Ioannicius

ON ST. IOANNICIUS, MONK IN BITHYNIA,

IN THE YEAR 846.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Ioannicius, monk in Bithynia (S.)

BY J. V. D. G.

§ I. Of the ecclesiastical cult of St. Ioannicius.

[1] St. Ioannicius is praised as very celebrated in the menologion of Basil That St. Ioannicius was rightly and deservedly named by our Papebroch Ephemerides graeco-moscae, Acta SS., May vol. I, p. L. a most celebrated abbot in Bithynia will be plain to anyone reading his Acts. For both on account of his outstanding holiness and on account of the events of great moment amid which he was engaged and played no despicable part, above all in strengthening the minds of his contemporaries against the harassments of the iconoclast emperors, this humble monk obtained a foremost place among so many and such illustrious men of the Greek church. Therefore they, especially the Greeks and Slavs, have honoured his holy memory with much veneration. First of all we shall recite the elogium of the menologion of Basil [According to the edition of Cardinal Albani, 1727, vol. I, p. 164, whose rather free Latin interpretation we have sometimes changed.].

Μνήμη τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμὼν Ἰωαννικίου τοῦ θαυματουργοῦ.

Ὁ μέγας πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος ὑπῆρχεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας Βιθυνίας ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ Καβαλλίνου. Διὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνδρίαν αὐτοῦ ἐστρατεύθη εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐσκουβίτων στρατείαν καὶ ἠνδραγάθει ἐν πᾶσι πολέμοις, κατακόπτων τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔθνος. Ἐν μιᾷ δὲ πολέμου γενομένου, ἰδὼν πολλοὺς τῶν συστρατιωτῶν σφαγέντας, καὶ λυπηθεὶς κατέλιπε τὴν στρατείαν, καὶ κατέλαβε τὸ τοῦ Ὀλύμπου ὄρος καὶ ἡσύχαζε. Εἶτα γνωρισθεὶς παρὰ συστρατιώτου τινος, φυγὼν ἀπῆλθεν ἐν τῷ τῆς Λυκίας ὄρει· ἐν ᾧ πολλὰ θαύματα ποίησας, δι᾽ ἀποκαλύψεως ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν μονὴν Ἐριστῆς, καὶ γίνεται μοναχός. Καὶ ἀπὸ ὄρους εἰς ὄρος μεθαβαίνων ἐθαυματούργει, καὶ δαίμονας ἐφυγάδευεν, ἐδέξατο δὲ καὶ προορατικὰ χαρίσματα, καὶ βασιλέων μὴν ἀλλαγὰς προεῖπε καὶ πατριάρχων. Ἐξ οὗ καὶ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὸν ἅγιον Μεθόδιον πατριάρχην, περὶ οὗ προεφήτευσε, μετὰ τρίτην ἡμέραν ἐκοιμήθη.

COMMEMORATION OF OUR HOLY FATHER IOANNICIUS THE WONDERWORKER.

Our great father Ioannicius was sprung from the region of Bithynia in the time of the emperor Constantine Caballinus. On account of his warlike valour he served in the military corps of the Excubitors, and when the nation of the Bulgars had been inflicted with many defeats, he bore himself bravely. But being engaged in a certain battle of this war, he saw many of his fellow soldiers slaughtered; struck with grief he abandoned the military life, and having climbed Mount Olympus he embraced the solitary life. Afterwards, however, being recognized by a certain former fellow soldier of his, he took to flight, until he halted on a mountain of Lycia: where, after he had worked many miracles, being admonished in a vision he sought the monastery of Eristae and became a monk. And passing from mountain to mountain he worked prodigies, put demons to flight, received also the gift of prophecy and foretold the changes of emperors and of patriarchs. Then, when Methodius had been made patriarch, as he had foretold, he fell asleep on the third day after.

This last sentence of the menologion is so contracted that it runs into a manifest error. For, as we shall show later, St. Ioannicius did not die on the third day after Methodius was made patriarch, but on the third day after he had foretold the death of Methodius.

[2] and in the synaxarion Similar, but more explicit, is the formula which the synaxarion presents. We give it excerpted from three ancient manuscripts of the synaxarion, already cited rather often in this volume Cf. above pp. 225, 227., which are kept in the National Library of Paris under nos. 1590, 1592, 1594, and also from the synaxarion of Sirmond, now the Phillipps manuscript no. 1622 of the library of Berlin, fols. 70v–71r. In recording the various readings these manuscripts will be marked nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Οὗτος ὁ μακάριος γεννᾶται τὸ τέταρτον ἔτος Τῷ ἑβδόμῳ ἔτει 1, 2. τῆς omits 3. τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου Λέοντος omits 3. τυραννίδος, χώρας μὲν φὺς τῆς τῶν omits 2, 4. Βιθυνῆν ἐπαρχίας omits 3, 4. , κώμης τῶν Μαρυκάτων Μαρυκάτου 1, 2. , πλησίον Ἀπολλωνίαδος κειμένης λίμνης, πατρὸς μὴν Μυρισικοῦ Μυριτζίκη 3, 4. , μητρὸς δὲ Ἀναστασοῦς. Οὗτος καί 3, 4. εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας πεφθακὼς, τῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει τῆς αὐτοῦ ἡλικίας κατὰ Βουλγάρων ἐστράτευσεν (ἐστράτευσεν — καὶ ἀπωσάμενος) συνεστρατεύσας τῷ βασιλεῖ 1. . οὕς κατακόψας, καὶ τοὺς ὁμοφύλους περισώσας διασώσας 4. ἐπ᾽ ὄψεσι τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἀπωσάμενος τὴν ἐκ τῆς νίκης μελετωμένην ταμιευομένην 3, 4; αὐτῷ adds 4. παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως κρατοῦντος 3, 4. δόξαν τε καὶ πλοῦτον τιμήν 3, 4. , καταλαμβάνει τὸ ὄρος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ omits 3, 4. θείας φωνῆς αὐτήκοος γίνεται γέγονεν 3, γεγονώς 4. . Καὶ ἀκολουθων τῷ κελεύοντι τὰ (καὶ-τὰ) omits 4. τῶν ὀρέων ὑψῆ ὑψηλότερα 3, 4. φθάνει, ἐν οἷς εὗρε δύο μοναχοὺς μον. δύο περιτυγχάνει 3, 4. ἀπὸ τεσσαράκοντα ἐτῶν ἀσκουμένους (ἀπ. τεσ. ἐτ. ἀσκ.) omits 3, 4. καὶ οὐδέποτε παρά τινος ὁραθέντας (καὶ-οραθ.) οὐχ ὁραθέντας παρά τινος πώποτε 3, 4. τριχίνοις ἐνδύμασι περιεσμένους (τριχ. ἐνδ. περιεσμ.) τρίχινά τε περιβεβλημένους 3, 4. καὶ βοτάναις ἀγρίαις βοτάνας ἀγρίας 4. τρεφομένους. Οἱ καὶ θεοφορούμενοι omits 3, 4. περὶ πάντων αὐτῷ τῶν μελλόντων τῶν μελ. omits 3, 4. προήγγειλαν, ἐπιδεδωκότες δεδωκότες 2, 3. περιβόλαιος ἐξ ὧν εἶχον, εὐλογίας εὐχῆς 3, 4. χάριν. Ὁ (ὁ δὲ-ἀνδρῶν) omits 3, 4. δὲ μαθὼν παρὰ τῶν θεοφόρων ἐκείνων ἀνδρῶν (ὁ δὲ-ἀνδρῶν) omits 3, 4. ἐκεῖθέν τε ἀπολυθεὶς τὸ τοῦ adds 4. Τριχάλικος ὄρος καταλαμβάνει (ἐκεῖθεν-καταλαμ.) καταλαμβάνει τὸ Τριχάλ. ὄρος 1, 2. , εἶτα τὴν τῶν Ἀγαύρων Αὐγάρων 4. μονήν, εἶτα τῆς Κουνδουρίας τὰ ὄρη. Ἔκτοτε καί 3, 4. μαθὼν τριάκοντα μόνους ψαλμοὺς ἔψαλλε μετά τινος σμικροτάτου τροπαρίου τρόπου 1, 2. οὕτω συντεθειμένου· Ἡ ἐλπίς μου ὁ Θεός, καταφυγή μου ὁ Χριστός, σκέπη μου τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Οὗτος ὁ μακάριος πολλοὺς τόπους adds 4. καὶ ἀναριθμήτους (καὶ ἀναριθ.) omits 3. 4. τόπους καὶ πόνους πόλεις 1, 2. διαμείψας διαμειψάμενος 3, 4. καὶ μέγιστα ἐργασάμενος τεράστια καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων προειπὼν προσειπών 3. καὶ [(καὶ-to the end) in a slightly different style in 1, 2, and indeed thus: καὶ πλήρης ἡμέρων γενόμενος πρὸς την Ἀντιδίου μονὴν ἔρχεται· ἐν ᾖ ὑπάρχοντος αὐτοῦ ὁ ἅγιος Μεθόδιος ὁ πατριάρχης γνοὺς τῷ πνεύματι τὴν ἀνάλυσιν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν παρεγένετο, καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας τῆς τοῦ ἐπισκόπου ἐπιδημίας ὁ ὁσιος ἀνεπαύετο ἐν τῷ ἐνενηκοστῷ τετάρτῳ ἔτει τῆς αὐτοῦ ἡλικίας, καὶ μετὰ μῆνας ἑπτὰ ἐκοιμήθη καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Μεθόδιος.] πρὸς τὴν Ἀντιδίου μονὴν ἐλθών, πλήρης τε ἡμέρων γενόμενος μετὰ τρίτην ἡμέραν τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Μεθοδίου ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει πατριαρχίας πατριάρχου 3. ἣν προεῖπεν αὐτός αὐτῷ 4. , ἀνεπαύσατο ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἐτῆ ἐτῶν 4. ὑπάρχων ἐνενήκοντα τέσσαρες. Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτοῦ σύναξις ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Καλλιστράτου.

That blessed man is born in the fourth year of the reign of Leo Copronymus, sprung in region from the province of the Bithynians, and from the village of Marycata situated near the lake of Apollonias, his father being Myrisicus, his mother Anastaso. Having advanced to full age, in the forty-third year of his age he fought against the Bulgars. When he had inflicted defeat on them and freed his fellow soldiers under the eyes of the king, refusing the glory and riches which were being procured for him by the king on account of the victory, he makes for the mountain where, having become a willing hearer of the divine voice, he follows him who was commanding him and hastens to the lofty mountains, in which he found two monks who had been leading the ascetic life for forty years and whom no one had seen up to that time, clothed in garments of hair and nourishing themselves on wild herbs. These, inspired by God, foretold to him all future things, besides giving him as a blessing a garment out of those which were at hand. Having been instructed by those God-bearing men, he went on from there and came to Mount Trichalix, afterwards to the monastery of the Agauri and then to the mountains of Cunduria. After he had learned only thirty psalms, he used to sing them with a certain little troparion composed thus: My hope is God, my refuge Christ, my protection the Holy Spirit. This blessed man, having been engaged in many and innumerable places and labours, having worked the greatest prodigies and foretelling future things, when he had come to the monastery of Antidius, having become full of days, on the third day after the patriarchate of St. Methodius of Constantinople, which he himself had foretold, rested in the Lord, aged ninety-four years. His synaxis is celebrated in the monastery of St. Callistratus.

As we shall point out in its place, concerning the year of birth of St. Ioannicius the synaxarion teaches no more correctly than the menologion. For we shall demonstrate that he was born not at all under the reign of Leo IV, but while Constantine Copronymus was emperor. Afterwards also we shall make clear in what way the things which are stated here very obscurely concerning the time of the death of St. Ioannicius and of St. Methodius hang together.

[3] and in various calendars. The metrical martyrology praises the holy father Ioannicius the great, on Olympus, thus:

Τὸν Ἰωαννίκιον ἐκ γῆς λαμβάνει αὐτῷ λόγῳ γῆν τοῦ Θεοῦ πήξας Λόγος.

The Word of God, forming the world by his word, has raised Ioannicius from the earth.

And thus the Ephemerides graeco-moscae:

Σῆμά σοι ἔν τε τετάρτῃ, Ἰωαννίκιε, χεῦσαν.

The fourth day has built for you, Ioannicius, a worthy tomb.

It has already been pointed out in the preceding volume Vol. I of November, p. 583. that St. Ioannicius is celebrated in the menologion of Basil on the 3rd day of November. Nor does greater agreement prevail in the various manuscripts of the menaia and synaxaria, of which some fix the memory of the saint to the 4th day, others to the 3rd. Which may also be observed in the liturgical books of the Slavs, to which we come.

[4] Among the Slavs too the cult of St. Ioannicius is unanimous, In these calendars, the Rev. Fr. Martinov reports, St. Ioannicius, hermit on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, of great fame among the Orientals, is proclaimed with unanimous consent; except that in the Rumyantsev manuscript he is wrongly called Anicius, and much worse in the synaxarion of Possevino he is named Onicius the martyr. Let anyone who desires to know the whole series of monuments in which St. Ioannicius is commemorated go to the Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus; which it is irksome to recite again here. But to these must be added the documents which, after the publication of Fr. Martinov's work, the archimandrite Sergius added in the complete Calendar of the East, whose title is Polnyj Mesjacoslov Vostoka [Published at Moscow 1875 and 1876. On the outstanding merit of this work read Martinov in the Brussels collection Précis historiques, 1876, p. 577, and Nilles, Kalendarium manuale utriusque ecclesiae, vol. I, p. XXVIII.]. They are the Greek Calendar of the synod of the year 1056,

the Greek Synaxarion of the synod of the year 1295, and the Ochrid manuscript of the twelfth century. Finally the Rev. Fr. Nilles reports that both the Catholic Ruthenians Op. cit., p. 426. and the Greek-Oriental Serbs Ibid., p. 445. honour St. Ioannicius, inscribed in their calendar. In the calendar of the Syrians edited by Assemani in the second volume of the Bibliotheca Clementino-Vaticana, there is also a commemoration of Ioannicius the wonderworker on the 4th day of November.

[5] whose feast was kept solemnly at Constantinople. Besides these testimonies of the liturgical books, only a few things have been learned concerning the public cult itself of St. Ioannicius. We know that Joseph the hymnographer composed a θεοτόκιον, or Marian hymn, in his honour P. G., vol. CIII, p. 1231., and that his feast was celebrated at Constantinople in the monastery of St. Callistratus Martinov, according to the menologion, Annus eccl. gr.–sl., p. 269.; that the head of St. Ioannicius was kept at Constantinople in the church of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste is declared by Antony, bishop of Novgorod, who left a written narrative of the journey to Constantinople undertaken in the year 1200 [Ed. in Riant, Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae, vol. II, p. 228. Cf. Sergius, Kalendar. orient., vol. II, p. 349.]. That distinguished part of the relics was snatched away when that city fell, if we are to trust John Comnenus who, in his Description of Mount Athos, numbers among the relics of the monastery of the Pantocrator the head of St. Ioannicius the great In Montfaucon, Palaeographia graeca, p. 481..

[6] Of the cult of St. Ioannicius in the Latin Church From the calendars of the Greeks, at length, but rather late, St. Ioannicius passed into the martyrologies of the Latins. For he first appears in the edition of the martyrology of Usuard reprinted by Molanus in the year 1568, and praised thus: And of the holy father Ioannicius the great, after the manner of the Greek formula: Τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου τοῦ μεγάλου, which is read in the Capponi Tables. St. Ioannicius could certainly have become known to Molanus from his Acts published in the fifth volume of the Lives of the saints edited by Lippomano in the years 1551–58. These Acts found great favour with his Eminence Cardinal Baronius, who used them more than once, especially at the years 782, 828, 846 and 847, in weaving the Ecclesiastical Annals. Nor is it to be doubted that by this paved road, namely through Lippomano and Molanus, St. Ioannicius was received into the Roman martyrology under this title: In Bithynia, of St. Ioannicius, abbot.

[7] and of his office in the Greek and Slavonic liturgy. It remains for us to add a few things about the office of St. Ioannicius. A very long and complete ἀκολουθία has been brought to light in the Venetian edition of the Menaia. It begins, moreover, Τῷ φέγγει τῆς χάριτος, and is ascribed to Joseph the hymnographer, who followed in it the rhythm marked ἄγγελος πρωτοστάτης, namely that used in the akathistos of Sergius [Bouvy, Étude sur les origines du rythme tonique dans l'hymnographie de l'Église grecque, p. 48.]. In the celebrated manuscript Δ, α, III of Grottaferrata Rocchi, Codices Cryptenses, p. 293., there is contained a canon altogether the same as that which the Venetian editors give. But in the Slavonic Menaia [Menaea of September, October and November, translated into Slavonic and according to the Russian manuscripts, years 1095–1097. St. Petersburg, 1886, p. 582.] recently brought to light by the distinguished Ignatius Jagić, member of the Academy of St. Petersburg, you will find a Slavonic version Pp. 284, 285., to which are added a cathisma in tone δ᾽, ὄμ. ὑψωθείς· Ὡς ἄστρον, and three stichera: Οἰκονόμος ἐγένου, — Ὄμμα πιστοῖς ἡμῖν and φωτίζων, which the Greek manuscripts do not present. Besides, in the Greek Kontakarion of the twelfth–thirteenth century, edited by the archimandrite Amphilochius, now bishop of Rostov, and enlarged with a very ancient Slavonic version Moscow, 1879., the following οἴκος is read, which differs from the Venetian edition.

Ἄλλος, πάτερ, ἐφάνης ἰατρὸς καὶ προστάτης τοῖς νόσῳ κρατουμένοις καὶ θλίψει, Ἰωαννίκιε θαυμαστέ, θεραπεύων πάντας τοὺς πιστοὺς σπεύδοντας ὑπὸ τὴν θείαν σκέπην σου· διὸ καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀκούεις. Χαίροις, πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ ἡ ῥίζα, χαίροις, μητρὸς ἀγαθῆς ὁ κλάδος, ὁ τὴν τούτων στοργὴν ἀπωσάμενος. Χαίροις, ὁ τὸν μόνον Θεὸν προσλαβόμενος· χαίροις, ὅτι ἐγκατέλιπες ἐπιγείους στρατιάς· χαίροις, ὅτι κατηδαφίσας τῶν βαρβάρων τὴν ὀφρύν· χαίροις, τεῖχος καὶ φύλαξ βασιλέων· χαίροις, ὅπλον καὶ πύργος τῶν πιστῶν ἀσφαλής. Χαίροις, ὁ πῦρ ἐσκαίων τὰ Βάρβαρα· χαίροις, φωστὴρ ἐκλάμπων τοῖς ἅπασι· χαίροις, γυμνοὺς ὁ πολλάκις σκεπάσας· χαίροις, πιστῶν αἰχμαλώτων ὁ ῥύστης.

Another. Father, you have appeared as physician and protector to those held fast by disease and affliction, wonderful Ioannicius, healing all the faithful who hasten to your divine protection; therefore you are invoked by us too. Hail, root of a good father; hail, branch of a good mother, who renounced their love. Hail, who took God alone to yourself; hail, because you left the earthly armies; hail, because you trampled down the pride of the barbarians; hail, wall and guardian of kings; hail, armour and secure tower of the faithful. Hail, fire burning the Barbarians; hail, light shining on all; hail, who often covered the naked; hail, deliverer of faithful captives.

§ II. Of the Acts of St. Ioannicius.

[8] [The first narrative of the Acts of St. Ioannicius has been falsely attributed to Metaphrastes,] Three different narratives of the Acts of St. Ioannicius have come down to us. The first is long since well worn and very well known among Western scholars, namely the only one from which hagiographers have hitherto drawn whatever they have brought forward concerning St. Ioannicius, for example Baronius and Baillet. This first recension, which begins Τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁδὸν φέρουσαν, is commonly attributed to Metaphrastes. Its Latin version, made by Gentian Hervet, was published in the fifth volume of Lippomano, and in Surius on the 4th day of November; but recently the Greek text itself has come out in Migne's Patrologia graeca P. G., vol. CXVI, pp. 35–94., from manuscript no. 1481 of the National Library of Paris [H. Omont, Inventaire sommaire des mss. grecs de la bibliothèque nationale, vol. II, p. 60.]. The same Life, rendered in vulgar Greek by the monk Agapius, you will find in the book whose title is Νέος Παράδεισος Pp. 99–106. Cf. Nicodemus, Συναξαριστής, vol. IV, p. 19.. The same made a very brief compendium of the Acts of St. Porphyrius P. 107., of which we have spoken above Pp. 228–32.. That those Acts were a work of Metaphrastes was the opinion both of Lippomano, who in the last two volumes presents the Lives stitched together by Metaphrastes, and of Surius, as Leo Allatius reports in his Diatriba de scriptis Symeonis P. G., vol. CXIV, p. 73.. Which no one will wonder at, if he recalls that an almost unanimous tradition favoured this opinion, a witness of which tradition is Gennadius Ibid., p. 74., or, as others, more correctly perhaps, will have it, Joseph of Methone. He, in the Defence of the five chapters of the synod of Florence Chap. IV. P. G., vol. CLIX, p. 1278., recites as written by Metaphrastes a whole passage of this Life of St. Ioannicius, namely the last sentences with which it ends, from the words καὶ ὁ μὲν θεῖος Ἰωαννίκιος τῷ πνεύματι to the end P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 91.. But it was already called into doubt by Pagi whether those Acts were or were not a genuine offspring of Symeon the Logothete. For the learned annotator of Cardinal Baronius, in his critical notes at the year 846, no. V, denies that the Life which is found in Surius on the fourth day of November is rightly to be ascribed to Metaphrastes Annal. eccl., newest ed., vol. X, pp. 1090, 1091.. To which opinion there seem by no means to be opposed either De Aste, in his notes to Baronius's edition of the Roman martyrology In martyr. rom. discept., p. 497., or Du Cange, who, in a certain series drawn up by himself of manuscript Lives, Acts and Martyrdoms whose authors he thinks uncertain, lists the Life of St. Ioannicius contained in the royal manuscript no. 2018 (today Greek no. 1522), which begins Τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁδὸν φέρουσαν In the index of authors after the Glossarium med. et inf. graec., p. 41.. To the same judgment Leo Allatius had already subscribed, who, having called the hagiographical works of Metaphrastes to the most severe scales, lists in the table of Acts of which, on account of the dissimilar kind of speech and style, he cannot recognize Metaphrastes as father, and, even if the style allowed it, the very age of the writer would not permit it, this very Life of St. Ioannicius into which we are inquiring P. G., vol. CXIV, pp. 117, 127.. Nonetheless, against the authority of Allatius, Cave Script. eccl. hist. litt., vol. II, p. 35. and Martin Hanke P. G., vol. CXIV, p. 294. retained the ancient opinion. For Hanke lists the Life of St. Ioannicius in the Catalogue of the Lives which Symeon Metaphrastes arranged. Nor can it be doubted which Life he intends, since from the brief compendium handed down by himself he most plainly indicates those Acts which begin with these words Τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁδόν. From the index of the lucubrations of Metaphrastes which Daniel Nessel made, the same little book is absent. But nothing seems to be derivable from that; for the reason why Nessel acted so may perhaps be that he did not find this text in the manuscripts of the Imperial Augustan Library of Vienna [P. G., vol. CXIV, pp. 299–304, and in the Catalogue of the Greek manuscripts of the Vienna library, Index I, p. 409.]. Bandini also thinks that the Acts of St. Ioannicius are a work of Symeon Metaphrastes Catal. codd. mss. bibl. Med. Laurent., vol. I, p. 497.. Therefore, if one had to stand only by the number and opinion of the learned, the Acts of St. Ioannicius published by Lippomano and Surius would not necessarily have to be taken away from Metaphrastes. For on the one side testify Gennadius, Baronius, Surius, Cave, Hanke and Bandini, on the other Allatius, Pagi, De Aste and Du Cange. Therefore the question must be decided from intrinsic arguments. Now whoever has accurately compared the Acts written by the monk Sabas, of which there will soon be talk, with the recension whose beginning is Τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁδόν, will by no means recognize this as original, but as abbreviated from those. Which will be demonstrated later, when a more detailed comparison of the threefold recension of the Acts of St. Ioannicius is undertaken. But since it is the custom of Metaphrastes not to contract the material placed before him, but to amplify and adorn it, it seems to follow that the Acts of St. Ioannicius which begin Τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁδὸν are by no means Symeon's offspring, but that of some other compiler of lesser note. The archimandrite Sergius thinks In the notes to the Calendar of the East, vol. II, p. 349. that the so-called Metaphrastes, whoever he really is, used both the other recensions, namely the Life by Sabas and the Life by Peter. To which opinion we cannot give our vote; since it is plain that the Metaphrastic Acts are derived entirely from Sabas alone, but not, not even in one place, from the monk Peter.

However that may be concerning this controversy, since so easy an access is given to the Metaphrastic Acts in the Patrologia graeca, it did not seem good to append them to our work, all the more because in them there is by no means at hand the ample material which the other, very long Acts supply for discussing the deeds of St. Ioannicius. For the rest, whatever in the Metaphrastic Acts is worthy of note we shall take care to compare with the other writers.

[9] [but those which the monks Sabas and Peter wrote have been valued more highly by the learned,] The Acts written by the monks Sabas and Peter, rather often mentioned by our predecessors in the course of their labours, seem to have been first discovered when Daniel Papebroch was preparing the Ephemerides graeco-moscae. For before that the single Surian recension had come into use, and although up to then there had not been lacking an opportunity of indicating others, these were then for the first time recorded in the Acta Sanctorum Vol. I of May, p. L.. Afterwards Godfrey Henschenius taught Act. SS., June vol. II, p. 972. that those Greek little books of Sabas and Peter had been acquired at Rome and at Paris. In very truth, in the pontifical library, among the Vatican manuscripts, the text of the monk Sabas is found twice, namely in the manuscripts marked no. 807, fol. 36, and no. 1256, fol. 35. At Paris, however, in manuscript 303 of the Coislin collection of the National Library, there is found a Life whose author is the monk Peter Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Coisliniana, p. 418.. From these libraries, then, our predecessors had in their hands the manuscripts indicated, from which to draw out the Acts of St. Ioannicius; and this seems, as regards the Life by Peter, altogether certain, since both Papebroch Act. SS., March vol. III, p. 166. and Pien Act. SS., July vol. III, p. 528. Cf. Anal. Boll., vol. VII, p. 95. used the same Coislin manuscript for editing the Acts of the Sabaite martyrs and of St. Stephen the Sabaite. Mention of the Acts which Sabas and Peter arranged recurs once more at length in Du Sollier, in the notes to the martyrology of Usuard, where they are called excellent P. 652.. Nor were these Acts greatly proclaimed only among our own, but they also raised a great expectation of themselves among all the other learned men, as many as heard that they were at the disposal of the Bollandists. Peter Lambeck Comment. de August. bibl. Caesar. Vindob., Book VIII, p. 567., having compared with one another the Lives written by Metaphrastes and Sabas, asserts that in respect of antiquity and other circumstances the latter is much more approved; Baillet Vies des Saints, vol. III. Table critique du quatrième jour de Novembre, p. VII., using the Surian recension, announces that the hagiographers will hand down something altogether better. Niccolò Falconi in the Capponi Tables P. 27. expects everything from those promised Acts without complications. Finally, more recently, the archimandrite Sergius Kalendarium orient., vol. II, p. 349. admits that the authenticity of the works of Sabas and Peter is especially commended by the fact that the things narrated there agree wonderfully with the historical facts known from elsewhere. This, however, has befallen us unpleasantly, that Papebroch's transcripts have perished, nor has the same fortune favoured us as our Pien, who was permitted to use the labours of the deceased Papebroch to publish the Life of Stephen the Sabaite Act. SS., July vol. III, p. 528..

[10] they are preserved at Rome, Paris and Vienna: The little book of the monk Sabas, besides the Vatican manuscripts just mentioned, we have found in two others, which have served us chiefly for editing the text. One of these manuscripts is kept at Paris, in the National Library, marked there no. 1519, and the Life of St. Ioannicius is read from folio 74c to folio 150a. Formerly royal, this parchment manuscript in folio consists of 768 leaves, each divided into two columns, and ruled with a stylus into thirty-one lines. It seems to have been written in the eleventh century [H. Omont, Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits grecs de la bibliothèque nationale, vol. II, p. 76.], and was brought from Constantinople to Paris, in the time of Louis XIV, by the abbé Sevin [L. Delisle, Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliothèque impériale, vol. I, pp. 380–387.]. At the beginning of the Life of St. Ioannicius a whole leaf has been torn out, namely that which immediately followed the leaf marked no. 74. This gap is happily filled by the manuscripts surviving both at Vienna and at Rome. The Vienna manuscript is marked among the historical ones no. XIX, in which the Life of St. Ioannicius is contained from folio 32d to folio 64d. This manuscript also is in folio, in alternate columns, and is numbered among those which Sambucus brought from the East Comment. de August. bibl. Caesar. Vindob., Book VIII, p. 566.. The age of this manuscript, which he calls very old, elegant and of the best stamp, Lambeck did not define, but it too seems to have been written in the eleventh century, as may be conjectured from the script. The Vatican manuscripts belong, the one which is marked no. 807 to the thirteenth century; the other, which is no. 1256, to the end of the fifteenth century or the beginning of the sixteenth. The Acts by Sabas begin with these words Τὰ ψυχωφελῆ καὶ θεάρεστα τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἀνδραγαθήματα. Concerning the writer we have learned nothing from elsewhere, but he himself relates in his work that he practised the institute of the monastic life, and indeed in one of the monasteries of Mount Olympus in Bithynia, that he lived as a contemporary of St. Ioannicius, indeed that he often conversed with him, heard his discourses, knew several persons whose deeds he reports, and finally that he attained the ascetic discipline of the holy man whose illustrious contests he has narrated. We learn also from him that the Acts of St. Ioannicius which he arranged were not the work of a beginner in hagiographical matters; but that before them he had written the Life of another Olympian hermit, Peter of Atroa, hegumen of St. Zacharias See below in the Life, chap. X.. Nowhere, however, in the many catalogues of Lives of the Saints, whether printed or manuscript, which we have consulted, have we found this Life of Peter which Sabas relates that he made. The Acts which will be published below we have copied from the Paris manuscript no. 1519, which we ourselves collated with the Vienna one no. XIX. The distinguished Stornajolo, moreover, deigned to collect with laborious diligence the variant readings of the Vatican manuscripts, and with the greatest kindness to share the fruit of his labour with us.

[11] but the little book of Peter has been found only at Paris. The Acts of St. Ioannicius which the monk Peter composed are contained, as we have already said, in the manuscript which was formerly in the Coislin library, marked no. 303, a treasure of inestimable price from which have already come forth the Life of St. Stephen the Sabaite Act. SS., July vol. III, p. 528., of the holy Sabaite martyrs Act. SS., March vol. III, p. 166., of St. George the Chozebite Anal. Boll., vol. VII, pp. 95 ff., of St. Syncletica [Cotelier, Eccles. graec. Monum., vol. I, p. 201. Cf. Montfaucon, Bibl. Coisliniana, p. 417.] and of St. Theognius Anal. Boll., vol. X, pp. 73 ff.. Another book in which the same Life is inserted you will not find in any printed catalogue of Greek manuscripts so far. Whether, as also happened in the Acts of SS. George the Chozebite and Theognius, that Coislin one is the only surviving handwritten copy, cannot be affirmed outright; yet one might rightly conclude it from the fact that even the Muscovite writers, so rich in Greek parchments, seem to have drawn knowledge of this little book of the monk Peter from the Paris source. For that manuscript is also very celebrated among them, as appears, for example, in Demetrius Verzinski Cf. Ann. eccles. graeco-slav., p. 34.. Less correctly, therefore, the distinguished John Martinov Ibid. conjectured that other manuscripts besides the Coislin one exist from the fact that the Bollandists keep in their museum a transcript of the Life of George the Chozebite; since that transcript was copied by Papebroch from the Coislin manuscript itself. This manuscript from which we have drawn out these other Acts of St. Ioannicius is of the best stamp. It was written in the tenth century, that is, scarcely one century after the death of St. Ioannicius. The deeds of St. Ioannicius occupy an ample space there, from folio 304r to folio 353v; and they begin with these words Τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας βροτοὺς ἡ σύστασις. These Acts do not seem to have obtained wide notice up to now. Le Quien, almost alone and solely, used them from time to time in the Oriens christianus, as we shall note in its place. Fabricius, in the Bibliotheca graeca, was plainly ignorant of this work. Nor do Cave, Ceillier and Oudin seem to have known Peter any better, who nevertheless all speak of the monk Sabas. The monk Peter, author of the other Life of St. Ioannicius, was, just like Sabas, a contemporary of the holy man whose deeds he follows out. Sabas testifies that he was a pious monk full of virtue, who conversed very familiarly and frequently with St. Ioannicius: Πετρὸς δὲ μοναχὸς εὐλαβὴν καὶ ἐνάρετος πάνυ συνήθως καὶ συνέχως ἐρχόμενος πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον (no. 43). He seems to have adhered to the discipline of St. Eustratius, who at this time presided over the Olympian monastery of the Agauri (cf. chap. III of the other Life, no. 12), from whom he learned many things about St. Ioannicius, as we shall indicate more distinctly below. Both from Sabas (no. 43) and from himself (no. 67) we know that Peter had five sisters. He relates that he twice went to St. Ioannicius and spoke with him (chap. XIX, no. 67), and twice elsewhere, to confirm the truth of the thing narrated, he appeals to the testimony of men still living who had experienced the merciful power of St. Ioannicius, namely of a certain workman named Pardus healed by the holy father (no. 40) and of a captive freed by the same (no. 60). Plainly Peter presents himself to us as a trustworthy witness, because he lived in the same region and at the same time as the man whose life he narrates, whom besides he himself had known.

[12] Metaphrastes followed Sabas. If anyone compares with one another the three different narratives of the Acts of St. Ioannicius, he will first of all by no means hesitate to assign the last place to the recension called Metaphrastic. For it is nothing but a compendium of the Life which Sabas wrote, since on both sides the same facts are narrated in the same order, not rarely in the same words, at least in part, and the compiler has followed Sabas so step by step that, if a very brief prologue is excepted, he has added nothing drawn from his own store. It is irksome to demonstrate in a greater compass of words what will be plain to everyone who reads. Let there be only, by way of specimen, since the same may be said of the rest, one passage compared from each narrative.

METAPHRASTES (P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 73).

Greek text only in the Acta; the English here is translated from the Greek.

Ἑνὸς γοῦν τῶν τότε μαγίστρων ἡ σύζυγος (Στέφανος δέ, οἶμαι, οὗτος ἦν) θεραπαινίδων τε μοχθηρίᾳ καὶ μαγγαμείᾳ περιέργῳ τὰς φρένας βλαβεῖσα, ἰατροῖς ἐξεδίδου. Πολλαὶ μὲν δὴ χεῖρες ἰατρῶν, μυρία δὲ φάρμακα, πλείω δὲ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀνήνυτα ἔγνω πονοῦσα, τὰ

The wife, then, of one of the magistri of that time (this, I think, was Stephen), having been harmed in her mind by the wickedness of her maidservants and by curious sorcery, was giving herself over to physicians. Many indeed were the hands of physicians, countless the drugs, and more the resources of the art. But when she knew that she was labouring at things that could not be accomplished,

μὲν ἄλλα ἔδοξε χαίρειν ἐᾷν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν μέγαν Ἰωαννίκιον καταφεύγει. Ὁ δὲ προσευχῇ μὲν δίδωσι τῇ γυναικὶ τὴν ὑγείαν, μισθὸν δὲ τοῦτον αἰτεῖ παρ᾽ αὐτῆς, τὴν εἰς τὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ πύλας εἰσέλευσιν ταύτης ἐν ἐξομολογήσει καὶ ὑμνοῖς καὶ τὸ τοῖς πταίσασιν ἀφεῖναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.

she decided to let the other things go, and takes refuge with the great Ioannicius. He by prayer gives the woman health, but asks this reward from her: her entrance into the gates of God in confession and hymns, and the forgiving of the sin to those who had offended.

SABAS (chap. IX, no. 35).

Γυνὴ γάρ τις τοῦ πατρικίου καὶ μαγίστρου Στεφάνου ἐκ περιεργίας τῶν θεραπαινίδων αὐτῆς φαρμαχθεῖσα καὶ τὰς φρένας βλαβεῖσα τοῦ πλούτου τὸ πλεῖστον εἰς ἰατροὺς ἀνωφελῶς ἀναλώσασα, πρὸς τοῦτον καταλαμβάνει τὸν δίκαιον, ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν αὐτῆς ἀγομένη καὶ τῶν ἰδίων. Ἥνπερ θεασάμενος ὁ πατὴρ οἰκτειρήσας καὶ ἐπευξάμενος καὶ τῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ σφραγίσας ὑγιῆ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια, παραγγείλας μὴ ποιήσασθαι αὐτὴν ζήτησιν τῶν βλαψάντων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀφεῖναι χριστομιμήτως τοῖς φονευταῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν.

But Metaphrastes in no way used the little book of Peter. For he reports only those things which are found in Sabas, nor will you find in the Metaphrastic lucubration anything from those which Peter narrates and which Sabas did not record. The style too imitates only Sabas, never the diction of Peter.

[13] Although in many things they differ Further, whether and how Sabas and Peter, in making their work, depend the one on the other, you will not so easily determine. Peter and Sabas, To establish this to some extent, we must have before our eyes the way in which each narrative proceeds. In many things Peter and Sabas differ. Thus already from the beginning we notice that Sabas discourses at length on the boyhood, conversion and warlike deeds of St. Ioannicius, whereas these are almost passed over by Peter or contracted into a too slight narrative. The miracles worked after the death of Ioannicius Sabas records; the same Peter is silent about. The latter gave the sense and a summary of the letters which the former states were sent by Ioannicius to Methodius and which he recites drawn up in the form of an epistle, and took no care at all to adduce the very words of the writer. Sabas devised on his own initiative the profession of faith delivered by St. Ioannicius before many, while Peter thought it better to copy word for word a whole passage from the Antirrheticus of Nicephorus and to place it in the mouth of St. Ioannicius. You will find some things in Sabas which you would seek in vain in the other's work. Namely, Sabas alone teaches us what the monk Epiphanius attempted against Ioannicius (no. 51), what was foretold to the two Macarii (no. 49), likewise what pertains to St. Peter of Atroa (no. 44), to the stammering boy who was healed (no. 37) and to the captives snatched from the prisons of the Bulgars (no. 29). Conversely, Peter alone teaches us the miracle of the wicked spirit driven out of a religious woman (no. 43). Sometimes the circumstances of the same fact have been changed in different ways. For Peter narrates that, when a certain church was being built, the workmen suffered from a lack of water (no. 44); but Sabas reports that the same were hindered by an excessive flooding of waters (no. 20). According to Peter (no. 53), Eustratius fell gravely ill on account of an abundance of blood flowing from his nose, while Sabas asserts that the blood was poured out from his intestines (no. 41). In Peter (no. 33) a certain Theodotus is called a candidatus, but in Sabas a senator (no. 27). Nor does the difference appear only in the things narrated, but it is detected no less clearly in the manner of narrating, especially in the tenor of the style. Sabas's kind of writing is more simple, as of one who seems intent above all on following out the truth of the matter; he does not heap up more than is needed, although sometimes, as the unanimous and inveterate custom of that age bore, he intermingles discourses and conversations drawn out too long. Peter, however, in speaking labours under an empty prolixity, very often abusing a longer compass of words. This itch for sonorous speaking is displeasing already at the very threshold of the work, namely in the prologue, but most of all in the epilogue. Accordingly, when both hagiographers narrate the same fact, Sabas finishes the matter in a few words, Peter draws out the material placed before him through longer circuits. Another difference, namely the character of each author, cannot but strike the reader's mind. Peter bears harsher feelings toward the Studite monks, whom, at every occasion given, he vehemently rebukes even in insulting words (nos. 35, 56). Sabas, hostile to the iconoclasts alone, shows himself milder toward other persons. Finally, a dissimilar order of the things set out also prevails in each little book. You will find this order more topsy-turvy in Peter than in Sabas, although the time of the individual events cannot always be closely defined. Not infrequently, however, especially in narrating the miracles, four or five prodigies follow one another in the same way in each little work. Then the series is broken off again, to be resumed a little later in the same order. And so indeed the narrative proceeds through the whole course of the work, so that, for example, the passages of Sabas's little book which we have marked nos. 14–19 you will find in Peter at nos. 13–23. The same things too are reported in Sabas at nos. 21–31, 38–41, 46–48, and in Peter at nos. 25–36, 49–53, 66–68. You will recognize the disturbed series from the fact that nos. 20, 34, 51 of Sabas's little work are in Peter's little book nos. 40, 59, 60.

[14] it is shown from many indications that Sabas imitated Peter, These differences which we have established between Peter and Sabas, are they of such weight as to prove that neither knew the work of the other nor took anything from it? To satisfy this question fully, attention must rather be paid to the similarity which prevails between the two little works. For the differences which we have noted show only that each author, in making his little book on the Acts of St. Ioannicius, kept both his own character and his customary manner of writing, and did not, even if one depends on the other, cling servilely to the other's footsteps in the Metaphrastic manner. I think, however, that one must speak otherwise of that part of the little work, and that not a small one, in which many miracles worked by St. Ioannicius are narrated. Whoever, as regards this part, has attentively examined the text of Sabas and Peter cannot but recognize in many places a close similarity on both sides even in the very words. Above (no. 12) we recited the miracle of the healing of the wife of Stephen the magister. See how Peter narrates it (no. 62). Ἡ γυνὴ Στεφάνου τοῦ ποτε γεγονότος μαγίστρου ἐκ διαβολικοῦ ζήλου παρὰ τῶν δουλίδων αὐτῆς φθονηθεῖσα, καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν δειλιτήριον λαβοῦσα, καὶ ἀγνώστως πιοῦσα κατὰ παραχώρησιν Θεοῦ τὰς φρένας βέβλατο. Πολλὰ οὖν εἰς τοὺς ἰατροὺς ἀναλώσασα χρήματα καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα τέλος πρὸς τὸν ἄγιον ἅπιει καὶ ῥίψασα ἑαυτὴν εἰς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ἐδέετο τυχεῖν ἐλέους. Γνοὺς οὖν ὁ ἅγιος ἐκ περιεργίας πάσχειν, φησίν· Ὦ γύναι, εἰ βούλει τῆς ἰάσεως τυχεῖν, σύνθου μηδένα ἀδικεῖν τῶν θαναθῶσαί σε βουληθέντων καὶ τάχιον ἰᾶταί σε ὀ Κύριος. Τῆσδε μεθ᾽ ὅρκου τοῦτο καταθεμένης, ἐπευξάμενος αὐτῇ ὁ ἅγιος καὶ τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ τρίτον σφραγίσας ἐρρωμένας τὰς φρένας ἀποδοὺς ὐγιῆ ταύτην ἀπέλυσε δοξάζουσαν τὸν Θεόν. These things, surely, if they are compared with the passage cited above, show most clearly that one of the writers had the other's text before his eyes. And the same must be asserted of the other miracles worked in favour of various persons, knowledge of which Peter says he received from St. Eustratius. In other things, however, the two authors differ entirely. That is to say, there is in each little work a fairly ample part which contains chiefly miracles, and in the narration of which each author beyond doubt so depends on the other that it is more certain than certain that one knew the little book of the other and followed it in writing. Which conclusion, however, one would escape who thought that a certain little book of the miracles of St. Ioannicius had been made by Eustratius and committed to writing, which both Peter and Sabas, each according to his own character and manner of writing, worked over again. Whence it would have come about that from the original text some words and the same formulas of speaking had crept into the work of each compiler. But this is gratuitously devised, and its admission is prevented by reasons by which it is rather proved that Peter went before Sabas in arranging the Acts of St. Ioannicius, and therefore that Sabas, at least in this part in which we have said the same facts are recorded, imitated Peter. The first reason for this opinion we derive from the fact that Sabas nowhere appeals to anyone's testimony, but says only that he was incited by a certain father Joseph to undertake the work; yet we know that he knew Peter, whom he asserts to have met with St. Ioannicius several times (cf. above, no. 11 at the end, and in the Life no. 43). Peter, however, carefully indicated from what source he drew these things, by recording four times that he had heard from Eustratius, hegumen of the Agauri, whatever prodigies he narrates. It is pleasing to recite the very words: Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ θείου ἀνδρὸς τούτου κεκινήμεθα ταύτην καθυποτάξαι τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ ἐπωφελῆ πραγματείαν… καὶ ὅσα τε παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἠκούσαμεν, ταῦτα πάντα καὶ ἀναγγελοῦμεν ὑμῖν. These you will find in chap. XII of Peter's little work, no. 12, at the end. The same elsewhere, namely in chapter XIV, no. 60, again asserts: μόνοις τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ ἡγιασμένου Εὐστρατίου τοῦ καὶ συνόντος αὐτῷ καὶ αὐταῖς ὄψεσι ταῦτα θεασαμένου ὑποσημᾶναι προεθυμήθημεν Twice the testimony of Eustratius is invoked, once at the end of no. 39, after the serpent was killed: ἐ͂λεγεν δὲ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος ὀ ἡγιασμένος καὶ περιβόητος Εὐστράτιος, and again at the beginning of no. 45, when a dragon is met in the cave of Chelidon: ὡς ἔλεγεν ἡμῖν ὁ ἁγιώτατος Εὐστράτιος ὁ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πληροφορηθείς. And how highly the testimony of Eustratius is to be esteemed, which anyone will readily concede who has examined the history of the Olympian monks even a little, Peter very often boasts, as when he says this: Ἴστε δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα ἅπαντες ὅπως τε ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους παρηκολούθηκε τῷ ἁγίῳ, ὅπως τε ἐργῷ καὶ λόγῳ κατακεκόσμηται, ὠς, σχεδὸν εἶπειν, πᾶσαν τῆν Βιθυνῶν χώραν ἀγγελομιμήτως ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καταλάμπεσθαι (chap. XII, no. 12). Whence it is clear that Eustratius, because he was joined with Ioannicius by the closest bonds of friendship, lived with him constantly, and was at the same time a man of exceptional holiness, is a witness above all exception. Accordingly, to the Life which Peter wrote, at least in those things which are derived from St. Eustratius, the fullest authority can be granted. And this especially because Peter affirms in his little book that Eustratius was still living while he himself was writing: διαδέχεται τὴν ἡγουμενίαν ὁ πανοσιώτατος Εὐστράτιος, ὅστις καὶ μέχρι τῆς σήμερον καθάπερ ἥλιος διαλάμπων ἅπαντας τοὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἰθυνομένους καταφωτίζει (no. 58 at the end). Peter does not, however, deny that, besides what he heard from Eustratius, there exist many things concerning the wonderful life of St. Ioannicius which are spread abroad here and there among the people: πλεῖστα γὰρ καὶ ὑμεῖς παρὰ πολλῶν ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως

ἀκηκοότες (chap. XIV, no. 60). Indeed he even appeals to the testimony, to win credence for his words, both of a certain Pardus healed by St. Ioannicius (no. 40 at the end) and of a citizen of the village of Elusus, nephew of Eugantrus the notary (no. 60), snatched from the hand of the Saracens.

[15] especially from the narrative of the visit of the monk Peter to Ioannicius. Therefore, since Peter candidly admits that he owes many things to the testimony of Eustratius, and no reason urges us to deny it, while Sabas keeps deep silence about the documents used by himself, and on the other hand it can be affirmed with certainty that in many places one author copied the other, we think that he certainly concludes more correctly who considers that Sabas kept to the footsteps of Peter. But we judge that the chief argument for this opinion is to be sought from the narrative, which is read on both sides, of the visit made by Peter to St. Ioannicius (no. 43 in Sabas's little book, 67 in Peter's little work). This Sabas describes with the same circumstances, even the most minute, not rarely using the same words in which it is reported by Peter himself. But could not the same man have heard it from others and set it out from their report? He certainly could, but if he had heard it from others and not from Peter, would there prevail in the lucubration of each so wonderful an agreement of circumstances and so close a similarity of words? By no means would this happen so, and we think it will seem so to the prudent reader, as it does to us, who takes care to compare these passages.

LIFE BY SABAS (chap. IX, no. 43).

Ἀνελθὼν ἐν μιᾷ σὺν πλησιοχώρῳ αὐτοῦ ἡσυχαστῇ Πλάτωνι καλουμένῳ καὶ εὐλογηθείς, συγκαθημένου αὐτοῖς τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ συνομιλοῦντος θεοχαρίτωτα, φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων τότε· Ἀπὸ ψυχῆς καὶ πίστεως ἐκδυσωποῦμέν σε, πάτερ ἅγιε ἅπαξ τοῦ ἔτους ἡμῖν χαρίζεσθαι τὴν τίμιαν συνομιλίαν καὶ θέαν σου πίστιν ἐκ τούτων καὶ γνῶσιν μεταλαμβάνουσι διὰ πνεύματος, ὡς ἐξ ἡλίου ὀντως φῶς καὶ θερμότητα.

LIFE BY PETER (chap. XIV, no. 67).

Καὶ δὴ παραλαβὼν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὸν σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐφησυχάζοντα ἀδελφὸν Πλάτωνα, πρὸς τὸν ὄσιον παρεγενόμεθα καὶ θεαταὶ ἀξιωθέντες γενέσθαι τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἐκείνης θέας καὶ πλείστων ἐπωφελῶν καὶ παραινετικῶν λόγων ἐπαπολαύσαντές φησιν ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφὸς πρὸς τὸν ἄγιον· Παρακαλῶσε, ὦ πάτερ, ἵνα διὰ τὸν Κύριον παράσχῃς ἡμῖν ἄδειαν μίαν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα ἔρχεσθαι καὶ τῶν σῶν ἀγίων εὐχῶν κατατρυφᾶν καὶ μετὰ χαρᾶς ἀνθυποστρέφειν.

Here follows a series of humble thoughts which Peter says he turned over in his mind in the sight of St. Ioannicius. These have been omitted by Sabas, who strives to be briefer.

Ὁ δέ· Γινώσκειν σε βούλομαι, ἀδελφὲ Πλάτων, ὡς οὐ προσθήση θεάσασθαί με σωματικῶς ἔτι ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ βουλόμενος. Ὁ ὅσιος φησι πρὸς τὸν σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφόν· Γινώσκειν σε βούλομαι, ὦ μεγαλόψυχε Πλάτων, ὂτι ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ οὐ μή με ἄλλο θεάσῃ.

Again Peter discloses in many words his feeling about this prediction; which, since it was entirely useless to the narrative, Sabas is plainly silent about.

Ὅθεν δοὺς αὐτοῖς ἄρτου ξηροῦ ἀνὰ μερίδων δώδεκα εἰς εὐλογίαν ἐξέπεμψε μετ᾽ εἰρήνης. Τῷ οὖν ἐπιόντι ἐνιαυτῷ συναπελθὼν τῷ Πλάτωνι ὁ ἀββᾶς Πέτρος πρὸς ἕτερον μοναχὸν μήκοθεν ἡσυχάξοντα καὶ αὐτὸν Πέτρον καλούμενον ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Βιθυνίαν μοναστηρίου Ἡράκλην ὀνομαζομένου ὁρμώμενον, τὸν κατὰ μικρὸν ὕστερον, Θεοῦ χάριτι γενομένης ὀρθοδοξίας, μητροπολίτην Συλλαίου γενόμενον, ἐπισκέψεως ἕνεκα καὶ εὐχῆς, μετὰ ἀσπασμὸν καὶ συνομιλίαν πνευματικὴν φησιν ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς ὃν παραγέγονε Πέτρον· Ἔφεσιν ὄντως οὐ μικρὰν ἔχω, πάτερ, τὸν ἁγιον Ἰωαννίκιον ἰδεῖν καὶ τὰ τίμια αὐτοῦ ἴχνη κατασπάσασθαι, ἀλλὰ ἀδυνατῶ τοῦ πεζοπορῆσαι καὶ κτήνους ἀπορῶ καὶ μισθώματος. Δοὺς δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ ὅσιος εὐλογίας ἐκ τῶν αὐτῷ συνήθως διδομένων παξαματίων καὶ πρὸς ἕνα σταυρὸν ἐκ ξύλου ἰδιοχείρως αὐτῷ εἰργασμένον καὶ κάλλιστα ἐξεσμένον, ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Τοῦ οὖν ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου διελθόντος καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος εἰσιόντος, ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν ἐπισκέψεως χάριν κατελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν ἁγιώτατον Πέτρον τὸν νυνὶ μητροπολίτην τοῦ Συλαίου[…]φησιν πρὸς ἡμας ὁ ῥηθεὶς Πέτρος ὅτι· Εἰ εὐδοκεῖ Κύριος, βουλῆς ἔχω τοῦ πορευθῆναι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν τὸν κύριν Ἰωαννίκιον, καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντά μοι πάντα αὐτῷ ἀναθέσθαι, καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθῆναι… Ὡς οὖν ἀναστάντες τῆς τραπέζης περισπωμένως φροντίδα περὶ ἀλόγων ἐποιούμεθα τοῦ εὑρᾶσθαι διά τε τὸ μῆκος τοῦ ὁδοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀσυνηθῆ πεζοπορείαν.

To report more is superfluous, and therefore we subjoin only the end of this narrative.

Ὧι καὶ δούς ὁ πατὴρ δῶδεκα εὐλογίας, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἄλλοις, καὶ λόγῳ Πλάτωνος αὐτῷ δέδωκε λέξας· Εἰπὲ Πλάτωνι, ὂ τέκνον Πέτρε· μὴ λυποῦ ὅτι ἄκων τῆς ταπεινῆς μου θέας ἀπελείφθης· ἐδέξατό σου τὴν πρόθεσιν Κύριος, καὶ ὡς κοπιάσαντι τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδώσει. Τοῦ δὲ Πέτρου ταῦτα ἀκούοντος παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κατὰ διάνοιαν λέγοντος· εἴθε καὶ τῇ ὲμῇ μητρὶ καὶ ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς ὁ πατὴρ ἔπεμψεν εὐλογίας, δίδωσιν αὐτῷ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀδολεσχοῦντι ἑτὲρας εὐλογίας τριάκοντα ἓξ εἰπών· Δὸς ἀνὰ ἓξ τῇ τε μητπί σου καὶ ταῖς πέντε σου ἀδελφαῖς. Καὶ λαβὼν ἐκ τῶν εὐλογίων δώδεκα τὸν ἀριθμὸν δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταῦτα καὶ δὸς τῷ ἀδελφῷ Πλάτωι, καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτῷ· μὴ λυποῦ· ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς τὴν προαίρεσίν σου ἀπεδέξατα . Εἶτα λαβὼν ἑτέρας εὐλογίας δώδεκα δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταῦτα εἰς περιποίησιν τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς. Ἐμοῦ δὲ διαλογιζομένου· εἶθε ὁ Θεὸς ἐπληροφόρει αὐτὸν δοῦναι καὶ τῇ ἐμῇ μητρί, αὖθις προσβλέψας καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν εὑλογίων θέσἴν τετανικῶς τὴν χεῖρα μεστὴν ταύτην ἀνέλκυσεν. Ἄμφω οὖν μου τῶ χεῖρε ἀπλεῖν προτρεψάμενος τριάκοντα ἓξ τὸν ἀριθμὸν δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταῦτα, καὶ δὸς ἀνὰ ἓξ τῇ τε σῇ μητρὶ καὶ ταῖς σαῖς πέντε ἀδελφαῖς.

Especially this last passage is apt for removing all doubt, if any persisted in anyone's mind. Wherefore, to gather the conclusion briefly from a longer discussion, we judge that the Acts of St. Ioannicius were put together by Sabas and Peter in such a way that Peter's little book saw the light first. When this had come to the knowledge of Sabas, it was adapted by him in such a way that he kept whole parts, for example especially the miracles, with a few things changed. Since, however, he too had known Ioannicius very well, and had learned some things which he did not find in Peter's little work, these he added himself. These are the things indicated by us above in no. 13. Besides, since neither the prologue nor the epilogue pleased him, he omitted the latter and entirely changed the former. He did not wish to recite again the profession of faith of St. Ioannicius copied by Peter from the Antirrheticus of Nicephorus. The order of things and times, from disturbing which Peter does not seem to have shrunk, Sabas restored. In a word, he polished the work of his predecessor, rough with grave defects and especially with garrulous prolixity. Therefore the work of Sabas, though later in time, excels the little book of Peter. It is as it were a new edition of it, enlarged and corrected. This reason moved us to share first with our readers the Acts which Sabas wrote. Besides the Greek Acts which we have discussed, there exists no other original source for the Life of St. Ioannicius. For Sergius points out to us, in the notes to the Calendar of the East, that the Slavonic Life which is in the Menologion is derived and abbreviated from Metaphrastes Vol. II, p. 349.. But in other lucubrations of that age, namely of the ninth and tenth centuries, many things are rather often reported about St. Ioannicius, all of which we shall give and examine in their place.

Annotations

* MS. δωδεκατὸν ἀριθμῶν

* MS. ἀπεδείξατο

§ III. Chronology of the life of St. Ioannicius.

[16] The chronological points concerning the year of death of St. Ioannicius To define with complete certainty both the year of birth and the year of death of St. Ioannicius is not without difficulty, since various chronological points very discordant among themselves must be reconciled. That the year of birth may be established by an easier way, it helps to have inquired first into the year of death. Concerning which we read this asserted in all the Acts, that the death of St. Ioannicius took place some months before the death of St. Methodius, patriarch of Constantinople. That this event was foretold by St. Ioannicius the several recensions report. The Acts commonly attributed to Metaphrastes establish the time of this prophecy very definitely, namely the fifth year of the reign of Michael the Younger, and they add that the holy Ioannicius departed from life on the third day of November in the same year, and Methodius on the fourteenth of June in the year immediately following P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 91.. In Sabas we read that St. Ioannicius died on the fourth day of November, in the fifth year of the reigning Michael and Theodora, the fourth from the restoration of orthodoxy, the ninety-third of his whole life, and the fifty-second from the time of his conversion, in the year of the world six thousand three hundred and fifty-five from the creation, in the tenth indiction Cf. no. 53 of the first Life.. The monk Peter ties the same event to the third day of November, in the fifth year of the reigning Michael and Theodora, in the eighty-fourth year of the age of St. Ioannicius, the fifty-second from the day on which he renounced the heresy of the iconoclasts See no. 5.. In the Menaia, as we said above in no. 2, these things are so abridged that they report only that St. Ioannicius died aged ninety-four years, having foretold the approaching death of St. Methodius.

[17] subject to many difficulties These times are certainly closely fitted together. For that year of the world 6355 which Sabas assigns is, according to the customary chronology of the Byzantines, the year of Christ 847. But since there is added in the tenth indiction, and the indictions of Constantinople take their beginning from the first day of September, it follows that the fourth day of November 847 in the Byzantine chronography is, for those who number the year from the kalends of January, the fourth day of November of the year 846. Besides, if the fifth year of the reign of Michael the Younger, which the Acts give, is computed, one falls back into the same year 846. For when Theophilus died on the 20th day of January 842, his son Michael at once began to reign, under the tutelage of his mother Theodora. So far a perfect agreement prevails among the chronological points recorded in the Acts. But no slight difficulty arises from the third contemporary event cited, which nevertheless at first sight appears settled and certain, namely when our writers relate that the death of St. Ioannicius took place on the third or fourth day of November of that year which preceded the death of St. Methodius. For from this we are plunged into that controversy which for so long a time has kept the learned divided among themselves concerning the year of death of St. Methodius of Constantinople. It is known, namely, that Pagi Critica at the year 847, nos. 17–19; at the year 858, no. 12., Anselm Banduri Imperium orientale, vol. II, p. 908., our Cuper Act. SS., August vol. I, Historiae chron. patr. Const., pp. 107, 108., Le Quien Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 245., and recently Cardinal Hergenröther Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, pp. 319, 355. and Manuel Gedeon Πατριαρχικοὶ Πίνακες, p. 277. agree in asserting that Methodius departed this life in the year 846, against Baronius Annales, vol. X, p. 64., Bolland Acta SS., February vol. II, p. 563.,

Henschenius Acta SS., June vol. II, p. 960., Pien Acta SS., July vol. II, p. 601., Leo Allatius P. G., vol. C, pp. 1239, 1240., Goar Ibid., p. 1299. and Amari Storia dei Musulmani della Sicilia, vol. I, p. 498., who transfer this event to the year 847. Accordingly there will not be one opinion either about the year in which St. Ioannicius died. What above all strongly moved Pagi and Cuper to defend their opinion is that in the Life of St. Ignatius of Constantinople Nicetas the Paphlagonian relates that the empress Theodora sent to consult Ioannicius the anchorite as to whom he knew through the Lord to be worthy of the honour of the patriarchate Acta SS., October vol. X, p. 173.. Wherefore they will not have Methodius to have survived St. Ioannicius. Thinking that the historian of Ioannicius, though weighty, erred in this matter, they contend that the authority of Nicetas, a contemporary writer, deservedly prevails, whom also all the Greeks have followed [Critica on vol. X of the Annals, p. 1099, no. 19. Cf. Acta SS., August vol. I, p. *108.]. So these men, whose very words we have almost brought forward. From this opinion of Pagi and Cuper our predecessor Fr. Van Hecke does not seem to shrink much Acta SS., October vol. X, p. 176., who however points out that this whole question would be treated again on the 4th day of November; which we now attempt. Before that, however, it will be useful to have indicated another argument of Pagi and Cuper. Namely, since the already mentioned Nicetas P. G., vol. CV, p. 501. and other writers [Niceph. in the Chron. breve, P. G., vol. C, p. 1050; Cedren., P. G., vol. CXXI, p. 1055; Zonar., P. G., vol. CXXXV, p. 26.] assert that St. Methodius ruled the church of Constantinople for four years excellently and most holily, and since he was, as is admitted by some, ordained in the year 842, from this a new reason is given to Pagi and those who side with him by which they are persuaded that the year 846 is the year of death of St. Methodius. Besides, since because of the argument expounded first, namely the authority of Nicetas in the Life of St. Ignatius, he denies that St. Methodius lived on after St. Ioannicius, he established this same year 846 as the last of the life of the holy hermit of Olympus Critica on the year 847, vol. X, p. 1098.. On the contrary, Baronius and others, relying on the prophetic foretelling made by St. Ioannicius, defer the death of St. Methodius to the year 847 Annales, vol. X, p. 64.. It must indeed be admitted that the most eminent writer of the Annals is less consistent with himself, since, following Nicetas, he reports as his own opinion that the emperor and his mother consulted at this time (namely in the year 847) St. Ioannicius the anchorite as to who should be placed in the patriarchal see Ibid., p. 66.. Unhappily, when he was committing this to writing, Baronius had forgotten that he had already in the previous year, namely 846, recorded the death of the same Ioannicius.

[18] they are vindicated according to what is related in the Acts, What then in so great a conflict of opinions? First of all we judge that, against Pagi and Cuper, the truthfulness of the Acts of St. Ioannicius is to be vindicated as regards the prediction of the death of St. Methodius, which testimony the things that Nicetas narrates in the Life of St. Ignatius seem to contradict. For we can by no means concede to them what Pagi himself in the present case presumes all too gratuitously, that contemporary and near-contemporary authors can never be mistaken and deceived in recording things done in their own time Critica on the year 847, vol. X, p. 1099.. Or why may we not turn back this rule, which Pagi thought should from time to time be inculcated and now again boasts of, upon Nicetas rather than upon both authors of the Life of St. Ioannicius? Certainly the authority of Nicetas among the learned is very weighty, but no less, we think, will be held to be due to the monks Sabas and Peter by all who have turned over the Acts of St. Ioannicius. For we know well that the events and persons of their age were known to them; nor do we find them, in the historical facts known from elsewhere which they touch upon in passing, liable to almost any error ever. Besides, Nicetas lived at an uncertain age, though they say he did not flourish before the year 890. Is he not then, in narrating things which happened in the year 846, less to be listened to than our writers Sabas and Peter, who in this same year, in the same place, were in company with the man whose contests they describe? If only the Metaphrastic Acts, which alone Pagi had in his hands, were to be believed, perhaps with Pagi and Cuper it could rightly be doubted whose testimony ought to prevail, whether that of Nicetas the Paphlagonian or that of the author of the Life of St. Ioannicius. Perhaps this same was the reason why Bolland, who knew no other Acts of St. Ioannicius besides those of Surius, would not resolve the difficulty which the said passage of Nicetas made for him, which he met in elucidating the Acts of St. Theodora Acta SS., February vol. II, pp. 563, 564.. But now that we have obtained two witnesses above all exception, worthy of complete credence, altogether weighty, who assert the truth of the prediction of St. Ioannicius and who more probably heard the prophecy with their own ears, made before a huge concourse of the Olympian monks, it is harder for us to reject such testimony.

[19] against Nicetas the Paphlagonian What then of Nicetas? Did he entirely invent the thing? We do not indeed deny that the empress Theodora consulted some anchorite from Olympus, since the monks of that region at that time enjoyed an outstanding fame for holiness among the Byzantine emperors; but since at the same time the memory of St. Ioannicius was still held at that same time to be most celebrated, it is no wonder that Nicetas the Paphlagonian, all too incautious, thought of him. If it is so, there remains no sufficient reason for asserting that St. Methodius did not survive St. Ioannicius, and therefore in this matter Sabas and Peter are to be trusted before Nicetas. Rightly therefore Cardinal Baronius tied the death of St. Ioannicius to the year 846, since in the Acts he is said to have met his last day in the fifth year of Michael, that is, 846, and Methodius to have died in the following year, that is, the year 847. Accordingly Pagi is to be abandoned, who thinks that in one and the same year 846 there died both St. Methodius and St. Ioannicius, the latter namely on the 4th day of November, the former on the 14th of June.

[20] and the Byzantine chronographers, The first difficulty, which they drew from the testimony of Nicetas, having been solved in this way, there remains also a second, graver perhaps, which it will be permitted to indicate, but which we do not dare to promise that we shall unravel. We pointed out, namely, that according to all the chronographers it is related that St. Methodius held the patriarchal see for four years. But if he died in the year 847, how will he be said to have ruled his church for four years, when the continuator of Theophanes relates P. G., vol. CIX, p. 167., whom Cuper thought was Constantine Porphyrogenitus and whose testimony he greatly esteemed Acta SS., August vol. I, p. *107., that Methodius was ordained on the 19th day of February of the year 842? Baronius indeed boldly rejected the chronographers who assert that St. Methodius sat for four years, whom he himself believes to have administered the Byzantine church for five years Annales, vol. X, p. 64.. Which solution Pagi not undeservedly disapproves Annales, vol. IX, p. 1654; vol. X, pp. 1098, 1099.. Another way was entered upon both by Leo Allatius P. G., vol. C, p. 1239. and by Jacques Goar P. G., vol. C, p. 1050., who reported that St. Methodius was elected not in the year 842 but in the year 843. Thus indeed we have that four-year period which all the chronographers attest and which Baronius, with no reason brought forward, denied. It is only to be regretted that those learned writers, skilled above others in Byzantine affairs, brought forward no monument by which to confirm their opinion. But for sustaining this opinion of theirs an argument by no means to be despised is offered by the Acts of St. Ioannicius written by the monk Sabas See below in the first Life, no. 46.. For after he has narrated that St. Ioannicius foretold to his friend Eustratius that the persecution of Theophilus would soon cease, he continues thus: cessaturam esse, ita pergit: ὅπερ καὶ γέγονεν μετὰ γὰρ ἓξ ἣμισυ ἔτη τῆς δυσσεβείασ τοῦ Λέοντος, καὶ ὀκτὼ πρὸς ἐννέσ μησὶ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ χλιαρότητος, δώδεκά τε καὶ μησὶ τρισὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Θεοφίλου πρὸς τὴν εὐσεβείαν ἀσεβοῦς στιβαρότητος, καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα τῆς τούτου γυναικὸς Θεοδώρας καὶ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἀναθρώξεως. Τῷ δευτέρῳ ἄτει τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ φιλοχρίστου αὐτῶν βασιλείας τὸν ἴδιον κόσμον ὃν ἀποστολικαῖς χερσὶν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἐστόλιστο, τῶν δυσσεβῶν δὲ παλάμαις γεγύμνωτο, χάριτι Χριστοῦ ἀμφιασαμένη, ἀρχιερέα ἔνθεον, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς προοραθέντα, Μεθόδιον προσεδέξατο, τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς καὶ βλασφήμου Ἰωάννου καθαιρεθέντος.

Which came about after six and a half years of the impiety of Leo (the Armenian), after eight years with nine months of the lukewarmness of Michael (the Amorian), and after twelve with three months of the wicked cruelty toward religion of his son Theophilus, and indeed one year of the restoration of his wife Theodora and of Michael her son, pious sovereigns. In the second year of their God-given and Christ-beloved government, the Church, clothed again by the grace of Christ in her own adornment with which she had been decked by apostolic hands but had been stripped by the hands of the impious, received as divine patriarch Methodius, him who had been foreseen by the father (Ioannicius), the impious and blasphemous John having been removed. That is, if credence is to be given to Sabas, one arrives at the first year of Michael and Theodora, adding the six and a half years in which Leo, favouring the iconoclasts, persecuted the Catholics, the eight years and nine months of the reign of Michael, and the twelve years with three months of the reign of Theophilus. We must warn him who is going to make this computation, lest he fall into error, not to take the beginning from the first year in which Leo the Armenian began to reign. For if he did so, not six years would have to be counted but seven, namely from the 11th day of July 813 to the 24th day of December 820. But Sabas arranged the series of times from the year 814, in which the impiety of Leo took its beginning. Now, the text being understood thus, the sum of these years leads to the year 842, which is in fact the first of the reign of Michael and Theodora. In that year also the heresy of the iconoclasts ceased and orthodoxy was restored. Only in the following year, that is 843, is Methodius said by Sabas to have been elected patriarch.

[21] who include several events in a narrower time. But it is not enough to have brought forward this assertion of our writer. Whether it can be demonstrated further must be examined. We frankly confess that we stick, very doubtful, as to whether this testimony of Sabas is to be accepted before the continuator of Theophanes, John Scylitzes, George Cedrenus, Michael Glycas, Joseph Genesius, John Zonaras, in a word, the whole crowd of the Byzantines, from whose Annals this seems to be drawn out, that immediately after Theophilus died and Theodora and Michael had been established, the heretical prelate John was deposed and replaced

Methodius in his place. Yet this opinion of theirs is opposed above all by the fact that, if Methodius ascended the throne of Constantinople in the year 842, it must be conceded, as Cuper also concedes Acta SS., August vol. I, p. *107., that in a very small interval of time, namely one month, from the 20th day of January, on which Theophilus departed from among men, to the 19th day of February, on which they say Methodius was ordained, very many events took place, namely the funeral of Theophilus performed, Michael established after the solemn proclamation by Manuel in the circus Genes., P. G., vol. CIX, p. 1090., a council of the regents held on administering the empire Cont. Theoph., P. G., vol. CIX, p. 163., the grave illness of Manuel Contin. Theoph., Genes., P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 163, 1091., and, when he had been healed, a meeting of the orthodox held in the residence of Caniclius Id., ibid., the sacred images restored by consent of the magnates and very many presbyters and bishops among the iconoclasts expelled Genes., P. G., vol. CIX, p. 1092., then at last an embassy sent by Theodora to the patriarch John that he should restore orthodoxy, and, because he refused the task, the same driven out by force through Constantine Sym. Mag., Genes., P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 710, 1094.. All these things having been accomplished, at last Methodius is elected and received. We do not deny that some of the events brought forward are perhaps to be ascribed to the more fertile invention of the chronographers Cf. Hirsch, Byzantinische Studien, pp. 34, 150, 151, 152, 153, 209, 210.; we also willingly grant that a whole year was by no means necessary for transacting all these affairs. But on the other hand, the course of affairs is not always rightly measured by the time which is required for them to be done. However that may be, we wish these two things to be kept before our eyes in the present controversy: the first is that the Acts of the monk Sabas excel in antiquity all the other documents brought forward so far for settling this dispute, even the continuator of Theophanes himself, by whose testimony Cuper thought the matter was settled in his time, since, being then recently published, it stood as the most ancient document of Byzantine history pertaining to the earlier part of the ninth century; the other is that nowhere among the Byzantine writers is it expressly affirmed in what year St. Methodius ascended the patriarchal throne, and only those things are put forward somewhat obscurely from which it can be gathered that this happened not long after the death of Theophilus; but in our Acts it is openly stated that it took place in the year 843.

[22] The controversy already rather often agitated by the Bollandists is now solved. But enough and more than enough has been said of these chronological complications, which have already been rather often agitated in our work and which Bolland Acta SS., February vol. II, p. 558., when he was treating of St. Theodora, referred for solving to that colleague of his who would treat of St. Methodius. That was Henschenius Acta SS., June vol. II, p. 972., who was of the opinion that Methodius died in the year 847, yet commended the matter to be discussed more deeply by him who should elucidate SS. Ignatius and Ioannicius. Meanwhile Pien Acta SS., July vol. VI, p. 601., commenting on the Acts of St. Irene, and Cuper Acta SS., August vol. I, p. *108., in weaving the chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, the one indicated the question in passing, the other tried to settle it thoroughly. Nonetheless they pointed out that the matter could be examined more carefully in the Acts of St. Ignatius on the 23rd day of October and in the Life of St. Ioannicius on the 4th of November. He who comes nearer to our days, our predecessor Fr. Van Hecke Acta SS., October vol. X, p. 176., to whom it fell to explain the Acts of St. Ignatius, concludes, having again indicated the difficulty of the matter, that the controversy must be treated again when St. Ioannicius should be dealt with. Whether this duty imposed by our venerable predecessors and this long-lasting expectation have been satisfied by us, let the kindly reader be judge. In whatever year, finally, St. Methodius was ordained, from what has been said we think it must certainly be held with Baronius, Pagi and the others cited above that St. Ioannicius died on the fourth day of November in the year 846, and with the same Baronius, against Pagi and the others already mentioned, that the year 847 is to be taken as the last of the life of St. Methodius. Less happily, therefore, the hagiographer Alban Butler Vies des Saints, 4 Nov., the historical writer Darras Histoire de l'Église, vol. XVIII, p. 347., and the distinguished Ulysse Chevalier Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen âge, vol. II, p. 1295. relate that St. Ioannicius departed this life in the year 845, and St. Methodius in the year 846. This, however, they rightly teach, according to the Acts of St. Ioannicius, that the death of the holy anchorite preceded the death of St. Methodius which he had foretold. As regards the very day on which St. Ioannicius flew away to the heavenly ones, we shall not dwell longer. Indeed the Metaphrastic Acts assign the third day of November, which some manuscripts of the Menaia and of the Synaxarion have followed; but the little books of Peter and Sabas, which deserve better credit, give the fourth day.

[23] Not in the year 729, as many formerly falsely thought, These things having been discussed concerning the year of death, let us now inquire about the year of birth of St. Ioannicius. Before the Acts written by the monks Sabas and Peter were known, an almost insuperable difficulty arose from the fact that already at the very beginning the author of the Metaphrastic Acts erred vehemently in chronology; namely when he reported that in the fourteenth year of the tyranny of Leo, son of Constantine, who also drew the line of his descent from Isauria, the admirable Ioannicius came forth from his mother's chamber P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 38.. On the same rock struck both Baronius Annales, vol. IX, p. 428., and Bolland Acta SS., January vol. I, p. 599., and Pagi Annales, vol. IX, p. 1328., and Baillet Vies des Saints, vol. III, p. 79., since they understood these words of the emperor Leo the Third, surnamed the Isaurian, and therefore thought that St. Ioannicius was born in the year of Christ 729 or 730, since the reign of Leo took its beginning in the year 716 or 717 Pagi, Critica, vol. IX, p. 1067.. But, as will be very clearly established, this opinion can no longer be defended. For if the said year were taken as the year of birth of St. Ioannicius, he would have lived not ninety-three years but a hundred and fifteen. Which indeed did not move Baronius and the authors cited, who admit that he reached so advanced an age. But against it stand the Acts written by the authors Peter and Sabas, and the Menaia themselves. Peter reports that Ioannicius lived eighty-three years; of whose opinion we shall have to treat later. Sabas and other documents declare that he died aged ninety-three years. Besides, Baronius uses a less correct synchronism to maintain that St. Ioannicius was born in the year 720 or 730 Annales, vol. IX, p. 428.. For he reports that the saint had reached the forty-third year when he was converted from the error of the iconoclasts; and he says he was converted in the year 782, namely when a certain old man appeared and reproached him for his obstinacy. This the most eminent author of the Annals thinks happened when the army of the Romans was returning, celebrating a triumph with Stauracius for the defeat of the Slavs. But Baronius was deceived by the version of Gentian Hervet, wrongly interpreting in this place κατὰ τὴν ἑῷαν by these words: to the west. As we shall note in its place and time, when the old man appeared to Ioannicius the army was in the eastern regions, κατὰ ἑῴα μέρη,, and this happened in the year 790, not in 782, as Bolland again teaches with Baronius Acta SS., March vol. II, p. 220..

