Religious History 1 part 12/13

Using these as helpers, he both destroyed the precinct of the demons and raised up a very great shrine to the gloriously-victorious martyrs, setting the divine dead in opposition to the falsely-named gods.

May it be, through their intercessions, that this man also reach the end of his contests with the same victory, and that we, helped by them and by him, may become ardent lovers of the exercises of the ascetic life.

MARANA AND CYRA. Having written the way of life of the best men, I consider it profitable to make mention also of women who have contended no less — if not even more.

displaying zeal to the men, and freeing their sex from the shame of their forebear.

At present I shall make mention of Marana and Cyra, who have surpassed all the other women in the contests of endurance.

Their homeland was Beroea, their family among the notable families of that city, and their upbringing befitting their family;

but despising all these things, and enclosing a small plot of ground a little before the city, and having entered within it, they walled up the door with clay and stones.

And when virgins were eager to share this way of life with them, they built a small dwelling outside this enclosure and bade them dwell there.

And these two observe through a certain small window what is done by them;

and they frequently rouse them to prayer, and kindle them to divine love.

These two, having neither house nor hut, embrace a life lived in the open air.

Instead of a door, a small window has been made for them, through which they receive their necessary food and converse with the women who come to visit them.

For this converse, the time appointed is the season of Pentecost.

For at all other times, they embrace the life of stillness.

Marana alone converses with those who come;

for no one has ever heard the other speak.

They wear iron and carry so heavy a burden that Cyra, having received the weaker body, is bent down to the ground and is scarcely able to straighten her body.

Their outer garments are so large that behind they trail along and completely cover the two feet, while in front they hang down as far as the girdle itself, completely hiding the face together with the neck, the breast, and the hands.

I often saw them, having gone inside that door.

I saw, then, that the weight of that iron was not bearable even for a robust man;

and after much entreating, I was able for the moment to remove it; but after our departure, they put it back on their own limbs — the collar on the neck, the girdle on the loins, and on hands and feet the irons allotted to these.

And they have lived in this manner not merely for five, ten, or fifteen years, but for forty-two.

And having struggled for so long a time, they love their labors as if they had only just now begun their contests.

For, envisioning the beauty of the Bridegroom, they bear the toil of the race very readily and easily, and they hasten to reach the end of the contests, seeing there the Beloved standing and displaying the crown of victory.

For this reason, receiving the onslaught of rain and snow and sun, they are not grieved nor pained, but reap gladness of heart from what seem to be griefs.

And having emulated the fast of the divinely-inspired Moses, they three times remained without food for that same length of time.

And once, desiring to behold the sacred places of Christ's saving Passion, they journeyed to Aelia, partaking of no food at all along the way; but having arrived in that city and fulfilled their worship, they took food, and again returned, completing the journey without food;

and the stages of the journey are no fewer than twenty.

so that everywhere they might kindle the beacon of the love of God: just as they had departed, so they returned without food — so much did the divine passion drive them to frenzy, so did the divine love madden them for the Bridegroom.

These women, then, having adorned the female sex with such a way of life, and having become models for others as well, will be crowned by the Master with the wreaths of victory.

And I, having set forth the benefit that comes from this and having plucked the blessing, shall pass on to another narrative.

and the stalk of millet makes her hut;

and spending the day in it, with continual tears she drenches not only her cheeks, but also the garments made of hair;

for with such garments she covers her body.

And around cockcrow, going to the divine church, which is not far off, together with the other women and men, she offers hymn-singing to the Master of all.

This she does not only at the beginning of the day, but also at its end, both supposing herself, and teaching others, that the place consecrated to God is more venerable than any other place.

For this reason she also deemed it worthy of much care, persuading her mother and brothers to spend their possessions on it.

Her food is lentils soaked in water.

And she endures all this toil though possessing a body wasted to a skeleton and half-dead.

For her skin, exceedingly thin and membrane-like, clings to her slender bones, her fat and flesh having been consumed by her labors.

She presents herself to all who wish to see her, both men and women, neither looking upon any face nor presenting her own face to another, but completely covered by her garment, bent down to her knees, speaking only in the faintest and barely audible tones, and even these she utters always with tears.

