ON SAINT NICETAS THE CONFESSOR,
HEGUMEN OF MEDICIUM IN BITHYNIA.
IN THE YEAR 824
PrefaceNicetas the Confessor, Hegumen of Medicium in Bithynia (Saint)
BY D. P.
[1] The monastery of Medicium was built in the eighth century of Christ, in the maritime part of Bithynia on the Propontis, not far from Prusa, a very well-known city, whose Bishop took up the body of Saint Nicetas to be buried in the said monastery. The first Hegumen and founder of this place was Saint Nicephorus, [The founder of the Medicium monastery, Saint Nicephorus, was succeeded by Saint Nicetas] who, having put off this mortal life about the year 810, on May 4, on which day his sacred memory is observed in the various calendars of the Greeks. Saint Nicetas succeeded him as Hegumen, nay, even under Nicephorus himself he governed the monastery—the illustrious Confessor for the orthodox faith and the defense of the sacred images, under the tyrannical Empire of Leo the Armenian. When he had been extinguished, under Michael the Stammerer, he flew to the reward of his labor on this April 3, on a Sunday, and thus in the year of Christ 824, a bissextile year, he died in the year 824. when with the Cycle of the Moon VIII and of the Sun XXI, the Sunday letters were C B, and the said day of April 3 fell on the fourth Sunday of Lent; and the solemnity of Easter was celebrated on April 24 of the same month.
[2] His Life was written by Theosterictus the monk, who at once in the Prologue asserts Life written by his disciple Theosterictus. that he had followed this Father from the beginning. And it appears that he wrote within the first five years from the Saint's death, under the reign of Michael the Stammerer, whose moderation he praises in number 48, nor does he anywhere make mention of the persecution against images renewed under his successor Theophilus; moreover, Michael Curopalates was still living at that time, who had ceded the empire to Leo the Armenian, as is gathered from number 32. This Life exists in Greek at Venice in the Library of Saint Mark, number 16, shelf 30, and at Florence in the Laurentian library, shelf 1, number 20; we had it copied from the excellent Vatican Codex number 1190 brought from Grottaferrata: into which Codex it had been transcribed from an older Codex of Constantinople of the great monastery of the Studites, written about the year of Christ 932, as is added at the end of the Life. Although we had this Life rendered into Latin by William Sirleto, afterwards Cardinal, and so printed at Aloysius Lipomanus and Laurence Surius; nevertheless, having the original Greek text at hand, rendered here anew into Latin from the Greek MS. and observing no slight errors in that first version, we have preferred to prepare a new translation. The title in the Greek codex is this: Ἐπιτάφιος εἰς τὸν ὅσιον πατέρα ἡμῶν καὶ ὁμολογητὴν Νικήταν, συγγραφεὶς ὑπὸ Θεοστηρίκτου Μαθητοῦ αὐτοῦ Μακαριωτάτου. "Funeral Oration on our holy Father and Confessor Nicetas, written by Theosterictus, the disciple of that most blessed one"; and although Simeon Metaphrastes, whether by his own writing or his collecting, did not touch these months, as Leo Allatius shows in his Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons, nevertheless this same Life is ascribed to him by Lipomanus and Surius. Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology calls it a "brilliant oration," and in the Annals cites various things from it, namely in the year 814, numbers 28 and 32; the year 815, number 4 and six following; and the year 821, number 49 and following: where he treats of the translation of the body; but it has already been shown that he himself died three years later.
[3] The Greeks honor this Saint with solemn veneration on April 3 in the Menology of the Emperor Basil, in the printed and manuscript Menaia, in the Anthology of Arcudius, and in the Lives of Saints published by Maximus of Cythera; and everywhere elogia are found drawn from the said oration of Theosterictus. Name in the Greek and Latin calendars on April 3, But the chief proof of his cult on this day is that the metrical Calendar names only this Saint, and the Canon of ecclesiastical hymnody is about him alone, set forth under this Acrostic:
Τὸν σὸν γεραίρω παμφαῆ βίον, Πάτερ,
which verse you may render letter for letter in Latin thus:
"Thy shining life, Father, I honor."
So great, moreover, was the fame of his sanctity, that it once penetrated into Egypt. Hence in the Arabo-Egyptian Martyrology, which is preserved at Rome in the College of the Maronites, on this April 3 is inscribed "The memory of Nicetas, Abbot of the monastery of Medicium, Confessor, who suffered many things for the images." Of the Latins, Molanus and Canisius speak of him, together with the Roman Martyrology, in which these words are read: "In the monastery of Medicium in the East, of Saint Nicetas the Abbot, who for the worship of the sacred images suffered under Leo the Armenian": where for "in the East" may be substituted "Bithynia," in which the said monastery was located, although he himself died on an estate across from the city of Constantinople, situated toward the North. Hence in the Constantinopolitan Church he was celebrated with the greatest solemnity, as the Odes and hymns of this day attest. Again, honorific mention of him is made in the printed Menaia and some MSS, as well as in Maximus of Cythera and Sirleto's Greek Menology, on May 4; when (as we judge) his body was translated from Constantinople to his own monastery in Bithynia and deposited there, and on May 4, which in the said year 824 would have occurred on the Wednesday after Low Sunday, or the Octave of Easter: and on May 4 itself this elogium is reported: "The memory of our holy Father Nicetas, with this elogium. Presbyter and Hegumen of the monastery of Mecidius: From desire for virginity and continence he lived on mountains; and when he was an outstanding cultivator of all the virtues, he was also brought up in cities, everywhere a seeker of quiet and striving with his whole mind toward the heavenly habitation. Moved by the divine word, he was made sacred steward, and faithful teacher of heavenly things; therefore he was appointed Priest over the sacred sheepfold of Christ. By the iconoclasts he was driven from his flock and afflicted with most severe exiles. But, as an unconquered athlete, he stood most constant in the faith; and as a strongly armed soldier, he despised and rejected all the deadly frauds and errors of the impious heretics and enemies of God. Whence he lighted double lamps, of pious confession for defending the faith and of religious exercise, and thence received double crowns from the hand of the Lord." Thus there. And as on this day the monastery is read everywhere as "Mecidius," and in Greek μονὴ τοῦ Μηκιδίου, everywhere on this third of April, with one letter transposed, it is called μονὴ τοῦ Μηδικίου, "monastery of Medicium." So also in Genebrard, in the Greek Kalendar, Nicetas is called "leader of the monastery of Medicia." At the Second Council of Nicaea in the year 787, Saint Nicephorus, the founder and first Abbot of this monastery, was present, who subscribed thus to the fourth Session: Νικηφόρος ἡγούμενος τοῦ ἁγίου Σεργίου τοῦ Μιδικιῶνος, as is constantly read in the editions of the Councils, namely the Roman published by authority of Paul V, the Cologne, and the Louvre. Nicephorus therefore was Hegumen of the monastery of Saint Sergius at Midicion or Medicium, which seems to have been arranged according to the constitutions of the Acoemetae (Sleepless Ones), on account of the continual psalmody which is indicated in number 13: of which Order Saint Alexander was the founder, whose Life we illustrated on January 15.
LIFE
By Theosterictus, monk and disciple. From the Vatican Greek MS.
Nicetas the Confessor, Hegumen of Medicium in Bithynia (Saint)
BY THEOSTERICTUS FROM THE GREEK MS.
FROM MSS.
PROLOGUE.
[1] There is set before us an argument of the greatest profit: the commemoration of our most holy Father Nicetas. There is set before us, The author was from the beginning conversant with Saint Nicetas, as it were, a sacred banquet furnished with dishes of all kinds, of spiritual foods, free from matter; by which not the sentient body, but rational souls may be refreshed and restored. By me, however, as by an unskilled caterer, it must today be prepared with unpolished discourses, before you, accustomed to be fed by his saving doctrine no less assiduously than eagerly. For it seemed to me also fit (to speak as an a Evangelist does) "who from the beginning myself followed the Father," as you know, O sacred b hearers, not indeed to write all things in order (for how could I?), but out of his many illustrious deeds to set down a few by way of narration, for the edification and benefit of those who are present, or who shall wish afterwards to read these things; lest his venerable deeds, fading with the lapse of time, be blotted out by deep oblivion. though to writing his Life, Indeed, although many among those before us have written the sayings and deeds and virtues of many Saints, they not only adorned them with words, but helped us also not a little by the very fact that by their example they induced us to do the same. For it is not fitting that the virtue of so great a man should be passed over in silence, as neither is it fitting for a lamp to be hidden under a bushel, but to be placed upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who walk in the house of this life, according to the precept of the Gospel; and that this light may shine before men, that they may glorify the Father who is in heaven, and who is glorified by good works. Mat. 5:16
[2] himself lacking virtue and learning It was indeed fitting that such an undertaking should be taken up by those whose life is upright and irreproachable, and whose discourse is elegant and becoming, suited to the life: for to him who has the first, the second also, as from a spiritual treasure, is usually ready at hand. But I think that even they would find it difficult enough to explain his virtue worthily (so great is it); nay rather, they could not attain it; much less I, to whom both are lacking—and neither uprightness of life is present, nor the faculty of oratorical composition, since I am altogether unskilled in secular disciplines. Nevertheless, the love of our most holy Father calls me to dare, he fears to approach; in that perchance I also from such a narration may receive some spiritual benefit: for even those who prepare ointments, although they have not their nature, yet receive much of the fragrance themselves, and give themselves to others, to be recognized by the sense of smell from the odor. But again fear opposes itself and deters me, holding up my own unworthiness before me; lest perhaps, while I desire to adorn the man with words, I do him injury, and provoke his wrath against me—which is by no means to my advantage, and which I pray may not happen. This therefore urges me to keep silence, as being empty of all fear of danger, and such that no repentance will follow it, as often one repents of having spoken.