[24] but St. Ioannicius was born in the year 754 Niccolò Falconi, the sagacious commentator of the Capponi Tables, led by I know not what reason, had already held very suspect the chronology of the life of St. Ioannicius which was received in his time, and thought the difficulty was to be unravelled by correcting the Surian Acts and, in place of Leo the Third, whom he rightly judged to have been falsely named, taking Constantine Copronymus and the fourteenth year of his reign, that is, the year of Christ 754 P. 27.. That this correction, which at that time was a mere conjecture, is to be entirely approved is shown by the Acts by the monk Sabas, in which these words are read, which the Metaphrastic author, whose recension Surius published, changed very badly: τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς τοῦ Ἰσαύρου Λέοντος παιδός, Νεστοριανοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, δυσσεβοῦς τυραννίδος, that is, in the fourteenth year of the impious domination of Constantine the Nestorian, son of Leo the Isaurian See no. 2 of the Life., which is the year 754 of our era. To the same time we are brought by the menologion of Basil, which teaches that St. Ioannicius was born in the times of Constantine Caballinus In the ed. of Card. Albani, vol. I, p. 164. Cf. above, no. 1.. The Menaia seem to disagree greatly among themselves, speaking now of Constantine Copronymus, now of Leo Copronymus. These, however, can be reconciled: for the manuscripts which, like the Paris manuscript no. 1594, fol. 90r, indicate the fourth year, you will interpret rightly by the reading of the manuscripts in which, as in the Paris ones no. 1590, fol. 56v, and 1592, fol. 40v, this fourth year is ascribed to Leo Copronymus. For thus we come round again to the year 754, since Leo IV, while his father Constantine Copronymus was still reigning, was associated in the empire in the year 751 [Pagi reports this among others, Critica on the year 751; of the Annals, vol. IX, p. 1207.]. Accordingly the year 754 may to some extent be called the fourth of his domination, τὸ τέταρτον ἔτος τῆς τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου Λέοντος τυραννίδος.

[25] it is demonstrated from his genuine Acts. For the rest, this year 754, which we have already found designated in various sources, alone squares with the various chronological points, a good many of which are indicated here and there in the course of the Acts arranged by Sabas. For first he asserts Cf. no. 2 of the Life. that in the thirty-first year of the reign of Constantine Copronymus, which is the year 771, and one year having elapsed after the marriage of Leo the Khazar with Irene, which is also the year 771, — since the betrothal was celebrated on the sixteenth day before the kalends of January of the year 769 Baronius, Annales, vol. IX, p. 364. —, Ioannicius was at the beginning of his third age, which he says begins from the sixteenth year. From this we come back again to the year 754, if, interpreting a little more broadly, we understand that Ioannicius was then in about his eighteenth year; which becomes more probable from the fact that immediately afterwards the writer adds that Ioannicius, in his nineteenth year, enlisted in the imperial military service No. 2 of the Life.. A little later Sabas offers another chronological point, when he records that Ioannicius was twenty-seven years old when Irene was holding the empire in its second year No. 4 of the Life.. Now this time is the year 781, since, having died in the year 780

Leo the Khazar, Irene obtained the supreme power Cf. Baronius, Annales, vol. IX, p. 425.. From this we are again brought to the year 754 as the birthday of Ioannicius. A third synchronism we obtain in Sabas when he reports that in the sixth year of the reign of Constantine the Younger, St. Ioannicius was already passing the seventh period of his life, that is, the forty-third year No. 6 of the Life.. But the sixth year of Constantine the Younger is the year of Christ 795 Baronius, Annales, vol. IX, p. 543., from which, if the 42 years are taken away which Ioannicius had reached at that time, we come back to the year 753 as the year in which he came forth into the light. Here a small difference intervenes, namely of one year, for the year 754 should have been reached. Finally, from the fourth item of information which Sabas gives, one can arrive at the year of birth of St. Ioannicius, namely when he teaches that the fifth year of the reigning Nicephorus is the fifty-fourth of Ioannicius No. 13 of the Life.. Now Nicephorus ascended the Byzantine throne in the year 802, so his fifth year is the year of Christ 806, and since the same year falls in the fifty-fourth of St. Ioannicius, it follows that he was born in the year 753. Therefore the four synchronisms given in the Acts of Sabas bring it about that the year of birth of St. Ioannicius is established as either the year 753 or 754. It cannot be that from the documents which are now at hand a more determined time should be assigned. Yet the hope which Niccolò Falconi, commenting on the Capponi Tables, placed in new Acts of St. Ioannicius to be published did not altogether fall in vain, when he asked for this: We expect everything Greek and Latin from the colleagues of Papebroch, and would that it be without these complications P. 27..

[26] The chronology of the life of St. Ioannicius is set out in summary. That the whole chronology of the Life of St. Ioannicius may appear as it were at a single glance, it has pleased us to make the following table, which may be as it were a register of that holy man.

In the year of Christ 754. St. Ioannicius is born in the village of Marycata, in Bithynia, near the lake of Apollonias.

761–773. He herds swine in his father's district, living piously indeed, but entangled in the heresy of the iconoclasts.

773. He is enrolled in the military service among the emperor's Excubitors, in the eighteenth cohort.

791. He meets a certain old man on Mount Olympus; having been reproved by him for adhering to the iconoclasts, he was converted.

791–795. He goes on serving under the emperor's standards, but devoted to the exercises of piety and to every good work, and also devoted to the cult of the sacred images.

795. After the battle at the fortress of Marcellae in Thrace, he renounces the world and seeks the monastery of the Agauri situated on Mount Olympus.

Thence, having set out at once for the monastery of Antidius,

795, 796 he spends two years there; then he practises the solitary life at Raven's Head, on Mount Trichalix and in the Hellespont,

797–799 where he remains three years. He passes into Cunduria, then near Myra in Lycia, whence he goes to Ephesus, returns to Lycia and seeks the mountains of Cilicia, where

800–806 he stays for seven years.

806. In the monastery of Eristae he receives the habit and tonsure of monks, whence he turns aside to the place called Critamum,

806–808 where he perseveres for three years.

808–810. For three years he hides himself in Chelidonia.

810–815. Having returned to the monastery of the Agauri, he lives in a cell built on Mount Trichalix; which he leaves when the persecution of Leo the Armenian has arisen;

815–820 having set out into the forest called At Lydia. Whence he returns to Mount Trichalix, in the year 820.

825. He is visited by St. Theodore the Studite and other bishops and hegumens venerable in his time.

830. He returns to the monastery of Antidius.

841. The emperor Theophilus sends to consult him about the cult of the holy images.

843. He foretells the election of St. Methodius as patriarch, to whom he also sends a letter.

845. He is ill treated by perverse monks.

846. On the 1st of November he is visited by St. Methodius.

826. On the 3rd of November he falls into a mortal illness, worn out by old age.

846. On the 4th of November he gives back his holy soul to God. His body is buried in the church of the monastery of Antidius.

§ IV. Of Mount Olympus and of the monasteries established there.

[27] On Mount Olympus, which is in Bithynia near Prusa, It is pleasing to describe in a few words the region which St. Ioannicius inhabited for so many years and which he exalted by the celebrity of his holiness and by many prodigies, especially since it has obtained a distinguished place and won wide fame in the annals of the Eastern monks. The holy man is said to have been sprung from the village of Marycatum, entirely obscure, whose name scarcely occurs elsewhere. It we read again in the Life of St. Paul of Latros, who will have to be treated on the 15th day of December and whose Acts have recently been edited among the Analecta Bollandiana Vol. XI, pp. 1–74, 136–82.: κατοικεῖ δὲ ἔν τινι χωρίῳ, ὃ τοῦ Πέτρου μὲν λέγεται, προσεχὲς δέ ἐστι τοῖς τοῦ Μαρυκάτου κατονομαζομένοις, ὅθεν ὁ θεῖος ἐν μοναχοῖς Ἰωαννίκιος ὥρμητο. He lived, moreover, in a certain place which they call of Peter, not far from those places which are called Marycata, whence the blessed monk Ioannicius was sprung Ibid., p. 21.. From our Acts, however, we learn that this village of Marycatum was situated at the northern part of the lake of Apollonias. Now that lake is the one which in our days the inhabitants call Aboullonia, and it lies between the Propontis and the northern slopes of Mount Olympus, about fifteen kilometres from the sea. The situation of Mount Olympus, in whose caves and rugged valleys the wonderful man Ioannicius lived holily for so many years, is determined in his Life itself. For it is narrated that, when about to return to Constantinople, he saw on his right the overtopping mountain of Bithynia, which among us is called Olympus Cf. below, no. 7 of the first Life.. In the recension which is inscribed under the name of Metaphrastes this topographical description is a little different: when Ioannicius had seen the mountain which overtops on the right of Bithynia, which among us is called Olympus, he conceived in his mind a quiet life loving solitude P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 42.. From this text the Rev. Fr. Victor De Buck drew out Act. SS., October vol. X, p. 918. that this mountain does not rise in Bithynia itself, but rather in Mysia, so that it lay next to Bithynia on the north and to Phrygia Epictetus on the east, while those who looked from here toward Constantinople would have Bithynia on their right. Besides, the learned man confirmed from this that Olympus is to be ascribed to the mountains of Mysia, because its name and surname is Ὄλυμπος ὁ Μύσιος. Yet this opinion hangs together less correctly with the text of Sabas which we have just reported, where it is openly declared that Olympus belongs to Bithynia. We judge that the matter can be reconciled if, as the truth seems to require, the too exclusive opinion of the Rev. Fr. De Buck is a little tempered. That is to say, it is true that Olympus extends for the greater part in Mysia, but another part also inclines into Bithynia, where the highest summit of the mountain rises. Strabo had already resolved the doubt when he says that the northern tract is occupied by the Bithynians, the rest by the Mysians Book XII, ed. Falconer 1807, p. 826.. And hence it came about that some authors speak of the Mysian Olympus, while others, more numerous, as among the more recent Leake, use the name Olympus of Bithynia Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 168.. It also makes for our subject that in the Life of St. Michael Syncellus, a transcript of which, from the Munich manuscript no. 10 Cf. Hardt, Catal. cod. mss. bibl. reg. Bavaricae, vol. I, p. 55., the Royal Library of Brussels keeps in the manuscript marked 18235–6, Nicephorus Gregoras gives a description of Mount Olympus. We subjoin the Latin interpretation made by Fr. Reinold Dehn, who in the year 1665 sent this transcript, with a Latin interpretation of the Greek Life of St. Michael Syncellus, to the Bollandists.

Ὄρος δ᾽ Ὄλυμπος τῶν ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ τὸ μέγιστον, ἡ δὲ Βιθυνία τέρμα τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ τοῖς τῆς Εὐρώπης τέρμασιν ἀντιβλέπουσα. Πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ πεδιάδες, πολλὰ δὲ ὄρη ἀνίστασι πρὸς μέσον ἀέρα τὰς κορυφὰς ἀνατείνοντα. Οἷς γε δὴ πᾶσιν ὁ Ὄλυμπος παρατιθέμενος πεδιάδας τὰς αὐτῶν κορυφὰς ἀποφαίνει παρὰ τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἐκείνων ὑπερανέχει παρ᾽ ὅσον ἐκεῖνα τῶν πεδιάδων. Τούτου παρὰ τὴν ὑπωρείαν ἡ τῶν Προυσαέων κεῖται μητρόπολις.

Which is the greatest of the mountains of Bithynia. Bithynia, the boundary of Asia, looks with opposite face upon the boundaries of Europe, and while it is frequently spread out into plain, it rises no less often with mountains up to the middle region of the air, which however, compared with Olympus, are more like plains. For by as much as they are higher than the plains, by so much is Olympus higher than they; at its roots lies the metropolis Prusa.

[28] the Acts of many saints declare that many monks lived, Mount Olympus became especially celebrated in the annals of the Church, already from the most remote times, by the multitude of monks who inhabited this region. We think we should not have done an unwelcome work if we gathered as it were into a sheaf the notices which not infrequently occur in the ecclesiastical writers concerning those holy Olympian dwellers of the holy mountain. The first hermit of the Olympian tract known so far is St. Neophytus, martyr under Diocletian, who had withdrawn there to lead a solitary life Act. SS., January vol. II, p. 297.. In the reign of Galerius Maximian, the holy virgins Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, as their Acts relate, lay hidden in a certain mound not far from the Pythian hot springs in Bithynia [The Bollandists hold that this place was in Bithynia against Tillemont, who thought that the hot springs were situated outside Bithynia. Act. SS., September vol. III, p. 492. Cf. Texier, L'Asie minuere, p. 116.]. Besides, one may read in Socrates of a certain monk Eutychian, who is narrated to have lived a solitary life in the Olympian tract in the times of Constantine the Great, to have cured both the bodies and the souls of many men with saving medicine, and to have lived there with his disciple Auxanon, whom he was training in the precepts of monastic discipline Hist. eccl., Book I, chap. 13. P. G., vol. LXVIII, pp. 105–110.. To almost the same time testimony is borne by the Acts of St. Hypatius, who lived in the fifth century, and whom they relate to have visited the monks living on Olympus Act. SS., June vol. III, p. 343.. In the sixth century, in the first session of the council of Constantinople, there are read as having subscribed both Stephen, presbyter and prior of the Olympian monastery Labbe, Concil., vol. V, cols. 31, 110, 130., and Hypatius, presbyter and archimandrite of the Olympian monastery Ibid., col. 174.. From that age up to the end of the seventh century no mention of Olympian monks has been detected, perhaps because Cappadocia and Palestine, at that time as it were nurturing lands of monks, by the fame of Sabas, Basil and other leaders of the monastic life, were drawing ascetics to themselves. Yet it is likely that in the Olympian region too, while peace held

in the Church, hermits flourished there, widely spread. But from the beginning of the eighth century we obtain, from a good many Lives of saints, very frequent mention both of Olympian monks and of several monasteries erected there. Among whom, first in time and not last in virtue, shone forth St. Plato. For his nephew St. Theodore the Studite relates, in the funeral oration which he pronounced on his holy uncle and spiritual father St. Plato, that he ran off into the parts of Olympus P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 810. Cf. ibid., p. 122. in order to be taught there the discipline of the monastic life. Perhaps there should also be cited a certain Timothy, afterwards a monk in the monastery of Symbola, over which St. Plato long presided. This Timothy is venerated on the 21st day of February. Under Leo the Isaurian flourished St. George Limniotes, who led an ascetic life in the tract of Mount Olympus Act. SS., August vol. IV, p. 841.. It is narrated in the Life of St. Theodore the Studite that, when he had headed toward Prusa, all the monks who inhabit Olympus ran to him P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 219., and that St. Theodore conversed especially with a certain monk Peter P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 315., who may perhaps have been Peter of Atroa, hegumen of the monastery of St. Zacharias, of whom we shall speak later. Besides, there are known SS. Nicephorus Act. SS., May vol. I, pp. 500 ff. and Nicetas Act. SS., April vol. I, pp. 253 ff., hegumens of the monastery of Medicius, which was situated to the east of Prusa, not far from this city, near the gulf of Nicaea Act. SS., October vol. X, p. 915.; known also, and above all, is St. Theophanes of Sigriane, who led the monastic life in the same region of Bithynia. For Sigriane, near Cyzicus in Asia Minor on the shore of the Propontis, is a mountainous region which the river Rhyndacus divides from Olympus Act. SS., March vol. II, pp. 213 ff.. On Olympus too St. Luke the Stylite learned the ascetic life, as we are taught from a transcript of his Acts preserved in manuscript 18864–74 of the Royal Library of Brussels, fol. 191v, which was copied from the Paris Greek manuscript, formerly no. 142, but now 1458.

[29] the Life of St. Ioannicius testifies that several monasteries were erected, Most of all from the Acts of St. Ioannicius very many names of monasteries and communities erected in the Olympian tract have become known to us. Besides the already cited ones of Medicius, of Symbola and of Sigriane, we have the monastery of the Agauri dedicated to SS. Cosmas and Damian, whose abbot in the times of St. Ioannicius was Gregory Ibid., p. 220, note 9, and especially below., who was afterwards succeeded by St. Eustratius and Antony, who first adhered to the heresy of the iconoclasts and then, repenting of his error, came to his senses at the exhortation of St. Ioannicius; we have also the community of St. Agapius, one of the metochia of the Agauri; the monastery of Antidius, in which, having lived there long, St. Ioannicius was buried, of whose hegumens too we know one named John; the monastery of Eristae, over which at the end of the eighth century Stephen presided, who marked St. Ioannicius with the monastic tonsure; the monastery of the Cells; the community of St. Elias in which St. Paul of Latros was tonsured Anal. Bolland., vol. XI, p. 22. and his brother Basil was proclaimed hegumen Ibid., p. 25., and another which is named Ἐλαιοβώμοι, Altars of Elias, whose abbot was Antony, and whose typikon, copied in the year 1162, the library of Patmos preserves [Gardthausen, Catalog. codic. graec. Sinaiticorum, p. 264. Τυπικὸν τῆς μονῆς τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου τῶν Ἡλίου βώμων. Cf. Sakkelion, Πατμιακὴ Βιβλιοθηκή, p. 136, no. 265.]; the monastery of Telai, which the Metaphrastic recension calls Hytotelai, perhaps the same as the monastery of St. Zacharias which St. Peter of Atroa ruled; the monastery of St. Nicholas; the community of Leucades; the community of Baleus; the monastery of Cunis, and also three communities founded by St. Ioannicius himself in honour of the B. Virgin Mary, of SS. Peter and Paul and of St. Eustathius, in which Peter, the other historiographer of St. Ioannicius, teaches that seventy monks lived in his time Chap. V, no. 22.. From the continuator of Theophanes we hear that one coming from Nicaea to the ascent of Olympus itself meets the monastery sacred to the martyr Athenogenes, over which, when Constantine Porphyrogenitus visited it, a certain Peter by name was set P. G., vol. CIX, p. 482.. In the Life of St. Antony the Younger, which exists in the Vienna historical manuscript thirty-first in Nessel's catalogue (fols. 1–17), St. Antony is said to have gone on to Mount Olympus, to the monastery of the Eunuchs. The communities of the Phlouboutini (Φλουβουτινῶν), of Hyacinthus and of Bolius (Βολίου) are cited in the Life of St. Constantine the Jew transcribed from a Laurentian manuscript Bandini, Catalog. cod. mss. Mediceae Laurentianae, vol. I, p. 412., which the Brussels manuscript no. 18864–74 preserves [Fols. 283v, 286r, 292r. It will not be irksome to report the whole passages: ὁ τῶν Φλουβουτινῶν μονῆς καθηγούμενος (fol. 283v), — καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν διανύσας τὴν Ὑακίνθου καταλαμβάνει λεγομένην μονήν· αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἔλαβε τὴν ἱερὰν ἐκείνην χαρίσασθαι χεῖρα. Οἷτος δ᾽ ὁ τόπος ἱερὸν τῆς Θεομήτρος οὐ τῶν ἀσήμων παρά τινα πόλιν ἐπίσημον, Νικαία δὲ αὐτή, τῆς Βιθυνίας· ὅπερ Ὑάκινθός τις εὐσεβὴς ἀνὴρ ἐδείματο μὲν θερμῷ τῷ πόθῳ, ἑαυτὸν δὲ σὺν τῇ περιουσίᾳ καθιερώσας ψυχῶν ἀπετέλεσε φροντιστήριον (fol. 286r), — ὡς δὲ τῆς μὲν τοῦ Μεσῶνος παροικίας μετέστη, ἀγχοῦ δέ που τῆς τοῦ Βολίου μονῆς οὕτω καλουμένης παρεγένετο (fol. 292r).]. The monastery of Hyacinthus is mentioned also by George Acropolites in the Annals P. G., vol. CXL, pp. 1006, 1034, 1082., and the community of Bolius is perhaps not to be distinguished from Baleus, of which we were just speaking.

[30] that the ascetic life persisted there even after his death, And this indeed concerning the principal Olympian monks who shone in the time of St. Ioannicius, and concerning the more distinguished places of that tract which have become known to us from his Acts. Very often the Byzantine writers, the hagiographers and the ecclesiastical books make mention of those dwellers of the holy mountain. Thus the author of the Life of St. Stephen the Younger reports that there fled to him on the mountain of St. Auxentius, while Constantine Copronymus was raging, to be refreshed by him, with other assertors of piety, the monks of Europe, of Byzantium, of Thynia and of the province of Bithynia, and those who inhabited the caves and mountains of Prusa Ibid., vol. C, p. 1114.. The emperor Nicephorus expelled among the monks of Bithynia, to lead the rest of his life there, the quaestor Arsaber Ibid., vol. CVIII, p. 971., beaten with stripes and condemned to the loss of his hair, because he had laid plots against him. Genesius narrates that from the celebrated Mount Olympus the religious men who inhabited it came down to congratulate Methodius on his election as patriarch Ibid., vol. CIX, p. 1095.. The names of many Olympian monks are given by the distinguished J. Martinov in his Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus. Thus he reports that St. Hilarion came to Olympus, renowned for the name of St. Ioannicius the anchorite, and sat there for five years in a certain oratory, not far from the Olympian monastery On the 19th day of November.. The same learned man deigned to share with us a French version of the Russian Life of St. Euthymius of Thessalonica, called the Younger, published in the Patericon of Mount Athos, written by a certain monk Basil, but not at all, as some have supposed, by Basil, bishop of Thessalonica. Now in this Life we also read that St. Euthymius with his companions Nicholas, afterwards made hegumen of Pissadi, and Theodore also inhabited Olympus for some time Annus eccl. gr.-slave, p. 248.. The same is asserted of SS. Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs, by the Pannonian Legend, which reports these things thus: To enter on the solitary life and be free for God alone, he went away to his brother on Mount Olympus (Cyril). For Methodius had withdrawn earlier to this mountain, where holy fathers dwell, having been made a monk Ibid., p. 169.. Finally, under the emperor Romanus, that Constantine, son of Boilas, prefect of the table, went away to Olympus to put on the monk's habit is witnessed by the Byzantine writers P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 427, 802..

[31] the Byzantine writers report it here and there up to the thirteenth century. These, then, are the more celebrated inhabitants of Mount Olympus who, in the Greek Church, spread a most splendid light up to that most ill-starred time in which, if Anastasius the librarian is to be believed, the Olympian monasteries were destroyed by Photius. He, as that writer narrates, put to flight those leading the eremitical life on Mount Olympus, and destroyed their huts or caves by fire P. L., vol. CXXIX, p. 13.. The communities, however, seem afterwards to have been restored, and the Olympian monks to have persisted even to more recent times. For in his ninth letter to the prince of the Bulgarians Nicholas Mysticus announces that he has sent to him, to disseminate the word of faith among the Alans in the power of the Holy Spirit, a certain catechumen of those monks who are on Olympus P. G., vol. CXI, pp. 19, 79.. In the tenth century St. Paul of Latros, who is venerated on the 16th day of December, withdrew with his brother Basil to Mount Olympus, and there put on the monastic garment Anal. Bolland., vol. XI, pp. 22.. The same we have found of St. Constantine the Jew [In the transcript of the Laurentian manuscript preserved in the Royal Library of Brussels, no. 18864–74, fols. 283v, 286r, 287r, 292r, 293v. Cf. Sergius, Kalendarium Orientis completum, vol. II, p. 401.]. Similarly in the eleventh century St. Christodulus, in the twentieth year of his age, lest he be compelled by his mother to enter into marriage, betook himself in flight to Mount Olympus of Bithynia, where asceticism flourished [Édouard Le Barbier, Saint Christodule et la réforme des couvents grecs au XIe siècle, p. 8. Cf. Cyrillus Boines, Ἀκολουθία τοῦ ὁσίου Χριστοδούλου, p. 65.]. It is known also that Michael Psellus, who was weary of the tumult of the Byzantine court, lived for some time as a monk among the Olympian ascetics [Sathas, Bibl. gr. med. aevi, vol. IV, p. LXVII; vol. V, p. 177. Cf. Rambaud, Révue historique, vol. III, pp. 267–8.], and there has been handed down to our memory the name of a certain monk Sergius, who, formerly living on Olympus, transcribed with his own hand a lectionary of the Gospel in the year 1059, which lectionary is now kept at Jerusalem in the monastery of St. Sabas Gregory, Prolegom. ad Nov. Testam., fasc. III, p. 713.. Called away from the same solitude, as from a training-ground of virtue, more than one Olympian monk was distinguished with the episcopal or even the patriarchal mitre. For there report, after Constantine Manasses P. G., vol. CXXVII, p. 422. Cf. Gedeon, Πατριαρχικαὶ Πίνακες, p. 297., our Cuper Act. SS., August vol. I, p. *114. and more recently the distinguished Hirsch Byzantinische Studien, p. 411., that in the year 906 there was raised to the throne of Constantinople Euthymius, who from tender

years and first age had led a solitary life on Olympus, the mountain of Mysia. Almost the same is narrated by the Byzantine writers both of St. Tryphon, whom they record to have been made, from a monk in the Opsikion, that is, in the Olympian tract, patriarch of the same see in the year 930 P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 434, 970; vol. CX, p. 1174., and of Basil, whom Leo the Deacon reports Ibid., vol. CXVII, p. 807. to have been brought forward in the year 970 by the emperor John, who, having taken up the monastic life from tender years, had shown frequent contests of the religious wrestling-school of games on the steep slopes of Mount Olympus. The same honour befell the monk John, surnamed Xiphilinus, whom among others John Curopalates Ibid., vol. CXXII, p. 387., Glycas Ibid., vol. CLVIII, p. 603. and Zonaras Ibid., vol. CXXXV, p. 254. relate to have led a solitary life on Mount Olympus for no small space of time. Finally, we have found that another Olympian monk, John Lacapenus, in the same eleventh century (1060–1078), was sent as bishop to Bulgaria Malychewski, SS. Cyrillus et Methodius (in Russian), p. 445.. It is no wonder, then, if Eustathius of Thessalonica extols the monks of that most celebrated tract with great praises Tafel, Eustathii opuscula, pp. 359–60.. That the Byzantine emperors too always esteemed highly the ascetics of Mount Olympus we are taught by more than one testimony. Romanus Lacapenus, namely, is rather often reported to have bestowed alms on them P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 447, 971., and also to have sent them a little book in which his sins had been sealed up, so that he might commend himself to their prayers Ibid., p. 458.. Above all, very well known is the solemn visit of Constantine Porphyrogenitus to the monks exercising themselves on Olympus, a few days before his death [Ibid., p. 482. Cf. Rambaud, L'Empire grec de Constantinople au Xe siècle, pp. 47, 48.]. But to so great a praise of virtues an end was put by the cruelty of the Turks, and in the reign of Osman I and Orkhan (1298–1358) the monasteries of Mount Olympus, as of the whole region of Bithynia, were overthrown and the monks put to flight Ἀκολουθία τοῦ ὁσίου Χριστοδούλου, pp. 65, 115.. Of its past fame scarcely the name has remained, yet it survives even today both among the Greeks, who name Mount Olympus καλογέρων ὄρος, and among the Turks, who use the designation Ketchich dag, which means the monk's mountain. But in more recent times too there appears from time to time one or another who, moved by the former celebrity of the holy mountain, tries to awaken the memory of olden times, like St. Dionysius the Olympian, who in the sixteenth century, being sought for the episcopate, hid himself on Mount Olympus, where he lay hidden to the last day of his life Ann. eccl. gr.-slav., p. 52.; whose Life is read in manuscript no. 9 (fols. 273a–279a) of the library of the monastery of Zographou on Mount Athos [Spyr. Lambros, Καταλ. τῶν ἐν ταῖς βιβλ. τοῦ ἁγίου ὄρους ἑλλην. κωδίκων, vol. I, p. 80.]. Since we have treated only of those monasteries which were erected on Olympus itself or in its vicinity, anyone who desired to hear of several others founded in Bithynia should go to the learned notes recently gathered by the most distinguished men Manuel John Gedeon [Cf. in the Greek periodical whose title is Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἀλήθεια, year 1889, no. 49 ff., the article entitled Ἔγγραφοι πλίνθοι καὶ κεράμια.] and Tryphon Evangelides [In the Greek periodical Σωτήρ, year 1889, περί τινων ἀρχαιοτάτων μονῶν ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ.]

§ V. Of St. Peter of Atroa, contemporary and companion of St. Ioannicius on Mount Olympus.

[32] From the Acts of St. Ioannicius it has become plain that St. Peter of Atroa, No small gain has been plucked from the hitherto unedited Acts of St. Ioannicius, namely an altogether certain knowledge of a certain saint of the Byzantine church entirely unknown. That is to say, up to our times, under the leadership above all of Bolland and Rader Act. SS., January vol. I, p. 129., whom men otherwise most learned followed, J. S. Assemani Kalendaria eccl. univ., vol. VI, pp. 59, 60., Martinov Ann. eccl. graec.-slav., pp. 27, 37, 38, 217, 246, 248. and Nilles Kalend. manuale utriusque eccl., vol. I, pp. 67, 68., it has been thought that St. Peter, who among the Greeks and Slavs is called now St. Peter who is in Atroa (in the menologion of Basil the Younger, on the 2nd day of January), now St. Peter the wonder-bearer in the church of St. Zacharias lying at Atroa (in the printed menaia and in the Sirmond manuscripts, on the 2nd and 3rd days of January), now of Athira (in the Moscow menologion on the 5th day of September), which designation is certainly corrupted from the denomination of Atroa used in the Slavonic monuments on the 13th day of September, it has been thought, I say, that this St. Peter of Atroa is one and the same with Peter Balsamus or Abelsamus or also Abselamites, who has been treated in our work on the 3rd day of January Act. SS., January vol. I, p. 129.. Indeed, in the whole course of the Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus the distinguished J. Martinov championed that opinion so sharply that he did not hesitate to brand with the mark of hallucination those who would distinguish two men in that Peter Abselamites buried in Atroa. Afterwards, however, the archimandrite Sergius suspected Polnyj Mesjacoslov Vostoka (Kalendarium Orientis completum), vol. II, pp. 284–5. that there existed a Peter of Atroa entirely different from Peter Abselamites, whom he recognized as so named from some place of Mount Olympus. Nonetheless the Rev. Fr. Nicholas Nilles S.J. did not cease to think Peter of Atroa one and the same with Abselamites, whom he thought was called Atroeensis (sic) from his place of burial Place cited, p. 67., and he denied that he could in any way come over to the opinion of Sergius, since it was contradicted by the most outstanding observations which Martinov had been first to write on this matter. Nor did the Synaxarist Nicodemus conjecture more happily when he made Peter of Atroa bishop of Argos, brother of Paul of Corinth Συναξαριστής, vol. VI, p. 15..

[33] whom they falsely said to be one with Peter Abselamites, The chief argument on which Rader, J. S. Assemani and Nilles relied in order not to distinguish Peter of Atroa from the martyr Abselamites was drawn from the fact that in the Menaia Peter of Atroa is proclaimed σημειοφόρος: τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ (namely the 2nd of January) μνήμη τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Πέτρου τοῦ σημειοφόρου, ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Ζαχαρίᾳ τῆς Ἀτρώας κειμένου. Since Peter Abselamites had finished his life by martyrdom, the said authors tried to twist the word σημειοφόρος into this sense, as if it signified cross-bearer, because Peter had been put on a cross for the name of Christ. But these things are brought forward with no right at all, and are an empty figment. For from the customary usage of speech among the Byzantine writers, testimonies of which can be cited in plenty, Sophocles in the Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods rightly gathers that the word σημειοφόρος means the same as wonderworker [Cf. the note of Combefis on the word σημειοφόρος, Eccl. gr. monum., vol. I, p. 806.]. Let it suffice to have adduced the following passages. In the Apophthegmata of the Fathers: εἰδὼς καὶ ὅτι σημειοφόρος ἐστὶν ὁ γέρων, knowing, moreover, that the old man performed signs or miracles Ibid., vol. I, p. 424., and elsewhere in the same book: ἦν γὰρ σημειοφόρος, for he was a worker of miracles Ibid., p. 568.. Cyril of Scythopolis in the Life of St. Sabas invokes the testimony of holy fathers, luminaries and workers of miracles, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων φωστήρων καὶ σημειοφόρων πατέρων. Besides, as will be plain to the reader, the monk Peter, the other writer of the Acts of St. Ioannicius, rather often calls him σημειοφόρον.

[34] [was hegumen of the monastery of St. Zacharias, situated in the place of the Olympian region called Atroa.] But against Peter of Atroa and Abselamites being the same stands what is said in the menaia, namely that the one of them was buried in Atroa at St. Zacharias. These things, which up to now seemed obscure to learned men, now become all too clear from the Acts of St. Ioannicius. For we read in the Life written by Sabas, chap. X, no. 44: Τοῦ δὲ μακαριωτάτου καὶ θαυματουργοῦ Πέτρου, ἡγουμένου γεγονότος τῆς μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Ζαχαρίου ὑπὸ πόδας τοῦ ἐκεῖσε Ὀλυμπιακοῦ ὄρους καὶ σύνεγγυς Καλουκώμης κειμένης, ἐν τῷ ὑπεράνω τῆς μονῆς βασιλείου ναῷ τοῦ ἁγίου Νικολάου τότε κατασκηνοῦντος, the most blessed and wonder-working Peter, who had become hegumen of the monastery of St. Zacharias, situated at the foot of the Olympian mountain there and near Calucome, was then staying in the church of St. Nicholas, which overtops the royal monastery. Accordingly Peter called of Atroa was an Olympian monk contemporary with St. Ioannicius, who presided over the monastery of St. Zacharias, in which he also lay buried. The same becomes known from the still unedited Life of St. Luke the Stylite, a transcript of which, from the Paris manuscript formerly 142, now 1458, the Royal Library of Brussels preserves in the manuscript marked no. 18864; where at fol. 191v we read this: καταλιπὼν γῆν πατρῴαν καὶ κτῆσιν πᾶσάν τε συγγενείας καὶ φιλίας προσπάθειαν καὶ συνήθειαν λάθρα μετανάστης τῆς πατρίδος γίνεται καὶ πρὸς τὸ Ὀλύμπιον οὕτω καλούμενον ὄρος ἀποτρέχει. Ἔνθα που λαύραν καταλαβὼν ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ μεγάλου προφήτου προσαγορευομένην Ζαχαρίου τὴν κώφευσιν ἐθελουσίως ἐκείνου τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἀνδρὸς σχηματίζεται, λίθον ὡς οἶά τινα κημὸν ἐκούσιον ἐμβαλὼν τῷ ἰδίῳ στόματι. Προσέρχεται τοίνυν τῷ τῆσδε τῆς μονῆς προεστώτι θείῳ γέροντι Πέτρῳ προσαγορευομένῳ, τῷ προορατικῷ προδήλως κατακεκοσμημένῳ χαρίσματι. Having left his native land and possessions and all attachment and familiarity of kinship and friendship, he secretly migrates from his country and sets out for the mountain so called Olympian. There, having sought the monastery named after the great prophet Zacharias, he of his own accord imitates the silence of that holy man, putting a stone, after the manner of a voluntary bridle, into his mouth. He goes, therefore, to the prelate of that monastery, the divine old man called Peter, adorned outright with the prophetic charism. We have, then, that this Peter into whom we are inquiring was prelate of the monastery of St. Zacharias situated on Mount Olympus. A more determined place for which the Menaia assign when they say: ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Ζαχαρίᾳ τῆς Ἀτρώας κειμένου. Now this place too we know from the Acts of St. Ioannicius. Sabas narrates that St. Ioannicius, when one morning he had set out from the monastery of the Agauri, arrived in the evening at one of the Olympian villages, called Castulo, toward Atroa: ἐν κώμῃ μιᾷ τῶν πρὸς Ἀτρώαν Καστούλω καλουμένῃ (chap. III, no. 8). In the Life of St. Ioannicius by Peter it is said that one must pass through Atroa to go from the monastery of the Agauri to Antidius (no. 8). Atroa seems to have been situated at the roots of Mount Olympus, since St. Ioannicius is reported to have gone up from there to the monastery of Antidius built on the mountain itself. The same place is better defined by Leo the Deacon, reporting John's

Tzimisces' journey in the Olympian region: ἄρτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ παρακειμένην τῆς Ἀτρώας πεδιάδα ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀφικόμενος, the emperor had come into the plain of Atroa lying beneath Olympus P. G., vol. CXVII, p. 923.. In Theophanes the chronographer you will read the name of the same Olympian place, ἐν τῇ Ἀτρῴᾳ, but in so obscure a manner that neither Ortelius nor Goar was able to determine its situation [Ibid., vol. CVIII, p. 937. Cf. Ramsay, The historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 189.]. Finally, in the transcript of the Life of St. Constantine the Jew in the Royal Library of Brussels, marked no. 18864–74, fol. 289v, you will find this: ἔρημον ἤδη καταλιπὼν περί τινα τόπον προέρχεται· Ἀτρώαν αὐτὸν καλεῖν οἱ ἐγνωκότες εἰώθασιν, καθ᾽ ὃν ὁ Μεσὼν καλούμενον χωρίον τι ἴδρυται.

§ VI. Analecta concerning St. Ioannicius from various sources.

[35] Theodore the Studite, in his letters Besides the things which have been stated copiously enough in the Acts of St. Ioannicius themselves concerning his life and miracles, certain other deeds of his are found in other writers of this time. There is at hand, first of all, a most clear testimony to the holiness of St. Ioannicius produced by another most holy man, namely by St. Theodore the Studite. He, as is read in the Acts of St. Ioannicius See below no. 28 of the first Life, and no. 35 of the other., when about the year 823 [This year 823, Baronius, vol. IX, p. 871; Le Quien, however, in the Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 605, thinks that the thing happened at the time when St. Ioannicius was already near death; which is certainly false. The synoptic chronology of St. Theodore the Studite establishes the year 824 (Sirmond's edition, vol. V), and the Acts of St. Ioannicius written by Sabas indicate the same time.] he was journeying this way, had visited our holy anchorite on Mount Olympus. It is certainly wonderful that the author of the Life of St. Theodore the Studite, although he narrates that journey P. G., vol. XCIX, pp. 218, 219., nevertheless did not record this meeting of Theodore with St. Ioannicius; but a certain letter of St. Theodore removes all doubt, if any should perhaps arise, about the truth of this fact [Vol. V, p. 444; cf. P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1386. We have again collated the text with the Greek manuscript no. 894 of the Bibl. nat. of Paris, fols. 334v–335v.]. St. Theodore, writing to St. Ioannicius, recalls to memory their recent conversation:

Ἰωάννῃ ἐρημίτῃ. Ἡδὺ θέαμα ὁπόταν τις θεάσοιτο τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν εἰς νοῦν ἀεὶ ἀναθεωρεῖν εἴωθεν. Οὕτως οὗν καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ταπεινοί, θεοτίμητε, ἅπαξ σε βλέψαντες καὶ ὡμιληκότες, οὐκ ἐπιλελήσμεθα· ἀλλὰ φανταζόμενον ἔχομεν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ· αὐτὸ τοῦτο γαννύμενοι ὁρᾷν ἄνθρωπον Θεοῦ, προσώπῳ τε καὶ ὁμιλίᾳ χάριν θείαν λάμποντα, καὶ εἰς δοξολογίαν Θεοῦ προτρεπόμενον. Ἔσχες δὲ τοῦτο τῇ ἐρημικῇ μονώσει, καὶ τῇ προσευκτικῇ προσελεύσει· λαμπρυνθεὶς Μωσαἳκῶς τὴν ὄψιν πρὸ τοῦ ἀρρήτου φάους. Διὸ καὶ αὖθις γλιχόμεθά σε κατοπτεῦσαι, καὶ συμμετασχεῖν τῶν ἔν σοι χαρίτων κατὰ δευτέρωσιν ἁγιαστικοῦ μετουσιασμοῦ, σὺ πρὸς Θεόν, καὶ ἡμεῖς παρὰ σοῦ. Ὁρᾷς ὅσον σε Θεὸς ἐδόξασεν, ἐπεὶ ἐδόξασας αὐτόν; Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔτι δοξάσειεν ἐν τέλει τοῦ βίου, ἀποπεραίνοντα ἀξίως τὸν δρόμον, ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς εὔξαιο κἂν ἄρξασθαι τοῦ σωτηρίου δρόμου· ἐπείπερ μακρὰν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ οἱ ἐλάχιστοι. Ἡ πρώτη ἐπιβολὴ τοῦ λόγου ἐν τούτοις.

To John the hermit.

If anyone has seen a pleasant spectacle, he is accustomed to gaze on it always in his mind even after he has withdrawn. So therefore we too, humble as we are, man honoured by God, since we once saw you and spoke with you, have by no means forgotten you; but we bear you imprinted on our mind, longing to see that very man of God, breathing divine grace both in countenance and in words, and inciting to the praises of God. This you have attained by eremitical solitude and by frequenting prayer, bearing a face shining like Moses' with ineffable light. Wherefore we desire both to behold you again and to become partakers of the gifts of grace which are in you, and we shall draw a holiness which you draw from God, we from you, yet less than how great it is in you. Do you see with how great a glory God has endowed you, since you have endowed him with glory? And would that he continue to adorn you at the end of life, finishing your course, as is fitting. But pray for us sinners, that we may at least begin the saving course; since we little men are far from God. And this is the first purpose of my discourse.

This former part, then, leaves it undoubted and beyond controversy that Theodore the Studite had recently conversed with St. Ioannicius when he was writing these things, and hence the trustworthiness of our Acts is confirmed by a new and not despicable reason. But it must be examined especially for what cause Theodore the Studite wrote. For after expressing his joy at the last and most recent conversation, he continues:

Τίς ἡ δευτέρα; Περὶ Θεοκτίστου τοῦ ἐρημίτου· ὃς ὅπως διερράγη ἐξ αἱρετικῶν τινων ὑποθέσεων τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας· αὐτὸς ἡμῶν μᾶλλον ἐπίστασαι, τιμιώτατε. Πλὴν ὅτι καὶ ἡμεῖς προπέρυσι πλησιάσαντες τοῖς καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐνδιαιτήμασιν, ἐξεμάθομεν παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων τὰ τοῦ ἀνδρός. Οὐ μὴν ὰλλὰ καὶ διὰ γραμμάτων ὑπεμνήσαμεν καὶ παρεκαλέσαμεν ἀποσχέσθαι αὐτὸν των σκοτεινῶν ἐκείνων καὶ δαιμονοποιῶν φθεγμάτων, ὀρθοδοξεῖν δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπί τε τῆς παναγίας θεοτόκου, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τρόπων. Νῦν οὖν Νικάνωρ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἀδελφὸς φοιτήσας πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἀπήγγειλεν ἐλθεῖν εἰς μετάγνωσιν τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ ἐθέλειν ὁμοφρονεῖν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, λέγειν δὲ μηδὲ γράμμα ἐμὸν εἰληφέναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὲρᾷν δέξασθαι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν, πάτερ ἅγιε, γέγραπται· Ὁ ἐξάγων ἄξιον ἐξ ἀναξίου ὡς στόμα μου ἔσται, και· Ὁ ἀποστρέφων ἄνθρωπον ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν· δεῖ τὴν ἁγιωσύνην σου διαναστῆναι, καὶ δοῦναι χεῖρα βοηθείας τῷ πλανωμένῳ, ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ Θεοῦ συνεργὸς ἔσῃ. Ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο πῶς; ἵνα δηλώματι ἄξας τὸν Θεόκτιστον πρὸς σέ, εἴποις τε καὶ διαλεχθῇς τὰ εἰκότα. Καὶ εἰ μὲν εὕροις αὐτὸν εἴκοντα τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ, εἴποις καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ, ὅτι εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο κεκίνημαι φιλῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῦ· κἂν δοκιμάζοις, ὁ πατήρ, κἀκεῖνος ἐρᾷ, ἐπιστείλω αὐτῷ εὐθέτως, ὥστε ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἑλκυσθῆναι καὶ κερδηθῆναι τὸν ἀπολλύμενον. Τοῦτο γὰρ βούλεται Θεός, κἀν τούτῳ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὸ ἀπολωλὸς ἐκζητῶν ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης ἀπόδειξιν τὴν τοῦ πέλας φιλίαν ποιεῖται ἡμῖν. Καὶ δεῖ παντὶ σθένει κινηθῆναι ἡμᾶς, πάτερ ὅσιε· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ κἀγὼ κινηθεὶς ἔγραψά σοι. Εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοιαύτὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ἀπειθῶν ἀπειθεῖ ὄψεται ὁ ἀνομῶν. Λέγει Κύριος· Ἄφετε αὐτούς, τυφλοὶ εἰσί. Ὡς οὗν εὐοδοῖ Κύριος, ἀγαθύνθητι, πάτερ, δηλοποιῆσαί μοι γράμματι σου τιμίῳ.

What is the second? Concerning Theoctistus the hermit: by what means he has been torn away from the body of the Church through certain heretical questions, you yourself know better than we, most reverend one. However, we too, when we had recently come to your cells, learned the man's affairs from those who knew. Indeed we also admonished him by letter Cf. Sirmond's edition, vol. V, p. 473. and exhorted him to abstain from those murky and demoniacal discourses, and rather to think orthodoxly both about the most holy Mother of God and about the other heads. Now therefore our brother Nicanor, coming to us, has announced that the man has come to his senses and wishes to agree with the Church, but says that he did not receive my letter; yet that he desires it too. Since therefore it is written, holy father: "He who brings forth the worthy from the unworthy shall be as my mouth Jer. XV, 19." and "He who causes a man to turn from the error of his way shall cover a multitude of sins James V, 20."; your holiness must rise up and stretch out a helping hand to the one who is erring: for in this you will be a helper of God. But how will this be done? By summoning Theoctistus to you, and telling and expounding to him what will be fitting. And if you see that he yields to the divine word, signify about me too, humble as I am, that my mind is the same out of desire for his salvation, and, if you approve, father, and he asks it, I shall write to him appropriately, so that he may be drawn from both sides and he who is perishing may be gained. For this God wills, and for the sake of this thing he came to earth, seeking to bring back what had perished Matt. XVIII, 13., and he bids that love of neighbour be for us the proof of love toward himself, and it is fitting that we be stirred with every effort, holy father; for to this end I have been moved to write to you. But if after such an effort he refuses and will not obey, "the wicked shall see Ps. CXI, 10.". The Lord says: "Let them alone, they are blind Matt. XV, 14." What success, then, the Lord gives, may your goodness not be loath to indicate to me, father, in your venerable letters.

That is to say, St. Theodore asks St. Ioannicius to labour together with him in converting one of the Olympian monks, named Theoctistus. That he was leading an eremitical life on Olympus Theodore the Studite plainly indicates in the letter recited, when he reports that he learned about this man's affairs when he had recently come to the cells of Olympus. From the Acts of St. Ioannicius we indeed learn nothing about Theoctistus or about his coming to his senses. Yet Baronius does not hesitate to assert that St. Ioannicius performed entirely what Theodore was asking of him by his prayers Annales, vol. IX, p. 906.. In very truth there exist both that letter of Theodore written to Theoctistus Sirmond's ed., vol. V, p. 473., which he mentions in the letter to Ioannicius and in which he reproaches him because on account of his suspect doctrine many were divided from his communion, and another Ibid., pp. 518–520. from which a certain argument can be deduced that the hermit Theoctistus, repentant, at the persuasion of St. Ioannicius, condemned his errors; since at the end of that letter Theodore exhorts Theoctistus to subscribe the document of his repentance before the lord Ioannicius our spiritual father, and you our venerable father and brother, ἀπέναντι τοῦ κυροῦ Ἰωαννικίου τοῦ πνευματικοῦ ἡμῶν πατρός, καὶ σοῦ τοῦ τιμίου καὶ πατρὸς καὶ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν. On which passage it is pleasing to note this title of spiritual father, τοῦ πνευματικοῦ πατρός, with which St. Theodore distinguishes St. Ioannicius. We must beware, however, of inferring from this that Ioannicius was initiated into the priesthood. I. Habert indeed rightly pointed out [Liber Pontif. Eccl. graec. Paris, 1676, pp. 598–600. Cf. I. Hergenröther in Entalmate graeco Patrum spiritualium officium describente additoque brevi de eodem commentario, pp. 13–17.] that among the Greeks

the name of spiritual fathers or men properly designates confessors and therefore presbyters; yet it could be demonstrated without great trouble that the proper sense of this word strayed into other, less strict ones, and often also to godparents on account of spiritual kinship Zhishman, Orient. Eherecht, p. 260, and Syntagma Athen., vol. V, p. 380..

[36] and in the Small Catechesis he treats of St. Ioannicius, Elsewhere again Ioannicius is mentioned by Theodore the Studite, namely in catechesis XXXVIII of the Small Catechesis [In the edition of the distinguished Auvray, Τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ ὁμολογήτου Θεοδώρου ἡγουμένου τῶν Στουδιου μικρὰ κατήχησις, p. 141.]. In this place the hegumen of Studios had set before his monks examples to be followed of some of the holiest of their brothers, in order to exhort them to remain in that to which they had been called before God and not to seek the things which belong to another order. Then he continues, bringing in St. Ioannicius thus: ἐχέτω οὖν ὁ πατὴρ Ἰωαννίκιος σὺν τοῖς ὁμοταγέσι τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ τὴν ὀρεινήν· σὺ στέργε τὴν ὑποταγὴν καὶ τὴν ξενίαν· ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ οὐ δεδίωκται, σὺ δὲ δεδιωγμένος ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης· ἐκεῖνος οὐ πεφυλάκισται, σὺ δὲ ἐφυλακίσθης διὰ Κύριον· ἐκεῖνος οὐ τέτυπται, σὺ δὲ ἐτύφθης διὰ Χριστόν. Πόσῳ ταῦτα ἐκείνων βελτιώτερα Let father Ioannicius, then, with his companions keep the deserts and the mountains; do you love submission and hospitality. He is not now suffering persecution, but you they persecute for justice' sake. He was not imprisoned, but you were thrust into custody for the Lord's sake; he was not beaten, but you were struck for Christ's sake. How much these things surpass those! At first sight Theodore the Studite does not seem here to approve of Ioannicius. But since on the other hand it is known how highly he esteemed the holy monk, the present passage is to be explained from the particular aim which is intended. Namely he wishes to admonish his monks that each must remain in the state from which he was called by God, which state is better for each, and he reasons thus: St. Ioannicius with his companions keeps to the solitude, where he has lived quietly for God; to you it has been given to lead a life not so tranquil, and to suffer much for God's sake; which has been better for you. But Theodore the Studite by no means intends, as someone might falsely imagine, to disapprove of the manner of acting of Ioannicius. Finally, we do not wish to pass over that St. Ioannicius is mentioned by Theodore the Studite among the twenty-three friends and brothers whom, since he was eager to know of them and frequent indication was made of them, he had judged it would be advisable to designate more briefly and more secretly by the elements, that is, the twenty-four letters. Now he asks that St. Ioannicius be signified by the letter [ ] P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1059..

[37] who is mentioned also in the Life St. Ioannicius is also mentioned in the Life of St. Euthymius, who is venerated on the 15th day of October Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus, p. 248.. This Life, written by a certain Basil, of St. Euthymius the Younger, whom some wrongly say to be the same as the archbishop of Thessalonica, lies hidden up to now in the darkness of libraries, namely, as Nicodemus the Synaxarist relates Συναξαριστής, vol. III, p. 84., of the monasteries of Vatopedi and of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos. So far only the Russian version inserted in the Lives of the fathers of Mount Athos has been published, which Afonski patérisc. St. Petersburg, 1860, vol. I, pp. 36–40. the distinguished John Martinov most kindly deigned to interpret for us. Those Acts the learned author of the Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus esteems very highly, since they agree excellently with the historical facts known from elsewhere, both as regards the things themselves and as regards the chronology. Accurate geographical notices are given, the style is quite simple, nor, as often happens in the little narratives of the Greeks, does its author Basil abuse sonorous trifles and superfluous ornament, who shows himself both the disciple and the contemporary of St. Euthymius. St. Euthymius was born about the year 824, and he is narrated to have left his country, Galatia, in the eighteenth year of his age, and after long journeys to have sought the region of Olympus, where he met St. Ioannicius, who at that time was flourishing, adorned with the veneration of the greatest holiness. To him he at once adhered, to be taught the precepts of the ascetic life. When one day the fathers and brothers were gathered at Ioannicius's, to be instructed by the words of his mouth, and the young Euthymius was present at the same time, St. Ioannicius, who foresaw both the precocious virtue of his disciple, and his future holiness, and the fruit which he would work in souls, wished to demonstrate the humility of Euthymius in the sight of all the monks. Wherefore, addressing the fathers one by one, he asked which of them, while he was living in the world, had done most harm to his neighbour. When the fathers had answered that they did not know this: "Behold that one," answered St. Ioannicius indignantly, pointing out Euthymius: "this young man is an evildoer, a murderer, hold him and bind his hands." All ask what crime he has committed; the young man answers nothing, not daring to contradict the holy man, nor to deny that he was the most wicked of men, ready to bear chains; all are astounded. Then St. Ioannicius spoke again: "Let him go," he says; "he is the most innocent of men. I accused him of murder for the sake of a trial, wishing to demonstrate how great things he will one day accomplish who from the cradle of the ascetic life is so zealous for obedience and humility that he does not refuse to be held an infamous and worthless man."

[38] in the Life of St. Irene, Besides the many predictions which his Acts report to have been uttered by St. Ioannicius, two others not mentioned there are read elsewhere, namely concerning St. Irene to be chosen hegumene of the monastery of Chrysobalanton and concerning Photius, the future fiercest adversary of the Church of Christ. The narrative of Irene's meeting with St. Ioannicius has already been inserted in our work, namely how the virgin Irene, destined as bride for the emperor Michael, on her journey toward Constantinople turned aside to Mount Olympus in order to enjoy the sight of the anchorite most celebrated at that time and to be helped by his prayers. To her the holy man foretold that the monastery of Chrysobalanton needed her help, that she might preside over the virgins consecrated to God there Act. SS., July vol. VI, p. 604.. Our John Pien was of the opinion that this meeting took place in the year 842 Ibid., p. 601.. Since in no recension of the Acts of St. Ioannicius is any mention of this prediction subjoined, everyone will be inclined to doubt what is to be thought of this prophecy. Although, as to the time at which it happened, Pien notes that it is sufficiently clear from his statements that the year 842 is to be taken, he adds however that he has nothing further to disclose on this matter. For the rest, the same predecessor of ours professes that he gives altogether middling credit to the author of the Life of St. Irene, as one who so adapted his narrative to places, persons and times that he can be convicted of having thrust in here and there things openly false and palpably incongruous, and who, far from being a contemporary of St. Irene, lived long after her. Since then our Acts are silent, and it is not permitted to trust much the author of the Life of St. Irene, it will be better to refrain from any judgment at all.

[39] [Nor to Symeon the Magister, who reports the prediction of St. Ioannicius about Photius,] The prediction concerning Photius, however, we read reported as made thus in the Annals of Symeon the Magister: since the parents were fond of monks, the wife, gladly receiving them at home, used to ask them to pour out prayers for themselves and for Photius. This Photius, once, when his father had brought him, still a very little boy, to St. Ioannicius on Mount Olympus, he besought to pray for him. He answering straightway: "Photius," he says, "does not set his mind to know your ways, O Lord". To whom Sergius, drawing deep sighs: "Why, father, did you say this?" The old man answered: "What he is going to perpetrate, I announce to you." Then Sergius, his head sprinkled with ashes, went down from the mountain P. G., vol. CIX, p. 731.. To the truth of this narrative of the meeting of St. Ioannicius with the little boy Photius the silence of our Acts is certainly not favourable. Although the reckoning of the times does not stand in the way, since Photius was certainly born before the year 827 and St. Ioannicius died in the year 846, many learned men, among whom Cardinal Hergenröther, greatly shrink from accepting the testimony of Symeon the Magister. The most eminent writer does not hesitate to reckon this and other stories which the Magister puts forward about Photius among fables and fictitious inventions [Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, pp. 317–319. Cf. Hirsch, Byzantinische Studien, pp. 340 ff.]. He does not, however, deny that these rumours were perhaps spread among the people, but he plainly refuses to invoke them as a document of historical truth. Wherefore let it be a praise to the writers of the Life of St. Ioannicius that they kept silent about such things, and let there arise a new argument from which the credit to be given to them may grow, that they did not fall into open trifles and old wives' little stories, the delight of the common people, at least as regards the popular tradition which Symeon reported of St. Ioannicius foretelling the Photian schism already from the very boyhood of its promoter.

[40] We have already treated (no. 17) of the counsel which the empress Theodora had sought from Ioannicius; Nicetas, namely, in the Life of Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, narrates that she sent to consult St. Ioannicius as to who, when Methodius was dead, should be elected patriarch. We have given the reasons on account of which that testimony appears to us too uncertain. But it is pleasing to report what is related of St. Ioannicius by the author of the Life of the same basilissa Theodora, whose text the distinguished W. Regel recently edited among the Analecta byzantino-russica published by the Academy of St. Petersburg P. 7. Cf. Rev. des quest. hist., vol. LIII, p. 259., and a transcript of which, from a certain manuscript of the Basilians of Messina, the manuscript marked no. 8599–60 in the Royal Library of Brussels preserves. Where at fols. 82r–83v these words are read: κατ᾽ ἐκείνους δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς διέλαμπον ἄνδρες θαυμαστοί τε καὶ εὐλαβεῖς καὶ ζήλου θείου καὶ σοφίας ἔμπλεοι τυγχάνοντες· Ἰωαννίκιος ὁ μέγας, σημειοφόρος καὶ ἀξιάγαστος καὶ τρισμακάριστος, ὁ ἐκ τῆς ἐλλάμψεως τοῦ παναγίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ Πνεύματος τὸ τῆς προοράσεως In Regel less correctly προαιρέσεως. καὶ προγνώσεως μέγα Brussels MS. μέγαν. καὶ ὑπερθαύμαστον χάρισμα ἀξιωθεὶς λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πολλὰ τοῖς πυνθανομένοις προλέγων τῶν ἐσομένων. But in those times Namely the years 829–842, in which Theophilus reigned. there shone wonderful and pious men, and full of divine zeal and wisdom: Ioannicius the great, worker of miracles and wonderful and thrice blessed. Who, through the illumination of the most holy and life-giving Spirit, being worthy to have received from God the great and admirable charism of foresight and foreknowledge, foretold many things of the future to those who questioned him. In very truth St. Ioannicius shone forth above all by the prophetic gift, as many things wonderfully done in his Life testify. The same passage of the Life of St. Theodora you will find repeated word for word in the Historical Oration on the feast of the restoration of the images edited by Combefis Auct. Bibl. Patr., vol. II, p. 720..

That the writer of this oration excerpted these things from the author of the Life of Theodora has been very clearly demonstrated by W. Regel Analecta byzantino-russica, pp. X–XI..

[41] nor to the Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon, In the hitherto unedited Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon, which are found at Florence in the Medicean Laurentian library Bandini, Catalog. cod. mss. bibl. Med. Laurent., vol. I, p. 425., and a transcript of which made by Fr. Daniel Papebroch the Royal Library of Brussels preserves in the manuscript marked no. 8229 Omont, Catalogue des ms. grecs de la bibl. roy. de Bruxelles, p. 35., it is read that St. Ioannicius, ὁ ἐν ἡσυχασταῖς κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἀγγελικῶς ἐν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ διαπρέπων Ἰωαννίκιος P. 27., agreed, against Symeon, with George, Methodius and John Catasambas that, at the request of the basilissa Theodora, they should declare the dead emperor Theophilus faithful and orthodox, ὡς πιστὸν καὶ ὡς ὀρθόδοξον. It is pleasing to transcribe the whole passage Pp. 26, 27..

Πάντων δὲ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἀρχιερέων καὶ μοναχῶν ἐν τῇ μεγαλοπόλει συναθροισθέντων ἡ βασίλισσα τούτους οὐκ ἀηδῶς δεξαμένη ἔνδον τῶν βασιλείων, ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Περιβλέπτῳ * τῷ τέως καταχθῆναι κελεύει· τὴν δὲ δίττην ταύτην τῶν ἀδελφῶν τὴν ξυνωρίδα Συμεὼν καὶ Γεώργιον σύν τε τῷ θαυμαστῷ Μεθοδίῳ ἐν ἰδιάζοντι ταμιείῳ παρ᾽ ἑαυτὴν ἔχουσα συχνοτέρως ὡμίλει, καὶ εἰς συνεστίασιν προετρέπετο. Θνήσκειν δὲ μέλλων ὁ βασιλεὺς μετάμελος, κἂν μὴ τελείως, τῇ τε τῆς εὐσεβείας μετακινήσει καὶ τῷ διωγμῷ ὀρθοδόξων γενόμενος, δοθῆναι τοῖς ἀναπήροις καὶ πένησι λίτρας ἑξήκοντα χρυσίου παρέθετο· ἑτέρας δὲ τοσαύτας τοῖς ἐν σπηλαίοις καὶ ὄρεσιν ἡσυχάσουσι καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐξορίαις κατακριθεῖσιν· ἡ δ᾽ εὐσεβὴς ἐκείνη καὶ φίλανδρος, μᾶλλον δὲ φιλόχριστος βασιλὶς τοῖς τρισὶν ἁγίοις τούτοις ἀνδράσι τὸν ἴδιον αὑτῆς ἀνακοινοῦται σκοπὸν καὶ ἀναφανδὸν ἀνακαλύπτει, λέγουσα· Ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ ἱεροὶ καὶ θεοφόροι πατέρες, τὸν ἴδιον κόσμον τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ εὐσεβοφρόνως ἀποδοῦναι βούλομαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ὑμῶν ὁσιωτάτην ὁμήγυριν ἐκ περάτων πρὸς ἡμᾶς παραγενέσθαι κεκέλευκα. Μίαν δὲ κἀγω πρὸς ὑμᾶς ταύτην προφέρω τὴν αἴτησιν κούφην ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑμῶν καὶ μάλα ῥαδίαν ὑπαρχούσαν· ἐξουσίαν γὰρ ἔχετε πρὸς Θεοῦ τοῦ δεσμεῖν καὶ λύειν ὄσα ἄν καὶ βούλεσθε, οὐ μόνον τῶν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἐξεταζομένων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἤδη προληπθέντων θανάτῳ, ὡς ἱερεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκραιφνεῖς λατρευταὶ καὶ θεράποντες. Καὶ ἀντιβολῶ νῦν, ἰδού, ὑμᾶς, τὸν ἐμὸν σύζυγον ὑμῶν χρηματίσαντα βασιλέα μὴ ἀναθεμαθισμῷ καθυποβαλεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πιστὸν καὶ ορθόδοξον τοῦτον οἰκονομικῶς δέξασθαι. Πεπληροφόρημαι γὰρ ἔχειν ὑμᾶς, εἰ μόνον θελήσετε, καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι· ἰδοὺ γὰρ καὶ εὐλογίαν ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐκδημῶν ἐνδιαθήκως κατέλιπε. Καὶ ἡ μὲν πραοτάτη καὶ μετριόφρων δυὰς Μεθόδιος λέγω καὶ ὁ Γεώργιος ἀπηνεώθησαν μετὰ συννοίας οὐ τῆς τυχούσης σκεπτόμενοι τίνα ἂν δῶσιν ἀπόκρισιν. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος Συμεὼν πυρὸς ὐπάρχων θερμότερος καὶ ἐφικέσθαι ῥομφαίας τομώτερος, μηδὲν ὅλως ἐνδοιάσας ἢ τὸ παράπαν ὀρρωδήσας σφοδρῶς ἠγανάκτηνσε καὶ μέγα τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐκεῖνο ῥητὸν ἀνακέκραγε· Τὸ ἀργύριον αὐτοῦ σὺν αὐτῷ εἰς ἀπώλειαν· οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ μερὶς ἢ κληρονόμια μετὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ ὀρθοδόξων ἱεροσύλῳ καὶ θεομάχῳ ὑπάρχοντι· ᾧ γὰρ περιόντι ἐχθρὸν ἦν τὸ θεῖον, τούτῳ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ μεταστάντι. Τούτων οὕτως περὶ τοῦ μακαρίου ῥηθέντων, ἡ ἄνασσα τῇ λύπῃ κατασχεθεῖσα, θυμοῦ τε ἔμπλεως γενομένη τούτους τε καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῦ παλατίου μετ᾽ ὀργῆς ἐξωθεῖσθαι κελεύει, τάδε μετὰ θυμοῦ λέγουσα· Ἐφ᾽ ὅσον ὑμῖν οὕτως δέδοκται, πορεύεσθε ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ. Ἐγὼ γάρ, ὥσπερ ἔλαβον καὶ μεμάθηκα παρά τε τοῦ κηδεστοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρός, κρατήσω καὶ βεβαιώσω· ὑμεῖς δὲ ὄψεσθε. Ἐξελθόντων δὲ τῶν πατέρων οὐ μόνον τῶν βασιλείων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς πόλεως, ἅπας ὁ τῶν ὁμολογητῶν καὶ ὑπερορίων θίασος τῷ Συμεὼν ἠκολούθησε, τὰ αὐτὰ ἐκείνου φρονοῦντες, καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ θανεῖν προελόμενοι. Μόνοι δὲ τὸν τῆς βασιλίσσης σκοπὸν συνευδόκουν, καὶ ἤθελον περαιωθῆναι τῆς τοῦ κοινοῦ σωτηρίας εὖ μάλα καὶ ἐπισταμένως προνοούμενοι σὺν Γεωργίῳ Μεθέδιος, Ἰωάννης ὁ Κατασάμβας λεγόμενος καὶ ὁ ἐν ἡσυχασταῖς κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἀγγελικῶς ἐν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ διαπρέπων Ἰωαννίκιος.

When the basilissa had received all the orthodox presbyters and monks gathered in the metropolis [Cf. Theoph. Contin., P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 166–7; Symeon. Mag., ibid., p. 711, no. 3; Zonar., P. G., vol. CXXXV, p. 11.] Namely Theodora. not ungraciously within the royal palace, she orders them to assemble together in the place called Peribleptos [A monastery of Constantinople, on which Banduri, Imperium orient., vol. I, p. 380, Du Cange, Constantinop. christ., Book IV, p. 63. The monastery of the Mother of God Peribleptos was founded in the eleventh century by Romanus Argyrus. Whence it is plain that the Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon were not written before the eleventh century.]. But that double pair of brothers, Symeon and George On these saints cf. Act. SS., April vol. I, p. 668., with the wonderful man Methodius, she kept with her in her own chamber, conversed with them rather frequently and invited them to a banquet. When the king was about to die, having become penitent, although not entirely, on account of the exile of the pious and the persecution of the orthodox, he caused sixty pounds of gold to be given to the needy and poor, and as many others to the monks living in caves and mountains and condemned by him to exile. That pious queen, lover of her husband, but rather lover of Christ, communicates her own design to these three holy men and most openly reveals it, saying: For my part, O holy and God-bearing fathers, I wish most piously to restore to the Church of God her own adornment, and therefore I have ordered your venerable congregation to come to us from the ends of the empire. One petition I put forward to you, which will be light in your eyes and very easy. For you have the power from God of binding and loosing whatever you will, not only those who have examined their sins in this life, but also those who have already been seized by death, since you are holy and pure servants and ministers of God. And behold, I now entreat you not to subject my husband, proclaimed your king, to anathema, but to receive him canonically as faithful and orthodox. I have learned that this power is at your disposal, if only you will. For behold, dying, he left by his testament both a blessing to you and to your companions. Then the most sweet pair, bearing moderate feelings, I mean Methodius and George, was astounded, at the same time considering with no ordinary care what answer to give. But the divine Symeon, who was more fervent than fire and keener than a sword at piercing, hesitating not at all, nor fearing anything, was greatly indignant, and cried out that celebrated word of the Apostle: His money be with him unto perdition. There is no part nor inheritance with the pious and orthodox for a sacrilegious man and adversary of God. To whom divine things were hostile in life, to him they are hostile also after death. These things having been uttered by the blessed one, the queen, affected with grief and become full of anger, indignantly orders them and their followers to be cast out of the palace, saying this with anger: Since it has so seemed good to you, go out of my sight; for my part, as I have received and learned from my husband and man, I shall prevail and overcome; see you to it. When the fathers had gone out not only from the royal palace but from the city, the whole choir of confessors and strangers followed Symeon, feeling the same as he and ready to die with him. Alone, however, they approved the queen's intention and wished it to be accomplished for the common salvation, judging indeed excellently and wisely, with George, Methodius, John called Catasambas Namely the iconoclast patriarch of Constantinople, also called Iannes. and he who among the solitaries at this time excelled in an angelic life on Olympus, Ioannicius.

[42] [nor do we judge that we should assent to the discourse which narrates that St. Ioannicius acted for the absolving of Theophilus.] What we have just recited from the unedited Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon is illustrated from a certain passage of the discourse which was pronounced on the feast day of restored orthodoxy, when the sacred images were again established, in the year 842, on the 19th day of February, and which, taken from the Sacred Triodion of the Greeks, Baronius inserted in the Ecclesiastical Annals Vol. IX, year 842.. There it is narrated that, when Theodora and Michael had obtained the sceptre, a certain Arsacius, a great ascetic On St. Arsacius cf. Act. SS., August vol. III, p. 270., approached St. Ioannicius, who was practising the monastic life on Olympus, and said to him: God has sent me to you, that as soon as possible, going to Nicomedia to the most venerable man Isaiah, surnamed the Recluse [Combefis has already noted, place cited, p. 745, that Baronius's interpreter wrongly rendered τὸν ἔγκλειστον Esaiam as Isaiah surnamed the Recluse; for it is a kind of life, not a surname. Who that Isaiah was is entirely hidden from us.], we may learn from him what things are pleasing to God and befitting his holy Church. Now Isaiah the recluse exhorted them to betake themselves as soon as possible to Constantinople, to St. Methodius. These things Combefis edited in Greek Auctar. Bibl. Patr., vol. II, pp. 716–7. and recently again the distinguished W. Regel Analecta byzantino-russica, pp. 24–26.. Since they make especially for our subject, we are not reluctant to copy them out.

Τοιγαροῦν τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἐκ θείας ἐλλάμψεως ἐφάνη τῷ ὁσίῳ καὶ μεγάλῳ Ἰωαννικίῳ φιλοσοφοῦντι ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῦ Ὀλύμπου ὁ ἅγιος Ἀρσάκιος, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνήσιος θεράπων καὶ μέγας ἀσκητής, λέγων πρὸς αὐτόν· &ldquogr;Ὁ ἐξ ὕψους Καρμηλίου Θεὸς ἐν δυνάμει τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας Ἠλίαν ἀποστείλας πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐλέγξαι τοὺς ἀνομοῦντας ἐν ταῖς βεβήλοις θυσίαις παρακελεύεταί σοι δι᾽ ἐμοῦ παραγενέσθαι ἐν τῷ πύργῳ Νικομηδείας τοῦ ἁγίου Διομήδους πρὸς τὸν ἐκλεκτὸν αὐτοῦ θεράποντα Ἡσαΐαν, ὅπως τὰ τῷ Θεῷ φίλα καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἁρμόζοντα οἱ ἀμφότεροι σὺν ἐμοὶ τελέσητε. Σύνες οὖν, καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἂν εἴποι ἡμῖν, ποιήσωμεν καὶ τῇ βασιλίσσῃ Θεοδώρα ἅμα Μεθοδίῳ τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἀναγγείλωμεν ἅ δεῖ γενέσθαι.&rdquogr; Καὶ δὴ τούτων οὕτως λεχθέντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους, κατῆλθον ἀμφότεροι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς νυκτὸς ἐν τῷ πύργῳ Νικομηδείας παρεγένοντο πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἡσαΐαν, οἵτινες τρισσῶς εὐλογηθέντες ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ συνῆσαν τῷ ὁσίῳ Ἡσαΐᾳ ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἡμέραις· μετὰ δὲ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν, ταῖς ἀλλήλων ἁγίαις εὐχαῖς ἀμφοτέρων ἐφοδιασθέντων, ἐλάλησε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ στόματος τοῦ ὁσιωτάτου Ἡσαΐου πρὸς τοὺς ἐρημικοὺς ἄνδρας λέγον· &ldquogr;Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἡμέρα ἐλήλυθε καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ τῶν

ἐκτυπωμάτων μου τέλος εἴληφαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλίδα Θεοδώραν παραγενομένων ὑμῶν κραυγὴ φωνῆς ἀκουσθήσεται λέγουσα· Ἰωαννίκιε καὶ Ἀρσάκιε, εἴπατε Μεθοδίῳ τῷ πατριάρχῃ παῦσον πάντας τοὺς ἀνιέρους καὶ οὕτως σὺν ἀγγέλοις προσενέγκῃς μοι θυσίαν αἰνέσεως, τῆς ἐμῆς εἰκόνος τὴν μορφὴν μετὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ σεβαζόμενος.&rdquogr;.

Then indeed by divine revelation there appeared to the holy and great Ioannicius, who was exercising the ascetic philosophy in the Olympian mountains, St. Arsacius Cf. above, p. 330, note 3., genuine servant of God and great ascetic. He said to him: "God, who from high Carmel in the power of his presence sent Elijah to Israel to reproach the impious for their polluted sacrifices III Kings XVIII, 42., exhorts you through me to go to the fortress of St. Diomedes at Nicomedia [On St. Diomedes, who fell as a martyr at Nicomedia, cf. Act. SS., August vol. III, p. 266.] to his chosen servant Isaiah Cf. above, p. 330, note 4., so that you both may determine with me the things that are pleasing to God and will be profitable to the Church. Come then, and let us do whatever he tells us, and let us announce to Queen Theodora and at the same time to Methodius what ought to be done." These things, then, having been said to one another, both came down from the mountain and at midnight came together at the fortress of Nicomedia to the servant of God Isaiah. When he had blessed them three times, they remained with the holy Isaiah three days. After the third day, however, each having been refreshed by the holy prayers of the other, the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of the most holy Isaiah, who said to the ascetic men: Thus says the Lord: behold, the day comes, and the enemies of my images have received their end, and when you have come together at the court of Queen Theodora the sound of a voice will be heard saying: Ioannicius and Arsacius, say to Methodius the patriarch: remove all the impious and so with the angels offer me the sacrifice of praise, venerating the form of my image and the cross.

It is narrated in what follows that Ioannicius with Arsacius and Isaiah carried out the commands, and was present at the sacred assembly of confessors whom Theodora the empress, though at first unwilling, finally persuaded to pour out solemn prayers for her deceased husband Theophilus. Behold, then, a double testimony concerning the part played by St. Ioannicius in absolving Theophilus after his death. What, then, is to be thought of the truth of the fact which they assert, in the things which are alleged concerning St. Ioannicius? It is all the more pleasing to have inquired into this matter because the Acts of our saint are entirely silent about it. Cardinal Baronius seems to esteem highly the discourse of which we have spoken, in which he professes that he has found things worth knowing which are wanting in the published histories. But with Allatius De erroribus Graecorum. and Combefis Op. cit., p. 749. Pagi rightly observes Annal. eccl., vol. IX, year 842, no. 13. that the authority of this discourse is by no means so great, since it has suffered more than one interpolation, especially in those things which concern the conversion of the emperor Theophilus. Besides, the order of times appears altogether disturbed more than once, as when the author reports that in the year 842 St. Theophanes, superior of Megas Agros, and St. Theodore the Studite came to Constantinople Regel, op. cit., pp. 31, 32., of whom the one had certainly died before the year 820, the other already in the year 826. As regards the Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon, although greater credit seems to be given to them than to the discourse of which we were just treating, nevertheless, since they were arranged long after the events narrated (cf. note 16, p. 329), and mention Ioannicius only in passing, the writers of these Acts were led to name him among the holy men who came together by order of the empress rather by the great celebrity of his fame than by the very truth of things. For this assembly was held in the year 842, when St. Ioannicius had already advanced to extreme old age. Wherefore, since our Acts are silent about this certainly momentous fact, we judge that St. Ioannicius was by no means present at the solemn intercession held for Theophilus. We are very hard to persuade that such a thing, if it had really happened, was passed over in silence both by Sabas and by Peter. This, however, the passages brought forward from the Acts of SS. David, George and Symeon, and also from the discourse held on the feast of restored orthodoxy, prove: with how great a radiance of holiness the exceptional virtue and wonderful life of St. Ioannicius shone forth among his contemporaries. Which reason may win us excuse among those who would complain of this commentary drawn out at greater length and breadth.

