ON ST. PETER THE GALATIAN, HERMIT, NEAR ANTIOCH IN SYRIA.
FIFTH CENTURY.
PrefacePeter the Galatian, Hermit, in Syria (St.)
I. B.
The memory of St. Peter the Galatian is celebrated in the Greek Menaea on February 1, with an illustrious encomium. His Life was written by Theodoret in his Religious History, chapter 9; who also mentions him thus in his Ecclesiastical History, book 4, chapter 25: "Moreover, the mountain adjacent to the great city of Antioch was resplendent like a meadow. On it shone Peter the Galatian," etc. Nicephorus has the same in book 11, chapter 41. We give the Life here from Theodoret, in the translation of Gentian Hervet, corrected incidentally from the considerably more accurate rendering of our own Jacques Sirmond. There is another Peter, both Galatian by nation and a monk by profession, who is venerated on October 9, but four hundred years later, since he lived under the Emperor Theophilus and survived into the reign of Basil; concerning him, see the Menaea.
LIFE
By Theodoret the Bishop.
Peter the Galatian, Hermit, in Syria (St.)
By Theodoret the Bishop.
[1] Of the Gauls indeed we hear of those who are in Europe to the West. But we know also those who are in Asia, descended from those who established their settlements near the Euxine Sea. From these the blessed Peter sprang, St. Peter the Galatian and truly thrice and four times blessed. Having been reared by his parents for seven years, as they say, after his birth, he spent all the rest of his life in the contests of the philosophical life. He is said to have died when he had lived ninety-nine years. Who then could praise worthily one who fought for ninety-two years, He fought for 92 years and always emerged victorious both by night and by day? What tongue could suffice to narrate his deeds performed with excellence and virtue, in boyhood and youth, in manhood and advancing age, and in extreme old age? Who could measure that sweat? Who could enumerate the struggles that took place in so long a time? What speech could encompass either the seeds cast by him or the sheaves gathered? Who has so great and lofty a mind nor can he be praised worthily enough as to be able perfectly to contemplate the resources and riches collected from that illustrious commerce? I know the vast ocean of his deeds, and therefore I fear to approach the narration of his history, lest my speech be overwhelmed. Wherefore I shall walk along the shore and admire and recount those things of the sea that are nearest to the mainland, but I shall leave the deep to Him who, as divine Scripture says, "searches the deep things and knows what is hidden." 1 Corinthians 2:10
[2] This man therefore first fought his battles in Galatia; thence he came to Palestine for the sake of seeing, he visits the holy places of Palestine so that, having seen the places that received the saving Passion, he might worship God there who had preserved him -- not as if God were circumscribed by a place (for he knew that His nature cannot be circumscribed), but that he might feast his eyes on the spectacle of the things which are desired; out of love for Christ and that not only the power of the soul by which it contemplates, without sight, might enjoy spiritual nourishment through faith. For it is implanted by nature in those who love someone that they take pleasure not only from looking at him, but also gaze with great joy at his house, his clothing, and his shoes. The bride, endowed with such love toward the bridegroom, who was full of longing in the Song of Songs, cried out, saying: "As the apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." Song of Songs 2:3 This divine man therefore did nothing absurd or strange, he who received the same love toward the bridegroom and used the same words as the bride: "I am wounded by love," he cried. Song of Songs 5:8 And when he had desired to contemplate a certain shadow, as it were, of the bridegroom, he went to see the places from which sprang forth the fountains that are salutary for all mankind.
[3] When therefore he had been permitted to enjoy what he desired, he journeyed to Antioch; and when he had seen the piety and religion of the city, he comes to Antioch he preferred a foreign land to his own country, considering as fellow citizens not his kinsmen and relatives, but those who were of the same opinion as himself, associates in faith, and who drew the same yoke of piety and religion. And when he had decided to dwell there, he lives in a tomb he did not stretch out a tent, he did not set up a hut, he did not build a little house; but he spent all his time in another's tomb. This tomb had an upper story and a projecting parapet, to which attached steps received those who wished to ascend. In this he remained enclosed for the longest time, always fasting every other day drinking cold water and eating bread alone -- and this not every day, but remaining without food one day and taking it the next.
[4] When a certain madman, driven by frenzy and filled with the working of a malign demon, he frees a demoniac and keeps him with himself had come to him, he cleansed him by prayer and freed him from that diabolical madness. And when the man refused to depart, but begged that he might be permitted to repay the cure with his service, Peter admitted him to dwell with him. I both knew him and remember the miracle, and saw the recompense for the cure, and heard the conversation they had about me. For Daniel (that was his name) said that I too would become a partner in that illustrious ministry. But the divine man would not consent to this, considering the love my parents had for me; and often, placing me on his knees, he nourished me with grapes and bread. He blesses Theodoret. For when my mother had made trial of his spiritual grace, she ordered me to gather his blessing once a week.
[5] She had come to know him for this reason: A disease that had settled in one of her eyes seemed to surpass the science of medicine; for there was nothing either written by the ancients or devised by those who came later that had not been applied to the disease. After she had tried everything he cures a defect of the eye with the sign of the cross and shown it to be of no use, a certain woman of her acquaintance came and pointed to the divine man and told of a miracle performed by him. For she said that the wife of the one who at that time held the helm of the administration of the East (and he was Pergamus), when she had fallen into the same disease, had been cured by him through prayer and the sign of the Cross.