For often, taking my right hand and placing it upon her eyes, she released it so drenched that the tear dripped from my very hand.

What discourse, then, could worthily praise her who, amid such wealth, possessing the ascetic life of one living in the utmost poverty, weeps and laments and groans in like manner? For it is the fervent love of God that gives birth to that tear, kindling the mind toward divine contemplation, goading it with its darts, and urging it on toward the passage from this life.

And while spending her days and nights in these practices, she does not neglect the other kinds of virtue either, but to the best of her ability she serves the finest contestants — both those whom we have mentioned and those whom we have omitted.

She also serves those who come to her, bidding them lodge with the shepherd of the village, while she herself sends out all their needs.

For the property of her mother and brothers lies at her disposal for expenditure, reaping the blessing that comes through her.

And to me too, when I arrive in that region — it is the southern part of our territory — she sends both loaves and fruits and soaked lentils.

...and dedicating their tongue...

There are countless such houses of the philosophic life, surpassing number, not only in our region but throughout the whole East.

Palestine too is full of these, and Egypt and Asia and Pontus and all Europe.

For ever since the Master Christ, born of a virgin, honored virginity, nature has caused the meadows of virginity to blossom, and offers these fragrant and unfading flowers to the Creator, not distinguishing virtue into male and female, nor dividing the philosophic life into two separate kinds;

for the difference is of bodies, not of souls.

For in Christ Jesus, according to the divine apostle, there is neither male nor female;

one faith has been granted alike to men and to women;

For there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all.

And one kingdom of heaven has the Master of the Games set before the victors, appointing this as the prize common to their contests.

Many, then, as I have said, are the wrestling-schools of piety, both of men and of women, not only among us but throughout all Syria, Palestine, Cilicia, and Mesopotamia.

In Egypt, they say, some houses have as many as five thousand men, who labor and meanwhile hymn the Master, procuring from their labors not only their necessary food but also aid for strangers who arrive and for the poor.

But to narrate everything is impossible, not for me alone, but for all writers.

And even if it were possible, I think it would be superfluous, an ambition bringing no profit.

For to those who wish to reap some benefit, even what has been said suffices to provide what is desired.

For this reason we have also mentioned various lives, and have added narratives of women to those of men, so that old men and young and women alike may have models of the philosophic life, and each, molding the life he desires, may have as a rule and standard for his own the one set forth in the narrative.

And just as painters, looking to their model, imitate the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the cheeks, the ears, the forehead, and even the hairs of the head and beard, and besides these the posture and stance, and even the very character of the eyes, whether cheerful or stern — so it is fitting that each of those who encounter this writing, and who chooses to imitate some life, should regulate his own life with reference to that one which he has chosen.

And just as carpenters, straightening planks with the cord, cut away the excess until, applying the ruler, they see the plank has become even, so must one who wishes to emulate a certain life set that life before himself in place of a ruler, and cut away the excesses of vice, and fill up the deficiencies of virtue.

For this reason we have undertaken the labor of writing, setting forth an occasion of benefit for those who desire it.

I ask that those who shall meet with this work and enjoy without labor the labors of others repay these labors with prayer.

I beseech also these whose lives I have recorded, not to overlook me as I live far from their spiritual company, but to draw me up as I lie below, and to lead me up to the height of virtue, and to join me to their own company, so that I may not only praise the wealth of another, but may myself also have some occasion for praise, glorifying in deed and word and thought the Savior of all, with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, now and always and unto the ages of ages.

How great were the athletes of virtue, and with how many and what kind of crowns they are made resplendent, the narratives we have written concerning them clearly teach.

For even if it does not comprise all their contests, still the few suffice to show the character of the whole life.

For indeed the touchstone, without consuming all the gold that is brought to it, but rubbing against only a little, shows it to be genuine or spurious;

and likewise, from a few arrows shot, one might accurately learn about an archer whether he shoots excellently, hitting the mark, or misses wide, not having practiced the art.

