Macedonius the Barley-eater

ON ST. MACEDONIUS THE BARLEY-EATER, ANCHORITE IN SYRIA.

Beginning of the fifth century.

Macedonius the Barley-Eater, anchorite in Syria (St.)

One may rightly doubt whether St. Macedonius the anchorite labored more in attending to the salvation of his own soul and the perfection of virtue, or in repelling the calamity of others. The former zeal is proclaimed by the Menaion and Maximus Cythereus on this day, The feast of St. Macedonius, on which he is honored by the Greeks; the latter by St. John Chrysostom, an eyewitness, in the seventeenth homily then delivered to the people of Antioch, by Theodoret in book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 19, and by Nicephorus in book 12, chapter 44; both by the same Theodoret in the Philotheus, or book 9 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 13, which we have thought best to place before the rest here. Life. To this we shall subjoin another narrative by the same Theodoret: then from Chrysostom an illustrious encomium of Macedonius and of his fellow anchorites and monks. Nicephorus drew from Theodoret's history, and the Menaion from the Philotheus, but more concisely: the latter was published in a Latin translation by our Rader in part 1 of the Garden of the Saints. Baronius also treats of the same Macedonius in volume 4, year of Christ 388, and St. John Damascene in his third oration on Images.

LIFE FROM THEODORET, Philotheus, ch. 13.

Macedonius the Barley-Eater, anchorite in Syria (St.)

From Theodoret.

CHAPTER I.

The anchoretic life of St. Macedonius. The Priesthood.

[1] Macedonius Krithophagos, All the Phoenicians and Syrians and Cilicians know Macedonius, surnamed Krithophagos, that is, the Barley-Eater (for this food imposed this surname upon him); and their neighbors and borderers also know him, who partly saw his miracles themselves, and partly heard fame celebrating them. But not all know all things; rather, since some learned one thing and others another, they rightly admire only what they know. But since I know more perfectly about this divine man than others, known to Theodoret, (for many things moved me to go to him and to be frequently in his company) I shall narrate each thing as I am able. I have, moreover, observed this order for him, and placed his narrative after many others, not because he was second in virtue to the rest (for he was equal even to the highest and first): but because, having lived a very long time, he received the end of his life after those whom I have mentioned.

[2] He lives in the mountains. This man, therefore, had as his arena and stadium the summits of mountains; not fixed in one place, but now dwelling in this one, now passing to that. He did this, not out of distaste for places, but fleeing the multitude of those who came to him and flocked together from every side. For forty-five continuous years he lived in this manner, using neither a tent for 45 years standing in a pit under the open sky, nor a hut, but standing in a deep pit: whence some also called him Gubba; and that name, if translated from the Syrian into the Greek language, signifies lakkon, that is, a pit.

[3] After that time, however, when he had become an old man, he yielded to those who begged him and set up a hut. Afterwards, at the entreaty of his intimates, 25 years in a hut: he also made use of small dwellings, not his own but belonging to others. For twenty-five continuous years he led his life in the hut and small dwellings, so that the total time of his contests amounts to seventy years.

[4] For food he used not bread, nor legumes, but cleaned barley, he eats barley soaked in water; in illness, other food, soaked in water alone. This food my mother, who was intimate with him, supplied for a very long time. When he had once come to visit her while she was ill and learned that she could not be persuaded to take food suitable for her disease (for she herself also had already embraced the monastic discipline), he counseled her to yield to the physicians and to consider that nourishment a medicine: for it is applied not for the sake of indulgence but of necessity. For I also, he said, who for forty years, as you know, have used only barley, when a certain illness came upon me the day before this, ordered my companion to ask for and bring me a little bread. Out of love for a longer contest: For it came into my mind that, if I died, I would render account for my death before the just Judge, as one who had fled from contests and refused the labors of service. For when death could have been prevented by a little food, and I could thus have remained in this life, laboring and afflicting myself and gathering the riches that are obtained from these things, I should have considered dying of hunger more desirable than living in philosophy. Filled therefore with fear from this, and wishing to blunt the stings of my thought, I both ordered bread to be asked for and ate what was brought: and I command you no longer to provide me with barley, but with bread. From that tongue, therefore, which was free from all falsehood, we heard that he had eaten barley for forty years. And these things indeed suffice for conjecturing how vigorous the man was in monastic discipline and how laborious.

