Eusebius

ON ST. EUSEBIUS, ABBOT OF MOUNT CORYPHE IN SYRIA.

Fourth Century.

Eusebius, Abbot in Syria (Saint)

From various sources.

[1] Those whom Theodoret in his Philotheus, or book 9 of the Lives of the Fathers, praises as illustrious practitioners of the ascetic life, the Greeks venerate most of them, assigned to various days in the sacred calendars: the more celebrated ones are honored also by the Latins. The Menaea bring forward three on this day: The feast of St. Eusebius. SS. Eusebius, Mausimas (or Maysimas, or Maesimas), and Salamanes, with encomia from chapters 14 and 19 of the Philotheus appended to the last two, which was omitted for Eusebius. For concerning him they have only this: On the same day, of our holy Father Eusebius.

Come to us, to the beauty of heaven, The beautiful minds say to Eusebius.

Then follow similar verses, with their own encomia, concerning SS. Mausimas and Salamanes. Maximus of Cythera follows the Menaea in his usual manner.

[2] Theodoret celebrates two men named Eusebius with wondrous praises, in chapter 4 and chapter 18 respectively; but the latter the Greeks honor on the 15th of February, as is clear from the Menaea. Rosweyde, in his notes to this chapter 4, and Raderus following him in his as yet unpublished observations on the Menaea, consider that this former Eusebius is the one honored on this day: and we concur. Theodoret treats again of this Eusebius and other companions in book 4 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 26. He lived in the wilderness near Antioch. In the wilderness near Antioch also, he says, Marianus, Eusebius, Ammianus, Palladius, the Simeons, the Abrahams, and others too, who preserved intact the image of God in whose likeness they were made: and we have recorded the life of these as well as those (of whom he had treated before) in our writings. Nicephorus transcribed nearly the same things from here in book 11 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 41.

[3] He is cited by Laurentius de la Barre in his notes written in the margin of chapter 4 of the Philotheus, and by Rosweyde, from Sozomen, book 6 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 33, where he mentions two men named Eusebius, He has been confused with other men named Eusebius. but different from this one; since one practiced his asceticism among the Nisibenes, on the mountain called Sigoron (σιγόρων); the other in Carrhae of Mesopotamia. Finally, Rosweyde considers this Eusebius to be a disciple of St. Marcianus, since in his notes he states that mention is made of him in the Menaea on November 2 in the life of St. Marcianus; and in the margin of chapter 3 of the Philotheus he writes that chapter 4 treats of Eusebius, a disciple of St. Marcianus. But he always lived in the wilderness of Chalcis, inheriting the cell of St. Marcianus after his death. Rosweyde seems to have been misled because Marianus, the uncle of St. Eusebius, is called Marcianus in the translation of Gentianus Hervetus, which he himself published; but in the other translation of Albericus Longus in volume 2 of the Lives of the Holy Fathers by Aloysius Lipomanus, and in the Ecclesiastical Histories of Theodoret and Nicephorus, he is Marianus.

[4] His life. We present his life, and that of some of his illustrious disciples, from chapter 4 of the Philotheus, in the translation of Gentianus, collated with the other translation of Albericus Longus.

Eusebius, Abbot in Syria (Saint)

From Theodoret.

CHAPTER I.

The Private Life of St. Eusebius.

[1] What manner of fruits the barren desert offered to God—namely, beautiful and ripe ones, Ascetics also in inhabited regions. pleasing to Him who planted them, and dear and most desirable to those who are wise among men—we have shown in the narratives already written. But lest anyone suppose that virtue is confined to a particular place, and that the solitude alone is suitable for bearing such returns, let us now pass in our discourse to the inhabited land: and let us show that it is by no means an impediment to the pursuit of philosophy.