[43] St. Ioannicius is praised in the synod of Nicaea. Therefore we do not wish to pass over either the proof of the holiness of our saint presented in a certain old ecclesiastical document. Namely, in the letter of the synod of Nicaea to the church of Alexandria, which however is not from the authentic acts of this council [Montfaucon, Biblioth. Coislin., pp. 96–102. Cf. Hefele, Hist. des Conciles, vol. IV, p. 386.], the heralds of piety are praised with fraternal and paternal affection to the glory and honour of the piety for which they contended. After the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops cited, there begins the series of hegumens, of which the first is this: Θεοδώρου, τοῦ πανοσίου ἡγουμένου τοῦ Στουδίου, αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη, Ἰσαακίου τοῦ θαυματουργοῦ καὶ Ἰωαννικίου τοῦ προφητικωτάτου αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη. Of Theodore, most holy hegumen of Studios, eternal memory. Of Isaac the wonderworker, and of Ioannicius most full of the prophetic spirit, eternal memory Montfaucon, ibid., p. 100.. This letter, which is not found among the acts of the council of Nicaea, Montfaucon published from the Coislin manuscript no. XXXIV, fol. 35v.

[44] His miracle after death Finally we subjoin a miracle which the anonymous author of the Life of St. Constantine of the Jews narrates was worked by St. Ioannicius. This Life, not yet edited, lies hidden in the Laurentian library at Florence in plut. IX, manuscript XIV, fol. 335b Bandini, Catal. cod. mss. bibl. Med. Laur., vol. I, p. 412., but we have a transcript of it made long ago by Daniel Papebroch, which is now found in the manuscript of the Royal Library of Brussels marked no. 18864–74. Now at fol. 293v these things are read there concerning St. Constantine.

Πότε γὰρ παρὰ τὴν μεγάλην ταύτην ἐπ᾽ εὐσεβείᾳ τε καὶ κράτει ἐφοίτα πόλιν, καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀγχοῦ που τῶν ὁρίων ἐγένετο ἔνθα τῶν μοναστῶν ὁ ἀστὴρ Ἰωαννίκιος ἐκεῖνος τούς τε ἀσκητικοὺς κατεβάλετο ἀγῶνας καὶ τὸ μακάριον ἀπόκειται σῶμα, πίστει τῇ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνδρα πολλοῖς δοξάσαντα θαύμασι Θεὸν ὥσπερ ζῶντι καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς τῷ ἐν Θεῷ ζῶντι διαλεγόμενος τοῦ αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἐδέετο τυχεῖν ὡς ἂν μὴ τῇ προσβολῇ τῶν δαιμόνων πειραζόμενος ὀκλάσοι τοῦ λοιποῦ περὶ τὸν ἀσκητικὸν ἀγῶνα. Ταῦτα μὲν ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν αὐτοῦ δέησις εἶχε, μεσίτην προβαλλομένη τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἥλιον. Ὁ δὲ θερμὸς ὑπήκοος τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων αὐτὸν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ οὐκ ἀναβάλλεται τὸ δῶρον Θεός, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου θᾶττον τὴν αἰτουμένην δίδωσι χάριν καὶ τὸ σύμβολον τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐμφανῶς τῷ μακαρίῳ παραδείκνυσιν. Ὁρᾷ γὰρ ἀστέρα λαμπρὸν τοῦ μὲν ἱεροῦ ἐκείνου χώρου καθ᾽ ὃν τὸ τοῦ ἀοιδίμου πατρὸς ἔκειτο σκῆνος ἐκπεφοιτηκότα, παρ᾽ αὐτὸν δὲ γενόμενον κατά τε τὸ στέρνον ἐμπαγῆναι καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτήν που τὴν καρδίαν ἀνεγκαταδύναι.

For once he was staying at that great city, great both in piety and in power Namely Prusa, a city of Bithynia., and when he had come near the borders in which that star of monks Ioannicius had practised his ascetic contests and his blessed body rests In the monastery of Antidius. See below in the first Life, no. 54., moved by faith toward that man who had glorified God by many miracles, as though he were living, who had lived to God on earth, he humbly implored from him the grace to be obtained that, tempted by the assault of demons, he might no longer grow faint in the ascetic contest. This petition of his before God obtained its end, putting forward as mediator that great sun of asceticism. God, the fervent hearer of those who call upon him in truth, does not refuse the gift, but swifter than his very word grants the grace asked, and clearly shows the sign of the gift to the blessed man. For he sees a splendid star which was rising from that sacred place beside which the body of the venerable father lay, and, having come near him, cling to his breast and penetrate into his very heart.

[45] and an apophthegm uttered on repentance. We conclude these analecta concerning St. Ioannicius from various sources, so as not to pass over in silence anything which pertains to him, by bringing forward that apophthegm on repentance attributed to him which exists in the Vienna manuscript no. LVIII [Nessel, Catal. bibl. Caes. Vindob. mss. graec. et ling. orient. codd. theolog., part I, p. 136.]. Τοῦ μεγάλου πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου· Μακάριος ὁ φθάσας κἂν μίαν ὥραν μετανοῆσαι· δύναται γὰρ καὶ μιᾶς ὥρας μετάνοια πολλῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἄφεσιν χαρίσασθαι. Of the great father Ioannicius. Blessed is he who has hastened to repent even for one hour. For even one hour's repentance avails to win remission of many sins. How much the manner of acting of St. Ioannicius was in harmony with this doctrine anyone will surely perceive who has turned over his Acts, which we now share with the reader.

Annotations

* MS. περιεβλέπτῳ

* MS. δοξάσαντι

* MS. δίδουσι

LIFE OF ST. IOANNICIUS BY THE MONK SABAS

Ioannicius, monk in Bithynia (S.)

Preface

Edited from the manuscripts: 1. Paris, Bibl. nat. no. 1519, of the eleventh century. — 2. Vienna, Imperial Augustan Library no. 5, of the eleventh century. — 3. Rome, Vatican Library no. 807, of the twelfth century. — 4. Rome, Vatican Library no. 1256, paper, of the fifteenth century. Cf. Preliminary Commentary nos. 8–10. We have silently corrected very many errors, especially in the form of writing and in the accents. We have given only those variant readings, especially from the Roman manuscripts, which present a changed word; we have omitted many which pertain to a different manner of writing.

PROLOGUE.

Ἐπίγραμμα ἤτοι· βίος καὶ πολιτεία καὶ θαύματα (καὶ θαυμ.) omits 1 (καὶ πολ. κ. θ.) omits 3, 4. τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ θαυματουργοῦ (κ. θαυματουργ.) omits 3, 4. Ἰωαννικίου, συγγραφεὶς παρὰ Σάβα μοναχοῦ.

[1] Τὰ ψυχωφελῆ καὶ θεάρεστα τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἀνδραγαθήματα τοὺς εἰδότας εἰδιῶτας 3, ἰδιώτας 4. λόγῳ καὶ γραφῇ ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἐνσημαίνειν μετὰ τὸ ζηλοῦν τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσιν, ὅπως μὴ τῶν συνεχόντων τόν adds 3, 4. σῖτον, ἢ καί 1. πηγὴν φραττόντων, ἢ θησαυρὸν κατορυττόντων (ἢ θησ. κατορ.) omits 3. ὑποδίκους ἑαυτοὺς τοῦ κρίματος ὑποδείξωσιν ἀποδείξωσιν 4. , ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτούς 1, 2, 3. δὲ μᾶλλον τοῦ ζήλου τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ὠφελείας τὰ τοιάδε λέγοντες τὸν μισθὸν προξενίσωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ σίτου καὶ πηγῆς καὶ χρυσοῦ φειδωλία, τῶν σαρκὸς μεταληπτῶν, λέγω, πονηροὺς τοὺς συνέχοντας δείκνυσι κολάσεώς τε ἀξίους αἰωνίου καὶ καταδίκης, πόσων καὶ ὁποίων χειρόνων ἀξιωθήσεται ὁ τὰ πρὸς ψυχικὴν ἐφησυχάζων

ὠφέλειαν καὶ omits 3, 4. λήθῃ παραδοὺς τῶν τοιούτων τήν μνήμην ἢ βασκήνας ἢ ἀμελήσας. Τοῦτον ἐγώγε ὑποπτήξας τὸν φόβον, καὶ omits 3, 4. ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωσὴφ ἀγάπης πολλάκις εἰς τοῦτο προτετραμμένος, ὁ ἄλογος, μόλις ὡρμήθην ὠρμήσθην 2. εἶξαι τῇ παραινέσει, μειζόνων ὑμῖν ὁ εὐτελής ἐνάρξασθαι τὴν διήγησιν, καὶ πνευματικῶν ἀγωνισμάτων [ἁγιασμάτων 4. In the Paris manuscript, a leaf being torn out, a large fragment of the history is missing from the word ἀγωνισμάτων up to the word [Σατ]άν at the end of no. 2.] ὁσίου πατρὸς καὶ (πατρὸς καὶ) omits 3, 4. ἀνδρὸς Ἰωαννικίου ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀνάρρησιν.

The inscription indeed: Life and conversation and miracles of our holy father and wonderworker Ioannicius, written by Sabas ^a the monk.

[1] It is fitting to commit the deeds of the saints to writing. The soul-profiting and God-pleasing brave deeds of the holy Fathers it is right that those who know them, after they have emulated them in speech or in writing, should make known to those who are ignorant ^b, lest they show themselves liable to the charge of withheld corn or of a stopped-up spring or of a buried treasure, but rather that, by telling such things, they may procure for themselves the reward of zeal for the benefit of the many. For if avarice in corn or spring or gold, I mean things of the flesh, shows those who withhold them to be wicked and worthy of eternal punishment and vengeance, how much more will he be punished who passes over the things which contribute to spiritual progress and delivers the memory of such things to oblivion, whether through envy or through negligence. For my part, seized by such a fear and often stirred up to this by the love of father Joseph ^c, although not eloquent, I with difficulty girded myself to obey the counsel, to undertake for you, humble as I am, the narration of great things, and to compose ^d a discourse on the spiritual contests of the venerable father and man Ioannicius.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER ONE.

The birth and first years of St. Ioannicius, while the heresy of the iconoclasts was raging.

[2] Ὃς χώρας μὲν ἔφυ Βιθυνῶν ἐπαρχίας, κώμης δὲ τῶν Μαρυκάτου Βαρυκάτου 3. , πρὸς τῷ βορείῳ μέρει τῆς Ἀπολλωνιάδος λίμνης παρακειμένης. Ὁ τούτου δὲ πατὴρ ἐκέκλητο Μυριτζικὸς Μυριτζικίος 3, 4. καὶ ἡ μητὴρ Ἀναστασώ, ὡς οἶμαι, οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἀπεικῶς 2. · ἔμελλον γάρ, ὡς ἐν ἀσεβείας ἀληθῶς adds 4. ἀκάνθῃ καὶ ὀσμῇ θανατοποιῷ αὐτοὶ ἐκείνοι συζῶντες ζῶντες 3. καὶ συστρεφόμενοι, ῥόδον εὐθαλὲς καὶ μυρίπνοον ἀναβλαστάνειν τὸν δίκαιον ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωὴν, τῇ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὀσμῇ, ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν, τοὺς θέλοντας προσκαλούμενον καὶ ἐκ πτώσεως ἁμαρτιῶν εἰς ἀνάστασιν τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ἐφελκόμενον. Γεννῶσι δὲ τοῦτον τὸν περιφανῆ καὶ μεγαλαμπτῆρα τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας Ἰωαννίκιον τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς τοῦ Ἰσαύρου Λέοντος omits 3. παιδός, Νεστοριανοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, δυσσεβοὺς τυραννίδος. Τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς αὐτὸν * τρέφοντες μόνον καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν σωματικῶς ἀναγόμενον, καὶ οὐ τοῖς θείοις λόγοις καὶ γράμμασιν (καὶ γράμμ.) ἐπιγράμμασιν 2. τὴν φυχὴν αὐτοῦ αὐτοῦ adds 3. πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἐνάρετον καὶ ἔνθεον ἐκπαιδεύοντες, ἀλλ᾽ αὑτός, ὡς διδακτὸς Θεοῦ καὶ Πνεύματι θείῳ τὴν καρδίαν ἐγγεγραμμένος, πρὸς τῷ ἁπλῷ τοῦ ἤθους συνακμάζουσαν εἶχε τῇ ἡλικίᾳ omits 3, 4. τὴν τελειοποιὸν πίστιν καὶ ἀρχὴν ἀρετῶν 2. καὶ ῥίζαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἐκ μέρους τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσι προσδείξομεν. Ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ γὰρ ὢν ἡλικίᾳ, ἤγουν ἑπταετίᾳ, ὁ ὅσιος τοῦ βόσκειν χοίρους παρὰ τῶν γεννητόρων προτρέπεται. Ὃς ἑκάστοτε αὐτοὺς ἐξελαύνων συνήθως ἐπὶ νομὴν καὶ τόπον τὸν πρέποντα, τῷ ζωοποιῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐκείνους ἐκεινοίς 4. σημειούμενος τύπῳ, καταλιμπάνων ὑπεχώρει ὅπου ἐβούλετο ἐβουλεύετο 4. δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας περιερχόμενος καὶ διέμενος. Καὶ διέμενον αὐτοὶ αὐτῷ 2. νεμόμενοι ἀδιάσπαστοι ἀδιάπαυστοι 2. , ἀβλαβεῖς τε καὶ ἄσυλοι ἀπό τε κλεπτῶν καὶ θηρῶν αἱμοβόρων διαρπαγῆς, ἕως ἐλθὼν πρὸς ἑσπέραν εἰσήλασεν εἰσήλαυνεν 3. αὐτούς. Καὶ τοῦτο ἐπράττετο αὐτῷ καὶ ἐνεργεῖτο ὑπὸ τῆς θείας omits 3, 4. χάριτος διὰ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς δεύτερας ἡλικιώσεως, ἐκδηλώτατα ὡς μέλλοντι ὑποτάσσειν τὰ πάθη πάντα 3. καὶ τοὺς τούτοις ἡδομένους ἐχθροὺς τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν δαίμονας, ὡς θήρας καὶ κλεπτάς, ἐλαύνειν καὶ ἀποτρέπεσθαι. Ἐν ἀρχῇ δὲ αὐτοῦ adds 3. τῆς τρίτης τῆς omits 3, 4. ἡλικιώσεως, ἤγουν ἑξκαιδεκαετίας, τριακοστῷ δὲ καὶ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος, ἐνιαυτῷ τε πρώτῳ τῆς νυμφευθείσης Χαζάρω Λέοντι τῷ τούτου υἱῷ φιλοχρίστου Εἰρήνης, διεπλάττετο ὅλως καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν ὑπερφερῆ καὶ μορφὴν αὐτὸς ὡραιοτάτην καὶ εὐπρεπῆ. Ὅθεν τῷ ἐννεακαὶδεκάτῳ αὐτοῦ χρόνῳ τῆς ἡλικίας εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐξσκουβιτόρων στρατίαν καὶ ἐν βάνδῳ ὀκτοκαιδεκάτῳ κατ᾽ ἐκλογὴν ἀκριβῆ ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου τυραννούντος 3. ἐντάττεται, τοῖς ὁμοτάγεσιν ἀεί, ὡς ἄλλος τις ἀστὴρ πυρσολαμπής, ἐνορώμενος, Οὐ μόνον γὰρ σώματος ῥώμῃ καὶ κάλλει καὶ μεγέθει ἅπαντας ὑπερῆρεν ἐκείνους, ἀλλά γε καὶ πᾶσι φυσικοῖς omits 3. ἀγαθοῖς πλεονεκτήμασιν ἐκέκτητο ἐκεκόσμητο 3, 4. τοὺς συστρατιώτας, ταπεινοφρόνως ὑπηρετῶν καὶ ἐν πολέμοις δυνάμει Χριστοῦ τοῖς χρήζουσι βοηθείας ἐπαμυνόμενος καὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐκλυτρούμενος, τῇ δὲ εἰκονομάχῳ αἱρέσει, Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οἰκονομίας ἐχθρᾷ, σὺν τοῖς αὐτοῦ γεννήτορσιν ἐνεχόμενος, τῆς τοιαύτης λύμης ἐνσκηψάσης τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐκ πατρικῆς λοίμης adds 4. δῆλον ἐφευρέσεως τοῦ κρατοῦντος τὸ σκῆπτρον Κωνσταντίνου, ἢ ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν ἐκ τῆς omits 3. τοῦ πρώτου εἰκονομάχου Σατὰν καὶ πατρὸς αὐτῶν συμβουλίας συμβουλῆς 4. καὶ συνεργείας ἐνεργείας 1.

[3] Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων Χριστοῦ μυστικῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς εἰκονικῆς διαδόσεως καὶ μέχρις αὐτῶν, τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων 3, 4. Χριστοῦ χρωματικῷ σχήματι τῶν πιστῶν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἐστόλιστο εἰς θρίαμβον μὲν εὐκλέα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης θέσεως (εἰς θριάμβ.-θέσεως) omits 2. , εἰς αἰσχύνην δὲ τοῦ εἰς Θεὸν τραπῆναι θελήσαντος καὶ μὴ ἰσχύσαντος δαίμονος, καὶ εἰς ἀποτροπήν τε καὶ ἔλεγχον τῶν αὐτοῦ Σατὰν ὑπασπιστῶν αἱρεσιώτων περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τοῦ σωματικοῦ αὐτοῦ εἴδους διαφόρως πεφρονηκότων περιφρονηκότων 4. . Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπειρίᾳ τινι σώματος ἀνοήτως τοῖς ἐν γῇ τὸν Κύριον ἔλεγον ὁραθῆναι, οἱ δὲ ὄφιν τινα δυσσεβῶς Χριστὸν ἐσέβοντο δογματίζοντες, οἱ δὲ φάσματι καὶ σκιᾷ γενέσθαι τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἐδόξαζον συγκατάβασιν. Δἰ ἃς ἀληθῶς ὀλεθρίους κενοτομίας, τὸ χριστοφόρον ἴνδαλμα σχηματίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ τοῦ omits 1, 2, 4. Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν μυστηριωδῶς τοῖς πιστοῖς παρεδόθη. Καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῖ ὁ θεῖος ὄντως φάσκων ἀπόστολος· &ldquogr;Ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ omits 1. εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, ἀλλ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώπου 4. γενόμενος&rdquogr;, προσθεὶς τὸ &ldquogr;καὶ omits 4. ἐν omits 3. σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος&rdquogr;, μετὰ τὴν ἀκραιφνῆ καὶ omits 4. ἀσύγχυτον οἱονεὶ δυάδα τῶν ἑνωθεισῶν φύσεων, καὶ τὸ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς συμβεβηκὸς παρακολούθημα τῆς φύσεως ἐπ᾽ ἀναιρέσει τούτων τῶν δυσσεβειῶν παραθέμενος. Καὶ δῆλον ὡς οὐκ ἂν εἴη ποτε ἀσχημάτιστον τὸ adds 3. σῶμα ἀνθρώπου ἢ ἀπεριγραπτόν τε ἢ ἄπειρον, ὡς οἱ σύγχρονοι τότε τῶν ἀποστόλων αἱρετικοὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐληρώδησαν. Οὕτως οὖν λοιπόν, ὡς ἔφην, ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Ἅδου πυλῶν καὶ γένους Ἰσαύρων προελθούσης τῆς εἰκονομάχου αἱρέσεως, καὶ ἐν λοιποῖς ὅλοις 3, 4. πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑπτὰ ἔτεσιν τῆς οἰκονομίας Χριστοῦ βλασφήμως βδελυσσομένης τὸ γνώρισμα ἔκ τε θείων ναῶν καὶ ἱερῶν κειμηλίων αὐτό, ὡς μύσος καὶ ψεῦδος, ἀποξεούσης καὶ σὺν τῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ τῷ πυρὶ ἀθέως παραδιδούσης.

[4] Τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς χριστοφόρου αὐτοκρατορικῆς βασιλείας Εἰρήνης, δωδεκάτῳ δὲ τῆς ἕως τότε ἀρχῆς αὐτῆς, εἰκοστῷ δὲ ὀγδόῳ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου ἡλικιώσεως, ὁ πρὸς Χριστὸν ἑκάστοτε διὰ τῆς εἰκόνος αὐτοῦ πόλεμος διαβαίνων, καὶ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν τοῦ 3. Χριστοῦ πατέρα διὰ τῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ κατευδοκίαν κατευδοκίας 4. σωματικῆς ἐν γραφῇ ὁμοιώσεως φθάνουσα μάχη, ἥ τε πρὸς τοὺς τὴν ἀληθῆ ταύτην ἀντιποιουμένους πίστιν μαρτυρικὴ προσγινομένη ἀναίρεσις τέλος λαμβάνει καὶ πέρας ἔσχεν θεοβραβεύτως, ὡς ἔγνωσται ἔγνωστε 3. , καὶ τὸν στολισμὸν τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἀποστολικῶς ἡ ἐκκλησία πάλιν στολίζεται, καὶ τιμᾶται Χριστὸς εἰκονίσματί (εἰκονίσματι) ἐν εἰκονίσμασι 3, ἐν εἰκονίσματι 4. τε καὶ σχήματι, ὁ πρὸς τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν καὶ τὸ σχῆμα ἀψευδῶς ἐνδυσάμενος. Τοῦτο δὲ γενέσθαι συμβέβηξεν διὰ γυναικὸς εἰς αἰσχύνην, οἶμαι, τῶν προκρατησάντων αἱρετικῶν ἀνδραρίων τὴν βασιλείαν, δόξαν δὲ μεγίστην τοῦ τὴν ἀδοξίαν τῷ γένει συνεισενέγκαντος θήλεος καὶ τῆς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δυνάμεως ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἀσθενείαις 4. ἐχούσης, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφη πρὸς Παῦλον, παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τὴν τελείωσιν. Ἐξ οὗ δὴ πρὸς Θεὸν εἰρηνικῶς τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης ἀνθρώποις δι᾽ εὐσεβείας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπολιτεύετο τρόπαια καὶ ἡ εὐμενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους καὶ φιλάνθρωπος ἀνοχὴ δι᾽ εἰρήνης πλουσίως ἐπρυτανεύετο. Λοιμῶν, σεισμῶν, σκηπτῶν, φθορᾶς τε καὶ πανολέθρου θνήσεως τοῖς πάλαι ἀσεβοῦσι θεοκρίτως ἐπελθουσῶν, ὅθεν εἰρήνη ᾤκει ἐν πόλεσιν, εἰρήνη ἐπὶ κώμαις ἐκώμα, εἰρήνη ἐν ὁδοιπόροις, εἰρήνη ἐν πλέουσιν, εἰρήνη ψυχαῖς, εἰρήνη σώμασι· Χριστὸς γὰρ ὑπάρχων εἰρήνη ἡμῶν τὸν τοῦ γένους πολέμιον εἰκονομάχον διάβολον λέοντα καὶ τὸν τούτου συνώνυμόν τε καὶ ἔκδικον τύραννον Λέοντα σὺν τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς (τὰς) τοὺς ὲξ 4. αὐτῶν βλασφήμους ἐφευρέσεις καταβαλών, δι᾽ Εἰρήνης εἰρήνην τοῖς ποθοῦσιν εἰρηνοδώρως παρέσχετο. Τούτων οὖν τῶν ἀγαθῶν δι᾽ εὐσέβειαν τοῖς ἐν γῇ βραβευθέντων, πλεῖστοι τῆς (πλεῖστοι τῆς) πλείστοις τοῖς 2. πάλαι μυσαρᾶς εἰκονομάχου αἱρέσεως ἀνέκπλυτον ἀκμὴν τὴν συνείδησιν εἶχον, ὡς καὶ ὁ θεῖος οὗτος καὶ μέγας Ἰωαννίκιος. Ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ὑπερπλήρης τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ παρεκτικὴ τῶν καλῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναστεία, ἡ μὴ ἕως τέλους παρορῶσα τῶν οὐρανίων τοὺς ἐραστὰς εὐσεβείας φωτὸς ἐστερημένους μένειν, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ αὐτῆς κατένευσε τῷ θεράποντι τοιούτῳ αἰτίῳ, τὴν πήρωσιν αὐτοῦ ἐκείνην τῆς δυσσεβείας ἐλλάμψασα.

[2] Of the youth of St. Ioannicius, He was sprung from the province of the Bithynians ^a, from the village of Marycatum ^b, situated at the northern part of the lake of Apollonias ^c. His father was called Myrizicus and his mother Anastaso, not undeservedly ^d, as I think; for it was to be that they who lived and moved among the thorns of impiety and in a deadly stench should beget a flowering and fragrant rose, a just man who from life unto life, by the odour of piety, to speak with the Apostle ^e, would exhort those willing and draw them from the ruin of sins to the resurrection of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They bring forth, moreover, this illustrious one, the great light of the Church of Christ, Ioannicius, in the fourteenth year of the impious tyranny of Constantine the Nestorian ^f, son of Leo the Isaurian ^g. With sensible ^h foods only did they nourish their son as he advanced in body according to his age, but they by no means instructed his soul with divine discourses and letters in all that pertains to virtue and the worship of God. He nonetheless, as one teachable by God and enrolled in heart by the divine Spirit, besides simplicity of manners held, flourishing along with his age, the faith which perfects and is the beginning and root of good things: which indeed we shall demonstrate in detail to those who are ignorant. For when he was in his first age, namely of seven years, the blessed one is assigned by his parents to herd swine. These he used daily, according to custom, to drive to the pastures and to a suitable place; having signed them with the life-giving sign of the cross, and leaving them thereupon, he would withdraw where he wished, going about and away for the whole day. But they remained grazing, not scattered, and no harm was done them, nor were they carried off, whether by the violence of thieves or of voracious wild beasts, until, coming toward evening, he led them back. These things indeed were done for him and brought about by divine grace through the whole of his second age, plainly because he was going to subject the passions, and to put to flight and turn aside, as wild beasts and thieves, those who delight in them, namely the demons, enemies of our life. But at the beginning of his third age, namely of sixteen years, in the thirty-first year of the reign of the emperor ⁱ, and in the first year of Irene ^k, most loving of Christ, joined in marriage to Leo the Khazar, son of the emperor ^l, he attained the full form of an excellent youth and an appearance very comely and exceptional. Thence, in the nineteenth year of his age ^m, he is admitted into the military service of the Excubitors ⁿ and into the eighteenth troop, according to an exact selection by the emperor, always seen by his comrades as a kind of new star continually shining. For not only in vigour of body, in beauty and in stature did he excel them all, but by every natural good disposition he won over his fellow soldiers, humbly serving them, and in wars, through the power of Christ, bringing help to those who needed aid and snatching them from the enemy. Yet he was entangled, with his parents, in the heresy of the iconoclasts, hostile to God and to the economy of Jesus Christ, since this pest was then raging in the Church, from the paternal invention ^o indeed of the emperor Constantine, or, to speak more truly, from the counsel and cooperation of Satan, the first iconoclast and their father.

[3] and of the heresy of the iconoclasts, For through the mystical tradition of the apostles of Christ concerning images, down to us from their time, through the human representation of Christ in living colour, the Church of the faithful had been equipped for the glorious triumph of the human state, to the shame of the devil, who wished to turn himself against God but was unequal to it, with the overthrow and disgrace of the heretics who, satellites of Satan himself, thought ill of Christ and of his bodily appearance. For some said that the Lord appeared to those who lived on earth in a way unintelligible, as it were devoid of body [p]; others, impiously teaching Christ to be a certain serpent [q], venerated him; others again thought that the Word of God came down to us in an image and shadow [r]. On account of these truly pernicious falsehoods it was mystically commended to the faithful that the appearance of Christ be represented by the disciples of Christ [s]. Which that truly divine Apostle shows thus, saying: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; adding also this, and being found in fashion as a man [t]. That is, he sets against the assumption of these impieties the at once unmixed and unconfused as it were duality of the natures united, and also that which among us follows upon nature. For it is clear that the body of Christ was not a human body without form or indescribable or intangible, as the heretics contemporary then with the Apostles trifled concerning Christ [u]. Thus, then, at last, as I said, from the gates of hell and the race of the Isaurians came forth the heresy of the iconoclasts, which in these last fifty-seven years [v] dishonoured the economy of Christ with blasphemy, scraping off the insignia from the divine shrines and sacred treasuries as something horrible and a lie, and impiously handing them over to the fire together with the image of the cross.

[4] first quieted by the empress Irene. In the second year of the empire of Irene, worshipper of Christ, the twelfth of her government up to this time [w], and the twenty-eighth of the age of our father Ioannicius, that war which was advancing on every side against Christ on account of his image, and that contest which continued against the very Father of Christ, because the representation of his Son's body in painting pleases him, and that persecution of martyrs which had raged against those professing the true faith, took an end and had a limit [x], by divine decision, as has been recognized, and the Church receives again her adornment, according to the Apostle, and Christ is honoured in image and in appearance, who besides our nature also put on unfeignedly its appearance. This came about through a woman, to the shame, I think, of the reigning heretical manikins, the female sex conferring on its race the greatest royal glory in place of infamy, and bringing through the power of Jesus Christ the proof that weak things, as he himself professes in Paul [y], can accomplish every good. Then indeed, for God's sake, the trophies of peace were peaceably administered to men through piety and virtue, and the benevolent and kindly patience of God toward men reigned abundantly through peace. Famine, earthquakes, thunderbolts, calamity and deadly mortality came upon the impious men of old, God taking vengeance [z], but thenceforth peace dwelt in the cities, peace sat in the villages, peace for wayfarers, peace for those at sea, peace for souls, peace for bodies. For Christ, who is our peace, cast down the enemy of the human race, the iconoclast devil, the lion, and, overthrowing his namesake and wicked tyrant Leo with his followers, and their blasphemous inventions, peaceably conferred peace through Irene on those desiring peace. These good things, then, having been adjudged through piety to those who lived on earth, very many of the former abominable heresy of the iconoclasts suddenly experienced an indelible remorse of conscience. So too this divine and great Ioannicius. But the power of God, full of good things and pouring forth benefits, not willing that the lovers of heavenly things should remain to the end deprived of the light of piety, manifested itself also in this servant subject to the same fault, illuminating his want, which came from impiety.

ANNOTATIONS.

e 2 Cor. II, 16.

p There are designated, namely, the various sects of the Docetae or Phantasiastae, whose heads are listed in the Acts of St. Stephen the Younger, P. G., vol. C, p. 1110. Cf. Petavius, Dogmata theologica, vol. IV, Book I, De Incarnatione, chap. IV.

q Namely the Ophites, on whom read Cotelier in the Eccles. Graec. Monumenta, vol. I, p. 709, who sets out their various names and doctrines.

r This seems said of the heresy of the Manichaeans. Cf. Epiphan. Adv. Haer., P. G., vol. XLII, p. 654.

s This apostolic tradition concerning images is set out also by the author of the Life of St. Stephen the Younger, whose opinion Baronius reports in vol. IX of the Annals, p. 67. Cf. P. G., vol. C, p. 1086. On the same primitive tradition George Hamartolus too should be read in the Chronicon Breve, P. G., vol. CX, pp. 990–994.

t Philipp. II, 16. It is to be noted also that the manuscripts used by us show the discrepancy of readings which has been noted in the manuscripts of the Bible, since between ἡγήσατο and εἷναι the Vienna and Roman manuscripts insert τὸ, which the Paris one omitted.

u Already in the time of the apostles the errors of the Gnostics were raging. For St. Peter met them in Samaria, St. Paul in Asia, and it is known that St. John directed his writings especially against them.

v Since the heresy of the image-destroyers arose in the year 726, the author here notes the year 783.

w Irene took up the empire with her son Constantine, when Leo the Khazar died, in the year 780. Therefore the second year of her reign is the year 782, which can also be called the twelfth of her own government up to this time, since she married Leo in the year 769. At the same time, and rightly indeed, the author asserts that in this year 781 St. Ioannicius was in the twenty-eighth year of his age.

x The heresy of the iconoclasts came to an end through Irene already in the year 780, as soon as she began to reign. A collection of the principal Acts of it see accurately described in Cardinal Hergenröther, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, pp. 245–247.

y 1 Cor. I, 27.

z The writer intends the various calamities by which the empire was afflicted in the reign of Constantine Copronymus, and which others too, like Nicephorus the chronographer and Theodore the Studite, report as divine chastisements sent upon the impious Constantine. Cf. the Chronographia of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 851, 866, 874; Theodore the Studite in the Life of St. Plato, P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 806.

* All the manuscripts: αὐτῶν.

CHAPTER TWO.

St. Ioannicius is converted from the heresy of the iconoclasts. His brilliant deeds in the war against the Bulgars.

[5] Τῷ omits 1. τριακοστῷ γὰρ χρόνω adds 3. καὶ ἑκτῷ ὀκτώ 1. χρόνῳ omits 3. τοῦ ὁσίου τῆς ἡλικίας, ἐν τοῖς ἑῴοις μέρεσι γενομένου φοσσάτου κἀκεῖθεν ἐπαναστρέφοντος διὰ τῶν Ὀλυμπιακῶν καὶ μεγίστων ὀρέων, γέρων τις κατὰ συγκυρίαν πνευματοφόρος ἐκ τοῦ παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἄλσους προκύψας· Ὦ τέκνον, ἔφη, Ἰωαννίκιε, ἕως πότε τίνος 3, 4. τῇ πλάνῃ ἐζοφώσαι τῆς αἱρέσεως; Εἰ χριστιανὸς εἶ, προσκύνει σχετικῶς Χριστοῦ γράμμασι καὶ μορφῇ τὴν οἰκονομίαν, ζῶν ἐναρέτως. Εἰ δὲ μή γε, εἰς μάτην περιφέρεις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ χριστιανοῦ, σαρκὸς omits 4 Χριστοῦ τὸν τύπον, ὡς ὤφθη, μὴ σεβαζόμενος. Ἐκπλαγεὶς οὖν ὁ μέγας Χριστοῦ θεράπων Ἰωαννίκιος, ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ ἀγνωρίστῳ προσκλήσει, καὶ ὅτι πάντα αὐτοῦ ἐξείπε σὺν τῇ δυσσεβείᾳ διορατικωτάτως τὰ πεπραγμένα, πίπτει αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας συγγνώμην αἰτούμενος περὶ τῆς πάλαι αὐτοῦ δυσσεβοῦς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ ἀγνωμοσύνης καὶ διαβεβαιοῦται εἰς ἔτι Χριστοῦ τὴν εἰκόνα πίστει σχετικῶς κατασπάζεσθαι καὶ τῆς τεκούσης αὐτὸν παρθένου κόρης, ἀποστόλων τε μαρτύρων καὶ ὁσίων καὶ τῆς πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἀγούσης τρίβου ἀπαρεγκλήτως ἀντέχεσθαι. Διὸ ἐξ ἐκείνης ὄντως τῆς ὥρας σὺν τῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς ἀγαθοεργίας ἀντείχετο ὁ ἀοίδιμος, νηστείαις, χαμευνίαις, προσευχαῖς καὶ δάκρυσιν ἀσχολούμενος καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἁγίων εὐκτηρίους ναοὺς ὡς Θεοῦ σκηνώματα λογιζόμενος συχνῶς ἐν αὐτοῖς εἰσῄει, ἐκ πίστεως προσευξόμενος, φυλάττων τε συνήθως μετὰ τῶν συστρατιωτῶν εἰς τὰ τῶν βασιλέων προαύλια. Οὐκ ἐν ὑψηλῇ στρωμνῇ καὶ κλίνῃ αὐτοῦ ἡπαλυμένῃ ἀνέπιπτεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς Ἰακὼβ ἑαυτὸν λανθανόντως ἐπὶ μόνου τοῦ ἐδάφους ἀνέκλινεν, Ἰσραὴλ ἄλλος ἡμῖν καὶ αὐτὸς θεωρητικώτατος γνωρισθείς γνωρισθῆ 2. . Καὶ βρωμάτων δὲ μετειλήφει ὁμοίως ὅσον μόνον μᾶλλον 3. τοὺς συνεστιωμένους κρύπτειν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, καὶ μὴ βαρεῖσθαι ὑπνῷ τῷ φόρτῳ τῆς γαστρὸς ἐνεχόμενον, ἀλλὰ δι᾽ ὅλης αὐτὸν τῆς νυκτὸς διαρκεῖν προσευχόμενον.

[6] Οὕτως νεανικῶς ἐν χρόνοις (ἐν χρόν.) omits 3. ἓξ τῷ μακαρίτῃ πυκτεύοντι, ἑβδόμην ἄγοντι ἤδη τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἥπερ δὴ ἔτος τρίτον καὶ τεσσαρακοστὸν ἀριθμεῖται, ἕκτῳ ἔτει τῆς αὐτοκρατορικῆς βασιλείας Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ νεωτέρου, υἱοῦ Λέοντος, ἐκγόνου τοῦ adds 3. Κωνσταντίνου, ἀπεκγόνου Λέοντος τοῦ ἐξ Ἰσαύρων, τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔθνος πρὸς τὴν Θρακῶν χώραν ἐξώρμησε ληιζόμενον. Καθ᾽ οὗ ἀντιπαρατάξασθαι ἐξιόντος σὺν πολλοῖς στρατεύμασι τοῦ κρατοῦντος, συμβολῆς γενομένου πολέμου ἐν τῇ Μαρκέλλᾳ (ἐν τ. Μ.) omits 3. , καὶ κοπῆς ἰσχυρᾶς. οἴμοι. τοῦ χριστωνύμου φύλου ἀνιωμένου ἀνυομένου 2, ἀνιώμενος 3. . οἶα Δαΰιδ ἀλλόσπερ ὁ δίκαιος κατατέμνων τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους, κεφαλὰς δυναστῶν αὐτῶν omits 3. εὐσθενῶς διακόπτων σὺν μυριάσι, καὶ πλείστους ῥυόμενος τῷν ὁμοφύλων, ὡς καὶ ἕνα τότε τῶν μεγιστάνων ὑπὸ μηχανῆς τινος ἱμαντώδους κατασχεθέντα καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν χερσὶν ἐθνῶν ἀνόμων ζῶντα παραδιδόμενον, δυνάμει Χριστοῦ ἐλυτρώσατο, μαχαίρᾳ ταχὺ διακόψας τὴν μηχανὴν αὐτῶν. Ὅθεν δὴ τότε θαυμάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ ἀνδρεῖον τοῦ στρατιώτου· ὦ παῖ καλέ, φησί, ποίας χώρας καὶ στρατίας εἶ σύ, καὶ τί σου ὑπάρχει, λέγε (ὑπάρχ. λέγε) λέγεται 3. , τὸ ὄνομα; Ὁ δὲ εἰρηκῶς ὡς χώρας μέν ἐστι Βιθυνῶν ἐπαρχίας, κώμης δὲ τῶν Μαρυκάτου καὶ γένους τῶν Βοἳλαδῶν, τήν τε κλῆσιν πέλει Ἰωαννίκιος, καὶ τὴν στρατείαν ἐξσκουβίτωρ, ἐν τύπῳ ταῦτα εὐθὺς πρὸς μνήμην διὰ γραφέως χειρὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνέβαλεν ἀνέβαλεν 3. , προσφιλῆ προσφιλεῖ 3. αὐτὸν ἀεί adds 3. καὶ οἰκεῖον ἀεὶ omits 3. βουληθεὶς ἔχειν. Ὅθεν καὶ δώροις αὐτόν τισιν, οἱονεὶ εὐχαριστηρίοις, προαμειβόμενος, βραχιολίοις χρυσοῖς αὐτοῦ τὰς χεῖρας κατεκαλλώπισε. Τοῦ δὲ χριστιανικοῦ μακέλλου ἔτι ἐνεργουμένου, ἀλγῶν τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ στερρώτατος τῆς παρὰ βασιλέως τιμῆς καὶ δώρων καὶ συλλαλίας ἀλγῶν ἀλγεῖ 3. , τῷ μείζονι τάχα τῆς ἀδελφικῆς συμφορᾶς βαπτιζόμενος, παρ᾽ αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ μὴ συναισθόμενος, ἵστατο εἶς γάρ τις ἀλαζὼν καὶ ὑπέροφρυς ἑωρᾶτο τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπὶ μιᾶς στενῆς ἱστάμενος διαβάσεως ἀφειδῶς ἐκκεντῶν τοὺς Ῥωμαίους. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτου προβὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἐν ἔκστασει διακόπτει τὴν κεφαλὴν ὁ ἀξιάγαστος πανάγαστος 2, 3. , σωτηρίαν καὶ δίοδον ζωῆς τοῖς χριστιανοῖς παρασχόμενος.

[7] Εἶτα τῆς πολεμίου ἐκείνης κατ᾽ ὀλίγον διαστὰς μάχης ὁ δίκαιος, λαβὼν κατὰ νοῦν τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὁμοφύλων τὸν θάνατον, καὶ εἰδὼς ὡς οὐκ ἔνδοξός τις ἢ ἄδοξος μόλις ἀπέδρα τῆς μαχαίρας τὸ στόμα, ὀλίγων δίχα ἐννοήσας τε (ἐννοήσ. τε) ἐννοήσατε 4. πῶς αὐτόθεν ἐκεῖνος αὐτὸς omits 3. παρ᾽ ἐλπίδας ἐρρύσθη, πορευόμενος ἐπορεύετο, καὶ ἔκλαιε βάλλων ἐν τῇ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ γῇ, δαυἳτικῶς εἰπεῖν, οἴκτου καὶ ἀγαθοεργείας τὰ σπέρματα. Ὅτε καὶ καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἵππου ὡς τάχιστα, ἵστατο τῷ Θεῷ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν προσευχόμενος καὶ λέγων· Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός omits 3. ἡμῶν, ὁ εὐδοκίᾳ Πατρὸς καὶ συνεργείᾳ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος, ἐν ἐσχάτοις καιροῖς διὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν ἐξ ἁγίας παρθένου ἐνανθρωπήσας, ὁ τῷ τιμίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ σου θανάτῳ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου καταπαλαίσας διάβολον, ὁ παιδεύων ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτάνοντας καὶ ἐλεῶν μετανοοῦντας, ὁ νόσῳ σαρκὸς καὶ θανάτῳ τὸν ἐκ παραβάσεως ἐντολῶν προσγινόμενον θάνατον ψυχῆς ἀφανίζων τῶν εἰς σὲ πιστευόντων, ὑμνῶ σε, εὐλογῶ σε, προσκυνῶ καὶ δοξάζω εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀνθ᾽ οὗ τῆς προσδοκίας καὶ χειρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων ἐρρύσω με. Καὶ προσάγω σοι, δέσποτα ὑπεράγαθε, ὥσπερ τι ξένον δῶρον τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας ἀντίλυτρον, οὐ χρυσόν, οὐκ ἄργυρον, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν γηΐνων καὶ προσκαίρων καὶ φθειρομένων, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν μάλιστα, ὅλον τὸ τιμιώτατόν σοι σου 4. κτῆμα καὶ οἰκειότατον. Ταῦτα οὖν εἰπὼν καὶ βλέψας μακρόθεν ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὑπερκείμενον ὄρος τῆς Βιθυνίας, ὅπερ παῤ ἡμῖν προσηγόρευται Ὄλυμπος, ζῆλον θεῖον Θεοῦ 3. συλλαβὼν ἐν διανοίᾳ ὠδίνησεν Ἠλίου τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ τὸ ἥσυχον καὶ φιλέρημον, τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατ᾽ ἐκείνους διαβιῶναι ἀσκητικῶς. Καὶ δὴ εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῇ βασιλευούσῃ τῶν πόλεων καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν ἁγίων τῶν ἁγ. omits 3. εὐκτηρίους ναοὺς συντακτικῶς ἀσπασάμενος, μὴ φροντίσας ὅλως τῆς τοῦ adds 3. βασιλέως τιμῆς ἢ δόξης ἢ ὑποσχέσεως, πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα (πατρίδα ἐξωρμ.-πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ) omits 4. ἐξώρμησε τὰς τῶν γεννητόρων αὐτοῦ εὐχὰς καρπωσόμενος. Καὶ ταύτας λαβών, ὡς ἐβούλετο, πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ (πατρίδα ἐξωρμ.-πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ) omits 4. δῆθεν ἐπίγειον στρατείαν ἀνθυπέστρεφε πάλιν τὸ δὲ ἀληθὲς πρὸς τὴν καλὴν στρατείαν τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ.

[5] St. Ioannicius, converted from heresy, For in the thirty-sixth year of this saint's age ^a, when the army was in the eastern parts ^b and was returning from there through the huge Olympian mountains ^c, by chance a certain old man, moved by the Spirit, coming forth from a grove beside the road: O son, he said, Ioannicius, how long will you wander in the darkness of heresy? If you are a Christian, adore willingly Christ represented in pictures and forms, living holily; but if not, in vain do you bear before you the name of Christian, the type of the flesh of Christ, as

he was seen, not honouring. Greatly moved, then, by this unforeseen calling of his name, that great servant of Christ Ioannicius, and because the man had indicated most evidently all his deeds impiously done, throws himself at his feet and asks pardon for his former impious and ignorant wickedness, and is strengthened thenceforth to embrace kindly with faith the image of Christ, and also of the Virgin who bore him, of the apostles, martyrs and saints, and also to hold unfailingly to the manner of acting which leads to salvation. Wherefore, from that very hour, that celebrated man gave himself to piety and good works, devoting himself to fasts, to sleeping on the ground, to prayers and tears; considering the prayer-houses of the saints as tabernacles of God, he frequently entered them to pray with faith, keeping watch according to custom with his fellow soldiers before the courts of the sovereigns. He did not recline on a high mattress or a soft couch, but like Jacob he lay secretly on the bare ground, another Israel for us, himself too well known through contemplation. Of food he likewise took only as much as was enough to conceal his moderation from his table-companions, and so that he should not be weighed down by sleep, held fast by the burden of the belly, and as much as would suffice for praying through the whole night.

[6] when he had borne himself brilliantly in the war against the Bulgars, When that blessed one had thus contended youthfully for six years and was already passing his seventh age, which is numbered the forty-third year, in the sixth year ^d of the reign of the emperor Constantine the Younger ^e, son of Leo, grandson of Constantine and great-grandson of Leo the Isaurian, the nation of the Bulgars ^f burst into the region of the Thracians ^g to plunder. To oppose them the emperor went out with a great army. The warlike conflict takes place at Marcella ^h, and a mighty slaughter, alas for me, rages against the Christian nation. Like another David, our just man, cutting down the foreigners, bravely cuts off the heads of their very leaders by many thousands, while freeing very many of his own countrymen, so much so that he then freed by the power of Christ one of their chiefs who, caught by a certain engine woven of thongs, was on the point of falling alive into the hands of the wicked nations, having at once cut through their engine with his sword. Then indeed the emperor, admiring the bravery of the soldier: O dear son, he said, from what region and what military unit are you, and what, tell me, is your name? And when he had said that he was from the province of Bithynia, from the village of Marycatum and of the race of the Boilades ⁱ, by name Ioannicius, and that he served in the military as an Excubitor, the emperor at once had these things committed to writing for the sake of remembrance, as one who wished always to have him most dear to himself and intimate: then, rendering him certain gifts as a sign of a grateful mind, he adorned his hands with golden bracelets. When, however, the slaughter of the Christians did not cease, and our most brave man was grieving in mind on account of the honour and gifts received from the emperor and the conversation with him, but was most of all afflicted on account of the fall of his brothers, there stood near him, unexpectedly, one man indeed insulting and looking down on his enemies with his eyes, seen in a narrow way, hurling javelins without pause at the Romans. But rushing against him from there with a mighty onset that admirable man cuts off his head, procuring safety and the way of life for the Christians.

[7] [he renounces military service and, about to undertake the monastic life, sets out for Mount Olympus.] Then, withdrawing a little from that warlike contest, our just man, gathering again in his mind the death of the multitude of his fellow citizens, and seeing that neither the illustrious nor the obscure escaped the edge of the sword, reflecting a little how he himself had been saved from there beyond hope, set out ^k and wept, casting into the earth of his heart, to use the language of David, the seeds of mercy and good works. Wherefore, getting down from his horse as quickly as possible, he set himself before God, praying and saying: I give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, our God, who by the love of the Father and the cooperation of the most holy Spirit, in the last days, for our salvation, were made man of the holy Virgin, who by your honourable and life-giving death overcame the devil who held the power of death, who have instructed us sinners and had mercy on the penitent, who by the passion of the flesh and death have blotted out for those who believe in you the death of the soul which flowed from the transgression of the commandments, I sing a hymn to you, I bless you, I adore and glorify you for ever, because you have saved me from the expectation and the hand of the enemies, and I offer to you, O most excellent Lord, as a kind of guest-gift, redemptive of my salvation, not gold, not silver, not anything earthly or transitory or perishable, but rather myself, the sole offering that may worthily honour you and most befit you. These things having been said, when he had beheld far off on his right ^l the mountain of Bithynia rising up before him, which among us is called Olympus, conceiving a divine zeal, he grieved, remembering the peaceful life of the great Elijah and of John the Baptist led in solitude, and he desired himself to live ascetically in it after their pattern. When he had come to the royal city ^m and, bidding farewell, had venerated the prayer-houses of the saints in it, no longer caring in any way for royal honour, or glory, or promise, he returned to his native land, to bring away the blessings of his parents, and when he had obtained them as he desired, he exchanged his military service, earthly indeed, for the noble military service of Christ the king.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER THREE.

St. Ioannicius professes the monastic life in the communities of Mount Olympus, first in that of the Agauri, then in that of Antidius. He lives as a solitary in the mountains of Cunduria.

[8] Κατὰ τὴν πάλαι ἔνθεον ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας ἐπῆρε, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος ἀπέβλεψεν ἐπέβλεψεν 3. , εἴκοσι τεσσάρας χρονοὺς διαπρέψας ἐν τῇ στρατείᾳ. Ὅθεν πορευόμενος κατὰ πάροδον καὶ κατὰ τὴν Προῦσαν παροῦσαν 2. γενόμενος, παραβάλλει τῇ αὐτόθι μονῇ τῶν Ἀγαύρων Αὐγάρων here and elsewhere 4. , καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε δεξιοῦται θεοφιλῶν ὁ φιλάρετος, τῷ αὐτῆς πατρὶ Γρηγορίῳ τὰ τῆς ἐνθέου βουλῆς αὐτοῦ ἀναθέμενος. Ὁ δὲ τὸν ζῆλον αὐτοῦ θεασάμενος θεαρέστως αὐτῷ καὶ ψυχοφελῶς συμβουλεύεται, φήσας· Ἡ μὲν προθεσίς σου, τέκνον, καλή, ἡ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀθλητικὴν παλαίστραν μονίαν 2, 3, 4. ἐπιθυμία μόνοις πρέπουσα τοῖς προπαιδευθεῖσι παιδευθεῖσι 3. τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἐν ἄσκησει χρονίσασιν. Δεῖ γάρ σε ἐν κοινοβίῳ μοναχῶν πρότερον εἰσελθόντα τὴν τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ὑμνωδίας γνῶσιν λαβεῖν, μαθεῖν τε

καιρὸν καὶ τάξιν προσευχῶν καὶ πολέμους δαιμόνων, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως ἡσυχαστικῶς καὶ ἐμπείρως εἰς τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν πάλην χωρῆσαι, μήπως ἀδιδάκτως εἰς τὴν κατ᾽ ἐκείνων παράταξιν προσορμήσας ἀντὶ τοῦ βαλεῖν βληθείης καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἡττῆσαι ἐλεεινότατα ἡττηθῇς. Τοιαύτην βουλὴν παρὰ τοῦ καλοῦ ποιμένος Γρηγορίου ὁ ὅσιος Ἰωαννίκιος προσδεξάμενος, λαβὼν τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ, εἴχετο τῆς ὁδοιπορίας καὶ καταλύει πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἐν κώμῃ μιᾷ τῶν πρὸς Ἀτρώαν Καστούλω Κουστούλω 2, 3, 4. καλουμένῃ καλουμένην 1, 2. , ἐν οἴκῳ τε εἰσδέχεταί τινος θεοφίλους προσφιλοῦς αὐτοῦ. Ὃς καὶ ἐγνωκὼς τὰ μελετώμενα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, λίαν πρωῒ τῇ ἐπαύριον ἐν μονῇ τῶν ἐκεῖσε Τελάου προσαγορευομένῃ ἤγαγεν αὐτόν, εἰ ἄρα γε ἀρεστὸν αὐτῷ ὀφθείη τοῦ αὐτόθι προσδιατρίψαι. Ἐν ᾗ ἀνιὼν καὶ φιλοφρόνως ὑποδεχθεὶς ὁ ἀοίδιμος ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας ἐπί adds 3. τὴν τῶν γραμμάτων μόνην (μόνην-μανθ.) μάθησιν ἀσχολῶν 3. εἰσαγωγὴν μανθάνει. Καὶ (καὶ ἰδὼν-κατ᾽ ἡμᾶς Μουσής no. 9) omits 3. ἰδὼν τὴν μονὴν ἐκείνην θορυβουμένην, ὥς τισι κώμαις ἐγγίζουσαν, πρὸς τὴν ὑπερκειμένην ἐκείνης καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ὄρει οὖσαν μονὴν Ἀντιδίου καλουμένην ἀνέρχεται.

[9] Ὃν καὶ καταλαβόντα ὁ πατὴρ τῆς μονῆς ἐκείνης, Ἰωάννης προσαγορευόμενος, κατὰ συγκυρίαν ἐξιὼν πρὸς τὴν πύλην ὑπήντησε· Πόθεν τε εἶ, καὶ τίνος χάριν ἐνταῦθα, ἀδελφέ, παραγέγονας; ἠρωτᾶ. Ὁ δὲ τῆς καλλίστης αὐτοῦ ὁρμῆς αὐτῷ ἀπογυμνώσας τὸ ἔνθεον, δεξιοῦται περιχαρῶς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰσδέχεται, καὶ τὴν τῶν θείων ἀγώνων πυκτὴν πυκτηκήν 4. ἐνεργητικῶς ἐκδιδάσκεται, καὶ τοῦ καθαιρεῖν λογισμούς, καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκπαιδεύεται, φροντίζων ἀεὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος τὰ ἐφόδια, τοῦ δὲ παρόντος κόσμου ὑπερορῶν τὴν προσπάθειαν. Ἐν ᾗ χρόνους δύο διαπεράνας, καὶ κατὰ πάσης ἀνδρισάμενος κακοβουλίας δαιμονικῆς, καὶ ἕως τῶν τριάκοντα ψαλμῶν ἐκμαθών, οἱάπερ ἔλαφος θεοκατάρτιστος εὔδρομος μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἰοβόλων παθῶν καὶ νοητῶν θηρίων ἀναίρεσιν τὴν θεοποιὸν ἡσυχίαν διψῶσα, πρὸς τὸ ὑπεράνωθεν τῆς μονῆς ὄρος, Κόρακος προσαγορευόμενον Κεφαλὴν, τὸ ἔνθειον στρουθίον μεταναστεύει, ἐπὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ὅλως βρώσεως ἢ πόσεως μὴ μεταλαβών, εὐχαῖς τε καὶ δάκρυσιν ἐξῄτει τὸν Θεὸν πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἡσυχίας στάδιον εὑρεῖν τινα τὸν ἀλείψοντα αὐτὸν ἐρημικόν τε καὶ φιλόθεον ἄνδρα. Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ καταπαυσίμῳ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐξαιτήσεως, ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς Μωυσὴς φωνῆς ἄνωθεν ἐνεχθείσης ἀκούει· Ἔτι μικρόν, λεγούσης, πρὸς τῇ κορυφῇ τοῦδε τοῦ ὄρους, ὦ Ἰωαννίκιε, προσανάβηθι, καὶ ὧν ἐπεθυμήσας ἐπιτεύξῃ. Ταύτης ἀκουστὴς γενόμενος τῆς φωνῆς, ὡς ὑπόπτερος ἀετός, λίαν εὐψύχως ὁ ἑπταήμερος νήστης πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως τελείωσιν μετ᾽ ἐλπίδος πεζοπορῶν πάντοθεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς περιέφερε ὑπερέφερε 4. , θηρᾶσαι καλῶς γλιχόμενος τὸ ποθούμενον. Καὶ δὴ προσανιὼν ὁ θεοφόρος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὡς προστέτακτο, δύο εὑρίσκει αὐτοῦ μοναχοὺς περὶ τὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη ἡσυχάζοντας ἐν σπηλαίῳ καὶ μηδενὶ ἑαυτούς αὐτοῖς 3. ποτε ὁραθέντας ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώπῳ 3. , ἱματίοις τριχίνοις κεκαλυμμένους, ἐκ βοτάνων τὴν τροφὴν ἐλαχίστων πριζομένους, καὶ ἀγγελικῶς εἰπεῖν ἐν γῇ μετὰ σώματος ζῶντας. Οἷς καὶ προσπεσὼν ὁ δίκαιος μετὰ πίστεως τῶν συμφερόντων αὐτῷ παρεκάλει μαθεῖν καὶ συνετισθῆναι τὴν γνῶσιν. Οἱ δὲ μετὰ τὴν συνήθη εὐχὴν συγκαθίσαντες πάντα αὐτῷ τὰ πεπραγμένα καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα αὐτῷ omits 1, 3. καὶ συμφέροντα κατ᾽ εἴδος ἐξεῖπον θεοφορούμενοι καὶ· Ὅτι μέλλει ἀντιδοξάζειν σε Κύριος ἐνταῦθά τε καὶ μετ᾽ ἔπειτα ὡς δοξασθεὶς ἐν τῷ βίῳ σου καὶ πολλῶν σωτηριώδη προσαγωγὴν ψυχῶν δεξάμενος παραινέσει σου, καὶ ὅτι μετὰ τὸ πεντηκοστὸν τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἔτος καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τῆς ζωῆς σου τὸ τέλος πειρασμός σοι μέγας παρὰ φθονερῶν πονερῶν (sic) 3. ἀνθρώπων συμβήσεται συνγενήσεται 3. , ἀλλ᾽ ὡς βέλος προσπεσὸν ἰσχυρὸν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους τὸ βλάβος ἐπανελεύσεται. Ταῦτα εἰπόντες αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπευξάμενοι οἱ θεόφρονες ἐπέδωκαν αὐτῷ, εὐλογίας χάριν, αἰτήσαντι μικρὸν λεβητωνάριον τριχοσύνθετον καὶ ἀπέλυσαν. Ὅπερ καὶ εἶχεν ὁ μακάριος, ὡς ἔλεγε, κατὰ παντὸς τόπου δαιμόνων πεπληρωμένου καὶ κατὰ πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς θηρίων καθάπερ ὅπλον κραταιὸν καὶ ἀήττητον ἀνιττητον 4. σὺν τῷ τυπῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐπιπέμπων αὐτοῖς adds 3. ἐκείνοις, καὶ ὡσεὶ καπνὸν ἠφάνιζεν αὐτοὺς καὶ κόνιν διὰ τῆς χάριτος. Μετὰ οὖν τὴν ἑπταήμερον ἐκείνην νηστείαν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ τῶν αἰτηθέντων ἀπόληψιν, ὡς ἄλλος Μωσής, ὁ δίκαιος κατῄει κατίει 2, 4. ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους δεδοξαμένος τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀντὶ δύο πλακῶν καί adds 3. λιθίνων γράμμασιν ἐντετυπωμένων τὰς θείας παραινέσεις τῶν δύο θείων 3. χριστοφόρων θεοφόρων 2, δύο adds 3. ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων ἐν πλαξὶ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ λογικῶς ἡμῖν καὶ πρακτικῶς ἐγγεγραμμένας, ἐπιφερόμενος περιφερόμενος 3. .

[10] Ὅθεν, μετὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωάννου εὐχῆς, ἀπάρας ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς τὸ τῆς Ἀγαύρων μονῆς ὄρος καταλαμβάνει, ὃδὴ Τριχάλιξ προσαγορεύεται, αἴθριος ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἄσκηνος ἄσκιος 3. διαιτώμενος. Ὃ μεμαθηκὼς ὁ τίμιος ποιμὴν ἐκεῖνος τότε Γρηγόριος δρομαῖος δρομέως 2. ἄνεισι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ κατασκευάζει αὐτῷ κελλίον σμικρότατον. Ὁ δὲ μέγας πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος γνωσθείς τισιν καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐνοχλούμενος ἠνιᾶτο τῷ πνεύματι τὸ πνεῦμα 4. λίαν· διὸ φυγὰς αὐτόθεν καὶ μετανάστης γενόμενος ἐν ὄρει τινι κατάλσῳ καὶ δυσβάτῳ κώμης Ἑλλησπόντου ὀνομαζομένης εἰσέρχεται ὑπὸ διά 4. τὴν ἐνορίαν τοῦ Πανδήμου διακειμένης, καὶ ὀρύξας ὀπὴν στενὴν ὑπὸ γῆν ἑαυτὸν ἐν αὐτῇ ἀπρόἳτον καθείρξε, παρ᾽ ἑνός τινος αἰπόλου Ἀνθινοῦ Ἀνθείνου 3, Αὐθήνου 4. καλουμένου ἐν μικρῷ ἄρτῳ καὶ ὕδατι κατὰ μῆνα διακονούμενος, ᾧ μόνῳ τὸ ζῆν, ὡς ἔμπνους νεκρός, τῷ σώματι προαιρούμενος. Ἐν ᾧ τριετήσας οὑτωσὶ οὕτως καὶ 4. ἀσκητικῶς πιεζόμενος τοῦ τριημερεύσαντος ἐν νεκροῖς πόθῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, οὐδενὶ ἐνωχλήθη ἐνωχληθείς 3. πνεύματι πονηρῷ τὸ παράπαν, ὡς ἔλεγεν, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὸ χάρισμα τῆς κατανύξεως ἔλαβεν. Τοῖς τριάκοντα γὰρ ψαλμοῖς δι᾽ ὅλου ὑμνῶν τὸ θεῖον ἑνὶ μικρῷ τροπαρίῳ θεολογικωτάτῳ ἠρκεῖτο ἔχοντι οὕτως· Ἡ ἐλπίς μου ὁ Θεός ἡ adds 3. , καταφυγή μου ὁ Χριστός ἡ adds 3. , σκέπη μου τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἃγιον. Τοῦτο δὲ λέγων οὐ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα μόνῳ ἀπένεμεν, οὐδὲ τῷ Χριστῷ ἀφώριζεν αὐτοῦ τὴν καταφυγήν, οὐδὲ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ διαιρετῶς τὴν σκέπην, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς τρισὶ τῆς θεότητος χαρακτῆρσι τὴν ἐλπίδα κοινῶς καὶ καταφυγὴν καὶ σκέπην ἐδόξαζεν, ὡς ἐν τῇ τρισαγίῳ θεολογίᾳ τὴν θεότητα καὶ ἰσχὺν καὶ ἀθανασίαν τῆς μιᾶς ἔλεγεν εἶναι φύσεως ἀμερίστως, ταῦτα κατὰ τὰς ὑποστάσεις μερίζων, τὰ αὐτὰ εἰδὼς φυσικῶς ἐν ἀλλήλαις περιχωροῦντα, πλὴν τῆς ἀγεννησίας, γεννήσεως καὶ ἐκπορεύσεως· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀγεννητὸν τοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν, τὸ δὲ γεννητὸν τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τὸ δὲ ἐκπορευτὸν τὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Οὕτως ἐκεῖσε διαζῶν ἰσαγγελῶς ὁ μακαρίτης, ὡς γέγραπται, μετὰ τὴν τριετίαν, κοινωνίας χάριν, ἀπελθὼν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῆς αὐτῆς κώμης ὑπὸ συστρατιώτου στρατιώτου 1. ἀνεγνωρίσθη· μεθ᾽ οὗ καὶ πνευματικῶς ἀγαλλιασθεὶς πρὸς ὄρη δύσβατα λίαν τῆς Κουνδουρίας ἀπέβλεψε θηροτρόφα ὄντως καὶ πολυήσυχα πέλοντα πρὸς δύσιν Λυκίας καὶ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν διακείμενα τῆς Ἀσίας, πλησίον Μύρων.

[8] First in the monastery of the Agauri, According to the desire long since put into him by God, he moved his feet and looked toward Mount Olympus itself, after he had borne himself brilliantly in the military life for twenty-four years ^a. Thence, having set out on the journey and passing through Prusa ^b, he comes to the monastery of the Agauri, and he, the lover of virtue, is received by the friends of God who were living there. To the father of the monastery, Gregory ^c, he discloses his divine design; and he, admiring his zeal, teaches him how he may better please God and profit his soul, saying: Your purpose indeed, son, is fine; but the desire for the athletic contest befits only those who have been taught divine things and have long been engaged in the exercise. You must therefore first enter a community of monks ^d and handle the science of the divine hymnody ^e, learn the time and order of the prayers and the wars against the demons, and afterwards go forth thus calmly and skilfully into the contest against the enemies, lest, advancing untaught against their ranks, you be struck rather than strike and be miserably overcome rather than overcome. When St. Ioannicius had received such counsel from the good shepherd Gregory, having received his blessing, he took up his journey again, and in the evening came to a certain village of those which are near Atroa, called Castulo ^f, and is received into the house of a certain friend of God, a friend of his. He, when he had heard what he was undertaking, very early in the morning, at sunrise, led him to the monastery called by the inhabitants Telai ^g, in case it should please him to spend his life there. Going up there and kindly received, our celebrated saint for some days learns only the elements of letters. But when he had seen that this monastery was too turbulent on account of certain neighbouring villages, he turned aside to another which overtops it and lies under the mountain itself, called Antidium ^h.

[9] then in the monastery of Antidius, at Raven's Head, As he arrived, the father of this monastery, called John, who by chance had gone out, met him near the door: Whence are you, and for what purpose, brother, have you come here? he asked. And when he had disclosed to him the divine inspiration of his noble expedition, he is received and brought in; he learns keenly the wrestling-school of the divine contests, and is taught to purge his thoughts and every pride which exalts itself against the knowledge of God, always looking to the provisions for the future life and despising attachment to the present one. Thus he spent two years ⁱ, and, strengthened against every diabolical malice and taught thirty psalms, like a hart instructed by God, nimble for the course, after the destruction of poisonous lusts and spiritual beasts, thirsting for divine quiet, that sparrow inspired by God migrates to the mountain overhanging the monastery and named Raven's Head ^k. For seven days there, using no food or drink, he sought from God with prayers and tears that in the stadium of quiet he might find some hermit, a man dear to God, who might anoint him ^l. On the seventh and last day of his petition, our second Moses hears a voice brought from above, saying: Go up nearer still to the summit of this mountain, O Ioannicius, and you will find what you desire. Having become a hearer of this voice, like a winged eagle, greatly heartened, the faster of seven days, advancing his feet with hope toward the fulfilment of the revelation, cast his eyes about on every side, ardently desiring to catch what he longed for. And indeed, going up, our divine father Ioannicius, like

he had been ordered, found there two monks living as solitaries in a cave for about forty years, and, since they had never been seen by any man, they were covered with garments made of hair, they procured their food from a few herbs and, so to speak, led an angelic life in the body. Throwing himself at their feet, our just man asked with confidence that he might learn what would profit him and be taught knowledge. They, after the customary prayer, sitting down, inspired by God narrated to him according to the vision all that he had done and the things which were to come and would be useful to him: The Lord will glorify you now and afterwards, as one glorified in your life, and when you have undertaken the saving direction of many souls by your exhortations, after the fiftieth year ^m of your exercise, toward the end of your very life, a huge trial will be made against you by envious men; but, like a strong javelin, the harm will turn back upon them. When the servants of God had said these things and had again prayed for his good fortune, they gave him at his request, by way of a blessing, a small lebitonarion ⁿ woven of hair, and dismissed him. And this our blessed one had, as he used to say, in every place filled with demons and against all the snares of wild beasts, as most powerful and invincible arms; with the sign of the cross, namely, he would throw this garment at them and so compel them, by the grace of God, to vanish like smoke and dust. After this fast of seven days, then, as I said, and the fulfilment of his petitions, like another Moses our just man came down from the mountain with glorious face, bringing back to us, in place of his tablets of stone inscribed with letters, the divine praises of these two Christ-bearing men inscribed on the tablet of his heart, in word and deed.

[10] and on Mount Trichalix he leads a solitary life. Then, with the blessing of father John ^o, setting out from here, he makes for the mountain near the monastery of the Agauri which is called Trichalix [p], living on it in the open air and under no roof. When that venerable shepherd Gregory had learned this, he at once summons him to himself and prepares for him a very small cell. But our great father Ioannicius, now known to some and disturbed by them, was greatly saddened in mind. Wherefore, having fled from there and taken up his journey again, he goes to a certain wooded mountain, difficult of access, which belongs to a certain village named Hellespont [q] and is situated at the borders of Pandemus; and digging a certain narrow hole under the earth, he shut himself up in it, accessible to no one, a certain goatherd named Anthinus supplying a small loaf and water every month, by which alone, already almost dead, scarcely breathing, he might procure life for his body. There for three years [r], thus tormenting himself ascetically for the love of Jesus Christ, our life, who was three days among the dead, he was disturbed by no evil spirit at all, as he used to say, but there he received the charism of compunction. For, always celebrating the Godhead in hymns with thirty psalms, he was content with one little troparion [s], very theological, which ran thus: My hope is God, my refuge Christ, my protection the Holy Spirit. Saying this, he did not place his hope in God the Father alone, nor did he limit his refuge to Christ, nor again his protection separately to the Holy Spirit, but in that threefold character of the Godhead he glorified in common hope and refuge and protection, just as in the thrice-holy divine utterance he said that the Godhead and strength and immortality were of one nature indivisibly, distinguishing them according to the hypostases, knowing that the same mutually indwell one another by nature, except τὸ not being begotten, being begotten and proceeding: for to be unbegotten belongs to the Father, generation to the Son and procession to the Spirit. Living thus there, like an angel, our blessed one, as is written, after three years [t], having entered the church of this village for the sake of communion, was recognized by a certain fellow soldier; with whom he spiritually rejoiced, and then looked toward the most impassable mountains of Cunduria, full of wild beasts and very quiet, situated to the west of Lycia and to the east of Asia, near Myra [u].

ANNOTATIONS.

p Trichalix, like Raven's Head, a certain district of the Olympian tract.

q Hellespont was the name not only of the sea between Europe and Asia Minor, but also of the region itself which in Mysia is washed by the waters of this sea. See Texier, L'Asie mineure, p. 159; Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia minor, pp. 153–64.

r That is, through the years 797–799.

s Of that term τροπάριον there is not one sense for the various times, as his Eminence Cardinal Pitra notes in his work Hymnographie de l'Église grecque, pp. 29, 41, 47. Here it seems rather to designate a shorter troparion, or ὑπακοὴ, which was recited after the psalms. That troparion of St. Ioannicius must have been very celebrated and very well known, since it was reported in the summary elogium of the Synaxarion.

t Namely in the year 800.

u From the situation described, namely by which the western part of Lycia and the eastern part of Asia is designated, and especially the neighbouring city of Myra in Lycia, it is plain that the mountains of Cunduria belong to that series of mountains which among the ancient geographers was called Cragus, but today is named Akdagh. Cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 27–29. Yet the author would have said more correctly πρὸς ἀνατολὴν Λυκίας καὶ πρὸς δύσιν τῆς Ἀσίας. It is to be noted how great journeys St. Ioannicius undertook. For just now he was in the Olympian region on the shore of the Propontis, now already he lives on the opposite seacoast, namely of the inner sea. Thence we shall soon see him migrating to Ephesus.

CHAPTER FOUR.

The first miracles of St. Ioannicius and his power over dragons.

[11] Πρὸς ἃ καὶ πορευόμενος κατὰ πάροδον ἐν εὐκτηρίῳ οἴκῳ καταλύει, προσπαρακειμένῳ τῷ ὄρει. Κατὰ συνήθειαν δὲ ἐν ὧ 3, 4. εἰσελθὸν θεοσεβὲς ἀνδρογύναιον ἀνδρόγυνον 2, 4. τοῦ λυχναπτῆσαι, ἰδὸν αὐτὸν omits 3. ἐν omits 4. ἔκπληξει ὅλον κατεσχέθη μεγίστῃ, καὶ πνεῦμα αὐτὸν εἶναι ὑπονοῆσαν ἔκραξεν. Ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀληθῶς ἀλ. ὁ ἀν. 2. εὐμεγέθης, ἀγγελοθέατος, εὔοπτος καὶ εὐόμματος, ῥακκοδύτης καὶ ἀνυπόδετος ἀνυπόδεκτος 1, 2, 4. , βαθύθριξ καὶ πολυβόστριχος, ὡς χώννυσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πλοκάμοις τῷ πλήθει τῷ πλήθει omits 3. , καὶ συγκαλύπτεσθαι πρὸς αὐτό τε αὐτοὺς τὸ ἔδαφος ἐπισύρεσθαι. Καὶ φησὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ θεόληπτος· Μὴ φοβεῖσθε ὑμεῖς, ὦ τέκνα, κἀγὼ γὰρ ἄνθρωπός εἰμι ὁμοιοπαθὴς ὑμῶν ὑμῖν 3. καὶ οὐχ, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνετε, φάντασμα. Οἱ δὲ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς γενόμενοι καὶ θαυμάσαντες προσέπεσον τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀφ᾽ ὧν εἶχον, ἐδεξιώσαντο αὐτὸν χρειωδῶς. Ἐρωτηθέντες δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ

τὰ περὶ τῆς εὐθύτητος τῆς ὁδοῦ, ἀπεκρίθησαν· Ὅτι ποταμός ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα δυσδιάβατος, πατέρ· τοῖς πεπειραμένοις αὐτοῦ, μόλις καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ περώμενος, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ τῶν ἀλλεπαλλήλων ἐπ᾽ ἀλλήλων 3. νιφάδων καὶ ἐπικλύσεων. Ὁ δὲ νυκτὸς ἀναστὰς καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ ἀνύων, τὸν ποταμὸν ἐκεῖνον καταλαμβάνει καὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ εὐξάμενος διῆλθεν εἶς τὸ πέραν πέρας 4. ἀβρόχως.

