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famous, whom they say King Constantine, when he first saw him, acknowledged that long ago God had often shown this man to him in epiphanies and had commanded him to obey whatever 6.33.4 he might say. And Aones had his school of thought in Phadana. This is the place where Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, having come from Palestine, met his future wife while she was still a maiden; and having rolled away the stone from the well there, he first watered her flock. They say that this Aones began the strict philosophy, far from the haunts of men, among the Syrians, just as Antony did among the Egyptians. 6.34.1 And with him lived Gaddanas and Azizus, striving for similar virtue. And in neighboring Edessa and its surroundings, the most esteemed philosophers at this time were Julianus and Ephraim the Syrian writer, who were mentioned in the reign of Constantius, and Barses and Eulogius, who both later became bishops, not of any city, but for the sake of honor, being ordained in their own monasteries as a reward, so to speak, for their way of life, in the same way as Lazarus who was mentioned. 6.34.2 These are the men who came to my knowledge of those who were then distinguished philosophers among the Syrians and their neighbors, the Persians; and the way of life for all of them, so to speak, was the same; to care for the soul as much as possible and to accustom it to be ready for its departure from hence in prayers and fastings and divine hymns, and to spend the greater part of their life in these things, and to be completely 6.34.3 neglectful of money and involvement in political affairs, and of the body's ease or exercise. And some came to such a degree of self-control, that in the case of Batthaeus, from excessive fasting, worms crawled from his teeth; and Halas for eighty years did not taste bread; and Heliodorus endured many sleepless nights, adding weeks of days together in fasting. 6.34.4 But Syria, both the so-called Coele-Syria and the region beyond it, except for Antioch, converted more slowly to Christianity; yet it was not without ecclesiastical philosophers, who were and appeared all the more courageous, inasmuch as they were hated and plotted against by the inhabitants of the country; and they nobly resisted, not defending themselves nor taking vengeance, but 6.34.5 readily enduring the insults and blows from the Hellenes. Such men, I learned, were Valentinus, whom some said was from Emesa, and others from Arethusa, and his namesake and Theodorus (both were from Titta in the district of Apamea), and Marosas from Nechile, and Bassus and Bassones and Paulus, who was from the village of Telmissus; and he, having established many communities in many places and having gathered them together in the proper manner to learn philosophy, finally established a very large and most distinguished community of monks in the place called Jugatum. 6.34.6 There indeed he also died and has his tomb, having lived a very long life, so that he survived even to our own time, having practiced philosophy with esteem and divinely. And of the other monks who were mentioned, almost all lived for a long time. And it seems to me that God made these men long-lived in order to bring about the 6.34.7 growth of religion. For they won over to their own worship the Syrians in general, and very many of the Persians and Saracens, and caused them to cease from Hellenizing; and having been the first to practice monastic philosophy here, they produced many like themselves. And I infer that the Galatians and Cappadocians and their neighbors also had many other ecclesiastical philosophers at that time, since 6.34.8 they had long ago zealously embraced the doctrine. But the majority of them lived in communities in cities or villages. For neither were they accustomed to it by the tradition of their predecessors, nor did it seem possible, perhaps, to live in the deserts, because of the severity of the winter which by nature always occurs in that region. 6.34. But the most esteemed of the monks here of whom I learned at that time were Leontius, who the church in Ancyra

