Religious History 1 part 9/13

and at last I even invoked upon them the bonds of priestly authority, and with much difficulty, in the late evening, I sent them away.

But the divine man, even after these had departed, was not overcome by nature, but remained enduring until the deep of night came on and compelled everyone to go home.

And when I came to him again on the following day, seeing that the burning heat had grown more intense, and that the fever besetting him was being fed and increased by the fire from without, I feigned a headache, and said that I found the assault of the sun's rays unbearable, and I begged that some small shade be improvised for me beside him;

and when he gave the order, we fixed three reeds in the ground and wrapped two goat-hair cloaks around them, and thus we contrived the shade.

And when he bade me go inside [under the shade]:

"It would be shameful, Father," I said, "that I, being young and vigorous, should enjoy this refreshment, while you, held fast by a raging fever and in need of just such relief, should sit outside receiving the assault of the sun's ray."

"If, then," I said, "you wish me to enjoy the shade, become my companion in this little tent;"

"for I do wish to remain beside you, but I am prevented by the sun's ray."

Having heard these words, then, he yielded, and chose to accept my care.

Since we were together enjoying the shade, I began upon another argument and said that I needed to lie down, because my hip could not bear sitting without pain.

But he in turn urged that I should recline, yet objected that it would not be bearable for him to lie back himself while he saw me sitting there.

"If, then," I said, "you wish me to enjoy this repose as well, let us recline together, father."

By such words, having outwitted his endurance, I procured for him the comfort of reclining.

To him as he lay stretched out on the ground I addressed pleasant words, turning his soul toward greater cheerfulness.

Putting my hand inside his garment, I tried gently to rub his back;

then I beheld the great weight of iron that bound both his loins and his neck;

and other chains as well extended from the ring around his neck—two in front and two behind—running crosswise down to the lower ring and forming the shape of the letter chi, binding the two rings to one another both in front and behind;

and his hands too, within his garment, were bound about the elbows with other such fetters.

Having seen this burden weighing so many talents, I begged him to give relief to a body already suffering, unable to bear at once both its voluntary burdens and its involuntary illness.

"For now, father," I said, "the fever is doing the work of the iron."

"When it subsides, then we will again lay the toil of the iron upon your body." He yielded to this as well, beguiled by many such charming words.

But on that occasion, having been ill only a few days, he recovered easily.

But at a later time he fell into a more severe illness.

When many people had gathered from many places, intending to carry off his body, the people of the city, on learning of this, all ran together—soldiers and civilians alike—some taking up military gear, others using whatever weapons came to hand;

and drawing themselves up together they fought, loosing arrows and slinging stones, not to strike but only to frighten;

and having thus driven off the country folk, they laid the champion of the fivefold contest upon a litter—he perceiving nothing at all of what was happening (for he did not even feel his hair being torn out by the villagers)—and set off for the city.

And arriving at the shrine of the prophet, they set the litter down in the monastery adjoining it.

Someone came to Beroea—for I happened to be there—reporting what had happened and bringing news of his death.

Therefore I set out at once, and having spent the whole night in travel, I found the man of God after dawn, neither speaking nor able to recognize any of those present.

But when I addressed him and said that the great Acacius sent him greeting, he immediately opened his eyes, asked how I was, and inquired when I had arrived.

And when I had answered these questions, he closed his eyes again.

When three days had passed, in the evening he asked where he was;

and on learning it, he was greatly distressed and demanded to be carried back to the mountain at once.

Wishing by every means to attend to his care, I immediately ordered the litter to be brought and carried to the place he longed for.

Then I beheld the utter freedom from vainglory of that head so venerable to me.

For on the following day I brought him barley-gruel broth, having let it cool;

for he would not tolerate partaking of anything warm, having entirely renounced the use of fire.

But since he was unwilling to partake of it,

"Grant to all of us, father," I said, "a share of your consideration."

"For we count your health as the common salvation of us all."

"For you stand before us not only as an exemplar of benefit, but also, by praying, you come to our aid and win for us the divine favor."

"But if the strangeness of it wears on you, endure this too, father," I said;

"for this too is a form of philosophy [ascetic discipline]."

"For just as, when you were in health, though you desired food, you conquered that desire by endurance, so now, though you desire it least of all, display the endurance of partaking."

Still he was unwilling to partake of the food, and that although it was already dawn—he who often nourished his body only once in seven days.

Overcome, then, by these words, he swallowed down one cup of the broth with his eyes closed, as we are accustomed to do with bitter drinks.