[3] Thus doubting and as it were placed on a balance, yet hoping for his aid, love prevails, lifting the scale of fear, and promises that Christ, the giver of right speech, will be at hand for aid, and suggests the clemency of the Saint himself. For even while he yet lived among us, he was moderate, and knew how to pardon our errors; and this, I know, his blessedness will now do most of all: for grateful to fathers, as some say, is the very stammering of children, and what is done according to one's strength pleases God. I shall warn, however, that no one suspect me of writing anything false or composed to flatter: he undertakes to speak the naked truth. for incredulity is wont to corrupt usefulness. For what gain should I obtain from false speaking—commending others, but making myself liable to the sentence which, against all who speak a lie, the Holy Spirit pronounced through the mouth of David the Prophet? Ps. 5:7 Assuredly these are not fables that we speak, as perhaps they may appear to the Gentiles. But now enough of these things: I shall begin, with God Himself, the author of every beginning, before my eyes.
NOTES.
CHAPTER I.
The origin, studies, and monastic life of Saint Nicetas.
[4] Whence, then, shall I draw my beginning? Shall I speak of the man's family and fatherland or a nurse? But what does it matter to have the discourse occupied with such things? "The city of the Saints," says Scripture, "is the city of God, whose builder is the very Creator of all things, and her fatherland the Jerusalem which is above, the mother of Paul and his companions," as the great Basil says. Heb. 12:22 If, however, anyone also desires to know the one he had on earth, it was Caesarea b of Bithynia. This brought him forth into this mortal life; this nourished him; this, enjoying the virtues of his early boyhood, Born at Caesarea in Bithynia made him known to all. If you ask the names of his parents, the mother's I cannot at all tell; as to his father, since our divine Father was a lover of virtue, he had a parent Philaretus, whose name fitly corresponded. For this man was very devout and religious, and finally was counted worthy of the monastic profession itself; inasmuch as he had lost the mother of the Saint, joined to himself in lawful marriage, on the eighth day after the child's birth, God, who had formed her, receiving her back. and piously brought up,
[5] Brought up therefore by his paternal grandmother, when he had come to boyhood, his father handed him over to be instructed in the usual disciplines of boys; and in a short space of time he had learned all, including the Psalter itself (for he was a lover of learning and of labor); and having him tonsured, the father committed him in church, like Anna Samuel, to the Lord, that in the meantime he should hold the rank of sacristan. And he exercised himself with all reverence and spiritual prudence, so that all marveled at his manner of life, conjoined with virtue and maturity. For who ever saw him occupied with childish games, he becomes a sacristan of the church: or, as is the custom of boys, dancing, running, rolling, shouting in them? Who saw him sitting beside the dances either of men or of women, or approaching them at all? Or listening to obscene words? Who could find him, even for a little while, among the drinking parties of those who waste time on wine, and fleeing every levity, to which tragedies, tumult, and nonsense are wont to be mingled? Sitting at home, and holding in his hands any book that came to hand first, he read diligently and made progress, as the Gospel says, "in wisdom and age and grace": nor was he ever absent from the sacred assemblies, but drew in the divine letters with the sense of his heart, listening. And now indeed he heard how God said to Abraham, "Go forth from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house"; at another time this of the Prophet Isaiah: and intent on sacred reading, "Depart, depart, go out from thence, do not touch the unclean, says the Lord, and I will receive you." Luke 2:52 Likewise the words of the Lord saying: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me"; and again, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me"; and again, "If anyone comes to me, and does not renounce all that he possesses, and even his own soul besides, he cannot be my disciple." Gen. 12:1; Isa. 52:11; Mat. 10:37; Luke 9:23 and 14:33
[6] Hearing these and like things, he was not scattering the seed by the wayside—that is, on the surface of the heart, he advances excellently. where it could be trodden down or taken away and eaten by the birds of the air, that is, by iniquitous spirits; nor upon rocky places, that is, on a dry and insensible heart, where in the time of heat or temptation, having no root, it would wither; nor among the thorns of secular cares, by which, choked, it would not bear fruit; but in the good and fat soil of the heart, where it would bring forth fruit to God, one indeed thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred: first indeed by his honest manner of life in the world, second by the irreproachable observance of the ascetic and solitary life, third by the excellent confession of the faith amid frequent persecutions, of which we shall treat hereafter; but now we must return to what is at hand.
[7] When therefore he had heard the divine words which we mentioned above, what did he do? and having left all Or what counsel did he take? c He considered with himself, and the good figure he reshaped into better, and, passing from virtue to virtue, and preferring better things to baser, considered how he might most holily serve God. And taught by reason as a mistress that in the celibate life, apart from tumult, he could truly purge the senses, and, pure with the pure God, converse with Him, he was eager to tear himself away from the world and to join himself more familiarly to God: he joins a certain anchorite. and bidding farewell to all—father, friends, kindred, companions, fellows of his age, and the rest who in any way belonged to him—he flew forth from the land that nourished him; and setting out toward the torrent which is to the south of the city, he betook himself to a certain elder living there, named Stephen; becoming the companion of his labors and contests, and receiving from him the rule of the solitary life.
[8] By whom he is directed to the monastery But when the elder had approved his diligent and eager zeal, he persuaded him to go off to a monastery, because that is more useful, especially for the younger, and affords more continual exercise to those wishing to strive to the summit of virtues. The Saint obeyed this excellent counsel, and commending himself to the prayers of the elder, set out on the road toward the sea; divine prudence thus acting, which wished through him to claim for itself a holy people, a follower of good works. And he came to this monastery of Medicium, still thinly populated, and placed under the rule of our most holy Father Nicephorus, who had founded it. and received by Saint Nicephorus, When he had asked to be received by him, the most discreet Shepherd, seeing and knowing from his habit and bearing that he would be useful to himself, gladly received him, and inserted him into his own flock. Which having been done, the Blessed one gave himself wholly to putting the divine precepts into practice; and reckoning as nothing all the advantages and pleasures of this fleeting and temporal life, by true and sincere denial of himself he crucified himself to the world and the world to himself; and he lived
not for himself, but for Christ and the Superior, perfectly extinguishing every bodily affection by spiritual desire of things above.
[9] Moreover, his absence from home was unchanging: for from the moment he once departed from his fatherland, he excels in all virtues, he never saw it again until he passed over to the Lord. His obedience, without feigning and curiosity, had torn up all the fibers of malice or obstinacy. His constant meditation was the consideration of death. He so subjected this domineering flesh that he seemed to himself shameless when he asked even what was necessary for living, however sparingly, to be supplied to him. He practiced temperance, not only by abstaining from foods, but also by estranging his soul from every bodily affection, as the Apostle commands, saying: "He who strives in the contest abstains from all things." 1 Cor. 9:25 His continence and chastity were so great that this corruptible body seemed to have put on incorruption, and that in material flesh he led a life apart from the flesh, conversing angelically. far from vices. There was in him no passion of anger or indignation, nor remembrance of evils done against him; no species of hatred, detraction, or rash judgment; no mention of loquacity, frivolity, or idle talk: but all his activity was meditation on the divine words and unwearied prayer. What trace was there in him anywhere of boasting, pride, or vain display before men? He had the gift of submission in such abundance that he always believed all men to be more excellent than himself; not only being subject to the Superiors, but behaving humbly and obediently even toward the lowliest. What now shall I say of his unchanging charity toward God and neighbor? Was there to be found in him any sign of self-complacency or self-love, or of flattery or simulation? What elegance could there be in him of superfluous clothing, when he held his own body so neglectfully that he took no other care of it at all, than to present it chaste and pure to God, and to do all things with simplicity of character and innocence of heart without strife? Whatever, moreover, was said to him by the Superior, receiving it as if proceeding from God himself, he fulfilled without care and without delay, with all fidelity and integrity, making no distinction among commands.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
The governance of the monastery is imposed on Nicetas; Athanasius is given to him as assistant; he exhorts his monks.