[5] But we shall demonstrate the integrity and simplicity of his character by other things. For after the great Flavian had been ordained to feed the great flock of God, and had learned the man's virtue (for it was proclaimed and on the lips of all), he indeed drew him from the mountain summit, He is ordained Priest. as if an accusation against him had been laid before him. But when the mystical sacrifice had been presented, he brought him to the altar and enrolled him in the number of Priests. But after the sacred office was finished, and someone informed him of this (for he was entirely ignorant of what had been done), at first he assailed all with curses and reproaches; and afterwards, seizing his staff (for he was accustomed to walk leaning on it because of his old age), he pursued both the Pontiff himself and all the others who were present. For he supposed that the ordination would deprive him of both the mountain summit and the manner of life he desired. But then his intimates with difficulty calmed him in his anger.

[6] But after the cycle of the week had been completed, and the day of the Lord's feast had come again, the great Flavian again summoned him, asking that he share in this celebration with them: but he said to those who had come: Are not the things that were done sufficient for you? Do you wish to make me a Priest again? But when they said that it was impossible for the same ordination to be performed twice, he did not yield and did not come, until time and his intimates taught him. I know that this narrative will seem to many not very admirable: endowed with great simplicity and purity of soul. but I have recorded it because I consider it worthy of commemoration, as from which both the simplicity of his mind and the purity of his soul can be sufficiently discerned. To those who are of such a character, the Lord has promised the kingdom of heaven: Amen, He says, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like these little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 18:3. Since, therefore, we have briefly shown the form and character of his soul, come let us also show his confidence born of virtue.

CHAPTER II.

Confidence in God. Miracles.

[7] A certain military commander, who delighted in hunting, ascended the mountain to hunt: and dogs followed him, and soldiers, and whatever is suited for hunting. But when he saw the man from afar, and heard from those who were with him who he was, he immediately leapt from his horse, approached, addressed him, and asked what he was doing dwelling there. He in turn asked: And what have you come here to do? He hunts for God. When the commander said: To hunt. And I, said Macedonius, hunt for my God, and I desire to capture Him, and I long to contemplate Him; nor shall I cease from this beautiful hunt. When the commander heard this and marveled, as was fitting, he withdrew.

[8] When on one occasion the city, incited by some evil demon, was in a frenzy and raged against the Emperor's statues, certain most distinguished commanders had come who were pronouncing a sentence of annihilation against the city. When he had descended from the mountain, He is honored by the Emperor's commanders. he detained both commanders as they approached in the forum. They, when they had learned who he was, both leapt from their horses, grasped his hands and knees, and expressed their greetings to him. He, however, commanded them to tell the Emperor that he was a man and had the same nature as those who had treated him with insult: and that since it was proper to measure anger by nature, he had used immoderate anger, and for the sake of his own images was killing the images of God, He prevents the slaughter of men, who are the image of God. and for the bronze of the statues was delivering bodies to death: and for us to fashion bronze images and form them again is easy and ready; but you, even though you are Emperor, cannot restore slain bodies to life. And why do I speak of bodies? For you cannot fashion even one hair. He said these things speaking in the Syrian language. And they, hearing them as an interpreter translated them into the Greek language, both shuddered and indicated that they would transmit them to the Emperor. I, however, believe that all will confess these words to be the gift of the grace of the divine Spirit. For how else would this man, entirely unacquainted with all learning, raised in the fields, leading his life on the summits of mountains, carrying about in his soul every simplicity, and who had not even devoted himself to the divine oracles, have spoken these things? Since therefore I have declared both his spiritual wisdom and the confidence that befits the just (for the just man is bold as a lion), I shall pass on to miracles.