And since we also persuaded him to bathe with water his feet, which through weakness had lost the power to walk, I think it worthwhile to lay bare this trait of the philosophy of his soul as well.

For the basin lay close by;

and one of the attendants tried to cover it with a mat, so that it would not be visible to those who came to him.

"Why are you covering the basin?" he said. And when the man replied,

"So that it might not lie exposed to the sight of those who come"—"Away with that, my child," he said; "do not hide from men what has already been revealed to the God of all;"

"for since I wish to live for him alone, I have taken no thought for human glory."

"For what benefit would it be if these men should credit me with greater asceticism, while God credited me with less? For it is not these men who are the givers of the reward for one's labors, but God who is its provider."

Who, then, would not marvel greatly both at these words and at the mind that gave birth to them, a mind that had thus become superior to human glory? I have learned that something of this sort happened also on another occasion.

It was evening, deep evening, and the hour for food.

Taking, then, the earthen vessel that lay beside him, he began partaking of the soaked lentils.

For this was the food he had.

There came someone from the city who had been entrusted with a certain military exaction.

But he, seeing the man even from afar, did not set aside the lentils, but continued taking his food as usual.

And to show that he was not afraid, he kept bringing the lentils to his mouth even while conversing with him.

The man, though assailed with reproaches, kept beseeching him, saying that he too was but a man, and that, bound by a certain oath, he had come at this hour because he had to leave the city toward evening.

"Take courage," he said, "and do not be afraid, but pray and go your way."

"But be also my table-companion, and share my food with me." And as he said this, he filled his right hand and gave him a portion of the lentils.

Thus, along with the other passions, he drove the affliction of vainglory from his mind.

As for his endurance, it is superfluous even to speak of it, since sight itself bears witness.

For often, when snow fell for three days and as many nights, he was so completely buried—lying prostrate and beseeching God—that not even a small part of the rags that covered him could be seen.

And often the people of the neighborhood, using shovels and mattocks, and scraping away in this manner the snow that covered him, would pull him up and raise him from where he lay.

From these labors he gathered the gifts of divine grace, of which all who wish may partake.

For by his blessing many fevers have been quenched, and continue to be quenched;

many agues have abated and withdrawn altogether;

many demons have been forced to flee;

and the water blessed by his right hand becomes a remedy that wards off evil.

Who does not know of the raising of the dead child through this man's prayer? For in the suburbs of the city lived this child's parents, who had become the parents of many children, yet had escorted all of them, dead before their time, to the grave.

When, then, this last child was born, the father ran to the man of God, begging that the child might obtain a long life, and promising to dedicate him to God should he live.

The child, then, having lived through four years, met the end of life.

and arriving suddenly, the father saw it now being carried out for burial, and snatching it up from the bier,

"It is fitting," he said, "that I fulfill my promise, and render the child, even dead, to the man of God."

He laid it before those holy feet, saying the very words he had spoken to his own household.

But the man of God, having set the child before him and bending his knees, lay prostrate, entreating the Lord of life and death.

Thus that divinely inspired man, perceiving that the Master had accepted his supplication and granted life, arose and, having worshiped him who does the will of those who fear him and hearkens to their entreaty, brought the supplication to its conclusion and restored the child to the one who had begotten it.

This I myself witnessed, and I heard the father relate the wonder; and I have related the story to many, knowing it to be apostolic in character and destined to be a source of great benefit to those who would hear it.

And I myself too have often enjoyed this man's assistance.

I shall call to mind one or two instances, considering it altogether ungrateful to pass them over in silence and not to relate the kinds of benefaction I received.

Marcion the abominable sowed many thorns of impiety in the territory of the city of Cyrrhus.

Trying to pull these up by the roots, I moved every rope and continued employing every device.

But those who enjoyed healing through me, instead of loving me, slandered me — to speak in the words of the prophet — and "repaid me evil for good, and hatred for my love."

And employing sorcerous incantations, and using evil demons as accomplices, they attempted to wage war against me invisibly.

And once at night a certain accursed demon came, shouting, and speaking in the Syriac tongue:

"Why, So-and-so, do you make war on Marcion? Why on earth have you undertaken this battle against him? What grievous thing has he ever done to you? End the war, put a stop to the enmity — or by experience you will learn how good a thing stillness is."

"For know well that I would long ago have struck you down with a javelin, had I not seen the choir of martyrs, together with James, guarding you."

I heard these things, and said to one of my acquaintances who was sleeping nearby:

"Do you hear, So-and-so," I said, "what is being said?" And he replied:

"I heard everything," he said, "and though I wished to get up and peer out and find out who was speaking, I kept still for your sake, supposing you to be asleep."