[10] The Superior, seeing him so diligent and ready for all things, ordained Priest although he had not yet completed his seventh year in the monastery, judged that he should be promoted to the rank of the Priesthood. To this he was ordained by the hands of that great a Tarasius, who adorned the Patriarchal throne of the city of Constantinople with many virtues; and soon the administration of the monastery, though he was unwilling, was committed to him by Saint Nicephorus. And he himself bore being entrusted with it most grievously; but because he had learned to withstand the Superior in no matter, he is placed over the monastery not even here did he know how to contradict; but, willing or unwilling, he took up the burden laid upon him, and so bore it that he also eagerly strove to increase the number of the flock. And indeed he increased it not moderately: for as his fame ran in every direction, very many came to him, renouncing the world. Thus within a few years, which he greatly increases. up to the number of a hundred were gathered to the Brotherhood; whom by the grace of Christ, like a wise helmsman, he preserved by directing them to the harbor of salvation, watching over them like a most approved shepherd.
[11] Moreover, such as in virtue our most holy Father Nicetas was, such also the Lord of all took care to make subordinate to him who should hold the second place under himself: Athanasius, I say, Athanasius, of great worldly promise, a reverend and admirable man, whose virtue it is not possible to set forth in passing, and whose love toward God, which he manifested from the very beginning immediately upon renouncing the world, the Angels themselves, I think, have marveled at. For since he was most dear to his father, and thoroughly trained in letters and received into the b Logothesion as a scribe of public papers, his parent thought through his son to obtain for himself no ordinary honors in the world. But when he learned that the young man, despising everything, had hidden himself in one of the cenobies, called c "of the Symbols"—by force he drew him back from there to himself, and, the monastic habit cast off, he clothed him, even unwilling, in costly garments. Then he said to his father: "Do you think, father, forcibly dragged from the monastery by his father, that I am to be hindered by silken garments from following the purpose of my mind? The whole world is of no account to me: for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?" The father, however, shutting him up, thought he could be drawn away from his excellent resolve. But the intrepid youth, taking on a greater courage there, tore the silken garments to pieces; and when he was clothed in others at his father's command, he did the same to these. Whence the angry parent beat his son so mercilessly that his back festered from the intolerable blows, and required the care of physicians. and at last released, But when he kept saying that it could not be that he should be moved from his resolve, however much his father should cut him to pieces limb by limb, the parent, pricked in soul and bathed in tears, said: "Go, son, and follow the good way which you have chosen, with Christ as your guide, who may deliver you from all the snares of the devil."
[12] In this manner the illustrious youth returned to the monastery which I named above, undertaking in the same vigorously the monastic contests. He so humbled himself that he allowed nothing to be brought to him of the things that are held in regard in the world. Most of you yourselves, he is summoned to be an associate in governance, having known the man by experience, can confirm what I say from his most common garments, the most abject of which no one ever wore, though he was born of a family noble in secular terms, as I have said. When such a man as he was had been invited to this our cenoby by our holy Fathers, and persuaded by the famous Nicephorus to be joined as second to our most holy Father Nicetas, both together were "one heart and one soul" in different bodies, holding all things in a tranquil state; and they themselves, directed by Saint Nicephorus, governed the whole brotherhood; and in both, both among themselves and with their Superior, they were bound by indissoluble charity, and is set over temporal affairs. so that no strife ever arose among them, no dispute. They were true shepherds and physicians skilled in spiritual illnesses, caring for the flock with all solicitude and caution; the one cutting, for he was by nature more apt for this; the other soothing the wound with honeyed words, healed the incision, being of a milder disposition; and again, the one took care of what pertains to the body, the other chiefly attended to spiritual things; yet so that each busied himself with both.
[13] Thus, like most expert and skilled physicians, with all diligence, as we have said, they fed the rational sheep of Christ, and healed whatever was hard and raw in them, under these physicians of souls softening it by correction and shame; but what was sluggish and crawling on the ground, or cast down by the heavy heat of temptation, they supported and raised up with the staff of discretion and compassion, and as it were roused from sleep with the pipe of their words; and finally, that which had fallen and was crushed, they bound up with the fear of divine judgment: and again if any, relaxed by acedia, grew numb in sluggishness or sadness, they stirred them up with untiring teaching; and they took even greater care of those proceeding and advancing more quickly, lest the serpent of self-esteem invade any of them by its snares. But to speak simply and briefly, with monastic discipline flourishing they guarded the entire flock, with all zeal and special accuracy, watching over it, and keeping spiritual wolves from tearing the sheep; not as hirelings, but as best shepherds, chosen by Christ the Prince of Shepherds. And they so instructed the whole brotherhood and kept them in mutual charity that what is said was fulfilled in them: "By this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another"; and this far from all presumption. John 13:35 Vaniloquence and scurrility were not even named among them; but occupied in the meditation of the divine words, each so fulfilled the ministry enjoined on him as to recite the whole Psalter daily, not even an idle word is heard in the cenoby; and this being completed, they exercised themselves in turn in the rest of the sequence of psalmody; and therefore no one was idle, nor did anyone ever cease from divine praise; and if any vain word crept upon someone, some other would turn him from it by opportune admonition. There were also certain Brethren secretly appointed, who should report to the Fathers the words and deeds of each, so that not even when the Superiors were absent would anyone dare to utter an idle word, the fear of reproof holding him back.
[14] The Liturgy is performed with great reverence, When the divine mysteries were being performed, our great Father Nicetas stood at the sacred table as if attending the throne of God Himself, offering and completing the sacrifice. But Saint Athanasius stood by with mind intent on the matter, holding the liturgical d fan (for he was a Deacon); but afterwards, when he also had been made a e Priest, bathing his cheeks and neck with tears, he himself too completed the holy liturgy with fear and trembling. And when they had so purely and irreproachably operated in the undefiled and immortal mysteries, they sanctified the entire f people by the communion of the same, and dismissed them in peace.
[15] Saint Nicetas impresses on his monks Gathering them more frequently in the church, our most holy Father taught them, instructed them, and exhorted them, saying: "Brothers, whom grace has joined together, let us assiduously think for what we have come together. While we have time, let us strive strenuously, and not relax our soul through sluggishness. While the fair lasts, let us be eager to multiply the gains of the soul; for when these are ended, it will no longer be possible to do business. 'In death,' says David, 'there is none who remembers you; and in hell who shall confess to you?' Ps. 6:6 assiduous diligence, Let us consider what great punishments are prepared for those who sin heedlessly and do not repent. Here the judge is patient and has mercy; there he punishes. Here he pardons seventy times seven; there he sends into the outer darkness. Wherefore let us labor diligently here and there, indulging nothing to acedia. Let us run fervently: for there is need of running, penitence, and indeed of vigorous running, that we may attain at least the mediocrity of perfection. Let us be sober and watch, for at an hour when we do not think our Lord comes. Let us despise the world, and
all that is in the world. Let us pursue with hatred the flesh and its prudence, which is enmity with God. Let us flee its pleasures, let us turn ourselves away from its desires, let us abhor its delights, that our enemies may not rejoice over us. continence, Let us embrace temperance, through which purity of soul is perfected, and the assaults of adversaries are repelled. Let us acquire humility, which leads to the heavens; let us hold confession, the shortest road to obtaining salvation; let us learn obedience, which brings forth the victory over passions. Whatever adversities befall us, let us receive with patience, patience, as our own, not as foreign to us: 'for the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us,' as the Apostle says. Rom. 8:18 Let us strive to enter through unity of faith: let us not prefer present things to future; let us admire nothing among corruptible things, nor prefer passing things to permanent ones; let us seek the things above, let us care for things above, where Christ is. Shamefulness and foolish talking, by which the Holy Spirit is grieved, let be far from us: because even of an idle word we shall give an account on the day of judgment. mortification, Let us mortify our members which are on the earth: let us strive to present them to God a living victim, holy, well-pleasing; let us care for nothing but the salvation of our soul. Let us put on the armor of the spirit, that we may be able to stand against the snares of the devil; for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against our invisible enemies. Let us serve with fear Him who chooses us; let us give thanks to God, prayer, who has called us to eternal life; let us keep His precepts. Narrow and straight is the way which leads to life: let us strive to enter by it, as far as our strength shall bear. Let us persist in prayer and supplication. Let us put off the old man with his acts and lusts, that we may put on the new, who has been created according to God in sanctity and justice. imitation of the saints. Let us be subject to one another in the fear of God. Let us possess chastity and continence and purity of mind, that we may be made fellow-dwellers with the Angels. 'Then,' says the Lord, 'shall the just shine as the sun': but how great would be our confusion to see them shining like the sun, because they did the works of light, while we ourselves are covered with darkness and gloom, because we have practiced the works of night? Matt. 13:43 For the greatest torment indeed this confusion alone would suffice for us. Wherefore I exhort that we strive to become imitators of their works, that with them we may be found in that blessed rest, whence sorrow, grief, and sighing have fled: but let us take up love toward all, and peace and sanctification, without which no one shall see God. Let us cast all our care upon God, since He has a care for us." These things, therefore, and many other things, both from the divine Scriptures and from his own teaching and commanding us, the Blessed one dismissed us in peace, saying: "Go, Brethren. God is good, that He may also give us a word of wisdom to the opening of our mouth, with which we may suggest to you things profitable; and that He may stir you up to fulfill His commandments."