So too, not to speak of each one, it is possible to discern other craftsmen as well — athletes, runners, tragic actors, helmsmen, shipbuilders, physicians, farmers, and simply all the rest, as many as practice any art;

for a little trial is sufficient both to display the skill of those who possess knowledge, and to expose the ignorance of those who bear the name only.

It suffices, then, as I have said, that even the few things written concerning what each achieved should teach the whole purpose of the life.

It is fitting for us now to investigate, and inquire, and learn accurately whence, setting out, they embraced this way of life, and by what reasonings they attained the summit of philosophy;

for that it was not by trusting in bodily strength that they conceived a longing for what is beyond human nature, and passed beyond the limits set therein, and leapt over the boundary-lines fixed for the contestants of piety, clear experience is the teacher.

For none of those who have no share in this philosophy has ever displayed their endurance.

For even if shepherds are snowed upon, it is not always;

for they also make use of caves, and return to their houses, and cover their feet with sandals, and wrap the other parts of their body in warmer garments;

and twice, and thrice a day, and perhaps even four times, they enjoy food.

And eating meat and drinking wine warm the body better than any hearth;

for when such food undergoes transformation, and, being separated as though by a strainer, reaches the liver, and undergoes conversion into blood, it passes into the heart through the hollow vein;

and having been heated, from there, as though through certain channels — the veins spread throughout — it runs through all the parts of the body;

and wherever it arrives, it not only irrigates but also heats it like fire, and warms the body better than soft garments.

For it is not, as some suppose, that tunics and mantles and outer garments provide warmth to the body;

for otherwise they would also warm wood and stones, whatever they came in contact with;

but no one has ever seen wood or stone become warmer because of garments.

Therefore neither do these provide warmth to the body;

rather, these preserve the warmth of the body;

and they keep off the assault of the cold air;

and receiving the vapors that issue from the body, they are warmed by them, and apply warmer heat to the body.

for often, coming to a cold bed, by the contact of the body we make the bedding, which shortly before was cold, warm.

Food, therefore, warms the body more than any garment;

and those who partake of it to the full have a defense sufficient against the onset of frost.

For by this they arm the body, and prepare it to hold out against such a season of the year.

For these alone — what warmth could they draw from such food as theirs? How much, or what sort of flow of blood, could result from it? In no respect, then, do the practices of others resemble the pursuits of these men.

For neither is the clothing of these the same as that of those;

for this is very coarse, and least able to warm;

nor is the food similar, but diametrically opposite.

For to shepherds and others of this sort, every time is a time for food;

for they determine the time by their appetite, and even if hunger strikes at dawn, they take food immediately;

and they eat whatever happens to be at hand;

for it is not fixed that they should eat this but by no means that, but they freely enjoy whatever they wish.

But here, days and seasons and kinds of food and measures are fixed, and satiety of it is excluded.

Let none, then, of the fault-finders, bringing forward farmers and shepherds and sailors, attempt to belittle the contests of these greatest athletes.

For the farmer, laboring by day, is tended at home by night, his wife providing him every care.

And the shepherd likewise partakes of all those things which we have mentioned before;

and the sailor indeed receives the sun's ray upon his body, but he applies to his body the relief that comes from the waters;

for he swims as much as he wishes, and applies the coolness of the waters as a remedy against the flame of the sun's ray.

But these enjoy no care from anyone.

For no wives dwell with them, who contrive every kind of comfort for their husbands.

Nor, when the sun's ray strikes more hotly, do they resort to the refreshment that comes from waters;

nor in winter season do they set food against the cold, nor do they apply the rest of the night, as a kind of remedy, to their daytime labors;

for the sweats of the night are both greater and more numerous than those that occur in the day.

For in the night, they take up the struggle against sleep, and do not submit to that sweet defeat;

But they overcome that sweetest tyranny, and continue the whole night through, hymning the Master.

None, therefore, of those outside their philosophy has displayed their endurance.

But if none of the rest of mankind has been able to hold out against such labors, it is clear that love for God has enabled them to transcend the bounds of nature;

and being set ablaze by the fire from above, they gladly bear the assault of frost, and by the dew that comes from it, they soothe the flame of the sun's ray.