[9] The wife of a certain rich nobleman had fallen into a disease of gluttony: By the sign of the Cross he cures a demonic gluttony: and some called that disease the operation or vexation of a demon, while others supposed it to be a weakness of the body. Whether it was one or the other, it was of this sort: they said that she, eating thirty hens in a day, could not extinguish her appetite with satiety, but still craved more. Since therefore her resources were being consumed in this way, those who were connected to her, pitying her, besought that divine man. He came and prayed: and when he had laid his right hand upon water and formed the saving sign, and ordered her to drink, he cured the disease and so blunted that immoderate appetite that thenceforth a small portion of a hen each day sufficed for her nourishment. Thus was this disease cured.

[10] When a certain girl was still kept in the bridal chamber, and suddenly began to be tormented by an evil demon, her father ran to the divine man, praying and crying out and begging that his daughter be cured. He prayed and ordered the demon to depart from the girl at once. A demon from a possessed girl, But the demon said that he had not entered her of his own will, but had been compelled by magical enchantments. He also named the man who had compelled him, and said that love was the cause of the incantation. But when the father heard this, he could not bear the impulse of his anger, and did not wait for his daughter to be cured; but he went to the highest of all magistrates, namely the Governor who presided over several nations, accused the man, and narrated the affair. The accused, however, when brought to trial, denied the matter and called the accusation a slander. The father, however, cited no other witness than the demon himself who had served as the minister of the incantation: and he begged the Judge to hasten to that divine man and receive his testimony. But when the Judge said that it was neither right nor just for an inquiry to be held in a place of monastic discipline, the author of the sorcery having been indicated, the girl's father said he would bring Macedonius to the trial: and running he persuaded him and brought him. And the Judge, sitting outside the court, was not a judge but a spectator. For the great Macedonius performed the office of Judge, using the power that dwelt within him. And when he commanded the demon to abandon his customary falsehood and narrate the tragedy of the affair with complete truth, the demon, driven by the greatest necessity, both revealed the man who had done him violence with magical charms, and the maidservant through whom the potion had been given to the girl. But when the demon was preparing to say other things that he had done when compelled by others, he prevents him from saying more, burning one man's house, killing another's beasts of burden, and injuring yet another with some other harm, the man of God ordered him to be silent and to depart at once far from the girl and from the city. And the demon, as if obeying the command of a Lord, and drives him out. did as he was ordered and immediately fled. Thus when the divine man had freed her from frenzy, he also snatched that wretched man from the accusation, and prevented the Judge from passing sentence of death upon him; saying that it was not right that, because of the things that had been proven through the demon, capital punishment should be decreed, but rather that salvation should be given him through repentance. And these things indeed suffice to show the abundance of divine power that had been given to him: I shall, however, narrate other things as well.

[11] A certain woman of noble birth and exceeding wealth (she was called Assyria) was indeed of deranged mind, and recognized none of her household members; and she could not bear to take food and drink. For a very long time she was continually delirious, and some said this was the vexation and operation of a demon, while the physicians said it was a disease of the brain. He heals another demoniac. When therefore all medical art had been exhausted and no help was forthcoming from it, her husband (who was Abrodianus), a man who was both among the magistrates and endowed with great dignity, running to that divine man, narrated his wife's illness and begged that she might obtain a cure. The divine man yielded, and came to the house, and with great and intense devotion offered prayer to God. When the prayer was completed, and he had ordered water to be brought and made the figure of the saving sign, he ordered her to drink. But when the physicians objected, on the grounds that the disease would increase from drinking cold water, having expelled their entire company, he offered the potion to the woman. And as soon as she drank it, she came to her senses and, completely freed from the disease, recognized the divine man, and asked to receive his right hand, and placed it upon her eyes and brought it to her mouth, and thenceforth she was always of sound mind.

e Longus: Astrium.

f The same: Abodianus.

CHAPTER III.

Heavenly gifts. The birth of Theodoret.