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
Other virtues and miracles of Saint Nicetas. The death of Athanasius and of Saint Nicephorus the Hegumen.
[16] And these were his teachings, in manifold ways looking to the spiritual profit of all. Moreover he privately instructs individuals, But what he said to each one privately when called into his holy cell are innumerable and unspeakable things; since often he would spend whole nights awake, instructing each Brother to salvation, taking pity on all, ministering to all, compassionating with all, made all things to all, according to Blessed Paul, that he might gain all. 1 Cor. 9:22 Who ever beaten by the spirit of fornication, and having confessed it to him with faith and contrition, was not immediately freed from such a demon? Who, tempted with sadness, sluggishness, or acedia, which are wont to darken the mind, and coming to him, did not at once recover alertness and spirits? Who, pressed by any other passion whatsoever, and manifesting himself to him, did not immediately receive the healing of the disease? But his small body was so worn down by continual vigils and fastings that, from excessive weakness, he could scarcely speak. and leading a most austere life, For no one pursued abstinence like our Father Nicetas, who did not even take the necessities, bread and water, to satiety; for concerning wine and the variety of other foods it would be superfluous to mention. No one reached such bodily cleanness and chastity as he; no one cultivated meekness and humility as he did; no one was so discreet and compassionate. Finally, indefatigably pursuing all the Lord's beatitudes, he was made poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven; mourning and laboring with those laboring in body or soul, for the consolation of the Paraclete; gentle and humble toward all, for the inheritance of the meek; he comprehends in himself all eight beatitudes, hungering and thirsting insatiably for justice; merciful and so great a lover of the poor that what he had was by no means enough for him to distribute cheerfully; pure in heart, wherefore also he deserved to see God and to dwell with Him; peaceful and fleeing strife, that he might be called a son of God; suffering persecution also for justice' sake, enduring injuries and hearing evil words for Christ from heterodox falsifiers, wherefore also rejoicing he received abundant reward in heaven.
[17] In these things, as our Father Nicetas was living, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, he was held worthy of divine gifts, and received from God virtue and power against unclean spirits to cast them out: and this indeed deservedly: for "whoever shall glorify me, I shall glorify him," says the Lord, etc. 1 Kings 2:30 What I am about to say, I myself did not experience, he gives speech to a mute boy, but after his death a certain Brother told me, saying thus: "When the doorkeeper of the monastery was occupied, I know not in what matter, the Superior ordered me to take his place. But when I was there, a certain man from that region came to the gate with a boy, quite young, who was mute from birth. And he asked me, moved by great faith, to take the boy in and bring him to the Saint, to pray over him. When I indicated this to the Father, and he dismissed me with a mild rebuke, and on the contrary I insisted that he should satisfy the man asking out of faith, he ordered the boy to be brought in to him. Receiving him and praying over him, he signed him with the sign of the Cross; and him who had never spoken, he sent back to his father speaking correctly. But he, astounded, and giving many thanks to God and the Saint, returned home with the boy." But now I must not keep silent about that of which I myself am witness.
[18] he restores a madman to sound mind: There was in the monastery, of the simpler and more innocent Brothers, one most dear to all the Fathers on account of his singular integrity of manners; whom the devil, the author of all evil, envying, made mad and insane by the worst art he has. The Saint, seeing him thus afflicted and suffering, was grieved; and having ordered us to fast until evening, after the sacred synaxis and the divine liturgy were finished, he received the Brother into the a Diaconicon; where, making prayer over him, he anointed him with sacred oil, and thus restored him to his former state, sound in mind through the grace of God; and thenceforth, through the prayers of the Saint, he was free from all harm, the working of unclean spirits having been driven from him, and he felt no more trouble.
[19] a demoniac, first the demon repressed: One of the novices had an unclean spirit, but a hidden one, in no way betraying itself outwardly; for the demon was eager to hide, fearing the presence of the holy man. But when the time had come for him, after the instruction of the great Nicetas and through the imposition of his holy hands, to receive the sacred habit, the crafty one, wishing to forestall it, began to disturb the Brother the next night, offering through
sleep visions, terrifying and agitating him. But the Brother, feeling himself vexed and possessed by a demon, rose in the middle of the night to take refuge with the Saint. But when he had come near the cell in which Nicetas was residing, he saw a huge serpent creeping before the door of the little hut and blocking the entrance: for into this form, as he often is wont, the demon had turned himself, to hold him back and hinder him from approaching the one by whom he knew himself to be about to be expelled. The Brother nonetheless, trusting in the merits of the Saint and spurning the devil, leaped into the cell of the man of God, and disclosed to him the assault of the impure enemy. Therefore the Saint, signing him, prayed for him; then, wholly cast out, he frees him. and bidding him not to fear such a demon, ordered him to return to the bed in which he was accustomed to sleep. Then for a few days the devil again withdrew and hid himself, as being unable to bear the ardor put into him by the grace of the holy man. But again he began to molest the Brother, sending him intolerable pain of the heart; and at last he brought him to this, that he lay deprived of speech and motion, except that his entrails seemed to seethe and writhe, or, as we judged, to be torn to pieces. But the Saint, coming upon him, and after pouring out prayers, fortifying the youth with the saving sign of the Cross, at that very hour cast out the demon, so cruelly raging; and made the youth rise up sound. Afterwards this Brother remained sound, and was never again subject to such vexation.
[20] And another (who also had recently come to the monastery) was likewise secretly carrying about an unclean and hidden spirit; likewise another. and when he had been with us a few days, it appeared that he also was possessed by a demon and grievously tormented. So the Saint, coming to him in like manner and praying, expelled the devil from him; and with Christ's grace cooperating, he restored him to entire soundness; but after the healing he said that he had seen the man of God cast the demon from him with a rod. Nevertheless, having become ungrateful for the grace received, and thus unworthy, before he was tonsured, he departed secretly; nor do we know what afterwards happened to him. But also many other and various infirmities—the heats of fevers, the sufferings of the head and various limbs—the blessed man cured, through the grace divinely granted to him.
[21] Moreover, that our Father Nicetas was also an outstanding physician of spiritual illnesses, how he healed those who had fallen, no one, I think, will deny; for from the very movement and bearing he knew if anyone was tormented by his own thoughts and passions. And if anyone had happened to fall (for it belongs to the Angels never to sin), that also his sadness and change of countenance showed; wherefore, calling him apart to his own cell, by the efficacy of his divine teaching and exhortation, he persuaded him to confess everything. But seeing him very contrite and humbled, he did not chastise as he deserved, but quite moderately, so confirming his love toward himself, lest he be absorbed with excessive sorrow. In which matter he showed himself an imitator of the venerable Paul, who is read to have acted in a similar manner with those who had sinned at Corinth. 2 Cor. 2:9
[22] These are the reverend Father's outstanding works; these the blessed man's illustrious deeds; full of charity these the noble soldier's toilsome contests; these the invincible champion's prizes after victory. Who ever could be sated with his saving teaching? Whom could satiety of his most sweet conversation take? Gentle to all, lovable to all, cheerful to all; ever affable, ever ready to listen, ready to impart; all charity, all discretion, all meekness, all full of all virtues. Finally his whole life and his very look brought the greatest benefit and edification to all: whence he also seemed to have ascended to the highest peak of freedom from passion, all the senses being thoroughly purified; illuminated on every side, splendid on every side; pleasant in countenance, and free from every passion. in bearing, in manners; and with the Most Holy Trinity always illuminating him, surrounded with divine light on every side.