[6] My mother heard this and immediately ran to the divine man; and she wore earrings, chains, necklaces, and other golden ornaments she had put on, and a variegated garment woven from silken threads -- for she had not yet tasted the more perfect virtue; being in the flower of her age, she wore feminine adornments like a young girl. When the divine head observed these things, he first cured the disease of excessive love of ornament, using words such as these: "Tell me, daughter," he said (for I shall use his own words and shall not alter the speech of that holy tongue), he rebukes Theodoret's mother for her excessive adornment "if some painter well practiced in his art had painted a certain image as the rules of art prescribe, and had set it forth for those who wished to see it, and then another person came along who did not know the art perfectly and accurately, and rashly and thoughtlessly, as it seemed to him, wished to paint over it; and then, criticizing that skillful painting, were to add longer lines to the eyebrows and eyelashes, make the face whiter, and add a red color to the cheeks -- with an apt comparison would not that first painter, in your opinion, be rightly angry, because both his art had been treated with insult and contempt, and additions that were not needed had been made by an unskilled hand? Therefore believe," he said, "that the Maker of all things and the Shaper and Painter of our nature is also rightly angered that you accuse of ignorance that nature and wisdom which cannot be expressed in words. For you would not pour red and white and black color upon yourselves if you did not consider yourselves in need of this addition. But by thinking the body needs these things, you condemn the Creator of weakness. You must know, however, that He has power corresponding to His will in just proportion. For, as David says, 'Whatever the Lord willed, He did.' Psalm 113 And having care for what will be beneficial to all, He does not give those things that bring harm. Therefore do not corrupt the image of God, nor try to add what He has wisely not given, nor devise this adulterous beauty, which brings ruin even upon the chaste, laying snares for those who behold it."
[7] My mother, a most excellent and in every way admirable woman, heard these things, and was immediately caught in Peter's net (for he too fished, just like him who bore the same name); and touching his feet and crying aloud, she begged him to cure her eye. But he kept saying that he was a man and had the same nature as she; and that he bore a great burden of sins and was therefore deprived of the confidence one has before God. But when my mother wept and prayed and said she would not leave him unless she obtained health, he said that God was the healer of these things, and that He always grants petitions to those who believe. "He will give, then," he said, "now also, not granting the favor to me, but regarding your faith. If, then, you have it sincere and true and pure and free from all doubt, bid farewell to physicians and medicines, and accept this remedy given by God." Having said these things, he laid his hand upon her eye, and making the sign of the saving Cross, and cures her eye with the sign of the cross he drove out the disease. Returning home from there, having washed off the medicine and cast away all externally applied ornament, she ordered her life according to the rules laid down by the physician -- neither wearing colorful garments nor adorned with golden necklaces, and this when she was still very young in years; for she was in her twenty-third year and had not yet become a mother; for when she had lived seven more years, she bore me, her first and only child. Such fruit did she reap from the teaching of the great Peter, and a twofold cure did she receive: and while seeking medicine for her body, she also gained a good disposition for her soul. By speaking thus he worked, and so powerful was he in prayer.
[8] When my mother had once brought to him a servant who was a cook, who was being tormented by an evil demon, she asked that he not deny him his assistance. When the divine man had prayed, he commanded the demon to tell the reason why he had power over God's creature. And the demon, he frees a demoniac like some murderer or wall-breaker and robber standing before a judge and ordered to tell what he had done, related everything, being compelled beyond his custom to speak the truth. He said that at Heliopolis his servant's master had fallen ill; that the mistress had been sitting beside her husband, since he was sick; that the maidservants of the house in which they were staying had been telling stories about the life of the monks who were practicing the ascetic life at Antioch, and how great their power was against demons; that these girls, being young, had taken delight in play and had acted out the roles of possessed and mad persons; and that the servant himself, having put on a monastic garment made of goatskin, had adjured them in the manner of monks. "While these things were happening," he said, "I, standing before the doors and unable to endure those proud and boastful things that were being said about monks, who had ridiculously imitated the ways of monks wished to make trial of that power which they were youthfully boasting those men possessed. For that reason, leaving the maidservants, I thrust myself into this one, wishing to learn how I would be expelled by monks. But now," he said, "I have learned, nor do I need any other experience; and at your command I shall depart immediately." Saying these things, he fled, and the servant was freed.
[9] Again, when the mother of my mother -- that is, my nurse -- had brought another rustic, she asked the adversary of men to help him. And he again asked both whence he came and from whom he had received power over God's creature. But the demon, keeping silent, gave no answer. Peter prayed on bended knees and besought God to show that accursed demon the power of His servants. Then he rose again; but the demon again resisting, kept silent. And these things
happened until the ninth hour. After he had offered to the Lord a prayer of greater zeal and more vehemence, rising he said to the wicked demon: "It is not Peter who commands you, but the God of Peter. Answer, then, as one who is compelled by His power." The shameless he frees another and pernicious demon had reverence for the Saint's gentleness and moderation; and using a loud voice, he cried out: "I dwell on Mount Amanus. The demon had entered through one who was drinking from a spring. When I saw this man on the road drawing and drinking water from a certain spring, I strove to take this dwelling for myself." "But go out," said the man of God, "at the command of Him who was crucified for the whole world." The demon heard and fled; and the farmer, freed from madness, was returned to his nurse.