[12] Κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὸν τοῦ θεολόγου Ἰωάννου omits 3. ναὸν καταντήσας τὸν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, παραδόξως εἴσεισιν ἐν αὐτῷ (ἐν αὐτ.) εἰς αὐτό 3. ἀωρίᾳ, ἀνοιγεισῶν αὐτῷ τῶν πυλῶν καὶ εὐξάμενος ἔξεισι κλεισθεισῶν πάλιν. Τὴν πρὸς Κουνδουρίαν Κοβυδουρίαν 3, 4. ὁδὸν βαδίζων, ὡς προσεξώρμητο, ἐν ᾗ καὶ δύο τινὰς συναντᾷ μοναζούσας, σὺν μητρί, λέγω, γραΐ θυγατέρα νεάνιν, τὴν μὲν ἐκ τῆς τῶν σαρκικῶν πολέμων βίας ἀποκαμοῦσαν ἀποκάμνουσαν 3. , καὶ εἰς τὸν κοσμὸν κατερχομένην, τὴν δὲ ταύτην συνεπομένην νουθετοῦσαν, παρακαλοῦσαν τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ θρηνωδῶς κλαυθμυρίζουσαν. Ἥτις γραὺς θεασαμένη τότε τὸν ἅγιον προσέδραμεν αὐτοῦ πιστῶς τοῖς ἴχνεσι καὶ προσέπεσε, καὶ τὰ τῇ παιδὶ αὐτῆς πνεύματα πορνικὰ ἐπανιστάμενα ἐθριάμβευσεν. Ὁ δὲ τὴν παῖδα προσκαλεσάμενος συμπαθῶς· Ἐπιθές, ἔφη αὐτῇ, τὴν χεῖρά σου τῷ αὐχένι μου, τέκνον. Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτῆς τελεσάσης, φησὶν αὐτῇ τρίτον οὕτως ὁ γέρων· Ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ, ὦ παῖ, μεταβήτω ὁ πόλεμός σου δυνάμει Χριστοῦ, τῆς κατὰ σοῦ προσβολῆς ἀπεληλαμένος εἰς ἔτι. Ἡ δὲ εὐθύς adds 2, 4. σὺν τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς omits 1. κουφισθεῖσα τοῦ πάθους σὺν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν μονὴν ἀνέστρεψεν, ὅθεν ἐξῆλθε δοξάζουσα τὸν Θεόν, καὶ τὸν αὐτοῦ μέγαν θεράποντα Ἰωαννίκιον μακαρίζουσα. Ὡς δὲ ἔφθασε, διαστὰς τῆς Κουνδουρίας τοῖς ὄρεσιν ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ προδρόμου Ἰωάννου καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ χαρισμάτων ἄξιος omits 1. Ἰωαννίκιος ἐφ᾽ ἧς adds 3, ἐφίσος adds 2, ἐφ᾽ ἵσως 4. , οἷα βέλεσι πυρός, τοῖς πορνικοῖς ἤρξατο κατατοξεύεσθαι λογισμοῖς. Οὓς αἰσθόμενος αὐτῷ ἐπιτιθεμένους σποδρότερον σφοδροτέρους 3. ἐν σπηλαίῳ δράκοντα εὑρηκὼς ἑαυτὸν ἐκείνῳ κατάβρωμα ἐπιδίδωσι, σπαράττων αὐτὸν χερσὶ καὶ ἀναγκάζων (χερ.-ἀναγκ.) omits 4. μὴ βουλόμενον αὐτοῦ ἅψασθαι ὁλῶς, σωματικῶς θανεῖν, οὐχὶ οὐ 2, 3, 4. ψυχικῶς, προαιρούμενος, καὶ θανάτῳ τὸ θνητὸν παραδοῦναι προκρίνων, ἢ τὸ ἀθάνατον ἁμαρτόντα νεκροποιῆσαι. Ἀλλ᾽ οὖν καὶ τούτου τοῦ θηρὸς αἰδεσθέντος, ὡς τὸν Βαπτιστὴν πάλαι ἀσπίδες καὶ δράκοντες ἔπτηξαν καὶ κεράσται. Ὅθεν omits 3, 4. ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ οἰκητηρίῳ τὸ οἰκητήριον 3. τοῦ δράκοντος πρὸς Θεὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκπετάσας τὰς χεῖρας, τοὺς πολεμίους τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν δαίμονας καὶ τῶν παθῶν τοῦ παθους 3, 4. συνεργοὺς κατὰ κράτος ἐτρέψατο, καὶ τὸν δράκοντα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀπενέκρωσεν, ἔκτοτε τῆς κατὰ πάντων θηρῶν ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων δυνάμεως παρὰ Θεοῦ ὄντως τὴν δωρεὰν εἰληφώς, ὡς δειχθήσεται. Ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ omits 4. τῷ ὄρει περιερχόμενος ἐν μιᾷ καὶ τοὺς δαυἳτικοὺς ἀποστηθίζων ψαλμοὺς ὁρᾷ σωρείαν λίθων τινασσομένην ἐκ τῶν κάτω τε πρὸς τὰ ἄνω ἀνυψουμένην (ἐκ τῶν κάτω-ἀνοψουμένην) omits 3. , καὶ δράκοντα παμμεγέθη ἀναβαλλόμενον ἐξ αὐτῆς· οὗ καὶ Θεοῦ βοηθείας καθωπλισμένος ἐπιβὰς τῇ κεφαλῇ ὁ μακάριος σὺν τῇ ἐν χερσὶν αὐτοῦ σταυροτύπῳ σιδήρᾳ βακτηρία, ἀνεῖλεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ παρέδωκεν. Ἄλλοτε δὲ ἐκεῖσε χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ εἰσελθὼν ἐν σπηλαίῳ μέστῳ σκοτίας σκοπείας 4. ἔνοικον ἔχοντι ἔχοντα τόν 3. δράκοντα, οὗ ἦσαν ὡς πῦρ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ omits 3. ἀπαστράπτοντες, ξύλα συλλέξας, ὥσπερ ἐν πυρὶ ἀγνοῶν τοῖς αὐτοῦ ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπετίθει. Τοῦ δὲ ἀποτιναξαμένου τὰ ἐντεθέντα, γνοὺς ὁ πατὴρ ἐν μέρει γέγονε τοῦ σπηλαίου, καὶ, ὡς ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν, ἀβλαβῶς ἅμα συνδιαιτᾶτο τῷ δράκοντι.

[13] Εἰθ᾽ οὕτως κατωτέρω πρὸς τὰ τῆς Κιλικίας ὄρη ἀπῄει χρόνους ἑπτὰ διατρίψας αὐτόθι, τῷ οὖν πέμπτῳ ἔτει τῆς εὐσεβοῦς βασιλείας Νικηφόρου καὶ Σταυρακίου, δωδεκάτῳ δὲ τῆς ἐρημικῆς διαγωγῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου omits 3. καὶ πεντηκοστῷ τετάρτῳ τῆς πάσης ζωῆς αὐτοῦ, ἐν τοῖς τῆς Κιλικίας ἔτι διαιτώμενος ὄρεσιν ἀποκαλύπτεται ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Πανδήμου μονὴν Ἐριστὴν καλουμένην ἀναζεύξαι ἐκεῖθεν, μιᾶς οὔσης τῶν ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ ἀσκητηρίων (ἀσκητηρ.-ποιμένα) omits 4. μεγίστης καὶ τιμίας, ποιμένα ἐχούσης κατὰ τὸν omits 3. καιρὸν Στέφανόν τινα πάσῃ ἀρετῇ ἀληθῶς ἐστεμμένον καὶ Ἀναστάσιον οἰκονόμον ὡσαύτως, κἀκεῖ τὸ τῶν μοναχῶν ἐπενδύσασθαι σχῆμα. Ὃς καταλαβὼν τὴν μονὴν Ἐριστῆς, ὡς προστέτακτο, ἡμέραις θέρους, τὰ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως αὐτοῦ χρησμωδήματα Στεφάνῳ τῷ ἡγουμένῳ ἡγεμόνῳ 4. ἀπήγγειλεν. Ὁ δὲ τῇ ἐπαύριον, μὴ μελλήσας, εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, εἰσαγαγὼν δὲ καὶ (δὲ καὶ) omits 3. τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Κυρίου 3. θεράποντα τῷ ἀποτακτικῷ τῶν μοναχῶν ἄρματι σχηματίζει ἀμετακλήτως Ἰωαννίκιον, τοῦ τῆς μονῆς οἰκονόμου Ἀναστασίου τὴν ἀπαρχὴν αὐτοῦ τῶν τριχῶν δεξαμένου. Ἀφ᾽ οὗ ἐξ ἀγώνων εἰς ἀγῶνας ἐμβιβαζόμενος ὁ πανόσιος, καὶ ἐκ (ἐκ πον.-ἀποδυόμενος) omits 4. πόνων εἰς πόνους θεομιμήτως ἀποδυόμενος ἐπὶ τὰ Μητάτα καλούμενα κατελθὼν καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐκεῖσε ὄντα ποταμὸν Γοργύτην, σπήλαιον εὑρηκὼς ἐν τῷ adds 3. τόπῳ ὀνομαζομένῳ τὰ Κρίταμα Κρίματα 1, τακρίταμα 3. ἑαυτὸν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀκαθείρκτως καθείρξεν, ἓξ ὀργυιῶν ἀλύσει περιδεσμήσας καὶ ἀρετῇ ἁπάσῃ ἐνδιαπρέψας.

[14] Μετὰ δὲ τὸν ἐκεῖσε τριετῆ χρόνον, ἐπὶ τὰ τῆς Λυδίας τοῦ ἄλσους ὄρη καὶ ἐν κάστρῳ τῷ Λισῳ παρακειμένῳ τόπῳ, Χελιδόνα καλουμένῳ, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγωνιζόμενον ἀπάρας γέροντα μέγαν Γεώργιον, τὸν Γοργύτην διαπερῶν ποταμὸν ἤδη δράκοντα φοβερὸν ἐν αὐτῷ νηχόμενον περιέτυχεν ὡς ἀναχαιτίζειν αὐτοῦ τὸ ῥεῦμα τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ σώματος τῇ περιγραφῇ τῆς περιγραφῆς 3. . Ὃν καὶ ἀποκτείνας χάριτι Χριστοῦ, ἀπῄει πρὸς τὸν ποθούμενον, μεθ᾽ οὗ καὶ τρία ἔτη προσδιατρίψας, καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἅπαν ἅμα 3. τότε ἐκμαθὼν τὸ ψαλτήριον, πρὸς τὸν τῆς Ἀντιδίου μονῆς ποιμένα Ἰωάννην σὺν ὑπουργῷ. Παχωμίῳ ἀνθυποστρέψας, ἀνέρχεται εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ χάριν καὶ ἐπισκέψεως, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐκεῖσε ἀγωνιστὰς γέροντας ὄντας. Κἀκεῖθεν πρὸς τὸν τῆς Ἀγαύρων καθηγεμόνα Γρηγόριον ἔρχεται καὶ πρὸς τὰ τοῦ Τριχάλικος Τριχάλκιδνος 3. δύσβατα ὄρη. Ὃς καὶ γνοὺς τὴν ἔλευσιν αὐτοῦ σὺν τρισὶν ἄνεισιν εὐθὺς ἀδελφοῖς Εὐστρατίῳ, φημί, τῷ πατρὶ Ἰωαννικίῳ λίαν ἠγαπημένῳ, Σάβᾳ τε καὶ Θεοφυλάκτῳ. Οἳ καὶ κελλίον αὐτῷ τεκταίνοντες εὐτέχνως, συμπαρόντος καὶ τοῦ ὁσίου, αἰγάγρων βλέπουσιν ἐκεῖ νεμομένην ἀγέλην, τὸν δὲ τοῦ αἰπολίου ἐκείνου τράγον ἡγούμενον τραγοηγούμενον 3. , κατὰ τὸ Σολομῶντος ῥητόν, πάντων ἐκείνων ὑπερφερέστατον πέλοντα. Ὅθεν καὶ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς διελογίζοντο ἐννοοῦντες ὡς εἰ ἄρα γε οὗτος κατεσχέθη κατασχεθείη 3, 4. ὑπό τινος εἰς ἀσκὸν αὐτοῦ μέγιστον ἂν προχωρήσῃ τὸ ἔνδυμα. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις αὐτῶν διὰ τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν adds 1. αὐτῷ θείου Πνεύματος ἐπιγνοὺς τοῦ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐρευνῶντος τῷ ἑνὶ αὐτῶν ἀδελφῷ Σάβᾳ ἐπέτρεψεν τοῦ ἀπελθόντα κατασχεῖν τὸν τράγον ἐκεῖνον, καὶ ἀγαγεῖν ἀπαγαγεῖν 2. αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ ἀπελθὼν μετ᾽ εὐχῆς καὶ κρατήσας ἤνεγκεν αὐτὸν εὐπρόθυμον τῷ προστάξαντι. Ὃς τῇ χειρὶ ἀλίσας αὐτὸν καὶ τῷ βαυκαλίῳ ὕδωρ ποτίσας, ἔφησεν αὐτοῖς ἐκπληττομένοις τὸ ὅραμα· Ἄρα γε χρήσιμος ἔσται οὗτος, ὦ ἀδελφοί, ὡς ἐλογίσασθε, εἰς ἀσκὸν κάλλιστον τῷ μεγέθει; Τῶν δὲ εἰρηκότων· Καὶ μάλα δή, ὅσιε πάτερ, τῷ Σάβᾳ δή adds 2. αὖθις ἐπιτρέπει κατασχόντα τὸ ζῶον ἕως τίνος ἀπαγάγοντα αὐτὸ (ἀπαγ. αὐτ.) ἀπαγαγότα αὐτόν 3. ἄφετον ἀπολῦσαι. Ὃ πεπλήρωκεν ὡς ὁ adds 1, 3, 4. προστεταγμένος τὸν τραγὸν τότε ποιήσας ἀποπομπαῖον.

[11] He crosses a river without being wetted, Having advanced toward these, on the journey he rests in a prayer-house which was near the mountain. When, according to custom, a certain pious man and his wife had entered to light the lamp and had seen him, they were struck with great terror and, thinking it a phantom, cried out. In truth our man was of great stature, of angelic face, beautiful in appearance and eyes, but clothed in rags and going with bare feet, with rather long hair, and that so thick that he was wholly clothed and veiled by the abundance of his locks, since they swept the ground. And the man dedicated to God says to them: Do not fear, children; I indeed am a man like you, and not, as you think, a phantom. They, coming to themselves and wondering, fell at his feet, and from what they had they offered things for his use. Being asked by him the right direction of the way, they answered that there was a river there not easy to cross, that it could scarcely be crossed in one day by those who wish to pass over, especially at the present time when snows and streams have gathered. But he, setting out by night and recognizing his way, came to that river ^a, and when he had given thanks to God he crossed to the other bank without being wetted.

[12] he frees a nun from temptations and dwells unharmed with a dragon. Thence, when he had come to the church of John the theologian ^b, which is at Ephesus, incredible to say, at an unseasonable hour he enters it, the doors having been opened to him, and when he had prayed he goes out, the doors being afterwards closed again. Continuing his journey into Cunduria, as he advances he meets two religious women, a mother, I mean, already an old woman, and her young daughter: the latter, broken in strength by fleshly wars, wished to return to the world; the former followed exhorting and admonishing her to turn back and groaning with lamentable voice. This old woman, when she had then seen the saint, faithfully clung to his footsteps and fell at his feet that he might overcome the lustful thoughts rising up in her daughter. Ioannicius, calling the daughter with affection: Put your hand, he says to her, on my neck, O daughter. When she had done this, the old man says to her three times thus: Let the war which until now has harassed you by its assault be turned upon me, O daughter, by the power of Christ. And she, at once relieved of lust by his word, about to return with her mother to the monastery, went away from there glorifying God and calling blessed his great servant Ioannicius. But as he went on and had already passed the mountains of Cunduria, Ioannicius, imitator of the Forerunner John and worthy of his charisms, began to be shot with lustful thoughts as with fiery darts. Feeling them cast into him, when he had found a huge serpent in a cave he gives himself over to it as food, gripping it with his hands and compelling it, unwilling, to touch him in any way, preferring to die bodily but not spiritually, and judging that the mortal must be given over to death rather than the immortal be slain by sinning. But the beast revered him too, so that

asps and dragons and horned snakes once feared the Baptist. Wherefore in the very dwelling of the dragon, stretching out his hands to God, he put to flight by his power the demons, enemies of our life and accomplices of lusts, and killed the dragon together with them. From then on he received from God a truly gifted power against all beasts visible and invisible, as will be shown. For going round on that very mountain one day and repeating the psalms of David, he sees a heap of stones piled up and shaken upside down, and a huge dragon at once slipping down out of it. When, armed with God's help, he had gone up there, the blessed one struck its head with the iron staff which he carried in his hands, which bore the sign of the cross, and destroyed it. Another time there, in time of storm, having entered a gloomy cave which a serpent inhabited, whose eyes flashed like fire, he unknowingly places the gathered wood, as though upon a fire, upon its eyes. When it had shaken off what was being placed on it, the father learned what the matter was; he therefore withdrew into a certain part of the cave, and until the storm had calmed he stayed there unharmed together with the dragon.

[13] He receives the tonsure in the monastery of Eristae, When he had gone further to the mountains of Cilicia ^c and had persevered there seven years ^d, at last in the fifth year of the most pious reign of Nicephorus ^e and Stauracius ^f, the twelfth of the eremitical life of our father Ioannicius ^g and the fifty-fourth year of his whole life ^h, while he was living in the mountains of Cilicia it is revealed to him by God that he should withdraw into the monastery of Pandemus called Eristae ⁱ, which was the greatest of all the communities which are in Bithynia and very venerable, and had at that time as shepherd a certain Stephen, truly crowned with every virtue, and Anastasius as steward, so that he might put on the habit of the monks there. When he had sought the monastery of Eristae, as he had been ordered, in the summer season, he announced the oracles of the revelation made to him to Stephen the hegumen. He, very early in the morning, without any delay, entering the church and taking with him the servant of God, equips Ioannicius irrevocably with the religious armour of the monks ^k, while Anastasius, the steward of the monastery, received the first-fruits of his hair. From that time the blessed one, advancing plainly from contests to contests and from labours to labours, clothed in emulation of God, when he had come down to the places called Metata ^l and near the river Gorgytes ^m which flowed past there, having found a cave in a place whose name was Critama ⁿ, shut himself up in it closely, bound with a chain of six cubits and excelling in every kind of virtue.

[14] then he lives as a solitary at Chelidon. After the third year spent there ^o, being about to go to the mountains of the Forests of Lydia [p] and to the fortress situated near Lisus, in the place called Chelidon [q], to the great abbot George [r], who was contending there, when he had crossed the river Gorgytes he met a horrid dragon now swimming in it, which held back the stream by the circumference of its huge body. Having killed it by the power of Christ, he goes off to the desired father, with whom he spent three years [s], and when he had learned from him the whole psalter, he returned to John, shepherd of the monastery of Antidius, with his disciple Pachomius, coming back to receive his prayers and to visit him and also the old men who were contending ascetically there with him. Thence he goes to Gregory, the hegumen of the Agauri, and to the impassable mountains of Trichalix. He, when he had learned of his coming, at once came down with three brothers, Eustratius [t], I mean, very dear to father Ioannicius, and Sabas [u] and Theophylact. While these were skilfully building a cell for him [v], the saint being present, they see a herd of goats grazing there, and the he-goat leader of that herd, according to the saying of Solomon [w], the most outstanding of them all. Wherefore they were thinking within themselves, judging that, if it were held by someone, its very ample hide would contribute greatly to making a wineskin. But the saint, having perceived their thoughts through the divine Spirit dwelling in him, who searches the deep things of God, enjoined one of those brothers, Sabas, to go and hold this he-goat and bring it. When he had gone, having received the blessing, and had held it, he brought it, not resisting, to the father who had commanded. He, when he had stroked it with his hand and given it water to drink from a bowl, says to them, astonished at this spectacle: Would not this one be useful, O brothers, as you were thinking, for a most beautiful wineskin, for its size? When they had answered: Certainly, blessed father, he again enjoins Sabas to hold the animal until, having led it somewhere, he should let it go free. Which command he fulfilled, by letting the he-goat go.

ANNOTATIONS.

p The mountains of the Forests of Lydia may perhaps be likened to Mount Temnus, which is joined with the western tract of Mount Olympus.

q Lisus and Chelidon, unknown places.

r Of the abbot George we have found no mention elsewhere.

s Namely the years 808–810.

t St. Eustratius has been treated in Act. SS., June vol. I, p. 598. As Bolland has already noted, the Acts of St. Eustratius are to be taken chiefly from the Life of St. Ioannicius. Bolland gave only a few things, referring more to the treatment of the present day.

u I would conjecture that this Sabas, who recurs from time to time, is none other than the author of the Life of St. Ioannicius himself.

v The word τεκταίνοντες which the author uses seems to insinuate that this cell was made entirely of wood. That such a usage flourished in the Olympian region and persists even in our days is confirmed by the investigations of more recent travellers. Cf. Perrot, Exploration archéologique de la Galatie et de la Bithynie, p. 136, and Texier, L'Asie mineure, plates X, XI. Cf. also John Theophilus in the work Μνημεῖα ἁγιολογικά.

w Prov. XXX, 31. The Greek text is to be consulted, καὶ τράγος ἡγούμενος αἰπολίου, which the Vulgate reported too compendiously by one word: aries.

CHAPTER FIVE.

St. Ioannicius foretells the death of the emperors Nicephorus and Stauracius. The persecution of Leo the Armenian.

[15] Τῷ οὖν ἐννάτῳ ἔτει Νικηφόρου τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς βασιλείας 4. , οἱ τὸν Λίβα Λίμα 4. οἰκοῦντες βάρβαροι Οὖννοι Ὅβυνοι 4. στρατοπεδεύσαντες καθ᾽ ἡμῶν καὶ τὴν Θρᾳκῶν γῆν ἐξελθόντες λεηλατῆσαι, τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτοῦ σὺν πολλοῖς στρατεύμασιν ἀντιπαραταξαμένου καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἡττήσαντος, πρὸς αὐτά τε αὐτοὺς αὐτοῦ 3. τὰ βασίλεια αὐτῶν εἰσελάσαντος καὶ συγκόψαντος, κἀκεῖσε ἀβουλήτως προσδιατρίψαντος, ἐπισυστήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐπισυστήσαντος ἑαυτοῖς 3. οἱ κατάλοιποι καὶ τὰ ὅμορα μισθωσάμενοι

ἔθνη ἀνθήττησαν τοῦτον ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τόπου, τοσοῦτον ὡς αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν βασιλέα Νικηφόρον (τὸν βασ. Νικ.) omits 3, 4. στόματι μαχαίρας πανστρατὶ καὶ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ περιπεσεῖν. Ὃ διορατικωτάτως εἰδὼς ὁ ὄντως Θεοῦ προφήτης Ἰωαννίκιος, ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως συγγενῶν δυσωπούμενος αὐτοῦ παρόντων τοὺς βασιλέας τοῦ εὔχεσθαι· Ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν βασιλέων ἤδη, φησὶ διαφόρως, ηὐξάμην, ὁ ὅσιος, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως εὔξομαι νῦν. Οἱ δὲ τὸ ἀπόρρητον τοῦ λόγου ἁπλῶς αὐτοῖς δηλῶσαι παρακαλέσαντες ἀκούουσι φανερώτατα ὡς ὅτι ὁ βασιλεύς, Θεοῦ συγχωρήσαντος, ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ νῦν πέπτωκε τραυματίας, ὁ δὲ αὐτοῦ υἱὸς πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ βασιλείαν ἐπανέρχεται τετρωμένος. Ταῦτα ἀκηκοότες καὶ θαμβηθέντες σὺν τάχει καὶ φόβῳ πολλῷ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν τῶν πόλεων κατειλήφασι τὸν ὅσιον συνταξάμενοι. Ὡδὲ τὰ προρρηθέντα πάντα ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐνεργῶς μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας ἐβεβαιώθησαν, τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ οὖσης θείας χάριτος τὸ κοσμοπερίβλεπτον ἐθαύμασαν καὶ ἀλάθητον. Τοῦ δὲ Σταυρακίου τὰς τρώσεις ἀλγοῦντος ἔτι καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν περικρατοῦντος, αὐτοὶ πάλιν οἱ τῆς τοῦ ὁσίου προφητικῆς ἰσχύος πεῖραν λαβόντες πενθεροὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ περὶ τούτου μαθεῖν γλιχόμενοι τελεώτατον τελεώτατα 2. εἰ ἄρα ἐπὶ χρόνους ἐπικρατὴς περικρατής 2, 4; (ἐπικρ. ἔσται) περικρατήσεται 3. ἔσται τοῦ σκήπτρου καὶ πρὸς τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ δοῦλον Ἰωαννίκιον διά τινος τοῦτο βουλόμενοι πυθέσθαι πείθεσθαι 3, 4. τὸν πολλάκις ἀναγραφέντα τίμιον ἄνδρα Εὐστράτιον διά τινα ἀναγκαίαν χρείαν παρὰ τοῦ ποιμένος αὐτοῦ Γρηγορίου αὐτοῦσε τότε ἰδόντες ἀπεσταλμένον δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τὸν ὅσιον πατέρα καθικετεύουσι δηλοποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς τῶν ζητουμένων καὶ ἀπορουμένων τὴν γνῶσιν. Ὁ δὲ θεόφρων ὄντως Εὐστράτιος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀποπλεύσας, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μονὴν καταλαβών, ὡς ἐβούλετο, τὰς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Γρηγορίου εὐχὰς λαβὼν πρὸς τὸν μέγαν τοῦ. Θεοῦ θεράποντα Ἰωαννίκιον ἄνεισι καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῶν πενθερῶν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνταλθέντα αὐτῷ προσειπεῖν μετὰ τὴν συνήθη εὐχὴν προσφέρει. Ὁ δέ· Ὦ τέκνον, ἔφη, Εὐστράτιε. ἐπὶ καιροῦ ἡ ὠδὶς καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ ξυροῦ τάχα ἡ ἐναλλαγὴ τοῦ κατέχοντος. Ἥτις δὴ καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτὰ ἔλαβεν πέρας, ὡς λέλεκται. Εὐθὺς γὰρ τότε τελευτήσαντος Σταυρακίου μεταβαίνει τὸ σκῆπτρον εἰς Μιχαὴλ τὸν γαμβρὸν αὐτοῦ.

[16] Ὃς καὶ εὐσεβῶς διέπων τὴν βασιλείαν, τῷ δευτέρῳ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς χρόνῳ, παμπληθεὶ μέλλων ἐξιέναι κατὰ τῶν Οὔννων Λέοντα τὸν Ἀμαληκίτην στρατηγὸν τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν προχειρίζεται. Οὖ ἀδελφιδὸς πέλων τις συγκλητικός, Βρυένης ὀνομαζόμενος, εὐχῆς χάριν, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἦλθεν, ὃν καὶ μετὰ τὴν συνήθη εὐχὴν ἠρώτα· Ἄρα ἐπίσταται, λέγων, προβάτων ἐπιστατεῖν ὁ ἀδελφιδός σου Λέων, ἑταῖρε, ποιμαίνειν μέλλων μετὰ μικρὸν ποίμνην προβάτων. Ὁ δὲ μὴ νοήσας ὅτι μυστικώτερόν ἐστι τὸ λεχθέν· Καὶ πῶς δυνατόν, πάτερ, ἔφη, στρατηγὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα πρὸς ποιμαντικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀτίμως μεταχωρῆσαι; Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ μὴ ἐπιλύσας αὐτῷ τῆς κατὰ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ πιστοῦ βασιλέως σατανικῆς μελλούσης γενέσθαι τυραννίδος ὑπὸ τοῦ Λέοντος, μετ᾽ εἰρήνης αὐτὸν ἐκπέμπει. Ὡς δὲ ἡτοίμαστο ὁ κατέχων τὰ σκῆπτρα θεοσεβέστατος Μιχαὴλ πρὸς τὴν Θρᾳκῶν χώραν κατὰ τῶν Οὔννων ἐξώρμησεν. Παρεμβολῆς δὲ μεγίστης τῶν μερῶν ἀμφοτέρων ἄμφω 2. γενομένης εἰς δείξιν, ὁ τοῦ διαβόλου υἱὸς καὶ ὁμώνυμος Λέων καὶ τῆς Ἀντιχρίστου ὄντως ἀντιθεΐας ἀντίμιμος τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ ἐπὶ τῶν θείων συμβόλων μὴ τυραννῆσαι ὁμωμοκὼς ταύτην ὠδίνων τὴν νόσον ὁ παραβάτης κατὰ διάνοιαν νῶτα δίδωσιν. Εὐθὺς μετὰ συμβολὴν πολέμου τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐθέλοντι ἰσχὺν μὲν ἐκείνοις παρέχων ἐν τούτῳ, τοῖς δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ἧτταν καὶ ἑαυτῷ στολὴν τυραννικὴν πολυσύμφορον χριστιανικοῖς αἵμασι βεβαμμένην ὑφαίνων. Τότε γὰρ τότε ὀλίγων τινῶν τῶν μὴ συμφρονησάντων ἐκείνου τῇ ἀνταρσίᾳ σὺν τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν διασωθέντων, τῶν λοιπῶν πάντων χριστιανῶν μαχαίρᾳ καὶ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ περιπεσόντων, κρεμὼν αὐτὸς κατὰ πόδας τοῦ τυραννῆσαι, τὴν βασιλείαν παραγενόμενος, μεθίστησι τῆς βασιλείας τὸν ἀγγελώνυμον, σύζυγον καὶ τέκνα τῇ μοναδικῇ παραδοὺς πολιτείᾳ, διχάσας αὐτοὺς ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἀπανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ μηδὲ ὁρᾷν αὐτοὺς ὅλως ἑαυτοὺς συγχωρήσας.

[17] Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν τοῦδε τοῦ Λέοντος πατήρ, λέων καὶ πρῶτος εἰκονομάχος διάβολος, μὴ δυνηθεὶς κατὰ Θεοῦ, κατὰ τῆς εἰκόνος χωρήσας πρῶτον τὴν ψυχὴν θανατώσας τῇ παραβάσει τῆς ἐντολῆς τὸν σωματικὸν ἡμῖν προεξένισε θάνατον. Ὁ δὲ τούτου ὁμώνυμος καὶ δεύτερος εἰκονομάχος, τύραννος Λέων, μαθητής τε καὶ ἔκγονος καὶ χριστομάχος τὸ γένος ἡμῶν διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τυραννικῶς τυραννῶν τὸ ἀνάπαλιν θανάτῳ πρῶτον σωματικῷ καὶ μαχαίρᾳ καθυποβάλλει, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως νέκρωσιν ψυχῆς ἀπογεννᾶ τοῖς πειθομένοις τῇ δυσσεβεῖ δυσσεβείᾳ (sic) 1. αὐτοῦ αἱρέσει προαιρέσει 2. , ὡς ἐξ ἀντιθέου ἀντίθεον 4. βλαστήσας ὅλος Ἀντίχριστος. Καὶ ὁ μὲν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀκτίστου Θεοῦ λυττήσας κτιστῆς εἰκόνος ἀντιθεΐας (ἀντιθεΐας) ἀντιθέῳ 3, ἀντιθέᾳ 4. βουλῇ δελεάσας τοὺς πρωτοπλάστους ἠχρείωσεν, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου Χριστοῦ μηνιάσας οἰκονομίας, καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφῇ εἰκονικῆς ὁμοιώσεως Ἀντιχρίστου δόγματα τοῖς ἐξ Αδὰμ παραδέδωκεν, τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς ὄντως μὴ ζηλώσας τῶν βασιλέων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἐξομοιούμενος. Ὁ γὰρ πρῶτος ἐν βασιλεῦσι χριστιανῶν, Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ μέγας, τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ἐμπιστευθεὶς τὰ σκῆπτρα ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ νομίσμασι τοῦ παμβασιλέως ἐκτυπῶν Χριστοῦ τὴν εἰκόνα (τὴν εἰκ.) omits 3, 4. , τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ ὁμοίωμα omits 1. σὺν τῷ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ σταυρικῷ σκήπτρῳ ἑαυτὸν ἐν μέρει δουλικῶς συνυπέγραφεν. Ἐκ τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἡμῖν ὅλον δεικνὺς (τῶν-δεικνύς) omits 2. τὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ οἰκονομίας ἀφαντασιαστὸν καὶ τὸ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἐν αὐτῇ ἀπερίγραπτόν τε καὶ ἄφυρτον καὶ ἀσύγχυτον, ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος γραφόμενος σαρκὶ καὶ νομίσμασιν ἐκτυπούμενος οὐ περιεγράφετο τῇ ψυχῇ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκέραιᾳ ἀκαίρεᾳ 2, 4. τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ φύσεων ἀτελῶν, ψυχῆς λέγω καὶ σώματος, τὰ ἰδιώματα ἔσωζεν, οὐ διαιρούμενος, οὐ τρεπόμενος, οὐ συγχύσει ὑποβαλλόμενος. Οὕτω καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τοῦ συνεικονίζειν ἐκήρυττεν ἅπασι συντομώτερόν τε καὶ ἐκδηλότερον ἔν τε σαρκώσει σαρκός 1. ἀσυνουσίαστον καὶ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ἀπερίγραπτον. Ἀλλ᾽ οἱ τούτῳ τῷ εὐσεβεῖ Κωνσταντίνῳ μὴ συμφρονήσαντες τύραννοι εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ καίρια τῆς εὐσεβείας δυσφημήσαντες διαφόρως, καὶ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα σὺν τούτῳ τῷ δυσωνύμῳ Λέοντι τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐξέωσαν, τῷ βασιλεῖ αὐτῶν Ἀντιχρίστῳ τάχα τῆς βασιλείας τὰ σκῆπτρα προετοιμάζοντες, οὗ καὶ τὸ χάραγμα προσμένοντες δέξασθαι οἱ παράφρονες τὸν ὄντως βασιλέα Χριστὸν διὰ τὸ μὴ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ omits 3, 4. βασιλικῶς βασικῶς 1. ὡς βασιλέα τιμᾶν ἀπαρνούμενοι καὶ διὰ τοῦ μέρους τοῦ ὅλου μυστηρίου ἀλλοτριούμενοι καὶ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνῳ ἐλεεινῶς τῷ ἀντιθέῳ ταττόμενοι εἰς ἀπωλείας βόθυνον ἀπύθμαντον καταφέρονται. Τότε γὰρ τότε ὁ ἐξ ἀντιθέου φύς, καθάπερ ἔφθην, Ἀντίχριστος, καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος Ἀντιχρίστου προοδοποιός τε καὶ πρόδρομος, τύραννος Λέων, ὡς ἔχις πικρά, τὸν ἰὸν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀρνησιθεΐας τοῖς ὠσὶ τῶν ἀφελεστέρων ἐγχρίψας, καὶ εἴδωλον Χριστοῦ τὴν εἰκόνα ἀποκαλέσας, ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τε τὸν ταύτης ἅγιον ἄγγελον καὶ χριστόφρονα Νικηφόρον ἐξεώσας ἀξιώσας 4. , ἀντεισάξας δὲ αὐτῇ τὸν μοιχὸν καὶ φθορέα Θεόδοτον τὸν Μελισσηνὸν ἐκ Νακωλείας ὁρμώμενον, ἑξῆς ὁμογνώμων αὐτοῦ ἰουδαιόφρων εἰκονομάχος καὶ ἐπάρατος Ἐπιφανίδης ἐβλάστησε, διωγμὸν μέγαν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκίνησεν, ἀρχιερεῖς, ποιμένας καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ τοῦ λαἳκοῦ τάγματος τῶν πιστῶν τοὺς μὴ ὑποκύπτοντας αὐτοῦ τῷ ἀντιχρίστῳ βουλήματι διαφόροις αἰκίαις, καὶ θανάτοις, ἐξορίαις τε καὶ δημεύσεσιν ὑμοβαλὼν ἀπανθρώπως. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ πάσας κώμας καὶ πόλεις καὶ κωμοπόλεις (καὶ κωμ.) omits 3. τῆς δυσσεβοῦς αὐτοῦ ἐμπλῆσαι ἀκαθαρσίας, ὁ τύραννος καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἐρημίαις καὶ ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς κρυπτομένους ἐξερευνήσων ἀπέστειλεν.

[15] Ioannicius foretells the death of Nicephorus In the ninth year, then, of the emperor Nicephorus ^a, when the barbarian Huns ^b who inhabited Liba ^c, having moved an army against us, had gone out into the region of the Thracians to plunder, the emperor himself, advancing against them with strong forces, having overpowered them by force, pursued them up to their royal city and inflicted defeat on them. But when he had stayed there inconsiderately, those who survived, gathering themselves and hiring the neighbouring nations, in their turn defeated him in this very place, so that King Nicephorus himself fell by the mouth of the sword and was led away captive with his whole army ^d. When Ioannicius, the true prophet of God, had known this prophetically, being asked by the emperor's kinsmen, who were present there, to pray for the emperors: For the emperors ^e, said the blessed one, I have indeed prayed already, a distinction being made; for the emperor I pray now. When they had asked that the secret of this saying be openly indicated to them, they learned most plainly that the emperor, God permitting, had then fallen wounded in war, and that his son had come to the empire wounded ^f. Hearing this, trembling, with the greatest diligence and much fear they made for the royal city ^g, obeying the saint. And when everything foretold by the father had in fact been confirmed after some days, they wondered at the power of God which was in him for foreseeing worldly and unknown things. When Stauracius was still suffering from the wound received ^h and had obtained the empire, his kinsmen themselves, intending to make a trial once more of the prophetic power of the saint and desiring to know from him fully, namely whether he would enjoy the sceptre for many years, and wishing to inquire this of the servant of God Ioannicius through someone, having met the venerable man Eustratius, so often mentioned, who had then been sent there by his shepherd Gregory on account of a certain errand of necessity, they humbly ask the holy father through him to make manifest to them what they were seeking and did not know. Eustratius, truly a man of God, when he had set sail from Constantinople and had returned to his monastery, as he wished, having received the blessing of his father Gregory, goes to the great servant of God Ioannicius and, after the customary prayer ⁱ, brings in what had been committed to him by the king's kinsmen to say. And he: O son, he said, Eustratius, the pain of travail is at hand, and as it were in the greatest crisis the change of the ruler is near. Which things have now reached their end, as has been said. For when Stauracius had soon died then, the sceptre passes to Michael ^k, his brother-in-law.

[16] and the persecution of Leo the Armenian He, when he was holding the empire piously ^l, in the second year of his reign, being about to go out with a great army against the Huns ^m, set Leo the Amalekite ⁿ, commander of the Anatolics, over the forces ^o. Of whom there was a certain nephew, a man of senatorial rank, named Bryenes, who came to the saint for the sake of receiving his blessing. He indeed, after the customary prayer, questioned him: Does your nephew Leo know, he said, friend, how to shepherd sheep, who is on the point, after a time,

to shepherd a flock of sheep for a short time? But he, not understanding that this was said mystically: And how can it be, father, he said, since he is himself a commander, that he should pass with dishonour to the shepherd's art? But the father, not disclosing to him what was going to be against Michael, the faithful emperor, by a satanic tyranny on the part of Leo, dismissed him in peace. When the most pious Michael, who held the sceptre, was ready, he set out into the region of the Thracians against the Huns. A strong onset having been made by both sides for a show, the son and namesake of the devil, Leo, and in truth emulator of the impiety of Antichrist, who had sworn to the emperor Michael upon the divine standards [p] that he would not rebel, nevertheless, suffering from the disease of perjury, became a transgressor and of his own accord turned his back [q]. At once, the battle having begun, he knowingly and willingly added strength to the enemy, procured defeat for the Romans, and wove for himself a calamitous royal robe, dyed in Christian blood. For then, when a certain few of those who did not consent to his rebellion had fled with the emperor Michael into the royal city, and the rest among all the Christians had been handed over to the sword or to captivity, he himself, hoping that he would reign, entering the palace, casts out of it Michael of angelic name into exile, delivers his wife and sons to the monastic discipline, separating them inhumanly and in no way allowing them to see one another [r].

[17] against the venerators of the sacred images. But the father of this Leo, the devil, himself a lion [s] and the first iconoclast, when he had prevailed nothing against God, attacking his image, having first killed his own soul through the transgression of the commandment, had procured bodily death for us. But his namesake and second iconoclast, the tyrant Leo, his disciple and great-grandson and adversary of Christ, through the empire tyrannically held, again subjects our race first to bodily death and the sword, then thus begets the slaying of the soul for those who had consented to his impious heresy, as an Antichrist begotten altogether of the adversary of God. The one, surely, raging against the created image of the uncreated God, had deceived our first parents by alluring them with the counsel of impiety; the other, raving against the economy of the incarnate Christ and his likeness represented in pictures, put forward the dogmas of Antichrist to the sons of Adam, no longer emulating truly pious emperors, but likened to the impious. For the first of the Christian emperors, Constantine the Great, when the sceptres of the empire of the Romans had been handed over to him by God, depicting on his coins [t] the image of Christ the universal king, and the likeness of his flesh with the cross-bearing sceptre of his own kingdom, enrolled himself in the part of servants; thus by himself he plainly showed us that the economy of Christ is by no means something phantasmal, nor the divine nature in itself describable or coalescent or mixed, since he, though described in flesh and engraved on coins, was nevertheless not circumscribed in soul, but, the incomplete natures in him not being mixed, soul, I mean, and body, he preserved their properties, not separating, not converting, subjecting them to no confusion. Thus he proclaimed to all, more briefly indeed and more manifestly, that Christ exists through the representation of images, by an incomparable incarnation, and incomprehensible in representation. But the tyrants who did not consent with the pious Constantine, slandering in various ways the very foundations of piety, cast out of the Church the image of Christ the king through that Leo of most impious name, quickly preparing the sceptres of the kingdom for their king Antichrist, whose seal too these madmen persevering received, but despising the true king Christ, because they refused to venerate his image royally as that of a king and on this side changed the whole mystery, these, wretchedly subjected to this adversary of God, are borne into the abyss of perdition. For then, born of the enemy of God, as I have already said, this Antichrist and forerunner and precursor of the Antichrist to come, the tyrant Leo, like a bitter snake, instilling into the ears of the simpler the poison of his renunciation against God, and calling the image of Christ an idol, when he had expelled from the Church his holy angel Nicephorus [u], bearing the mind of Christ, and had introduced in his place the adulterer and most abandoned Theodotus Melissenus [v], sprung from Nacolia [w], at once this iconoclast and wicked Epiphanides [x], who agreed with him and bore the mind of a Jew, gathered strength and stirred up a mighty persecution against the Church, the patriarchs, the shepherds and priests, and of the faithful of the lay order those who did not submit to his will opposed to Christ he condemned inhumanly to various punishments, kinds of death, exile and confiscation of goods [y]. Having filled, then, all the villages, cities and larger towns with his iniquity, the tyrant sent out to search for those who lay hidden in solitudes, mountains, caves and holes of the earth.

ANNOTATIONS.

p Michael Curopalates had first refused the empire conferred on him by the senate and people, pleading that he was unequal to handling so great a mass of affairs, and therefore he wished to yield it to Leo. But Leo refused, both because he said he was unworthy of the imperial throne, and because it belonged to Michael. Whom he therefore exhorted to undertake the government of affairs, confirming with promises and most solemn oaths that he would be his servant through his whole life and his most faithful and most zealous minister. See these things narrated by Cedrenus, P. G., vol. CXXI, p. 927, who agrees entirely with our author.

q Here returns again the question already rather often aired by historical writers concerning Leo the Armenian as traitor in the battle fought with the Bulgars in the year 813. Since recently the distinguished Hirsch, most studious of Byzantine affairs in our time, entirely denied this treachery of Leo the Armenian (Byzantinische Studien, p. 126), it will not be beside the point to take up the controversy again in a few words, all the more because, if the Chronographia of Theophanes is excepted, the new document which the Acts of St. Ioannicius now bring forward, unless it has been adulterated by later interpolations, of which however no indication appears, seems to excel in antiquity all those that were at hand up to now. It is true that only the more recent Byzantine writers expressly affirm that Leo turned his back, namely the continuator of Theophanes (P. G., vol. CIX, p. 27), Genesius (ibid., vol. CIX, pp. 993, 994), Cedrenus (ibid., vol. CXXI, p. 930), Zonaras (ibid., vol.

CXXXIV, p. 1366). But most weighty is the testimony, as of a writer almost near in age, of Ignatius the deacon, who in the Life of St. Nicephorus narrates that, when the expedition against the Huns had been undertaken, Leo, the first author of the defeat in it, gave the whole army the cause for taking to flight (Act. SS., March vol. II, p. 301). To these sure testimonies are opposed Theophanes, who, accusing no commander, ascribes the defeat to the cowardice of the Christians, but bestows praises on Leo (P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1006), the uncertain author of the Life of Leo the Armenian, who burdens the Anatolics with this crime without pronouncing the name of the commander (P. G., vol. CIX, p. 1014), Symeon the Magister, George the Monk and George Hamartolus, who pass over the whole matter in silence, as do also the authors of the Lives of SS. Theodore and Nicholas the Studite, who report that Leo did indeed solicit, but did not flee (P. G., vol. CV, p. 879, vol. XCIX, p. 170; Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. VI, p. 322). But if we examine the authors who have used these documents, we find by far the greater part of them accusing Leo the Armenian, namely Lebeau (Histoire du Bas-Empire, ed. Saint-Martin, vol. XIII, pp. 10 ff.), Schlosser (Geschichte der bildstürmenden Kaisern, pp. 400 ff.), Muralt (Georgii monachi, dicti Hamartoli, Chronicon, p. 409), Hopf (Geschichte Griechenlands, p. 98), Herzberg (Geschichte Griechenlands, p. 46), Jireček (Geschichte der Bulgaren, p. 146). Long ago, however, Jacques Goar, the interpreter of Theophanes, had very keenly undertaken to defend the memory of Leo (P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1006, note 65), moved chiefly by the silence of this author; but Combefis rightly pointed out that that argument proves nothing (P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1014); for it would have fallen out too troublesome for Theophanes to disclose the whole matter while Leo the Armenian himself was living, nor is it hard to understand that altogether contemporary writers were silent. Hirsch takes up again the arguments of Goar; besides, he tries to weaken the testimony of Ignatius the deacon and of other ecclesiastical writers, as labouring under the suspicion of a prejudiced opinion, namely one which made orthodox writers too inclined to burden the memory of Leo the iconoclast. Besides, he adds that it seems little likely that Leo favoured the Bulgars, who immediately after the battle was set over the army by Michael and, proclaimed emperor, waged war against them most fiercely. With the learned man's leave I would say that the reasons he brings forward by no means achieve what he intends. For it could have happened that at the first moment the treachery of Leo escaped the emperor. Do not various reasons of politics suffice to explain why Leo then favoured the Bulgars and afterwards attacked them? Finally, granted that the orthodox writers were ill disposed toward Leo, it is not on that account to be gratuitously supposed that they pronounced Leo guilty of so great a crime if he had been altogether innocent.

r The sons of Michael then surviving, namely after the death of Stauracius, were Theophylact, who, made a monk, was called Eustratius, and Nicetas, also thrust into a monastery under the name of Ignatius; who afterwards was raised to the patriarchal throne. Both daughters of Michael Rangabe, Georgo and Theophano, also professed the religious life. Cf. the Life of St. Ignatius, Act. SS., October vol. X, p. 168; Genesius, P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 996, 997; the continuator of Theophanes, ibid., vol. CIX, p. 34; Cedrenus, P. G., vol. CXXI, p. 934.

s That lion namely who "goes about roaring, seeking whom he may devour."

t Νόμισμα is, in the proper sense, a gold solidus. The image of Christ appears depicted only late on Byzantine coins, and by no means, as the author seems to insinuate, in the time of Constantine the Great, at which time nothing is represented but the labarum. Cf. I. Sabatier, Description générale des monnaies byzantines, vol. I, p. 29. Perhaps our author took his opinion from St. John Damascene (P. G., vol. XCV, p. 347, no. 3), who writes these things about the coins of Constantine in the letter to the emperor Theophilus: τὸν σεβάσμιον καὶ θεανδρικὸν Χριστοῦ χαρακτῆρα ἐν αὐτῷ μετὰ τοῦ ἰδίου ἀνετυπώσατο. Which Du Cange long ago called into doubt. Cf. Glossar. med. et infim. latin., ed. Favre, vol. X, Dissert. de nummis, pp. 135, 156.

u Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, fifty-fourth in order, was driven into exile in the year 815. On whom both Henschenius, Act. SS., March vol. II, pp. 293 ff., and Cuper, Act. SS., August vol. I, in the Historia chronologica patriarcharum Constantinop., p. *103, have discoursed at length.

v On Theodotus, who was called by a double surname Melissenus and Cassiteras, consult Cuper in Act. SS., August vol. I, Hist. chron. patr. Constan., p. *103; Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 242, and various Byzantine writers in P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1034; vol. CIX, pp. 35, 1001, 1002, where the remark of Genesius is to be noted, πρὸς γένους Μελισσηνοῦ.

w Nacolia, a city of Phrygia, which according to Hammer in Pape (Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen, vol. II, p. 972) is today Seid el Ghazi. Cf. Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 144. After a certain inscription was found, it has seemed to some that Seid el Ghazi is the old city of Prymnessus. So Dr Barth in his work Reise von Trapezunt nach Scutari, pp. 89, 97, and Franz, Fünf Inschfriten und fünf Städte in Kleinasien, p. 5. Nonetheless Texier reports, L'Asie mineure, p. 412, that the name Nacolia has been read four times in inscriptions found in the village of Seid el Ghazi. Among the various Greek forms which the name of this city displays, namely Νακολία, Νακωλεία and Νακόλεια, the more frequent and preferable is Νακωλεία, which the Vienna manuscript also presents. Cf. Socrates, Hist. eccl., Book IV, chap. V, P. G., vol. LXVII, p. 470; ibid., vol. CV, p. 1143, and Card. Mai, Nova Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. V, p. 144. In the Metaphrastic recension, P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 55, Νατωλεία has been wrongly read; on which reading, used elsewhere also, let note 34 of Combefis in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite be read, P. G., vol. CV, p. 912.

x Epiphanides, namely Leo the Armenian, who, like a second Antiochus Epiphanes, persecuted the saints. Other comparisons occur elsewhere, with Julian the Apostate, Ahab and Pharaoh. Cf. St. Theodore the Studite, ep. 73, Book II, in P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1305.

y This persecution is described compendiously but accurately, especially from the letters of Theodore the Studite, by Cardinal Hergenröther in his work Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, pp. 280–283. Cf. Tougard, La Persécution des iconoclastes, d'après les lettres de Théodore Studite, in Revue des quest. histor., 1892.

CHAPTER SIX.

St. Ioannicius erects churches in honour of St. Eustathius, of the B. M. Virgin and of the apostles. Various miracles worked by him.

[18] Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ μέγας οὗτος Ἰωαννίκιος ἀπὸ τοῦ Προυσαέων ὄρους Τριχάλικος ἐπὶ τὸ πρὸς Λυδίαν ἄλσος καλούμενον, οὐ φυγὰς ἀπῄει, ἀλλ᾽ εὐσεβείας αὐταπόστολος κήρυξ. Ἐν ᾧ ὑπάρχων Γουρίας τις, φθορεὺς καὶ μάγος, χρηστὴν ἔχων ὑπόληψιν ὁ λαοπλάνος παρά τινων, τῇ τοῦ φωστῆρος ἐκεῖσε ἐλεγχθεὶς παρουσίᾳ, ὂς σκότος ὢν καὶ εἰς ἄγγελον φωτὸς μετασχηματιζόμενος κατὰ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ τὸν διάβολον φθόνον πικρὸν κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὠδινήσας ἐν διανοίᾳ ὑποκρίσει τούτῳ μαθητευθῆναι ἱκέτευεν, ἢ φάσμασιν αὐτὸν οἰόμενος δαιμονιώδεσι θροῆσαι καὶ (καὶ-στερῆσαι) omits 4. αὐτόθεν μεταστῆσαι μεταναστῆσαι 3. , ἢ δηλητηρίοις τισὶν ἐν βρώσει καὶ πόσει καταμιγεῖσι κακῶς τοῦ ζῆν αὐτὸν στερῆσαι (καὶ-στερῆσαι) omits 4. , καὶ, ὡς μονερημίτης, μόνος αὐτὸς θηρᾶν ἐκεῖσε τὴν παρ᾽ ἀνθρώπων δόξαν. Ἀλλ᾽ ἔψευσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος κατ᾽ ἄμφω ὁ δολιώτατος. Μαθητοῦ γὰρ οὗτος, ὡς Σίμων ὁ μάγος, ἐκεῖνος ὑποδὺς προσωπεῖον τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν δαίμονας συναθροίσας εἰς ἱππέων τινῶν καὶ σιδηροθωράκων ὁπλιτῶν ξιφηφόρων πολυμόρφων τε θηρῶν μεταβαλλομένους εἰδέας καὶ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ὁρμωμένους φοβερῶς δείξας, ἤττηται κατὰ κράτος ἀφανισμῷ τῶν θροούντων πάντων ἐκείνων τῇ εὐχῇ τοῦ δικαίου. Ὅθεν omits 3. καὶ τῶν θροήσεων ὑποβληθεισῶν ὑποκληθεισῶν 4. , εἰθ᾽ οὕτως αὐτῷ ἐν πόσει κιρνᾷ θανάσιμον omits 3, 4. δηλητήριον, ὅπερ τῇ ἐν Χριστῷ σφραγίδι σημειωσάμενος καὶ πιὼν ὁ πατὴρ τὸ φάρμακον μὲν εὐθὺς σὺν πλείστῳ αἵματι ἐξεμεῖ, τὰ ἔνδον αὐτοῦ οὐ μικρῶς ἀλγούμενος ἀλγυνόμενος 2, 3, 4. . Ὁρᾷ δέ τινα φοβερὸν ἀφυπνώσας στρατιωτικὴν περιβεβλημένον ἐσθῆτα, καὶ ξύλον μικρὸν ἐπὶ χεῖρα χεῖρας 3. κρατοῦντα, ὃν καὶ ἠρῶτα· Πόθεν καὶ τίς εἶ, καὶ τίνος χάριν πάρει, καὶ τί τὸ ἐν χερσί σου ὑπάρχει ξύλον; Ὁ δὲ στρατηλάτης λέγει· Ἐγώ εἰμι Εὐστάθιος εἰς συμμαχίαν νῦν παρὰ Θεοῦ ἀποσταλεὶς καὶ βοήθειαν, ὅπως φαγὼν τούτου τοῦ ξύλου ἐκμειώσῃς ἐκεῖνο τοῦ μαγομάντου Γουρία τὸ δηλητήριον. Ὃ δὴ καὶ λαβὼν κατέφαγε· φαγὼν δὲ καὶ αἰσθόμενος γλυκύτητα ἄφατον διυπνίσθη, οὐδένα βλέπων ἔτι τὸν συλλαλοῦντα, τὴν δὲ ὑγείαν αὐτοῦ τὴν προτέραν ἀπολαβών.

[19] Ὅθεν διώξας τὸν μάγον ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συναναστροφῆς ἀναστροφῆς 3. τε καὶ συνοικήσεως, τῷ ὀφθέντι αὐτῷ Εὐσταθίῳ τῷ στρατηλάτῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου εὐκτήριον καθ᾽ adds 4. οἶκον ἐγείρει καὶ αὐτοῦ συνιστᾷ μοναστήριον. Καὶ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ αὐτοῦ (καὶ-αὐτοῦ) καθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν αὐτός 3. διαζῶν καὶ ἐν ἀποκλειστικωτέροις ἀπαρακλητικωτέροις 3. τόποις προσδιατρίβων βλέπει καθ᾽ ὕπνους ὁ θεοπύρσευτος πηγὴν καθαρὰν τότε adds 3, ὅτε adds 4. καὶ διηδεστάτην ἐπί τινος τόπου (τιν. τόπ.) τινα τόπον 2. τῶν αὐτόθι πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἀνατολήν 2. ἀναβλύζουσαν, καὶ πλῆθος προβάτων ἀπομμάτων καὶ ἀφωτίστων προσερχομένων ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ πινόντων καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἀπολαμβανόντων. Ὃ δὴ ὁρῶντος καὶ θαμβουμένου τὸ ὅραμα φησί τις αὐτῷ λευχείμων λευσχείμων 3. καὶ ὡραιότατος· Ἥνπερ βλέπεις πηγήν, ὦ ἄνερ, τὰ φωτὸς ἐστερημένα καταφωτίζουσαν πρόβατα, Μαρίας τῆς θεομήτορός ἐστιν οἰκητήριον. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ ὕπνου διαναστὰς καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὑποδειχθέντα τόπον σπουδῇ ὁρμήσας, πηγὴν μὲν αἰσθητὴν ὅλως οὐχ εὗρε· τόπον δὲ τερπνὸν καὶ λίαν ἐπίπεδον εὑρών ἀνευρών 3, 4. , ναὸν ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς Θεοτόκου οἰκοδομεῖ, καὶ τοῦτον περιποιεῖται εἰς μοναστήριον, τὰ φωτὸς θείου ἀληθῶς omits 2. ἀμέτοχα λογικὰ πέλοντα πρόβατα, σκότει ἀσεβείας καὶ (καὶ ἁμαρτ.-εὐσεβείας) omits 2. ἁμαρτίας προσμένοντα προσμύοντα (sic) 1. , τοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας (καὶ ἁμαρτ.-εὐσεβείας) omits 2. άεὶ νάμασι τοὺς προσιόντας φωτίζειν καὶ τοῖς τῆς κατανύξεως δάκρυσιν ἀποσμήχειν.

[20] Τοῦ οὖν ναοῦ κτιζομένου τῆς Θεοτόκου, ὡς γέγραπται, συνέβη ῥαγδαῖον ὑετὸν γενέσθαι καὶ (καὶ-τόπον) omits 4. συνεχῆ περὶ τὸν τόπον, ὡς τοῦ ἔργου ἐκκοπῆναι τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τοὺς τεχνίτας, καὶ μηδὲ ὥραν ἐκ τούτου αὐτοὺς εὑρίσκειν τοῦ παγεῖν ἄρτον, ἀστέγους ὄντας καὶ περιλυπουμένους εἰς τέλος τέλους 1. . Ὅπερ δὴ ἑωρακὼς ὁ πανάγαστος καθικετεύει τότε τὸν Κύριον καὶ συννέφους ἤδη καθορωμένου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἐξαπίνης ἔστη ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπίρροια, καὶ ἄνεφος ὁ αἰθὴρ κατὰ συγκυρίαν ὡράθη. Τῶν τεχνίτων ἐχομένων τοῦ ἔργου, ὅθεν συνεργῆσαι αὐτοῖς οἰκείαις χερσὶ τοῦ ὁσίου προαιρουμένου προθυμουμένου 3, 4. καὶ συλλέγοντος λίθους, ἔχις αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς σωρείας τῶν λίθων καθαψαμένη τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ adds 3, 4. ἑωρᾶτο κρεμαμένη ἐγκεκρυμμένη 3. , ἥνπερ εἰς γῆν ἀπορρίψας καὶ ἐδαφίσας ἀβλαβὴς διεφυλάχθη διετηρήθη 3. ὁ δίκαιος. Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕνα ὡσαύτως τῶν τεχνίτων ἔχις δακοῦσα ἰοῦ θανασίμου μεστὸν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐπηρμένον κατειργάσατο τραῦμα, καὶ πολυώδυνον. Ὃ ὃ 1, 2, 4. ὁ πατὴρ τῇ σφραγίδι τοῦ σταυροῦ ῥήξας καθάπερ ξίφει, καὶ τὸ λυποῦν ἰοβόλον ὑγρὸν κενώσας, τὴν ὑγίειαν τῷ δεδηγμένῳ παρέσχετο. Καὶ ἕτερον δὲ ναὸν πρὸς τούτοις τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων οἰκοδομήσας, καὶ αὐτὸν εἰς θεῖον ἀφιεροῖ ἀφιερεῖ 3. μοναστήριον· ἐν ἑνὶ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖ πλησιάζοντι σπηλαίῳ, Μαρσαλινῷ προσαγορευομένῳ, ἡσυχάσας, ἐν ᾧ καὶ δράκοντα εὑρηκὼς δί εὐχῆς ὁ θεόληπτος ἀποκτείνει. Ἐν μιᾷ δὲ τούτων ποτὲ τῶν μονῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς ἡσυχίας καταλαβών, βροντῶν συνεχῶν καὶ ἀστραπῶν κεραυνοβολουσῶν, ἐπὶ, τὸν ἐκεῖ εὐκτήριον οἶκον ὄντα τὸ πῦρ ὡς ἑώρακεν κατασκῆψαν ἦρεν αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς οὐρανὸν τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ διέστη ἐκεῖθεν ἡ καυστικὴ ἐνέργεια τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκχωρήσασα, τῆς φωτιστικῆς δυνάμεως τούτῳ ἐπαφεθείσης ἐπαφθείσης 3. . Ἑξῆς καὶ ὡς ἄλλος πύρινος στύλος ἐπί τι διάστημα ὥρας ὁ ναὸς τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἑωρᾶτο ὁρᾶτο all MSS. , τῆς καυστικῆς βλάβης ἄμοιρος διαμένων.

[21] Τοῦ οὖν διωγμοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ κρατοτυράννου Λέοντος ἔτι ἐνεργουμένου, καὶ τῶν Χριστοῦ προσκυνητῶν ἄλλοθι ἀλλαχοῦ κατακρυπτομένων κατακρυπτομένου 2. , συνέβη καὶ τὸν πολλάκις μνημονευθέντα τίμιον ἄνδρα Εὐστράτιον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀγαύρων μονῆς τῆς ἐν Προύσῃ σκυλέντα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τοῦτον εἰς τὸν Λῖσον ἔτι διάγοντα κατελθεῖν, αὐτῷ τε συνδιατρίψαι καὶ συναγωνίσασθαι μέχρι πολλοῦ. Ὅθεν ἐν μιᾷ, χάριν εὐχῆς, καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἰδιάσαντος τοῦ ἁγίου, τῇ τε προσοχῇ τῆς θεωρίας ἐπὶ πολὺ ἡδίστως ἐνατενίζοντος καὶ βραδύνοντος, ἀπιὼν μαθεῖν τὸ αἴτιον τῆς βραδυτῆτος αὐτοῦ, ὁ Εὐστράτιος βλέπει αὐτὸν μακρόθεν ἐκτεταμμένον εἰς προσευχήν, καὶ ὥσπερ τισὶν ἀοράτοις ἱμάσιν ἢ πτέρυξιν ἄχρι δύο πηχῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν αἰθέρα κρεμαμένον, καὶ ἡσυχάσας τεθαμβημένος ὅλος ἀνέστρεψεν, τῆς θείας ἐκείνης καὶ θεωρητικωτάτης αὐτὸν προσευχῆς μὴ ἀποσχολήσας ἀσχολήσας 1. . Ὃς καὶ παραγενόμενος μετὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ λυπούμενος πρὸς τὸν Εὐστράτιον ἔλεγεν· Οὐ δεῖ ποτε, ἀδελφέ, τὸν εὐχόμενον καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ὑπό τινος ἐξ ἐπιτηδεύσεως κατοπτεύεσθαι, ὅπως μὴ τῷ τῆς κενοδοξίας δαίμονι κλαπῇ κλαπείη 2, κλαπίει 4. ὁ προσευχόμενος, ἢ ὁ τοῦτο ποιῶν τῆς είς τοῦτο τούτων 2. τῶν δαιμόνων καθυπουργίας λήψεται κρίμα, ἑαυτῷ τε κἀκείνῳ αἴτιος βλάβης ἀποφανθείς. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν ἔννοιαν εὐνοίαν 4. γνοὺς δι᾽ αὐτὸν γινομένην, οὐ κατασκοπήσεως χάριν αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον γενέσθαι ἀπελογεῖτο, τῆς βραδυτῆτος μᾶλλον δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ γνῶναι. Ὁ δέ· Κἀγώ, φησί, τοῦτο γινώσκω, ἀλλ᾽ ὅλως οὐ δεῖ τὰ μὴ δέοντα πράττειν.

[22] Οἱ οὖν ἐχθροὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν δαίμονες καὶ τὴν ἀπώλειαν ὄντως omits 4. τοῦ γένους ἡ μῶν ἐθέλοντες, παιδί τινι κώμης μιᾶς τῶν τῷ ὄρει ἐκείνῳ παρακειμένων παρακειμένῳ 4. ὑπὸ τῶν γεννητόρων αὐτοῦ προσταχθέντι ὑδροφορῆσαι, ὑδρευσαμένῳ καὶ ἀναστρέψαντι ἀναστρέφοντι 3, 4. συναντήσαντες, τῷ ζόφῳ αὐτῶν αὐτόν 1. τῆς κακίας, ὥσπερ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος ὁ ἰχθύς, συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ, τὰ ὄμματα αὐτοῦ παραμβλύναντες παραλαμβάνοντες 4. καὶ πλανᾶσθαι αὐτῷ εὐθυποροῦντι προσδείξαντες· Πεπλάνησαι, ἔφησαν αὐτῷ omits 2, 4. , τὴν ὁδόν, ὦ παιδίον· ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀριστεᾷ ἔκκλινον ὧδε, καὶ εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖά σε ὁδηγήσομεν. Τοῦ δὲ παιδὸς ὑπακούσαντος αὐτοῖς καὶ πεπλανημένως πεπλανημένω 3, πεπλανημένος 4. ἐκκλίναντος πρὸς (πρὸς-ἦγον) omits 4. ἐκεῖνο τὸ ὄρος ἦγον, ἐπὶ μίαν μιᾶς 2, αὐτὸ adds 3, αὐτῷ adds 4. τῶν φαράγγων κατακρημνίσαι βουλόμενοι. Ὡς δὲ πλησίον παραγεγόνασι τοῦ κρημνοῦ, ἐφάνη ἐκεῖ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ (ὑπὸ Θ.) omits 4. περιερχόμενος ὁ μακάριος τοὺς δαυἳτικοὺς άποστηθίζων ψαλμούς. Καὶ ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὸν ἡ τῶν δαιμόνων πληθύς, ἀπέπτη εὐθὺς τοῦ παιδὸς ἐκείνου, ἀλαλάζουσα γοερῶς, φωτὸς γὰρ φανέντος, ὑροχωρεῖ τὸ σκότος τὰ ἐνεδρευόμενα, αὐτὴ κατὰ τοῦ παιδὸς καὶ ἀκοντὶ ἀνακράζουσα. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τὸν παῖδα εὑρὼν ἱστάμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ κρημνοῦ, δοὺς χεῖρα καὶ ὁδηγήσας πρὸς γονεῖς, ἐξαπέστειλεν, τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους ἐπιτιμήσας καὶ ἐπαρασάμενος (καὶ ἐπαρ.) omits 3. δαίμονας. Ὅτι δὲ ὁράσει μόνῃ τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ίωαννικίου οἱ δαίμονες ἠφανίζοντο καὶ ἀφ᾽ ἐφ᾽ 2. ἑτέρου τοῦτο ὁ διστάζων πιστώθητι. Γυνή τις λογισμοῖς πορνικοῖς πονηροῖς 4. ἐναλοῦσα ἐναγοῦσα 3. καὶ (καὶ-ἀδολ.) omits 3. τούτοις ἀδολεσχοῦσα, οἷά (οἷα τε-περιφλεχθεῖσα) omits 4. τε πυρὶ τῇ συγκαταθέσει περιφλεχθεῖσα, καὶ μανίᾳ ἐκ τούτου περιπεσοῦσα τὴν τὸν 3, 4. φρένα ἐβλάβη, καὶ ἐλεεινῶς ἠφρενεύσατο ἠφρονεύσατο 3. , χιτῶνα τὸν ἑαυτῆς διαρρήσσουσα, πλοκάμους τε τῆς κεφαλῆς κατατίλλουσα, καὶ ἕτερα ἄσεμνα πρὸς τούτοις ἐργαζομένη. Ὡς ἄγριος ὗς περιεπλανᾶτο ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις, οὐκ ὀρθίῳ σχήματι βαδίζουσα ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς, οὐ τροφήν τινα ὅλως ποριζομένη, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ τῶν ἰδίων ἁπτομένη σαρκῶν ὡς ἀλλοτρίων, καὶ κρουνοῖς αἱμάτων τὴν ἐπιβάσιμον γῆν καταχραίνουσα, οὐ μορφὴν σώφρονα τοῖς ὁρῶσι καὶ ἰλαρὰν προσδεικνύουσα. Τότε ὄμμα φοβερὸν καὶ κατάπληκτον ἀκατάπληκτον 3. ὑποβλέπουσα, καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας τρίζουσα, καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτῆς ἑαυτῆς 2. ταῖς ῥαγδαίαις πυγμαῖς τῶν χειρῶν κατατείνουσα, ὡς ὄφις τε συρίζουσα καὶ πολυσήμους φωνὰς ἀνακράζουσα, τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ διὰ τοῦ τῆς φιληδονίας ἐρωτικοῦ δαίμονος πονηρῶν πνευμάτων εἰσοικισθέντων, ὡς δι᾽ ὀργάνου, τὴν οἰκεῖαν ἑκάστου δι᾽ αὐτῆς παραδεικνύντος ἐνέργειαν. Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπί τινας αὐτὴν ἡμέρας οὑτωσὶ καταπονουμένην ἀπὸ (ἀπὸ-διερχομένην) omits 4. ὄρους τε εἰς ὄρος διερχομένην καὶ μανικῶς περιπλανωμένην ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν παρεκτικὴ αἰτία καὶ τῶν καλῶν χορηγὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναστεία μὴ παριδοῦσα ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Χελιδόνος ἤγαγεν ὄρος, καὶ ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ ἧν ὁ μέγας πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος ἐπεβίβασεν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον ἐλθεῖν αὐτὴν παρεσκεύασεν. Ὃν καὶ θεασάμενα τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτὴν ὄντα τῶν δαιμόνων ἄσεμνα πλήθη, ὡς κηρὸς ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ καπνὸς ὄντως ἀφανισθέντα, τῆς μαινομένης μαινομένης-αὐτῆς omits 3. ἀπέπτησαν καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν ἐξοστρακισθείσης, ὡς δηλωθήσεται. Τὸν κατὰ φύσιν γὰρ λογισμὸν εὐθὺς ἡ γυνὴ τῇ θέᾳ μόνῃ τοῦ δικαίου, ὡς πρόεφην, ἀντιλαβοῦσα καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν γενομένη ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδας τὸν Χριστοῦ δοῦλον Ἰωαννίκιον πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῆς ἱστάμενον ἰδοῦσα πίπτει αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας τότε ὀδυνηρῶς θρηνοῦσα, καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν πάντα μεταμελητικῶς ἐκκαλύπτουσα. Ὁ δὲ εἰδῶς, αὐτῆς τὰ μέλη πληγαῖς κατεστιγμένα τῇ μανικῇ ἀπονοίᾳ καὶ διερρωγότα τὰ ἄμφια κατελεήσας, φησὶν αὐτῇ· Τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ ὁ adds 2. Θεός μου omits 1. ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἰᾶταί σε μετανοήσασαν, ὦ γύναι, καὶ τῶν πονηρῶν πορνικῶν 2, 3, 4. ἀπαλλάττει πνευμάτων, ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ αὑτὸν διαβαίνοντος τοῦ πολέμου· ὅθεν τοῦ λοιποῦ θάρσει, ἐχομένη τῆς σωτηρίας σου. Τῆσδε παρ᾽ αὐτὰ τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς τὰ ἴδια ὑγιῶς ὑγιοῦς 3. ἀπελθούσης, οἱ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπελασθέντες δαίμονες πορνικοὶ τούτῳ ἀπερυθριασμένως προσέβαλλον.

[23] Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενναῖος στρατιώτης τὴν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ αἰσθόμενος προσβολὴν αὐτῶν, προσευχαῖς αὐτοῖς ἀνθωπλίσατο καὶ νηστείαις, ὡς ἄλλην πόλιν ἐχθρῶν τὴν σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ φόβῳ Θεοῦ περιχαρακώσας, καὶ λιμώξαι παρασκευάσας οἰκέτας αὐτοῦ, ἐκείνους τοὺς νόμῳ τῶν μελῶν αὐτῆς τῷ τοῦ νοὸς αὐτοῦ ἀντιστρατευόμενος ἀντιστρατευομενους 3, 4. νόμῳ, καὶ δραπέτας ἐναπειργάσατο, τῆς ἀντιπαρατάξεως αὐτοῦ τὴν βίαν μὴ ὑποφέροντας, ἀλλὰ μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ ἀνακράζοντας· Ὦ τῆς ἀπὸ σοῦ φλογώσεως ἡμῶν, ἐρημοπολίτα Ἰωαννίκιε· ἐκκαίεις ἡμᾶς εὐχαῖς ἐπὶ πολὺ βασανίζων καὶ ἀπολλύων (καὶ ἀπολ.) omits 3. , ἔασον ἡμᾶς ὑποχωρῆσαί σου μὴ ἀντισχεῖν ἐξισχύοντας, μηδὲ ὑποφέροντας καθορᾶν τὴν ἐνοικοῦσάν σοι δόξαν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος λέγει πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπεκρίνατο 3. . Τί ὅτι σπεύδετε, ὦ μιαροί λέγει adds 4. , τοῦ διαλῦσαι τὸ στάδιον, ἐπιμείνατε κἂν μέχρις ἡμερῶν ἑβδομάδος ἀντιπαραταττόμενοί μοι, ὅπως γνῶτε γνῶσαι 4. τὴν διὰ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀσθενείας δύναμιν Χριστοῦ ἐκνικῶσαν ὑμᾶς adds 3, 4. , καὶ οὕτως μου τότε ἀπαλλάσσεσθε μετ᾽ αἰσχύνης. Οἱ δὲ τῆς πρώτης ἤδη τοῦ πολέμου παρελθούσης μετελθούσης 2. ἡμέρας καὶ ἐπιλαβομένης νυκτὸς μικρὸν τῷ πατρὶ ἀπὸ τῶν κόπων ὑπνώσαντι All the manuscripts ὑμνώσαντι. ἄρκῳ ἐοικυῖα παμμεγέθει καὶ βρυχομένῃ θρασέως αὐτῷ συνεμπίπτουσι. Τοῦδε τοῦ ὕπνου διαναστάντος καὶ τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν εὐχῇ τὰς χεῖρας διαπετάσαντος, ἡ δαιμόνιος φάλαγξ ἐκείνη μαστιζομένη ὠλόλυξε δραπετεύσασα, καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς τέλος ἡττημένη ὑποχωρήσασα.

[18] Healed by St. Eustathius, Ioannicius Thereafter, when that great Ioannicius had gone away from Mount Trichalix, which is near Prusa ^a, he came to the forest called At Lydia ^b, not as a deserter, but himself an apostolic herald of piety. There lived a certain Gurias, a seducer and magician, who, though a deceiver of peoples, enjoyed a good reputation among some. Bearing ill the presence of the light which was there, since he was darkness, and transformed into an angel of light like his father the devil, labouring in mind with bitter envy against our father, he pretends that he wishes to become his disciple. Which he even humbly asks for, whether because he thought that by diabolical apparitions he would disturb him and thence cast him out, or so that, by mixing certain harmful things in his food or drink, he might wickedly deprive him of life, and, as the sole hermit, he alone might hunt for glory from men there. But hope deceived that crafty man in both purposes. For when he had put on the character of a disciple, like Simon Magus, and had gathered the demons who were going about and had shown them changed into the forms of certain horsemen and of hoplites clad in iron breastplates and bearing swords, and also of wild beasts of divers kinds rushing fearfully upon the saint, he is mightily overcome, since at the saint's prayer all these disturbers vanished. But,

these tumults having been overcome, he then mixes a deadly poison in his drink, which, when the father had drunk it, signed with the sign of Christ, he at once vomits the poison up with much blood, while he himself suffered not a little in his intestines. But falling asleep he sees a certain terrible man, clothed in military dress and carrying a small piece of wood in his hand. Whom he asked: Whence and who are you? Why do you come, and why is that wood in your hands? The commander says: I am Eustathius ^c, sent now by God for your help and aid, that by eating of this wood you may destroy this harmful thing of the magician Gurias. Ioannicius takes it and eats; when he had eaten and tasted an unspeakable sweetness he awoke, yet he saw no one conversing with him, but he was restored to his former health.

[19] he builds a church in his honour and in that of the B. M. Virgin. Then, when he had expelled the magician from his company and cohabitation, he raises an oratory in this very place to the commander Eustathius who had appeared to him, and establishes a monastery there. And living there peacefully and dwelling in the narrowest recesses, the man, illuminated by God, sees in his sleep a pure and most sweet spring gushing forth in a certain one of those places toward the east, and a multitude of blind sheep running to it. When they had drunk, they recovered the power of light. When he was contemplating this spectacle in terror, a certain one clothed in white, very beautiful in appearance, said to him: That spring which you see, O man, illuminating the sheep deprived of light, is the oratory of Mary, Mother of God. Waking up, when he had eagerly hastened to the place shown, he by no means found a visible spring. But noticing that the place was very pleasant and level, he builds there a church of the Mother of God, to which he joins a monastery, so that the rational sheep truly devoid of divine light, which had been held fast by the darkness of impiety and sin, coming to the streams of piety, might be illuminated, and be washed by tears of compunction.

[20] He works various miracles, While this church of the Mother of God was being built, then, as has been narrated, it happened that a strong and continuous rain fell in this place, so that the workmen were compelled to cease from the work of building, who at the same time found no further opportunity of eating bread, and besides were without a roof and greatly afflicted. Seeing this, the venerable father humbly prays to the Lord; and though the sky still appeared clouded, suddenly the flooding of waters ceased and the air was at once seen clear. When the workmen were busy at their labour, and the saint himself was labouring with them with his own hands, choosing and gathering stones, a viper from a heap of stones was seen hanging from his hand, having touched it; when he had thrown it to the ground and levelled it with the soil, the just man was kept unharmed. Not this only, but also, when a snake had similarly bitten a certain other one of the workmen, already filled with deadly poison, it inflicted on him a swollen and very painful wound. When the father had burst this wound with the sign of the cross as with a sword and had emptied out the superfluous poisonous humour, he restored health to him who had been bitten. Besides, he built another church to the holy apostles and consecrated it into a holy monastery; he himself, however, lived there as a solitary in a neighbouring cave called Marsalina; in which, when he had met a dragon, that divine man killed it by prayer. When he had betaken himself from the solitude into a certain one of those monasteries, with continuous thunder and flashing lightnings, when he had seen fire rushing upon the oratory which was there, the father at once raised his hands to heaven and immediately the danger of burning vanished from there, the harmful powers of the fire being lost, only the faculty of giving light being left, and like another pillar of fire, for the space of an hour, the church was seen by those passing by, altogether free from all danger of conflagration.