[23] Athanasius the Steward dies piously. The great Athanasius, moreover, our faithful and prudent steward, after he had for many years most excellently administered the temporal affairs of the monastery, had endured many contests with the holy Father Nicetas, and had performed very many excellent deeds in the cenoby, incurred an infirmity of which he also died. And when at his last breath, standing around his bed, we prayed him to remember us before Him to whom he was being taken, namely God, at the last he said: "You shall wholly know whether I have any influence with Him, and shall enjoy the good diligently sought." Having said these things, decently extending his feet, he gave up the spirit into the hands of the Lord, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of October; b Taking care of his burial, and he is placed in his own tomb. we deposited him in his own tomb, as is our custom (for neither, as in other monasteries, is there among us one common monument for all the dead, but we assign to each a suitable place, and there make his monument), and heaped up the earth, according to what is said, "You are dust, and to dust shall you return." Gen. 3:19 There, then, we laid the relics of that blessed man. But that his monument might not be obscure, but might be manifest to all, the God of all caused a cypress shoot to grow up out of the venerable man's breast over him; whence it comes about that many, coming with great faith, embrace that plant, and taking leaves from it, carry them away with them as a remedy for diseases.
[24] Saint Nicephorus also dies, But our Father Nicetas, not a little afflicted by such a separation, afterwards labored under a doubled burden, keeping watch for the benefit of the Brethren. Then, not long after, also died the common Father of all, Nicephorus, who, consecrating all his possessions to God, had founded this monastery, with divine grace cooperating; whom God and men had honored and loved for his remarkable moderation of soul. And he also attained the end of life, on c the fourth day of May: whose festival, that it might be solemnly celebrated every year, our holy Father Nicetas, his own disciple, whom Nicetas was commanded to succeed sanctioned by decree. And we all asked him to receive both the name and the consecration of Hegumen: for as long as Nicephorus had been alive, he had refused to receive it. But he was in anguish, grieved, prayed that we would spare him and not force him to take such a name: "But to another," he said, "to whomsoever you wish, confer the dignity of that name; and I shall, as I have done hitherto, with God's favor sustain the care of the people; only this I ask, that you cease from using force." But we replied and though much resisting, that it could not be that we should indulge him in this matter; for if, while the common Father of all was still living, he had been our guide and teacher in life, now, after he has died, it was much more fitting that he should succeed in his place in word and work, in fact and in name. But he said: "Grievous indeed is the command, Brothers, to whose fulfillment you compel me; yet the will of God be done." O the immense humility of our most holy Father! What befalls some others not without much bribery, nor without sedition and fighting, was freely offered to him on account of the supreme humility of his soul; nor merely offered, he is consecrated by Patriarch Nicephorus. but with some force he had to be compelled both by us and by his friends and the other Fathers, as I have said, to accept the ordination and appellation of Hegumen: but this was conferred on him by the imposition of hands by Saint Nicephorus, d who at that time held the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople.
NOTES.
CHAPTER IV.
The rise and spread of the iconoclast heresy is described, up to the times of Empress Irene.
[25] We were still at Byzantium, when there began to be whispered those impious and God-execrated dogmas against the use of the venerable images. With the devil acting, Adam first sinned, For the devil, the author of all evil from the beginning, who, lifted up with immoderate pride and affecting equality of sublimity with God, said, "I shall set my throne upon the clouds, I shall be like the Most High," was therefore cast down; thence beginning to contrive snares for the human race, first he brought himself into paradise, and there, by the bait of divinity held out, deceiving the protoplast, made him the transgressor of the divine precept and an exile from paradise. Then idolatry prevailed, Then, as the multitude of men grew, he introduced idolatry, and subjected them to his tyranny, and persuaded them to worship the creature in place of the Creator. When these were redeemed by the incarnation of the divine Word, and idolatry was utterly rooted out through the holy Apostles and Martyrs and other divine and sacred Fathers, the successors of the disciples of Christ, afterwards heresies sprouted up, the perfidious ambusher could not rest, but devised various heresies, through which he stirred up the most grievous dissensions and multiplied enormous scandals.
[26] Again, seeing these very things removed from the midst both through the holy Synods and through the insistence of the holy Fathers, who vigorously opposed them in every age, as they individually arose—what did he do? Did he cease and desist? By no means; but again he devised another heresy, and most recently against the sacred images, the newest and the first, which was, as it were, a compendium of all the preceding, and very nearly overturned the whole faith of our Savior Jesus Christ. For if the honor given to the image, as the great Basil says, is transferred to its prototype, it is entirely necessary that, conversely, when the image is dishonored, this also is dishonored. I shall say this, moreover, more plainly by a sensible comparison. Suppose me a royal image set up in some place (for it was once customary to erect statues to Kings), but two passing by—of whom one, seeing it, on account of his great affection toward the King, in which Christ was honored: running up embraces and kisses it; but the other, rebuking this, spits upon it; and snatching up mud with both hands, besmears and defiles it: say, I beg you, which of them the Emperor will approve, hearing of the deed? Will he not honor the first with dignities and bounties, and afflict the other with punishments? And if one who dishonors the image of an earthly king does not remain unpunished, with what punishment shall he be worthily struck, who has inflicted insult upon the image of the Son of God, incarnate for us, and made like to us in all things except sin?
[27] since the worship of these is referred to the prototype. But I hear certain men making an outcry, saying: "The ruder sort consider them to be something divine: therefore it is not expedient to make an image of Christ." O madness! See lest you wish to darken the very sun, whoever you are who speak thus, on account of the weak eyes of some. Hear a completely different way of adoring, as we understand it. Sound sense distinguishes it; and one indeed, according to latria, we have learned is to be given to the first divine essence alone; but another we use, which is relative, and, as the great Dionysius says, anagogical;
which we see to be varied in respect of ourselves, according to the variety of sensible signs through which, religiously and proportionally to our capacity, we are brought to an intellectual union with God. For intellectual natures, as is fitting, behold God and the divine powers in His essence; but we, through sensible images, so far as is possible to us, are led to the contemplation of divine things. But if you are so blinded in mind that you stumble at what has just been said, and will not be corrected, in vain shall you repent in the hour of your departure.
[28] There are also some who make little of this heresy and count it for nothing, and therefore are easily captured, and consent to it; Its author was Leo the Isaurian, others do not even think it a heresy, but a contention of opinions. But I judge it to be even most grievous, and with me, I think, whoever thinks rightly: inasmuch as it subverts the whole economy of Christ. But consider with me also this, that other heresies have had their origin from Bishops and lower Presbyters, but this has proceeded from the Emperors themselves (and you know what a difference there is between Kings and Priests); and those grew by teaching and by contradiction and gradually prevailed, but this was from the beginning most powerful by the Imperial power. For Leo the Isaurian, invading the tyranny against Theodosius a the younger, seized the Roman Empire, and being raised up thereby, did not give glory to God (for through Him, as it is said in the Proverbs, "Kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things"), but lifted up the horn on high, speaking wickedness against God; and set his mouth in heaven, and his tongue went through the earth; and he began to eliminate from the churches the pictures of sacred history, handed down to us from the holy Apostles; saying that Christ should not be painted, with Saint Germanus the Patriarch driven out, nor adored in His image. Prov. 8:15
[29] While these things were going on, the great b Pontiff departed from his throne, and the venerable swallow fled from the nest, which adorned the spring-tranquillity of the Church with sweet-sounding chatter, gracing the Lord's festivals: and in his place was brought in an ugly raven, gaping and croaking out of tune, with the Church lying prostrate and groaning sadly, that she was bereft of so great and so divine a Prelate. There was, moreover, in all the sacred buildings no little confusion, as the madness of the impious ran everywhere, and, like a pestilence, seized everything, the propagator Constantine Copronymus. since there is nothing it does not dare, when supported by power. There followed as heir both of the empire and of the perversity the son c Constantine, a worse shoot of a bad root, from a poisonous serpent a death-bringing dragon, from a most savage lion a shifty leopard, who in manifold ways surpassed his father's malice. For he was not content with the mere injury of the sacred images, but also, as far as in him lay, dishonoring the holy Martyrs, he forbade them to be named Saints, and ordered that it should be said, "At the Apostles," "At the d Forty," "At Theodore," "At George," and other such things; but their Relics he altogether despised who also tried to abolish the worship of the Mother of God, and held for nothing. And, to sum up in a word, he was a Christian in appearance, in soul for the most part a Jew. For Her whom Christ chose for Himself as His own house, His most glorious mother, I say, more sublime than all created things, advocate of the world, mediatrix of human salvation, and closest to God on account of the beauty of virginity—her venerable name also he strove in many ways to abolish in the Church; and her intercessions, through which the world subsists, he would not even suffer to be named, saying that she could assist no one. He even tried to confirm that saying of his by a simile: for taking in his hands one day a purse full of gold, and showing it to those present, he would ask of what price it was. And when they said, "Of great price," pouring out the gold he would again ask, "Of what price now?" And when they answered that it was of no value, the wretch added: "So also the God-bearer (for he did not deign to say 'Saint'), when she had Christ within her, was precious; but after she bore Him, she was in no way different from the rest." O the blasphemous folly! O the ineffable toleration and longsuffering of God! How did He not crush that mouth which spoke injustice against the mother of Christ in pride and in insult. How did this new, arrogant, and God-hated Pharisee differ from the blasphemous Jews?