[2] There is a lofty mountain, Near Antioch which is situated to the east of Antioch and to the west of Beroea, and which surpasses all the nearby mountains: at its highest summit it imitates the shape of a cone, and from its height it has received its name: for the inhabitants are accustomed to call it Coryphe, There is Mount Coryphe. that is, the Summit. Formerly on its highest peak there was a temple of demons, which was held in great honor among the neighbors: below it to the south extends a plain, presenting the appearance of a bay, which is bounded on both sides by ridges that are not very high. These ridges extend all the way to the equestrian road, which is cut on either side from south to north, receiving paths. In this area villages both large and small have been built, adjacent to the mountains on both sides.

[3] Close to the slopes of the lofty mountain itself, there is a very large and most populous village; they call it by the name of the region, Teleda. The village of Teleda, On the upper part of the mountainside there is a certain grove that is not very steep, but gently inclines, looking toward that plain and the south wind. In it a certain Ammianus established a gymnasium of the philosophic life, The monastery of Ammianus; a man who was distinguished by many other virtues, but surpassed others especially in his supreme modesty. And this is sufficient proof of it. For although he could have sufficed for the instruction not only of his own companions but of twice as many others, he often hastened to the great Eusebius, Eusebius is consulted by him, asking and entreating him to be his helper, trainer, and master of the wrestling-school he had founded: and Eusebius was enclosed at a distance of twenty-five stadia, in a very small dwelling that did not even have windows. It was Marianus who had led him to this virtue, By Marianus his uncle his uncle indeed, but a faithful servant of God. For it suffices to say this, since the Lord also honored the great Moses with this title. This Marianus, having tasted the divine love, did not wish to enjoy its blessings alone: but he made many others also sharers in his love. He and his brother were led to the monastic life. He also captured the great Eusebius, and his brother who in life was truly also a brother. For he did not think it reasonable that he should hunt for virtue those who were no relation to him, but not do likewise for his own kinsmen.

[4] Having therefore enclosed both of them in a small dwelling, he taught them the evangelical manner of life. But disease attacked the brother and interrupted that course; and death followed the disease: Enclosed in a cell, speaking to no one: for having lived only a few days after leaving there, he reached the end of his life. But the great Eusebius remained for the entire duration of his uncle's life, speaking to no one and looking upon no light, but perpetually enclosed: and after his death he embraced this manner of life, until the admirable Ammianus, having softened him with many prayers, persuaded him.

[5] For tell me, he would say to him, O excellent man, whom do you suppose you are pleasing when you pursue this laborious and squalid and filthy life? And when he, as was fitting, replied: God, who is the lawgiver and master of virtue. Since therefore you love Him, Ammianus exhorts him to the care of his neighbor, said Ammianus, I will show you a way by which you will both kindle your love more ardently and serve Him whom you love. For that all your care and industry is directed toward yourself alone will not escape, as I perceive, the charge of excessive self-love. For the divine law commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. And to share one's wealth with many—this is the proper mark of true charity. Rom. 13:10. And the divine Paul called this the fulfillment of the law. He cries out again: The whole law and the Prophets are summed up in this saying, namely: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Gal. 5:14. Moreover, the Lord also in the sacred Gospels commanded Peter, who had confessed that he loved Him more than the others, to feed His sheep. John 21:17. And rebuking those who do not do this, He cries out through the Prophet: Ezek. 34. O shepherds, do not the shepherds feed themselves, not the sheep? And therefore He also commanded the great Elijah, who was pursuing this manner of life, to dwell in the midst of the impious: and He sent the second Elijah, By the example of Elijah and John the Baptist. the so greatly celebrated John, who embraced the solitude, to the banks of the Jordan, commanding him to baptize and to preach there. Since therefore you also are an ardent lover of the God who made you, make many others lovers with you also: for this is very pleasing to our common Lord. Ezek. 3:17. For this reason He also called Ezekiel a watchman, and commanded him to testify to sinners: Jonah 1. and He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, and when he refused, He sent him there in chains.

i Longus: Nephews.

CHAPTER II.

His Governance of the Monastery of Ammianus, or of Mount Coryphe.

