CONCERNING ST. EUSEBIUS, ANCHORITE, AT ASICHA IN SYRIA.
After the year 400.
PrefaceEusebius, anchorite at Asicha in Syria (Saint)
G. H.
Among the illustrious practitioners of the ascetic life whom Theodoret commends in his Philotheos, or book 9 of the Lives of the Fathers, two are called Eusebius, both inscribed in the sacred calendars of the Greeks. The first of these was Abbot of Mount Coryphe in Syria and is venerated on January 23, on which day we gave his Life from chapter 4 of the Philotheos. The other lived in the same Syria, in the village of Asicha, a familiar of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, from which city it seems not to have been far distant. His Life, of a sort, is found in chapter 18 of the Philotheos, which the Greeks assign to this February 15 in the Great Menaia, and Maximus Cytheraeus in his Lives of the Saints. In the Menaia this couplet is prefixed:
"He has passed beyond the human life with joy, Eusebius, a wonder, a wonder even to the Angels."
LIFE
From the Philotheos of Theodoret, chapter 18.
Eusebius, anchorite at Asicha in Syria (Saint)
By Theodoret the Bishop.
[1] To the Saints already spoken of I shall add also the great Eusebius, who died not long ago. Having lived many years, he endured labors equal to his time, and chose a virtue equal to his labors. And he reaped manifold profit from this; for the Master of the games surpasses the contests by the magnitude of His rewards. St. Eusebius lives under the discipline of others, This man, then, having first entrusted the care of himself to the faith of others, was led where they led him; for they too were divine men, athletes and practitioners of virtue. And having lived with them for some time and rightly received the knowledge of the true philosophy, he embraced the monastic life. And having occupied a certain ridge of a mountain (above which is situated a very large village Then alone under the open sky: called Asicha), having only dug a trench and piled up stones not even joined with mortar, he spent the rest of his life under the open sky, afflicting himself, clad indeed in a garment of skin, and nourishing himself on chickpeas and beans soaked in water. Clothed in skin, he lives on chickpeas and beans: And sometimes he would also eat dried figs, thus trying as best he could to sustain the weakness of his body.
[2] And when he had reached extreme old age, so that he had lost most of his teeth, he changed neither his food nor his dwelling. And though he was frozen in winter and scorched in summer, he bore the opposing conditions of the air bravely, Constant in mortification: with his face wrinkled and all the members of his body dried out. He had consumed his body with so many labors that even his belt no longer remained upon his loins but slid downward, for there was nothing to prevent it -- his hips and thighs had wasted away, providing the belt an easy descent to the lower parts. He therefore sewed the belt to his tunic, He shuns earthly conversation: devising this means to keep it in place. He was loath to associate with many people, for since he constantly apprehended the divine contemplation by his continual vision, he was unwilling to have his mind drawn away from it. But nevertheless, although he was possessed of such vehement love, he permitted some of his acquaintances to remove what blocked the entrance and to enter; and after he had offered them instruction from the divine oracles, he would bid them depart and again seal the door with mud.
[3] But when he judged it altogether better to avoid association even with a few, He blocks the entrance to his cell: he completely blocked the entrance, placing a very large stone against the door. Through a certain opening he would converse with a few of his intimates, but could not be seen; for he had so arranged it. And through that same opening he also received his meager nourishment. When he again refused to converse with anyone, He admits only Theodoret: he deigned to honor me alone with that sweet and God-pleasing voice, and often detained me when I wished to leave, discoursing on heavenly things. When many came to him seeking the blessing, and the tumult distressed him, without considering his old age or reckoning his pressing infirmity, he leaped across the trench which could not easily be crossed even by the strong and vigorous; and coming to a nearby community of monks, having again dug a small trench at the corner of the wall, he resumed his accustomed labors.
[4] The leader of this flock, a man full of every virtue, said that he had passed through the seven weeks of the holy fast having eaten only fifteen dried figs. He gets through Lent on fifteen dried figs: He undertook this contest when he had lived more than ninety years and was afflicted with a weakness that cannot be described; but the cheerfulness of his spirit overcame his weakness, and the love of God made all things easy and free from hindrance. When he was flowing with such labors, He dies a blessed death. he reached the goal of his course, seeing the Master of the games and desiring the crown. I pray that I may obtain the intercession which I perceived until now while he was still alive. For I believe that he lives and has a purer confidence toward God.