[30] Those who pursued the monastic life, as we do, that he might signify that they are not even to be thought of, he called Ἀμνημονεύτους, and to extinguish the monastic Order that is, "Given over to Oblivion." But all who did not acquiesce in his wicked counsels, some were indeed punished with exile, some died in prison, others were taken away by the sword, others beaten to death with cudgels, so that their entrails were scattered through the streets—as Stephen the younger, the Martyr of Christ, e will be my witness, one who in name and in manners recalls the Protomartyr. Besides these, some of them were drowned in sea-waves, others fled through fear of torments, and lived on mountains and in caverns of the earth, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, and, distressed and afflicted, persevered in the purpose of piety; others, terrified by punishments and distrusting the weakness of their flesh, crossed into foreign lands, and there consummated in conscience the martyrdom. Nor were there lacking some who either succumbed to the terror of punishments, the man himself most filthy, or were enticed by flatteries, or regarded the glory of men rather than of God, or even gave themselves over to the pleasures of the flesh: for many of them were compelled to marry wives; and what had been schools of souls, woe is me, became gymnasiums of fornication. f For the whole aim and zeal of the tyrant, from the time he began his reign, was to utterly extirpate the monastic Order. And the most foul man took so much delight in stench and filth that he even smeared himself with the dung of beasts, and exhorted those who were with him to do the same; and he especially cherished those whom he saw taking more delight in such filth. But there is not time to pursue in detail all his impious and detestable deeds, for they are very many and most base: of him it is even said that when he was being baptized as a child, he defiled the sacred font; and that therefore Saint Germanus said that he was about to mingle a great stench with the Church, as in fact came to pass. But I had almost forgotten to say one thing. I myself have read thirteen of his little orations, which he handed over to be recited for two weeks, which contain no g invocation.
[31] But after he also breathed out his unhappy h soul, his son Leo held the Empire for five years, to whose son Leo, Irene succeeding, who, being endowed with a less perverse disposition, did no great harm, but rather under him ecclesiastical affairs were somewhat restored. When he also was i taken away, Irene, who drew her very name from peace, beginning to reign with her son, gave absolute peace to the Church. For putting off womanly weakness, she stood manfully against impiety; and, having much care for establishing the truth, she drove from the city those who contradicted it, k loosing their belts; and so contending most beautifully for the orthodox faith, with the great Tarasius as her helper, restores Orthodoxy. but chiefly with God as cooperator in all things, restored to the churches the ancient form of Christian dispensation and fitting adornment; and a most profound peace was made in the whole world through the grace of Christ and the care of Irene, the orthodox Empress. The same also did many other illustrious things, by establishing homes for supporting the old, the poor, and pilgrims, and making the tributes lighter. The monastic Order also was so increased under her that the number of those professing it was infinite: everywhere there were monasteries, everywhere gymnasiums of souls were to be seen, and the peaceful condition of monks and laymen; the prayers of both were continued, and through whole nights constant psalmodies were heard; peace and quiet held everything; and with the affairs of Christians proceeding peacefully, in the unity of the faith, one flock, one shepherd Christ was acknowledged.
NOTES.
honor and glory was given, forever and ever. Which, since Copronymus had neglected in these little orations of his, contrary to the custom and institute of Christians, the author wished to note this, to indicate that he was not only impious, but also an atheist.
CHAPTER V.
The iconoclast controversy revived by Leo the Armenian, with great persecution of the faithful.
[32] Leo the Armenian Nicephorus succeeded the Empire of Irene and her orthodoxy, a himself most pious, and a great lover of the poor and of the monks: then reigned Michael, who still lives in monastic dignity. Against him Leo seized power by tyranny, b as he was savage in name, so also in manners, and most unworthily usurping the empire, he gave neither glory nor thanksgiving to God who had permitted it; but he was made mad in the vanity of his heart, persuading himself that then only had he established the empire, when he had established impiety. Imitating therefore in this that apostate similar to him in name and manners, the Assyrian enemy, the inventor of evils—I mean Leo the Isaurian—he began to persecute the holy things of the Saints, as he had done. he collects together the restorers of iconoclasm, Then, seeking companions and teachers of perversity, he solicits a few from the Senate, named John Spectas and Eutychianus. And when he wished to have some from the Priestly Order too agreeing with him, the Devil, who had suggested these things to him, looking through Byzantium, found John c surnamed Grammaticus, a new Tertullus: whom, taking by the hand, he led to the Emperor, saying: "Take this man, who will be useful to you for what you intend: for he is to me a vessel of election, to bear my name against the Orthodox." As therefore Paul was of Christ, so also this man was made the mouth of the devil; and as a torrent, swollen with various rains, brings down heavy and turbid waters, so he too, from the muddy treasure of his heart, brought forth most foul and muddy dogmas, giving to drink to those who came to him turbid perversion. He had as helpers, of those under the Throne, Antony of d Sylaeum; and from the number of monks, a certain Leontius and Zosimas: who in those very days, having had his nose cut off on account of adultery, died.
[33] and the assembly of the Bishops After this the whole multitude of the monks was gathered together with the Bishops and Metropolitans, at the most holy Patriarch Nicephorus; e and they spent the wakeful night in prayer in the greater church. When morning came, the Emperor summoned them, having inside the palace, and fostering like a bird, the impostors and initiators of evils, and encouraging them with promise of gifts, and ordering them to fear nothing. First, however, he ordered the Patriarch alone to enter, not knowing what had been secretly agreed among them; then he called all of them. Therefore the company of the chosen Fathers stood before him, holy, equal to the Angels, and bearing a divine appearance; and the great men of the Emperor and the whole Senate also stood by.
[34] ordering them to come to him, To them the Most Holy Nicephorus, turning, said: "Tell me, can that fall which does not exist?" And when, on account of the obscurity of the question, they did not answer but looked at one another, again the Patriarch asked: "Under Leo and Constantine, the Isaurians, did the sacred images fall, or not?" When they nodded their heads and signified that they had fallen (which was sufficient for his purpose, as had been agreed among themselves in secret), the Patriarch added: "But what did not stand, how could it fall?" The Emperor replied nothing to this, but said to the Fathers: "Know, Fathers, that I am of the same mind as you." He drew out the sculpted medallion which he wore on his neck, and pretending to adore it, said: he simulates piety. "As you see, I do not differ from you; yet men have risen up teaching otherwise, and saying that the way which they hold is the right one. Let them come forth, then, before you, and let the question be discussed among you. If they convict you of speaking fairly, do not hinder what is fair; and having exhorted them to be willing to debate before him. but if they shall have been convicted by you of teaching vain things, let them cease to scatter the pernicious doctrine, and as formerly let orthodoxy be established. For if, being asked about another matter of less importance, I ought not to have kept silent, how could I in an ecclesiastical question?"
[35] The Fathers denied that it should be permitted for them either to come before their sight or to a colloquy. They deny that one should enter into conference, And since they had the Emperor's mind clearly perceived as prone to evil, and not to be turned from it even if they brought forth the whole Scripture in witness, Emilian f, Bishop of Cyzicus, replied: "If the question is ecclesiastical, as you say, O Emperor, let it be discussed in the church, as is custom: for from the beginning ecclesiastical questions are accustomed to be treated in the church, not in the palace." "But I also," said the Emperor, "am a son of the Church, and as mediator I shall hear both of you, that judging the things said on either side, I may recognize what is true." To this Michael, Bishop of Synada: "If you are mediator, before a secular judge, why do you not do what a mediator does? For these indeed you hide in the palace and gather together, giving them confidence to teach impious dogmas; but others do not even dare to say anything in corners, terrified by your edicts everywhere. This is not an indication of mediation, but of tyranny." "By no means," said the Emperor, "but as I said, I am of your mind: yet since it has been appealed to me, I ought not to keep silent. What, pray, is the reason why you will not speak with them? It appears that the matter has been reduced to straits: and you do not have testimonies by which to defend your assertions." Theophylact g, Bishop of Nicomedia, replied: "I call Christ to witness, whose image especially you see set forth before your eyes, and that against an adversary, that thousands of testimonies are at hand to confirm this; nor are we anxious, as you suspect; but there is no one to hear, or whom we could profit, while we are contradicted by violence." Then Peter, Bishop of Nicaea: "How do you say that we should speak with them, when you are fighting for them and with them? Do you not know that even if you were to bring forward Manichaeans to speak, if you wished to defend them, they would overcome us, helped by you?" Assuredly not without cause the most holy Peter said this: for where impiety is joined with power, it is necessary that the truth give way, and equity labor under tyranny.