[21] and, praying, he is caught up on high. While the persecution on the part of the tyrannical ruler Leo was nonetheless raging ^d and the worshippers of Christ were hiding themselves here and there, it happened that the venerable man Eustratius, already so often mentioned, came from the monastery of the Agauri, which is at Prusa, and went down to his father, who was always living at Lisus, in order to remain long in his company in ascetic exercises. Then one day, when the saint had remained alone for the sake of prayer, and, occupied with the sweetness of contemplation, was held back and delayed rather long, Eustratius, going to learn the cause of his delay, sees him far off intent on prayer, and suspended in the air two cubits from the earth as if by certain invisible thongs or wings. Eustratius, however, remained quiet and returned greatly moved, not daring to disturb this vision and this contemplative prayer. But when the saint had come up, as if distressed, he said to Eustratius: It is never fitting, brother, that one who prays privately should be curiously watched by anyone, lest he who prays be snatched away by the demon of vainglory, and lest he who has done this be liable in this to the charge of complicity with the demons, since he has been a cause of fault to himself and to the other. Eustratius, understanding the intention signified by the father, excused himself as not having come to watch but rather to inquire the cause of the delay. To whom he answered: This indeed I know, but it is by no means fitting to do things which are not necessary.

[22] He frees a boy from the harassment of demons. The enemies of our life, the demons, who truly intend the perdition of our race, having met a boy from a certain village lying beneath that mountain, who had been ordered by his parents to draw water, when he had already drawn it and was returning, met him, and, God permitting, darkening his eyes with the murk of their malice, as a fish in water, tried to lead into error him who was holding the right road: You have strayed, they said to him, from the road, O boy; but turn aside here toward us to the left, and we shall bring you back to your home. When the boy had complied with them and was turning aside into error, they led him onto this mountain, wishing to cast him headlong into one of the abysses. They were already approaching the precipice when our blessed one appeared there, sent by God, repeating the psalms of David. Seeing him, the crowd of demons at once left this boy, howling lamentably (for when the light rises, darkness withdraws from its seats), crying out even against its will against the boy. The blessed one, when he had found the boy standing near the precipice, stretching out his hand to him, brought him back and dismissed him to his parents, having threatened those impure demons and cursed them. That demons vanish at the mere sight of our blessed father Ioannicius let anyone who doubts believe from another fact too. A certain woman, harassed by unclean thoughts and babbling them in words, as though consumed by fire in her conscience, falling into madness, was seized in mind and raved miserably. She would tear her garment, pluck the hair from her head, and do besides many other unseemly things; wander like a wild sow in the solitudes, not walk with erect face after the manner of men, nor procure food for herself in any way, but devour her own flesh as if it were another's, and defile the ground with streams of blood, presenting to those who saw her no longer the pleasant form of a rational being, but a horrible one; besides, look with a terrible and grim eye, gnash with her teeth and tear her intestines with strong blows of her hands, hiss like a serpent or utter disordered cries. For those evil spirits who dwelt in her through the demon who is the lover of pleasure manifested in her, as through an instrument, each its own operation. When she had suffered these things thus for some days, going on from mountain to mountain and wandering in her madness, the power of God, the cause that pours forth good things and the beginning of benefits, providing for her, brought her to the mountain of Chelidon ^e, making her walk to the place where our great father Ioannicius was, and disposing that she should go to him. When the disordered crowds of demons which were in her had seen him, vanishing like wax in fire and smoke, they flew out of that mad woman, their very efficacy being estranged from her, as will be shown. The woman, at the mere sight of the just man, as I said before, at once resuming her natural reason and becoming mistress of herself beyond hope, seeing the servant of Christ Ioannicius standing before her face, falls before his feet weeping miserably and revealing diligently all that had happened to her. The saint, gazing on her limbs marked with the blows of mad fury and her torn garments, pitying her, said: Christ, the true light and God, is now already healing you as you come to your senses, O woman, and frees you from the evil spirits; for the war will pass over onto me. From now on take courage, intent on your salvation. When afterwards, at the word of the father, she had returned home healed, the unclean demons who had been cast out of her shamelessly attacked the saint.

[23] St. Ioannicius is assailed by evil spirits. The noble soldier of Christ, when he had felt in himself the onset made by them, armed himself against them with prayers and fasts, girding his flesh with the fear of God like another enemy city and disposing to reduce by famine its inhabitants, namely those who live by the law of the members; by the law of the spirit he attacked them and put them to flight; who did not bear the onset opposed by him, but cried out with a loud voice: O how great a burning is there for us from you, Ioannicius, citizen of the desert. You burn us with prayers, much harassing and ruining us; let us go away from you, unequal to resisting, and not bearing to see that glory which dwells in you. The saint says: Why do you hasten, O wicked ones, to desert the stadium? Remain opposed to me at least for a week of days, that you may know through my weakness the victorious power of Christ, and so you will leave me then with shame. When the first day of the war had already passed, in the following night the demons boldly fall upon the father, who was resting a little from his labours, in the form of a she-bear of huge size and roaring. But when the holy man had been roused from sleep and was raising his hands to God in prayer, that diabolical phalanx, beaten, fled howling and at last, conquered, left the father.

ANNOTATIONS.

a About the year 816.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Various miracles and predictions. Meeting with St. Theodore the Studite and other holy fathers.

[24] Τοιούτοις σημείοις ἐκεῖσε ὁ πατὴρ διαλάμπων καὶ οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ὄχλησιν ὑπομένων, πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Τριχάλικος καὶ κατὰ Προῦσαν Ὀλυμπιακὸν ὄρος μεταναστεύει. Ὅτε καθ᾽ ὁδὸν ἐπί τινα κώμην αὐτοῦ διερχομένου, οἱ αὐτῆς ἐξελθόντες οἰκήτορες τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ἐφάπτονται, καὶ παρακαλοῦσι· Δράκων, λέγοντες αὐτῷ, φοβερὸς

ἐφ᾽ ἑνὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα οἰκῶν σπηλαίῳ ἀνθρώπους πολλοὺς καὶ κτήνη ἡμῶν ἐλυμήνατο, καὶ βοήθησον ἡμῖν, εἴ τι δύνασαι. Ταῦτα μετὰ δακρύων δυσωπούντων αὐτῶν αὐτόν 2. ἐπικαμφθεὶς ὁ μακάριος· Κηρύξατε, λέγει αὐτοῖς λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί, νηστείαν καὶ εὐχὴν ἑπταήμερον πᾶσιν, ὅπως Θεὸς δυσωπηθεὶς ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τὸ αἴτημα ὑμῖν ἀποδῷ. Τῇ δὲ ἑβδόμῃ ὀγδόῃ 4. ἡμέρᾳ παμπληθεὶ ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς τὸ σπήλαιον ὁρμήσας τοῦ δράκοντος, ὡς ἡτοίμαστο, τό (ἡτοιμ. τό) ἡτήσατο 4. . Ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ ὑψίστου, δαυἳτικὸν ᾆσμα ψάλλων καὶ λέγων, προσφωνεῖ τῷ θηρίῳ τὸ θερίον 3. τοῦ ἐξελθεῖν μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ. Ὃ ἐξελθὸν καὶ πλησίον τοῦ ἁγίου γενόμενον, διήνοιξεν αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα, πάντων ὁρώντων, καταπιεῖν αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος omits 4. τὸν ζωοποιὸν τύπον τοῦ σταυροῦ τρίτον, ὥσπερ τρίστομον αὐτῷ ἐπιπέμψας ῥομφαῖαν, τῇ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ἀπενέκρωσεν ἐπικλήσει, τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὸν ὄχλον τῆς λοίμης αὐτοῦ λυτρωσάμενος. Τοῦ δὲ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου ἐπὶ τὸ omits 1. Τριχάλικος, ὡς ἔφην, καταλαβόντος ὄρος καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἡσυχάζοντος, ἑβδόμῳ καὶ ἥμισυ ἔτει τῆς τυραννίδος τοῦ μισοχρίστου κρατοτυράννου θυμολέοντος, τὴν ἔλευσιν αὐτοῦ αἰσθόμενος ὁ τίμιος Εὐστράτιος ἐκ τῆς Ἀγαύρων μονῆς διὰ τὸν τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἐπικείμενον διωγμὸν ὡς περιλυπούμενος ἄνεισι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ὄρει (πρὸς αὐτ. ἐν τ. ὄρει) omits 3, 4. , καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἔθους εὐχὴν τὰ περὶ τὸν τύραννον συμβησόμενα καὶ τοῦ τέλους τὸ τέλος 3. αὐτοῦ ἠρώτα (συμβησόμενα-ἠρωτα) omits 4. μαθεῖν. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος λέγει (ὅσιος-λέγει) omits 3, 4. . Οὐκ εἰς τέλος λέγει adds 3. 4. Κύριος τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ, ὦ ἀδελφὲ Εὐστράτιε (ὦ ἀδ. Εὐστρ.) omits 4. , ἐπιλήσεται, ἀλλὰ ταχίστην ἡμῖν παρέξει τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν. Ὁ γὰρ σκολιόβουλος καὶ πολύμορφος ὄφις omits 3, 4. οὗτος Ἀμαληκίτης, τύραννος Λέων, ὁ σὺν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τυραννήσας τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα ἐνυβρίσας καὶ ἀπαλείψας ἐν αὐτῇ ἤδη ξίφει διαιρεῖται τῆς βασιλείας, καὶ ὡς ἐν πόλει Κυρίου ἀντεξουδένωται τὴν εἰκόνα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξουδενωθήσεται τελεώτερον τελεωτέρων 1, 2; τε λεώντερων 3. . Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος Εὐστράτιος (ὅς-Εὐστρ.) omits 3, 4. κατελθὼν ἐκεῖθεν μετά τινας ἡμέρας παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων μανθάνει τὰ τῆς προφητείας τοῦ πατρὸς βεβαιούμενος ὅτι Λέοντος τοῦ adds 3. τυράννου μαχαίρᾳ ἐν ναῷ Κυρίου κατασφαγέντος, Μιχαὴλ ἀντ᾽ αὐτοῦ Ἀμορραῖος τῷ γένει τὰ σκῆπτρα τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐγκεχείρισται, τοῦ μὲν διωγμοῦ καταστείλας τὴν θραῦσιν, τοῖς δὲ αἱρετικοῖς τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραχωρήσας κατάσχεσιν.

[25] Ὅθεν Νικήταν τινὰ λαἳκὸν θεοσεβῆ τότε συμπαραλαβὼν ὁ Εὐστράτιος ἀνέρχεται πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον αὖθις ἀναγγέλλων αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν προρρηθέντων ἀποπεραίωσιν. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, ψυχωφελοῦς ὁμιλίας συνεμπεσούσης, καὶ τῆς ὥρας παρεκταθείσης δἰ ἀγάπην, λοιπὸν συνέρχονται πρὸς ἑστίασιν. Ἠλίου τινὸς ἀσκητοῦ πλησίον τοῦ πατρὸς ἡσυχάζοντος τὴν δοχὴν αὐτοῖς τελοῦντος τῆς ἑστιάσεως, καὶ ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν, φησὶν ὁ πατὴρ τῷ Ἠλίᾳ ἀποκαλυφθεὶς αὐτοῦ τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸν τρόπον (τόπ. κ. τ. τρόπ.) τρόπον καὶ τὸν τόπον 2. καὶ τὴν ταχύτητα τοῦ τέλους· Θαλάσσῃ ἔοικεν, ὦ πάτερ Ἠλία, ὁ παρὼν βίος, πλοιαρίων δίκην ἡμῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν αὐτῶν 3. νηχομένων, καὶ τὸ ποῦ καὶ πότε καὶ πῶς ὡς καταιγὶς ἑκάστου ἡμῶν προσεγγίσει τὸ τέλος ἡμῶν adds 3. μὴ γινωσκόντων. Ὅθεν προσήκει ἐν πάσῃ νήψει καὶ νουνεχεῖ καταστάσει διαπορθμεύειν ἡμῶν καὶ διακυβερνᾶν τὴν ζωήν, μήπως ἐν τῷ τοῦ κόσμου εὑρεθῶμεν πελάγει περιφερόμενοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ ἡσυχίᾳ μᾶλλον ὡς ἐν ἀκυμάντῳ λιμένι καταλειφθῶμεν, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀποδῶμεν τὴν παραθήκην. Διὸ ὅρα μὴ ἐν κοσμικῷ αὐτὸς χωρίῳ πρὸς τὰ τελευταῖα καταληφθείς, οὐ μικρῶς στενάξῃς περιλυπούμενος. Ὁ δὲ Ἠλίας λέγει· Τοσούτοις ἔτεσι, χάριτι Χριστοῦ διὰ τῶν εὐχῶν σου, τίμιε, πάτερ, ἐν τῇ μονίᾳ μου διαρκῶν οὐ προσέψαυσα κώμῃ, καὶ νῦν φοβῇ με (φοβῇ με) φοβήσει 4. ἐν ἐκείνοις omits 4. τεθνάναι· οὐκ οἶμαι τοῦτο γενέσθαι (οὐκ οἶμαι τοῦτο γενέσθαι) omits 2. . Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν εἰπὼν αὐτῷ καὶ τῇ δευτερώσει ἐπισφραγίσας αὐτοῦ τὴν πρόρρησιν ἐφησύχασε ἀφησύχασε 4. , τὸν θεοφιλῆ καὶ συνεστιάτορα Νικήταν ἀποστείλας εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα. Τοῦ τιμίου καὶ adds 2. εὐλαβοῦς Εὐστρατίου ἐφυστερίζοντος, καὶ ἕως τινὸς τῷ πατρὶ συνδιάγοντος, ὁ οὖν Ἠλίας δευτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ μετὰ τὴν προφητικὴν εἰς αὐτὸν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνάρρησιν συναίρεσιν 4. , ἕωθεν ἀναστὰς εὐχὴν ἦλθεν αἰτούμενος, ὡς διά τινα αὐτῷ συμβᾶσαν νόσον προσκαταβῆναι ἐν τοῖς θερμοῖς. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος omits 4. λέγει· Οὐ συμφέρει σοι, κύρι Ἠλία. Ὡς δὲ ἐνιστάμενον εἶδε πρὸς τοῦτο, ἀπέλυσεν αὐτὸν ὁ ὅσιος adds 3, 4. ὡς ἠθέλησεν. Τότε ὁ μέγας omits 4. Εὐστράτιος αἰτήσας εὐχὴν καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ Ἠλίου κατόπιν, εἰδήσει τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου omits 4. , βαδίζων ἠπείγετο, ἐνταλθεὶς ἤδη πρὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας καταλαβεῖν αὐτόν. Ὁ γὰρ Ἠλίας ἅμα τῷ προσπελάσαι ἐν τοῖς θερμοῖς καὶ μόνους μόνος 3. τοὺς πόδας τούτοις ἐμβάψαι λιποθυμήσας, ὑπὸ τῶν εὑρεθέντων, ὡς νεκρὸς ἤρθη, καὶ ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ οἰκητόρων πλησιάζοντι οἶκῳ κατακλιθεὶς πολυωδύνως ἤλγει καὶ ἔστενεν. Ὃν καταλαβὼν ὁ τίμιος (ὁ τίμ.) omits 4. Εὐστράτιος, ὡς προσετέτακτο, συνεχόμενον πόνοις ἀναμιμνήσκει τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ῥήματα. Ὁ δέ φησιν· Ναὶ μὴν οἶδα (ῥήματα-οἷδα) omits 4; (ὁ δὲ-οἷδα) omits 3. , ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάλαβέ (ἀνάλαβέ με) ἠναλάβομεν 3. με ἐντεῦθεν διὰ τὸν Κύριον, μὴ φθασθεὶς ὦδε ἀπολέσω ἀπολέση 3. τὸν κόπον τῆς ἡσυχίας μου σου 3. . Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ τόπῳ adds 3. εὕρω σε καί adds 3. τόπῳ τρόπῳ 3; καὶ τρόπῳ adds 4. , φησὶν ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου (διὰ τ. προφ.) omits 4. , ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ omits 4. κρινῶ σε. Ὅθεν διαβασταχθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἓν τῶν Ἀγαυρινῶν μετοχίων τοῦ ἁγίου προσαγορευόμενον Ἀγαπίου, ὁ Ἠλίας ἀνακλιθεὶς περὶ ἕκτην ὥραν τῆς νυκτὸς ἐτελεύτησεν, καὶ εἰς τὴν καλουμένην μονὴν τῶν Κελλίων ἀνεκομίσθη. Ἐν ᾗ καὶ ὁ μέγας omits 4. θεοφόρος Ἰωαννίκιος κατελθών, μετὰ τὴν ἐξ ἔθους τελευταίαν ὑμνολογίαν, τὸ λείψανον αὐτοῦ ἀσπασάμενος πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ὥρμησεν ἡσυχίαν.

[26] Ποτὲ ὅτε 2, 4. διὰ δυσβάτων τόπων διερχομένου καὶ κρημνωδῶν, ἀποπίπτει αὐτοῦ τῆς χειρὸς ἥνπερ κατεῖχεν σταυρότυπον ἀεὶ σιδηρὰν βακτηρίαν. Ἧς πρὸς τὴν ἀνεύρεσιν τότε ἀμηχανήσας καὶ ἀνακόμισιν, ἵστησιν ἑαυτὸν εἰς προσευχὴν ἐκτενῆ ὁ μακάριος, καὶ ἦλθε φερόμενον ἀέριον ἐν χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀποπεπτωκός, δι᾽ εὐχῶν αὐτοῦ. Ὃ δὴ λαβὼν καὶ δοξάσας τὸν Θεόν, πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ ἡσυχίαν διῆλθεν. Εἶτα κἀκεῖσε καταλαβὼν ὁ ἀοίδιμος πλησίον αὐτοῦ σπηλαίῳ παρακειμένῳ δαιμόνων μεστῷ, ἀφ᾽ οὗ πολλάκις ἐξιόντες τοὺς παροδεύοντας ἔβλαπτον, οἰκῆσαι προεθυμήθη ἐν αὐτῷ ἐν αὐτ. omits 4. . Ὃν καὶ ἰδόντα πάσῃ ἀρετῇ καὶ πίστει καθωπλισμένον κατ᾽ αὐτῶν προσορμῶντα τὰ δαιμόνια πλήθη ἐκεῖνα καὶ omits 2. εὐθαρσῶς ἐπερχόμενον ἔκραζον, ἔβρυχον, ὕβριζον αὐτόν, αὐτὸ τὸ σπήλαιον διετάρασσον καὶ κατασκάπτειν ἐβούλοντο. Οἰκήσαντι δὲ αὐτῷ αὐτόν 2. ἐν αὐτῷ δίκην κοράκων οἱ ζοφεροὶ πολλοῖς ἐκεῖθεν δραπετεύοντες ὤφθησαν, τοῖς τε οἰκοῦσιν αὐτοῦ, τοῖς τε παροδεύουσιν ἔκτοτε χάριτι Θεοῦ καὶ εὐχῇ τοῦ δικαίου προσβάλλειν οὐ συγχωρούμενοι.

[27] Συγκλητικοῦ δὲ θυγάτριον παραλελυμένον τὰ μέλη διαβασταζόμενον, ἀνακομισθὲν καὶ ὥσπερ σκεῦος ἀχρεῖον παρὰ τοὺς πόδας τοῦ ὁσίου τεθὲν τῷ ζωοποιῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ σφραγίσας τρίτον, καὶ Ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰπών, ἔσω ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ὑγιῆς, ὦ παιδίον, τὴν ὁλοκληρίαν παρέσχετο, αὐτοβαδὲς αὐτοβαδίσαι 3. αὐτὸ ἀποστείλας πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα. Ἐχὼν δὲ γαμβρὸν ὁ μακάριος οὗτος εἰκονομάχον καὶ βλάσφημον, οὐ νουθεσίαις πειθόμενον, οὐ δόγμασιν ἐνηχούμενον (οὐ δόγμ. ἐνηχ.) omits 4. , ἀλλὰ θεομάχον, καὶ μονομάχον, καὶ ἁγιομάχον (κ. μον. κ. ἁγ.) omits 3. ὄντα. Τοιούτοι γὰρ ὄντως οἱ βδελυροὶ καὶ κατάπτυστοι τῆς Χριστοῦ εἰκόνος, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀντίπαλοι πρὸς ταὶς τιμίαις εἰκόσι τὰ θεοκατοίκητα λείψανα τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ τὰς πρεσβείας αὐτῶν βδελυκτῶς καὶ μισοθέως κακίζοντες βακίζοντες 4. , καὶ τὸν τῶν μοναχῶν ἰσάγγελον βίον καὶ τὸ ἔνδυμα διαλοιδοροῦσι. Τέλος φησιν αὐτῷ ὁ ὅσιος· Εἰ λόγῳ δογματικῷ οὐ πείθῃ, εἰ οὐ 1. νουθεσίαις οὐκ ἐπικάμπτῃ, ἑταῖρε, ἔργῳ παιδεύθητι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Προσευξώμεθα δὴ ἀμφότεροι πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἵνα ὁπότερός ἐστιν ἡμῶν φωτὸς νοεροῦ (νοεροῦ-φωτός) omits 4. ἐστερημένος τῆς πίστεως, καὶ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ αὐτοῦ φωτὸς (νοεροῦ-φωτός) omits 4. στερηθῇ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κατ᾽ ἄμφω τυφλώττειν. Καὶ ἅμα εὐθὺς σὺν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ μακαρίου, ἀχλὺς ὀχλυς 1, 2, 4. βαθεῖα ἐκείνου ἐπιπίπτει ταῖς κόραις, καὶ μένει τυφλός. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος αὐτῷ πρὸς αὐτόν 2. . Ἄρα, φησί, πληροφορῇ ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ ἡμῶν ἐπιτέρπεται, τὴν χεῖρα ἡμῖν, ἀποστολικῶς, ἐκτείνων πρὸς ἴασιν, σημεῖά τε καὶ τέρατα διὰ τῶν τῆς Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰκόνος προσκυνητῶν ἐνεργεῖ; Γνῶθι σαυτὸν ποὶ ποῦ 1. φέρῃ λοιπὸν (ποὶ φέρῃ λοιπόν) ποίῳ φέρῃ ὀλέθρῳ 3. καὶ ἐπιστρέψας φωτίσθητι. Ὁ δὲ ἐθελοκωφῶν, δίκην ἀσπίδος, τὸ σκότος μᾶλλον εἶπερ τὸ φῶς ἐπεπόθησε καὶ ταῖς ζοφεραῖς κακοδιδασκαλίαις τῶν Ἰσαύρων χριστομάχων ἐνέμεινε συσκότει δυσσεβείας καὶ ἀπομματώσει, μετ᾽ ὀλίγον παραπεμφθεὶς τῷ αἰωνίῳ σκότει καὶ ἀτελευτήτῳ πυρί (καὶ-πυρί) omits 3, 4. , ὥσπερ ἐπόθησεν.

[28] Μέλλοντος δὲ πλήθους εὐσεβῶν ἀνδρῶν, χάριν εὐχῆς, ἐν μιᾷ ἀνέρχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον, καὶ ἐπὶ ἓν τῶν Ἀγαυρινῶν μετοχίων ἐν ναῷ τοῦ ἁγίου προφήτου Ἠλίου συνελθόντων, ἐν οἷς ἦν Ἰωάννης ὁ adds 2. , Χαλκηδόνος μητροπολίτης, ὁ ᾧ 1, 2, 4; τό 3. ἐπίκλην Καμουλιανός, Πέτρος Νικαίας, Θεόδωρος ἡγούμενος τῶν Στουδίου, καὶ Κλέμης, νοτάριος αὐτοῦ, Ἰωσήφ, ὁ omits 2. οἰκονόμος τῆς ἐκκλησίας σὺν ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πολλοὶ ἄλλοι τῶν ἡγουμένων, ὑποτακτικῶν τε καὶ λαἳκῶν, δι᾽ Εὐστρατίου τοῦτο ἀκηκοὼς ὁ ἀοίδιμος, τὴν συντριβὴν αὐτῶν λογισάμενος καὶ τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου τὸ δυσανάβατον ἐννοῶν προκρίνει, ἀποστολικῶς, μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι καὶ κατιέναι πρὸς αὐτούς (πρὸς αὐτ.) omits 4. . ᾯ καὶ κατελθόντι μακρόθεν οἱ πάντες προσυπαντήσαντες, καὶ μετ᾽ εὐλαβείας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν προσκυνήσαντες, εὐχῆς τε γενομένης, καὶ συγκαθίσαντες περὶ διαφορὰς ἀρετῶν ἐπεζητήσαντο ποῖα πασῶν κρεῖττων ὑπάρχει καὶ ὑπερέχουσα. Ἄλλων

οὗν πολλῶν περὶ ἄλλων εἰπόντων, τὴν ταπείνωσιν ἔφησεν ὁ πατὴρ προτερεύειν καὶ ὑπερανίστασθαι, ὡς λεχθήσεται. Ταύτην γάρ, λέγει, παρ᾽ ἑαυτῷ ὁ πρὶν ἑωσφόρος μὴ θησαυρίσας ζεζόφωται, ταύτης αὖ πάλιν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος μὴ δραξάμενος τῆς παραδείσου τρυφῆς ἐλεεινῶς ἀποικίζεται, δι᾽ αὐτῆς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς Ἁδαμιαῖος γενόμενος τῆν ἀρχαίαν εἰκόνα καὶ παραδείσου διαγωγὴν ἡμῖν δίδωσιν ἀποδίδωσιν 2, 4. , καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην δι᾽ αὐτῆς παρέχει τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν. Τούτων οὕτως λεχθέντων, καὶ τῇ κατανεύσει πάντων ὡς σφραγίδι βεβαιωθέντων, τῆς ὥρας τοῦ ἀρίστου καταλαβούσης, συνεστιαθῆναι τούτοις καταναγκάζεται. Ὅτε καὶ ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν, ἀνοίξας τὸ τίμιον omits 4. στόμα ὁ θεοφόρος πρὸς Ἰωσὴφ εἶπεν τὸν οἱκονόμον ἔμπροσθεν πάντων· Γνῶθι, ἀδελφέ, ὅτι σου τὸ τέλος τῆς ζωῆς ἐπὶ θύραις, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου σοι σου 3. ἤδη τὸ δρέπανον περιπέταται. Διὸ ἑτοιμάζου πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον εὐσεβῶς διοικήσας τὰ κατὰ σέ. Ταῦτά τινες τῶν συνεστιωμένων ἀκούσαντες, ἰδιωτικῶς καὶ ἐμφθόνως ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐλογίζοντο· Τί οὗτος οὕτως 1, 3. λαλεῖ; καὶ omits 4. τίς γινώσκει ἀνθρώπων τὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ θάνατον; Θάνατος γὰρ ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυσις γέγραπται, οὗ ἡ ὁδὸς ἀπεκρύβη ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ· συνέκλεισε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τὸν ἰδιον οὐδεὶς ἐπίσταται, τὸν ἀλλότριον πόσον. Ἀλλ᾽ οὖν οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐκείνοι τῆς· γραφῆς ταύτης ὄντως τὴν ἐρμηνείαν ἐνόησαν· καθ᾽ ὃ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος τίς ἐστιν ἀγνοεῖ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὸν omits 2. τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ θάνατον, καθ᾽ ὁ δὲ πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τὸ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποστολικῶς ἐρευνόν ἐρευνᾶν 2, ἐρευνων 4. , κατὰ τοῦτο δύναται νοεῖν καὶ ὁρᾶν πάμπολλα καὶ ποικίλα, οὐ τὰ πάντων, ἀλλὰ τὰ πλείστων καὶ οὐχ ὧν βούλεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὧν ἀποκαλυφθείη διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου omits 3, 4. Πνεύματος. Ὅθεν, μετὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς συνεστιάσεως ἔγερσιν, ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ προσκαλεσάμενος ὁ πατὴρ καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους τοιούτοις (sic) 1. λογισμοὺς θριαμβεύσας, καὶ ἐξελέγξας ἐλέγξας 2. ἐξέπληξεν αὐτοὺς ἐν τούτῳ καὶ μετ᾽ εὐχῆς ἐξαπέστειλεν. Ὁ δὲ Ἰωσὴφ αἰτήσας εὐχὴν καὶ αὐτὸς και τελευταῖον συνταξάμενος τῷ πατρὶ συγκατιὼν τοῖς λοιποῖς μετὰ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν.

[24] The death of Leo the Armenian Shining there with such signs, the father, not bearing, however, the disturbance which came upon him from many, emigrates to the Olympian mountain near Trichalix ^a and Prusa. When on the way he was passing through a certain village, the inhabitants, coming out and embracing his feet, ask: A dragon, so they said, terrible, dwelling in one of the caverns which are there, has destroyed many men and our flocks. Help us, if in any way you can. When they asked this humbly with tears, the blessed one is moved: Announce, he says to them at last, brothers, a fast and prayer of seven days to all, so that God, entreated, may kindly grant you what you ask. On the seventh day, the father, having set out with the whole crowd to the cave of the dragon, as he was prepared, singing that song of David ^b: He who dwells in the help of the Most High, and saying it, orders the beast with a loud voice to come out. When it had come out and had got near the saint, it opened its mouth, all seeing it, to swallow him. But the saint, with the life-giving sign of the cross three times, as if he had sent a triple sword into it, killed it by the invocation of the holy Trinity, and freed that place and the people from that pest. When our blessed father Ioannicius had betaken himself to Mount Trichalix, as I said, and was leading a solitary life on it, in the seventh and a half year of the tyranny of that tyrant, hater of Christ and filled with leonine fury ^c, his arrival being known, the venerable Eustratius, from the monastery of the Agauri, grieving on account of the persecution imposed on pious men, went up to the saint on the mountain and, after the customary prayer, questioned him about the tyrant and about his end, that he might know. And our holy father Ioannicius said: The Lord will not forget his inheritance for ever, O brother Eustratius, but will grant us a very swift deliverance. For that plotter and shifty serpent, that Amalekite, the tyrant Leo, who rules tyrannically at once the empire and the Church and has insulted and despised the image of Christ which is in it, is now on the point of being cut off from the empire by the sword, and as in the city he set at nought the image of the Lord, so he too will be despised more plainly. When the blessed Eustratius had come down from there, after some days he learned from others who knew, confirmed in the father's prophecy, that the tyrant Leo had been slain by the sword in the temple of the Lord ^d, and that Michael, an Amorian by race, had obtained the sceptres of the empire in his place ^e, who would repair the ruin of the persecution, but would leave the possession of the Church to the heretics ^f.

[25] and he foretells that of the monk Elias. Then Eustratius, taking with him a certain pious layman Nicetas ^g, went up to the saint, to announce to him again the fulfilment of those things which we have mentioned. Afterwards, when they had fallen into spiritual conversation, the hour being drawn out on account of the display of charity, at last they come together to eat. To a certain Elias, an ascetic leading a solitary life not far from our father, who had received them to the meal, while they were eating, the father said, revealing the place, the manner and the swiftness of his end: The present life, O father Elias, is like the sea, since we sail on it like little boats and do not know the place, time and manner in which the craft of each of us will put in to its end. Wherefore it is expedient that we cross over in all sobriety and disposition of continence and direct our life, lest we be found tossed in the worldly sea, but rather that we remain in solitude as in a calm harbour, so that in it we may return our deposit to the Lord. Wherefore look to it that you be not caught breathing out your last spirit in a worldly place, and therefore lament not a little, saddened. Elias said: For so many years, by the grace of Christ, through your prayers, venerable father, keeping myself in my monastery, I have not approached the village, and now you fear that I may die there! I do not think that it will happen. When the blessed one had said the same things to him again and, with repeated speech, had confirmed his prophecy, he fell silent, dismissing Nicetas, the guest dear to God, to his home. But when the reverend Eustratius had remained and was conversing for some little time with the father, that Elias, on the second day after the father's prophetic word about him, having risen very early in the morning, came to ask a blessing so that, on account of a certain illness into which he had fallen, he might be permitted to go to the baths ^h. To whom the blessed one said: This does not profit you, lord Elias. Seeing him insist greatly on this thing, he let him go as he wished. Then the abbot ⁱ Eustratius, having asked a blessing, himself followed the footsteps of Elias, with the consent of father Ioannicius, being ordered to reach him before evening. Elias, however, had scarcely approached the baths and had immersed only his feet when, having suffered a fainting of spirit, he was lifted up as if dead by certain people who happened to be present, and, laid down in a neighbouring house of one of the inhabitants of this place, he suffered and groaned miserably. When the venerable Eustratius had found him, as he had been ordered, he recalls to the mind of the one held fast in pains the words of the father. He answered: I know indeed, but take me away from here, by the Lord, lest I be overtaken and lose the fruit of my solitary life. For in whatever place I find you, says God through the prophet, in that too I shall judge you ^k. Carried away from there and laid down in one of the metochia of the Agauri, called St. Agapius's ^l, about the sixth hour of the night he died, and was carried to the monastery called of the Cells ^m. Where, when the God-bearing abbot Ioannicius had come down, after the funeral hymnody according to custom, having embraced the body of the deceased, he returned to his solitude.

[26] Several miracles in his own When one day he was making a journey through trackless places and precipices, that iron cross-bearing staff which he always held in his hand fell from his hand. Unable then to find and recover it, the blessed one stood intent on prayer, and the staff which had fallen came back into his hands, borne upward, through his prayers. Having received it and glorified God, he returned to his solitude. Then, when the venerable man had betaken himself there near a cave which lay there filled with demons, who, often coming out from there, harmed those passing by, he chose to dwell in this cavern. Seeing him advance against them armed with every virtue and faith, those demonic crowds cried out against him who was boldly attacking them, roared, hurled insults, and wished to drive him out of the cave and root him out utterly. But after he inhabited this cave, those dark spirits were seen by many fleeing from there in the form of crows, nor from this time was it granted them, by the grace of God and the prayer of the saint, to make an assault either on those living there or on those passing by.

[27] and he shows grace toward others. The little daughter of a senator, paralysed in her limbs, brought to him, whom, carried like some useless vessel, they had thrown down before the feet of the blessed one, when he had signed her three times with the life-giving sign of the cross, saying: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be now well, girl, he restored to soundness, dismissing her to her home now using her own feet. This blessed one had a sister's husband, an iconoclast and blasphemer, who was neither convinced by reasons nor held back by dogmas, but opposed God, the images and also the saints. For these abominable despisers of the image of Christ, for the most part adversaries of the saints too, not only abominably and impiously deprave the venerable images, but also the relics of the saints, in which God has dwelt, and their intercessions, and insult the angelic life and habit of the monks. At last the blessed one says to him: Since you do not believe dogmatic reasons, nor are bent by reasonings, friend, be taught the truth by deeds. Let us both humbly ask the Lord that whichever of us is deprived of the supernatural light of faith may also lose the power of sensible light, and so become blind in both. Scarcely had the saint spoken when a deep darkness fell upon that man's pupils and he remained blind. To whom the blessed one: Are you persuaded, he says, that God is pleased with our piety, who stretches out his hand to us, to speak with the Apostle ⁿ, unto healing, and works signs and prodigies through those who adore the image of his Christ? Know then whither you are being borne hereafter, and be converted and be enlightened. But he, voluntarily blind, like an asp, choosing darkness before light, persevered in the darkness of the perverse doctrine of the Isaurians opposed to Christ, in the obscurity of impiety and in blindness, not long after being dismissed into eternal darkness and eternal fire, as he had wished ^o.

[28] Meeting with St. Theodore the Studite and other holy men When a multitude of pious men was on the point, for the sake of receiving a blessing, one day [p] of going to the saint, and in a certain one of the Agauri's

communities, in the church of the holy prophet Elias [q], had gathered, among whom were John, metropolitan of Chalcedon [r], surnamed Camulianus, Peter of Nicaea [s], Theodore, hegumen of Studios [t], with his notary Clement [u], Joseph, steward of the church [v], with his brother, and many other hegumens, monks and laymen, as soon as the saint heard this from Eustratius, desiring to converse with them, but at the same time reflecting on the roughness of that place, he preferred, according to the Apostle, to give himself up to them and to go down to them [w]. As he came down, all ran to meet him from afar, saluted him reverently bowing down and, prayer having been made, sitting together, they inquired about the various virtues, which of all excels and prevails. While some asserted one thing and others another, the father said that humility holds the first place and is superior, as will be said. For, he said thus, because the ancient Lucifer had not procured it for himself, he was cast into darkness; because the first man too did not acquire the same for himself, he was miserably cast out from the paradise of delights an exile; but through it God the Word, in the last times assuming the nature of Adam, restored to us the former image and the entrance of paradise, and daily procures through the same the redemption of sins. These things having been thus said, and confirmed as with a seal by the assent of all, the hour of the midday meal having come, he was compelled to sit at table with them. And while they were eating, our God-bearer, opening his venerable mouth, said to Joseph the steward before all: Know, brother, that the end of your life is at hand, and that the sickle of death now hangs over you. Wherefore dispose yourself for your departure, having piously administered all things that pertain to you. Hearing this, certain of the guests thought privately and enviously within themselves: What is this man saying? Which of men has known the death of his brother? For death is written to be rest to a man [x], whose way is hidden from him; for God has surrounded it with darkness. If no one knows what is his own, how much more what is another's! Nevertheless these men did not rightly understand the true interpretation of that scripture. Certainly, in so far as he is a man, each is ignorant of the hour of death both of himself and of his brother, but in so far as he has in himself the Spirit of God, which, to speak with the Apostle, searches even the deep things of God, according to this he can understand and see many and various things; not all things indeed, but very many, nor those which he wishes, but those which have been revealed through the Holy Spirit. Then, after they had risen from table, the father, calling each one aside privately, refuting and reproaching their thoughts, greatly moved them in this, and when he had blessed them he dismissed them. Joseph, however, when he had asked a blessing, having been the last to converse with the father, went down with the rest and after eighteen days passed to the Lord.

ANNOTATIONS.

b Ps. XC.

p We indicated in the Preliminary Commentary no. 35 in what year this meeting of most holy men more probably took place, namely in the year 824; less correctly Baronius reports that it happened in the year 823, and Le Quien asserts altogether falsely that St. Ioannicius was then already near death.

q Behold also another metochion of the head monastery of the Agauri, namely of St. Elias, besides that of St. Agapius indicated above. It has already become known from the published Life of St. Peter of Latros (Anal. Boll., vol. XI, p. 25). That community of St. Elias seems to be the same as the monastery of Trigleia, τοῦ Βαθέος Ῥύακος. Cf. Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἀλήθεια, no. 4 of October 1889, p. 389.

r On John, metropolitan of Chalcedon, cf. Le Quien in the Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 604, and Theodore the Studite, epist. CXL of Book II (P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1499), and among the hitherto unedited letters of the Coislin manuscript marked no. 94, epist. 276, 437, 492. The surname Camulianus, not altogether unusual, is given also to a certain David, who laid plots against Constantine Porphyrogenitus, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 414, to Demetrius Camulianus, of whom George the Monk, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 856, and to Theodore Camulianus, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 934. A Camulianus is indeed a citizen of the city of Camuliana in Cappadocia, seat of a bishop. Cf. Gams, Series episcop., p. 440; Texier, L'Asie mineure, p. 576.

s Peter, archbishop of Nicaea, is a very well-known prelate of this time. Several letters written to him by Theodore the Studite exist. Cf. P. G., vol. XCIX, pp. 1191, 1203, 1355, 1410, 1611. At first ensnared by the heretics, he was afterwards an outstanding confessor of the faith. Consult also Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, pp. 645, 646; Act. SS., April vol. I, in the Life of St. Nicetas, no. 34, p. 262.

t Theodore, hegumen of Studios, is the very celebrated Studite, fiercest defender of the truth against the iconoclast emperors. He will have to be treated on the 11th day of November; meanwhile cf. P. G., vol. XCIX. In his Life written by the monk Michael this visit to the Olympian monks is recorded, P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 219, likewise in the other Life published in the Nova Patrum Bibliotheca, vol. VI, p. 354. Yet St. Ioannicius is not named there; but in letter 116 of Book II, P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1386, St. Theodore the Studite discloses in the clearest words how great a joy he took from the meeting with our saint. Cf. Prelim. Comm. no. 35.

u Of Clement the notary St. Theodore the Studite has this in letter 90 of Book II, P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1342, ὁ γραμματηφόρος, ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἡμῶν υἱὸς Κλέμης ὁ εὐλαβέστατος ἡγούμενος, the letter-carrier, our beloved son Clement, most religious superior.

v Whether there is here designated that all too famous Joseph, presbyter and steward, who blessed the adulterous marriage of Constantine with Theodota and afterwards perhaps came to his senses, we have nothing from which to determine, nor therefore is anything to be said about his brother either.

w Job III, 23. The Greek text is to be examined, from which the Latin interpretation differs considerably; now in the Vatican it runs thus Θάνατος ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυμα, συνέκλεισε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ. But Sabas followed the Alexandrian recension, which after θάνατος adds γάρ, for ἀνάπαυμα has ἀνάπαυσις, and before συνέκλεισε interposes οὗ ἡ ὁδὸς ἀπεκρύβη.

x I Cor. II, 10.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

St. Ioannicius rescues captives of the Bulgars, visits the tomb of St. Theophanes of Sigriane, gives forth various predictions and miracles.

[29] Τῷ οὗν πέμπτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Μιχαὴλ καὶ Θεοφίλου υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπὶ Νικηφόρου εἰς Βουλγαρίαν γενομένης πτώσεως καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας, οἴκτῳ καμφθεὶς ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς Μωσὴς θεοφόρος ὁ adds 1. Ἰωαννίκιος διὰ Κύριον, μετὰ τὸ εἰς ὕψος ἀρετῶν ὡς ἐν Σινᾶ ἀνεληλυθῆναι, καὶ ἀντὶ λιθίνων πλακῶν τὸ πνεῦμα πεπλουτηκέναι, πλουτήσαι τε (πλουτήσαι τε) πλουτήσεται 4. πολλοὺς πολλοῖς 1. τοῖς τῆς 4. θεοσημείοις θεοσημείαις 2. καὶ τέρασιν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν εἱρκταῖς καὶ ἀλύσεσι δὶς ἑπτὰ χρόνοις ὑπὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων κατεχομένους χριστιανοὺς ἀπῄει, ἐπισκεψόμενος καὶ παραδόξως τούτους ῥυσόμενος ῥυσάμενος 4. . Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖσε καταλαβών, ὡς ἐβούλετο, ἀπἕναντι ·στὰς μτᾶς παμπληθοῦς φρουρᾶς, τῶν φρουραίων προεστηκότων καὶ ἀσφαλῶς αὐτῶν τηρούντων, ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὅλως, κατὰ τὸν μέγαν προφήτην Ἐλισσαῖον, οὐ καθορώμενος, ὡς μόνον εὐξάμενος, τῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ τὴν φρουρὰν καὶ τοὺς φρουραίας φρουραίους 4. ἐσημειώσατο. Οἱ μὲν σκοτομηνίας εὐθὺς βαθείας καὶ ἀχλύος ὀχλύος 1, 2, 3. ἀνεπληρώθησαν, ἡ δὲ αὐτομάτη αὐτῷ ἠνοίγη, καὶ τῶν δεσμωτῶν τὰ δεσμὰ ἐλύθη διελύθη 2, 3. . Καὶ αὐτοῖς εἰσιὼν συνεξῄει ἀορασίᾳ προπορευόμενος, ἔως εἰς omits 1. αὐτὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν τὰ ὁροθέσια αὐτοὺς ἤγαγεν ἐκπληττομένους καὶ χαίροντας. Ὅτε καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν τό· Τίς ἄν εἴης, θαυμάσιε ἄνθρωπε, ἐρωτώμενος λέγει· Ἰωαννίκιος εἰμί, ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ ἁμαρτωλός, ἀλλὰ προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτούς 2. , ἀδελφοί οἱ adds 1, 3, 4. , ὡς ἐξ ᾌδου καὶ θανάτου λυθρωθέντες καὶ adds 3. διασωθέντες, μὴ τοῖς ἐγκοσμίοις ἐγκομίοις 4. ἔτι καὶ βλάπτουσι, τοῖς πρὸς σωτηρίαν δὲ καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἄγουσι προσανέχειν, καὶ μὴ τῷ ἐλαχίστῳ ἐμοὶ (ταύτην-τῷ) omits 4. ταύτην ὑμῶν τὴν ἀνάσωσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ (ταύτην-τῷ) omits 4. θαυμαστῷ ἐν δόξαις ἐπιγράφειν Θεῷ. Ταῦτα δὲ παρ᾽ ἑνὸς τῶν τότε διασωθέντων, καὶ πρὸς τῷ τῆς Βιθυνίας κόλπῳ μονάσαντος, Εὐσταθίου καλουμένου Εὐσταθίῳ καλουμένῳ 1. , ὑπεράνω τε Πραινέτου εἰς κώμην Τζούλλου Τζούλου 2, 3. προσαγορευομένην ἐν ἐγκλείστῳ ἐγκλείστρῳ 1, ἐγκλείτῳ 4. πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ζωὴν διανύσαντος ἀκηκοότες ἀκηκοότος 3. , εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ὤφέλειαν γεγραφήκαμεν.

[30] Ὑποστρέψαντι δὲ τῷ πατρὶ ἐκεῖθεν καὶ πρὸς τοῦ Τριχάλικος πάλιν ἡσυχάζοντι ὄρος σύνεβη τόν ποτε ἡγούμενον τῶν Ἐλαιοβώμων Ἐλαιοκώμων 4. Ἀντώνιον σὺν Βασιλείῳ τῷ οἰκονόμῳ αὐτοῦ, χάριν εὐχῆς, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνελθεῖν. Οὕς δεξάμενος καὶ εὐλογήσας μετὰ πλείστην συνομιλίαν πνευματικὴν λέγει τῷ Βασιλείῳ· Βούλομαί σε, ὦ ἀδελφέ, πρὸς τὸν μετροπολίτην Νικαίας ἀπελθόντα, τὸν Ἴγγερ (τὸν Ἴγγερ) omits 2. , εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ ὅτι ἐν τῇ ὑποστολῇ σου, τοῦ Κυρίου μὴ εὐδοκοῦντος καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὴν εἰκονομάχον αἵρεσιν συγκαταβάσει ἀσχάλλοντος ἀσχολοῦντος 3. μὴ ἔμμενε εἰς τέλος τῇ καταπτώσει σου, ἀλλὰ μετανοήσας ἀνάνευσον. Ὁ omits 4. καιρὸς γὰρ τοῦ τέλους σου ἤγγικεν, καὶ ὅρα λοιπὸν μὴ ἀπολέσῃς τοὺς κόπους σου. Ταῦτα πρὸς αὐτὸν. Μετὰ τὴν κάθοδον τοῦ Βασιλείου, καὶ ἀπελθόντος καὶ λέξαντος καὶ οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν ὀνησάντος, μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας δέ adds 3. τινὰς νόσῳ πικροτάτῃ ὁ Ἴγγερ κατασχεθεὶς ἐλεεινῶς, αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποδίδωσιν. Ὅ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου omits 4. Πνεύματος τότε ὁ διορατικώτατος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος γνοὺς ἔφησε τοῖς παροῦσιν· Ὦ τῆς πονηρᾶς μεστῆς σαγήνης τοῦ διαβόλου, πῶς τοὺς omits 4. τοῦ Θεοῦ συλῶν τῇ τῆς φιλαρχίας νόσῳ περιδεσμεῖ, καὶ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν τὴν ἠτοιμασμένην αὐτῷ θηρεύει, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἄξιον ἐλέους Ἴγγερ πολλοῖς ἀγαθοῖς κομῶντα πάλαι πλεονεκτήμασι τῇ τῆς προεδρίας ἐπιθυμίᾳ πρὸς τὴν εἰκονομάχον αἵρεσιν σαγηνεύσας ἀμετανόητον σήμερον ἔπεισε τελευτῆσαι; Ταῦτα οὖν οἱ παρόντες συμπαρόντες 2, 3, 4. ἀκούσαντες καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐρευνήσαντες εὗρον αὐτὸν κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐκείνην ἐξοδεύσαντα τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ διορατικῶς αὐτοῖς ταύτην ὁ πατὴρ ἐξεφώνησεν.

[31] Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου adds 2, 4. πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου πρὸς τὴν κατὰ adds 2. Σιγριανὴν μονὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Θεοφάνους, τὴν ἐπονομαζομένην Ἀγρὸν, κατεληλυθότος τοῦ αὐτοῦ adds 3, 4. ἐκείνου ἐκεῖνο 2. τὸ τίμιον καὶ (τὸ τιμ. καὶ) omits 3, 4. πνευματέμφορον κατασπάσασθαι σκῆνος καὶ θαυματόβρυτον, ἀσπασαμένου ἤδη καὶ ἀναστρέφοντος καὶ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ βορρὰν τῆς Ἀπολλωνιάδος λίμνης κειμένην μονὴν omits 3. καὶ νῆσον ὀνομαζομήνην Θάσιον προσορμήσαντος, ἔξεισι πρὸς ὑπαντὴν αὐτοῦ ὁ ταύτης ποιμὴν Δανιὴλ σὺν πάσῃ τῇ ἀδελφότητι, καὶ πίπτει αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας εὐχὴν ἐξαιτούμενος θεόκλητον τάχα τὴν αὐτόκλητον αὐτοῦ ἔλευσιν λογισάμενος γεγενῆσθαι διὰ τὸν ἐπικείμενον αὐτοῖς πειρασμὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκοῦντος ἐκεῖ δράκοντος καὶ τῶν adds 3. ὄφεων, καὶ ἀφανίσαι αὐτὸν ταῦτα καθικετεύει. Οἷς πλοιαρίῳ συνεισελθὼν ὁ θαυμάσσιος μακάριος 2. , τοῖς μὲν ἀδελφοῖς σὺν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτῶν Δανιὴλ ἐν τῷ αὐτόθι εὐκτηρίῳ ναῷ τῇ εὐχῇ διανυκτερεύειν κελεύσας, πρὸς τὸ σπήλαιον αὐτὸς τοῦ δράκοντος ἔρχεται, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῖς τῆς προσευχῆς αὐτοῦ βέλεσιν ἀνθοπλίζεται (βέλ. ἀνθ.) μέλεσιν ἀνθοπλίζετο 4. . Ὥνπερ μὴ φέρων τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν ὁ θὴρ εἰς τέλος ἑλιγμοῖς βιαίοις καὶ πλείστοις ἑαυτὸν συντρεψάμενος συντριψάμενος1. , καὶ συρίγμασιν ἀσήμοις περιθροούμενος, λίαν πρωΐ, πάντων ὁρώντων, ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ καὶ πλοίου δίκην νηχόμενος, σὺν πλήθει τῶν ἄλλων ὄφεων πρὸς τῇ κατὰ νότον κειμένῃ ξηρᾷ, καὶ τοῖς παρακειμένοις ταύτῃ ὄρεσιν ἐξιὼν ἠφαντώθη. Τὸν δὲ τοῦ ποιμένος τούτου Δανιὴλ ἀδελφὸν Εὐθύμιον εἰρηκὼς ὁ πατήρ· Γνώρισον, κύρι Εὐθύμιε, ὅτι ὁ βασιλεὺς ζητήσει ζητῆ 2. σε, καὶ ἑτοιμάζου, μετὰ πέμπτην ἡμέραν κεκοίμηται.

[32] Ἐπανερχομένου ἐπερχόμενον 4. δὲ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἐκεῖθεν ἐκεῖσε 2. μετὰ τοῦ μνημονευθέντος Δανιὴλ διὰ τῶν ἀνωτάτων ὀρέων, τόπον τε ἀντρώδη πάνυ omits 3, 4. καταλαβόντος καὶ ἥσυχον, ἔφεσις αὐτῷ ἔνθεος ἐπεισῆλθεν τοῦ ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας αὐτόθι ἡσυχαστικῶς διατρίψαι. Ὅθεν ἐφ᾽ ἑνὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ σπηλαίων, τῷ παρὰ τῶν προσοικούντων ὀνομαζομένῳ Τοπάρχῃ, διὰ τὸ πλήθους αὐτὸ πεπληρῶσθαι δαιμόνων καὶ τοὺς παροδεύοντας βλάπτειν, ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡσυχάσας ἡμέρας, ἐφ᾽ ἑτέρῳ πλησίον πλησίῳ 4. χωρίῳ τῷ Δανιὴλ διατρίβοντι ὤφθη παμμεγέθης, μέλας, δυσείδης δυσερδής, corrected from δυσώδης 1. , ὁ τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ἔξαρχος δαίμων ἀναιδῶς τῷ Δανιὴλ ἐπερχόμενος. Οὗ καὶ προσεγγίσαντος λίαν κατασχὼν τοὺς πόδας, ὡς ἔλεγε, καὶ· Ἁγία Θεοτόκε, βοήθει μοι omits 2, 3. , μέγα omits 3. βοὴσας πίπτει πρὸς γῆν ὁ πολέμιος μέγιστον ψόφον ὄντως καὶ πάταγον ἐργασάμενος, καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου πλευρὰν omits 4. οὑτωσὶ πλήξας ὡς ἄλγος καὶ ἀφωνίαν αὐτῷ ἑπταήμερον ἐμποιῆσαι, ἀλλὰ χάριτι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀναρρωσθεὶς ὁ μακάριος εἰς τὴν κατὰ τὸν Τριχάλικα μονίαν αὐτοῦ τῷ (τῷ-αὐτοῦ) omits 4. Δανιὴλ συναπέρχεται. Καθεζομένου δὲ αὐτοῦ (τῷ-αὐτοῦ) omits 4. ἐκεῖσε καὶ ἡσυχάζοντος εἰς τὸ τῶν Ἀγαύρων μετόχιον τοῦ ἁγίου Κοσμᾶ καλούμενον κάμπη ἐπιπεσοῦσα τὴν λαχανηρὰν ἐργασίαν τῶν μοναζόντων διέφθειρεν. Οἳ διὰ τοῦ τιμίου Εὐστρατίου τὸν ὅσιον ἐδυσώπησαν ἀφανίσαι αὐτὴν ἐκεῖθεν. Ὁ δέ· Ἄγωμεν, φησίν, αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τὸν κῆπον τόπον 4. ἰδω. Καὶ λίαν πρωῒ ἀπελθόντος αὐτοῦ καὶ στάντος μέσον, ἑωρᾶτο εὐθὺς θείᾳ δυνάμει ἀγεληδὸν ἡ κάμπη κάμπων 3, καμπή 4. ἀποδιδράσκουσα καὶ ἔξωθεν τῶν φραγμῶν τοῦ κήπου περιπολεύουσα, μὴ εἰσερχομένη ἔνδον ἔτι ἢ λυμαινομένη τὰ λάχανα. Θέλοντος δὲ τοῦ ἡγουμένου τῶν Ἀγαύρων Γρηγορίου διά τινα χρείαν πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν εἰσελθεῖν πόλιν καὶ τῷ ὁσίῳ τοῦτο δηλοποιήσαντος, κατῆλθεν εὐλογῆσαι αὐτὸν αὐτῷ 3, 4. καὶ εὔξασθαι ὁ ταπεινόνους καὶ ἔνθεος, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Θέρους ὥρα ἐπέστη, πάτερ, λευκὸν εἰς ἄκρον τὸ λήιον, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἕνα ἐξ ἡμῶν προσκαλεῖται συντόμως. Ὁ δὲ ἡγούμενος τὸ λεχθὲν μὴ νοήσας πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀπῆρε, μετὰ ἔνδεκα τελευτήσας ἡμέρας τῆς ποιμνιαρχίας εἰς τὸν ἀνεψιὸν αὐτοῦ omits 4. μεταβάσης, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως κατόπιν εἰς τὸν τίμιον omits 3. Εὐστράτιον.

[33] Ἰσαάκιος δέ τις κουράτωρ προαστείων ἑνὸς τῶν περὶ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν περιβοήτων γυναικείου σεμνίου, καλουμένου Κλουβίου Κλουκίου 4. , δυσὶν Ἀγαυρινοῖς μοναχοῖς ἀνιοῦσιν Δοσιθέῳ καὶ Εὐστρατίῳ Δοσιθέου, Εὐστρατίου all the manuscripts. συνανελθὼν πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον, μετὰ εὐχὴν καὶ ὁμιλίαν τότε ψυχωφελῆ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀκούει· Οὐ καλῶς ποιεῖς, κύρι Ἰσαάκιε, εἰπόντος, συνταξάμενος τῷ Κυρίῳ μονάσαι καὶ ἐμμένων ἐμμενόν 3. φροντίσι· καλὸν γὰρ μὴ εὔξασθαι ἢ εὔξασθαι καὶ μὴ ἀποδοῦναι. Τοῦδε τὴν βίαν καὶ κατοχὴν τῆς κυρίας αὐτοῦ καὶ δεσποίνης προβαλλομένου, φησὶν ὁ πατήρ· Διά (Διὰ-Εὐστρατίου) omits 4. τινα χρείαν ἀναγκαίαν Δοσιθέου καὶ Εὐστρατίου (Διὰ-Εὐστρατίου) omits 4. τῶνδε τῶν μοναχῶν πρὸς τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν συνεισιόντων σοι, δηλώσω σου τῇ δεσποίνῃ καὶ ἀπολύει σε, πρὶν ἤ σε καταλάβοι καταλάβη 4. τὸ τέλος. Ὅθεν κατηχήσας αὐτόν, σφραγίσας τε καὶ εὐξάμενος σὺν τοῖς προγεγραμμένοις μοναχοῖς ἐξαπέστειλεν. Τῶν οὖν μοναχῶν σὺν Ἰσαακίῳ τὴν πόλιν καταλαβόντων, καὶ τῇ κυρίᾳ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν κέλευσιν ἔλευσιν 4. τοῦ πατρὸς προσειπόντων, λίαν ἐκείνη διεταράχθη τῷ πνεύματι· ἦν γὰρ εὔχρηστος αὐτῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων οἰκονομίαν καὶ διεγηγερμένην διοίκησιν. Εἰρηκότων δὲ αὐτῇ μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς καὶ τοῦ τέλους αὐτοῦ τὸν καιρὸν ἐγγίζειν ὁ πατὴρ προεφήτευσε, πρὸς τὴν αἴτησιν παρευθὺ ἐπεκάμφθη. Ὑπὸ δείνων (δείνων δὲ καὶ) omits 3, 4. δὲ καὶ φθορέων δέ adds 4. ἀνδρῶν ὕστερον παροδηγηθεῖσα ἀγνοεῖν τινα ὅλως καὶ τῶν ἁγίων τόν τινος θάνατον ἢ τὸν οἰκεῖον φησάντων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Ἰσαακίου πάλιν ἀναχαιτίζει ἀπόλυσιν καὶ ἐπὶ omits 2. ἓν αὐτὸν αὐτῶν 2, 3, 4. ἀποστέλλει τῶν προαστείων. Ἐν ᾧ νοσήσας ὁ Ισαάκιος ὑπὸ μοναχοῦ τινος εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν αὐτοῦ οἰκονομικῶς ἐλθόντος ἀποκαρεὶς τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ μεθίσταται τοῦδε τοῦ βίου (τοῦδε τοῦ βίου) omits 4. κατὰ τὴν πρόρρησιν τοῦ σεβασμίου omits 3. πατρὸς καὶ τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἀπολύεται. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς αὐτῆς εὐλαβοῦς ἡγουμένης τοῦ Κλουβίου Κουβουκλίου 1. σὺν θυγατρὶ μοναζούσῃ πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνελθούσης καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθείσης, ἀποκαλυφθεὶς ὁ πατὴρ διὰ Πνεύματος θείου τὴν ταχινὴν τῆς γραὸς τελευτὴν καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς θυγατρός, λαβὼν ῥάβδον ποιμνιαρχίας ὡς σύμβολον τῇ θυγατρὶ δίδωσι παρελθὼν

τὴν μητέρα. Ἡ δὲ δηχθεῖσα στερρῶς καὶ τῇ λύπῃ καταβληθεῖσα· Ἔδει, πάτερ, φησίν, ἐμοῖ τῇ ἀδυνάτῳ γραΐ μᾶλλον εἰς ὑποστήριξιν ῥάβδον δοθῆναι ἢ τῇ νέᾳ θυγατρί μου καὶ ἀκμαζούσῃ. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιός φησιν αὐτῇ (ὅσιός φησιν αὐτῇ) 3, 4. . Καλῶς λέγεις, ὧ μήτερ, ἀλλ᾽, ὡς ὁ Κύριος ἠθέλησε, γέγονε καὶ ᾗ ἡτοίμαστο δέδοται. Περίλυπος δὲ κατελθοῦσα ἐκεῖθεν οὐ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ὅρκοις τὸν θείον Εὐστράτιον ἐκμειλίσσεται ἐκλίσσεται 4. ἐρωτῶσα· Τίνος χάριν, εἰπέ μοι, πάτερ, τῇ μὲν θυγατρί μου δέδωκεν ὁ ὅσιος ῥάβδον, ἐμὲ δὲ παρελογίσατο; Ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐτῇ· Τοῦ τέλους σου ἰσῶς, κυρία, ταχείαν τὴν ἐπιστασίαν αἰσθόμενος αἰθόμενος 1. καὶ τὴν μετὰ σὲ πρὸς τὴν θυγατέρα σου τῆς ποιμνιαρχίας ποιμναρχίας 1. μετάβασιν προδεικνύων σοι ὁ δίκαιος πέπραχεν τοῦτο. Ἡ δὲ τοῦτο ἀκούσασα σύμφοβος γενομένη καὶ σύντρομος μετ᾽ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας νοσήσασα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, κατὰ τὴν προόρασιν τοῦ πατρός, ἐκδημήσασα τὴν αὐτῆς θυγατέρα τιμίαν διάδοχον τῆς ἡγεμονίας αὐτῆς ἀξίως καταλέλοιπε.

[34] Γνώριμος οὖν ἐκεῖσε πολλοῖς καὶ ἐν παντὶ ταῖς θεοσημείαις ὁ ὅσιος γενόμενος περιβόητος τῇ ἐπιρροίᾳ τῶν ὄχλων πάνυ ἐθλίβετο τραχυνόμενος. Ὅθεν βουλεύεται αὐτόθεν ὑποχωρῆσαι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ Κόρακος Κεφλὴν ἐρημίαν χωρῆσαι δυσανάβατον οὖσαν καὶ ὑψηλήν, ἔνθα τὴν παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων πάλαι δύο γερόντων ὑπεδέξατο χρησμωδίαν. Διὸ παραλαβὼν τὸν Εὐστράτιον ὀρειβατῶν ὥδευεν ὁ θεόληπτος. Ὡς δὲ πλησίον Μεριλουκώμεως γέγονεν, λέγει· Μέλλομεν καταλαμβάνειν, Εὐστράτιε, μετ᾽ ὀλίγον νεμομένην ποίμνην προβάτων, κύνας φοβεροὺς ἐπισυρομένην, καὶ ὅρα μὴ πτοηθῇς τῇ ὁρμῇ αὐτῶν. Προβάντες δὲ ἐκεῖθεν μικρὸν τὸ τῶν προβάτων ποίμνιον νεμόμενον κατειλήφασιν, τούς τε κύνας ἐκείνους κυκλοτερῶς αὐτοῦ αὐτούς 3. περιθέοντας περιθέντας 2. . Οἳ καὶ ἰδόντες μακρόθεν ἠλάλαζον κατατρέχοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πλησίον ἤδη τοῦ πατρὸς γεγόνασιν ἡσυχάσαντες, ὥσπερ λογικῆς οὐκ ἀμοιροῦντες αἰσθήσεως, τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ προσέπιπτον ὑποσαίνοντες σαίνοντες 2. , ἀφ᾽ ἧς τῶν ἁγίων χρώτων περιοσφρανθέντες εἰς τελείαν ὄντως κατέληξαν ἡμερότητα. Ὁ οὗν πατήρ· Κάλεσον, λέγει, τοὺς ποιμένας, Εὐστράτιε, ὅπως ἡμῖν τὴν ἐπὶ Τράπεζαν ὁδὸν ἀπάγουσαν εἰπάγουσαν 4. ὑποδείξωσιν. Ὁ δέ φησι· Καὶ πῶς αὐτούς, πάτερ, ἀνωνύμως καλέσω; Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ πατήρ (ὁ πατ.) omits 4. · Θεοφύλακτον κάλεσον πρῶτον, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως Χριστοφόρον τὸν σὺν αὐτῷ. Φωνήσαντος δὲ μου adds 3. ὅ τε Θεοφύλακτος καὶ Χριστοφόρος συμφώνως ἀποκριθέντες ἀποκριθέντος 4. παραγεγόνασι πρὸς αὐτούς. Εἰρηκότος δὲ αὐτοῖς τοῦ δικαίου· Τὴν ἐπὶ Τράπεζαν ὁδὸν ἡμῖν δείξατε, ὧ Χριστοφόρε καὶ Θεοφύλακτε, λέγουσι· Δύο ὄντων ἡμῶν, τίμιε πάτερ, τοῦ μὲν ποιμαίνοντος ποιμανοῦντος 3, 4. τὴν ποίμνην, τοῦ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἑνὸς προβάτου ἀπολωλότος πορευσομένου πορευομένου 1, πορευσομένους 3. ἀνεύρεσιν, πῶς γενήσεται τοῦτο; Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τῷ ἑνὶ αὐτῶν ἔφη· Ἐλθὲ μόνον, τέκνον, ἐπὶ μικρὸν ὁδήγησον ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἐν ταύτῳ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς εὑρήσας σεσωσμένον καί adds 3. ἐπαναστρέψεις. Ὁ δὲ πληροφορηθεὶς ἐν ἐπί 3. τοῖς ῥήμασι τοῦ πατρὸς ὡς συνοδοιπορῶν αὐτοῖς τὴν ὁδὸν ὑπεδείκνυεν, τὸ πρόβατον ἐκεῖνο σὺν τῷ ἀρνίῳ κατείληφεν, εὐχῆς καὶ χαρᾶς πλήρης πρὸς τὸν συννομέα ἐπανακάμψας. Προβαινόντων δὲ αὐτῶν τῇ ὁδῷ τὴν ὁδόν 3. κατ᾽ ὀλίγον, φησὶ τῷ Εὐστρατίῳ ὁ ἔνθεος· Ὁδοιπόροι τινές, ἀδελφέ, πρὸ προσώπου συναντᾶν ἡμῖν μέλλουσιν· οἷς οὐ βούλομαι ὅλως ὀφθῆναι, διό μοι προπορεύου συνεπομένῳ. Ὡς δὲ ἤδη συνήντησαν ἀλλήλοις καὶ τὸ &ldquogr;Εὐλόγησον, πάτερ&rdquogr;, πρὸς τὸν Εὐστράτιον ἔφησαν, καὶ &ldquogr;Ποίας εἶ μονῆς&rdquogr; ἐπηρώτησαν, λέγουσι· Πῶς ἐν ἀβάτοις ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἀδιεξοδεύτοις ὄρεσι διοδεύεις, θηρῶν ἢ ληστῶν οὐχ ὑφορώμενος ἐπανάστασιν; Ὁ δὲ Εὐστράτιός φησιν· Ὁ τὸν Θεὸν ἔχων μόνος οὐκ ὢν πάντων βλαπτόντων ὑπερανίσταται, ἐν παντὶ διαμένων ἀπτόητος. Ταῦτα συνομιλούντων αὐτῶν, πλησίον τοῦ Εὐστρατίου ὁ πατὴρ ἵστατο (ἵστατο-ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν) ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν μὴ καθορώμενος ἵστατο 3, 4. μηδ᾽ ὅλως καθορώμενος ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν. Διακριθέντων δὲ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων, τὸν τῆς οἰκήσεως ὄγκον περιαίρων εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸν Εὐστράτιον ἔφησεν· Ἡ εὐχή σου σκηνῆς δίκην, ἀδελφέ, γενομένη περὶ ἐμὲ ἀπέκρυψέ με, ὥσπερ ἐπόθουν, τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν.

[29] St. Ioannicius rescues captives of the Bulgars, In the fifth year, then, of the reign of Michael and of his son Theophilus ^a, and the fourteenth from the time when Nicephorus had been defeated and captured in Bulgaria ^b, that God-bearing Moses Ioannicius, who appeared to us through the Lord, inclined to pity, after he had come to the summit of virtues as it were on Sinai, bearing not indeed tablets of stone but enriching both his own soul and that of many with divine signs and prodigies, went off to those Christians who had been held by the Bulgars in prisons and chains for twice seven years, to visit them and to save them beyond hope ^c. When he had arrived there ^d, as he wished, and had stood before a certain prison filled with captives, which the guards set over it were watching diligently, having become, however, altogether invisible to them, like the great prophet Elisha ^e, by prayer alone, he signed the prison and the guards with the sign of the cross. These were at once filled with a deep fog of mind and with darkness; while the prison was opened to him of its own accord and the chains of the captives loosed. The saint, having gone in among them, led them back, advancing invisible, until he had accompanied them to the borders of the Christians, wondering and rejoicing. Then, being asked by them: Who are you, wonderful man? he says: I am Ioannicius, humble and a sinner; but look to yourselves, brothers, lest, saved from hell and death, you be zealous any more for worldly and harmful things, but rather that you follow those which contribute to salvation and eternal life; and do not ascribe this liberation of yours to me, the least one, but to God, wonderful in his glory. And these things, when we had heard them from one of those who were then saved and who leads a solitary life by the gulf of Bithynia ^f, Eustathius by name ^g, who spent his whole life in the cloister on this side of Praenetus ^h, at the village surnamed Tzullum ⁱ, we have written for the glory of God and the profit of those who come upon them.

[30] he foretells death to the metropolitan of Nicaea, When the father had returned from there to live again as a solitary on Mount Trichalix, it happened that Antony, who had once been hegumen of the Altars of Elias ^k, went up to the saint with his steward Basil for the sake of receiving a blessing. When he had received them and had prayed well for them, after a long spiritual conversation he says to Basil the steward: I would have you, O brother, go to Inger, the metropolitan of Nicaea ^l, and say to him: Do not remain to the end, until your death, in your dissimulation, which greatly displeases the Lord, to whom your inclination toward the heresy of the iconoclasts also seems unworthy; but give yourself to repentance. For the hour of your death has drawn near, and look to it at last that you do not lose the fruit of your labours. These things you will say to him. Basil the steward set out and went to the man and related everything to him. But when he had achieved nothing, after some days Inger, seized by a most bitter illness, miserably gives up his soul. When our father Ioannicius, greatly prophetic, had then known this through the Holy Spirit, he said to those standing by: O net of the devil full of malice! How, despoiling the servants of God, he holds them captive by the disease of ambition and hunts them for the perdition prepared for himself, so that he has persuaded this wretched Inger, once adorned with many goods, ensnared by the desire of presiding in the heresy of the iconoclasts, to die impenitent today! When those standing by had heard these things and had diligently inquired, they found that he had departed from life on the very day on which the father had prophetically announced this to them.

[31] he visits the tomb of St. Theophanes. In these days, moreover ^m, the great father Ioannicius came to the monastery of Sigriane ⁿ of St. Theophanes ^o, surnamed Agros [p], to embrace his venerable tabernacle, full of the spirit and gushing with miracles. After embracing it, when, returning now, he had put in at the monastery situated at the northern part of the lake of Apollonias and the island which is called Thasius [r], its shepherd Daniel goes out to meet him with the whole brotherhood, who falls at his feet, asking his blessing and saying that his spontaneous coming had been inspired by God, on account of the harassment threatening him from a dragon and serpents dwelling there. Therefore he humbly asked him to put these to flight. Going on board a boat with them, the wonderful man, having ordered the brothers together with their father Daniel to pass the night in prayer in the oratory which was there, himself goes to the cave of the dragon and in it armed himself against it with the darts of his prayer. Not bearing their burning, the beast at last, twisting itself in violent and many coils and terrifying all around with horrible hissings, very early in the morning, all seeing it, threw itself into the lake and, swimming like a boat with the rest of the multitude of serpents, going off to the land situated to the south and into the neighbouring mountains there, disappeared. Addressing Euthymius, the brother of this shepherd Daniel, the father said: Know, lord Euthymius, that the king is going to seek you; be ready. And after the fifth day he died.

[32] he frees St. Daniel of Thasos from a demon, When he was returning from there to the solitude with the said Daniel through very lofty mountains, having found a place full of caverns and altogether solitary, a divine inspiration came upon him to lead an eremitical life there for some days. Wherefore, when he had stayed there for forty days in one of the caves which were here, surnamed Toparcha by the inhabitants on account of the multitude of demons who filled it and harmed passers-by, to Daniel, who was staying in another nearby place, there appeared the demon, prince of evil spirits, of huge size, black, horrible in appearance, and shamelessly advanced upon him. When he had come near and was holding him strongly by the feet, and the latter had said: Holy Mother of God, help me, that enemy falls to the earth with a great cry, emitting a truly very mighty sound and crash, but at the same time striking the side of our holy father Ioannicius so that he inflicted on him pain and loss of voice for seven days; but healed by the grace of Christ, the blessed one sets out with Daniel to his monastery at Trichalix. When he was staying there and living as a solitary, a caterpillar, falling upon the monastery of St. Cosmas of the Agauri, was devastating the vegetables cultivated by the monks; who through the venerable Eustratius humbly asked the saint to put it to flight from there. And he said: Let us go, that I myself may see the garden. And when very early in the morning he had gone off and stood in the middle, at once, by divine power, the caterpillar was seen to flee in troops and, driven outside the enclosures of the garden, no longer entered within to devastate the vegetables. Gregory, the hegumen of the Agauri, wishing on account of some necessity to go to the royal city, when

had made this known to the saint, the humble man of divine mind came down to pray well for him and bless him, and says to him: The hour of summer is at hand, father, the harvest is now whitening and the king will soon call one of us. The hegumen, not attending to the saying, made for the city, but when he had died after eleven days the pastoral office passed to his cousin and then to the venerable Eustratius [s].

[33] he foretells the death of very many, A certain Isaac, curator of one among the celebrated monasteries of the suburb around the royal city, the house of nuns called of Clubius, having set out to the saint with two monks of the Agauri, Dositheus and Eustratius, after prayer and spiritual conversation hears these words from the father, who says: You do not act rightly, lord Isaac, since, having resolved to lead the monastic life for the Lord, you remain in thought only. For it is better not to vow than to vow and not to pay. When he objected that force was being put on him and that he was being held back by his mistress, the father says: Since it is necessary for these monks Dositheus and Eustratius to go off with you to Constantinople, I shall signify to your mistress that she should let you go before you are snatched away by death. Then, having instructed him, signed him with the sign of the cross and endowed him with his blessing, he sends him back with the said monks. When the monks together with Isaac had made for the city and had announced everything to his mistress, according to the father's command, she was greatly troubled in mind. For this man was useful to her for directing her affairs and administering them promptly. But when they added afterwards that the father had prophesied that the time of his death was at hand, she at last inclined to the petition. Yet afterwards, led astray by evil and abandoned men, who said that no one at all, even a saint, knows anyone's death, nor even his own, she again desisted from letting Isaac go, and sends him to one of the suburbs. In which, when Isaac had fallen ill, receiving the tonsure from a certain monk who had come to visit him for the sake of administering the matter, on the third day he passes from this life, according to the prediction of the venerable father, and is dismissed from the present life. Afterwards, when the reverend hegumene of Clubius herself had come to the saint with her daughter, likewise a nun, and had received his blessing, the approaching death of the old woman and the prelacy of the daughter having been revealed to the father through the divine Spirit, taking the pastoral staff as a symbol he hands it to the daughter, the mother being passed over. She, greatly pricked and struck with sorrow: It were fitting, she said, father, that the staff be given for help to me, a feeble old woman, rather than to my daughter, young and flourishing in age. But the saint said to her: You say rightly, mother; but it has been done as God wills, and it has been given to her for whom it was prepared. When she had gone away from there very sad, she soothes the holy Eustratius with pressing adjurations, asking: Why, tell me, father, did the saint hand the staff to my daughter, but spurn me? He answered her: Perhaps, lady, since he knew the prompt imminence of your death and the change of the prelacy to your daughter succeeding you, the just man acted thus in order to show it to you beforehand. She, hearing this, becoming altogether fearful and trembling, after some days falling into illness and departing to God according to the father's foresight, left her venerable daughter worthy to succeed in the office.