This love both nourishes them and waters them and clothes them, gives them wings and teaches them to fly, and prepares them to transcend the heaven, and shows them the Beloved so far as is possible, and by the imagining of contemplation sets ablaze their longing, and stirs up their affection, and kindles the flame more fiercely.

For just as those who love bodies, from the sight of their beloved ones, supply fuel to their affection and make that frenzy more intense, so those who receive the goads of divine love, imagining that divine and undefiled beauty, make the barbs of love sharper, and the more they desire to enjoy it, the more they drive off satiety.

For upon the pleasure of bodies satiety follows, but divine love does not admit the laws of satiety.

Such was Moses, the great lawgiver;

who, often, so far as is attainable for a man, having been deemed worthy of divine contemplation, and often having enjoyed the blessed voice, and having been forty days together within the darkness, and having received the divine legislation, not only received no satiety, but acquired an even more intense and fervent desire.

...nature, and he desired to see what is not lawful to see;

For as though forgetting the Lord's sovereignty and reckoning only the affection, he said to the God of all:

'You have found favor with me, and I know you above all.'

'If then I have found favor before you, show yourself to me;'

'that I may plainly see you.' Such was the intoxication he received from divine love, and the intoxication did not quench the thirst, but rendered it more intense.

And the increase of the draught became an intensification of the longing, and enjoyment increased the appetite.

And just as fire, the more fuel it receives, the greater the activity it shows — for this activity is increased by the addition of material, but not blunted — so love for God is set ablaze by the contemplation of divine things, and from it receives a more intense and fervent activity.

And the more one dwells upon divine things, the more one kindles the flame of love.

And this not only the great Moses taught us, but also the holy Bride, concerning whom the divinely-inspired Paul says:

'I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to God.' For she cries out to the Bridegroom in the Song of Songs:

And having been given wings by the accounts concerning his beauty, she longs also for the very contemplation of him, signifying her affection through the aforementioned praises:

'Who shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."' Then she also indicates the reason for her endurance:

'For in all these,' she says, 'we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' For considering who we were and what good things we have enjoyed, and that we did not love first, but having been loved, we loved in return;

and while hating we were loved, and while being enemies we were reconciled;

not ourselves having begged to obtain reconciliation, but having received the Only-begotten as ambassador;

and we who had done wrong being exhorted by the One who had been wronged;

and besides these, considering him who was crucified on our behalf, the saving sufferings, the cessation of death, the hope of resurrection given to us —

Considering these things and such like, we prevail over the grievous things that befall us, and by setting the memory of these benefits against the temporary suffering of the body, we bear gladly the assault of painful things.

For weighing all the painful things of life against our affection for the Master, we find them very light.

And even if we should gather together at once all the things that seem pleasant and delightful, when divine longing is weighed against them, it shows them to be weaker than a shadow and more perishable than spring flowers.

These things she signifies clearly both through what has been said and through what will be said:

setting against things present and passing away, the things that are future and abiding, and besides these, the depth of Gehenna and the height of the Kingdom.

And having examined all these things closely, and having found that all of them yield to that affection, both the painful and the pleasant, and that the deprivation of love is bitterer than the punishment in Gehenna, and having shown that, if it were possible, she would have chosen the threatened punishment together with divine love, rather than the promised kingdom of heaven without it, being intoxicated with longing she seeks things that do not exist, and strives to compare these with divine affection.

'For neither height,' she says, 'nor depth, nor any other creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 'For not only,' she says, 'do I set my affection for the Savior and Creator above all things seen and unseen together, but even if some other creation should appear greater and more beautiful than this, it will not persuade me to exchange my love;'

but even if someone should offer pleasant things apart from this love, I will not accept them;

and even if he should bring on grievous things for the sake of this love, they will appear to me most agreeable, and altogether lovely;

and famine for its sake is more delightful to me than all luxury, and persecution sweeter than peace, and nakedness more graceful than purple robes and gold-spangled garments, and danger sweeter than all security, and violent slaughter more preferable than any life.