[36] After these things Saint Euthymius, h Bishop of Sardis, beginning to speak with much more confidence to the Emperor, and that against a most ancient tradition, said: "Hear, O Emperor: from the time that Christ descended to earth, for eight hundred years and more, He is everywhere painted in the churches and adored in His image; and who is so arrogant as to dare to shake or dissolve a tradition of so many years, handed down to us from the Apostles, Martyrs, and holy Fathers? Since the Apostle says: 'So then, brethren, stand and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.' 2 Thess. 2:14; Gal. 1:8 And again: 'Though an Angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.' Therefore against those who before us devised this heresy, confirmed by the Second Council of Nicaea. the Second Nicene Synod was convened, under Irene and Constantine, most pious Emperors. This Synod the very Son of God sealed with His own finger; and whoever shall attempt to shake or abolish anything from it, let him be anathema." The Emperor, being crafty, pretended to hear them speaking with equanimity so far. Then Theodore i, that fervent Doctor of the Church and Hegumen of the Studites, said: "Do not, O Emperor, dissolve the ecclesiastical Order: for the Apostle says, 'Some indeed God hath set in the Church Apostles, others Prophets, others Evangelists, others Pastors and Doctors, for the perfection of the Saints': he did not add 'Kings.' Eph. 4:11 To you, O Emperor, is committed the political state and the army: take care of these; but leave the Church to the Pastors and Doctors, according to the Apostle. If you will not, know this: that if an Angel from heaven should preach the subversion of our faith, we would not hear him; much less you."
[37] Then the Emperor, boiling with wrath, and judging the words spoken for equity to be an injury to himself, The Emperor dismisses all with injury, dismissed them all: but the holy Theodore he sent into exile, forbidding him to return to Byzantium while he himself held the Empire. The Superiors of the monasteries that are outside the city he cast out from her, forbidding them to go anywhere or to teach the orthodox faith. Finally, the Bishops of the greater churches he banished, some into the parts of the East, others to the islands of the West; and to the most holy Patriarch Nicephorus he sent the command, "Descend; for the Church has no need of you." He himself replied to him by a venerable letter, saying: he deposes the Patriarch: "I, O Emperor, will not rashly descend thus: for I have done nothing by which I should deserve to be deposed; but if for the true faith and piety I am oppressed with violence, send either yourself or any man of yours, and I descend." Then the Emperor sent one of his nobles, who in a tyrannical manner deposed him. He then, descending into the greater church, and lighting candles and burning incense, after making a prayer, while the people wept at his departure, addressed them in these words: "Little children, I found you Christians; I leave you Christians." And descending into the Acropolis, and entering a ship, he crossed over to one of his estates, k and there remained in fastings and prayers, in silence and much patience, until the day of his passage to the Lord.
[38] Therefore the bitter persecutors of truth, having received immunity to do whatever they pleased, and substitutes Theodotus the Spatharius for him: began freely to propagate and teach the impious dogmas; and they appointed as Patriarch a certain Theodotus taken from the Spatharii, as if they were playing games with boys; a man inept and of so light a brain that he was customarily called a laughingstock of the theater, for raising laughter among those wishing to joke. They say also that he had a maidservant in his retinue, on the pretext that he suffered from the kidneys, or rather for the sake of satisfying his lust. Afterwards they summon a Jewish sanhedrin, and subject the holy Fathers to anathema. Ah, what madness! Let their grief be turned upon their own head, and let their anathema descend upon their crown. anathema is pronounced on the orthodox. But the Bishops who did not agree with them, some they prostrated, trampling them on their face on the ground; others they drove backward out of the conventicle.
NOTES.
CHAPTER VI.
The various afflictions brought upon Saint Nicetas on account of the faith in prisons and in exile.
[39] The Hegumens constant in the faith are handed over to prison: When these things had been thus done, the Emperor ordered the Hegumens of the more illustrious monasteries to be brought in: who all entered together, and with them our venerable Father Nicetas, of whom is the narrative. First therefore the crafty ones tried to deceive them by flatteries; but when they saw them despise all things, they shut them up in various prisons, consulting what they should do to them. and Saint Nicetas likewise: Our holy Father was shut up in a foul-smelling prison, filthy from a long time back, so that without any other torment this condemnation was punishment enough; for he was, if anyone was, prone to nausea. There came to him daily the abortions of madness, that is, the most abject little men, not even worthy of a greeting, belching out blasphemous words, and babbling foolish things for the greater vexation of the Saint. Among these there was one chief, named Nicolaus, who did not cease to afflict him with his fatuities, until his father, who had died some time before, appearing to him in sleep, threatened him, saying: "Depart from the servants of God": and from then on that dissolute man, having become wiser, not only did not himself any longer harass the Saint, but also prevented others who did so.
[40] then they are banished, Moreover, when many days had been spent in custody with great endurance of evils, the Emperor ordered the Saint to be led away into exile to the parts of the East, to be kept in a fortress called Masalaeon; and this in midwinter. You would then have seen this holy little body consumed, from above indeed by cold and snows, from below by the impassable land supplying dampness and bringing much annoyance, with the one to whom he had been committed to be transported into exile, harsh and fierce, pressing him so that he compelled him to traverse the whole span of that journey within seven days, and those very short. The same cruel beast did this to the other Fathers too: and again they are recalled to Constantinople. but seeing that by exile he gained nothing, nay rather made them more courageous (as being superior to every tribulation), having changed his counsel, as he was of changeable disposition, before they had completed five days there, again with all haste he commanded them to return to Byzantium, through the same inconveniences and troubles; and ordered them to be left in quiet, until he should decide by what way he could draw them to his will.
[41] and handed over to John Hylilas to be tortured. The winter time and the sacred days of fasting being past, he delivered them after the holy Pasch to John the inventor of evils, to be afflicted by whatever means he should wish; a who receiving them cast them into various prisons, and subjected them to such torments as not even Martyrs suffered from the pagans. For shut up in sad and dark prisons, where they had nothing to spread under them or cover themselves with above, they lay on the ground in whatever clothing each one was found in, having a potsherd for a pillow; and through a very narrow opening, as if to dogs, there was passed to them an ounce of spoiled bread, which was not even enough to stay hunger; but water was given them only very sparingly, and that stinking: for the wicked man aimed at this, to remove them either from their faith or from life. And to the greater affliction of our venerable Father, who, profiting nothing by his savagery, he put in custody our Brother who served him—I mean Theoctistus, who afterwards succeeded him by the grace of Christ—while still a young man, and subjected him to the same tortures. The impious, however, seeing that they preferred to die rather than betray the truth, tried to deceive them by this, by saying that they required nothing else from them than that once only they should communicate with Theodotus, and do nothing beyond this; by trick he obtains that they at least communicate with Theodotus, and thus they would go forth to their own monasteries, with their faith and judgment intact. On this condition the Fathers consented to go forth; for why should I not continue to call them Fathers, who, conquered for a moment, returned b to the palaestra, and afterwards were exercised in it even more fervently?
[42] Then one by one they are sent out from prison, and come to Saint Nicetas, persuading him that he also should go forth. which was urged upon Saint Nicetas too, But he refusing, and by no means willing to hear them, they persisted, insisting and protesting that it was impossible for them to go forth while he remained there. "It is no great thing," they said, "which is asked of us; let us use some dispensational discretion, that we may not lose the whole." As they thus urged and almost forced him, he went forth unwilling; not as one fleeing troubles or weary of suffering evils, far from it: but respecting the exhortations of the Fathers, and looking upon their old age, he was persuaded against the purpose of his mind. For if the matter had been over the faith, with the choice of life and death set before him, I know he would have preferred death, and would in no way have betrayed any of the right dogmas, although a thousand dangers should have been cast in the way. They went out therefore, all together, to what are called the c oratories, which, as before, were painted; and there they d communicated from the hand of Theodotus, saying "Anathema to those who do not adore the image of Christ." with him simulating orthodoxy. Thus each went away to their own monasteries which they were ruling; but the blessed Nicetas, more vehemently pricked in heart, the others having thus departed, because even a moderate deflection is altogether the beginning of subversion, resolved to flee, and go away to another region, where he might correct the fault contracted.