[34] he tames fierce dogs. Known therefore thenceforth to very many and everywhere, the saint, become celebrated by these prodigies, was hindered, greatly pressed by the concourse of crowds. Hence he takes counsel to depart from here and go off into the solitude called At Raven's Head, altogether impassable and lofty, where long ago he had received an oracle from two holy old men [t]. Therefore, having taken Eustratius with him, the servant of God made his journey advancing through the mountains. When he came near Merilucomi, he says: We shall soon meet, Eustratius, a grazing flock of sheep which draws fearsome dogs with it; see that you are not terrified by their onset. Then, having advanced a little, they come upon the grazing flock of sheep, and those dogs running in a circle. Seeing them from afar, they howled as they ran up; but when they had got near the father they held themselves quiet, as if they did not lack rational sense, and fall at his feet fawning on him, and from the moment they sensed the holy footsteps they remained very gentle to the end. Then the father: Call, he said, Eustratius, the shepherds, that they may show us the road which leads to Trapeza. He said: How shall I call them, Father, not knowing their names? The Father said: Call first Theophylact, then Christopher, who is with him. When he had cried out, Theophylact and Christopher, answering with one voice, came up. When the saint said: Show us the road which leads to Trapeza, O Christopher and Theophylact, they answered: Since we are only two, venerable father, one grazing the flock and the other about to set out to find one lost sheep, how will this be done? But the saint said to one of them: Go nevertheless, son, and lead us a little on the road, and in this very thing you will find the lost one and bring her back safe and unharmed. He, persuaded by the father's words, while making the journey with them and showing the way, found that sheep with a lamb and returned grateful and glad to his fellow shepherd. When they had advanced a little on the journey, the divine man says to Eustratius: Certain travellers, brother, are about to meet us face to face, by whom I by no means wish to be seen. Therefore go before me, who follow. When they had met one another and had said to Eustratius: Bless, father, and had asked: of what monastery are you?, they said: How do you make your way, for the most part, in impassable and impenetrable mountains, not fearing the attack of wild beasts or thieves? Eustratius said: He who has God with him is not alone, nor is overcome by any harmful thing, but remains fearless in all things. While they were conversing thus the father stood near Eustratius, altogether invisible to them. When they had separated from one another, at once taking away the appearance of a veil, he says to Eustratius: Your prayer, brother, made around me like a tent, has hidden me from their eyes, as I desired.

ANNOTATIONS.

e Cf. IV Kings VI, 18.

p In Sigriane there were not a few monasteries, namely Polychronium, the Little Field, and the Great Field, over which Theophanes presided, and which is also called Agros by the original name by which the place was called when Theophanes built his monastery in it.

r This island is not the island of Thasos, which lies in the Aegean Sea near Samothrace, but a certain island situated in the lake of Apollonias itself. In very truth Richard Pococke (Voyages, vol. V, p. 292) knew a small island at the northern part of the lake, which he calls Abellionte. Of the monastery built there and of its hegumen Daniel mention is also made in the menaia, which keep the memory of this holy man on the 12th day of September. Neither our predecessors (Act. SS., September vol. IV, p. 2) nor the distinguished John Martinov (Ann. eccl. gr.-slav., p. 222) had handed down anything else about St. Daniel in Thasius besides the mere name. The person and the place in which he lived, and the time at which he flourished, are elucidated, at least to some extent, by our Acts of St. Ioannicius, from this again more and more precious.

s The cousin of Gregory does not seem to have ruled the monastery of the Agauri long; for below, at no. 36, it will be said that under the emperor Theophilus (829–842) a certain Antony ousted the hegumen Eustratius. Now in the present place the course of the life of St. Ioannicius seems to have been brought down to the year 828.

t Cf. above chap. III, no. 9, p. 340.

CHAPTER NINE.

The narrative of the miracles and predictions of St. Ioannicius is continued.

[35] Ὡς δὲ τῆς τοῖς 4. Ἀντιδίου ὀνομαζομένης μονῆς κατέλαβεν ὄρεσιν, ἐν τόποις τραχυτέροις κελλίον μικρὸν οἰκοδομήσας, ἡσύχασεν, λαθεῖν αὐτόθι αὐτόθεν 1. τοὺς πολλοὺς λογισάμενος. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κρύπτεται εἰς τέλος, κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον, ἡ θεοκατοίκητος πόλις ἐπάνω ὄρους τῶν ἀρετῶν κειμένη. Γυνὴ γάρ τις τοῦ πατρικίου καὶ μαγίστρου Στεφάνου ἐκ περιεργίας τῶν θεραπαινίδων αὐτῆς φαρμαχθεῖσα καὶ τὰς φρένας βλαβεῖσα τοῦ πλούτου τὸ πλεῖστον εἰς ἰατροὺς ἀνωφελῶς ἀναλώσασα πρὸς τοῦτον καταλαμβάνει τὸν δίκαιον, ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν αὐτῆς ἀγομένη καὶ τῶν ἰδίων. Ἥνπερ θεασάμενος ὁ πατὴρ οἰκτειρήσας καὶ ἐπευξάμενος καὶ τῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ σφραγίσας, ὑγιῆ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια, παραγγείλας μὴ ποιήσασθαι αὐτὴν ζήτησιν τῶν βλαψάντων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀφεῖναι χριστομιμήτως τοῖς φονευταῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν. Στέφανος δὲ μοναχὸς πάνυ εὐλαβὴς καὶ ἐνάρετος, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ Ὀλβιάνου νοτάριος γεγονώς, συχνῶς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀνήρχετο τὰς κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐξαγορεύσεις ποιούμενος, καὶ (καὶ-κανονιζόμενος) omits 4. αὐτοῦ τοῖς κανόσι κανονιζόμενος. ᾮ καὶ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ πατὴρ λέγει· Γρηγορεῖν ὀφείλομεν ἀεί, τέκνον Στέπανε, ὅτι ᾗ ὥρᾳ οὐκ οἶδαμεν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἔρχεται, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλου προκαταλαμβάνει προσλαμβανόμενος. Διὸ εὐτρεπὴς ἔσο καὶ ἕτοιμος· ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς καὶ Θεὸς προσκαλεῖταί σε, καὶ μεταναστεύσει σε (καὶ μετ. σε) omits 3. ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τάχιον. Ὁ δὲ εὐχὴν κομισάμενος καὶ ἀπολυθείς, μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν ὀγδόην ἐκδημεῖ ἀδημεῖ 3. ἀπὸ κόσμου, καὶ ἐνδημεῖ πρὸς Κύριον, ἰάσεις πολλῶν πολλάς 2, 3, 4. ἐνεργῶν ὁσήμεραι τῇ ἁφῇ τῶν λειψάνων. Καὶ ἕτερος μοναχὸς Θωμᾶς καλούμενος, μετὰ Εὐθυμίου ἡγουμένου, υἱοῦ γενομένου πατρικίου τε καὶ μαγίστρου, εὐχῆς χάριν, αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα συνελθὼν μετὰ πλείστην ψυχωφελῆ διάλεξιν καὶ τοῦ θανάτου μνήμην. ἀκούει, τοῦ πατρὸς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιστραφέντος καὶ λέγοντος· Ὁ βίος βραχὺς τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, ἀδελφὲ Θωμᾶ, ὡς ὄναρ παριππεύων παριππεύον 2. . Τὸ φορτίον δὲ τῶν κακιῶν ἡμῶν ἢ τῶν ἀρετῶν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην περιδεσμούμενον αὔξεται καὶ πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ ὅτι καὶ omits 3. συντόμως μεθίστασαι μεθίσταται 1, 3, 4. . Ταῦτα ἀκούσας καὶ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ὁ Θωμᾶς φροντίσας ἐπιμελέστερον, μετὰ πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν τὸν πρὸς ζωὴν ὑπνώσας ὕπνον ἐν εἰρήνῃ κοιμᾶται.

[36] Τῆς οὖν αἱρέσεως ἔτι omits 2. ἐπικρατούσης καὶ omits 3. διωγμῶν ἐπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐνεργουμένων τοῖς τοῦ τῆς 2, 3. Χριστοῦ εἰκόνος προσκυνηταῖς ὑπὸ Θεοφίλου τοῦ βασιλέως τοὺς πλείστους τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ ἡγουμένων τῆς αἱρετικῆς τότε λύμης ἀποδιδράσκοντας τῶν οἰκείων ἀπανίστασθαι θρόνων καὶ ξένους καὶ πένητας καὶ ὀρειβάτους ὀριβάτας 2, ὀρειβάτας 3. ἀποκαθίστασθαι, συνέβη καὶ τὸν τῆς Ἀγαύρων μονῆς ποιμένα Εὐστράτιον ἐξελθόντα ἀπὸ τόπου εἰς τόπον διὰ Χριστὸν περιάγεσθαι, Ἀντώνιον δέ τινα τῆς αὐτῆς μονῆς τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς συμφρονήσαντα ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς αἱρέσεως ἐξάρχων τὴν τῆς μονῆς ἐκείνης ἡγεμονίαν καὶ ἐπικράτειαν πιστευθῆναι. Ὃς ὡς 2. διαφόρως δηλωθεὶς καὶ νουθετηθεὶς καὶ τρίτον κανονισθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, τῆς αἱρετικῆς οὐ διΐστατο λύμης. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τέταρτον ἀνῄει κανονισθῆναι τῷ ἔτι παρακαλῶν καὶ διόρθωσιν τὴν ὄντως ἐπαγγελλόμενος. Ὁ δὲ πατήρ omits 3, 4. φησιν· Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις σε, ὦ Ἀντώνιε, ἐλθόντα τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν ἐβοήθησα, χεῖρα δοὺς καὶ συναγωνισάμενός σοι, αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀστατεῖς ἀναστατεῖς 3, ἀνστατεῖς 4. , τὸ τέλος σου γνῶθι πέφθακεν καὶ τεσσαρακοντήμερον μόνον χρόνον ὀφείλεις ἐν σκληρᾷ παιδείᾳ μέλλων διέρχεσθαι καὶ αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπενεγκὼν μετὰ χαρᾶς τοῦτον τούτων 2. σωθήσῃ. Ὁ δέ· Δι᾽ εὐχῶν σου τιμίων, εἰρηκώς, ὑπομένω, τίμιε πάτερ, τὸ ἥμισυ μέρος εὐθὺς τοῦ σώματος μετὰ ἄλγους πληγεὶς (εὐθὺς-πληγεὶς) τοῦ σώματος εὐθὺς πληγεὶς μετὰ ἄλγους 2. ὑπὸ τῶν εὑρεθέντων ὡς νεκρὸς ἤρθη, καὶ μετὰ τεσσαρακοστὴν ἡμέραν κεκοίμηται.

[37] Ἀνὴρ δέ τις εὐσεβὴς, τῇ ἀξίᾳ, ὑπατικός, Κωνσταντῖνος τῇ κλήσει, πιστῶς καὶ συχνῶς ἀνήρχετο πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον. Ὅστις ἐν μιᾷ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὁδὸν ποιούμενος, τοῦ κτήνους αὐτοῦ πρὸς ποταμὸν ὀλισθήσαντος, τῶν ἐφοδίων βραχέντων, κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔτυψεν τὸν τὴν διακονίαν ἐκείνου ἐγκεχειρισμένον ἄνθρωπον. Ὃν καὶ καταλαβόντα μετὰ τὸ τῆς εὐχῆς τέλος φησιν ὁ πατήρ· Ὄντως, κύρι ὕπατε, οὐ καλῶς ἐποίησας ὅτι, τοῦ κτήνους ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ ὀλισθήσαντος, κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔτυψάς σου τὸν ὑπηρέτην· ὅταν δέ adds 3. πρὸς ταπεινοὺς καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἔρχῃ, μὴ τύπτε τοὺς συνδούλους. Τούτων τοῦτο 3, 4. ἀκούσας ἐξέστη παραχρῆμα ὁ ὕπατος τῇ διανοίᾳ, τὴν διόρασιν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκθαμβούμενος καὶ βαλὼν μετάνοιαν συγχώρησιν ἐξῃτήσατο. Ἄλλοτε πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς διά τινα χρείαν οἰκονομικῶς ἐκκοπεὶς ἐκκοπιείς 2. τοῦ μὴ ἀνελθεῖν ἀπελθεῖν 3. , ὡς ἔθος εἶχε, πρὸς τὸν μακάριον τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Νικηφόρον ἀντ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀποστέλλει σὺν εὐλογίαις τισὶν αἷς εὐπορεῖτο. Ὃν δεξάμενος καὶ εὐλογήσας ὁ ὅσιος, τὰ περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἠρῶτα. Ὁ δὲ ψελλίζων ἐτραύλιζεν ἄκρως, ὥσπερ παιδίον. Ὃ καὶ αἰσθόμενος ὁ ἀοίδιμος λέγει αὐτῷ· Τέλειος τελείως 4. ὑπάρχων τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἔτι τὴν γλώτταν ἀτελῆ περιφέρεις· οὐκ εὐδοκῶ τοῦτο ὑπάρχειν ἐν σοί, οὐδὲ βούλομαι· εἰπὲ ἄρφα. Ὁ δέ φησιν· ἄλφα. Δευτεροῖ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ πάλιν φησιν ἄλφα, καὶ λέγει· Πρότεινόν σου τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἔξω ἵνα adds 4. θεάσομαι αὐτήν. Τοῦδε τὸ τάχος, ὡς προσετάγη, προτείναντός ποιήσαντος 2. , φησιν ὁ πατήρ, ἀποβλέψας τῇ γλώσσῃ· Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, ὁ Θεὸς καὶ δημιουργός (Θεὸς κ. δημ.) δημ. κ. Θεός 2. σου, ὁ τὰ μογιλάλων μογγιλάλων 1, 2. καὶ κωφῶν διαρρήξας δεσμὰ καὶ λάλον λάλων 4. γλώσσαν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν λογικοῖς ἀποδόμενος ἐντειλάμενος 3, 4. πάλαι, ἐντέλλεταί σοι σε 3, 4. , καὶ νῦν δι᾽ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῦ λαλεῖν τὸ ῥῶ μὴ ψελλίζουσαν ἔτι, καὶ φησὶν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· Εἰπὲ ἄρφα, καὶ εὐθὺς εἷπεν ἄρφα. Ὡς δὲ ὀρθολέκτησεν τὸ ῥῶ τρανολογῶν ὁ νεώτερος, ἐξαίσιον θάμβος ἐπί τε αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον καὶ τοὺς παρόντας ἐπέπεσεν ἐπὶ τῷ τῆς παραδοξοποΐας ταύτης προβλήματι. Ὅθεν εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὰ ἴδια αὐτοῦ ἐπορεύετο χαίρων.

[38] Κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν δὲ τοῦτον, κτιζομένου τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ προφήτου, προδρόμου καὶ βαπτιστοῦ (προδρόμ. κ. βαπτ.) omits 3. , τοῦ ἐν τῇ Ἀντιδίου μονῇ, κατελθὼν ἀπὸ τῆς ἡσυχίας ὁ δίκαιος τοῦτο ἔργον περισκοπῆσαι, εἰ ἄρα γε, ὡς διετάξατο, κτίζεται ἀκριβολογούμενος αὐτὸ περιήρχετο. Ἰωαννοῦ δὲ μοναχοῦ τῆς αὐτῆς μονῆς ἐξελθόντος πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα καὶ χάριν εὐχῆς τοῦ ὁγίου εὑρόντος τινὰς καταλαβόντας, κακεῖσε αὐτὸν παρεῖναι παρά τινων μεμαθηκότας καὶ περὶ αὐτῶν αὐτὸν ὑπομνῆσαι δυσωπηθέντας δυσωπηθέντος 1, 3; δυσωπηθέντες 2. · Μακροθυμήσατε, λέγει αὐτοῖς, μικρόν, ἀδελφοί, καὶ ὃν ἂν ἴδητε ἐξερχόμενον σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐκεῖνός ἐστι, προσέλθετε αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ βούλεσθε. Τοῦ οὖν πατρὸς τότε περινοστήσαντος τὴν οἰκοδομήν, καὶ ἅμα τῷ Ἰωάννῃ πρὸ προσώπου τῶν ζητούντων αὐτὸν αὐτοῦ 2. διελθόντος καὶ μὴ ὁραθέντος, ἀλλὰ πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ ὄρος χωρήσαντος, ὑποστρέψαντι μόνῳ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ οἱ ἐλθόντες θεάσασθαι τὸν μακάριόν φησιν αὐτῷ· Πότε, πάτερ, ὁ ἅγιος, ὡς εἴρηκας, ἐξελεύσεται; Ὁ Col. 366C δέ φησιν αὐτοῖς· Ἤδη σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐξῆλθε, καὶ δἰ ὑμῶν διῆλθε, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἡσυχίαν αὐτοῦ εἰσέδυ. Οἵδε οὐδένα ἕτερον διερχόμενον σὺν αὐτῷ, ὡς ἐπὶ Κυρίου ἰδόντες ἐβεβαιώσαντο, καὶ ἐλυποῦντο λίαν ἀστοχήσαντες αὐτῶν αὐτῷ 3, 4. τῆς ἐφέσεως. Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ἀνελθὼν ἐλθών 2. αὖθις καὶ τῷ πατρὶ ἀναγγείλας τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐπιτρέπεται αὐτοῖς προσειπεῖν ὅτι· Εἰ θέλημα ἦν Θεοῦ, ἀδελφοί, δι᾽ ὑμῶν ἐλθόντα με ἐθεάσασθε ἄν, τὰ νῦν δὲ κεκοπωμένῳ μοι ὄντι συμπαθήσαντες, ὡς ἰδόντες με, ἀλύπως ὑποχωρήσατε, παρὰ Θεοῦ τοῦ κόπου ὑμῶν τὸν μισθὸν ἐκδεχόμενοι, κἀγῶ ὑμῖν ὁ ταπεινὸς ὡς εὐπειθέσιν ὑπερεύξομαι. Οἵδε τοιαῦτα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ δηλωθέντες μετὰ χαρᾶς ἀνεχώρησαν.

[39] Θεόδωρος δέ τις μοναχὸς καὶ ἡγούμενος, γνώριμος τῷ τιμίῳ τούτῳ πατρί, τὰ αὐτοῦ κατορθώματα καὶ θαύματα (καὶ θαύμ.) omits 3, 4. ἐπιστάμενος καὶ ἐπὶ ὠφελείᾳ τινῶν ἐν μιᾷ ταῦτα κηρύττων, εἷς τις τῶν ἀκουόντων φησιν omits 3, 4. . Θαυμαστὰ ἡμῖν λέγεις περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ παράδοξα διηγῇ, πάτερ, ἀλλά, παρακαλῶ σε, λαβών με omits 2. μετὰ σοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν συνανάγαγε, ὁπῶς αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἰδὼν πιστῶ πιστωθῶ 4. Θεῷ. Συνανελθὼν δὲ τῷ ἡγουμένῳ Θεοδώρῳ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἱκέτευσε, λαβών τε εὐχὴν καὶ συνεστιάσεως τούτου κατηξιώθη.

Ἐσθιόντων δὲ αὐτῶν, ἄρκος παμμεγέθης ἐκ τοῦ πλησίον ἄλσους προκύψασα μεγάλως τοὺς συνεστιάτορας ἐξεφόβησε. Πρὸς οὕς φησιν ὁ μακάριος· Ὁ τὸν Θεὸν φοβούμενος οὐ πτοεῖται θηρία· ὡς θεῖαν γὰρ Θεοῦ εἰκόνα ταῦτα ὑποσαίνει αὐτὸν καὶ ὑποπτήσσει. Καί φησι προστακτικῶς ὁ πατὴρ τῷ θηρίῳ· Ἐλθὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Ἐλθούσῃ δὲ αὐτῇ, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ μετὰ τρόμου πλησιασάσῃ αὐτοῖς ἐκείνοις οἰκείαις χερσὶ ψωμίζειν ἐπέτρεπεν αὐτήν· οἱ καὶ ψωμίζοντες ἐξεπλήττοντο. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ omits 3, 4. λέγει αὐτῇ· Πορεύου ὅθεν καὶ προῆλθες. Ἡ δὲ μετ᾽ αἰδοῦς τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς κλίνασα καὶ οἰονεὶ προσκυνήσασα αὐτῷ (προσκ. αὐτῷ) omits 3. πρὸς τὸ ὄρος εἰσέδυ. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τοὺς προμελετηθέντας τε καὶ μελετωμένους λογισμοὺς ἐκφαυλίζων τῶν ἐσθιόντων λέγει· Τοῖς θηρίοις τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰκόνα ἤγουν εἰτ᾽ οὖν 2, 3, 4. τὸν ἄνθρωπον μὴ φοβεῖσθαι καὶ τρέμειν ἐπιτέτραπται δημιουργηθεῖσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν ὁὐκ ἐφυλάξαμεν καὶ νῦν δὲ τῶν τοιούτων καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ταῖς παραβάσεσιν ἁλισκόμεθα, τρέμομεν ἡμεῖς τὸ ἀνάπαλιν τὰ θηρία. Εἰ δὲ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐντολῶν ἀκαταίσχυντοι εὑρεθῶμεν ἐρασταί, ἐπὶ ἀσπίδας καὶ βασιλίσκους, λέοντάς τε καὶ δράκοντας αἰσθητῶς καὶ νοερῶς ἐπιβῆναι δυνάμεθα, καὶ μή τις ἀπιστείτω τὴν χάριν ταύτην τοῦ κατ᾽ εἰκόνα δηλοῦσαν τὸ ἀπαράγραπτον. Ταῦτα ἀκηκοότες οἱ πρότερον ἀμφιβάλλοντες τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοψεὶ βεβαιωθέντες τὸ ἔνθεον, λαβόντες αὐτοῦ τὰς εὐχὰς ἀπελύθησαν.

[40] Πτωχοῖς ἀλλοτε παρακαλοῦσι καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην αἰτοῦσι μὴ ἔχων χρυσὸν ὁ πατὴρ μήτε ἄργυρον ὅλως ἐπιτρέπει Θεοδούλῳ τῷ ὑπουργῷ αὐτοῦ· Ἄγε ἐνταῦθα, εἰπών, τὸ πλήρες ἄγγος ἐλαίου, καὶ δὸς τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡμῶν τοῖς πτωχοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ κενὸν ἀγγεῖον ἐλαίου συνεπικόμιζε. Ὁ δὲ λέγει· Τοῦ μεστοῦ, πάτερ, φερομένου ἐνταῦθα ἄγγους, τίς ἡ χρεία τοῦ κενωμένου τῆς παρουσίας; Ὁ δὲ πατήρ· Εὐλογίαν ἔχεις, φησίν, ὡς εἶπον σοι οὕτως ποίησον. Ὁ δὲ Θεόδουλος ἀπιὼν τὸ προστεταγμένον πληρῶσαι καὶ ὑποστρέφων ὀλισθήσας συνεποδίσθη, καὶ τρηθέντος τοῦ πλήρους εἰς τὸ κενὸν μετάγει τὸ ἔλαιον. Τότε ὁ ἀδελφὸς Θεόδουλος συναισθόμενος τὴν πρὸς ὀλίγον αὐτοῦ γενομένην πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀνηκοΐαν, ἐθρήνησεν, καὶ ἐλθὼν τούτῳ σὺν μετανοίᾳ ἀπελογήσατο, τὴν προφητικὴν αὐτοῦ ἀποθαυμάσας διόρασιν.

[41] Τῷ οὖν πολλάκις μνημονευθέντι ὁσίου 3, 4. ὁσίῳ Εὐστρατίῳ, ἡγουμένῳ Ἀγαύρων, συνέβη πλείστην αἵματος ῥύσιν γενέσθαι ἐκ τῶν ἐγκάτων καί adds 3. , ὡς ἄφωνον κεῖσθαι καὶ μόλις δυνηθῆναι μοναχῷ τινὶ Νικολάῳ προσφθέγξασθαι τοῦ ἀνελθόντα εἰπεῖν τῷ ὁσίῳ τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτόν. Ὡς δὲ ἀπελθὼν τῷ πατρὶ ἀπήγγειλε τὰ κατὰ Εὐστράτιον Νικολάος· Μεῖνον ὀλίγον αὐτῷ λέγων 3. , τέκνον, φησὶν αὐτῷ ὁ θαυμάσιος, καὶ διαστὰς ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μικρόν, ὡς διά τινα χρείαν, δι᾽ εὐχὴν δὲ ὄντως ἐκτενῆ, ὡς οὐκ ἔλαθεν, ὑποστρέψας δηλοποιεῖ τῷ αἰτήσαντι ὡς· Οὐκ ἀποθάνῃ τῷ νῦν, εἰπών λοιπόν 4. , ὦ Εὐστράτιε, ὀψόμεθα γὰρ πάλιν ἀλλήλους ἐν σαρκί, μὴ ἀθυμεῖ ἀθύμεια 4. . Ὁ δὲ μοναχὸς omits 3, 4. Νικόλαος τοῦ ὄρους (τοῦ ὄρ.) omits 3, 4. καταβὰς τὰ τοῦ ὁσίου ἀπήγγειλε τῷ Εὐστρατίῳ, ἐρρωμένον καταλαβὼν αὐτόν· καὶ πότε ἀνερρώσθη μαθών, εὗρεν ἀκριβολογήσας ὡς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν ὥραν, ἣν ὁ πατὴρ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, μετὰ τὸ τοῦ 1. μαθεῖν, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐδεήθη, σωθεὶς σωσθείς 1. ἐπλούτησε ἐπλάτησε 4. τὴν ἀνάρρωσιν. Μηδέπω μήπω 2, 3. δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἀναληψαμένου ἀπὸ τῆς νόσου, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῷ μετοχίῳ αὐτοῦ καλουμένῳ Λευκάδων ὄντων ἀδελφῶν δυσωπεῖται παραγενέσθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς δι᾽ ὠφέλειαν καὶ συνομιλίαν πνευματικήν. Ὃς φιλοσυμπαθέστατος πέλων καὶ μὴ θέλων τινὰ λυπῆσαι, ὑπακούσας ἀπῄει. Ὅθεν κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας καὶ omits 2, 4. ὑποστρέψας σφοδρότερον ἐν νόσῳ, λάβρῳ πυρέτῳ κατεσχέθη. Ἐπὶ τέσσαρας ἡμέρας ἐκεῖσε ἄφωνος διαμείνας διακείμενος 2. καὶ ἄσιτος, κυκλοτερῶς κυκλοτερῶν 4. περιἳσταμένων καὶ θρηνωδούντων τῶν μοναχῶν, ὅτε δὲ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν συνεκλείπουσαν αἰσθόμενος συναισθόμενος 3, 4. εἶδεν, τὸν ὅσιον μετ᾽ εὐχῆς κατὰ διάνοιαν παρακαλεῖ ὁ Εὐστράτιος, καὶ εὐθέως εἰς ὕπνον τραπεὶς συλλαλοῦντα αὐτῷ ὁρᾷ τὸν ἅγιον πατέρα καὶ ἐνισχύοντα. Καὶ διυπνισθεὶς μετὰ ταῦτα (διυπ. μέτ. ταύτ.) omits 4. , εὐθὺς ἀνενεγκῶν ἀπὸ τῆς νόσου ἦλθεν ὑγιαίνων εἰς τὴν μονὴν αὐτοῦ, δοξάζων τὸν Κύριον καὶ τὸν ὅσιον αὐτοῦ (δοξάζ.-αὐτ.) omits 3, 4. .

[42] Τοῦ οὗν κακίστου καὶ δεινοῦ (κακ. καὶ δεινοῦ) omits 3, 4. Θεοφἰλου τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας ἐλαύνοντος καὶ τὸ ὑπήκοον διὰ γραφέων (διὰ γραφ.) δι᾽ ἀναγραφέων 3, 4. κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν πλεονεκτοῦντος ἀσυμπαθῶς, εἷς τις ἐξ αὐτῶν τοῦ Ὀψικίου πρωτονοτάριος ἀναγραφεὺς καὶ σπαθάριος Δρόσος, χάριν εὐχῆς, ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον. ᾯ συγκαθεσθεὶς καὶ πλεῖστα ψυχωφελῆ προσφθεγξάμενος ὁ πάτηρ λέγει· Εὐτρέπισον σεαυτόν, σπαθάριε, καὶ τοὺς χάρτας σου· ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς συντόμως μετακαλεῖταί σε ἀποδοῦναι εὐθύνας τῶν πεπραγμένων. Ὁ δὲ μὴ νοήσας ὅτι ἀλληγορικόν ἐστι τὸ ῥηθέν, ἕτοιμον αὐτὸν ἔφη εἶναι, εἰ καὶ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ζητηθείη τὴν ὥραν. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ λέγει αὐτῷ (λέγ. αὐτ.) omits 3, 4. · Οὐ περὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλέως σοι εἶπον λέγει αὐτῷ adds 3, 4. ἢ χαρτῶν ἀδικίας, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς κατοικοῦντος καὶ τὰ κρυπτὰ ὁρῶντος τῶν καρδιῶν ἡμῶν, τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀπαιτεῖν τῶν ἔργων καὶ λόγων καὶ ἐννοιῶν ἡμῶν, ἁπάσης νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸ πέρας, ἢ αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν φυλακῆς, ἢ τῷ ἐχθρῷ τουναντίον διὰ τῶν παραβάσεων ἐδουλώθημεν. Ὁ καιρὸς γάρ σου τῆς ἀναλύσεως ἤγγικεν· διὸ ἀνάπτυξόν σου τοὺς χάρτας τῶν ἐπταισμένων ἐμπταισμένων 4. κατὰ διάνοιαν ὕδασι δακρύων καὶ σπόγγῳ ἐλεημοσύνης ἀπαλείφων αὐτούς, ὅπως μὴ εὑρεθεῖεν ἐν τῇ τῆς κρίσεως ἡμέρᾳ κατηγοροῦντές σου. Ταῦτα αὐτῷ εἰρηκὼς καὶ εὐξάμενος, ἀπολύει. Ὁ δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων τοῦ ἁγίου πατρὸς μὴ φροντίσας, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι εἰς τὴν ἄδικον ἐκείνην καταγραφὴν διερχόμενος, ὡς ἤδη ἔφθασε περὶ τὰ μητάτα Λυδίας, ἀποθνήσκει συντόμως.

[43] Πέτρος δὲ μοναχὸς εὐλαβὴς καὶ ἐνάρετος πάνυ συνήθως καὶ συνεχῶς ἐρχόμενος πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνελθὼν, ἐν μιᾷ σὺν πλησιοχώρῳ αὐτοῦ ἡσυχαστῇ Πλάτωνι καλουμένῳ, καὶ εὐλογηθεὶς συγκαθημένου αὐτοῖς τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ συνομιλοῦντος θεοχαρίτωτα, φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων τότε· Ἀπὸ ψυχῆς καὶ πίστεως ἐκδυσωποῦμέν σε, πάτερ ἅγιε, ἃπαξ τοῦ ἔτους ἡμῖν χαρίζεσθαι τὴν τιμίαν συνομιλίαν καὶ θέαν σου, πίστιν ἐκ τούτων καὶ γνῶσιν μεταλαμβάνουσι διὰ Πνεύματος, ὡς ἐξ ἡλίου ὄντως φῶς καὶ θερμότητα. Ὁ δέ· Γινώσκειν σε λέγει adds 4. βούλομαι, ἀδελφὲ (ἀδελφὲ-βουλόμενος) omits Πλάτων, ὡς οὐ προσθήσῃ θεάσασθαί με σωματικῶς ἔτι ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ βουλόμενος (ἀδελφὲ-βουλόμενος) omits . Ὅθεν δοὺς αὐτοῖς ἄρτου ξηροῦ ἀνὰ μερίδων δώδεκα εἰς εὐλογίαν, ἐξέπεμψε μετ᾽ εἰρήνης (μετ᾽ εἰρην.) omits 3, 4. . Τῷ οὖν ἐπιόντι ἐνιαυτῷ συναπελθὼν τῷ Πλάτωνι ὁ ἀββᾶς Πέτρος πρὸς ἕτερον μοναχὸν μήκοθεν ἡσυχάζοντα, καὶ αὐτὸν Πέτρον καλούμενον, ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Βιθυνίαν μοναστηρίου Ἡράκλην ὀνομαζόμενου ὁρμώμενον, τὸν καὶ μικρὸν ὕστερον, Θεοῦ χάριτι γενομένης ὀρθοδοξίας, μητροπολίτην Συλλαίου γενόμενον, ἐπισκέψεως ἕνεκα καὶ εὐχῆς, μετὰ ἀσπασμὸν καὶ συνομιλίαν πνευματικήν, φησὶν ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς ὅν παραγέγονε Πέτρον· Ἔφεσιν ὄντως οὐ μικρὰν ἔχω, πάτερ, τὸν ἅγιον Ἰωαννίκιον ἰδεῖν καὶ (καὶ-κατασπάσ.) omits 3, 4. τὰ τίμια αὐτοῦ ἴχνη κατασπάσασθαι (καὶ-κατασπάσ.) omits 3, 4. , ἀλλὰ ἀδυνατῶ τοῦ πεζοπορῆσαι καὶ κτήνους ἀπορῶ καὶ μισθώματος. Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος πρὸς Πέτρον ἔφη· Συνανελεύσῃ μοι, ἀδελφέ, βουλομένῳ, ἐφ᾽ ἑνί μου τῶν κτηνῶν ἐπιβαίνων. Τὸν Πλάτωνα αὐτῷ συνανακομίσαι μὴ εὐδοκήσας, ὁ οὖν Πλάτων λοιπὸν ἀπορήσας ἐκεῖθεν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ἐρευνάσας, κτῆνος κτήνους 1, 2, 4. οὐχ εὗρεν ἵνα μὴ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ θεάπων Ἰωαννίκιος ψεύστης ἀποδειχθῇ, μὴ ὄψεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν σαρκὶ ἔτι τῷ Πλάτωνι εἰρηκώς. Ἀνελθόντων δὲ τούτων καὶ ἀπαίρειν μελλόντων μελετώντων 2. , ἕκαστος αὐτῶν εἰσιὼν μυστικῶς ἐπευλογεῖτο τῷ πατρί, ἀνατιθέμενος τὰ καθ᾽ ἑαυτόν, δώδεκα δὲ μερίδας ἄρτου ξηροῦ εἰς εὐλογίας χάριν ἀπήρχοντο κομιζόμενος ἕκαστος. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ πάντας εἰσελθεῖν καὶ εὐλογηθῆναι, καὶ ὁ τοῦ Πλάτωνος συναγωνιστὴς καὶ συνήσυχος Πετρὸς εἰσῄει. ᾯ καὶ δοὺς ὁ πατὴρ δώδεκα εὐλογίας, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἄλλοις, καὶ λόγῳ τοῦ Πλάτωνος αὐτῷ δέδωκε λέξας· Εἰπὲ Πλάτωνι, ὦ τέκνον Πέτρε· μὴ λυποῦ, ὅτι ἄκων τῆς ταπεινῆς μου θέας ἀπελείφθης. Ἐδέξατό σου τὴν πρόθεσιν Κύριος καὶ ὡς ὁς 1. κοπιάσαντι τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδώσει. Τοῦ δὲ Πέτρου ταῦτα ἀκούοντος παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κατὰ διάνοιαν λέγοντος· Εἴθε καὶ τῇ ἐμῇ μητρὶ καὶ ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς ὁ πατὴρ ἔπεμψεν εὐλογίας εὐλογίαις 2. , δίδωσιν (δίδωσ.-εὐλογ.) omits 4. αὐτῷ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀδολεσχοῦντι ἑτέρας εὐλογίας (δίδωσ.-εὐλογ.) omits 4. τριάκοντα ἕξ εἰπών· Δὸς ἀνὰ ἕξ τῇ τε μητρί σου καὶ ταῖς πέντε σου ἀδελφαῖς, ὦ τέκνον Πέτρε, καὶ συμπορεύου χαίρων τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς σου. Ὅθεν ὁ Πέτρος ἐπὶ τῇ διοράσει ἐκστὰς τοῦ πατρός, θάμβους καὶ ὠφελελείας καὶ εὐλογίας πλήρης, κατέρχεται.

[35] St. Ioannicius heals many sick, When he had made for the mountains of the monastery of Antidius, having built a small cell in narrower places, he lived as a solitary, hoping that he would lie hidden there from most people. But, according to the word of Christ ^a, that city in which God dwells, set on the mountain of virtues, is not hidden to the end. For the wife of the patrician and magister Stephen ^b, infected with poison through the malice of her maidservants and become mad, when she had spent the greatest part of her riches uselessly on physicians, comes to that just man, brought by her kinsfolk and friends. The father, gazing on her, moved by mercy, when he had prayed for her and signed her with the sign of the cross, sent her back healed to her home, recommending to her that she no longer make inquiry into those who had harmed her, but, imitating Christ, forgive those who had wished to kill her. The monk Stephen, most pious and full of virtues, who had become notary of the commander Olbianus ^c, frequently came to the father to manifest his conscience and to be directed by his counsels. To whom one day the father said: We must always watch, son Stephen, because we do not know at what hour our Lord is to come, and one is snatched away before another. Wherefore be ready and disposed: for our king and God will call you and will soon make you depart from the body. He, having received the blessing, being dismissed, after eight days goes out from the world and passes to the Lord, working many healings daily through the touch of his relics ^d. Another

monk too, named Thomas, when he had come with the hegumen Euthymius, who was the son of a patrician and magister, to the father for the sake of receiving a blessing, after a long spiritual conversation also heard mention of death from the father, who turned to him and said: Life is short in our course, brother Thomas, passing away like a dream. But the burden of our evils or virtues, bound together daily, is increased: look to yourself, because you will soon be changed. Having heard these things, and when Thomas had reflected more diligently on the things that pertained to his soul, after the fifteenth day he sleeps the last sleep of life and rests in peace.

[36] he converts Antony, hegumen of the Agauri, While the heresy still prevailed and harassments one after another were raging against the adorers of the image of Christ on the part of the emperor Theophilus ^e, very many of the bishops and hegumens fled the heretical pest and, having left their seats, were driven out as strangers and poor men and wanderers in the mountains. It happened that the prelate of the monastery of the Agauri, Eustratius, cast out, was carried about from place to place for Christ's sake, and that the prefecture and lordship of this monastery was entrusted by the promoters of the heresy to a certain Antony ^f of the same monastery who consented to the heretics. He, though rather often shown his error and admonished, and three times rebuked by the father, did not desist from the heretical pest. Afterwards he went up to him a fourth time too to reproach him, the father once more exhorting him and pointing out the right road. For the father says: Since I have helped you many times, O Antony, when you came, as far as I could, lending a hand and disputing with you, but you struggle against the truth, know that your end has drawn near and that a time of forty days remains to you to be passed in hard discipline; but if you bear this with joy, you will be saved. When he had said: Through your precious prayers I shall bear it, venerable father, suddenly struck with pain in half of his body, he was taken up as dead by those who found him, and after the fortieth day he died.

[37] he restores the right use of the tongue to a stammerer, A certain pious man of the consular order, named Constantine, used to visit the saint faithfully and frequently. When one day he was making the journey to him, and his beast of burden had slipped into a river, the baggage being soaked, he beat on the head the man to whom the office of guiding it had been committed. When the father had received him, the prayer having been completed, he says: Truly, lord consul, you did not act rightly when, the beast having slipped into the river, you struck your servant on the head; when you come to the humble and sinners, do not strike your fellow servants. When he had heard this, the consul, at once marvelling at the father's perspicacity of thought, and having done penance, asked pardon. Another time, however, the same man, hindered by a certain necessity of his administration from going up to the blessed one, as he was accustomed, sends his son Nicephorus in his place with certain blessings in which he abounded. When the saint had received him and blessed him, he asks him about his father. He, stammering, stumbled vehemently in speaking, like a boy. Noticing this, the illustrious man says to him: Though you are of full age, you still bear an imperfect tongue; I do not approve that this be in you, nor do I wish it. Say arpha. He says: Alpha. He repeats the same, but he says again: alpha. Then he says: Stretch out your tongue, I shall examine it from outside. When he had quickly put it forth, as he was bidden, the father, having examined the tongue, says: Christ Jesus, your God and Creator, who broke the bonds of the tongue of those who stammer and of the mute, and gave a speaking tongue to those who are rational by nature, now bids you through me, humble and a sinner, to speak rho without stammering. Then he says to the man: Say arpha, and at once he said arpha. As the young man pronounced rho correctly, speaking clearly, a terrible trembling fell upon him and upon those standing by, this wonderful deed having been set before them. Then, giving thanks to the Lord and to the saint, the man returned home rejoicing.

[38] he makes himself invisible to passers-by, At the same time, while a church of St. John the prophet, forerunner and baptist, was being built in the monastery of Antidius, the just man, coming down from his solitude to inspect this work, whether indeed it was being founded as he had ordered, was walking about inquiring diligently. The monk John, however, going out from the same monastery to the gateway, when he had found certain people who had put in there for the sake of receiving the saint's blessing, who had heard from some that he was there, and who at the same time asked that he be mindful of them: Wait, he says to them, a little, brothers, and the one you see coming out with me, that is he; go to him, as you wish. Then, when the father had returned from the building and, together with John, was passing before the face of those seeking him, yet not seen, and was withdrawing into the mountain, those who had come to see the blessed one say to John as he returned alone: When will the father, the saint, come out, as you said? He answered them: He has already come out with me and passed through the midst of you and has gone into his solitude. But they affirmed in the name of the Lord that they had seen no other passing with him, and were greatly saddened, disappointed in their petition. When John had gone up again and announced to the father what they wanted, he is admonished to tell them: If it had been the will of God, brothers, you would have seen me passing through the midst of you. But now pardon me, who am weary, and as if you had seen me, go away not saddened, to receive from God the reward of your labour. I for my part, wretched as I am, shall pray for you with kindly prayers. And they, these things having been made known to them by him, went away with joy.

[39] he makes a bear gentle, A certain Theodore, monk and hegumen ^g, who was known to this venerable father and knew his virtues and miracles, when one day he was telling them for the spiritual profit of certain persons, one of the hearers said: You tell us wonderful things about this man and you narrate incredible things, father; but, I pray you, take me with you and lead me to him, that I myself, seeing, may believe God. When, then, this man had accompanied the hegumen Theodore to the father, as he had asked, having received the blessing, he was admitted to his table. While they were eating, a bear of wonderful size rushed out of the nearby forest and greatly disturbed the guests. To whom the blessed one says: He who fears God does not dread wild beasts; for they lick him as the image of God and revere him. The father also says, commanding the beast: Come to us. When it had come and had approached his feet with trembling, he exhorted them to stroke it with their own hands. When they had stroked it with their hand, greatly afraid, the father says to it: Go back whence you came. And it, reverently bowing its head and as if adoring him, went into the mountain. The saint, however, rebuking the thoughts which the guest had turned over and was still turning over, said: It was not established when they were created that wild beasts should cast fear or trembling into the image of God, namely man, but since we have transgressed the commandment and even now are daily deceived by such transgressions, we in turn fear the wild beasts. But if we were found most zealous lovers of the commandments of Christ, we should be able to walk sensibly and visibly upon asps and basilisks, lions and dragons ^h; nor let anyone presume to deny this grace, which manifests what is indescribable in the image. When those who before were calumniating had heard these things, confirmed by the sight of the father concerning the divine inspiration in him, having received his blessing, they were dismissed.

[40] to the monk Theodulus things to come, Another time, when beggars were supplicating and asking alms, the father, having neither gold nor silver at all, commands Theodulus his attendant: Bring here, he says, a vessel full of oil and give it to our brothers the beggars; but bring also an empty oil vessel with you. He says: If I bring here a full vessel, father, what need is there that an empty one be present? To whom the father: You have the blessing, he says; as I told you, so do. Theodulus, going off to fulfil the orders and returning, when he had slipped and the full vessel had been pierced, transferred the oil into the empty one. Then brother Theodulus, understanding the disobedience which he had shown a little before toward the father, wept, and when he had returned, asked pardon with repentance, marvelling at his prophetic perspicacity.

[41] the healing of the hegumen Eustratius, To the blessed Eustratius, so often mentioned, hegumen of the Agauri, it happened that he vomited much blood from his intestines. He lay without voice, so that he could scarcely address a certain monk Nicholas, that he should go off to the saint and announce his state. Nicholas having set out, when he had disclosed to the father the things concerning Eustratius: Remain a little while, son, the wonderful man says to him, and withdrawing a little from him, as if for some necessity, but in truth to pray earnestly, since he was ignorant of nothing, on returning he makes it known to him who asked: You will not die now, he says, O Eustratius, for we shall see one another again in the flesh; do not be cast down in spirit. When the monk Nicholas had come down from the mountain, he announced the words of the saint to Eustratius, whom he found healed, and when he had learned at what time he had been healed, by inquiring he found out that he had been granted health at this same hour at which the father, after he had heard, had prayed to God for him. However, when his body had not yet been altogether restored from the illness, he is asked by the brothers who were in his community called of the Leucades ⁱ to come to them, for the sake of profit and spiritual conversation. He, very kind and not wishing to distress anyone, complying, sets out. Thereupon, wearied by the journey, he at once relapsed into illness and was seized by a violent fever ^k. When he had remained there for four days without voice and without food, the monks standing around and lamenting, when he felt his strength failing him, Eustratius invoked the blessed one in mental prayer, and at once, rapt in sleep, he sees the holy father conversing with him and strengthening him. Awakening afterwards, at once transferred from illness, he returned healed to his monastery, praising the Lord and his saint.

[42] To the spatharius Drosus While the most wicked and terrible Theophilus was persecuting pious men and at this time was cruelly exacting obedience by edicts, a certain one of them, protonotary of the Opsikion ^l, scribe ^m and spatharius ⁿ, Drosus, came to the saint for the sake of receiving a blessing. When he was sitting by him and the father had spoken very many things profitable to the soul, he says to him: Put yourself in order, spatharius, and your papers; for the king will soon call you to render an account of what you have done. He, not understanding that this was said allegorically, answered that he was ready if he were examined at this very hour. To whom the father says: I spoke to you neither of an earthly king nor of papers of iniquity, but of him who dwells in the heavens and sees the hidden things of our hearts, who is going to inquire into the beginning and end of our works and words and of our thoughts of night and day, whether we have served him by the keeping of the commandments, or the enemy against him by transgression. For the time of your dissolution is at hand. Wherefore unroll the papers of your faults, blotting them out with spiritual tears and the sponge of almsgiving, lest they be found accusing you on the day of judgment. When he had said these things to him and had prayed well for him,

he dismissed him. But he, not at all anxious about the words of the holy father, but rather persevering in that wicked enrolment, when he came to the borders of Lydia, quickly dies.

[43] and he foretells death to the monk Plato. When Peter ^o, a reverend monk and plainly devoted to virtue, who very familiarly and frequently came to the saint, had arrived one day with another solitary, his neighbour, called Plato, having received the blessing, and while the father was sitting with them and conversing with the greatest charity in God, Plato then said: With our whole soul and faith we humbly ask you, holy father, to grant us once a year your precious conversation and your sight, we who pluck faith and doctrine from them through the Spirit, as truly light and heat from the sun. But he: I wish you to know, brother Plato, that it will not be granted you to see me in the body from this time onward, even if you wish. Then, having given them twelve pieces of dry bread as a blessing, he dismissed them in peace. As the year went on, however, when the abbot Peter had gone with Plato to another monk living as a solitary far off, and himself called Peter, who was sprung from a certain monastery in Bithynia named of Heracles [p], and a little later, orthodoxy having been restored by the grace of God, was made metropolitan of Syllaeum [q], to visit him and receive his blessing, after the embrace and spiritual conversation Peter said to Peter, with whom he had come together: I have truly no small desire, father, to see St. Ioannicius and to embrace his venerable footprints; but I cannot go on foot and I lack a beast of burden and provisions for the journey. And Peter answered Peter: You will accompany me, brother, who wish to go with you, sitting on one of my beasts. When he had not wished to take Plato with him, Plato himself, who also lacked a beast of burden, when he had sought here and everywhere, nevertheless did not find one, so that the servant of God Ioannicius should not be shown a liar, who had told Plato that he would no longer see his face in the flesh. When these had gone up and were about to set out, each of them having entered was blessed privately by the father; then, having manifested their conscience, receiving twelve fragments of dry bread as a blessing they went away. After all had entered and had been blessed, Peter too entered, the companion and colleague of Plato. When the father had given him too twelve blessings, as to the others, he gave him besides for Plato, saying: Say to Plato, O son Peter: "do not be sad that against your will you have been bereft of the sight of wretched me. The Lord has accepted your good will and, as if you had laboured, will render the reward." When Peter heard these things from the father and was saying in his mind: Would that the father would send blessings to my mother and sisters too, he gave him, while he was thinking this, another thirty-six blessings, saying: Give six apiece both to your mother and to your five sisters, O son Peter, and go joyfully with your brothers. Thereupon Peter, marvelling at the father's foreknowledge, moved and filled with spiritual counsels and blessing, sets out.

ANNOTATIONS.

a Matt. V, 14.

h Ps. XC, 13.

p That monastery of Heracles, or of Heraclius, or of Heracleus, is known from the Chronographia of Theophanes. P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 863, whose situation he defines thus: κατῆλθεν ἐν τῇ Κίῳ τῆς Βιθυνίας εἰς τὴν μονὴν τοῦ Ἡρακλείου. Kios, in Latin Cius, today Ghio, was a port between Nicaea and Prusa on the sea, not far from Mount Olympus; cf. Texier, L'Asie Mineure, p. 112. Among the subscribers of the seventh synod, already so often mentioned, is read the name of Joseph, hegumen and archimandrite of Heraclius. Cf. P. G., vol. XCVIII, p. 215; of whom Theodore the Studite also makes mention in letter 9 of Book II; P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1139.

q On Peter, metropolitan of Syllaeum, see Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 1019. As the author rightly will have it, he was ordained when orthodoxy had been restored under Michael III and Theodora, when, under the leadership of Methodius, patriarch of Constantinople, the churches were purged of wicked shepherds. Cf. Hergenröther, Photius, vol. I, p. 352. Syllaeum, moreover, is a city of Pamphylia, not far from the city of Perge, which was the metropolis of the province, as is witnessed by the Acts of the council of Chalcedon, by the scholiast of Callimachus, Hymn to Diana v. 187, and by Ezech. Spanheim, Dissert. 9 de V. et P. nummis, p. 561, whom Wesseling brings forward in his Commentary on the Synecdemus of Hierocles, in P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 1238. But, as the present text also confirms, in which the monk Peter is named Συλλαίου μητροπολίτης, Perge lost the metropolitan dignity, and Syllaeum was distinguished with it. On the various forms under which this word appears, Σύλλαιον, Σύλαιον, Σύλεον, Συλείον, Σύλλιον, Σύλλειον, indeed Σύλουον, Σίλυον and Σέλλιον, cf. Wesseling, in the place already cited. As we shall note in its time, the text of the monk Peter prefers Σύλαιον.

CHAPTER TEN.

St. Ioannicius admonishes the emperor Theophilus and writes to St. Methodius the patriarch, to strengthen him against his detractors.

[44] Τοῦ δὲ μακαριωτάτου καὶ θαυματουροῦ Πέτρου, ἡγουμένου γεγονότος τῆς omits 2. μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου (Ζαχαρίου-αγίου) omits 4. Ζαχαρίου, ὑπὸ πόδας τοῦ ἐκεῖσε Ὀλυμπιακοῦ Ὀλυμπικοῦ 2. ὄρους καὶ σύγεγγυς Καλουκώμης κειμένης, ἐν τῷ ὑπεράνω τῆς μονῆς βασιλείου βαλαίου (sic) 3. ναῷ τοῦ ἁγίου (Ζαχαρίου-αγίου) omits 4. Νικολάου τότε κατασκηνοῦντος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τοῦ σώματος ὁ ἀοίδιμος ἀπανέστη, κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Ἀντώνιον τὰ τοῦ Νιτριώτου Ἀμοῦν ἐξοδεύσαντος θεοπρεπῆ θεασάμενον *, ὁ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον οὗτος ἐρημικὸς καὶ φιλήσυχος καὶ μέγας Ἰωαννίκιος τὰ τῆς ἐνδόξου ἀπὸ γῆς πρὸς οὐρανὸν μεταθέσεως τοῦ πατρὸς Πέτρου ἀποκαλύπτεται φοβερά. Ὅ πρὸς ἐμὲ τὸν ἐλάχιστον οἰκείῳ στόματι εἴρηκεν ὅτι· Ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ τῶν ἑωθινῶν ὕμνων, ἐν ᾗ τετελείωτο ὁ πατὴρ Πέτρος, τέκνον Σάβα, προσευχομένου μου, γεγονὼς ἐν ἐκστάσει εἶδον ὡς ἐν τῷ τοῦ ἁγίου omits 3, 4. ἱεράρχου Νικολάου να σὺν τῷ τρισοσίῳ πατρὶ Πέτρῳ παρήμην, καὶ ἰδού, φησίν, ὄρος περικαλλὲς καὶ τερπνότατον τερπνόν 3. , οὗ ἡ κορυφὴ τὰς οὐρανίους ὑπερῆρεν ἀψίδας. Ὑπὸ πόδας δὲ τούτου ἄμφω ἡμῶν ἱσταμένων καὶ συλλαλούντων, δύο τινὲς ἡμῖν ἄνδρες ἀστραπηφόροι ἄνωθεν ἐπιστάντες χεῖρα αὐτοῦ κατασχόντες τρὸς ἑκατέραν σὺν αὐτῷ ἀνέβαινον ὅθεν κατῆλθον. Ὅσον δέ μου αὐτὸς τῇ ἀναβάσει διΐστατο, τοσοῦτον λοιπὸν τῇ θεάᾳ δόξῃ κατηγλαΐζετο, καὶ ὅσον τοῖς ἐμοῖς σωματικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀπεκρύπτετο, μᾶλλον αὐτὸς καὶ μᾶλλον κατελαμπρύνετο. Τοῦτο ἑωρακὼς ἕνα τῶν ὑπηρετῶν μου ἀποστείλας, εὑπίσκω ὡς παῤ αὐτὰ κεκοίμητο ὁ θαυματουργὸς καὶ μακάριος Πέτρος καὶ τὸ πενεῦμά μου ταχθείη μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ.

Ταῦτα (ταῦτα-πλατύτερον omits 2. οὖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου ὡς ἐπὶ Κυρίου παραλαβών, ἐνταῦθα μὲν μέρους, ἐν δὲ τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς Πέτρου βίῳ προεξεθέμην πλατύτερον· (ταῦτα-πλατύτερον omits 2. .

[45] Ὁ οὖν βασιλεὺς Θεόφιλος ἔτι τοὺς τῆς Χριστοῦ εἰκόνος προσκυνητὰς διώκων, ἀποστέλλει τρὸς τοῦτον τὸν προφητικώτατον ἄνδρα καὶ μέγαν Ἰωαννίκιον δύο τινὰς τῶν οἰκείων αὐτοῦ καὶ μεγιστάνων κατὰ καιρούς, φημὶ δὴ τὸν πρωτοβεστιάριον καὶ τὸν κουράτωρα τὸν μέγαν, πειραστικῶς ἐρωτήσοντας εἰ δεῖ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσκυνεῖν τὴν εἰκόνα. Ὧν ἀνελθόντων, δεχθέντων τε καὶ συνομιλούντων τῷ μακαρίτῃ, νεύει ὁ ἕτερος αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον ἀπογυμνῶσαι τῷ πατρὶ τό, περὶ ὅ παραγεγόνασιν, ἐπερώτημα. Πρὸ τοῦ αὐτοὺς προτείναι (τὸν λόγον) omits 2. ὁ πατὴρ λέγει· Τί οὖν ἐστιν, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὅπερ ἀλλήλοις ἐννεύετε; Μὴ περὶ τῆς τοῦ adds 3. Χριστοῦ εἰκόνος ἐστάλητε ἐρωτῆσαί με εἰ δεῖ προσκυνεῖσθαι αὐτήν; Γνῶτε οὖν, καὶ τῷ ἀποστείλαντι ὑμᾶς ἀπαγγείλατε ὅτι ἡ μὴν ἱερὰ ὄντως καὶ θεία Γραφὴ πολλαῖς μαρτυρίαις ἀποδεικνύει τὴν τῆς Χριστοῦ εἰκόνος τιμὴν καὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου καὶ τῶν ἁγίων. Ἐμοὶ δὲ τῷ ἐλαχίστῳ καὶ ταπεινῷ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔδειξεν ἐδίδαξεν 3. ὅτι εἰ βίον ἔχει τις χρηστῆς ὺπολήψεως πλήρης τὴν δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα καὶ (εἰκόνα καὶ) omits 4. μορφὴν οὐ τιμᾷ καὶ ἀσπάζεται, τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ προσγενομένης σωτηρίας οὐ τεύξεται καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ χωρισθήσεται. Ὡς οἱ τὴν σὴν μορφὴν, βασιλεῦ, ἀτιμάζοντες, ἑτέρῳ δῆλον τὴν ἀρχήν σου προσνέμοντες, τὸ κράτος τῆς ἐξουσίας σου adds 2. χαριζόμενοι, τῇ πρὸς σὲ γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀκαταλλάκτῳ κατεχόμενοι ἔχθρᾳ εἰς τὴν εἰκόνα σου παροινοῦσι καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῆς ἀθέσμως σε ἐνυβρίζουσιν ὅθεν εἰ μὴ τὴν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα, ὡς ἔφην (εἰκ. ὡς ἐφ.) ὡς ἔφην, εἰκ. 2. , τιμῶντες καὶ προσπτυσσόμενοι, ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν ἀληθῆ 3. κατὰ σὲ οὐ πιστεύουσι γεγενῆσθαι καὶ βασιλεύεσθαι ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ανέχονται, εἰς τὸ αἰώνιον καὶ τελεύτητον (καὶ ἀτελ.) omits 3, 4. πῦρ μετὰ τοῦ πρώτου εἰκονομάχου Σατὰν καὶ τῶν ἐκείνου ἀγέλων καταταττόμενοι, Ταῦτα οἱ τοῦ Θεοφίλου φορολόγοι πρὸ τοῦ ἐξειπεῖν ἀκούσαντες παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς μετ᾽ ἐκπλήξεως ἄκρας κατίεσαν καὶ τῷ ἀποστείλαντι αὐτοὺς τὰ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως προσανήγγειλαν προανήγγειλαν 2. . Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐβελτιώθη κατειλημμένος τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου ἠπατρημένος τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς, ἀλλ᾽ ἔμενεν ἐν τῇ αἱρέσει.

[46] Ὅθεν μετά τινας ἡμέρας τοῦ τιμίου ἀνδρὸς Εὐστρατίου, ἡγουμένου Ἀγαύρων, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνελθόντος, ὡς ἔθος εἶχε, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς τῶν διωκτῶν στιβαρότητα αὐτῷ ἀπαγγείλαντος καὶ περιλυπουμένου φησὶν ὁ πατήρ (ὁ πατήρ) omits 3. . Ἔτι ὅτι 3. μικρόν, ᾦ Εὐστράτιε, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀποστάτου δράκοντος ἀφομοίωμα κεφαλῇ καὶ οὐρᾷ σὺν τοῖς μέσοις, δυνάμει Χριστοῦ, νεκρωθήσεται καὶ ὁ ὑπητέτης αὐτοῦ τῶν θελημάτων ἀποθανεῖται Θεόφιλος καὶ ὀρθοδοξία καθολικὴ προσγενήσεται. Ὅθεν θαρρήσας ὁ Εὐστράτιος λέγει· Τούτου τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ δι᾽ εὐχῶν σου τελειουμένου, μακάριε, τίς ἄρα ἔσται ὁ τῆς πατριαρχίας ἄξιος, ἐμπιστευθησόμενος τὰς ἡνίας τοῦ ἔξω τῆς αἱρετικῆς λύμης καὶ πασης βλάβης τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Χριστοῦ διεξάξαι καὶ διἳθύναι; Ὁ δέ φησιν· Ὁ ἀφωρισμένος ὑπὸ Θεοῦ εἰς τοῦτο, κατὰ τὸν μέγαν μέγαν 3, 4. Παῦλον, ἀπὸ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, πράξει τε καὶ γνώσει καὶ πνευματικῇ πτωχείᾳ λελαμπρυσμένος, Μεθόδιος, ὁ κόσμου φυγὰς καὶ πλούτου ἀπὸ νεότητος, ὁ διαπρέψας ἀσκήσει καὶ ἁγνείᾳ σὸν προθυμίᾳ συμπροθυμίᾳ 2, 3, 4. , καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας διωγμοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ ἀποδημίας ἐνέγκας. ὁ πρὸ ὀλίγων ἐτῶν ἐκ Ῥώμης ἐλθὼν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν δυσσεβῶν ἐπὶ ἐννέα χρόνους ἐν μνημείῳ κατακλεισθεὶς διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ καρτερήσας, ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα, κατὰ τὸν Δαΰιδ καὶ Σαμψών, ὡς λέοντι καθ᾽ ἑκάστην τῷ τυραννοῦντι μαχόμενος. Ὅπερ καὶ γέγονεν μετὰ γὰρ ἓξ ἥμισυ ἔτη τῆς δυσσεβείας τοῦ Λέοντος, καὶ ὀκτὼ πρὸς ἐννέα μησὶ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ χλιαρότητος, δώδεκά (δώδεκά τε) δωδεκάτῳ ἔτη 3. τε καὶ μησὶ τρισὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Θεοφίλου πρὸς τὴν εὐσεβείαν ἀσεβοῦς στιβαρότητος καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἔνα (ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα) ἐνιαύτῳ πρώτῳ 1, 2, 3; ἐνιαύτῳ τῷ πρώτῳ 4. τῆς τούτου γυναικὸς Θεοδώρας καὶ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἀναθρώξεως ἀναθρέξεως 3. . Τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ φιλοχρίστου αὐτῶν βασιλείας τὸν ἴδιον κόσμον ὃν ἀποστολικαῖς χερσὶν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἐστόλιστο, τῶν δυσσεβῶν δὲ παλάμαις γεγύμνωτο, χάριτι Χριστοῦ ἀμφιασαμένη, ἀρχιερέα ἔνθεον, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς προοραθέντα Μεθόδιον, προσεδέξατο, τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς καὶ βλασφήμου Ἰωάννου καθαιρεθέντος.

[47] Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τούτου πατὴρ καὶ διδάσκαλος εἰκονομάχος διάβολος ἐκ μέσου τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὡς σκότος ὑπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀπελασθείς, καὶ σὺν πᾶσιν αὐτοῦ τοῖς ὁμόφροσι προκαθαιρεθείς, τῆς εἰρήνης ἐχθρὸς ὑπάρχων, ἀπὸ αἱρέσεως εὐθὺς εἰς σχίσματα προεχώρησεν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Χριστοῦ ἐλεεινῶς κατεμέρισεν, οὐ τῶν αἱρετιζόντων τῷ χωρισμῷ, οὐδεμία γὰρ κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος, ἀλλὰ τῶα ὀρθοδοξούντων ὀρθοδόξειν οἰομένων 3. τῷ διχασμῷ. Οἳ εἴτε omits 3. φιλοθείας φιλοδοξίας 3. κατειλημμένοι τῷ ἒρωτι, εἴτε ἤ 3 et adds ἐθελοσοφίας ὄγκῳ ἤ. προλήψεως ἀφορμῇ ἤ δαιμονιώδους πεπληρωμένοι οἰήσεως adds 3. τὸν μέγαν καὶ πρῶτον ἐν τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ ὀρθόδοξον πατριάρχην διελοιδόρουν Μεθόδιον τὸν ἰσάγγελον, αὐτοῦ αὐτοῦ περιεργαζόμενοι καὶ κακίζοντες βίον, οὐ κανόνων ἀκριβείᾳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἰδιορυθμίᾳ περιφερόμενοι. Καὶ οἳ μέν ἀξίους εἴναι τοὸς εἰκονοκλάστας καὶ τοὺς ὐπ᾽ αὐτῶν χειροτονηθέντας ἱεροθυτεῖν ἐθέσπιζον ἀμαθαίνοντες, οἳ δὲ καλῶς προς τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἀνεχαίτιζον, καὶ τὴν τῆς ἱερωσύνης δοχὴν αὐτῶν ἀπηνήναντο. Συγχύσεως οὖν οὔσης διά ταῦτα οὐ τῆς τυχούσης, ἐπιστέλλει τότε τῷ πατριάρχῃ παραμυθητικὸν πνευματόφθεγκτον γράμμα ὁ ὅσιος ἡμῶν (ἡμ. π. Ἰωανν.) omits 3, 4. πατὴρ Ἰωαννίκιος οὕτως ἔχον· Θείας πάσης καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης πεπληρωμένος γνώσεως καὶ συνέσεως, ἀρχιεράρχα πάτερ Μεθόδιε, διὰ τῆς ἐνοικούσης σοι τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος δωρεᾶς τε καὶ χάριτος, καὶ ἐννοῶν τὸν τῆς εἰρήνης πολέμιον καὶ τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἀντίπαλον omits 2. , εἰκονομάχον διάβολον, τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπελασθέντα σὺν τοῖς αὐτοῦ, αὐτὸν ὄντα αἴτιον τῶν σχισμάτων, πρὸς τὸν τοῦ παντὸς οἰκοδεσπότην ἀποβλέπων Χριστόν, εἶς καὶ αὐτος τῶν οἰκειακῶν αὐτοῦ πέλων, ταῖς κατὰ σοῦ λοιδορίαις μὴ ἄσχαλλε, ἀλλὰ χαῖρε. Καὶ γὰρ Πνεύματι Θεοῦ τὰ δαιμόνια αὐτὸς ἐκβάλλων, ἐν τῷ Βεελζεβοὺλ αὐτὰ ἐκβάλλειν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀσεβούντων κατηγορεῖτο, καὶ πλάνος ἐκωμωδεῖτο, φάγος τε καὶ οἰνοπότης, φίλος τελωνῶν καὶ ἀμαρτωλῶν ἐκαλεῖτο. Καὶ οἱ οἱκειακοὶ αὐτοῦ ὡσαύτως κατηγορίαις πλείσταις καὶ οὐ ταῖς τυχούσαις καθυπεβλήθησαν, μεθ᾽ ὂν καὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐν τούτῳ καταριθμούμενον γίνωσκε. Καὶ τῶν μὲν σχιζομένων τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὡς μελῶν οἰκείων, ἄλγει καὶ περιλυποῦ τὴν διαίρεσιν, τῶν διαβολῶν δὲ μὴ μέλει σοι, ὀ φερέπονε. Οὐ τὰ ἐαυτοῦ γάρ, εὖ οἶδα ὅτι adds 2. , ζητεῖς, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν πολλῶν, ἀποστολικῶς, ἵνα σωθῶσιν καὶ ἐξ ἀσεβείας εἰς εὐσέβειαν ῥυθμισθῶσιν καὶ τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ σώματος μὴ ἀπαλλαγῶσιν. Ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθι καὶ τοῦτο, ὧ omits 2. θεόσοφε, ὅπερ οἶδας, ἡμῶν οὐχ ἧττον ὡς ἐν αἱπέσει οὐ γίνεται σχίσματα. Ὁ γὰρ ἀνήμερος θὴρ καὶ λυμαιὼν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ὄντως διάβολος μέσῳ τῆς τῶν αἱρετικῶν συνεδρίας περιπολεύων ἐνὶ ἀπωλείας ζόφῳ τοὺς αὐτῷ πειθομένους περιδεσμεῖ, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὀρθοδόξων φαεινῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ χώραν μὴ ἔχων, ὡς σκότος ὤν, οἶα κύων ἔξωθεν λαθροδήκτης περινοστῶν ὁ τῆς ἀγάπὴς ἐχθρὸς, ἀκριβολογίας προφάσει καὶ κανόνων διερευνήσει, διαιρεῖ τὰ μέλη τῶν μελῶν ἀφειδῶς, καὶ τοὺς ἀγλώττους πόδας καὶ ἄνοας, ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν, τῆς κεφαλῆς (τῆς κεφ.) τὴν κεφαλήν 3. ἀντανίστησιν, καὶ μὴ διοικεῖσθαι ταῦτα τοῖς νοεροῖς αὐτῆς βουλήμασι καὶ κινήμασι πείθει, σύγχυσιν καὶ ἀταξίαν, ἀλλεπάλληλον τούτοις ἐνεργαζόμενος. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὔτως. Τῶν δὲ εἰκονομάχων ἐπισκόπων καὶ ἱερέων πρὸς ἱερωσύνην ὄντως τὴν δοχὴν ἀπαναίνου. Τοῦ γὰρ μεγάλου πατριάρχου Ταρασίου, τοῦ ἐν ἅλιοις, τὴν ἱερωσύνην αὐτῶν ἄπαξ οἴκονομικῶς δεξαμένου, λιβέλλους ἐπιδιδόντων ἐνόρκους σὺν ἀναθέματι μὴ ὐποστρέψαι ἐν τῇ ἔτι adds 2, 3, 4. , γενομένης πάλιν ἐπὶ Λέοντος τῆς αὐτῆς δυσσεβείας, οἱ τὰ ἰδιόχειρα αὐτῶν συγκαταβατικῶς πατήσαντες καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἀναθεματίσαντες, χειρί τε τὴν εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ προσκαθελόντες, ἐμπτύσαντες ἐνυβρίσαντες, ἢ οἱ omits 2. ὑπὸ τοιούτων ἱερωθέντες πῶς ἱερουργοὶ παρὰ χριστιανοῖς λογισθήσονται, τὸν ἱερουργούμενον ἀθετήσαντες; Οἱ γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὡς ψευδὲς τε adds 2. καὶ εἰδωλον ἀπαλείφοντες, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα, εἰ δοθείη αὐτοῖς τόπος ἱερουργίας, ὡς ἐχθροῦ ἂν καταμερίσωσιν ἐχθρωδῶς ἐχθρῶς 4. . Ὅθεν τὸ μὲν βάπτισμα αὐτῶν, διὰ τὸ εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα βαπτίσαι, ἔστω δεκτὸν οἰκονομικῶς, τῆς δὲ ἱερωσύνης, κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον εἰκονομάχον διάβολον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ὡς ἀπ᾽ οὐρανῶν ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς ὑπὸ γῆν, οἱ ἔσχατοι εἰκονομάχοι ἀποπεσέτωσαν. Ὡς καὶ Κυρίλλῳ τῷ Ἀλεξανδρείας δοκεῖ τὴν παλαίαν ἑρμηνεύοντι καὶ τὴν ἐν πνεύματι λατρείαν διευθετοῦντι καὶ λέγοντι· Οῖς δὲ ἀδελφὰ τὰ νοήματα καὶ ὁμότροπα τὰ omits 2. τολμήματα καὶ ὁμοειδὲς τὸ θράσος, τούτοις ἂν εἴη πρέπον καὶ ταῖς ἰσορρόποις ἐναλῶναι δίκαις. Καὶ εἰκότως· οἱ γὰρ ἐξ ἀλλῶν αἱρέσεων, τὴν Τριάδα μὲν ὁμολογοῦντες, τὴν οἰκονομίαν δὲ Χριστοῦ στόματι βλασφημοῦντες, εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐρχόμενοι αὐτοστοματὶ τὴν οἰκεῖαν ἀναθεματίζοντες αἵρεσιν καὶ τοὺς τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν ἐξάρχους παρὰ τῶν ἱερῶν κανόνων καὶ τῶν πατέρων εἰσδέχονται. Οὕτοι δὲ Τριάδα, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως εἰπεῖν, ὁμολογοῦντες οὐκ ἀληθῶς εἰς ἅπαν Χριστοῦ τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἀρνοῦνται, δι᾽ ἦς ὁ Πατὴρ ἡμῖν πεφανέρωται καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα, ὡς αὐτός φησιν· Πάτερ, ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον πέμψω ὑμῖν τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, χεῖρας ἑαυτῶν ἀναξίους ποιήσαντες ἅγια μυστήρια ἱεροθυτεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἐν χείλεσι μιανθεὶς ἱερατικῶς κατὰ τὸν κανόνα ἐπέγεται, ἄλλως τε κρίνεται παρὰ Θεῷ καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἔργον καὶ λόγος; Καὶ εἰ ὁ (εἰ ὁ) ὡς 3. σάρκα μιάνας τῆς ἱερωσύνης (τῆς ἱερωσ.) omits 3. ἀλλοτριοῦται, οἱ στόμα αὐτὸ τοῖς κατὰ Χριστοῦ ἐμπτυσμοῖς, ὕβρεσί βλασφημίαις μολοῦνται adds 4. τε καὶ καὶ βλασφημίαις μολύναντες adds 3. χεῖρας αὐτὰς ψευδέσιν ὑπογραφαῖς καὶ καθαιρέσεσι τῶν ἱερῶν εἰκόνων καταρυπώσαντες, ἢ οἱ ὑπὸ τοιούτων ἱερωθέντες πῶς

ἂν ἱερῶν ἅψωνται κειμηλίων ἢ ἱεροθυτῆσαι τολμήσωσιν; Οὐ μονὸν δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμοὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔδειξε τοὺς θέᾳ μόνῃ ἰουδαἳκῶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ βαρουμένους, ἐπικλήσει τε αὐτοῦ χριστωνύμως ταραττομένους καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ γράμμα κατὰ τὰς ἀλόγους παρδάλεις δυσμενείᾳ διασπαράσσοντας χριστομάχους, εἰκονομάχους καὶ τοὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν χειροτονηθέντας ἐχθραῖς χερσὶ καὶ ῥυπώσαις μὴ μελίζειν αὐτοῦ τὸ τίμιον καὶ ἄχραντον (τιμ. κ. ἄχρ. omits 3. σῶμα, ἡμῶν (τὸ τιμ.-ἡμῶν) στῶμα 4. πιστῶς αὐτὸ καὶ ἐντρόμως ἱεροθυτούντων καὶ πύλην ἐχόντων πρὸς τὸν θυόμενον εὐδιάβατον τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν γραφῇ ἀφομοίωσιν ὡς δι᾽ αὐτῆς εἰς τὸν ἐπουρανίον αὐτὸν καὶ βασίλειον θρόνον τῶν θυηπόλων θυπτιόλων 4. ἡμῶν παρακυπτόντων καὶ τὸν μελιζόμενον αὐτὸν ἐν σχηματισμένῳ σώματι ἐντεθρονισμένον ἐκεῖσε κατοπτεύοντων κἀκεῖθεν πρὸς τὴν θεοθυσίαν αὐτὴν εὐχὴν εὐχή 2. καταγόντων τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα καὶ τοὺς μεταλαμβάνοντας αὐτῆς θείας φύσεως κοινωνοὺς ἀπεργαζομένων ἀπεργαζόμενος 2. . Ἧς αὐτὸς πληρούμενος ταῖς φωτοχυσίαις· καὶ μεταδιδοὺς αὐτῆς τοῖς ἐθέλουσι, τοιούτοις ἀεὶ περιφρουρούμενος καὶ τούτοις ἑπόμενος, ἔρρωσο, ὑπερευχόμενος ἡμῶν τῆς εὐτελείας, ἀρχιεραρχῶν ἀρχιεράρχα 2, 4. πανοσιώτατε πανροσιώπατε sic 4.

[44] St. Ioannicius sees in the spirit the death of St. Peter of Atroa. When the most blessed wonder-worker Peter ^a, having been made hegumen of the monastery of Saint Zachary ^b, which lies at the foot of that same Olympus mountain and near Calucome, was then staying in the church of Saint Nicholas which stands above the royal ^c monastery, in which that celebrated man departed from the body, then, just as the great Antony ^d saw the wondrous departure of Ammon of Nitria, so also this holy hermit and solitary, the great Ioannicius, wondrously came to know by revelation the illustrious passage of that father Peter from earth to heaven. He said to me, the least, with his own mouth: "On that very day and at the hour of the morning hymns at which father Peter died, son Sabas, while I was praying, I was rapt in ecstasy and saw myself present, as it were, in the church of the holy bishop Nicholas with the thrice-holy father Peter; and behold," he said, "there was a mountain most beautiful and most delightful, whose summit rose above the vaults of heaven. As we both stood at its foot conversing, two men shining with brightness stood beside us, who, taking him by the hand on either side, ascended with him to the place from which they had come down. But the farther he was from me in the ascent, the more brightly the divine glory shone, and the more he was hidden from my bodily eyes, the more he himself shone forth. Having seen this, I sent one of my servants and learned at once that the wonder-worker and blessed Peter had died, and that only my spirit had been joined together with his spirit." These things, having received them from father Ioannicius as from the Lord, I have related here only in summary, but more fully in the Life of father Peter ^e.