[12] He is illuminated by heavenly fire. When he was embracing that mode of life in the mountains, a certain shepherd, searching for stray sheep, came to the place where the man of God was (it was deep night, and much snow had fallen), and he saw, as he himself said, a pyre kindled around him and two persons clad in white garments supplying fuel to the fire. For bringing cheerfulness of spirit, he enjoyed divine assistance.

[13] Moreover, he was a partaker of the prophetic gift. And when a certain military commander, famous for his piety and true religion (and who is ignorant of the virtue of Lupicianus?), once came to him, he said that he was anxious about certain men He announces certain distant and future events. who were bringing necessities to him by sea from the royal city. For he said that fifty days had passed since they set sail from port, and they had heard nothing about them. Without any hesitation, he said: One ship, friend, has perished; but the other will enter the port of Seleucia tomorrow. And thus he heard that divine voice speak: and he learned by experience the truth of what he had said.

[14] But passing over other things, I shall narrate what pertains to ourselves. He obtains offspring for the mother of Theodoret, who was formerly barren. When my mother had lived with my father for thirteen years, she had not become a mother of children: for she was barren, as one whom nature prevented from bearing fruit. And she indeed did not take this very hard: for being learned in divine things, she believed this to be profitable. But my father suffered great distress because he lacked children; and running about everywhere, he begged the servants of God to ask God for children for him. Some therefore promised that they would beseech God and ordered him to be content with God's will. But this divine man openly declared that he would petition the Maker of the universe for one, and promised that he would obtain the petition. When therefore three years had passed and the promise had not reached its fulfillment, my father again approached demanding the fulfillment of the promise. He ordered that his wife should be sent to him. When my mother came, that divine man said that he would petition, and that she would receive a son, and that it was necessary for him to be dedicated to the one who gave him. When my mother asked only that she might receive the salvation of her soul and be freed from Gehenna: To be consecrated to God. Besides this, he said, the generous and bountiful God will give you a son. For to those who ask purely and sincerely, He grants double petitions. From there my mother returned, bearing the blessing of the promise. And in the fourth year after the promise she conceived and bore in her womb: and she went to the divine man, showing the sheaves of the blessing.

[15] But in the fifth month from conception there was danger of miscarriage. She again sent to her new Elisha (for the illness prevented her from coming to him in person), and reminded him that she had not wished to become a mother of children, and brought forward his promises. When he had seen from afar the one who was coming, he both recognized her and indicated the cause: for during the night the Lord had shown him both the disease and the cure. Having taken his staff, therefore, he came, leaning upon it: and when he was within the house and had given the salutation of peace as was his custom, Be of good courage, he said, and do not fear; He drives away the danger of miscarriage with blessed water. for He who gave the gift will not take it away, unless you transgress the agreements. You have promised that you will give back to Him the one who was given and will consecrate him to the divine ministry. So indeed, said my mother, I both desire and wish. For I consider even the most imperfect offspring more desirable than rearing a son alienated from God. When therefore he had received water and blessed it, Drink then, said the divine man, this water, and you will feel the divine assistance. She drank as he had commanded and escaped the danger of miscarriage. These are the miracles of our Elisha.

[16] I often received his blessing and instruction. For exhorting me, he often said: You were born, my son, with many labors; He exhorts Theodoret to virtue. for many nights I continually prayed to God for this one thing: that your parents might become what they are called now that you have been born. See therefore that you lead a life worthy of those labors, as one who, before you were born, was dedicated by promises. For things dedicated to God are to be venerated by all, and are by no means to be handled by the common crowd. It is fitting, therefore, that you too should not admit evil movements of the soul, and should do and think only those things that please God, the lawgiver of virtue. These things the divine man constantly urged upon me; and I remember what he said to me, and I have been taught the divine gift. Since, however, I do not show by deeds what he urged upon me, I ask that through his prayers I may obtain divine assistance and may spend what remains of my life according to his precepts. What sort of man, therefore, he was, and by what labors he attracted the divine grace, these things also suffice for instruction.