[10] Although I could recount innumerable other such things about that blessed soul, I shall pass over very many, dreading the weakness of the common people; he cures others likewise for looking to themselves, they do not have faith in the miracles of divine men. When I have narrated one or two more, I shall pass on to another champion.
[11] There was a certain licentious man who in former times had been a military commander. Of a virgin consecrated to God. A certain unmarried girl, however, of marriageable age, who was under his authority, left her mother and her own household and fled to a certain convent in which there was a community of women athletes. For women, too, contend just like men and enter the arena of virtue. When the military commander learned of her flight, he beat her mother with lashes, hung her up in chains, and did not release her from her bonds until she revealed the dwelling of the religious women. Using his rage, then, he seized the girl from there and brought her back to his house; and the wretch hoped to satisfy his lust. But He who tried Pharaoh with great and terrible temptations concerning Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and preserved the chaste woman untouched; and who struck the Sodomites with blindness, who had assailed those who were incorporeal as though they were guests, pursuing them with insults -- She escapes from the hands of the abductor by divine power. He, having struck with blindness the power of seeing of this man, caused the prey to escape from his hands. For the man had entered the chamber; but she who was being guarded within immediately went out and vanished from sight and arrived at the most greatly desired dwelling. Thus, when the fool had learned that he could not overcome her who had chosen God as her bridegroom, he was compelled to be at peace, no longer seeking her who had been captured and had escaped by divine power.
[12] In the course of time she fell into a serious illness; the disease was cancer. And as her breast swelled, the pain also increased. But she called upon the great Peter Then he eases the pains of one suffering from cancer by his presence when the pain was most vehement; and she said that at the sound of that sacred voice poured into her ears, all that pain was lulled to sleep and she felt no sensation of distress from that point on. For that reason, summoning him frequently, she received consolation more often. For she said that during the entire time of his presence, the pains completely receded. But when she had thus contended, he accompanied her as she departed this life with praises signifying victory.
[13] Again, when my mother, after she had given birth to me, was at the very gates of death, Peter, at the request of her nurse, came and snatched her from the hands of death. For she was lying, as they say, with the physicians in despair, her family weeping and expecting the end, her eyes closed, laboring under a violent fever, recognizing none of her acquaintances. He comes to the aid of a dying woman with his prayers. But when he came who had been deemed worthy of both Apostolic speech and grace, and said, "Peace to you, daughter" (for this was his manner of greeting), it is said that she immediately raised her eyelids and gazed at him with fixed eyes and asked for the fruit of his blessing. When the chorus of women then wailed (for anguish of spirit and joy were mixed together and were the cause of that outcry), the divine man commanded them all to join in his prayer. Acts 9:40 For he said that Tabitha also had obtained salvation in this way, with the widows weeping and the great Peter offering their tears to God. They prayed as he commanded, and received as he foretold; for when the prayer had come to an end, the disease also came to an end. And sweat suddenly flowed from her whole body, and that fire was extinguished, and signs of health appeared. Such miracles God has wrought even in our own times through His benevolent servants.
[14] The surface of his garments also worked in a manner similar to those of the most divine Paul. I have set down this comparison diseases are even cured by his girdle not using any hyperbole, but having truth in agreement with my statement. For he had divided his own girdle into two parts (and it was broad and long, woven from coarse linen); with one half he girded his own loins, and with the other, mine. When my mother often placed this girdle upon me when I was sick, and often also upon my father, it drove out the disease. Indeed, she herself also often used this remedy for her health. And many of our acquaintances, having learned of this, continually took this girdle to bring aid to the sick; and everywhere it showed the working of his grace. When a certain person had received it in this way, he deprived those who had given it, showing himself ungrateful to those who had benefited him. In this way we were stripped of that gift.
[15] Having thus shone forth and illuminated Antioch with his rays, he was taken away from the contests, awaiting the crown he dies that is laid up for the victors. And I, who received his blessing while he was still alive, Theodoret invokes him having prayed that I may enjoy it even now, shall put an end to this narrative.
Notesa The Menaea: para Galatais tois pros te Ankyra trapheis, "reared among the Galatians who are near Ancyra."
b In Greek: hyperoon de eichen houtos, kai dryphakton tina probeblemenon. Raderus translates: "which above had triple railings with a projecting parapet." Sirmond: "whose upper part, projecting, had a tabled floor."
c Hervet says he drank warm water. The Greek reads: hydati men psycheo chromenos, "using cold water."
d So Sirmond translates. Hervet: "The mother of my mother, but my aunt." The Greek: tes metros men he meter, eme de titthe, "the mother of my mother, but my nurse."
e In the Menaea, this liberation of the virgin is attributed to the Saint himself.