[45] He admonishes the emperor Theophilus, The emperor Theophilus, as he went on persecuting the worshippers of the image of Christ, sends ^f to the prophetic man and great Ioannicius two of his intimates and princes who were in office at that time, namely the protovestiarius ^g and the grand curator ^h, so that they might question him by way of trial whether one ought to adore the image of Christ. When they had therefore gone up, and had been received and were conversing with the blessed man, one of them makes a sign to the other to lay open to the father the question about which they had come to ask him. But before they could put it, the father said: "What is it that you are signalling to one another, men? Were you not sent for this, to ask me whether one ought to adore the image of Christ? Know, then, and report to him who sent you, that the sacred and truly divine Scripture demonstrates by many testimonies the honour due to the image of Christ, and of the Mother of God, and of the saints. But to me, the least and lowly, the Holy Spirit has made known that even he who leads a good life and enjoys esteem, but does not venerate and embrace the image and form of Christ, will not be a partaker of the salvation procured through Christ, and will be an exile from His kingdom. Just as those who despise your form, O king, attributing your empire, that is, to another and referring the power of your empire to him, roused by an unalterable hatred against you, dishonour your image and in it wound you yourself with impious injury, so those who do not honour the image of Jesus Christ, as I have said, but rather spit upon it, do not believe that He Himself was made man as you were, refuse to be ruled by Him, and will be cast into the eternal and unquenchable fire with the first iconomach Satan and his angels." When Theophilus's envoys had heard these things from the father before they themselves had spoken, they went away in great fear and reported this answer to him who had sent them. Nevertheless that man, held captive by impiety, did not amend himself, being deceived as he was by the impious John ⁱ, but remained in his heresy.

[46] he foretells that orthodoxy will be restored, Thereafter, some days later ^k, when the venerable man Eustratius, hegumen of the Agauri, had come to the saint, as was his custom, and had reported the cruelty of the persecutors against the pious and was grieved on that account, the father said: "Yet a little while, O Eustratius, and the image of the apostate serpent, in head and tail, and in the middle of the body too, will be slain by the power of Christ, and Theophilus, the servant of his will, will die, and catholic orthodoxy will be reborn." Then Eustratius, rejoicing, says: "When this benefit has been obtained through your prayers, O blessed one, who will it be to whom the reins of the patriarchal see may worthily be committed, to direct the Church of Christ outside the heretical plague and every harm, and to govern it?" He answered: "He who has been set apart by God for this, like the great Paul ^l, from his mother's womb, and who shines in deed, in knowledge and in poverty of spirit, Methodius ^m, a forsaker of the world and of riches from his youth, who excels in ascetic exercises and pure zeal, and who has suffered many persecutions and exiles for the Christian faith, who, returning from Rome a few years ago, was shut up by the impious in a tomb for nine years ⁿ and persevered for Christ's sake, and after this, like David and Samson, fought the tyrant daily as though he were a lion." And this in fact came to pass ^o after six years and a half of the impiety of Leo, after eight years and nine months of the lukewarmness of Michael, and after twelve years with three months of the impious cruelty of his son Theophilus against the faithful, and after one year of the restoration [p] by that man's wife Theodora and by Michael her son, the pious sovereigns. In the second year [q] of their God-given and Christ-beloved government, the Church, clothed again by the grace of Christ with her own proper beauty, with which she had been adorned by apostolic hands but had been stripped by the hands of the impious, received as patriarch that godly man whom the father had foreseen, Methodius, the impious and blasphemous John having been removed.

[47] and directs a letter to St. Methodius. Yet that man's father and master, the iconomach devil, put to flight from the midst of the Church like darkness by the light of piety, and removed together with all who agreed with him, since he is an enemy of peace, at once turned himself from heresy to schisms and miserably divided the Church of Christ, not indeed by the dissension of heretics, since there is no communion of light with darkness, but by the separation of the orthodox. For some, whether seized by the zeal of divine ardour or by the impulse of piety, slandered Methodius [r], the great and first orthodox patriarch in our generation, accusing and reproaching his angel-like life, led not indeed by concern for the canons but by their own whim. And others, again, held that the iconoclasts and the men chosen by them were worthy to perform sacred rites, but did so in ignorance; others, however, rightly kicked against this very thing and refused them admission to the sacred ministry. Since, then, there was no small confusion about these matters, our blessed father Ioannicius sends to the patriarch, to strengthen him, a writing inspired by the Spirit, of this tenor: "You who are filled with all divine and human learning and wisdom, archpatriarch father Methodius, considering, through these gifts and the grace of the most holy Spirit which dwell in you, that the adversary of peace and enemy of the Church of Christ, the iconomach devil, who has been put to flight from her with his own, is himself the author of the divisions, and looking to Christ, the master of our whole household, I, who am one of His servants, exhort you not to be troubled on account of the injuries which come forth against you, but to rejoice. For He Himself who cast out demons by the Spirit of God was accused by the impious of casting them out in the name of Beelzebub, and was mocked as a seducer, and was called a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners [s]. So His servants have likewise been exposed to very many and grave accusations, among whom recognize that you yourself are now numbered. By all means grieve and mourn for the cutting off from the Church of those who have separated, as for your own members; but let the calumnies be no care to you, O athlete. I know very well that you seek not the things that are yours, but those of the many, according to the Apostle [t], that they may be saved and be converted from impiety to piety and not be torn away from the body of the Church. But know this too, O you who are skilled in divine things, which you are not ignorant of, that schisms harm us no less than heresy. For the cruel beast that destroys our life, being truly the devil, going about in the midst of the assembly of heretics in the darkness of perdition, binds with chains those who trust in him; but since he obtains no place in the shining company of the orthodox, being himself darkness, like a dog biting in secret this enemy of charity runs about outside on every side, and under the pretext of a more exact doctrine and of the observance of the canons he tears members from members without ceasing, wrenches dumb and frantic feet, to speak truly, from the head, by whose wise decrees and motions he persuades them that the members are not rightly governed; and so he works confusion and disorder among them. And so much for that. As for the iconomach bishops and priests, deny them admission to the sacred ministry outright. For when the great patriarch Tarasius [u], who is now among the saints, had once lawfully approved their ministry, and they had handed him a form of oath, with anathema, that they would not return to the heresy [v], when the same impiety broke out afresh under Leo, these men, trampling underfoot with prevarication the writings of their own hands and anathematizing themselves, and with their own hand dishonouring and despising the image of Christ, how shall such men, consecrated in this manner, be held by Christians to be ministers of the sacred things, they who have renounced the sacred things? For they destroyed the image of Christ's body as a lie and an idol [w]; but His very body, if leave to celebrate the sacred rites were given them, they would tear in pieces like enemies, as though it were the body of a foe. Wherefore let their baptism indeed, since it is conferred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, be lawfully acceptable; but from the sacred ministry, just as the first iconomach the devil, so let those who are with him, as it were from heaven to earth and from earth to beneath the earth,

let the last iconomachs fall away. This also seemed right to Cyril of Alexandria, when interpreting the old Scripture and expounding the Adoration in spirit [x], where he says: "Those whose thoughts are in agreement and whose deeds are analogous, and whose audacity is alike, it would be fitting to involve also in equal penalties." And rightly so. For those who come to the Church from other heresies, confessing the Trinity indeed, but blaspheming the incarnation of Christ with their mouth, and who with their own mouth anathematize their heresy and the leaders of their heresy, may be received according to the sacred canons and the holy fathers. But these men, who, so to speak, have not truly confessed the Trinity, and wholly deny the incarnation of Christ, through which the Father has been made manifest to us, and the Spirit, as He Himself says: "Father, I have manifested thy name to men [y], and I will send you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father [z]," these have made their hands unworthy to celebrate the sacred mysteries. For if he who is unclean in his lips is kept from the sacred things according to the canon, will his work and his word be judged otherwise by God and by us? And if he who has polluted the flesh is estranged from the priesthood, how shall those who have polluted their mouth with contemptible insults and blasphemies against Christ, and have defiled their hands with fraudulent subscriptions and the destruction of the sacred images, or those who have been consecrated by them, touch the sacred altars or dare to perform the sacred rites? Moreover, the Holy Spirit has declared to me also that those who, in the Jewish manner [aa], are burdened by the mere sight of Christ and troubled by the invocation of Him, and who with fury tear His appearance and depiction to pieces like irrational leopards, the Christomachs, the iconomachs, and all who have been consecrated by them, ought not with hostile and unclean hands to break His precious and incorruptible body, while we offer it in sacrifice with faith and trembling, we who have an open access to Him whom we sacrifice, namely His likeness in representation [bb]; for through it we sacrificers have a view into the heavenly and royal throne, and we see Him who is sacrificed seated there in a visible body as on a throne, and thence, bringing down the Holy Spirit to the prayer of the divine sacrifice, we impart to all who partake the communion of the divine nature. Filled with its divine radiance yourself, and communicating it to those who wish, ever favouring such men and following them, farewell, praying for our humble person, O most holy of patriarchs."

ANNOTATA.

l. Galatians I, 15.

p. Sabas has noted with precision the length of the reigns of Leo the Armenian, of Michael and of Theophilus, at the same time indicating, and very rightly, the impiety of the first, the lukewarmness and negligence of the second, and the cruelty of the third. We have shown in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 20, how the author is to be understood when he speaks of the six years and a half during which Leo reigned impiously. Michael, for his part, lived in the empire eight years and nine months, as Genesius also reports, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 1054, from the year 820, as it was drawing to its end, to the year 829, on the first of October. Since Theophilus died on 20 January 842, he actually reigned for twelve years and three months.

q. We have spoken of the year in which Methodius was consecrated in the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 17–22, pp. 319–20. Accordingly, in the preceding sentence, where the Greek read on the authority of the four codices we have used ἐνιαυτῷ πρώτῳ, we thought it should be corrected to ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα. The distinguished Usener kindly advised us to do this; for so grammar is better served, since ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα is required by the preposition μετὰ, which is set before all the numbers of this sentence. The whole context favours it too; for we read written immediately afterwards τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει, and the whole narrative is concerned with the election of St. Methodius, which Sabas accordingly ties most plainly to the year 843.

r. This most serious controversy which arose in the Church of Constantinople, about which the Byzantine chroniclers are silent, is also reported by the author of the Life of St. Methodius, Acta SS., June vol. II, p. 960, nos. 15, 16. Cardinal Hergenröther, treating this question again in his work Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, pp. 352, 353, also relies on the testimony which the Acts of St. Ioannicius present.

s. If the words πρῶτον ἐν τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ ὀρθόδοξον πατριάρχην can be understood literally, it may be inferred from them that Sabas, the author of this Life, was born after the year 815. For from the year 815, after the death of Tarasius, down to Methodius, all the patriarchs of Constantinople adhered to the heresy of the iconoclasts. Since the discussion turns again to Sabas, to what we said of him in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 10, p. 315, it may perhaps be added that he belonged to the Antidian monks. For he says at no. 1, p. 333, that he girded himself to write ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰωσὴρ ἀγάπης πολλάκις εἰς τοῦτο προτετραμμένον, and below at no. 54 he informs us that this father Joseph was hegumen of the monastery of Antidium.

t. Luke XI, 15.

u. There is an allusion to I Cor. X, 33: μὴ ζητῶν τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ συμφέρον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἵνα σωθῶσι.

v. St. Tarasius has been treated in Acta SS., February vol. III, pp. 572 ff.

w. Compare the Life of St. Tarasius in Acta SS., loc. cit., no. 22, where the whole manner of St. Tarasius's dealing with those who repented is described, to whom the author of the Life of St. Ioannicius alludes here, and the Acts of the Second Synod of Nicaea, in Labbe's Councils, vol. VII, Paris edition, pp. 670–680. For it is more certain than certain that Sabas has this synod in view when he brings up the libelli and handwritten bonds to which the iconoclasts had subscribed and which they afterwards nevertheless repudiated. So too the patriarch Nicephorus in his Apologeticus for the holy images, no. 6, in the Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 154.

x. The same opinion is stated in the Life of St. Methodius, no. 18: τῷ ὄντι γὰρ παράνομοι οἱ τοιούτοι, ἐψευσμένου σώματος ἀντίτυπον σῶμα ψευδῶς εἰς θυσίαν παραλαμβάνοντες. On which our Henschen rightly notes: "For since the body of Christ, as it is offered in the Mass, is a figure of itself as offered on the cross, a body cannot be offered there more truly than here; and so those who were of this sort offer to God no sacrifice worthy of the name." See Acta SS., June vol. II, pp. 968, 969.

y. It is the title of a certain work of St. Cyril of Alexandria, P. G., vol. LXVIII. We have gone through the whole work; we did not come upon these very words which Sabas reported, but upon these, which at least state the same opinion: μόνον δὲ οὐχὶ καὶ ἀδελφὰ νοσοῦντες ἐγκλήματα, τὴν ὁμοφυᾶ δικαίως ὑποστήσονται δίκην. P. G., loc. cit., p. 804.

z. John XVII, 6.

aa. John XIV, 16.

bb. Compare John X, 24. Nicephorus notes the same in his second Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus, in Mai, Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. V, pp. 68, 69.

* all the codices: θεασάμενος

CHAPTER ELEVEN. St. Ioannicius's profession of faith; he is ill-treated by a perverse monk.

[48] Τοῦτο τὸ τίμιον καὶ θεόπνευστον (τιμ. κ. θεόπν.) omits 3, 4. γράμμα ὁ πατριάρχης δεάμενος καὶ τοῖς βασιλεύουσιν ἐπιδείξας τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ θεόκριτα λογισάμενος, τοὺς εἰκονομάχους ἅπανατας καθαίρει καὶ τοὺς σχίζοντας ἑαυτοὺς διαιρεῖ καὶ εἰρήνην βαθεῖαν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ χαρίζεται, οἰακίζεν ἐν ταύτῃ (ἐν ταύτ.) ἐνταῦθα 3. θεοχαρίτωτα. Ἐξ οὗ δὴ τῶν καθαιρεθέντων οἱ πλείους κατὰ τοῦ σεβασμίου omits 3, 4. πατρὸς Ἰωαννικίου εἰς γλωσσαλγίαν ἐτράπησαν, ὡς ἀντίθεός ἐστι ταῦτα φρονῶν καὶ ἀντίνομος, φάσκοντες. Ὅπερ οὐκ ἀγνοῶν ὁ ὄντως ὦν προφητικῆς χάριτος πύρινος στύλος, παρόντος πλήθους ἐν μιᾷ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνδρῶν εὐσεβῶν, ἐπισκόπων, λέγω, ἱερέων καὶ μοναχῶν, Πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθεὶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἶπεν (πρὸς αὐτ. εἰπ. omits 3. . Ἐπειδή τινες, ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, ἰδιώτην ὄντα με (ὄντα με) με ὄντα 2. τὸν ταπεινὸν φθόνῳ νυττόμενοι μὴ ὀρθῶς πιστεύειν θρυλλοῦσι καὶ ὑποπτεύουσιν, εἰς ὑπήκοον ἐπήκοον 2. ὑμῶν πάντων ἀνακηρύξω τὴν δόξαν μου τὴν περὶ Θεόν. Θεὸς [Integra haec professio fidei S. Ioannicii reperitur quoque seorsim in codice Parisinae bibliothecae signato num. 1084, fol. 194r – 198v, cum hoc titulo: Παρεξεβλήθη καὶ τὸ κεφαλαίον τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ βίου τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου. Ἐκφώνησις διδασκαλικὴ πρὸς τὸν λαόν, ἣν αὐτὸς ἐξεφώνησεν ἐνώπιον εὐσεβῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐπισκόπων περὶ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἁγίας, καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, καὶ τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ μητρός, περιέχον οὕτως. Scilicet: Adiectum est et caput istud ex Vita sancti Patris nostri Ioannicii. Sermo doctrinalis ad populum quem ipse pronuntiavit coram piis viris et episcopis de fide sancta, et consubstantiali Trinitati et oedonomia Dei Verbi incarnati, et sancta eius Matre, huius tenoris. Hunc textum etiam contulimus cum nostro, variantesque lectiones eius signavimus num. 5.] οὖν ἐστιν ὑπερούσιος οὐσία καὶ ἄκτιστος, ὡς πασῶν οὐσιῶν αἰτία τε καὶ προαγωγὸς διῃρημένη ἀδιαιρέτως καὶ συνημμένη διηρημένως, τρισήλιος, τρισυπόστατος ἐν μιᾷ βασιλείᾳ καὶ δόξῃ καὶ κυρίοτητι ὑπὸ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς φύσεως ἀκαταπαύστως ἀνυμνουμένη. Οὐ γὰρ ἅπαξ λέγει τὰ Σεραφὶμ &ldquogr;ἅγιος&rdquogr;, ἵνα μὴ ἰουδαἳκὸν ᾖ τὸ φρόνημα, οὐδὲ πάλιν· &ldquogr;ἅγιος, ἅγιος&rdquogr;, ἵνα μὴ τὴν τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ἣ Μακεδονιανῶν ἐπεισαγάγῃ ἀσέβειαν, ἀλλὰ τρίτον λέγει adds 5. . “ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος, Κύριος&rdquogr;, οὐ κύριοι, ἀλλά Κύριος, ἐπειδὴ μία κυριότης. Διό, ὡς πιστεύει τὰ Σεραφίμ, πιστεύω τρισὶν ἐνυποστάτοις ἁγιασμοῖς, μίαν κυριότητα προσκυνῶ προσκυνῶν 5. καὶ θεότητα, Θεὸν τὸν Πατέρα, Θεὸν τὸν Υἱὸν, Θεὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, Θεὸν ἕκαστον τούτων καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἑαυτό 1. νοούμενον καὶ λεγόμενον, διὰ τὴν τρισυπόστατον ὁμοουσιότητα καὶ τὸ ἁπλοῦν τῆς θείας φύσεως καὶ ἀσύνθετον· καὶ οὐ τρεῖς θεούς, εἷς γὰρ τὰ τρία Θεὸς σὺν ἀλλήλοις νοούμενά τε καὶ ἀριθμούμενα, οὐ συντιθέμενα, οὐ οὐδέ 5. συναλειφόμενα διὰ τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς κινήσεως καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀλλήλαις τῶν ὑποστάσεων ἀσύγχυτον περιχώρησιν καὶ τὴν ἀδιαίρετον τῆς τρισυποστάτου θεότητος μοναρχίαν, τοῦ νοῦ χωρίζοντος τὰ ἀχώριστα παράδοξον ἔχοντα καὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν. Πατὴρ γὰρ καὶ νοῦς adds 3, 5. . · ὁ πατὴρ αἰτίως adds 3, αἰτίῳ adds 5. καὶ χρόνῳ 3, χρόνῳ adds 5. ἄναρχος, ἀγέννητος, ἄκτιστος, οὐ γὰρ ἔκ τινος. Λόγος καὶ Υἱός· ὁ Υἱὸς πρὸ αἰώνων ἀρρεύστως καὶ ἀπαθῶς ὡς ἐκ νοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ γεννηθείς, οὐ κτισθεὶς καὶ αὐτὸν ἔχων ἔτι αὐτὸς adds 3, αἰτιατῶς adds 5. ἀρχὴν ἄναρχον, οὗ ᾧ 5. καὶ ὑπάρχει συνάναρχος. Πνεῦμα δέ· Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ συνάναρχον, οὐ γεννηστῶς κατὰ τὸν Υἱόν, οὐ κτιστῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκπορευτῶς ἐκ τοῦ adds 5. Πατρὸς προερχόμενον καὶ διὰ Υἱοῦ τῷ κοσμῷ φανερωθέν (διὰ υἱοῦ-φανερωθὲν) ἐν υἱῷ ἀναπαυόμενον συμφυῶς 3, 5. . Ὁμολογῶ δὲ τὸν ἕνα τῆς Τριάδος Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ θεὸν Λόγον δι᾽ ἡμᾶς ὑμᾶς 1. , ὑπὲρ (ὑπὲρ) ἢ περὶ 1. ἡμᾶς, καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐξ ἁγίας παρθένου Μαρίας ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμέρων σαρκωθέντα ἀτρέπτως, ἀσυγχύτως, ἀναλλοιώτως, οὐκ οὐράνιον λέγων αὐτοῦ (λέγων αὐτοῦ) αὐτοῦ λέγων 2, 5. τὴν σάρκα, ὡς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατελθοῦσαν, κατὰ Ἀπολινάριον καὶ Οὐάλεντα τοὺς μεμισημένους, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν κοσμικῶν στοιχείων αὖ πάλιν γυναικὸς ἄνευ συνδραμοῦσαν καὶ ἑνωθεῖσαν αὐτῷ κατὰ Ἀπελλὴν τὸν ἄθεον τε adds 3. καὶ βλάσφημον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ παρθένου μᾶλλον, οὐ προδιαπλασθέντι διαπλασθέντι 1, 2. ἀνθρώπῳ ἐνῳκηκότα, κἃν ὡς ἐν ῥιπῇ, κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρωπολάτρην Νεστώριον. Ἅμα γὰρ τῷ ἀσπασμῷ τοῦ Γαβριὴλ πρὸς τὴν παρθένον γυμνὸς καὶ ἁπλοῦς εἰσπηδήσας ὁ Λόγος, Πατρὸς εὐδοκήσαντος καὶ Πνεύματος συνεργήσαντος, τέλειος Ἀδὰμ πρωτοδεύτερος ἐν αὐτῇ γεγέννηται γεγέννηται 5. ἀθρόον, καὶ οὐ ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν τῶν μελῶν διαπλάσεσι, κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν τὴν τῆς φύσεως, καὶ προέρχεται Θεὸς σαρκὸς προσλήψει ἐμψυχωμένης καὶ νοερᾶς, υἱὸς Θεοῦ κατ᾽ αὐτὸ καὶ υἱὸς γνωριζόμενος τῆς παρθένου, ἀμήτωρ ἄνω ἐκ μόνου Πατρός, ἀπάτωρ ἐκ μόνης μητρός, ὁ φύσει θεότητος τὰ πάντα πληρῶν. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ Λόγος προσαγορεύεται καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὁ ἐκ νοῦ (ὁ ἐκ νοῦ) ὡς ἐκ κοινοῦ 3. τοῦ Πατρός, καθ᾽ ὅ ἔφην, πρὸ αἰώνων γεννηθεὶς ἐνυπόστατος ἀπαθῶς καὶ ἀρρεύστως, τοῦ γεγεννηκότος κατὰ τὴν φύσιν οὐ διεστῶς, εἰ καί ὡς ἐντόμῳ παρθενικῇ νηδΰι ὕστερον ἐγγραφείς, εἰτ᾽ οὖν συντεθείς, κατὰ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν, ἐσωματώθη ὁ ἄϋλος καὶ ὡράθη ὁ ἀόρατος καὶ ἐσπαργανώθη ὁ ἀπερίληπτος καὶ ἔπαθεν ὁ ἀπαθὴς καὶ νενέκρωται ἐνέκρωτο 3, νενέκρωτο 5. ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἀνέστη ὁ μὴ πεσὼν καὶ ἀνελήφθη ὁ τὰ adds 2. πάντα πληρῶν. ὄθεν κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεοτόκον τὴν αὐτὸν τεκοῦσαν ἀνακηρύττω κηρύττω 1. , τὰς αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς πρεσβείας, ἀγγέλων τε [Exinde codex 807 est mutilus, uti adnotatur etiam in ima pagella ἐντεῦθεν λείπει. Sequitur acephala Vita Stae Matronae.] καὶ πάντων ἁγίων ἐπικαλούμενος καὶ τὰ αὐτῶν πιστῶς τίμια λείψανα ἀσπαζόμενος πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τὴν ἐν γραφῇ Χριστοῦ μορφὴν προσπτυσσόμενος κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων παράδοσιν καὶ τοῦ πρώτου ἐν βασιλεῦσι χριστιανῶν Κωνσταντίνου σὺν τῷ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἀναστήλωσιν καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης παραδόσεως ἐπικύρωσιν πᾶσαν ἐκτρέπομαι αἵρεσιν κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον. Διὰ γὰρ τῆς εἰκονικῆς ὕλης, χρυσοῦ, φημί, ἀργύρων ἢ χρωμάτων ὕλην ἀτρέπτως γενέσθαι πᾶσιν ἐπιδεικνύει τὸν ἄϋλον τοὺς φαντασιαστὰς ἀπωθούμενος, διὰ δὲ τοῦ μικροπρεποῦς τῆς γραφῆς εἴδους διὰ πάσης ἐλθεῖν ἡλικίας τὸν σαρκωθέντα Λόγον καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῆς οἰκονομίας τῷ τέλει τρίπηχυν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὁραθέντα τε καὶ ἀναληφθέντα καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ πατρικοῦ βασιλικῶς βαβασικῶς 1. ἐνιδρυθέντα κηρύττει τοὺς Ἰουδαιόφρονας καὶ λήρους Ὀσσαίους, Σαμψαίους, Ἐλκεσαίους καὶ τοὺς βδελυρίτους βδελυροὺς 2. Ὀφίτας ἀποτρεπόμενος. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ Χριστόν τινα ὑπερμεγεθῆ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἐτερατεύοντο, ἤγουν μιλίων ἐνενήκοντα ἕξ ὄντα τὸ ὕψος καὶ εἴκοσι τεσσάρων τὸ πλάτος καὶ τὴν λοιπὴ ἔχοντα διαγραφὴν τῶν μελῶν ὑπεράνθρωπον. Οἱ δὲ Χριστὸν τὸν ὄφιν ἐκάλουν καὶ ὀφιοειδῆ τὸν Χριστὸν ὑπελάμβανον. Διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἑαυτὸν συνεγγράφειν καὶ συνεικονίζειν ἐν τοῖς (ἐν τοῖς) αὐτοῖς) αὐτοῖς 5 νομίσμασι τὸν Χριστὸν τῷ Χριστῷ, 1, 5. , βασιλέα αὐτὸν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριον κυρίων δηλοῖ, καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλείαν ὁμολογεῖν ὁμολογεῖ 1, 2. , τοποτηρητήν τε αὐτῷ ταύτην ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας καὶ θείων ἐντολῶν ἐκδικίας μηνύει, πᾶσαν σύγχυσιν ἐν ταὐτῷ τῶν αἱρετιζόντων καὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν ἐκμειῶν. Ὡς γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ μέγας ἄναξ Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ πρῶτος ἐν τῷ εἰκονίζεσθαι σωματικῶς, ὡς ἔφην, ἐν τοῖς νομίσμασι σὺν omits 2. Χριστῷ οὐ omits 5. περιεγράφετο, οὐ διῃρεῖτο κατὰ ψυχὴν ἢ νενέκρωτο, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ είκόνι ὁρώμενος ὡς βασιλεὺς καὶ τιμώμενος κατὰ τὴν φύσιν διέμεινεν ἀναλλοίωτος τὴν οἰκείαν, ἀδιαιρέτος ἀδιαιρέτως 1, 2. καὶ ἀπεριγράπτος ἀπεριγράπτως 1, 2. , καὶ Χριστὸν ὡσαύτως αὐτῷ τῷ ἔργῳ προσβεβαιοῖ ἀπεριγράπρως γραφόμενον καὶ ἀσχηματίστως σχηματιζόμενον, ἐλέγχων ἐν τούτῳ τοὺς χριστιανοκατηγόρους ἀντιχρίστους εἰκονομάχους (ἀντιχρ. εἰκονομ.) εἰκονομάχους ἀντιχρίστους 2. ὑπὸ τοῦ παμβασιλέως Χριστοῦ οὐκ ἀνέχομένους τοῦ βασιλεύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀντιχρίστῳ ὑποκειμένους ὡς βασιλεῖ αύτῷ αὐτῳ 5. , καὶ αὐτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν προετοιμάζοντας προετοιμάζοντες 1, 2. . Οὗ καὶ τὴν σφραγίδα φραγίδα 5. ποθοῦντες προσδέξασθαί [(ποθοῦντες προσδ.) προσδέξασθαι

ποθοῦντες 5.] τε καὶ ἐλπίζοντες τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οὐ προσδέχονται, οὐδὲ τὸν συναναστειλωθέντα αὐτῷ σταυρὸν ὡς σκῆπτρον βασιλικὸν προσπτύσσονται, κἂν οὐ λέγωσιν λέγουσιν 2. , ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἀναιρέτην Χριστοῦ οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ adds 5. Χριστοῦ περιχαρῶς κατασπάζονται. ὧν τῆς ἐπαράτου μερίδος ἐγώ τε καὶ ὑμεῖς λυτρωθείημεν καὶ πᾶς ὁ εἰς Χριστὸν αὐτὸν 5. ἐλπίζων θεόδημος omits 5. . Ταῦτα ἀκηκοότες οἱ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνεληλυθόντες τὴν θεοσοφίαν αὐτοῦ θαυμάσαντες καὶ διόρασιν, πίπτουσιν αὐτοῦ πιστῶς πρὸς τοὺς πόδας καὶ λέγουσιν· Ἐστήριξας ἡμῶν τὰς ψυχάς, πάτερ, ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ, ἐφανέρωσας ἡμῶν τῆν τὸν 1, 2. . περὶ σοῦ λογισμῶν λογισμὸν 1, 2. κρυπτομένων τὰ ἄρρητα, λοιπὸν omits 4. ἐφοδίασον ἡμᾶς εὐχαῖς σου τῆς πρὸς ζωὴν καὶ σωτηρίαν ἀγούσης ὁδοῦ μὴ ἐκτρέπεσθαι. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ εὐξάμενος αὐτοὺς καταπεπληγμένους ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια.

[49] Γενομένης οὖν τότε Θεοῦ χάριτι τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας, ὡς προδεδήλωται, τὰ ἐν τῷ Λίσῳ κτισθείσας ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἐπὶ τοῦ Λέοντος ὁ πατὴρ ἐπιτρέπει ἐγκαινισθῆναι καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἀπαρτισμὸν τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ ἀποστέλλει. Τῶν δὲ θεοχαριτώτων ἐγκαινίων ἤδη ἐκεῖσε τῶν ἱερῶν εὐκτηρίων ἐκτελουμένων, οἱ ἐκ πνευμάτων τότε ἐνεργούμενοι ἀκαθάρτων παραγενέσθαι αὐτοῦ πνευματικῶς τὸν ἅγιον Ἰωαννίκιον καὶ μαστίζειν αὐτοὺς ὠλοφύροντο. Ὅθεν μετὰ ταῦτα οἱ τῶν ἐγκαινισθέντων ἐγκαινισθέντων 2. εὐκτηρίων καὶ μοναστηρίων ἡγούμενοι τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐσταθίου φημὶ καὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου, ἄμφω ὀνομαζόμενοι Μάκαρες, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἐλθόντες ἀκούουσι παῤ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ συμβάντα ἀπαραλείπτως, τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων, λέγω, διοίκησιν, τὴν τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης μετάδοσιν, τὴν τῶν ἐνεργουμένων πυρπόλησιν. Καὶ θάμβους πληροῦνται ἐξαισίου, ὑπομνησθέντες τὴν τῆς πνευματικῆς παρουσίας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνεργουμένων τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνακήρυξιν. Ὧν ἔτι τῷ πατρὶ συγκαθεζομένων, ὁ εἷς αὐτῶν τοῖαυτα ὁρῶν κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἀνέστρεφεν. Ὡσεὶ καὶ ἄκρᾳ ἀσκήσει ἐν βαθεῖ γήρᾳ πιέζει αὐτοῦ ὁ πατὴρ τὸ σαρκίον, νόσος δὲ αὐτὸν πολυήμερος περιέσχεν καὶ βαρεῖα, ὥσπερ ἠκούομεν ἀκουόμεν 2. , ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι αὐτοῦ πολύσαρκον τὸ σῶμα ἐκ τῆς ἐπάρσεως τῶν κνημῶν ὑποπτεύεται. ᾯ καὶ λογιζομένῳ ταῦτά φησιν εὐθὺς ὁ μακάριος· Οὐχ, ὡς σὺ νομίζεις, ἀδελφε Μάκαρ, σαρκῶν ἐστι πλῆθος ὅπερ ὁρᾷς τὸ τῶν κνημῶν κριμμῶν 4. μου ἔπαρμα καὶ ἀνεύρυσμα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πνεύματος στομάχου κακοσιτίας. Ὅθεν ἀκούσας ὁ Μάκαρ τὰ κατὰ διάνοιαν αὐτῷ μελετώμενα Θριαμβευόμενα ἔπτηξε καὶ μετάνοιαν βαλὼν τὴν τῶν λογισθέντων ᾔτει συγχώρησιν.

[50] Πολέμου δὲ κατ᾽ ἐκείνῳ καιρῷ καιροῦ 1. τῶν χριστιανῶν πρὸς τοὺς Ἰσμαηλίτας συγκροτηθέντος, παρελήφθησαν αὐτοῖς οὐκ ὀλίγοι τῶν Ῥωμαίων. Ὄτε καὶ ἑνός τινος συμπαραληφθέντος ἐκείνοις ἐκ κώμης ὁρμωμένου τοῦ Ἔγους, οἱ ἴδιοι θρηνωδοῦντες ἀνέρχονται πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον καὶ μάλιστα ἀκηκοότες τὸν πατρίκιον καὶ σακελλάριον Λέοντα μέλλοντα καὶ αὐτόν, χάριν εὐχῆς, ἀνίεναι πρὸς τοῦτον παρακαλέσαι δοῦναι αὐτοῖς Σαρακηνὸν ἀντ᾽ αἰχμάλωτον, ὅπως ἀντικαταλλάξαντες αὐτὸν τὸν ἴδιον τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἀπολυτρώσωνται. Τοῦ δὲ πατρικίου ἀνεληλυθότος καὶ μετ᾽ εὐχὴν τῷ πατρὶ συγκαθίσαντος, τοῦ δεομένου ἱσταμένου ἀπέναντι αὐτῶν, ψυχωφέλεσι λόγοις πρὸς αὐτὸν μᾶλλον καὶ ὁμιλίας adds 4. ἐσχόλασεν, τὰ περὶ τοῦ αἰχμαλώτου ἐκουσίως ἀμνημονήσας. Εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν τοῦ σακελλαρίου (ἐκειθ. τ. σακελ.) τοῦ σακελλαρίου ἐκεῖθεν 2, σκελλαρίου 4. ἀπολυθέντος, ὁ ἱκέτης καὶ συγγενὴς τοῦ αἰχμαλωτισθέντος περιλυπούμενος κατὰ νοῦν ἐκακηγόρει τὸν ἅγιον ὅσιον 4. μὴ γνωρίσαντα τὴν παράκλησιν αὐτοῦ τῷ σακελλαρίῳ. Ὅ ὁ πατὴρ διὰ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἐπιγνοὺς πραείᾳ φωνῇ τούτῳ ἐμβλέψας εἶπεν· Μὴ λυποῦ, ἆδελφε, κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ τῷ μὴ ἀνάθεσθαί με τὴν αἴτησίν σου ἀνθρώπῳ· ἐπὶ Θεὸν μᾶλλον ἢ ἐπ᾽ ἆνθρωπον χρὴ τὴν πεποίθησιν ἒχειν. Τίς γὰρ ἤλπισεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ ᾐσχύνθη; Ἔλπιζε οὖν καὶ θάρσει λοιπὸν καὶ τῆς αἰτήσεώς σου ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐπιτεύξῃ. Τοιούτοις λόγοις πραΰνας αὐτοῦ τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὴν λύπην κατακοιμήσας, τῇ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ καὶ τοῖς δεσμοῖς οἶς κατείχετο ὁ αἰχμάλωτος ἐπιφανεὶς ὁ μακάριος ἑνὶ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτοῦ καὶ συναιχμαλώτων ἔφη· Ἀναστάς, ὦ σύ, ἐπιλαβόμενος ἐπιλαβοῦ 2, 4. τὸν συναιχμαλωτόν σου καὶ γνώριμόν μοι Εὐάνδριον καὶ adds 2. , ἀκολουθεῖτέ μοι προπορευομένῳ. Εἰ δὲ ἐρωτήσειεν τίς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι, Ἰωαννίκιος, ἐρεῖς αὐτῷ, ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ ταλαίπωρος. Τοῦ δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτὰ τὰ τῆς ὁπτασίας εἰρηκότος τῷ Εὐανδρίῳ συνδεσμουμένῳ, τὸ θεόληπτον αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀγνοῶν, τοῦ τρισοσίου θαρρήσας τῇ ὁπτασίᾳ, τῷ πνεύματι πιστεύσας ἀνεξωπύρησεν. ὧν ἀναστάντων ἔπεσον ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν καὶ ποδῶν αὐτῶν (καὶ ποδ. αὐτ.) αυτ. κ. π. 4. πᾶσαι αἱ ἁλύσεις καὶ τὰ δεσμά, καὶ ἠνοίγησαν τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου αἱ πύλαι, τοῦ ἁγίου αὐτοῖς δῆλον ὅτι, προπορευομένου καθορωμένου, τοὺς φύλακας νεκροῦντος καὶ ἐκ ποδῶν ποιοῦντος πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα καὶ ποτὲ μὲν βλεπομένου, ποτὲ δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν ἀποκρυπτομένου, Ὅθεν κατὰ πάροδον προβαίνοντες εὑρίσκουσι ποιμένας Σαρακηνῶν ποιμαίνοντας ἕν τινι τόπῳ, συνεπισυρομένους συνεπιφερομένους 4. φοβεροὺς κύνας. Οἳ (Οἲ-κύνας) omits 4. καὶ ἰδόντες αὐτοὺς θρασέως ἠλάλαζον κατατρέχοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιφανεὶς ὁ μακάριος τότε τοὺς μὲν κύνας (Οἲ-κύνας) omits 4. εὐθὺς καταδικάζει σιγῇ, τοὺς ποιμένα δὲ περιβάλλει ἀχλύἳ τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν αὐτούς, κἀκείνους ἀφόβως ὁδεύειν παραθαρσύνει, αὖθις τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν ἀποπτάς. Ἐλθόντες δὲ κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς τὰ ἴδια πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον θεράποντα Χριστοῦ ἀνῆλθον Ἰωαννίκιον, εὐχαριστοῦντες αὐτῷ ὡς σωτηρίας αἰτίῳ καὶ τῆς ἀπολυτρώ αὐτῶν αὐτῷ 2. παραδοξοποιὸν παραδοξοποιῷ 2. μετὰ Κύριον καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτὸν μεγαλοφώνως ἀνακηρύττοντες.

[51] Τῷ πεντηκοστῷ δὲ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀσκήσεως χρόνῳ καὶ ἐνενηκοστῷ δευτέρῳ τῆς ἕως τότε ζωῆς αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων δύο γερόντῶν ἐν Κόρακος Κεφαλῇ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς ὁ πατὴρ ἐχρησμῳδοτήθη, ἐν μεγιστῳ πειρασμῷ περιέπεσεν. Ἐπιφάνιος γάρ δέ 4. τις ὀνομαζόμενος μοναχὸς ὑπεράνω τῆς μονῆς Βαλεοῦ, ἐν τόπῳ προσαγορευομένῳ Κοχλία καθεζόμενος ἐν κελλίῳ, φθόνον πικρὸν ὠδινήσας ἐν διανοίᾳ, ἐζηλοτύπει τὸν ὅσιον κακηγορῶν αὐτὸν καὶ σκώπτων. Ἑῶρα γὰρ πολλοὺς καθ᾽ ἑκάστην σωματικῆς χάριν ἰάσεως καὶ ψυχικῆς ὠφελείας πρὸς τούτῳ πιστῶς ἀνατρέχοντας. Ὅστις εἰς τόκον τὴν πικρὰν πονηρὰν 2. ὠδῖνα ἄγειν σπουδάζων, ἀθροίζει τινὰς εἰς συνεργείαν αὐτοῦ κακοδαίμονας. Οἳ καὶ παράνομον συμβουλίαν ποιησάμενοι, τὴν θύραν τῆς κέλλης αὐτοῦ προσδεσμήσαντες τὸ πλησιάζον ἄλσος ἐνέπρησαν, ὅπως αὐτὸν τὸ πῦρ ἐλθὸν ἐλθὼν (sic) 2. ἕνδον κατακαύσῃ καὶ ἀφανίσῃ. Ἀλλ᾽ ἡ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου omits 4. Θεοῦ χάρις διαναστήσασα καὶ νευρώσασα τοῦτον, ἀποκαλύπτει τῆς κέλλης ὐπεξελθεῖν. Ὃς εὑρηκὼς τὴν κέλλαν θύραν 2, 4. προσδεδεμένην, εὐχῇ καὶ χειρὶ τὸν δεσμὸν διαρρήξας πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας ἔξεισιν. Ὡς δὲ ἠστόχησαν αὐτῶν τῆς κακοβουλίας ἐκείνης οἱ δείλαιοι ὕβρεσιν αὐτὸν (αὐτ.-τοχούσ.) omits 4. ὑπέβαλλον. Ὁ δέ, ὡς πρόβατον ἄκακον τῆς ἀγέλης Χριστοῦ του πράου ὀντως omits 4. καὶ ταπεινοῦ ὑπάρχον ὑπάρχων (sic) 1. , πραέως αὐτοῖς ὡμίλει καὶ συνελάλει. Πλᾶνος γὰρ omits 4. καὶ ἀμετανόητος καὶ πάσης κακίας ἐργιάτης ὀνομαζόμενος ὐπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ἔφη αὐτοῖς ἀληθῶς adds 4. . Ἀδελφοί μου καὶ (καὶ-ἀληθῶσ) omits 4. πατέρες, ἀληθῶς ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, ὡς φατέ (ὡς φατὲ) omits 2. , καὶ ταλαίπωρος καθῶς λέγεται adds 2. , ἀλλ᾽ ἐστιν μετάνοια. Οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν· Ναὶ μετάνοια ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ὅλως διατελεῖς ἀδιόρθωτος. Καὶ εὐθὺς σὺν τῷ λόγῳ ὁ Ἐπιφάνιος ἥνπερ κατεῖχε ῥάβδον ξυλίνην πρὸς τὸ τέλος αὐτῆς ὀξὺ σίδηρον ἕχουσαν εἰς τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς κοιλίαν ἐπέστησεν, εἰ καὶ οὐ συνήργησεν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν. Ὁ δὲ πατήρ, κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον, εἰς ἄκραν παιδιοπρεπῆ ἀκακίας αὐξήσας αὐξήσεως 1. , ὡς μηδὲν πεπονθώς, τῷ ἑνὶ αὐτῶν ἀμνησικάκως λέγει· Εἴσελθε, ἀββᾶ Μάκαρ, ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ, καὶ ὅπερ ἃν εὕρῃς βρῶμα ἣ πόμα ἐξάγαγε, ὅπως λάβωμεν ἀγάπην σὺν τοῖς πατράσι. Πρὸς τούτῳ δὲ ζέοντας αὐτοὺς τῷ θυμῷ καὶ μὴ εἴξαντας· Δεῦτε, λέγει, κἃν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀλλήλους κατασπασώμεθα. Καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ἀσπασάμενοι αὐτὸν ὑπεχώρησαν, ὁ δὲ Ἐπιφάνιος ἐπέμενεν ἀκατάλλακτος.

[52] Εἰς βαθὺ δὲ γῆρας ἐλάσας, καὶ ἀδυναμίᾳ ἄκρᾳ κατασχεθείς, ὁ μακάριος πρὸς τὴν Ἀντιδίου μονὴν συγκαταβαίνει καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ κατασκευάσας κελλίον ἐφησυχάζει. Ὅθεν ἐν μιᾷ ἐξελθὼν ἐκεῖθεν κυρτοβατῶν καὶ στιχολογῶν, ἀνθυροστρέφων ἤδη, τοῦ ὑπουργοῦ αὐτοῦ αὐτῷ 2. Θεοφίλου συνεπομένου, ὁρᾷ τινας ἀδελφοὺς καὶ πλείστους πτωχοὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνεληλυθότας, καὶ εὐξάμενος δι᾽ αὐτῶν διῆλθεν οὐ καθορώμενος. Οὓς καὶ οἰκτείρας οἰκτηρήσαι 4. ἀπέστειλε κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν εὐλογίαν. Οἱ δὲ ἧμεν ἄξιοι adds 4. λέγουσι τῷ Θεοφίλῳ· Εἴθε ἦμεν (εἰθ. ἦμ.) omits 4. ἄξιοι τοῦ τιμίου πατρὸς τὸν χαρακτῆρα θεάσασθαι. Καὶ ὁ Θεόφιλος ἔφη omits 4. · Ὃν ἑωράκατε σὺν ἐμοί, ἀδελφοί (ἀδελφ. πρὸ , πρὸ μικροῦ ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν διερχόμενον, ἐκεῖνος ἐστίν, ὅνπερ ἐπιζητεῖτε θεάσασθαι. Οἱ δὲ ὅρκοις αὐτὸν ἐπληροφόρουν μόνον αὐτὸν τότε ἰδεῖν καὶ οὐχ ἕτερον.

[48] St. Ioannicius's profession of faith. When the patriarch had received that precious and God-inspired writing and had shown it to the emperors, and had pondered what was said in it according to the judgment of God, he removes all the iconomachs and separates those who were making the schism; and so he procures a profound peace for the Church, administering her by the grace of God ^a. Then, however, several of those who had been removed turned to calumny against the venerable father Ioannicius, saying, namely, that he who thought such things was impious and unjust. Not being ignorant of this, he, truly a fiery pillar of prophetic grace, when one day a multitude of pious men had come to him, of bishops, that is, of presbyters and of monks, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Since, brethren and fathers, certain men, pricked by envy, babble and suspect that I, an unlettered and lowly man, do not believe rightly, I will profess before all of you, that you may hear it, my belief concerning God. God, then, is a supersubstantial and uncreated essence, since He is the cause and producer of all essences, distinct without division and united with distinction ^b, a threefold solar light, triple in hypostasis in one royal power, glory and dominion, unceasingly celebrated by the angelic nature. For the Seraphim do not say 'Holy' once, lest the opinion be Jewish; nor again 'Holy, Holy,' lest the impiety of the Arians and Macedonians be brought in; but three times: 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord,' not lords, but Lord, since there is one dominion. Wherefore, as the Seraphim believe, so too do I believe. In three hypostatic splendours I adore one dominion and deity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, each one God, conceived and spoken of in Himself on account of the consubstantiality

in the three hypostases, and the simplicity and incomposite character of the divine nature; but not three gods. For these three, conceived and numbered in relation to one another, are one God, not indeed conjoined or contracted, on account of the identity of motion and the unmixed circumincession of the hypostases in one another, and the undivided monarchy of the deity in a triple hypostasis; but the mind separates things that are inseparable, and that in an incredible manner have both distinction and unity. The Father, then: the Father is without principle, unbegotten, uncreated, for He is from nothing. The Word and Son: the Son before the ages, without effluence and without passion, since He was begotten from the mind of His Father, not made, and having Him as a principle without principle, from whom He also is without beginning. And the Spirit: the Holy Spirit is Himself without principle, not by generation, as the Son, nor by creation, but proceeding by procession from the Father and manifested to the world through the Son. I confess the only Son of the Trinity, the Son of God and God the Word, for us and on our behalf and among us and for our salvation incarnate of the holy Virgin Mary in the last days, without change, confusion or estrangement of the divinity, not calling His flesh heavenly as though it had fallen from heaven, as those hateful men Apollinaris ^c and Valens ^d did; nor as concurring from worldly elements without the concourse of a woman and united to Him, according to the impious and blasphemous Apelles ^e, but rather from the Virgin; and by no means as dwelling in a man formed beforehand, as it were in a moment, according to the man-worshipper Nestorius ^f. For at the same moment as Gabriel's salutation, the Word, naked and simple, leaping into the Virgin, the Father approving and the Spirit cooperating, the whole perfect second Adam was begotten in her, and by no means gradually through the arrangement of members according to the custom of nature, and God came forth in the assumption of a flesh animated and sensible, the Son of God and likewise the known Son of the Virgin, without a mother above, since He is from the Father alone, without a father below, since He is from the mother alone, by the nature of His deity filling all things. Wherefore He is also called the Word among us, because, as I have said, He was begotten hypostatically from the mind of the Father before the ages, without passion or effluence of the begetter, not differing in nature, although at length He was inscribed in the unsevered virginal womb, then compacted, and, according to Isaiah ^g, the immaterial was incorporated, and the invisible was seen, and the incomprehensible was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the impassible suffered, and the Life underwent death, and He who had not fallen rose again, and He who fills all things was taken up. Hence I profess, properly and truly, that she who bore Him is the Mother of God, invoking her intercessions with her Son, and those of the angels and of all the saints, and faithfully venerating their precious relics. Moreover, embracing the form of Christ in representation, according to the tradition of the Apostles and the institution of Constantine, the first among Christian kings, together with the sign of the cross, and according to the sanction of such a tradition, I detest every heresy that is against it. For through the material of the image, gold, I mean, or silver or colours, it makes manifest to all that He who was immaterial was made matter without change, refuting the Phantasiasts ^h. And through the lowliness of the represented appearance it proclaims that the incarnate Word advanced through every age, and in the very consummation of the dispensation appeared among us raised to three cubits in height, and was taken up and royally established on the paternal throne, rejecting those who thought in the Jewish manner, together with the foolish Ossaeans ⁱ, Sampsaeans ^k, Elcesaites ^l and the impudent Ophites ^m. For some made Christ a sort of monster of enormous size, which measured ninety-six miles in height and twenty-four in breadth, and had the remaining measure of its members beyond the human ⁿ. Others again called Christ a serpent, since they supposed Him to be of serpentine form. But since Constantine inscribed himself and represented Christ on his coins ^o, he showed Him to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, and professes that he received his earthly kingdom from Him, and signifies himself as His vicar for religion and for the defence of the divine commandments, by that very act extinguishing every disturbance and dissension of the heretics. Since, then, that great prince Constantine, the first also to represent himself bodily, as I have said, together with Christ on the coins [p], did not circumscribe himself nor divide himself according to the soul nor kill himself, but, being seen in his own image as king and honoured, remained according to nature unchangeably his own, undividedly and indescribably, so by that very fact he affirmed that Christ is depicted uncircumscribably and figured without figure [q], convicting by this very thing the Christianocategori [r], the antichrists, the iconomachs, who do not bear to be ruled by Christ the King of all things, but who, subject to Antichrist as to their king, are preparing the kingdom for him. Desiring and at the same time hoping to receive his seal, they do not receive the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do they venerate the cross raised up for Him as a royal sceptre, although they do not say so, but as enemies of Christ they embrace with joy what is destructive of Christ. From whose wicked party may both you and the whole people of God who hope in Christ be delivered." When those who had gone up to him had heard these things, marvelling at his divine wisdom and perspicacity, they fell faithfully at his feet and say: "You have strengthened our souls in piety, father; you have made manifest to us the mysteries of your hidden thoughts; for the rest, lead us by your prayers, that we may not turn aside from the way that leads to life and salvation." When the father had blessed them, he sent them back, astonished, to their own homes.

[49] St. Ioannicius reveals the secrets of hearts, Orthodoxy having therefore been restored at that time by the grace of God, as was indicated above, the father has those churches which he had founded at Lisus under Leo [s] consecrated, and sends whatever was needed for the consecration. When the dedication most pleasing to God had been completed there, those who were then vexed by unclean spirits lamented that St. Ioannicius was present there in the spirit, beating them. Thereafter the hegumens of the consecrated churches and monasteries, of Saint Eustathius, I mean, and of the Mother of God, both called Macar, when they had come to the saint, hear from him precisely what had happened at the feast of the consecration, namely the administration of affairs, the distribution of alms and the fury of the energumens. And they were filled with great astonishment, remembering that the spiritual presence of the father had been announced by the energumens. While they were still staying with the father, one of them, seeing such things, returned home. But since, even in extreme ascetic life and in deep old age, the father mortified his flesh, and a grave illness held him for many days, as we have heard, the visitor nevertheless suspected from the swelling of his legs that his body was still fairly stout. To him, as he was thinking these things, the saint said at once: "It is not, as you think, brother Macar, abundance of flesh, this swelling and distension of my legs which you see, but it comes from the wind of a stomach that digests its food badly." Then Macar, hearing manifested what he himself had been turning over in thought, was afraid, and showing himself penitent asked pardon for his thoughts.

[50] he frees a captive of the Saracens, When in those times war was being waged by the Christians against the Ismaelites [t], not a few of the Romans were captured by them. Then, too, when one was captured by them who came from the village of Elaeus, his kinsmen go up in tears to the saint, and hearing that the patrician and sacellarius [u] Leo was also to come for the sake of receiving a blessing, they ask the saint to urge him to give them a Saracen in exchange for the captive, so that, by exchanging him, they might free their kinsman from captivity. When the patrician had arrived and after prayer was sitting with the father, the petitioner standing before them at the same time, he gave his time rather to spiritual discourse with him, and of his own accord forgot the matters concerning the captive. Afterwards, when the sacellarius had been dismissed from there, the petitioner, the blood-relative of him who was held captive, being distressed, accused the saint in his mind of not having made his request known to the sacellarius. The father, knowing this through the Spirit of God, looking at him, said in a gentle voice: "Do not be grieved against me, brother, because I did not set out your petition to the man; one ought to have confidence in God rather than in man. For who has hoped in Him and been put to shame? Hope, then, and take heart henceforth, and you will obtain your petition from God." When with such words he had lifted up his mind and calmed his sorrow, that same night the blessed man, appearing in the prison and the chains in which the captive was held, said to one of his acquaintances and fellow-captives: "Rise, you, and taking with you your fellow-captive Evandrius, who is known to me, follow me as I go before you. If anyone asks who appeared to you, you will answer him: Ioannicius, the lowly and wretched." When after this he had told the vision to Evandrius, who was loaded with chains together with him, the latter, recognizing the will of God and strengthened by the apparition of the thrice-holy man, was set on fire, trusting in the spirit. As they rose, all the chains and fetters fell from their hands and feet, and the doors of the prison were opened. It was plain that the saint was seen going before them, striking the guards with death and removing every obstacle from their feet; now he was seen by them, and now hidden. Then, going forward on the road, they come upon Saracen shepherds pasturing in a certain place and leading frightful dogs with them. When these saw them they ran up howling loudly, but when the blessed man appeared he at once commands the dogs to be silent, and casts a mist over the shepherds so that they might not see those men, whom he moves to pursue their journey without fear, again vanishing from their eyes. When a little later they had returned home, they went up to the holy servant of Christ Ioannicius to give him thanks as the cause of their salvation, professing before all with a loud voice that he was, together with the Lord, the wonder-working co-worker of their deliverance.

[51] he is ill-treated by a perverse monk, In the fiftieth year of his ascetic life and the ninety-second of his life up to that time [v], as he had been taught by an oracle from the beginning by the two holy old men at Raven's Head [w], the father fell into very great danger. A certain Epiphanius by name, a monk dwelling in a cell above the monastery of Baleus [x], in a place called Cochlia [y], since he was afflicted by a bitter envy, envied the saint in his mind, calumniating him and mocking him. For he saw very many running to him daily with confidence for the grace of bodily healing and spiritual profit. Striving to carry his bitter envy into deed, he gathers certain men led by an abominable spirit to cooperate with him. They, having formed that wicked plan with him, tying fast the door of his cell, set fire to the neighbouring grove, so that the fire, entering within, might burn him and take him out of the way. But when the grace of the kind God had roused and strengthened him, it reveals to him that he should go out of the cell. He, finding the cell shut, broke the fastening by prayer and by hand and comes out to those who were lying in wait for him. When the authors of this perverse plan had been thwarted, they assailed him with insults and unheard-of calumnies. But he, like an innocent sheep of the flock

of Christ, truly meek and humble, exhorted them in a gentle voice and conversed with them. For when he was called by them a seducer and a madman and a worker of every malice, he said to them: "My brethren and fathers, truly I am a sinner, as you say, and wretched, but there is repentance." They answer: "Certainly, there is repentance. But you perform it altogether in a perverse manner." And immediately upon these words Epiphanius aimed the wooden staff he was holding, tipped with a sharp iron point, at the father's belly, without, however, succeeding in the attempt. But the father, according to the word of Christ [z], rising to the highest degree of noble goodness, as though he had suffered nothing, forgetful of the injuries, said to one of them: "Go into the cell, abba Macar, and bring whatever you find, food or drink, so that we may take an agape with the fathers." Moreover he addresses them as they seethed with anger and would not yield: "Come, let us embrace one another." The rest, then, when they had embraced him, withdrew; but Epiphanius remained implacable.

[52] and he passes invisible among the brethren. When he had reached a great old age, the blessed man, held fast by extreme weakness, goes to the monastery of Antidium; and there, in a cell prepared for him, he rested. Then, when one day he had gone out, bent over and singing psalms, and was returning, his servant Theophilus now following him, he sees certain brethren and a great many poor people coming together to him, and, praying, he passed through the midst of them unseen. Taking pity on them, he sent as much of the eulogia as he could. They say to Theophilus: "Would that we were worthy to behold the sight of the venerable father!" Theophilus says: "He whom you saw with me, brethren, passing before you a little while ago, is the very man you seek to see." But they asserted with an oath that they had seen him alone, and no other.

ANNOTATA.

p. Perhaps Sabas means those coins of Constantine on which the emperor had ordered himself to be struck in the attitude of one praying, and which were spread through the whole Roman world, as Eusebius reports in the Life of Constantine, book IV, 15.

q. That εἰκονίζεσθαι, to represent in an image, is not περιγράφειν, to circumscribe, as the iconomachs maintained, who reproach Christians with this error, Nicephorus often shows in the third Antirrheticus already adduced, pp. 76, 83.

r. The Christianocategori, χριστιανοκατήγοροι, are the iconoclasts, so called, as St. Nicephorus defines in the third Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus, Nova Patrum Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 146, because they calumniated the Christians, who render worship to the one true God adored in the Trinity, as though they honoured the venerable images of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our immaculate Lady the most holy Mother of God, and also of holy men, as gods, in the manner of the heathen, with latreutic observance.

s. Namely the churches of the Mother of God and of St. Eustathius, as was said above, chap. VI, nos. 18–20, under Leo, that is, the Armenian.

t. Toward the end of the reign of Theophilus and at the beginning of the reign of Michael war was very frequently waged with the Saracens, who are also called Agarenes and Ismaelites, as may be read in the Byzantine writers. In our work, vol. I of March, p. 457 ff., several martyrs who were slain at the time of these wars have been treated.

u. The chief office of the sacellarius, that is, the keeper of the moneys, set over the treasury, is the administration of the monasteries; on which, if you want more, the dissertation of Gretser and Goar appended to Codinus's book On the Offices is to be consulted, which is found in P. G., vol. CLVII, p. 134 ff.

v. That is, in the year of Christ 844.

w. See above, chap. III, no. 9, p. 340.

x. Of the monastery of Baleus we have found nothing in the Byzantine writers.

y. Evidently a certain place in the Olympus region.

z. This word of Christ seems to be adduced here by a slip of memory.

CHAPTER TWELVE. St. Ioannicius is visited by St. Methodius. His death.

[53] Τῷ οὖκ πέμπτῳ ἔτει τῆς εὐσεβοῦς βασιλείας Μιχαὴλ καὶ Θεοδωρας, τετάρτῳ δὲ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας, ἐνενηχοστῷ δὲ τετάρτῳ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννιχίου ζωῆς, πεντηχοστῷ δὲ (δὲ δευτέρῳ-τριακοσιοστῷ)omits 4. δευτέρῳ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἀναχωρήσεως καὶ ἐξαχισχιλιοστῷ τριαχοσιοστῷ (δὲ δευτέρῳ-τριακοσιοστῷ) omits 4. πεντηχοστῷ πέμπτῳ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου, δεκάτῃ ἰνδικτιῶνι καὶ μηνὶ νοεμβρίῳ πρώτῃ, ὁ ὄντως θεοφόρος ἐν ἱεράρχαις Μεθόδιος τὴν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἀνάλυσιν τοῦ ἁγίου προθεωρήσας τῶ πνεύματι τῷ πνύματι omits 2. ἔξεισι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἀντιδίου ἀνατρέχει μονή. ἐν ᾗ ὑπῆρχε τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἐνδιαιτῶμενος ὁ ὅσιος (ὁ ὅΣ.) omits 4. . ᾮ προσυπαντήσας καὶ φιλήματι ἁγίῳ ὁ μακαρίτης πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος (πατ. ἑμ. Ἰωανν.) omits 4. κατασπασάμενος ἔφησε τῷ πατριάρχῃ (τῷ πατρ.) omits 4. · Τοῦ πρώτου δεσπότου καὶ μεγάλου ἀρχιερέως Χριστοῦ ὡς τύπος καὶ εἰκὼν ἀπαράγραπτος ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀγαθοῖς πέλων καὶ τῇ ταπεινώσει σου ἔδειξας πᾶσι τῆς συγκαταβάσεως τὴν ἀκρότητα πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς εὐτελεῖς καὶ ἐλαχίστους παραγενόμενος τῇ ἀγγελοειδεῖ καὶ ἁγιοπρεπεῖ παρουσίᾳ σου, τὴν ἐκ τοῦδε τοῦ δυστήνου σαρκίου τῆς ταπεινῆς μου ψυχῆς ἐκχώρησιν ἐνιξάμενος, ὥς μοι μοι omits 1. δεδήλωται. Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεί τινες τῶν αἱρετικῶν καὶ (καὶ σχισμ.-στομ. αὐτῶν) omits 4. ἄραντες, κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν γλῶσσαν εἰς τὴν κατὰ σοῦ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξηκόνισαν διαλοιδορίαν, ταράσσοντες πολλούς, σκανδαλίζοντες καὶ θολοῦντες τοὺς ἀστηρίκτους καὶ κρίματι ἀπωλείας εὐαγγελικῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδιδόντες, τὰ δοκοῦντά μοι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνηχηθέντα τοῖς περὶ σὲ οὖσιν, εἰ κελεύεις, καὶ τοῖς προστυχοῦσι λαλήσω. Δεῦρο δή, ἀρχιερέων, ἱερέων, ἡγουμένων, μοναζόντων καὶ πιστῶν λαἳκῶν ὦ θεοσύλλεκτος δῆμος, τὸ πανίερον σύστημα, τὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ ἀγέλης ἐξαίρετον καύχημα καὶ καλλόπισμα (καύχ.κ.καλλόπ.) omits 4. , ἀκούσατέ μου τοὺς λόγους τοῦ ταπεινοῦ καὶ ἐν πυξίῳ καρδίας ὑμῶν ἀνεξαλείπτους τούτους ἐγγράψατε, ὅπως μὴ κενολογίαις φθορέων ἀνδρῶν ἐξ ἀγνοίας περιφερόμενοι περιφερόμενου 2. τοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν στηριγμοῦ ἀποπέσητε, καὶ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀστοχήσητε. Ἀρχὴ καὶ ῥίζα τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ καὶ θεμέλιος τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως οὗτος ἐδείχθη ὁ μέγας ἐν πατριάρχαις Μεθόδιος καὶ θεοφόρος πατὴρ ἡμῶν τὰς μεθοδίας πάσας ἀπελάσας τῆς πλάνης καὶ τὴν εἰκονομάχον αἵρεσιν θείοις δόγμασιν ἀμαυρώσας καὶ ἀποδείξεσιν, ὅν τινες τὰ νῦν ἀθυροστομοῦντες λοιδοροῦσι τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς χαριζόμενοι καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ

σῶμα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καταμερίζοντες. Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς οὐ συμφρονοῦσιν, ὡς λέγουσι, τοῖς δὲ ὀρθοδόξοις ἀναιδῶς ἀντιπίπτουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι βδέλυγμα πάντως οὐ δόγμα κατὰ διάνοιαν ἔχουσι καὶ σκοτεινῶς ἀνελίττουσι, καιρὸν συνεργὸν εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ φανέρωσιν ἀναμένοντες, ᾗ τῇ τῶν Κεντουκλάδων ἀσυστάτῳ ἀγνοίᾳ κεκράτηνται. Ἀλλὰ τῶν δυσωνύμων χριστομάχων εἰκονομάχων ὑμεῖς εὐσεβῶς διἳστάμενοι καὶ τῶν σχισματικῶν, ὡς ἄλλων Σκυθῶν τῶν τὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ μέλη εἰς πλεῖστα μέρη ἀφειδῶς κατατεμνόντων, χωρίζεσθε. Εἴ τις γὰρ κοινωνεῖ κανονεῖ 2. τοῖς εἰκονομάχοις, οὐκ ἔχει κοινωνίαν μετὰ Χριστοῦ· εἴ τις δὲ τὸν πατριάρχην Μεθόδιον σχίζει (σχιζει-αὐτόν) omits 4. καὶ κακολογεῖ, διχοτομηθήσεται, καί εἴ τις αὐτὸν (σχίζει-αὐτόν) omits 4. μετὰ Γερμανοῦ, Ταρασίου καὶ Νικηφόρου, τῶν ἀοιδίμων πατριάρχων, καὶ κατ᾽ ἐκείνους οὐχ ἀποδέχεται, τῆς αὐτῶν πρεσβείας κεχώρισται. Καὶ πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην ἐπιστραφεὶς ὁ μακάριος λέγει· Οἱ οὐ 4. κατὰ σοῦλαβεῖν λεγεῖν 2. τολμῶντες, δέσποτα ἅγιε, ἀγωνίζονται κατὰ Θεοῦ μᾶλλον, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας ὁπλίζονται. Διὸ γενναίως φέρε τὰ σκώμματα. Ἐμοῦ γὰρ ἤδη παρερχομένου τοῦδε τοῦ βίου, θεόσοφε, οὐ μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον καὶ αὐτὸς καταλήψῃ με. Ὅ καὶ τετέλεσται· μετὰ γὰρ ὄγδοον μῆνα τῆς κοιμήσεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου, ἤγουν ἰουνίου τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ, ὁ πατριάρχης (κεκοίμηται-ἀρχιεραρχ.) omits 4. κεκοίμηται. Ταῦτα τοίνυν καὶ τοιαῦτα χρεσμῳδοτηθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ ἔνθεος ἀρχιεράρχης (κεκοίμηται-ἀρχιεραρχ.) omits 4. Μεθόδιος, μετὰ ἀσπασμὸν τελευταῖον καὶ εὐχὴν αὐτοῦ θεοπαράθετον, κάτεισιν ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ καὶ εὐλαβεῖ σεμνείῳ omits 4. .

[54] Ὁ δὲ τίμιος εἰδότατος 4. οὗτος καὶ θειότατος (καὶ θειότ.) omits 4. πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος καὶ τῆς ἐρήμου φωστὴρ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐπιβιοῦς, ἐξάρας αὐτοῦ σεμνοπρεπῶς τοὺς πόδας, κατὰ τὸν πάλαι Ἰσραήλ, νοεμβρίῳ τρίτῃ, ἡμέρᾳ τετάρτῃ πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν. Ὃν εὐλαβῶς τότε μετὰ ψαλμῶν καὶ λαμπάδων καὶ εὐωδίας ὁ πατὴρ τῆς μονῆς Ἰωσὴφ σὺν τοῖς μοναχοῖς καὶ τοῖς προστυχοῦσι κηδεύσας ἐν γλωσσοκόμῳ κατέθετο, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἡσυχαστικῆς αὐτοῦ κέλλης ὑμνῶν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀπέφερε. Τότε ἀνήρ τις ἐπὶ χρόνοις ἑπτὰ παραλελυμένος, τὰ μέλη αὐτοῦ τε (αὐτοῦ τε) αὐτοῦσε 2. προσδιατρίβων καὶ δίκην ἀτελοῦς παιδίου συρόμενος, ὡς μόνον ἥψατο τοῦ γλωσσοκόμου, ὀρθοβαδὴς εἰσῄει χάριτι Θεοῦ, σὺν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αἰνῶν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ δοξολογῶν τὸν αὐτοῦ θεράποντα Ἰωαννίκιον. Γυνὴ δέ τις πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον ἔχουσα καὶ ἐλεγχθεῖσα σὺν τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς εἰς τὰ ἴδια ὑπέστρεψεν ὑγιαίνουσα καὶ ἕτερός τις, Πανθήριος προσαγορευόμενος, καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἀτρῴας Ἀτρωίας 1. ὁρμώμενος ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἐνεργούμενος ἀκαθάρτου ὑγιασθεὶς καὶ αὐτὸς διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα χαίρων ὑπέστρεψεν. Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ ὄρει ὄντες τῷ Ἄλσει ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν δόξαν ἀπεκαλύθησαν τοῦ πατρός. Ἴδοσαν γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν ἐν αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ αὐτοῦ τῆς κοιμήσεως, ὡς κατ᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος καὶ τὴν ὑψηλὴν τῆς ἡσυχίας τοῦ μακαρίου περιοχὴν πύρινον στύλον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνυψούμενον καὶ ἐπαιρόμενον (ἐπαιρ.-ὕψος καὶ) omits 4. καθάπερ ὑπόπτερον εἰς τὸ ὕψος καὶ (ἐπαιρ.-ὕψος καὶ) omits 4. αὐτῶν τῶν οὐρανίων ἀψίδων ἁπτόμενον. Οἳ ἀκριβωσάμενοι τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ ὥραν, εὗρον ἀληθῶς ὅτι τοῦ πατρὸς ἦν ἡ ἀπὸ γῆς πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια ἄνοδος καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὃν ὄνπερ 2. ἐπόθησεν εἴσοδος. Οὗ ταῖς εὐχαῖς καὶ ὁδηγίαις καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ πάσῃ ἀρετῇ τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον διατηρούμενοι τῆς (ζωῆς-καί) omits 4. ζωῆς ἡμῶν πάσης ὑλώδους σκοτομηνίας πόρρω γενοίμεθα, τὰ πρὸς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἄγοντα ἐργαζόμενοι, καὶ (ζωῆς-καί) omits 4. τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας ἀξιωθείημεν Πατρὶ και Ὑιῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι ἀναπέμποντες δόξαν σὺν ἀγγέλοις καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[53] St. Ioannicius is visited by St. Methodius, In the fifth year, then, of the pious reign of Michael and Theodora, the fourth of the restored orthodoxy, the ninety-fourth of the life of our father Ioannicius, the fifty-second from his withdrawal from the world ^a, and the six thousand three hundred and fifty-fifth from the creation of the world, in the tenth indiction, and on the first day of the month of November, Methodius, truly God-bearing among pontiffs, having foreseen in the spirit the dissolution of the saint's body, went out to him and hastened to the monastery of Antidium, in which the saint was then staying. When he had gone to meet him, and our blessed father Ioannicius had embraced him with a holy kiss, he said to the patriarch: "Since you are, as it were, a type and an image of the first Master and High Priest Christ, inimitable in all good things, and by your humility have shown to all the height of kindness, coming to us, the base and least, in your angelic and holy presence, having foreseen this migration of my lowly soul from this unhappy flesh, as has been shown to me. But since certain of the heretics and schismatics, lifting up their mouth against heaven, against the Lord ^b, have sharpened their tongue to revile you, His anointed, disturbing many, scandalizing and darkening the weak, and handing themselves over to the danger of perdition, to speak with the Gospel ^c, I will declare, if you so bid, to your companions and to those who perhaps stand by, what seems right to me and has been inspired by the Lord. Now therefore, O people chosen by God, of bishops, presbyters, hegumens, monks and faithful laymen, most holy congregation, the excellent glory and ornament of the flock of Christ, hear my humble words and inscribe them in the depth of your heart, never again to be abandoned, lest, deceived through ignorance by the vain talk of lost men, you fall away from the confirmation of the truth and be exiled from eternal life. The principle and root, in our age, and the foundation of the orthodox faith has been shown to be this great one among patriarchs, Methodius, our God-bearing father, who put to flight all the methods of error and overcame the heresy of the iconomachs by divine doctrines and arguments, whom certain men now calumniate and assail with insults, who favour the heretics and divide the body of Christ, the Church. For if they do not agree with the heretics, as they say, but impudently oppose the orthodox, they have in mind some other madness altogether, and not indeed a dogma, and they creep in darkness, waiting for a favourable time to manifest themselves openly, so as to gain the mastery through the disordered ignorance of the Centuclades ^d. But do you, religiously separated from the iconomachs of evil name who fight against Christ, depart also from the schismatics as from other Scythians, who inhumanly tear the members of Christ and of His Church into many parts. For if anyone has communion with the iconomachs, he has no communion with Christ. If anyone tears at and calumniates the patriarch Methodius, he himself will be separated; and if anyone does not receive him together with Germanus, Tarasius and Nicephorus ^e, the celebrated patriarchs, and as their successor, he himself falls away from their intercession." And turning to the patriarch the blessed man said: "Those who dare to rise up against you, holy lord, fight rather against God and take up arms against their own salvation. Wherefore bear the injuries nobly. My life has now passed, O you who are wise in divine things, but not long after you yourself will follow me." Which was also fulfilled. For in the eighth month after the falling asleep of our father Ioannicius, namely on the fourteenth of June, the patriarch died ^f. When, then, the godly archbishop Methodius had heard these and other similar oracles from the father, after the last embrace and his holy blessing, he went down to his own venerable monastery.

[54] and he dies on 4 November 846. And this venerable and godly father of ours Ioannicius, the light of the desert, having lived three days more, gathering up his feet in magnificent fashion, as Israel once did ^g, on the third day of November, on the fourth departed to the Lord. When the father of the monastery, Joseph, with the monks and all who were present, had then buried him religiously with psalms and lamps and incense, he laid him in a coffin and, singing hymns, translated him from his solitary cell to the church. Then a certain man, a paralytic for seven years, wasted in his members and drawn together like a little boy, as soon as he touched the coffin walked upright by the power of God and entered the church with the others, praising God and glorifying His servant Ioannicius. A certain woman who had an unclean spirit and had been afflicted with abuse by it returned home healed with her husband. And another, named Pantherius and a native of Atroa ^h, vexed by an impure spirit, was himself also healed through the saint and returned home rejoicing. Moreover the brethren and fathers who were living on Mount Alsus came to know by revelation of his glory with God. For they saw from there, on the very day and at the hour of his falling asleep, as it were across the Olympus mountain itself and high above the circuit of the solitude which the blessed man had inhabited, a fiery column raised up from the earth, rising on high and reaching to heaven itself. When they had diligently inquired about the day and the hour, they found that it had been the father's passage from earth to heaven and his entrance to the God whom he desired. By his prayers and examples may we too, guarded in piety and every virtue through the whole time of our life, be kept far from all the darkness of errors, and, having done the things that lead to eternal life, be held worthy of the heavenly kingdom, sending up praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit with the angels and all the saints, for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

is narrowed further when Sabas adds that the twelfth year of the same reign was then running at the same time, namely from the time when she married Leo the Khazar. She married on 18 December 769: therefore the twelfth year of Irene's reign is from 18 December 780 to 18 December 1781. From which it follows that St. Ioannicius was twenty-seven years old both in the second year of the reign and in the twelfth of Irene's marriage, namely between 8 September and 17 December 781. But if he had been born between 3 November and 31 December 752, the twenty-eighth year of his life would run from 3 November–31 December 779 to 3 November–31 December of the year 780. And this by no means agrees with the limit which the other data had decided, namely 8 September–18 December 781. Accordingly the other alternative remains: he was born between 1 January and 31 October 753. But since those things which had happened between 8 September and 18 December are attributed, as we have said, to the saint's twenty-eighth year, it remains for us to say that he was born between 9 September and 3 November of the year 753. Let the kind reader therefore correct what we said above, Preliminary Commentary no. 24, p. 321, that St. Ioannicius was born in the year 754. We were led into this error because we supposed, according to the received chronology, that Constantine Caballinus took up the empire in the year 741, on 18 June (compare Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 831). But the same distinguished P. Rabbov advises us that the common chronology must be corrected, all the more because Theophanes contradicts himself. For he relates that Constantine succeeded the dead Leo in the year of the world 6248 according to the reckoning of the Romans, and in the ninth indiction, on 18 June. But the year of the world 6248 runs from 1 September 739 to 1 September 740, while 18 June of the ninth indiction is in the year 741. Which of these years is right? The Acts of St. Ioannicius answer, no. 2, p. 333: γεννῶσι δὲ τοῦτον τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς τοῦ… Κωνσταντίνου δυσσεβοῦς τυραννίδος. But we have shown that the saint was born 9 September–3 November 753; accordingly, if Constantine took up the empire on 18 June 741, he reigned his fourteenth year from 18 June 754 to 18 June 755. And the same is proved by another passage of the Acts. Sabas says (no. 2, p. 334) that Ioannicius had attained perfect form and age τριακοστῷ δὲ καὶ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος, ἐνιαυτῷ τε πρώτῳ τῆς νυμφευθείσης Χαζάρῳ Λέοντι… Εἰρήνης. But Irene married Leo on 17 December 769; the first year of the marriage therefore ran until 18 December 770. But if Constantine had reigned from 18 June 741, the thirty-first year of his reign would belong to 18 June 771 to 18 June 772, which does not coincide with the other limit of time, namely Irene's marriage. And so that every occasion for doubt may be removed, Sabas adds that at the same time, namely in the thirty-first year of Constantine's reign and the first of Irene's joining in marriage, Ioannicius was already ἐν ἀρχῇ δὲ τῆς τρίτης ἡλικιώσεως ἤγουν ἑξκαιδεκαετίας. But Ioannicius, born from 9 September to 3 November 753, was ἑξκαιδεκαετής from 9 September to 3 November 769. Everything therefore agrees in leading us to believe Theophanes when he asserts that Constantine ascended the throne in the year 740, but to depart from him when he tied this event to the year 741, namely to the ninth indiction. All that we have argued here, from notes most kindly sent to us by the distinguished P. Rabbov, shows once again how highly the testimony of Sabas is to be valued, who shows himself to us most accurate and most devoted to the truth even in the minutest points of chronology. In accordance with what has been said, the table which we constructed at no. 26 of the Preliminary Commentary is to be corrected, one year being subtracted from all the figures up to the year 825.

b. Ps. LXIII, 4.