[17] His death also received in this world an honor worthy of his labors. He is buried near Saints Aphraates and Theodosius. For all, both citizens and strangers, and those to whom the administration of great magistracies had been entrusted, bearing that sacred bier upon their shoulders, carried it to the church of the Martyrs renowned for their victory: and they deposited that holy and God-pleasing body with the divine men Aphraates and Theodosius: and his glory remained such that it could not be extinguished. And we, having placed an end to the narrative, breathe in the sweet fragrance that can be perceived from the narrative.

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE ANTIOCHENES PREVENTED BY ST. MACEDONIUS.

From Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 19.

Macedonius the Barley-Eater, anchorite in Syria (St.)

[1] The Empress departed this life before her husband (Theodosius the Elder). Not long after her death, we have received word that a certain deed committed by chance On account of a heavy tax, clearly revealed the incredible love with which the Emperor embraced her. The Emperor, compelled by the frequency of wars, imposed upon the cities a certain new and unusual kind of tax: which Antioch did not endure; but the populace, seeing those from whom the tax was demanded being hung up because of their refusal, committed other misdeeds which an ignorant multitude, having found an occasion for sedition, is accustomed to commit: and especially they pulled down the bronze statue of Placilla (for that was the Empress's name), which had been erected to be adorned with every kind of praise, The Antiochenes pull down the Empress's statue: and dragged it through a great part of the city.

[2] Hearing these things, the Emperor, as was fitting, was gravely disturbed, stripped that city of all its privileges, and bestowed the primacy upon the neighboring city of Laodicea: judging that this would be exceedingly hard for the Antiochenes to bear (for the Laodiceans had already from ancient times burned with great jealousy against the Antiochenes). They are punished by Theodosius. Finally he threatened to set fire to the city and lay it utterly waste, and indeed to reduce it to a village. Moreover, certain magistrates who had been caught in that audacious deed were put to death before the Emperor was informed about that tragic disaster. Threatening the most extreme measures. But the Emperor, although he had ordered everything he had threatened to be carried out, nevertheless the law that had been enacted at the urging of the great Ambrose stood in the way of their execution.

[3] But when the messengers who were to present the Emperor's threats to the city arrived there, namely Elebichus, at that time the commander of the army, and Caesarius, the Prefect of the Palace, whom the Romans call the Master of the Court; Macedonius addresses these commanders all were terrified by those threats and in great fear. But the athletes of virtue who dwelt at the foot of the mountain, who were very many and excellent men, began to admonish and exhort these two. Of their number was the most holy Macedonius, a man both ignorant of the affairs conducted in common life and entirely unacquainted with sacred literature. Living on the mountain summits, he was accustomed to offer sincere prayers night and day to the Savior of all: with authority; and he appeared neither to be frightened by the Emperor's violence nor to be troubled by the power of those who had been sent: but in the middle of the city, seizing the cloak of one of them, he ordered both to dismount from their horses. They, seeing an old man of small stature, clad in dirty rags, were at first indignant; but as soon as they had learned from some of those who went before them of the man's virtue, they began to leap from their horses, to embrace his knees, and at last to ask for pardon. And he orders them to tell the Emperor not to destroy man, the image of God. Macedonius, imbued with divine wisdom, addressed them with the following speech: Say, Most Illustrious Men, these words to the Emperor: That he is not only Emperor but also a man. Therefore let him not cast his eyes only upon the Empire, but let him embrace with his mind his own nature. For since he is a man, he rules those who share the same nature. But human nature was fashioned after the image and likeness of God. Wherefore let him not command the image of God to be so cruelly and inhumanly removed. For it stirs the Maker to anger when someone treats His image with contempt. Let him consider how indignantly he himself bore it that the bronze image of his wife was treated with insult: yet he does not hesitate to be insulting to the image of God. And how great is the difference between a lifeless image and one that is animated, living, and endowed with reason, is clear to all who possess understanding. Let him consider also this: that it is very easy for us to fashion many bronze images in place of one; but he cannot possibly make even a single hair of those who have been killed.