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ἀοίδιμον, ὅν φασι βασιλέα Κωνσταντῖνον πρώτως θεασάμενον ὁμολογῆσαι ὡς πάλαι πολλάκις ἐν ἐπιφανείαις τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ ἐπέδειξε καὶ παρεκελεύσατο ὅ τι 6.33.4 λέγοι πειθαρχεῖν αὐτῷ. καὶ ᾿Αώνης δὲ ἐν Φαδανᾷ τὸ φροντιστήριον εἶχε. τόπος δὲ οὗτος οὗ ὁ ᾿Ιακὼβ ὁ τοῦ ᾿Αβραὰμ ἔγγονος ἐκ Παλαιστίνης ἐπιστάς, ἔτι παρθένῳ συνήντετο τῇ μετὰ ταῦτα γαμετῇ· ἐκκυλίσας τε τοῦ ἐνθάδε φρέατος τὸν λίθον, πρῶτον αὐτῆς τὸ ποίμνιον ἐπότισε. φασὶ δὲ τοῦτον ᾿Αώνην τῆς ἐκτὸς πάτου ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀκριβοῦς φιλοσοφίας ἄρξαι παρὰ Σύροις, ὥσπερ ᾿Αντώνιον παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις. 6.34.1 Τούτῳ δὲ συνοίκω ἤστην Γαδδανᾶς τε καὶ ῎Αζιζος, πρὸς ὁμοίαν ἀρετὴν ἁμιλλωμένω. ἀνὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκ γειτόνων ῎Εδεσσαν καὶ πέριξ ταύτης εὐδοκιμώτατοι φιλόσοφοι κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἦσαν ᾿Ιουλιανὸς καὶ ᾿Εφραὶμ ὁ Σύρος συγγραφεύς, οἱ ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντίου βασιλείᾳ δηλωθέντες, Βαρσῆς τε καὶ Εὐλόγιος, οἳ καὶ ἐπισκόπω ἄμφω ὕστερον ἐγενέσθην οὐ πόλεως τινός, ἀλλὰ τιμῆς ἕνεκεν, ἀντ' ἀμοιβῆς ὥσπερ τῶν αὐτοῖς πεπολιτευμένων χειροτονηθέντες ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις μοναστηρίοις, ὃν τρόπον καὶ Λάζαρος ὁ δηλωθείς. 6.34.2 οἵδε μὲν τῶν τότε ἐπισήμως φιλοσοφούντων ἀνά τε Σύρους καὶ Πέρσας τοὺς ἐκ γειτόνων τούτοις εἰς γνῶσιν ἐμὴν ἦλθον· πολιτεία δὲ πᾶσιν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἦν κοινή· ψυχῆς μὲν ὅτι μάλιστα ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ ἕτοιμον ἐθίζειν πρὸς ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν ἔνθεν ἐν εὐχαῖς τε καὶ νηστείαις καὶ θείοις ὕμνοις, καὶ περὶ ταῦτα τὸν πολὺν ἀναλίσκειν βίον, χρημάτων δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ πολιτικὰ πράγματα ἀσχολίας, σώματός τε ῥᾳστώνης ἢ ἀσκήσεως παντελῶς 6.34.3 ἀμελεῖν. ἔνιοι δὲ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐγκρατείας ἦλθον, ὡς Βαθθαίου μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν ἀσιτίας σκώληκας ἐκ τῶν ὀδόντων ἕρπειν, ῾Αλᾶν δὲ ἐπὶ ὀγδοήκοντα ἐνιαυτοὺς ἄρτου μὴ γεύσασθαι, τὸν δὲ ῾Ηλιόδωρον ἀύπνους τὰς πολλὰς διακαρτερῆσαι νύκτας, ἑβδομάδας ἡμερῶν ἐν νηστείαις ἐπισυνάψαντα. 6.34.4 Συρία δὲ ἥ τε κοίλη καλουμένη καὶ ἡ ὑπὲρ ταύτην πλὴν ᾿Αντιοχείας βράδιον εἰς Χριστιανισμὸν μετέβαλεν· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ αὕτη φιλοσόφων ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἄμοιρος ἦν, ταύτῃ γε μᾶλλον ἀνδρείων ὄντων τε καὶ φαινομένων, ὅσῳ γε καὶ πρὸς τῶν οἰκούντων τὴν χώραν ἐμισοῦντο καὶ ἐπεβουλεύοντο· καὶ γενναίως ἀντεῖχον, οὐκ ἀμυνόμενοι οὐδὲ δίκην λαμβάνοντες, ἀλλὰ προ6.34.5 θύμως τὰς παρὰ τῶν ῾Ελλήνων ὕβρεις τε καὶ πληγὰς ὑπομένοντες. οἵους γενέσθαι ἐπυθόμην Οὐαλεντῖνον, ὃν οἱ μὲν ἐξ ᾿Εμέσης, οἱ δὲ ἐξ ᾿Αρεθούσης τὸ γένος ἔχειν ἔφασαν, καὶ τὸν ὁμώνυμον τὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ Θεόδωρον (ἄμφω δὲ ἀπὸ Τιττῶν τοῦ ᾿Απαμέων νομοῦ ἤστην), καὶ Μαρώσαν τὸν ἐκ Νεχείλων καὶ Βάσσον καὶ Βασσώνην καὶ Παῦλον, ὃς ἀπὸ Τελμισοῦ τῆς κώμης ἐγένετο· πολλοὺς δὲ ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις συνοικίσας καὶ ὃν χρὴ τρόπον συναγαγὼν εἰς τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν εἰδέναι τὸ τελευταῖον εἰς τὸ ᾿Ιουγάτον καλούμενον χωρίον μεγίστην τε καὶ ἐπισημοτάτην συνοικίαν μοναχῶν συνεστήσατο. 6.34.6 ἔνθα δὴ καὶ ἐτελεύτησε καὶ τὸν τάφον ἔχει μακροβιώτατος γεγονώς, ὡς μέχρι καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐπιβιῶναι εὐδοκίμως καὶ θείως φιλοσοφήσας. καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ τῶν δηλωθέντων μοναχῶν σχεδὸν πάντες πολὺν διεγένοντο χρόνον. καί μοι φαίνεται μακροβίους τούτους τοὺς ἄνδρας ὁ θεὸς ποιῆσαι εἰς ἐπί6.34.7 δοσιν τὴν θρησκείαν ἄγων. Σύρους τε γὰρ ὡς ἐπίπαν καὶ Περσῶν καὶ Σαρακηνῶν πλείστους πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπηγάγοντο σέβας καὶ ἑλληνίζειν ἔπαυσαν· μοναχικῆς τε φιλοσοφίας ἐνθάδε ἄρξαντες πολλοὺς ὁμοίους ἀπέδειξαν. Καὶ Γαλάτας δὲ καὶ Καππαδόκας καὶ τοὺς τούτων ὁμόρους συμβάλλω πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ ἄλλους ἐσχηκέναι τότε ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς φιλοσόφους, οἷά 6.34.8 γε πάλαι τὸ δόγμα σπουδαίως πρεσβεύοντας. κατὰ συνοικίας δὲ ἐν πόλεσιν ἢ κώμαις οἱ πλείους ᾤκουν. οὔτε γὰρ παραδόσει τῶν προγεγενημένων εἰθίσθησαν, οὔτε ὑπὸ χαλεπότητος χειμῶνος φύσει τοῦ τῇδε χώρου ἑκάστοτε συμβαίνοντος δυνατὸν ἴσως κατεφαίνετο ἐν ἐρημίαις διατρίβειν. 6.34. εὐδοκιμώτατοι δὲ ὧν ἐπυθόμην τότε ἐγένοντο ἐνθάδε μοναχοὶ Λεόντιος ὁ τὴν ἐν ᾿Αγκύρᾳ ἐκκλησίαν