[6] By saying these and similar things, he tamed the divine man, and led him forth from that voluntary self-dug prison, and entrusted to him the care of his companions. I do not know whether I should more admire the moderation of the one or the obedience of the other, and the fact that he was persuaded by him. For Ammianus was fleeing leadership, Eusebius takes up the governance of the monastery: and preferred to be among those who obeyed, as one who dreaded the danger of governance: and the great Eusebius, though he shrank from association with many, nevertheless yielded, and caught in the nets of charity, he took up the care of the flock and led the chorus, having little need of many words for teaching: for his mere appearance alone sufficed to make even the most sluggish swift in the race of virtue. He stirs the negligent by his countenance alone. Those who saw him say that he always had a grave countenance, one that could inspire a certain awe in those who beheld him.

[7] He himself took food every third or fourth day, He prescribes fasting and prayer mixed with labor for his monks: but he ordered those who lived with him to eat every other day. He commanded them to converse with God continuously, and to leave no time vacant from this activity, but to carry out the appointed offices in common; and in the intervening parts of the day, each one by himself, either under the shade of some tree, or beside some rock, or wherever one might rest, whether standing or lying on the ground, was to pray to the Lord and seek salvation. He strives for mortification: He so trained each of the parts of the body in virtue that it performed only what reason alone permits. To make this manifest to all, I shall make mention of one of his stories.

[8] He was sitting upon a certain rock, he himself and that admirable Ammianus, Distracted by the contemplation of ploughmen, and one was reading the narrative of the divine Gospels while the other was explaining the meaning of the more obscure passages. When certain farmers in the plain below were tilling the earth, the great Eusebius was drawn to this contemplation. When the divine Ammianus had read a Gospel passage and inquired about its interpretation, the great Eusebius told him to repeat the reading. When Ammianus said: Probably delighted by the ploughmen, you did not hear, as is likely—Eusebius thereafter imposed a law upon his own eyes: He strictly guards his eyes for forty years: that they should never gaze upon that plain, nor enjoy the beauty of the sky and the sight of the chorus of stars; but using a very narrow path, the measure of which, they say, was one hand's breadth, leading to the oratory, he did not allow himself thereafter to go beyond it. They say that he lived more than forty years after this law. Moreover, in order that his own intention might drive him to these things through a kind of necessity as well, He bows his head with a chain; having bound his loins with an iron belt and placed a very heavy collar upon his neck, he joined the belt to the collar that was upon his neck with some other piece of iron: so that, bent down in this way, he would strive always to look at the ground. These penalties he exacted from himself because he had gazed upon those farmers.

[9] Many others who knew him and were well acquainted with his affairs taught me this, and the great elder Acacius also related it, whom I have mentioned before in other narratives; [Thus contending with the devil in small things, lest he be tempted in great ones.] and he said that he too had once asked him, when he had seen him thus bowed down, what benefit he was gaining by not allowing himself to look at the sky, nor to gaze upon that plain below, nor to go beyond that narrow path: and that Eusebius replied he was devising these things against the machinations of the malignant devil: For lest he wage war over great matters, he said, attempting to steal away temperance and justice, and arming anger, and kindling desire, and causing me to be puffed up with vanity and swollen with pride, and whatever else he devises against my soul, I try to draw the enemy down to these small matters: in which, even if he conquers, he does not inflict great damage; and if he is defeated, he becomes all the more ridiculous, as one who cannot prevail even in small things. Since therefore I know this warfare to be less dangerous (for he who suffers some loss in these matters is not gravely wounded: for what damage is it to see a plain or to raise one's eyes to heaven?) I have transferred myself to this kind of combat. For in this he can neither wound me nor kill me: for these are not lethal weapons, since they lack those iron barbs. The great Acacius said that he had heard these things and that he had admired his wisdom, his military virtue, and his experience. Wherefore he also related this to those who desired to learn such things, as something both admirable and worthy to be committed to memory.

[10] When this fame of his had spread everywhere in all directions, it attracted to him all lovers of virtue. There came also the most divine James the Persian and Agrippa, successors of the elder Julian, whose narrative we pursued previously, as men who were excellent overseers of a flock. For when that divine man, Illustrious monks submit themselves to him: having received the end of his life, had migrated to the life above, they hastened to the great Eusebius, judging it better to be rightly governed than to govern and preside.