For the cause of these sufferings becomes for me a delight of the soul.

'For him who knew no sin he made sin for our sake, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, who, though he was rich, became poor for our sake, that we by his poverty might become rich.'

'He redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.' And:

'He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.' And:

'While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' Considering these things and the like, 'I would not accept the kingdom of heaven, apart from love for these things;'

'nor would I flee the punishment in Gehenna, if indeed it were fitting for the one who has this love to endure that chastisement.'

This she also teaches clearly elsewhere:

'For the love of God constrains us, having judged this, that one died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.' Those, then, who live not for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again, gladly endure to do and to suffer all things for his sake.

And even sufferings that are by nature great and grievous, when compared to that affection, she calls small and easy to bear.

'For our momentary light affliction,' she says, 'works for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.' Then she also teaches how one must compare:

'while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen;'

'for the things that are seen are temporary;'

'but the things that are not seen are eternal.' For it is fitting, she says, to set against present things the things to come, against temporary things the eternal, and against affliction, glory;

for the one has the immediate, but the other the eternal;

for this reason the one is light and easy to bear, but the other is costly and precious.

For this reason she has also added 'beyond measure' to both — both to the lightness of the affliction and to the weight of the glory.

'For these things,' she says, 'are exceedingly both small and light and temporary;'

'and those, likewise, are exceedingly glorious, and costly, and precious, and eternal.'

'I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in calamities, for the sake of Christ.'

'For when I am weak, then I am strong.' Wounded with this same longing, the great Peter also, even having learned beforehand of his coming denial, did not consent to hide it;

but he judged it better to deny Christ while following him, than to confess him while fleeing.

For not even after the denial did he bear to abandon the Teacher;

but he wept bitterly, as the narrative teaches, and lamented his defeat and weakness;

yet he remained close by, held fast by the bonds of affection.

And indeed, having received the news of the resurrection, he was the first to reach the tomb;

and again in Galilee, while fishing, then learning that it was the Lord standing on the shore and conversing with them, he did not endure the ferry-boat cutting the back of the sea too slowly;

but longed, having become as if winged, to reach the shore through the air as quickly as possible.

But since his nature was deprived of wings, he used the water instead of the air, and his hands instead of wings.

For when the Lord had bidden them sit down, and had distributed the food that had been found, he immediately began a conversation with Peter, ostensibly asking and inquiring how much love he had, but in fact revealing to the others the love of the great Peter;

'Simon Peter,' he said, 'do you love me more than these?' And Peter called him to witness his affection;

'Lord,' he said, 'you know that I love you;'

'for you enter into the souls of men, and clearly know the movements of the mind, and nothing human is hidden from you.'

'For you know all things, the last things and the first.' To these the Master added:

'Feed my sheep.' 'For I,' he says, 'am without need;'

I consider the care of my sheep to be the greatest benefaction, and I take upon myself the charge of watching over them.

It is fitting, therefore, that you share with your fellow servants the providence which you enjoy, and feed them as you are fed, and shepherd as you are shepherded, and through them repay the gratitude you owe me.

These same questions the Master asked yet again — twice now — and twice the great Peter answered, and twice he received the ordination as shepherd.

But when the question was put a third time, the blessed Peter no longer answers with the same boldness and fearlessness, but is filled with dread, and tumult enters his soul, and he is in anguish over the verdict, and he is afraid, suspecting that the Master, foreseeing another denial, is mocking the words of love.

For his mind ran back to what had gone before, and reminded him that he had already, many times before, insisted he would not abandon his teacher even unto death, yet had heard that before the cock crowed he would deny him three times.

And he found not his own promise fulfilled, but the Master's prediction confirmed.

The memory of these things terrified him, and did not allow him to give the fitting answer boldly.

But he did receive sharp and bitter stings;

yet nonetheless he yielded to the Master the claim to knowledge, no longer contending as before, nor saying:

"Even if I must die with you, I will not abandon you." Instead, declaring that he had the Master himself as witness to his love, while confessing that the exact knowledge of all things belongs to him alone, the Maker of all things;