So both of us got up and peered out, and we saw no one moving, nor did we hear anyone speaking.

And our other housemates also heard those words.

I understood, then, that by "choir of martyrs" he meant the little flask of the martyrs' oil, which, holding a blessing gathered from very many martyrs, hung beside my bed.

And beneath my head lay the old cloak of the great James, which had become for me stronger than any wall of adamant.

And when I was about to attack the largest of these very villages, and then many things arising in between kept hindering my departure, I sent to my Isaiah, entreating to obtain divine alliance.

"Take courage," he said, "for all those hindrances have been dissolved like spiders' webs."

"And God taught me this at night, not sketching it in shadow through a dream, but showing it to me in a waking vision."

"For," he said, "as I began the hymn-singing, I saw, in that region where those villages lie, a certain fire-like serpent crawling from the west toward the east, borne through the midst of the air."

"And having completed three prayers, I saw it again, bent back and displaying a circular shape, its tail joined to its head."

"And having completed eight more prayers, I saw it cut in two and dissolved into smoke." These things he had thus foreseen, and we ourselves beheld the outcome agreeing with the prediction.

Rushing at us from the west, they showed us their naked swords.

But at about the third hour of the day, having coiled themselves together, they were concerned only with their own protection — just as the serpent covered its head with its tail.

And at the eighth hour, having been scattered, they gave us room to enter the village.

And immediately we found a serpent fashioned of bronze, worshiped by them.

For having openly undertaken war against the Creator and Maker of all things, they were zealous to worship the accursed serpent as his enemy.

Such benefactions I myself too received from that venerable head so revered by me.

Since the account has now entered upon the narration of divine revelations, come, let me relate what I heard from that truthful tongue.

I entreated him to implore the God of all things to render my field clear of tares, and to free it entirely from the seeds of the heretics;

for I was thoroughly vexed by the error of the abominable Marcion, which had persisted for so very long.

"You have need neither of me nor of any other intercessor before God."

"For you have John the great, the voice of the Word, the forerunner of the Master, who continually offers this supplication on your behalf." And when I said that I trust also in his prayers, and in those of the other holy apostles and prophets whose relics had recently been brought to us:

"Take courage," he said, "for you have John the Baptist."

But not even then could I bear to keep silent.

But I pressed on all the more, inquiring and desiring to learn why on earth he had mentioned this one rather than another.

"I wished," he said, "to embrace his beloved relics." And when I said that I would not bring these unless he should promise to tell what he had seen, he gave the promise; and on the next day I brought the desired relics, and, having bidden everyone withdraw, he related these things to me alone.

"When," he said, "you received these guardians of the city, who had come from Phoenicia and Palestine, with a Davidic procession, a certain thought came to me — whether these were in truth the relics of the great John, and not of some other martyr of the same name."

"So after one day had passed, at night I rose for the hymn-singing:"

"and I see someone clothed in white, and:"

"'Brother James,' he said, 'tell me why you did not come out to meet us when we arrived?' And when I asked who they might be, he answered, saying:"

"'Those who came from Phoenicia and Palestine the day before.'"

"'And though everyone received us eagerly — the shepherd and the people alike, both townsfolk and countryfolk — you alone did not share in that honor.'"

He was alluding to the doubt that had arisen in my mind.

"So I said in reply to this, 'Even when you and the others are absent, I both honor you and worship the God of all.'"

"And again on the next day, at the same hour, that same one appeared:"

"'Behold, brother James,' he said, 'the one standing over there, whose garment is like snow in color, and before whom a furnace of fire is set.'"

"And when I turned my gaze thither and suspected it was John the Baptist — for indeed he was clothed in his robe, and stretched out his hand as though baptizing —"

"'He is the one you supposed him to be.'" And on another occasion too, he said, when you were setting out by night for the first village to chastise them as rebels, and had charged me to offer a more fervent prayer to God, I remained sleepless, entreating the Master;

then I heard a voice saying:

"'for the great John the Baptist entreats the God of all things the whole night through;'"

"'by his intercessions the devil's boldness was extinguished.'" Having related these things to me, he charged me to know them alone and not to take on other witnesses.

But I, for the sake of benefit, have not only related the story to many, but also commit it to writing.

He also said that he had beheld the patriarch Joseph, gray-haired in head and beard alike, yet in the old age of his prime still radiating splendor, and, at the very summit of virtue, calling himself the least of the saints.