[11] Of James, whom I have already mentioned before when I summarily showed his virtue, Among these, James, that he might not preside, departs elsewhere. I shall now also show a clear proof of his supreme philosophy. After that divine Eusebius, departing from this life, ordered him to preside over the flock, he declined the charge, but could not persuade those who wished him to undertake this care, and so he went away to another flock, preferring to be fed rather than to feed; and having survived for a very long time, he ended this life thus.

b Longus: a day.

CHAPTER III.

The Illustrious Successors and Disciples of St. Eusebius.

[12] Agrippa succeeds Eusebius, Agrippa therefore took up that governance, a man adorned with many other good qualities, but especially with purity of soul: through which, ceaselessly apprehending the vision of divine beauty and inflamed by the fire of that love, he irrigated his cheeks with perpetual tears. When he had rightly fed that chosen and divine flock for a long time, Then David succeeds him, and then departed this life, that divine David, whose countenance I too had the privilege of beholding, took up the governance: a man who truly, in the words of the divine Apostle, had mortified his members that are upon the earth. Col. 3:5.

[13] For he had reaped such fruit from the teaching of the great Eusebius that he spent forty-five years in that monastery, A man of the greatest gentleness, and lived the entire time without anger or wrath. For no one, after he had assumed the governance, ever saw him overcome by this disturbance of the soul, even though, as is likely, there were innumerable things that would compel it. For one hundred and fifty men were fed by his right hand: He presided over one hundred and fifty monks, some indeed of the highest and most excellent virtue, imitating the heavenly manner of life; others, however, who were then just beginning to grow their feathers, and were being taught to leap over and fly above the earth. And yet, though there were so many being taught divine things, and some, as is likely, were making mistakes (for it is not easy for one who is just beginning to conduct himself correctly in all things), that divine man remained unmoved, as if he were incorporeal, no occasion rousing him to anger. I received this not only from hearsay but also from experience. For when I once desired to see that flock, I went there, having also other companions on the journey who embraced the same manner of life as I. His countenance always tranquil like his spirit, For the whole week, therefore, that we spent with that divine man, we saw his face undergo no change, neither now brightened by cheerfulness, now contracted by sadness. Likewise his eyes—never at one time fierce and stern, at another joyful—but always remaining in the same tenor of propriety and decorum. These things suffice to demonstrate the tranquillity of his soul. But it is likely that someone will think he appeared thus because no cause provoked him: wherefore I must needs relate something of the sort that happened while we were there.

[14] That divine man had sat down with us, engaging in philosophical discussions and inquiring into the summit of the evangelical manner of life. When such discourses had intervened, a certain Publius, Roman by birth but himself also admirable in character, Even from Publius, a Roman priest, and endowed with the honor of the priesthood, and holding the second rank of that governance, came to us crying out against the divine David, calling his gentleness a common harm; and saying that his mildness was bringing ruin to all; and calling that supreme philosophy madness, not modesty. After receiving an insult. But David, having a soul like adamant, received the arguments indeed, but was not stung by those things whose nature it is to sting: he did not change his countenance therefore, nor did he break off the conversation he had begun, but with a gentle voice and words signifying the serenity of his soul, he dismissed that elder, asking him to attend to whatever matters he wished. I, however, am speaking with these men who have come to us, as you see, considering this duty to be necessary. How could anyone have displayed gentleness of soul more clearly? For the one to whom that governance had been entrusted to have received such an insult from the one who held second rank, especially in the presence of guests who heard the reproach—and to have undergone no tempest or disturbance of anger—what virtue of a great and lofty soul does this not surpass and exceed? Indeed, the divine Apostle, considering the weakness of human nature and measuring the law he delivered by nature, says: Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your anger. Ps. 4:5; Eph. 4:26. For knowing that the impulse of anger belongs to nature, not to our choice, he did not wish to decree by law things that would be laborious and perhaps even impossible: but he set the span of a day as the measure for the impulse of nature and the tempest of anger; commanding reason to restrain it and curb it as with a bridle, and not allow it to advance beyond its limits. But this divine man fought beyond the laws that were laid down and leapt over the barriers: not permitting anger to be stirred even until evening, but not permitting it to be stirred at all. Such fruit did he reap from his association with the great Eusebius.