[4] Theodosius is appeased. When those admirable men had heard this speech, they reported it to the Emperor: and when the flame of his anger had been extinguished by it, instead of the threats he had hurled, he wrote a letter in which he excused himself and set forth the cause of his anger: It was not fitting, he said, that if any fault was mine, my wife, a woman most deservedly adorned with the highest praises, should suffer such an insult after death: but if any were angry with me, they ought to have turned the impulse of their furious spirit against me. He added also that he had taken it hard and was greatly anguished in soul when he had learned that some had been slain by the magistrates. These things have been commemorated by me for this reason: both because I thought it unjust that the freedom of speech exercised by Macedonius, a monk of the highest eminence, should be effaced by oblivion; and because I wished to set before all eyes that most useful law, composed at the persuasion of the great Ambrose.

HISTORY OF THE ANTIOCHENE TUMULT,

from Homily 17 of St. Chrysostom to the people of Antioch.

Macedonius the Barley-Eater, anchorite in Syria (St.)

From St. Chrysostom.

[1] We expected innumerable evils: that the goods of all would be plundered, that dwellings with their inhabitants would be burned, that the city would be removed from the midst of the world, and all its remains would perish, and that the plow would be driven over its soil. [When the Emperor Theodosius sent commanders threatening the most extreme measures against the city of Antioch,] But behold, all these things remained only in expectation and did not proceed to execution. Nor is this alone to be marveled at, that God removed so great a danger; but also that He conferred great benefits upon us, and adorned our city, and through this trial and calamity made us more proven. In what way, I shall tell. For when those sent by the Emperor to investigate the offenses had established that dreadful tribunal, and were summoning all to punishment for their misdeeds, and the expectation of various forms of death hung over all, then the monks who inhabited the mountain summits displayed their own wisdom. For though shut up in their caves for so many years, with no one calling upon them and no one persuading them, when they saw such a cloud surrounding the city, the anchorites come there: leaving their tents and caves, they flocked together from every quarter, like angels proceeding from heaven. And it was possible then to see the city made similar to heaven, when everywhere those holy men appeared, consoling those oppressed with grief by their very aspect alone, and leading them to contempt of every calamity. For who, beholding them, would not have laughed at death? Who would not have despised life?

[2] Nor was this alone admirable; but they approached the Princes themselves and spoke with confidence on behalf of the accused, and all were prepared to shed their blood They intercede with the commanders and defend the wretched; and to lay down their heads, in order to rescue the captives from their expected tribulations: and they said that they would not withdraw until the Judges either spared the people of the city or sent them together with the accused as envoys to the Emperor. The one who rules our nation, they said, is devout, faithful, living with piety. We therefore will certainly reconcile him: we will not permit you, nor will we allow you, to pollute the sword or to cut off anyone's head. But if you will not bear this, we also will certainly die with them. Grievous things have been committed, and we confess it, but the iniquity of the deeds does not exceed the humanity of the Emperor.

[3] It is said that one of them spoke another word full of wisdom: Especially Macedonius; That the statues that were pulled down have been erected again and received their proper form, and the deed has had a most speedy correction: but if you kill the image of God, how will you be able to recall what was done? How will you raise the dead and give souls back to bodies? They also discoursed to them at length about the judgment. Who would not be dismayed? Who would not admire the wisdom of these men? Since a certain mother of the accused, with bared head and showing her gray hairs, seized the bridle of the horse of the one about to judge, and running through the forum, thus entered the judgment hall together with him, we were all astounded, we all admired her piety and magnanimity: how much more should we be astounded at these men? For even if she had died for her son, there would be nothing remarkable: for the force of nature is great, and the irresistible compulsion of the womb. But these men neither begot them with admirable charity and magnanimity: nor raised them: indeed those whom they did not know, whose name they had not heard, with whom they had never conversed, whom they knew only from their calamity, they loved to such a degree that, even if they had had innumerable lives, they would have wished to give them all for their salvation. And do not tell me this, that they were not slaughtered and did not shed their blood: but that they used such liberty against the Judges as only those who despaired of their own safety were likely to use: and with such a resolve they ran from the mountains to the tribunal. For unless they had first prepared themselves for death to anyone, they could not have addressed the Judges so freely and displayed such magnanimity at that time. For they spent whole days sitting before the gates of the praetorium, prepared to snatch those about to be led away from the hands of the executioners.