"For immediately," he said, "when I began this way of life, someone was seen naked, having the appearance of an Ethiopian, emitting fire from his eyes."

"And seeing him, I was filled with fear, and turned to prayer, and could not bring myself to partake of food;"

"for he would appear at that very hour."

"But when seven, and eight, and ten days had passed, and I continued without food, at last, despising the wicked assault, I sat down and partook of food."

"But he, unable to bear this greatness of soul in me, threatened to strike me with a rod."

"'If you have been permitted by the Master of all things, strike, and I will gladly receive the blow, as being struck by Him.'"

"'But if you have not been permitted, you will not strike me, even should you rage ten thousand times over.'"

"Having heard these things, he fled at that time."

"But again he continued to rage in secret."

"For the water that was brought up to me from below twice a week — he would meet the one bringing it and, imitating my appearance, take it from him, and, bidding him depart, would pour out the water."

"And having done this not only twice but three times, he brought the affliction of thirst upon me."

"Greatly distressed, I asked the one who was accustomed to bring it:"

"'Why on earth, though fifteen days have passed, have you not brought water?'"

"But he said that he had already brought it three times, even four, and that I had received it."

"And where," said I, "did I receive this from you, when you brought it?" And when he had pointed out the place, I said, "Even should you see me arrive there ten thousand times, do not give me the vessel until you arrive at this place."

Thus, having foiled this plot of his as well, I was tempted again by another.

For crying out by night, he said, "I will fill you with such a stench, and spread such infamy about you, that no man anywhere will ever look upon you."

"But I," he said, "answered to this: 'I shall acknowledge my gratitude to you.'"

"for unwillingly you will benefit your enemy, causing him to delight the more in the remembrance of God."

"For with more leisure at my disposal, I shall have as my continual task the contemplation of divine beauty."

So when a few days had passed, at midday, while performing my accustomed service, I saw, he said, two women coming down from the mountain.

But I, vexed at the strange sight and attempting to pelt them with stones, remembered the threat of the accursed one, and supposed this to be the infamy he had threatened.

So I quickly cried out that even if they should perch upon my shoulders, I would not pelt them with stones, nor drive them off, but would resort only to prayer.

So I said these things, and they vanished, and together with my words the phantom vision was wholly dispelled.

After this, again, by night, I was praying, he said, and there came the clatter of a chariot, and the shout of a charioteer, and the neighing of horses;

and the strangeness of the thing disturbed me;

for I reasoned that neither was any governor then visiting the city, nor was the road one for carriages, nor was the hour suitable for carriages.

...making way for the leader to pass by.

And when they seemed to draw very near to me, I said, he said:

"Who are you? And whence do you come? And in need of what have you come at this hour? How long will you play games, wretch, and despise the divine long-suffering?" This I said, turned toward the east and offering my supplication to God.

He indeed pushed, but was not able to throw me down—for the divine grace withstood him—and at once all those things vanished.

He also said that, at the time of those accursed bandits, when setting out from Isauria they burned and plundered most of the East, he had greatly feared not slaughter—for he was not so fond of his body—but enslavement and captivity, and the sight of impiety and lawlessness.

And the devil, perceiving this fear—for he had often heard him disclosing it to his acquaintances—imitated by night the wailing of women.

"And I," he said, "seemed to hear that the enemy had come, and that they were setting fire to the villages."

At once, therefore, parting the hair of my head in two, and drawing some over my right shoulder and some over my left down to my breast, I made my neck ready for the stroke of the sword, so that, receiving a swift blow, I might be delivered from that dreadful sight.

Having thus spent that whole night, continually expecting their assault, when day came and some people arrived, I asked what they had heard concerning the Isaurians.

And they said that they had heard nothing in those days.

"And thus," he said, "I recognized that this too was a diabolical apparition." At another time, he said, appearing likened to a vigorous youth, radiant in beauty and adorned with golden hair, he approached, smiling and playing at once.

"But I," he said, "armed with wrath, drove him off with reviling."

But he persisted, casting a courtesan's glance, welling up pleasure both in his smile and in his voice.

Then, whetting my anger the more:

"How is it that you have the power," I said, "to roam over the whole world and bring such plots against everyone?" And he said that he was not alone, but that a multitude of demons was scattered throughout the whole world, at once playing and being in earnest about such things.

"For under the guise of what seems mere play, they are in earnest to destroy entirely the nature of mankind."

"But you, depart," I said, "at the command of Christ, who sent the whole legion through the swine into the deep." He heard, and at once fled, unable to bear the power of the Master's name, nor able to look upon the splendor of His servant's way of life. And though I know still more such tales than these, I am unwilling to write them down, lest their great number become for the weaker an occasion of unbelief.

