. Paul lived in Pherme (this is a mountain in Scetis which has no fewer than five hundred ascetics); and he did no work nor did he receive anything from anyone except for 6.2.21 what he ate. He only prayed, as if paying a kind of tribute of three hundred prayers each day to God; and so that he would not unknowingly miscount the number, he would put three hundred pebbles in his lap, and after each prayer he would cast out a pebble; and when the stones were used up, it became clear that the prayers equal in number 6.2.22 to the stones had been completed. And Pachon also was distinguished in Scetis at that time. Having lived this way from youth to old age, neither a healthy body nor a passion of the soul nor a demon ever found him unmanly in the self-control which the 6.2.23 philosopher must master. Stephen had his dwelling near Lake Mareotis, not far from Marmarica. And having advanced through precise and most perfect asceticism for sixty years, he became a most highly esteemed monk and was known to Antony the Great. He was exceedingly meek and wise, and pleasant and helpful in his conversations, and able to charm the souls of those who were grieving and to change them to cheerfulness, even if they happened to be preoccupied with necessary sorrows. 6.2.24 And he was such also concerning his own misfortunes; indeed when a harsh and incurable disease befell him, handing over his gangrenous limbs to the physicians to cut off, he worked with his hands weaving palm leaves, and he advised those present not to be distressed at his sufferings, nor to think anything other than that the things God does certainly turn out for a good end, and that it would be profitable for him to be tried by such sufferings, perhaps for sins, 6.2.25 for which it is better to pay the penalty here than after this life. Moses is reported to have been exceedingly esteemed for his meekness and love, and for healings 6.2.26 of diseases accomplished by prayer. But Pior, having decided to practice philosophy from his youth, when for this reason he departed from his father's house, made a pact with God that he would henceforth see none of his relatives; and after fifty years his sister learned that he was alive; and overwhelmed by immeasurable joy at the unexpected news, 6.2.27 she could not rest unless she saw her brother. And the bishop among them took pity on her as she was lamenting and entreating in her old age, and wrote to the leaders of the monks in the desert to send Pior out. Being ordered to depart, having no way to refuse (for it is not lawful for the monks of Egypt, and I think for others as well, to disobey what is commanded), he took someone with him and arrived in 6.2.28 his native land; and standing before his father's house, he announced that he had come. And when

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καὶ πρὸς 6.2.16 φαντασίας ἡδονῶν κινούμενος, μυρίαις ἀσκήσεσι τὸ σῶμα κατέτηξε, πῇ μὲν δίχα ὄψου ὀλίγῳ ἄρτῳ ἀρκούμενος καὶ πλεῖστον ἔργον ἀνύων καὶ πεντηκοστὸν εὐχόμενος, πῇ δὲ ἐπὶ ἓξ ἔτεσιν ὁλόκληρον ἑκάστην νύκτα ἑστὼς προσ6.2.17 ηύχετο, μήτε γόνυ κλίνων μήτε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μύων εἰς ὕπνον. ἄλλοτε δὲ νύκτωρ περιιὼν τὰς οἰκήσεις τῶν μοναχῶν λάθρα τὴν ἑκάστου ὑδρίαν ἐπλήρου ὕδατος· ἦν δὲ τοῦτο λίαν ἐργῶδες· τῶν μὲν γὰρ σταδίοις δέκα, τῶν δὲ εἴκοσι, τῶν δὲ τριάκοντα καὶ πλέον διειστήκει ὁ τόπος ὅθεν ὑδρεύοντο. διέμεινε δὲ ἐπὶ πολὺ τὴν προτέραν ἰσχὺν ἔχων, καίπερ ταῖς πολλαῖς ἀσκήσεσι καθελεῖν ταύτην σπουδάζων καὶ τὸ σῶμα ταῖς ταλαιπωρίαις πιέζων. 