[4] Where now are the wearers of cloaks, who display their profound beards and carry staffs in their right hand, the philosophers of the pagans, those Cynic abominations, more wretched than dogs under the table, doing everything for the sake of their belly? They all deserted the city at that time, they all recoiled, while the philosophers had fled, and hid in caves: but only those who through their deeds truly exhibit philosophy, as if no evil had seized the city, appeared fearlessly in the forum. And those who dwelt in the city flew away to the mountains and deserts; but the inhabitants of the wilderness entered the city, demonstrating by their very deeds what I have not ceased saying in recent days: that the furnace will not be able to harm one who lives with virtue. So much higher is wisdom of soul than all things, both pleasant and sorrowful: for it neither grows soft in the former nor is contracted and humbled by the latter, but remains equal through all things, displaying its own fortitude and strength. For whom would the difficulty of the present time not have convicted? The chief men of our commonwealth, holding positions of power, possessed of immense wealth, and the leading men of the city; who had great license with the Emperor, deserting their houses and leaving them empty, all took counsel for their own safety: and every friendship and kinship was then put to shame: and those whom they had long known, in the time of calamity they wished not to know and to be unknown by others. But the monks, poor men, having nothing more than a wretched garment, living in rustic simplicity, appearing to be of no account, dwelling on mountains and in forests, endowed with a great and lofty spirit, like lions, while all were terrified and trembling, standing in their midst, dissolved the evil not in many days but in a brief moment of time. And just as noble warriors, not only by engaging the enemy but merely by being seen in the battle line and shouting, put the enemy to flight; so these men also in a single day both descended and dissolved the calamity and returned to their own tents. So great is the philosophy that Christ introduced into the human race. And why do I speak of the rich even the commanders themselves feared to delay punishment. and those placed in positions of power, when even those who had obtained the power of judging and administered the highest commands, being beseeched by these very monks to pass sentence with pardon, declared that they were not the masters of the outcome? For it was not safe, but dangerous, not only to injure the Emperor, but also to dismiss unpunished those who had been convicted of the insult.

[5] But these men were more powerful than all by their greatness of soul and endurance; sitting as suppliants, they begged that the commanders exhibit the power they had not received from the Emperor; and when those who were accused had been identified, they were able to persuade the judges not to pronounce a sentence of condemnation, they themselves wishing to go to the Emperor; but to refer them to the judgment of the Emperor: and they promised that they would persuade him and would certainly bring it about that he would grant pardon to those who had sinned against him, and they undertook the journey. But the judges, reverencing their wisdom and struck by the loftiness of their understanding, did not permit them to undertake this long journey: others are sent with their letters. but if only they could have their words in writing, they promised that they themselves would depart with the letters and would entreat the Emperor to dismiss all his anger: which we also expect to happen. For when the sentence was being pronounced, many entered and spoke words of wisdom, and appealed to the Emperor through letters, and made mention of the judgment, and said they would lay down their heads unless this were done. And the Judges departed taking these words in the letters. This will adorn your city more splendidly than any crown: and the Emperor will hear what has been done here, and the great city will hear, and all the world will hear, This matter will be an honor to the Antiochenes. that such monks inhabit the city of the Antiochenes as to display Apostolic confidence. And now when the letters are read in the camp, all will admire their magnanimity, all will call our city blessed: and we shall repel the evil reputation, and all will know that the deeds were not those of the city's inhabitants, but of strangers and wretches: and the adequate demonstration of the city's character will be the testimony of the monks.