[15] I also saw many others in that dwelling who were lovers and imitators of this philosophy: some in the flower of their bodily strength, Other illustrious ascetics there; and others also in deepest old age. For though they had lived more than ninety years, they did not wish to abandon their laborious life, but were distinguished, performing the labors of youth, praising God both by night and by day, and carrying out those sacred offices; and eating their simple food every other day.

[16] To pass over others who are indeed not worthy of being passed over in silence, but deserve rather to be praised and celebrated in the highest degree—but lest the narrative be more prolix than is fitting—in that divine place there was a certain man whom they call Amman, Among whom Amman, an Ishmaelite, who sprouted indeed from an Ishmaelite root, but was not cast out from the house of Abraham, as the one from whom he traced his lineage had been; but he was a sharer with Isaac in the paternal inheritance, or rather he seized the kingdom of heaven. He immediately undertook the discipline of this monastic exercise under a certain man who then dwelt in the wilderness and trained them most excellently; his name was Marosas. Afterwards, however, when Marosas too ceased to preside over others, he came with his abbot to this flock: and he lived no small time; but having contended nobly and become illustrious, he departed from this life.

[17] He spent thirty-eight continuous years there: and his desire to labor was so great, as one who had only just begun to labor: He never wore shoes, for to this very day he has never covered his feet with shoes. When it is cold, he sits in the shade; in the heat he receives the sun, and as if it were a breeze of the west wind, he receives the flame that proceeds from it. For the whole of this time he has not permitted himself to drink water, Nor drinking, not eating those foods that are provided for those who train themselves not to drink (for they are accustomed to use moister foods), but using the same foods as others. Eating little, however, and that which provides him with modest strength, His loins girded with iron. he considers the use of water superfluous. Girded about the loins with a heavy iron, he rarely sits, but at night and for the greater part of the day, either standing or bending his knees, he offers to the Lord the office of prayer: he has entirely deprived himself of the use of lying down, for no one to this day has seen him reclining. Indeed, when he has been appointed leader of the choir and it falls to him to preside, he bears this entire labor with a ready and eager spirit, offering himself to those who obey his authority as an exemplar of the philosophic life.

[18] Such victory-distinguished combatants did the divine Eusebius, trainer and exerciser of these contests, present to the Lord: and having formed very many others in like manner, he sent them forth as teachers to other wrestling-schools, and they filled that entire sacred mountain with these divine meadows emitting a sweet fragrance. The disciples of Eusebius dispersed around the entire mountain. For although the cell of that monastic exercise had from the beginning been on the eastern side, one may see the offspring of his philosophy to the west and south, like stars leading choruses around the moon; and some praising the Creator in the Greek tongue, others in the language of the region in which they dwelt. But indeed I am attempting what cannot be done, desiring to pursue all the things that were rightly accomplished by that divine soul.

[19] An end must therefore be imposed upon this narrative, The author implores the blessing of these Saints. and the discourse must be turned to another subject, and the profit that is drawn from it must again be added, once we have begged to be made partakers of the blessing of these great men.

LIFE OF ST. MAUSIMAS, OR MAYSIMAS, PRIEST IN SYRIA,

from chapter 14 of the Philotheus of Theodoret the Bishop.

Around the year 400.

Mausimas or Maysimas, Priest in Syria (Saint)

From Theodoret.