6.2.18 λέγεται γοῦν ποτε λῃστὰς καταδραμόντας τὸν οἶκον, ἐν ᾧ μόνος ἐφιλοσόφει, συλλαβέσθαι πάντας καὶ δῆσαι καὶ τέσσαρας ὄντας τοῖς ὤμοις ἐπιθεῖναι καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀγαγεῖν, καὶ τοῖς συμμονάζουσιν ἐπιτρέψαι τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν, 6.2.1 ὡς μὴ θεμιτὸν αὐτῷ ἔτι μηδένα κακῶς ποιεῖν. φασὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ κακίας εἰς ἀρετὴν μηδενὶ τοσαύτην ὑπάρξαι μεταβολήν, ὥστε ἄκρου μὲν ἐπιψαῦσαι μοναχικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἐξαίσιον δὲ φόβον τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐμποιῆσαι, καὶ πρεσβύτερον γενέσθαι τῶν ἐν Σκήτει μοναχῶν. ὁ μὲν οὖν τοιοῦτος ὤν, πολλοὺς ἀρίστους μαθητὰς καταλιπών, ἀμφὶ τὰ ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἔτη 6.2. γεγονὼς ἐτελεύτησεν. ἐπὶ ταύτης δὲ τῆς βασιλείας ἐγένετο Παῦλος καὶ Παχών, Στέφανός τε καὶ Μωσῆς, ἄμφω Λίβυες, καὶ Πίωρ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος. ᾤκει δὲ Παῦλος μὲν ἐν Φέρμῃ (ὄρος δὲ τοῦτο ἐν Σκήτει οὐ μείους πεντακοσίων ἀσκητὰς ἔχον)· εἰργάζετο δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἐλάμβανε παρά του πλὴν 6.2.21 ὅσον ἤσθιεν. ηὔχετο δὲ μόνον, ὥσπερ φόρον τινὰ τριακοσίας εὐχὰς ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἀποδιδοὺς τῷ θεῷ· ἵνα δὲ μὴ λαθὼν διαμάρτοι τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, τριακοσίας ψηφῖδας τῷ κόλπῳ ἐμβάλλων, καθ' ἑκάστην εὐχὴν ψηφῖδα ἔρριπτεν· ἀναλωθέντων δὲ τῶν λίθων δῆλον ἐγίνετο καὶ τὰς ἰσαρίθμους εὐχὰς 6.2.22 τοῖς λίθοις πεπληρῶσθαι. καὶ Παχὼν δὲ τότε ἐν Σκήτει διέπρεπεν. ὃν ἐκ νέου μέχρι γήρως πολιτευσάμενον οὔτε σῶμα εὖ ἔχον οὔτε πάθος ψυχῆς οὔτε δαίμων ἄνανδρον ἐφώρασε περὶ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ὧν δεῖ κρατεῖν τὸν 6.2.23 φιλόσοφον. Στέφανος δὲ παρὰ τὸν Μαρεώτην τὴν οἴκησιν εἶχεν οὐκ ἄπωθεν τῆς Μαρμαρικῆς. δι' ἀκριβοῦς δὲ καὶ τελειοτάτης χωρήσας ἀσκήσεως ἐπὶ ἑξήκοντα ἔτεσιν, εὐδοκιμώτατος ἐγένετο μοναχὸς καὶ ᾿Αντωνίῳ τῷ μεγάλῳ γνώριμος. ἐγένετο δὲ πρᾶος καὶ σοφὸς εἰσάγαν καὶ ἐν ταῖς ὁμιλίαις ἡδὺς καὶ ὠφέλιμος, καὶ ἱκανὸς τὰς τῶν λυπουμένων κηλεῖν ψυχὰς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ εὔθυμον μεταβάλλειν, εἰ καὶ ἀναγκαίαις λύπαις προκατειλημμένοι ἐτύγ6.2.24 χανον. τοιοῦτος δὲ ἦν καὶ περὶ τὰς οἰκείας συμφοράς· ἀμέλει τοι χαλεποῦ καὶ ἀνιάτου πάθους ἐνσκήψαντος αὐτῷ, τὰ διεφθορότα μέλη τοῖς ἰατροῖς τέμνειν παραδούς, εἰργάζετο ταῖς χερσὶ φύλλα φοινίκων πλέκων, καὶ τοῖς παροῦσι συνεβούλευε μὴ δυσφορεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ πάθεσι, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι διανοεῖσθαι πλὴν ὅτι πρὸς τέλος χρηστὸν ἃ ποιεῖ ὁ θεὸς πάντως ἐκβαίνει, καὶ αὐτῷ συνοίσειν τοιούτων πειραθῆναι παθῶν, ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτημάτων ἴσως, 6.2.25 ὧν ἕνεκεν ἄμεινον ἐνθάδε διδόναι δίκην ἢ μετὰ τὴν βιοτὴν ταύτην. Μωσῆς δὲ πραότητι καὶ ἀγάπῃ ὑπερφυῶς εὐδοκιμηκέναι παραδέδοται καὶ ἰάσεσι 6.2.26 παθῶν εὐχῇ κατορθουμέναις. ὁ δὲ Πίωρ ἐκ νέου φιλοσοφεῖν ἐγνωκώς, ἡνίκα διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ πατρῴου οἴκου ἐξῄει, συνέθετο τῷ θεῷ τοῦ λοιποῦ μηδένα τῶν οἰκείων ὄψεσθαι· μετὰ δὲ πεντήκοντα ἔτη ἐπύθετο αὐτὸν ἡ ἀδελφὴ ζῆν· ὑπὸ δὲ χαρᾶς ἀμέτρου τῆς παραδόξου μηνύσεως καταπλαγεῖσα 6.2.27 ἠρεμεῖν οὐκ ἠδύνατο εἰ μὴ θεάσοιτο τὸν ἀδελφόν. ὀλοφυρομένην δὲ καὶ ἀντιβολοῦσαν ἐν γήρᾳ ἐλεήσας ὁ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπίσκοπος ἔγραψε τοῖς ἡγουμένοις τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ μοναχῶν ἐκπέμψαι τὸν Πίωρα. ἀπιέναι δὲ προσταχθείς, οὐκ ἔχων ἀντειπεῖν (οὐ γὰρ θέμις Αἰγυπτίων μοναχοῖς, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἀπειθεῖν τοῖς ἐπιταττομένοις), παραλαβών τινα ἀφίκετο εἰς 6.2.28 τὴν πατρίδα· καὶ στὰς πρὸ τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας ἐμήνυσεν ἐληλυθέναι. ἐπεὶ δὲ