[43] Therefore, throwing himself on a ship which he happened to find, he crossed over to e Proconnesus. But again, repenting of his plan, and saying within himself that amendment should be performed where the fault was committed, he returned to Byzantium, holding firmly to his former faith and confession, and fearing nothing at all. And when he had been summoned, the Emperor said to him: "Why, when the rest have gone out to their monasteries, have you alone remained, following your own will; Nicetas returns to Constantinople, repentant of what he had done, and, as I hear, not obeying our command, did you believe that you could escape our power and deceive us by so thinking? Therefore, obeying our decree, go to your monastery; if not, I shall inflict on you tortures you cannot bear." To these words the Saint replied in a mild voice: "Indeed, O Emperor, I neither return to my monastery, and presents himself to the Emperor sincerely. at your command, nor depart from my faith: but I persist and shall persist in my confession, in which also my Fathers endured prison, and for which they exposed themselves to dangers, fighting for the best part of the Church, in which we stand and glory in the hope of the divine glory. For you shall surely know, Emperor, that neither through fear of death (as being temporal) nor through love of life (God is my witness), did I do what was unseemly; but I yielded to the obedience of elders unwillingly, fulfilling their will, which I ought not. Know therefore that I have no fellowship with you: but I remain in the tradition which I received from the beginning. Of me do what you will; hear from me nothing else than this."
[44] by him handed over to Zacharias, a pious man, The Emperor, seeing the unchangeable sentence of his soul, handed him over to a certain Zacharias, Prefect of the Royal buildings called f Mangana, that he should be kept by him there until he had deliberated about him. But since that man was pious, in no matter was he harsh to the Saint, but rather benevolent and most beneficent; and held him in such reverence that he did not dare even to fix his gaze on his face. Afterwards the Emperor banished him to one of the small islands which are in the Gulf, called g of Saint Glyceria. And this island was owned by Anthimus, one of the h Eunuchs, addicted to sorceries, sacrilegious, cunning, malignant, deceitful, arrogant, unmerciful; whom also, on account of his excessive madness, he is banished to the island of Saint Glyceria, rashness, and presumption, the natives called Caiaphas. This man indeed, on account of his surpassing wickedness, the impious had made Prefect of the monasteries existing there: for they then committed such prefectures to men of such kind, that, supported by power, they might subvert everything. He therefore, taking the Saint, and there is vexed by Anthimus the Eunuch. and usurping the power to be exercised against him, zealously afflicted him. For shutting him up in a narrow and tight prison, he tortured him continually, so that he did not permit him even to look outside at all; carrying the key of the guard himself, and ordering a very meager victual to be given him through an opening. For it had been promised him by the impious ones, that if he could compel him into their opinion, he would be honored with greater dignity. So he afflicted the Saint most pressingly as he could, the wicked man thinking that he would persuade him to apostasy.
NOTES.
ἐφρουρεῖτο; wherefore, in place of ἐφρουρεῖτο, I conjecture ἐξεφρουρεῖτο should be read, and I begin the following Paragraph here.
CHAPTER VII.
The last years of his life; the death, burial, and miracles of Saint Nicetas.
[45] Zacharias a captive in Thrace While the Saint was in that place, let us see what miracle God, the worker of wonderful things, performed through him: for the grace of the Holy Spirit, multiplied in the blessed man, ought not to be hidden. The above-mentioned Zacharias, the kind keeper of our venerable Father, having been sent by the Emperor on the administration of public affairs into the parts of Thrace, was captured by the barbarians inhabiting those shores, and led away bound into their region. When Michael, the most holy Bishop of Synada, had heard this, asked to pray for him, from the custody in which he himself was held, he signified to the most blessed Nicetas that their common friend Zacharias, arrested by the Thracians, had departed bound into their land: "but I beg you," he said, "press God for him: for you can." When this had been reported to the Saint by our brother Philip who ministered to him, he was not a little saddened, so that he spent almost the whole day fasting.
[46] he foretells that he will soon be freed. When evening came, the candle which he had for the illumination of his prison he gave to the minister to be plunged into the sea-waves. Philip diligently did what he had been commanded, and soon returned the candle to the Saint, who, lighting it, kept vigil, praying God for Zacharias, until he obtained from God, the creator of all, the assurance of his liberation. Then, the hour of the nocturnal Psalmody being at hand, he called the Brother who ministered to him; when this was completed, when the minister saw him with open and cheerful countenance, he asked, desiring to learn the cause. He replied: "Do not grieve, Philip, for you shall see our friend Zacharias here with your own eyes." Which also happened. For that nation after a few days made peace with the Emperor; and a an exchange of prisoners having been made, Zacharias came out with the other captives, invoked, he delivers those in peril at sea. giving thanks to God and the Saint. Three brothers also, when they were being carried by their own ship through the sea, and were about to be drowned, overtaken by a sudden storm, were saved by the invocation of Saint Nicetas; and they gave thanks to God, who gave such power to His Saint.
[47] Leo slain Thus the Saint persevered in that place for a whole six years, distressed, afflicted, abandoned, up to the end of Leo, the rebel against God: for this savage man received a worthy vengeance for his madness, a most dreadful b death. For some of the military orders, plotting new things, and as if led by an Angel, with no one hindering them, entered the palace, and within an oratory (for it had seemed good to him to flee to the altar) they struck him with their swords; and there he was killed, tenacious of his impiety to the end.
[48] Michael substituted: Now at that time Michael was held captive, bound with two chains; whom the very men by whom the beast had been killed at once released, and appointed Emperor. This man, between virtue and vice, did not indeed restore the faith, but recalled all our Fathers from exile, and freed those placed in prisons, and that grievous persecution of the Church ceased. the exiles return: And our blessed Father Nicetas also came out from the custody in which he was held, as from a kind of c pit, an illustrious Confessor and, without blood, a Martyr, bearing manifest signs of victory. He went away to islands near the city, seeking quiet, and settled on one of them, Nicetas lives quietly near Constantinople: living there an Angelic life, made the leader of all to salvation, the support of all, the physician of all both as to body and soul; and he supplied to the poor what he knew was necessary for them, not only to the faithful, but generous even toward the infidel. After this the Saint acquired for himself a certain little estate across from the city toward the North, and there passed the rest of his life-span, which was very brief.
[49] But when the time of his dissolution and of his departure to Christ was at hand, and there dies on April 3 with disease coming on more violently and consuming his remaining strength, about the sixth hour, d as Sunday was dawning, he extended his holy feet, with which he had nobly run in the confession of the faith; and, with Angels accompanying, he departed, on the third day of the month of Xanthicus. But when his holy sleep had been heard of, and after celebrated funeral rites a very great multitude gathered, both from the city and from the surrounding places, of men and women, monks and virgins, desiring to have him as intercessor with God. There came also the Archbishops: the most holy Theophilus of Ephesus, and Saint Joseph e of Thessalonica; and celebrating the customary funeral rites for him, they laid him in a sarcophagus. His true disciples, placing him upon a ship, directed it to the holy monastery which he had by his labors brought to the best condition. But we were waiting on the shore with the most holy f Paul, Bishop of Plusiadium; and as soon as the ship landed, he is carried back into the monastery of Medicium we took the holy Relics from it; then we adored them with many tears, and taken up upon shoulders, the Brotherhood of both g cenobies carried them with hymns and canticles to the monastery. But God performed very many miracles through him on the way: for demons were put to flight from various possessed persons; the sick from various infirmities were cured, among whom was a woman, suffering a flow of blood and approaching with faith, by the mere touch of the holy body received healing.
[50] and shines with miracles. When therefore the funeral rites had been paid according to custom, we placed him in the tomb of our common Father Nicephorus, which he had made for himself while still living, on the left side of the h Narthex, where by the grace of Christ healings and miracles are performed up to this present day; for as many sick as come to that holy tomb, return home sound, by whatever infirmity they are afflicted. This is the life, this is the manner of living of our venerable Father Nicetas, inhabitant of heaven: who, as he loved God very much, so was loved worthily by Him, that as he glorified Him, so he too was glorified by Him: for "those who glorify me, I will glorify," says the Lord; to Him belongs the glory, namely to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen. i
[51] The Life is transcribed by the Studites. This present book was finished on the XXI day of March, Indiction first, in the year of the world 6424 k, written by the hand of John, humble and least of monks, under Anatolius the most holy Hegumen of the Studites.