For to those who behold the divine man, nothing so spoken appears incredible, since the virtue that is seen confirms what is told.

But since this written narrative will also pass on to those who shall come after us, and since to most people the ears are less to be trusted than the eyes, let us measure our narration to the weakness of those who will hear it.

For this man, then, others also built a very great shrine in the neighboring village, not many stades distant;

and I too prepared a tomb in the shrine of the victorious apostles.

But when the divine man learned of this, he earnestly entreated me, many times and often, to commit his body to burial on that mountain.

But I said many times that it was not fitting for one who had disregarded the present life to take forethought for his burial.

But when I saw that this lay close to his heart, I consented and agreed, and had the coffin cut and carried up.

But when I saw that the stone was being ruined by the frost, I ordered a small dwelling to be made for the coffin.

and having finished it, we put on the roof;

"I will not allow," he said, "this to be called the tomb of Jacob, but I wish it to become a shrine of the victorious martyrs, and that I, as a kind of sojourner, be laid in another tomb, having been deemed worthy to dwell beside them."

And this he not only said, but also did.

And having gathered from every quarter many prophets, many apostles, and above all a very great number of martyrs, he placed them in one coffin, wishing to dwell together with the company of the saints, and desiring to rise together with them and be deemed worthy of the divine vision.

This is sufficient to demonstrate the moderation of his disposition.

For he who had amassed so great a wealth of virtue, and who lived in extreme poverty, desired to dwell beside the company of the wealthy.

What, then, were the labors, and how great the contests, of that head so venerable to me; how much grace he enjoyed from God; how many victories he has won; and with what crowns he has been adorned—these things too suffice to teach.

But since some accuse him of a difficult temper, and are displeased at his love of solitude and stillness, having said a few things about this, I shall bring the narrative to a close.

He lies open to all, as I have already said, for observation, neither fenced in by any enclosure, nor covered by any hut or tent.

And each of those who arrive, hindered by no barrier, wishes, as soon as he comes, to converse with him at once.

But other lovers of this way of life have both enclosures and doors, and the enjoyment of stillness; and he who is shut in opens when he wishes, and delays as long as he wishes, and takes his fill of divine contemplation as much as he desires;

wherefore he is especially displeased with those who disturb him at the time of prayer.

If, when he bids them, they depart at once, he returns again to his prayer.

But if they persist in troubling him, and though he has admonished them once and twice, he fails to persuade them, then, being displeased, he rebukes them and sends them away.

I too have had discussion with him about this, and I said that some were vexed at being driven away without partaking of a blessing, and that it was fitting that those who arrive for this purpose, and who complete a journey of many days, should not return grieved, but filled with gladness, and should regale those unacquainted with him with accounts of your way of life.

"It is for no other reason," he said, "but for my own sake, that I have taken possession of this mountain."

"And being encompassed with very many wounds of sin, I have need of much treatment, and for this reason I beseech our Master to extend to me the remedies against wickedness."

"How then is it not absurd, and altogether foolish, to break the thread of one's supplication, and in the meantime to hold conversation with men? For if I happened to be the servant of a man of like nature, and at the time of service to my master, having left off bringing at the proper time either the food or the drink, I entered into conversation with one of my fellow servants, how many blows should I not justly receive? And if, having come before a ruler and relating some injustice I was suffering from someone, I broke off the discourse in the middle, and made some other remarks to one of those present, would it not seem to you that the judge would be displeased, and would deprive me of his aid, and add stripes besides, and drive me from the bar? How then is it holy that a servant should properly comport himself toward his master, and a suppliant toward a judge, but that I, coming before God, who is at once eternal Master and most righteous Judge and King of all, should not conduct my approach in like manner to these, but, in the midst of prayer, should turn aside to my fellow servants and hold a long conversation?" These things I both heard and conveyed to those who had been displeased.

And it seems to me that he has spoken both well and rightly.

...to disregard everything else, but to be wholly devoted to the one whom they love and cherish, and to dream of him by night, and to conjure his image by day.

These things we have set down in narrative form, not in the manner of a eulogy, taking great care for brevity, lest by their length we should weary our readers.

But if he should live on for some time after this narrative, he will doubtless add countless other achievements to those already mentioned, and these too others will record.

For our own longing to depart from this world is great.

May the Judge of the contests of the athletes of piety grant to him also an end of his contests worthy of them, and may He grant that the remainder of his race match what has gone before, so that he may reach the finish-line victorious;