[1] We know indeed that very many other lights of piety and true religion shone in the city of Antioch: the great Severus, and Peter the Egyptian, Eutyches, and Cyrillus, Antioch was illustrious for various holy men, and Moses and Malchus, and very many others who entered upon the same path. But if we were to attempt to write the deeds accomplished in life by all of them, the whole of time would not suffice for us: especially since the reading of very many authors also brings surfeit to many. Therefore, drawing conjectures about the life of those who have been passed over from those who have been written about, let them pursue them with praises, and imitate them, and derive profit. I, however, shall pass on to the meadows of Cyrus, and of those who were in them I shall show, And the city of Cyrus. as much as I am able, the beauty of the fragrant and fair flowers.

[2] There was a certain Maesimas, in the times that preceded ours, a Syrian by speech, and raised in the countryside, who displayed every kind of virtue. Maesimas, a parish priest, When he had become distinguished in the solitary life, the care of a certain village was entrusted to him. Offering the sacrifice and feeding the sheep of God, he both said and did what the divine law commanded. Content with one tunic and a hair-shirt, They say that he rarely changed either his tunic or his hair-shirt, but by sewing some patches onto the tears that occurred in them, he thus remedied their old age. Hospitable, He cared for strangers and the poor with so eager a spirit that he threw open his doors to all who came. For he is said to have had two casks, one of grain and the other of oil: from these he always supplied all who were in need; With grain and oil never failing. and he always had them full, with the blessing that was given to the widow of Zarephath and that had been poured into these casks. For the Lord Himself pours out all riches upon all those who call upon Him; and just as He commanded her jar and cruse to overflow, offering sheaves of the seeds of hospitality, so also He provided for this admirable man a supply that matched equally the eagerness of his spirit.

[3] He is illustrious for miracles: Moreover, he received great grace from the God of all for the working of miracles as well. I shall make mention of one or two miracles: the rest I shall pass over, as I hasten to come to others. A certain woman, distinguished both by birth and by faith, brought her son who had fallen into illness (he was of a very tender age) to many physicians. But when their art was surpassed, and the physicians had despaired and openly declared that the boy was going to die, the woman did not cast off her better hope: but imitating that Shunammite woman, she placed a litter upon mules. And having placed herself and the boy in it, she came to that divine man: and lamenting, and showing the affection of nature, she begged him to bring aid. He, having received the boy in his hands and brought him near to the base of the altar, He frees a boy from disease by bringing him near to the base of the altar; lay prostrate, praying to the physician of souls and bodies; and having obtained his petition, he returned the healthy son to his mother. I heard this from the woman who witnessed this miracle and received the salvation of her son.

[4] They say also that the lord of that village, when he came (he was Latoius, who held the first rank in the Senate of Antioch, but was held in the darkness of impiety), and was exacting the fruits from the farmers more harshly than was proper, The chariot of one who rejected his warnings was rendered immovable from heaven, that divine man counseled him to clemency and spoke to him about mercy: but he remained inexorable, and by experience he came to know the harm that followed from his disobedience. For when he had to depart, and the chariot was made ready, and sitting in it he had ordered the driver to urge the mules forward, they were indeed pulling with all their strength, straining and struggling to carry off the pole: but the wheels seemed to be fastened with iron and lead. And when a multitude of the country people, moving the wheels with levers, also accomplished nothing, a certain friend who was sitting beside Latoius informed him of the cause, saying that the aged priest had cursed him, and that he must appease him and make him well-disposed. Leaping therefore from the chariot, he became a suppliant to the one he had previously spurned; and prostrating himself at his feet and embracing his dirty rags, He releases it by his prayers. he begged him to restrain his anger. The priest, having received his prayers and offered them to the Lord, loosed the invisible bonds of the wheels and caused the vehicle to move as it was accustomed.

[5] Moreover, they relate many other such things about that divine leader. Even in the midst of men there is room for virtue. It can also be understood from these things that those who wish to pursue the philosophic life suffer no detriment from dwelling in towns and villages. For this man and those like him who take care of the worship of God show that even those who live in the midst of a multitude of people can attain the very summit of the virtues. Would that I might be raised up to at least some small part thereof, aided by their prayers.

e

The Menaea allude to his language with this distich:

Speaking formerly in the tongues of the Syrians, Maysimas Now speaks in the tongues of Angels to Angels.