ANOTHER LIFE OF ST. IOANNICIUS BY PETER THE MONK

Edited from the codex of the National Library of Paris, Coislin no. 303, fols. 304r–353v. Compare the Preliminary Commentary, no. 11, p. 315.

Ioannicius, monk in Bithynia (S.)

PROLOGUE.

Βίος τοῦ μακαριωτάτου καὶ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου, συγγραφεὶς παρὰ Πέτρου μοναχοῦ. Εὐλόγησον, πάτερ..

[1] Τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας βροτοὺς ἡ σύστασις ἐκ ψυχῆς τε μὴν καὶ νοερᾶς οὐσίας καὶ τῆς τῶν στοιχείων συνδρομῆς, ὁ ἔστι σάρξ, παρὰ τοῦ πανσόφως δεδημιουργηκότος ἔλαχεν εἶναι· τῆς δὲ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν ἐντελοῦς πολιτείας, εὐσεβοῦς τε πίστεως καὶ τῆς τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν τηρήσεως τὸ κάλλος κρατύνεται. Οὔτε γὰρ σῶμα ψυχῆς ἔρημον ζωῆς καθίσταται, οὔτε μὴν ἐντολῶν τήρησις ὀρθοδοξίας ἀπηλλαγμένη παντελῶς ὀνήσεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ὥσπερ γὰρ ψυχὴ σώματι, τοῦτο ὀρθοδοξία πνεύματι. Τοιγαροῦν ταύτης τῆς ἀκραιφνοῦς τηρήσεως τῶν ἐντολῶν καὶ τῆς ἀμωμήτου καὶ ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως εἰσγέγονεν ἀκριβὴς φύλαξ καὶ πληρωτὴς διὰ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς βιώσεως καὶ ὁ νῦν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν εὐφημούμενος. Τῶν τε προωδευκότων καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἀρεταῖς θαυμασθέντων , καὶ ἀνακηρυττομένων μακαρίων πατέρων ἡμῶν τοὺς βίους καὶ τρόπους, οἴά τις ἄριστος καὶ ἀκριβὴς ζωγράφος, ἐκμιμηγάμενος χρυσογραφικαῖς ἐννοίαις ἐν πλαξὶ καρδίας αὐτοῦ διεχάραξε *, καὶ τῶν μὲν βραχύτατα ἀπολειφθείς, τῶν δὲ θερμότατα συναμιλληθεὶς καὶ παριππεύσας. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ ὑπερεχέστερον ἐληλακώς, εἰ μὴ τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν ἢ φησι ἡ θεολόγος φωνή, καθάπερ τις ἀειλαμπὴς ἥλιος ταῖς τῶν ἀρετῶν αἰγληφόροις, τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ, τῷ καθαρῷ βίῳ, ὡς ἐξ ἄλλου τινὸς στερεώματος φρυκτωρῶν ἀναδέδεικται. Οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ προπύλαιὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς πολιτείας τοιαῦτα σεμνὰ καὶ ὑπέρογκα ἀκηκοότες, ἔρωτι θείῳ πυρπολούμενοι, ἐπισπεύδετε καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀξιέραστον καὶ πανθαύμαστον πολιτείαν καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐκφανθῆναι ὑμῖν. Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τῶν ἀσκητικῶν αὐτοῦ παλαισμάτων, καὶ ἀνδραγαθημάτων, πρὸς τούτοις τε καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς βίωσιν, καὶ τὸ συμπέρασμα τῆς αὐτοῦ τελειώσεως εἰ ἐπιποθεῖτε ἐνωτίσασθαι, εἴπομεν πρῶτον τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος κλῆσιν, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως διδόντος τοῖς ταπεινοῖς ἡμῖν λόγον καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον, ὡς ἡ δύναμις, διασαφήσομεν.

[2] Ἰωαννίκιος οὗτος, ὁ πολὺς ἐν ἀσκητικοῖς ἀγῶσι καὶ περιβόητος , ὁ πιστὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ θεράπων, ὁ οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἐπίγειος ἄγγελος καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τερπνὸν ἐργαστήριον. Ἰωαννίκιος οὗτός ἐστιν, ὁ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄσειστον πέτραν, ἥτις ἔστιν ὁ Χριστός, καλῶς τοὺς πόδας τῆς διανοίας προσερείσας, καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀνυψωθῆναι σπεύσας, ἰν᾽ αὐγοειδεστέρως τοῦτον κατόψοιτο . Τεθέατο γάρ, κατὰ τὸν ἄδοντα Δαΰιδ, καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ τὸν Κύριον καὶ πεφρούρητο πρὸς τὸ μὴ σαλευθῆναι ταῖς προσβολαῖς τῶν τυραννούντων αὐτῷ ἑκατέρωθε πνευμάτων, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τελεώτερον διὰ τῶν τελουμένων ἀγώνων ἐπεκτείνετο, ὧνπερ δὴ καὶ τυχεῖν οὐκ ἀπέτυχεν. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ τὸν γνόφον τῆς θεῖας ὑπεισδὺς χάριτος καὶ καθάπερ Μωσὴς ἐν ὄρει οὐ χερσίν, ἀλλὰ τῇ διανοίᾳ, δακτύλῳ τοῦ πνεύματος, πλάκας δεξάμενος καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς δἱ ἔργων νομοθετῶν καὶ τοῦ σκοτασμοῦ τοῦ βίου, ἤγουν τῆς κοσμικῆς θαλάσσης, διεξάγων καὶ εἰς γῆν κληροδοσίας, οἱάπερ Ἰησοὺς τοῦ Ναυή, εἰσάγων καὶ διασώζων περιδέξια. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ Χριστὸν σεσαρκωμένον ἐξεικονίζεσθαι, ἐξ ἀκρωρείας τοῦ Ὀλυμπίου ὄπους, ὡς ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ καὶ τυραννούντων βασιλέων, μεγάλα κεκραγὼς καὶ κηρύττων καὶ μηδαμῶς δεδιὼς ἢ αἰσχυνόμενος. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ τῶν ἀοράτων πολεμίων τρέψας τὰς φάλαγγας, κρυμοῖς τε πολλοῖς καὶ καύμασι γενναίως ἐγκαρτερήσας καὶ ὑπομείνας τὸν Κύριον. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ ταῖς τῶν κατορθωμάτων αὐτοῦ λαμπρότησιν, ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, χρηματίσας ἐπάξια. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ τὰ τερπνὰ τοῦ ξόσμου καταπτύσας καὶ ὡς σκύβαλα ἡγησάμενος καὶ τῆς ἐπιγείου στρατείας ἀποπτὰς καὶ ἀμείνονος περιλαβὼν καὶ Χριστῷ ἀκολουθήσας καὶ δουλεύσας καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐρασθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἀπλανῆ νυμφῶνα τῆς αὐτοῦ δόξης καλῶς σαββατίσας καὶ χορεύων αἰώνια. Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ προφητικὸν ζήσας βίον καὶ τὰ πόρρωθεν ὡς ἔγγιστα βλέψας καὶ προφητικῆς ἀναρρήσεως, ἱν᾽ εἴπω, καὶ ἀποστολικῶν χαρισμάτων καὶ ἰαμάτων, ὡς οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅστις ἄλλος, ἀξιωθεὶς καὶ πηγὴ τῆς χάριτος καὶ δοχεῖον γεγονὼς τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος.

[3] Καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ μηκύνῳ τὸν λόγον, οὐ γὰρ ἱκανός εἰμι τὰς τοῦ πανοσίου ἀρετὰς εὐφημῆσαι, ὀκνῶ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, εἰ καὶ τῶν τὰ τελεώτερα μεμνημένων τίς ἐξισχύσει τὸν ἔπαινον ἀναπλέξασθαι; καθ᾽ ὅσον δὲ δυνάμεως λόγου μετείληφα, ἐπὶ τὴν προρρηθεῖσαν ὑπόχρεων πραγματείαν μέτειμι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀνάξιός εἰμι τοῦ χαρίσματος τοῦ λόγου καὶ πένης ὤν, τολμηρὸς πλουσίοις, ἄδικα ἐπεκτείνομαι. Ἀλλ᾽ οὗν, εἰ καὶ ἀποδέοντος, ὅμως δ᾽ οὗν εἰρήσεται, ἐπεὶ καὶ φίλα πατράσι τὰ τῶν νηπίων ψελλίσματα καὶ φίλον Θεῷ τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν. Προσθήσω δὲ καὶ τοῦτο μή τις ψευδὲς ἢ ἐπίπλαστον γράφειν με ύπονοήσοιτο· ἔθος γὰρ τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ τὴν ὠφέλειαν λυμαίνεσθαι. Ποῖον γὰρ ἐμοὶ κέρδος ἐκ ψευδολογίας ἄλλους μὲν συνιστῶντι, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ύπεύθυνον τῇ ἀποφάσει τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τῇ τῷ προφήτῃ Δαΰιδ εἰρημένῃ ἀποδεῖξαι; Οὐ γὰρ μύθοι τὰ εἰρημένα, ὡς τοῖς ἀσεβέσι καὶ ἀπίστοις δοκεῖ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀληθείας πλήρη καὶ ὡφελείας μεστὰ καθάπερ τοῖς εὐσεβέσι καὶ τελελόφροσιν. Ἄρξομαι δ᾽ ἐντεῦθεν, Θεὸν τὸν πάσης ἀρχῆς αἴτιον προσαιτησάμενος *.

Life of our most blessed and holy father Ioannicius, written by Peter the monk ^a. Bless, father ^b.

[1] St. Ioannicius, a zealous emulator of the saints, In all of us mortals the human compound has been constituted, by Him who created all things most wisely, of a soul, that is, a spiritual substance, and of a concourse of elements, namely flesh. But the beauty of a perfect conversation in virtue, and of a pious faith and of the observance of the divine commandments, is able to be confirmed. For just as a body bereft of a soul is not placed in life, so neither will the observance of the commandments, if it is lacking in right faith, profit a man in any way. What the soul is to the body, that orthodoxy is to the spirit. Wherefore he too who is now praised by us became, through a pious manner of living, a diligent guardian and follower both of that unblemished fulfilment of the commandments and of the whole and right faith. For the life and manner of our blessed fathers, those who had gone before him and had become wonderful and celebrated for their virtues, he imitated like an excellent and zealous painter and carved them with golden lines on the tablets of his heart; by some he was very quickly left behind, while others emulated him most fervently, but he himself ran on ahead. Indeed, advancing yet further, if I do not speak more boldly than the theological voice ^c, like a sun ever shining with the light-bearing flashes of the virtues, he appeared in our age in a pure life, shining forth as though from some other firmament. Hearing, then, these solemn and wondrous things, which are, as it were, the propylaea of a most excellent conversation, you are kindled with a divine desire and long that the manner of acting, worthy of love and altogether wonderful, and the name of the man himself should now be made manifest to you. But if you desire to hear of his ascetic combats and deeds, and moreover of his life from the beginning and the trial of his perfection, we shall first tell the appellation of his name. Then, when He has given us wretched men the power of speaking, we shall afterwards set out each thing in turn, according to our strength.

[2] Encomium of St. Ioannicius, This is Ioannicius, who was very much engaged in ascetic battles and famous in them, a faithful servant of God, a heavenly man and an earthly angel and a delightful workshop of Christ. This is Ioannicius, who, having fixed the feet of his mind firmly on the immovable rock, which is Christ, hastened to ascend into heaven, that he might behold Him more clearly. For he foresaw, according to the psalmist David ^d, the Lord always at his right hand, and he was guarded so as not to be moved by the assaults of the spirits that would master him on either side; nay, he went on more perfectly to perfect combats, which he did not shrink from joining. This is Ioannicius, clothed with the shadow of divine grace, who, like Moses on the mountain, received the tablets, not by hands but by thought, by the finger of the Spirit, and ruled the peoples by works, and, leading them through the darkness of life, namely of this worldly sea, into the land of promise, like Joshua the son of Nun, brought them in and skilfully preserved them. This is Ioannicius, who from the summit of Mount Olympus, as though in the midst of the people and among tyrannical kings, cried out with a loud voice and professed that Christ incarnate is to be represented in an image, in no way fearing nor blushing. This is Ioannicius, who, putting to flight the phalanxes of the invisible enemies, hardened nobly by many frosts and heats, waited for the Lord. This is Ioannicius, who by the splendour of his deeds, beautiful above the sons of men ^e, wrought comely things. This is Ioannicius, who, spurning the pleasures of the world and counting them as dung, and having embraced a better warfare than the earthly one he had renounced, following Christ and serving Him and beloved by Him, keeps a joyful sabbath in the immovable bridal chamber of His glory and leads eternal choirs. This is Ioannicius, who lived a prophetic life and saw things that were far off as though near, and was marked out by prophetic speech, so to speak, and by apostolic charisms and the gift of healings, as much as I hardly know whether any other has been, having become a fountain of grace and a receptacle of the most Holy Spirit.

[3] to whom the author professes himself unequal. But not to draw out my discourse too long, I am far too unequal to praising the virtues of the holy man and I hesitate to speak; and who, even among those so perfect who have been mentioned, would be able to compose an encomium? Nevertheless, according to my power of speech, I will proceed to the aforesaid work which I have undertaken. For although I am unworthy of the charism of the word and poor, and shameless towards the rich, I shall come forth undeservedly. Nonetheless it shall be spoken by one who is unequal to the burden, since the things that infants stammer are pleasing to their fathers, and what we do according to our strength is acceptable to God. This too I will add: let no one suspect me of writing anything false or feigned; for profit is wont to be destroyed by incredulity. Now what profit would there be for me from falsehood, if I should win over others to myself, but show myself liable to the denial of the Holy Spirit signified by the prophet David? For the things which we shall relate are not fables, as they seem to the wicked and the unbelieving ^f, but full of truth and packed with profit, as for pious and perfect men. I will begin, then, calling upon God, the author of every beginning.

ANNOTATA.

c. Ecclus. L, 7.

d. Ps. XV, 8.

e. Ps. XLIV, 3.

f. Ps. CXVIII, 85.

codex στοιχέων. codex θαυμαστέντων. codex διεχαράζε. codex περιβώητος. codex κατώψοιτο. codex ἀκρωρίας. codex δεδειώς. codex μυκίνω. codex ψελίσματα. codex προστησάμενος.

CHAPTER ONE. The birth, homeland and parents of St. Ioannicius. At first given to military service, he then renounces the world and pursues the monastic life in the monasteries of the Agauri and of Antidium.

[4] Οὗτος ὁ παναοίδιμος καὶ θεῖος ἀνὴρ ὁ προκληθείς, οὐκ ἀπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι᾽ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνωθεν ὲκ τῆς θείας χάριτος ὁ ἐρημικὸς φωστὴρ καὶ στύλος ὁλόφωτος τῶν μοναζόντων, ἐκ χώρας μὲν ἧν τῆς τῶν Βιθυνῶν ἐπαρχίας· κώμη δὲ ὑπῆρχε τούτῳ ἐν ᾗ καὶ γεγέννηται τὰ Μαρυκάτου οὕτω προσαγορευομένη. Ὁ δέ γε πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Μυριτζίκιος ἐκέκλητο, ἡ δὲ μητὴρ Ἀναστασώ. Ἐκ τούτων οὖν γεννᾶται ὁ ἡμερινὸς ἀστὴρ καὶ ὁλολαμπὴς ἥλιος, ὁ κλεινὸς οὗτος Ἰωαννίκιος. Καὶ εὐσεβῶς ἀπογαλακτισθεὶς καὶ τὴν ἔφηβον νηπιότητα ὑπερβὰς καὶ εἰς νεανίσκου ἡλικίαν ἐληλακὼς στρατοποιεῖται μὲν ἐν πρῶτοις καὶ κατατάττεται ὑπὸ τὸ θεοφύλακτον τάγμα τῶν ἐκσκουβιτων ἐν βάνδῳ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῳ. Κἀκεῖσε πᾶσαν στρατιοτικὴν δουλείαν καλῶς ἐκτελέσας, πάντων μὲν κατεκράτει τῇ τε γνώμνͅ καὶ ῥώμῃ, πᾶσί τε ἡδὺς καὶ ὡραιότατος κατεφαίνετο, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὸ ἐπανθοῦν αὐτῷ εὐειδὲς τῆς ἡλικίας καὶ τῇ τοῦ κάλλους στιλπνότητι, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ διὰ τὸ εὐσταθὲς καὶ εὔτακτον καὶ ἐπαινετὸν τοῦ τρόπου καὶ τῆς ἀναστροφῆς τούτου φιλοσοφώτατον.

[5] Ἐν δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις ἐκείνοις κινεῖται μὲν πρὸς πόλεμον καθ᾽ ἡμῶν τῶν χριστιανῶν τὸ τῶν Οὔννων ἔθνος, ἤγουν τῶν Βουλγάρων. Ἀντικινεῖται δὲ κατ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ τότε σκηπτοῦχος καὶ εὐσεβέστατος βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος τούνομα, υἱὸς γεγονὼς τῆς μακαριωτάτης καὶ ὀρθοδόξου βασιλίσσης Εἰρήνης. Καὶ δὴ ἀμφοτέρων παραταξαμένων ἐν τόπῳ προσαγορευομένῳ Μαρκέλλαις *, συγκρούσεώς τε μεταξὺ αὐτῶν γεναμένης, ἡττηθῆναι μὲν κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν καὶ νῶτα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δοῦναι τὸ τῶν χριστιανῶν φύλον, καὶ, τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὀπίσω ἐπιδιωκόντων καὶ πτῶσιν σφοδρὰν εἰσπραττομένων, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ἤδη τὸν βασιλέα ὑπό τινος μηχανήματος σωκισθέντα υπὸ χεῖρας ἁλόντα ἕλκεσθαι καὶ κρατεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐκείνων. Τοῦτο θεασάμενος ὁ γενναιότατος ἐκεῖνος Ἰωαννίκιος, ζήλῳ τε θείῳ κινηθεὶς καὶ, προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν, περιζωσάμενος δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους, εὐθαρσῶς εἰς μέσον αὐτῶν εἰσεπήδησε καὶ τὴν παγίδα ἐκείνην ἣν εἴπω καὶ διαβολικὴν τεχνουργίαν τῷ ξίφει τάχιστα διατέμνων τὸν μὲν βασιλέα παραδόξως διέσωσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας χάριτος σκεπαθείς, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς διασκεδάσας, ἀβλαβῶς διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν παρελθὼν σέσωσται. Ὡς οὖν τοῦ πολέμου μικρὸν διέστη, καὶ τὴν πορείαν ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσω ἐποιεῖτο μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων ἑπτὰ συνεταίρων αὐτοῦ, δρᾷ πάλιν ἕνα ἐκ τῶν ῥηθέντων ἐθνικῶν ἱστάμενον καὶ ἀφειδῶς ἐκκεντοῦντα τοὺς ἐκεῖσε διερχομένους χριστιανούς. Κλεισούρας γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τῆς εἰρημένης διαβάσεως παρεμπεσούσης, ἀλλαχόθεν τοὺς ἐκεῖσε πορευομένους οὐκ ἦν διελθεῖν, εἰ μὴ ἐκεῖθεν. Αὐτίκα γοῦν τὸν Θεὸν εἰς συμμαχίαν ἐπικαλεσάμενος καὶ ἐλπίδι πίστεως θαρρήσας μᾶλλον ἢ ὅπλοις, ἀνδρικώτατα χωρεῖ· κατὰ τοῦ ἀλάστορος, καὶ τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ξίφος ἀπευθύνας ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνόμῳ ἐκείνῳ τραχήλῳ, οἰάπερ Δαΰιδ πρότερον κατὰ τοῦ Γολιάθ, ἀνδραγαθήσας τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν δύστηνον ἐξέτεμεν καὶ νίκην ἀναδησάμενος σωτηρίαν μεγάλην, ἄλυπόν τε καὶ ἀκίνδυνον ἐπιπόρευσιν ἔκτοτε τοῖς ἐκεῖσε διερχομένοις πεποίηκε.

[6] Τὴν οὖν γενομένην συμφορὰν καὶ ἥτταν ἀνιστορῶν καὶ λύπης βαρυτάτης πεπλησμένος δακρύων τὴν ὁδὸν διήνυεν. Ὡς δ᾽ ἐπί τινος ὑψηλοῦ τόπου ἐγένετο ἀπέναντι ἀυτοῦ προσβλέψας, εἶδε τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος, καὶ ὡς μόνον τοῦτο ἐθεάσατο, κάτεισιν εὐθέως ἐκ τοῦ ἵππου καὶ στὰς εἰς προσευχήν, τότε ὄμμα πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐκτείνας καὶ τὰς χεῖρας εἰς ὕψος σταυροειδῶς ἐκπετάσας, τὴν ἵλεω δύναμιν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν ὑπέρμαχον τοῦ κόσμου προστάτιν καὶ μόνην γέφυραν καὶ σωτηρίαν τοῦ βροτείου γένους τὴν ὑπέρτιμον καὶ ὑπερένδοξον τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἡμῶν μητέρα εἰς βοήθειαν καὶ ἀντίληψιν αὐτοῦ ἐπεκαλεῖτο, καὶ σὺν οἰμογαῖς δακρύων ταῦτα καθικετεύων ἔλεγεν· Ὦ μήτερ τοῦ Λόγου καὶ παρθένε, δέξαι δέησιν ῥυπαρὰν ἐκ στόματος ῥυπαροῦ ἀναξίως προσφερομένην καὶ με σωθῆναι βουλόμενον μὴ ἀπορρίψῃς, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνοιξόν μοι τὴν θύραν τοῦ ἐλέους τῆς σῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας καὶ πρὸς μετάνοιάν με ποδηγοῦσα γενοῦ μου βοηθὸς καὶ σκέπη καὶ ὁδηγός, λιμήν τε καὶ ἀντίληψις καὶ σωτηρία. Σὲ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἐγγυητὴν τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς τίθεμαι καὶ ἐν σοὶ θαρρῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τοῦτο ἐμαυτὸν ἐκδώσω καὶ ὅλον δι᾽ ὅλου ἐμαυτὸν προσοίσω καὶ καρποφορήσω, σοί τε καὶ τῷ ἐκ σοῦ τεχθέντι Θεῷ ἡμῶν. Ὡς οὖν τὴν ἐλπίδα μου πᾶσαν πρὸς σὲ ἀναθήσαντα, ὦ δέσποινα, μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς με.

[7] Ταῦτα οὐν καὶ πλείονα τούτων ἐπειπὼν καὶ τὴν εὐχὴν ἀποδούς, ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον ἄνεισι καὶ εἴσω ὀλίγων ἡμέρων τὸ πᾶν τῆς ὁδοῦ διάστημα διανύσας καταλαμβάνει τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν. Καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς σεβασμίοις ναοῖς δέησιν ἱκέσιον προσαγαγὼν καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς Κυρίῳ ἀποδεδωκώς, ἀπέπτη μὲν τῆς βασιλευούσης πόλεως. Πρὸς δὲ τὸ τῆς πατρίδος ἕδαφος τὰς τῶν γεννητόρων εὐχὰς καρπωσόμενος ἄπεισι· κἀκεῖσε βραχύτατα μετ᾽ αὐτῶν συνδιατρίψας καὶ ὡς ἤδη ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν στρατείαν ἀνθυποστρέφειν μέλλων, τοῦ θείου ἔρωτος, ὡς οἶμαι, τοῦτον ἐπισπεύδοντος, συντάσσεται μὲν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γονεῦσιν ἤ,

καὶ τέλεον εἰπεῖν, ἀποτάσσεται καὶ τὸν τελευταῖον ἀσπασμὸν δοὺς αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτῶν ἄριστα ἐγκολπωσάμενος, ἐπέβη πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἷππον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ποθουμένην πορείαν ποιούμενος, τὴν πρὸς τὸ παρακείμενον Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος μονήν, την ἐπονομαζομένην Ἀγαύρων, κατέλαβεν.

[8] Περιχαρῶς οὗν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε δεχθεὶς καὶ, ὡς ἔθος ἐστι τοῖς τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακειμένοις, ξενισθεὶς δαψιλέστατα, ἱκέτευε καὶ τὸν τῆς μονῆς προεστῶτα θεάσασθαι. Τῆς ἐφέσεως οὖν τυχὼν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας τοὺς ἁγίους πεσὼν τοῦ μεγάλου ἐκείνου σὺν δάκρυσι τοῦτον ἐδυσώπει ὑποδειχθῆναι αὐτῷ ἡσύχιον τόπον, ἐν ᾧ ἀπερισπάστως τῷ Θεῷ λατρεύσει. Θεασάμενος οὖν ὁ πατὴρ τὴν ἀγαθὴν πρόθεσιν, εἰδὼς δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἀνοίκειόν ἐστι μὴ πρότερον καταρτισθέντα τοῖς ἀσκητικοῖς ἄθλοις. μήτε μὴ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀρεὴν ποιωθέντα, ἐξ αὐτῆς ἤδη τῆς ἁρχῆς τῇ ὑψηλοτάτῃ ἡσυχίᾳ προσπελάσαι, βουλεύεται μὲν αὐτῷ βουλὴν ἀγαθὴν καὶ λίαν ἐπαινετήν, καὶ προτρέπεται αὐτὸν ἔν τινι τῶν κοινοβίων ἀφικόμενον ταπεινόφρονα ἐγγυμνασθῆναι, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως πρὸς τὸ ἀθλητικὸν στάδιον τῆς ἡσυχίας ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι. Ὡς δ᾽ οὖν πεισθέντα ταῖς παραινέσεσι τοῦτον ὁ πατὴρ ἐθεάσατο, εὐλογήσας αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὴν Ἀτρώαν ἀναφέρουσαν ὁδὸν ὑποδείξας, κελεύει ἐπιπορευόμενον καταλαβεῖν τὴν μονὴν τὴν ἐπονομαζομένην Ἀντίδιον, κἀκεῖσε αὐτὸν δουλοπρεπῶς κατατάξαντα πάνυ ὠφεληθῆναι.

[9] Κομισάμενος οὖν τὰς τοῦ πατρὸς εὐχάς, καὶ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ μῆκος ἐγκόπως διοδεύσας, πρὸς τὴν ῥηθεῖσαν μονην ἀφίκετο. Ἐγένετο δὲ τὸν τῆς μονῆς προεστῶτα κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν Θεοῦ τούτῳ προσυπαντῆσαι· καὶ δὴ ἐρωτᾶν ἤρξατο τίς τε εἴη, καὶ πόθεν ἥκει, καὶ τίνος χάριν πρὸς τὴν μονὴν παρεγένετο; Ὁ δὲ ἑκλελεγμένος καὶ προωρισμένος τῷ Θεῷ Ἰωαννίκιος ἀπεκρίθη· Τοῦ χάριν πάρειμι, ὦ πάτερ, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐγκοσμίοις καὶ περικοσμίοις τοῦδε τοῦ βίου πράγμασιν ἀποτάξασθαι, ἵνα τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων καὶ αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν μὴ ἐκπέσω. Τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ καλὸς ποιμὴν δέχεται τοῦτον ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ, ἐκπαιδεύων αὐτὸν τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν· οὐδέπω γὰρ ἦν μεμαθηκώς. Πρὸς πᾶσάν τε διακονίαν καὶ μοναχικὴν κατάστασιν καλῶς συμβιβάσας δόκιμον ἐργάτην τῷ Θεῷ ἀναδείκνυσι. Τελέσας οὖν ἐκεῖ διετῆ χρόνον καὶ, ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν, χρυσέοις κέντροις τὴν καρδίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ ζήλου τῆς μακαρίας ἡσυχίας ὑπονυττόμενος, βιάζεται μὲν τὸν ποιμένα ἀπολυθῆναι. Καὶ ὁ μὲν κατεῖχεν, ὁ δὲ σφόδρα παρεκάλει. Τέλος πεισθεὶς ὁ πάνσοφος ταῖς τούτου παρακλήσεσι προσκαλεῖται αὐτὸν πρὸς ἑαυτόν, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶν ἐναγκαλισάμενος καὶ τὸν μακάριον ἐκεῖνον τράχηλον καταφιλῶν, καὶ τοῖς δάκρυσι καταχριστικῶς λούων, καὶ εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ τοῦτον παραθέμενος, πλεῖστά τε ἄλλα ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν.

[4] St. Ioannicius, first enrolled in military service, This plainly most celebrated and divine man already spoken of above, called not from men nor through men, but from above by divine grace, the illuminator of the desert and the fiery pillar of monks, had as his homeland the province of the Bithynians ^a. The village in which he was born was named Marycatus ^b. His father was called Myrizicius, and his mother Anastaso. Of them, then, was born that star of the day and resplendent sun, this illustrious Ioannicius. Piously weaned, he passed beyond boyhood and, having grown to youth, first serves as a soldier, and is enrolled in that God-guarded order of the Excubitors ^c, in the eighteenth cohort. There, having performed every military duty well, he excelled the rest both in knowledge and in strength, and appeared pleasing and most comely to all, not only because a handsome youth and the grace of beauty flourished in him, but because he was steadfast, composed and praiseworthy in his conduct, as he was most wise in his conversation.

[5] He rescues the Christian army from danger. In those times ^d the nation of the Huns ^e, that is, of the Bulgars, is moved to war against us Christians. But he who then held the sceptre, the most pious emperor named Constantine, son of the most blessed and orthodox queen Irene ^f, sets himself against them. Now when both battle-lines had been drawn up at the place called Marcellae ^g, the hands were so joined that the tribe of the Christians was almost conquered, on account of our sins, and turned its back to the enemy; nay more, as the enemy pursued and inflicted a heavy slaughter, the king himself, entangled by some contrivance and captured, was being dragged off by hand, to be handed over into the power of those impious men. When that noble Ioannicius had noticed this, roused by divine zeal and, to speak with the prophet, girded with power from on high ^h, he rushed bravely into the midst of the enemy and, swiftly cutting with his sword that snare of which I have spoken and that diabolical artifice, he rescued the king beyond hope; and he himself, protected by divine grace, having with its help scattered the enemy there, escaped safe and unharmed through the midst of their phalanxes. But when he had withdrawn a little from the battle and was continuing his journey further with seven others of his fellow-soldiers, he again sees one of the said heathens standing and, sparing no one, hurling javelins at the Christians who were passing by that way. Since the barriers of the mountains, as I suppose, overhung the aforesaid pass, there was no other way for those advancing there to pass except by that place. At once, therefore, calling upon God for help, strengthened by the hope of faith rather than by arms, he advances manfully against that wicked man and, his hand directing the sword at that impious neck, like David of old against Goliath, fighting bravely he cut off his hostile head and, crowned with victory, procured great safety and thenceforth a peaceful and secure passage for those passing that way.

[6] Then, converted to God, But turning over in his mind the ruin and slaughter that had taken place, filled with the heaviest grief he finished his journey in tears. When he had come to a certain high place, looking around in front of him, he saw the Olympus mountain ⁱ, and, looking at nothing else, he suddenly got down from his horse and, standing in prayer, his eye turned to heaven and his hands stretched on high in the form of a cross, he invokes for his help and succour the propitious power of God and tutelary protectress of the world, the only bridge and salvation of the mortal race, the venerable and most glorious Mother of our God; and weeping with groans he prayed thus as a suppliant: "O Mother of the Word and Virgin, receive the base petition unworthily brought forth from a base mouth, and do not reject me who wish to be saved; but open to me the door of your merciful kindness, and be to me, led to repentance, a help and protection, a guide and haven, a refuge and salvation. For from now on I set you as the surety of my soul, and trusting in you I will deliver myself up on this mountain and offer my whole self entirely, and I will bear fruit to you and to Him who was born of you, our God. As one, then, who has placed all my hope in you, O Lady, do not forsake me."

[7] bidding farewell to the world Having said these and many more things besides, and having finished his prayer, he mounted his horse, and when within a few days he had completed the whole length of the journey ^k, he came to Constantinople. When he had poured out supplicatory prayer in all the venerable churches and rendered praises to God, he left the royal city. He sets out for his homeland to bring back his parents' blessing: having stayed with them there a very short time, when he was now on the point of returning to his own military service, impelled, as I suppose, by the love of God, he presents himself before his parents, or, to speak more correctly, he takes his leave of them, and after he had given them the last embrace and obtained their blessings, he again mounted his horse and, pursuing the desired journey, made for that monastery adjoining Mount Olympus whose surname is of the Agauri ^l.

[8] he acts as a monk in the monastery of the Agauri Received therefore with joy by the inhabitants and, as is the custom among those who serve God, refreshed with most generous hospitality, he asked that he might be allowed to see the superior of the monastery. Having obtained his wish, he prostrates himself at the holy feet of this great man and with tears begs him to show him a solitary place in which he might serve God assiduously. The father ^m, then, seeing his good purpose, but knowing that it is unfitting for one who has not first given himself to ascetic combats and has not yet been imbued with every kind of virtue to embrace the deepest solitude right from the beginning, gives him the best and very praiseworthy counsel, and exhorts him to go into one of the coenobia to exercise himself in humility, and only afterwards to give himself with athletic zeal to solitude. When, therefore, the father saw that he had been persuaded by his exhortations, blessing him and pointing out the road that leads to Atroa ⁿ, he bids him go on and make for the monastery surnamed Antidium ^o, and there perfect himself thoroughly in humble subjection.

[9] and in that of Antidium. Carrying away, then, the father's blessings, and having travelled the long road with weariness, he came to the said coenobium. And it came about, by God's providence, that the superior of the monastery [p] met him. He began to ask who he was, where he came from, and for what reason he had come to the monastery. Ioannicius, chosen and protected by God, answered: "I am here for this reason, O father, that I may renounce all the worldly and earthly things of this life, lest I lose the supernatural and eternal goods." Hearing these words, the good shepherd receives him into the monastery and instructs him in sacred letters; for he had not yet been taught anything. Walking rightly in every duty and in monastic discipline, he shows himself an excellent workman for God. When, therefore, he had completed two years there [q] and, so to speak, pricked at heart by golden goads from desire of blessed solitude, he presses the shepherd to be released; and when the latter resisted, he urged him vehemently. At length the most wise man, persuaded by his entreaties, calls him to himself and, embracing him with his hands, kissing that blessed neck and washing it, anointing it with tears, and handing him over to the hands of God, and praying for many other things, he dismissed him.

ANNOTATA.

p. Sabas gives the name of this superior, chap. III, no. 9, p. 342. That father was, namely, a certain man named John.

q. Namely through the years 795, 796. Sabas reports that St. Ioannicius remained the same time in the Antidian coenobium; see above, p. 340, no. 9.

codex Μαρκέλαις. codex ἀνοίκιόν. codex πισθέντα. codex πισθεὶς. * codex καταχρηστικῶς.

CHAPTER TWO. The fame of St. Ioannicius spreads widely. His first miracle.

[10] Ὁ δὲ τῇ πίστει καὶ τῇ εὐχῇ θωρακισθεὶς καὶ ὥσπερ βέλη τὰς τοῦ πανοσίου εὐχὰς ἐν χειρὶ κατείχων ἀνδρείως πρὸς τὸν τῶν ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν πόλεμον ἔξεισι, καὶ ἀνελθὼν ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς τῶν ὀρέων καὶ δ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐμπεριπατήσας πρὸς τὸ Ἀγαυρινὸν ὄρος ἔγιστα τοῦ ἁγίου Κοσμᾶ παραγίνεται. Αὖθις οὖν μηνύσας τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ τῷ προεστῶτι τῶν Ἀγαύρων, ἐκδυσωπεῖ τοῦτον θεάσασθαι. Ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας εὐθέως ἄνεισι καὶ γεναμένης εὐχῆς ἐπηρώτα δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν ἐνταῦθα παραγέγονε; Μεμαθηκὼς οὖν χάριν ἡσυχίας τοῦτον προσπελάσαι, ἐδακτυλοδείκτει τὸ ἄντρον οὑτος ὁ μακάριος Ἰωαννίκιος, καὶ καθικετεύοντος σκέπην σμικροτάτην ἐν τούτῳ αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι, εὐθέως ὁ ἡγιασμένος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ προστάττει δυσὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, Εὐστρατίῳ τε καὶ Θεοφυλάκτῳ, τὰ τῆς ἐφέσεως αὐτοῦ ἐκπληρῶσαι· καὶ τούτου γενομένου καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς συνταξάμενος, ὁ μακάριος οὗτος ἐπὶ τὸν νοητὸν γνόφον εἰσέδυ. Κἀκεῖσε τὸν Θεὸν ἐν προσευχαῖς καὶ νηστείαις δεηθεὶς καὶ ἀνολιγώρως ἐπὶ τρισκαίδεκα χρόνους διαπεράνας, δέχεται καὶ αὐτός, ὡς ὁ πάλαι Μωϋσής, νόμον θεῖον καὶ οὐράνια καὶ προφητικὰ χαρίσματα καὶ προφητεύει τὰ μέλλοντα ὡς παρόντᾳ καὶ πολλοὺς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, ἤγουν τοῦ φθαρτικοῦ καὶ σκοτεινοῦ βίου, διεξάξας πρὸς τὴν φωτοειδῆ καὶ οὐράνιον κατοικίαν καὶ ἀμείνονα ζωὴν διαπορθμεύει. Πανταχόσε τοίνυν αὐτοῦ περιβοήτου γεναμένου καὶ πολλῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν δίκην σμήνους μελισσῶν ἀφικομένων, μὴ φέρων ὁ ἡσύχιος νοῦς ἐκεῖνος καὶ μικρόν τι βραχὺ ἠλαττωμένος παρ᾽ ἀγγέλους ἐνασχολεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων συγχύσεως, ἀλλ᾽ ἀύλως καὶ καθαρῶς καὶ ἀπερισπάστως συζῆν βουλόμενος καὶ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν μόνῳ προσλαλεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, κρύπτειν μὲν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἅπαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνδιασκέπτεται καὶ συμπαραλαβὼν μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ Πέτρον καὶ Σάβαν καὶ Ἀντώνιον, τοὺς ἱεροὺς καὶ ἡσυχίους ἄνδρας, συμβολικῶς φέροντας τὸν τύπον τῆς ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος, ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τῶν Θρακησίων μεταναστεύει.

[11] Κἀκεῖ μετ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπί τινα χρόνον συνδιατρίψας, ἀκηδίας, ὡς οἶμαι, ἀνθρωπίνης τοῖς πνευματικοῖς ἀνδράσι παρεμπεσούσης, εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω τούτους ἀνθυποστρέψαι πεποίηκεν. Ὁ δὲ γενναιότατος ἐκεῖνος μόνος καταλειφθείς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω τῆς ἐρήμου τέλεον ἀποκρύψαι ἑαυτὸν διαλογιζόμενος, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἐκτενέστατα λιτανέυων ἐπὶ τὸ συμφέρον τοῦτον ποδηγῆσαι, συγκάμπτεται μὲν ἐξ ἀτονίας εἰς ὕπνου τινὰ ἔμφασιν. Χρηματίζεται δὲ κατ᾽ ὄναρ ὑπ᾽ ἀλλέλου, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ κλεινὸς Ἰωσήφ, οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίς, καὶ ἀνακάμπτειν προστάττεται ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ ὄρει ἐξ οὗ ἀπέδρα ὡς οὐ κρυβησόμενον αὐτόν, τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦτο οἰκονομήσαντος ἕνεκεν τῆς τῶν πολλῶν σωτηρίας καὶ ὡφελείας. Ὁ δὲ τραχηλιᾶν κατὰ Θεοῦ μὴ εἰδώς, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν τοῖς αὐτοῦ προστάγμασιν ὑπείκειν, πείθεται μὲν τῇ γενομένῃ θεόθεν ἀγγελοειδεῖ χρησμοδοσίᾳ, παλινοστεῖ τε αὖθις, οὐχὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄντρον ἐν ᾧ ᾤκει, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἄλλοις σκληροτάτοις κρημνοειδέσι καὶ ψαραγγοειδέσι τόποις τοῦ Τριχάλικος οὕτω καλουμένοις. Κἀντεῦθεν λανθάνειν πάντας οἰόμενος, ἐπεὶ δέ, κατὰ τὴν κυριόλεκτον φωνήν, οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη, οὐδε καίουσι λύχνον καὶ τιθέασιν ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν καὶ λάμπει πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος ταῖς ἀγαθαῖς πράξεσιν ἐκλάμψας ἀριδηλότατος μάλλον γέγονεν τότε ἢ πρότερον. Μαθὼν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔλευσιν ὁ πολλάκις μνημονευθεὶς ἁγιώτατος ἡγούμενος, ἀναστὰς προθυμότατα πρὸς αὐτὸν παρεγένετο. Εὐλογήσας δὲ τοῦτον, μᾶλλον δέ, τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, αὐτὸς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθείς, ἀμφότεροι τῷ Θεῷ ηὐχαρίστησαν, κελλίον τε αὖθις προστάττει τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις δυσὶν ἀνδράσιν, Εὐστρατίῳ καὶ Θεοφυλάκτῳ, τῷ ὁσίῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις δουλοπρεπέστατα ὑπείξαι , καὶ ὁ μὲν ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὤχετο.

[12] Ὁ δὲ θεόπνευστος Ἰωαννίκιος πάνυ προσέκειτο καὶ ἠγάπα τὸν εὐλαβέστατον Εὐστράτιον εἴπερ τινὰ ἄλλον· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀπεικῶς, ᾔδει γὰρ τοῦτον εἰς ὕστερον τῆς ἀρχικῆς ἀξίας τοὺς οἴακας ἐμπιστευθησόμενον καὶ πατέρα πολλῶν προβάτων λογικῶν ἀνδειχθησόμενον. Καὶ εἴ ποτε μυστικόν τι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον αὐτῷ παρενέπιπτεν, πάντα ἡ ἁγία ἐκείνη ψυχὴ τῷ θαυμασίῳ Εὐστρατίῳ ἀνετίθη. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ θείου ἀνδρὸς τούτου, κεκινήμεθα ταύτην καθυποταξαι τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ ἐπωφελῆ πραγματείαν, καὶ δεδιότες * τὸν τῆς παρακοῆς κίνδυνον, ἀναξίως, ἱν᾽ εἴπω, καὶ ἀμαθῶς, τὸ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς φράσαι, πατρικαῖς προσταγαῖς νικηθέντες ἐκτατικώτερον πόδα κεκινήκαμεν καὶ ὑπερβάθμια, εἰπεῖν, πεπηδηκότες σὺν δέει πολλῷ τὴν ἐπιταγὴν πεπληρώκαμεν. Ὅσα τε παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἠκούσαμεν, ταῦτα πάντα καὶ ἀναγγελοῦμεν ὑμῖν. Ἴστε δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα ἅπαντες, ὅπως τε ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους παρηκολούθηκε τῷ ἁγίῳ, ὅπως τε ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ κατακεκόσμηται, ὡς, σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν, πᾶσαν τὴν Βιθυνῶν χώραν ἀγγελομιμήτως ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καταλάμπεσθαι καὶ ταῖς φωτοειδέσιν ἐντολαῖς ὑφειμένως διεξάγεσθαι καὶ διαπορθμεύεσθαι. Ἀλλ᾽ οὖν περὶ τὴν νύσσαν τοῦ λόγου ἐπανιτέον.

[13] Τῆς οὖν κέλλης, ὡς εἴρηται, κτιζομένης, ἄφνω τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἄραντες οἱ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐσχολακότες θεωροῦσιν ἀγέλην τράγων ἀνημέρων νεμομένην καὶ ἕνα τινὰ εὐμεγέθη, καλόν τε καὶ πίονα, χωρισθέντα πλησίον αὐτῶν τοῦτον γενέσθαι. Τῶν δὲ διαλογιζομένων εἴθε δυνατὸν ἦν κρατηθέντα εἰς κάλλιστον ἄσκον προχωρῆσαι, γνοὺς δὲ ὁ μέγας καὶ προβλεπτικώτατος Ἰωαννίκιός φησιν ἑνὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, Σᾶβα τούνομα· Ἄπιθι, ὦ ἄδελφε, καὶ τὸ ζῶον κρατήσας πρὸς ἡμᾶς φέρε. Αὐτίκα γοῦν πληροῖ ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸ προσταχθὲν καὶ ἄγει τὸ ζῶον οὐ βίᾳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐθελοντί, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον, καὶ ἵστησιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ οὐ κρατούμενον, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπολυτὸν πάντη. Ὁ δὲ ἁλὸς πλήσας τὴν χεῖρα τῷ ζώῳ προσφέρει· τὸ δὲ ἁλίζεται χαριέστατα. Ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ βαυκάλιον πλήρη δι᾽ ἡδεστάτου ὕδατος μεστὸν προσάγει· τὸ δέ, καθάπερ ὡς ἐκ πηγῆς καλῆς, ἢ ἔκ τινος ἄκροτόμου πέτρας ναούσης νάματα προθύμως ταῦτα ἀπαῤῥύεται. Τῶν δὲ ἀδελφῶν ἐστηκότων καὶ ἀποθαυμαζόντων, μέτρια μειδιῶν ὁ ἅγιος φησιν· Ἆρά γε, ὦ ἀδελφοί, προχωρεῖ οὗτος εἰς ἀσκόν; Τῶν δὲ φησάντων· Καὶ πάνυ, εἶπεν ὁ ὅσιος· ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἔργον χάριτι Χριστοῦ τετελείωται, ἀπολυθήτω οὗτος ἀβλαβής. Καὶ κελεύει πάλιν τὸν εἰρημένον Σάβαν κρατήσαντα τὸ ζῶον τῶν κεράτων ἕως τινος τόπου ἀπαγάγαι καὶ τοῦτο ἀπολύσαι. Τοῦτο ἤδη πρῶτον σημεῖον γέγονε τοῦ προφήτου ἐκείνου καὶ ἰσαγγέλου ἀνδρός.

[10] St. Ioannicius leads the solitary life on the Agaurine mountain, He, then, armed with the breastplate of faith and prayer, and holding in his hand the prayers of his holy father like javelins, goes forth manfully to war against the invisible enemies; and climbing to the summit of the mountains and walking across them, he came to the Agaurine mountain, near the coenobium of Saint Cosmas ^a. Again, therefore, having made his presence known to the superior of the Agauri, he asks to be able to see him. When he heard of it, he is at once present and, prayer having been made, asks for what reason he has come there. When he had learned, then, that he had come for the sake of solitude, that blessed Ioannicius points out a cave and asks that a small cell be built for him in that place. At once that admirable man commands two brethren, Eustratius ^b and Theophylact ^c, that his desire be fulfilled. This done, the blessed man, joined by the brethren, enters the spiritual hiding-places. There, entreating God in prayers and fasts and persevering diligently for thirteen years ^d, he too, like Moses of old, receives the divine law and heavenly and prophetic charisms, foretells future things as though present, and transfers many, led out of Egypt, that is, out of the corruptible and dark life, to the bright and heavenly dwelling, to a better life. Having by now become celebrated everywhere, since many gathered to him like swarms of bees, his solitary mind, a little lower than the angels, taking it ill to be disturbed by intercourse with men, but wishing to live immaterially, purely and undistractedly, and to speak alone with God alone, resolves to hide himself entirely from men, and, taking with him Peter ^e, Sabas ^f and Antony ^g, holy and solitary men, who bore the symbolic image of the consubstantial Trinity, he migrates to the parts of the Thracesians ^h.

[11] and on the Trichalix mountain. When he had stayed there with them for a little while, human acedia, as I suppose, having fallen upon those spiritual men, he bade them return to their former place. But that noble man, left alone, and turning over a plan to hide himself perfectly in the innermost deserts and praying God most fervently to lead him to this purpose, was overcome by weariness and fell into the semblance of a dream. An angel addresses him in a dream, as he did the famous Joseph, and not once but twice, and bids him return to that mountain from which he had fled, not indeed to hide himself, but because God so disposed for the salvation and profit of many. He, not knowing how to resist God, but gladly obeying His commands, was persuaded by that angelic oracle which came from God, and returns, not indeed to the cave in which he had dwelt, but to other most hideous places of abysses and chasms, whose name is Trichalices ⁱ. When he supposed that he was hidden there from all, since,

according to the voice of the Lord ^k, a city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all who are in the house, so he too, shining with good works, became more illustrious than before. When that most holy hegumen ^l, already mentioned several times, had heard of his arrival, rising quickly he goes to him. When he had blessed him, or, to speak more truly, had been blessed by him, both gave thanks to God. He again commands the two men subject to him, Eustratius and Theophylact, to build a cell for the saint and to comply most faithfully in all that he should bid, and saying this he went away.

[12] The author heard from St. Eustratius Ioannicius, inspired by God, was wholly attached to the most reverend Eustratius and loved him above others, and indeed not undeservedly; for he knew that the helm of the dignity of the prelacy would afterwards be committed to him and that he would be proclaimed father of many spiritual sheep ^m. And if by chance something of a mystery or of necessity occurred, that holy soul related all of it to the admirable Eustratius. We, for our part, were moved to set in order this holy and profitable work by none other than that divine man himself, and, fearing the danger of disobedience, unworthy, we confess, and ignorant, to tell the truth, overcome by the paternal commands, we moved a more confident foot ⁿ, and, leaping, so to speak, over the threshold, we fulfilled the command with great fear. Whatever we heard from him, all this we will announce to you. You all know this man, how from the beginning to the end he followed the saint, how he shone both in word and in deed, so that, I might almost say, the whole region of the Bithynians was as it were illuminated by him as by an emulator of the angels, and he ruled it humbly with luminous commands and led it to harbour ^o. But now we must come to the goal of our discourse.

[13] the miracles which he narrates. The cell having been set up, then, as has been said, the monks who were busy at the work, suddenly raising their eyes, see a flock of wild he-goats grazing, and one of remarkable size, handsome and fat, apart from the others, which was approaching them. As they were turning over in their minds whether, if he were captured, they could get from him a very fine wineskin, the great and very perspicacious Ioannicius, perceiving it, says to one of the brethren, whose name was Sabas: "Go, brother, and capture the beast and bring it to us." At once, then, the brother fulfils the command and brings the animal, without using any force, but following of its own accord, to the saint, and sets it before him, not held, but entirely loose. He holds out to the goat a hand full of salt, and it laps up the salt with pleasure. Likewise he brings out a bowl full of the sweetest water, which it laps greedily, like the streams flowing from a fair fountain or from a living rock. While the brethren stood by and marvelled, the saint, smiling a little, said: "Would not this one, then, brethren, furnish a wineskin?" When they had answered: "A very large one," the saint said: "Since this work has been accomplished by the grace of Christ, let this goat be let go unharmed." And again he bids the aforesaid Sabas hold the beast by the horns and, leading it away to a certain place, let it go. This was the first sign which was done by that prophet and angelic man [p].

ANNOTATA.

k. Matth. V, 14, 15.

p. Sabas reports the same miracle worked by St. Ioannicius in chapter IV, no. 14, p. 344.

codex περιβωήτου. codex σμίνους. codex κελλείον. codex ὑπῆξαι. * codex δεδειότες.

CHAPTER THREE. The prophecies of St. Ioannicius concerning the emperors Nicephorus, Stauracius, Michael and Leo the Armenian.

[14] Τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ὁποῖόν ἐστι μαθήσεσθε. Ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἐκείνοις κεκίνηται πάλιν, ὡς ἀνώτερω εἴρηται, πρὸς πόλεμον τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔθνος· στρατοποιεῖται δὲ κατ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ τότε τὰ σκῆπτρα τῆς βασιλείας περιέπων εὐσεβέστατος βασιλεύς, Νικηφόρος τούνομα. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, ἄδειαν λαβόντες οἱ λεγόμενοι συμπένθεροι τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον παρεγένοντο, ἔχοντες μετ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἀοίδιμον Εὐστράτιον, τὸν τοῦ ὁσίου προσφιλέστατον. Θεασάμενοι οὖν αὐτὸν καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθέντες, ἐζήτουν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν βασιλέων ἐμμελέστατα εὔχεσθαι. Ὁ δὲ καθαρώτατος νοῦς ἐκεῖνος γνοὺς τὸ μέλλον γενήσασθαί, φησιν· Ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ τέκνα, ὑπὲρ τῶν βασιλέων ἤδη νὐξάμην· ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τὰ νῦν προσεύξομαι. Τῶν δὲ δηχθέντων * μὲν, ἀναύδων δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀσαφείᾳ μεινάντων, οὐ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν τὸ λαληθὲν πλὴν μόνου Εὐστρατίου, καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀγχίνους, προσβλέπει μὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἅγιος καὶ σιγᾶν ἐπινεύσας πρὸς αὐτοὺς πάλιν ἐπιστραφεὶς καὶ τούτους εὐλογήσας ἀπέστειλεν. Τῶν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους κατιόντων, ἀκριβέστατα μαθεῖν ἐπηρώτων παρὰ τοῦ εὐλαβεστάτου Εὐστρατίου τί ἂν εἴη τὸ λαληθέν. Ὁ δέ φησιν· Ἱν᾽ ἰδῆτε ὅτι, τοῦ Θεοῦ παραχωρήσαντος, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ πέπτωκε καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἶπεν ὑμῖν ὅτι περὶ μὲν τῶν βασιλέων ἤδη ηὐξάμην, περὶ μὲν τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀναδείκνυσθαι βασιλέως τὰ νῦν προσεύξομαι. Οἱ δὲ ἄνδρες λίαν καταπλαγέντες, δειλίᾳ τε καὶ φόβῳ συσχεθέντες, τοὺς ἵππους πλήξαντες τάχιστα τὴν ὁδὸν διήνυον. Ὡς δὲ πλησίον τῶν πυλῶν ἔφθασαν, ἀκούουσι τὴν ἐλεεινὴν ἐκείνην φωνὴν καὶ κατηφείας πεπληρωμένην τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως, ὡς εἴρηται, πτῶσιν παρὰ πάντων ἐπιβοωμένην, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ὁδοῦ σὺν δέει καὶ θρήνοις καταπλεύσαντες πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν προσωρμίσθησαν.

[15] Ἵνα δὲ τὰ τῆς προφητείας λεχθέντα πληρωθῇ, διαδέχεται τὴν βασιλείαν Σταυράκιος, ὁ υἱὸς Νικηφόρου, καὶ τούτου τὴν βασιλείαν διιθύνοντος, πάλιν ἀσχέτῳ ἐπιθυμίᾳ οἱ ῥηθέντες πενθεροὶ τοῦ βασιλέως κατείχοντο τοῦ ὀπτανθῆναι τῷ ὁσίῳ καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ διερωτῆσαι καὶ μαθεῖν περὶ τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτῶν, εἰ ἐπὶ πλέον βασιλεύσει ἢ καὶ μή. Ἑν τούτοις τοῖς λογισμοῖς διακείμενοι καὶ εὐκαιρίαν μὴ εὑρίσκοντες τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν ἐκπληρῶσαι, ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀπερχομένων αὐτῶν ὡς πρὸς τὰ βασιλεία, συναντῶσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῷ πανευλαβεστάτῳ Εὐστρατίῳ, ἦν γὰρ ἐπί τινι διακονίᾳ πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν παρὰ τοῦ καθηγουμένου ἀποσταλείς, καὶ ὡς τοῦτον ἤδη ἀνεγνώρισαν, γνησιώτατα ἀσπασάμενοι καὶ ἄμφω τὼ χεῖρε ἐναγκαλισάμενοι, ἅμα αὐτῷ οἴκαδε πάλιν δρομήσαντες ἐπορεύθησαν, κηροῖς τε καὶ θυμιάμασι καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ δώροις τοῦτον ἐφοδιάσαντες καὶ καθικετεύσαντες, ἀκριβέστατα τὰ περὶ τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτῶν παρὰ τῷ ἁγίῳ μαθεῖν καὶ δῆλα αὐτοῖς ποιῆσαι ἐξαπέστειλαν. Ὁ δὲ ἐξελθὼν ἀπολογεῖται μὲν ἐν πρώτοις τῷ ἁρίστω ἐκείνῳ ποιμένι ὑπὲρ ἧς πεπίστευται διακονίας, αὖθις δὲ εὐχὴν κομισάμενος πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνέρχεται καὶ τούτῳ ἐμφανισθεὶς καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθείς, δοὺς τὰ δῶρα, ἐξῄτει μαθεῖν καὶ τὰ συμβησόμενα τῷ βασιλεῖ. Ὁ δὲ ὑψηλόνους καὶ οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐκβιαζόμενος καὶ μὴ θέλων προσπλῆξαι ἔν τινι τὸν ἄνδρα, μόλις ποτε ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα καὶ τοῖς δάκρυσι τὰς παρειὰς καταβρέχων, ὑποδειγματικῶς ἀπεκρίθη· Ὦ λίαν ἠγαπημένε Εὐστράτιε, γνωστὸν ἔστω σοι ὅτι ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπί τινος ἀμφιλάφους κλάδου ἔρνους καθεζομένη καὶ ἡδὺ κελάδουσα, ἄφνω ἱέρακος καταστάντος, τάχιστα ταύτην ἀφαρπάζει· οὕτω συντομωτέρως ἡ τούτου βασιλεία ἀφαρπαγήσεται. Ὅπερ καὶ γέγονε, καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἄγνωστος, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν εὔγνωστος πᾶσι καθέστηκεν ὁ βραχύτατος χρόνος τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ. Διαδέχεται δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν Μιχαήλ, ὁ καὶ τῷ μοναδικῷ διαπρέψας ἀξιώματι· ὅπως τε οὗτος τετυράννηται ὑπὸ τοῦ θηριωνύμου καὶ θηριοτρόπου Λέοντος καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀφαρπάζεται ἐντεῦθεν ἴσεσθε.

[16] Ἔθος ἦν τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Τούρκου, τούνομα Βρυένης, συχνῶς πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἀπίεναι καὶ τούτου τὰς εὐχὰς κομίζεσθαι. Καὶ δὴ ὡς πολλάκις ἀπελθόντος αὐτοῦ, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ θεόπνευστος· Ἆρά γε, κῦρι Βρυένη, ἐπίσταται ὁ σὸς ἐξάδελφος πρόβατα ποιμᾶναι; Ὁ δὲ ἀχθεσθεὶς ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ φησί· Καὶ πῶς ἐνδέχεται, ὦ πάτερ, τοῦτον ἐπιστάτην προβάτων γενέσθαι, στρατηγικὴν ἐγχείρησιν ἐμπεπιστευμένον; Πάντη γὰρ ἄτοπον τοῦτο καὶ ἀνοικείον . Εἰρήκει δὲ τοῦτο ὁ πανάγαστος, ἐπειδὴ προέβλεψεν τοῦτον εἰς ὕστερον βασιλεύσοντα, καὶ ἀντὶ ποιμένος λύκον γενέσθαι, καὶ διασπαράξαι τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποίμνιον καὶ τὸν θεοΰφαντον χιτώνα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας. Ὅμως ἐφησυχάσας ὁ μακάριος καὶ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐπευξάμενος, ἀπέλυσε. Μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον πρὸς πόλεμον πάλιν ἐπαναστὰν κατὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔθνος, ἐγένετο καὶ τὸν παμμίαρον οἷά τε στρατηγοῦντα τῷ τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν θέματι, ἅμα τοῦ μακαριωτάτου καὶ εὐσεβοῦς καὶ ὀρθοδόξου βασιλέως τοῦ κύρου Μιχαὴλ πρὸς ἀντιπαράταξιν αὐτῶν ἐξίεναι. Κἀκεῖθεν παραχωρήσει Θεοῦ τὸν φιλόχριστον ἄνδρα τῆς βασιλείας ἀποικήσας, ἁρπάζει αὐτός, ὡς εἴρηται, τυραννικῶς τὸ διάδημα τῆς βασίλειας.

[17] Ὁ δὲ ῥηθεὶς Βρυένης μνημονεύσας τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου λεχθέντων, μάλιστα δὲ καὶ τὰ τῆς προφητικῆς ἐκείνης ἀναρρήσεως περατωθέντα προσβλέψας, δῆλα πάντα τῷ τυράννῳ καθίστησιν. Ὁ δέ φησιν· Ἐν τάχει ἀπελθὼν ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσαι θέλησον καὶ τὸ ποσὸν τοῦ χρόνου τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐλθὼν ἀπάγγειλόν μοι· εἰ γὰρ τὰ πρὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς καλῶς διεσκέψατο, πόσῳ μᾶλλον γνωρίσει καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα. Τοῦ δὲ Βρυένους τὰ κελευσθέντα ἐκπληροῦντος, καὶ ἤδη τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου κέλλῃ πλησιάζειν μέλλοντος, γνοὺς ὁ ὅσιος τὴν τούτου ἔλευσιν φησι πρὸς τὸν πανάριστον Εὐστράτιον συνόντα * αὐτῷ ἐκεῖ τότε· Γινώσκειν σε βούλομαι, ὦ

φίλτατε Εὐστράτιε, ὅτι ὁ τύραννος χαμαιλέων, ὁ κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν γεγονὼς βασιλεύς, σφοδρὸν διωγμὸν ἐπεγείρει τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸν γνωριμώτατον ρημῖν Βρυένην μαθεῖν παρ᾽ ἡμῶν τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐξαπέστειλεν· ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάστηθι καὶ πορεύου εἰς ὑπάντησιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῦτον ἀποστύφων τοῖς ἐχέφροσι λόγοις ἔα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔρχεσθαι. Τοῦ δὲ εὐλαβεστάτου Εὐστρατίου ὡσεὶ τόξου βολὴν ἤδη ἐξελθόντος, ἐγένετο προσυπαντῆσαι τῷ ἀνδρὶ τὸν, ὡς ἔθος ἐστι, χαιρετίζειν προσποιησάμενος ἐπύθετο εἰ ἀκήκοέν τι παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου περὶ τοῦ τυράννου. Ὅδε φησιν ὅτι· Ἐχθρὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ μέγας γενήσεται καὶ σφοδρῶς ταράξει τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν· πλὴν οὖν πορεύου καὶ τρανέστατα παρὰ τοῦ δικαίου μάνθανε. Τοῦδε τῷ ἁγίῳ ἐμφανισθέντος καὶ ἄμφω τὸ γόνυ πρὸς γῆν κλίναντος, εὐλογεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ἀναστὰς μαθεῖν ἐξελιπάρει καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ ἀλάστορος. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος ἐμβριθεστέραις ταῖς διαλέξεσι χρώμενος πᾶσαν τὴν κακίαν αὐτοῦ ἐν βραχυλογίαις διεσάφησε. Προσποιουμένου οὖν ἐκείνου καὶ ἀπολογουμένου μὴ οὕτως ἔχειν, πάλιν ὁ ὅσιος ἀπεκρίθη· Ὅν τρόπον ἤκουσας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ὡς ἤκουσας, οὕτω λαλήσεις. Ὅδε τῷ ἁγίῳ συνταγεὶς καὶ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀφικόμενος ἀναγλέλλει πάντα τὰ λαληθέντα. Ὁ δὲ τύραννος λίαν καταπλαγεὶς καὶ μάλιστα θαυμάσας περὶ τοῦ διωγμοῦ ὅτι οὐ διέλαθεν, φησὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀποσταλέντα· Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν τί ἔμαθες; Ὅδε· Πολλὰ οὖν βιασθεὶς ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἡμῖν ἔλεξεν πλὴν ὧν ἤκουσας. Καὶ γε ταῦτα εἰδὼς ὁ τύραννος ἔφη· Οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο αὐτὸν οἶμαι ἀλνοεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ταχυτῆτι σπεύσας καὶ διερευνησάμενος μάλα σαφήνισον ἡμῖν. Ὅ δὲ ἀνὴρ ἐν σπουδῇ πορευθεὶς καὶ μηδένπερ ἕτερον ὧνπερ ἤκουσε μαθών, ἄπρακτος πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα πάλινͅ ὑπέστρεψεν.

[18] Ὁ δὲ τῇ φερωνυμίᾳ ἀνήμερος Λέων ὁ τύραννος ἐν πρώτοις μὲν καλύπτειν ἐμηχανᾶτο τὸ δολερὸν τοῦ φρονήματος, καθάπερ περαπετάσματι, τῇ ὑπουλότητι καὶ τῇ ψευδεπιπλάστῳ εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ πίστει χρώμενος, ἀπατᾶν κἀντεῦθεν, ὡς οἶμαι, οἰόμενος τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος τῶν ἁπλουστέρων. Ὡς οὖν δένδρον πονηρὸν ὑπάρχον * καὶ καρποὺς ἀγαθοὺς φέρειν μὴ δυνάμενον, πᾶσι κατάδηλος ἐκ τῶν πονηρῶν αὐτοῦ καρπῶν γέγονε. Γνοὺς οὖν ὅτι οὐ διέλαθεν ἀνακαλύπτει τὸ βέβηλον φρόνημα, προτίθησι δὲ ἀναφανδὸν τὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Μάνεντος κρατύνας πᾶσαν τε ἐπωφελῆ καὶ εἰκονουργικὴν θέαν τοῦ θεανδρικοῦ ἐπιφανέντος Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ ὑπερδόξου μητρὸς καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγίων ἐξάραι ὁ δύστηνος κατετόλμησεν. Ὑπερορήσας δὲ τὸν θεῖον ἀρχιερέα καὶ αἰσχρὸν καὶ βέβηλον ἀντεισαγαγών, δεσμεύει μὲν ὅσον ἔγκριτον, ἱεαατικὸν καὶ μοναχικόν, ἱν᾽ εἴπω, καὶ λαἳκῶν εὐσεβῶν σύστημα· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀόρως ποντοφορήτους παραδίδωσι, τοὺς δὲ ἀνειλεῶς σφάττει, καὶ οὓς μὲν ποιναῖς καὶ μάστιξι καὶ στρεβλοτηρίων δεσμότησι καθυποβάλλει, οὕς δὲ σιδηροδεσμίους πρὸς τὰ φρούρια παραπέμπει, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἠπίως καὶ προσηνῶς προσέρχεται, τοὺς δὲ λιμῷ καὶ δίψει ὑποπιέζει. Ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ ὑποκλέπτει τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἕλκει, πῆ μὲν τῷ φόβῳ τῶν βασάνων ἀποκαμόντας, πῆ δὲ τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ φθαρτικοῦ καὶ ῥέοντος βίου κλαπέντας. Ἐν τούτοις μὴ κορεσθεὶς ὁ τύραννος καὶ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἐρημίαις καὶ ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς δὲ Κύριον οἰκοῦντας σκυλεύειν ἀπήρξατο καὶ πανταχοῦ ἐκπέμψας ἄρχοντας πλήρεις ἀσεβείας, ἐγχειρίζει αὐτοῖς πρόσταγμα τοίονδε· Ὅπως εἰ εὕρωσι τινὰς ἀσπαζομένους τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα, πεισθέντας μὲν καὶ ἀρνησαμένους τὴν ταύτης προσκύνησιν φειδοῦς ἀξιωθῆναι, εἰ δὲ μή, παντοίαις εἰδῶν κολάσεσι πολυτρόπως τούτους ἀπολέσθαι. Εἰ δὲ δυνηθῶσι καὶ τὸν ὅσιον κατασγεῖν καὶ δέσμιον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξαποστείλαι, τιμὰς οὐ τὰς τυχούσας καὶ ἀξιωμάτων διαφορὰς λήψεσθαι. Κλόνος οὖν καὶ δειλία πάντας κατεῖχε καὶ βοῆς πάντα καὶ θρήνου μεστά. Πατὴρ γὰρ ἐδίδου τέκνον εἰς θάνατον, καὶ τέκνα πατέρας, καὶ ἀδελφοὶ ἀδελφούς, καὶ φίλοι φίλους, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, μεγάλη λύπη τὴν σύμπασαν γῆν κατεῖχεν.

[14] St. Ioannicius foretells the defeat of Nicephorus, What the second miracle was you shall learn. In those times ^a the nation of the Bulgars is roused again to war, as was said above. He who then ruled the sceptres of the empire, the most pious emperor ^b named Nicephorus, pitches camp against them. When this had been done and an opportunity had been obtained, the king's fathers-in-law betake themselves to St. Ioannicius, having with them the venerable Eustratius, a very close friend of the saint. When, then, they had seen him and received his blessing, they asked him to pray earnestly for the kings. That most pure spirit, knowing what had happened, said: "Indeed, sons, I have already prayed for the kings, but I will pray for the king who is now ^c." As they were stung, and kept silent because they did not understand, for the saying had become known not to them but to Eustratius alone, who was of clear-sighted intelligence, the saint looks at him and, having given him a sign to be silent, turning again to them, blesses them and bids them depart. They go down from the mountain, and, desiring to know precisely, they ask the most reverend Eustratius what it was that had been said. He said: "That you may know that, God so willing, the king has fallen in battle, he therefore said to you: I have already prayed for the kings, but now I will pray for him who is to be proclaimed king." These men, greatly disturbed and filled with fear and terror, spurring their horses, pursued their journey with the utmost speed. And when they were drawing near the gates ^d, they hear this wretched news, full of sorrow, of the royal defeat, as has been said, proclaimed by all, and having traversed the rest of the road with trembling and tears, they arrived at the royal city.

[15] the death of Stauracius, And that the words of the prophecy might be fulfilled, Stauracius, the son of Nicephorus, received the empire. While he reigned, the said fathers-in-law of the king were again possessed by a strong desire of visiting the saint, but especially of asking and hearing about their kinsman, whether he would reign long or not. Turning these things over in their minds and not finding an opportunity of fulfilling their heart's desire, one day, as they were going to the palace, they meet on the road the most reverend Eustratius, who had been sent to the royal city by the cathegumen on account of some business. Recognizing him and kissing him most affectionately and embracing him with both hands, they set out to return home together with him; loading him with candles, incense and other gifts, and begging him to inquire most diligently of the saint about their kinsman and make it known to them, they send him back. He, then, having gone out, first discloses to that excellent shepherd what pertained to the business entrusted to him, and then, having received his blessing, goes to our saint. When he had shown himself to him and had been blessed, he hands over the gifts and asks to learn what would befall the king. That man of lofty mind and heavenly, compelled by great insistence, unwilling to offend his companion in any thing, at length with difficulty opened his mouth and, bathing his cheeks with tears, answered by this parable: "O most beloved Eustratius, be it known to you that just as a bird sitting on a branch of spreading foliage and singing sweetly is suddenly snatched away by a hawk coming upon it, so his empire will very shortly be snatched away." Which came to pass; for it is unknown to no one, but very well known to all, that the span of that reign was very brief ^e. Michael received the government, who was also distinguished by the monastic dignity ^f; and how he was overthrown by him who bore the name and manners of a wild beast, Leo, and was driven from the throne, you shall learn from what follows.

[16] the reign of Leo the Armenian The son of a certain Turk, named Bryennus, was accustomed frequently to visit the saint and receive his blessing. When he had now come back rather often, the man inspired by God says to him: "Well then, lord Bryennus, does your cousin know how to pasture sheep?" He, taking this word ill, said: "And how should he accept, O father, to become a keeper of sheep, he who has given himself to the military profession? For that would be altogether unbecoming and unfitting." The wonderful man had said this because he had foreseen that he would take up the kingdom and would be a wolf instead of a shepherd, and would tear to pieces the flock of Christ and the God-woven garment of the holy Church. Nevertheless the blessed man, keeping silent and bidding the man farewell, dismissed him. After some time the nation of the Bulgars ^g rose up once more in war against the Christians, and it happened that the most wicked prefect of the Anatolic theme ^h went out together with the most blessed, pious and orthodox Michael to drive them back. Then, God permitting, having driven the servant of Christ from the throne, he himself, as has been said, tyrannically seizes the diadem of the empire ⁱ.

[17] and foretells his impiety. The said Bryennus, mindful of the saint's words, and especially attending to the things that had been further uttered in this prophecy, discloses everything to the tyrant. He said: "Set out at once and be so good as to inquire diligently how long our reign will last, and on your return report it to me. For if he rightly foresaw the beginning, all the better will he know the future." When Bryennus had carried out the orders and was already approaching the saint's cell, the saint, knowing of his coming, said to the excellent Eustratius, who was then there with him: "I wish you to know, O most beloved Eustratius, that the chameleon tyrant ^k, made emperor on account of our sins, will stir up a violent persecution against the Church of God, and that he has sent Bryennus, well known to us, to learn from us what concerns him. But rise and go to meet him, and, holding him with prudent speech, let him come to us." When the most reverend Eustratius had gone out, it happened that he met the man at about a javelin's throw, and, as is the custom, pretending to greet him, asked whether he had heard anything from the saint about the tyrant. He answered that he would be a notable enemy of God and would vehemently trouble the Church of God: "Nevertheless go on and learn it most clearly from the just man." When he had appeared before the saint, he prostrates himself on the ground on both knees, receives the blessing from the saint and, rising, desires to hear about the wicked emperor. The saint, using the gravest words, made his whole wickedness manifest in brief. When, therefore, he protested and pleaded that the matter was by no means so, the saint answered again: "As you have heard, so it will be, and as you have heard, so you will report." He, dismissed by the saint and returning to the king, declares whatever had been said. The tyrant, greatly disturbed and especially amazed that the persecution was not hidden, says to him whom he had sent: "About the time of our empire what did you learn?" He said: "Though compelled by us with great insistence, he told us nothing other than what you have heard." Having taken this in, the tyrant said: "I do not think he is ignorant of this either; but set out in haste and, having searched much, disclose it to us." The man returned at once, but, taught nothing other than what he had heard, came back to the king with his business undone.

[18] The persecution of Leo the Armenian. But that Leo, cruel according to his name,

first strove to conceal the guile of his thought, as with a veil, using falsehood and feigned piety and faith, thinking thereby, as I suppose, to deceive the greater part of the simple. But since a bad tree cannot bear good fruit ^l, so he became known to all by his bad fruits. When, therefore, he knew that he was not hidden, he revealed his wicked thought and made his impiety public, and, clinging to the footsteps of Manes ^m, that wretch dared to take away all the so profitable representation in images of God and the man who appeared to us, Christ our God, and of His most glorious Mother and of all the saints. Having despised the godly patriarch ⁿ, and having brought in a shameful and wicked man ^o, he throws into chains [p] the whole approved congregation, so to speak, of priests, monks and pious laymen. Some he hands over to be drowned secretly in the sea, others he cruelly beheads; these he subjects to penalties and blows and tortures, while those, bound in iron chains, he sends into custody; others he approaches kindly and sweetly; others he constrains by hunger and thirst. Yet he deceives the simpler and draws them to himself, some turned aside by fear of torments, others deceived by the glory of a transitory and fleeting life. Nay more, the tyrant, not satisfied in this way, began to seize those who dwelt for God's sake in deserts and mountains and caves and in holes of the earth, and, sending everywhere commanders full of impiety, he prescribes to them an order of this kind: that if they found any who had embraced the image of Christ, those who were persuaded and renounced this adoration they should honour most generously; but if not, they should destroy them in various ways with every kind of torture. And if they could both capture the saint and send him to him in chains, they would gain honours of no ordinary kind and various dignities. Terror therefore and fear seized all, and all things were filled with cries and groans. For the father delivered up the son to death, and sons fathers, and brothers brothers, and friends friends, and, to say it in a word, a great mourning held the whole world.

ANNOTATA.

g. In the year 813.

l. Luke VI, 43.

p. To speak more correctly, he is sent into exile. Compare the Life of Nicephorus, loc. cit., no. 72, p. 312.

codex δαχθέντων. codex ἐγχείρισιν. codex ἀνοίκιον. codex συνόντι. codex ἀναγγέλει. codex ἑτέρῳ. * codex ὑπάρχων.

CHAPTER FOUR. On what occasion St. Ioannicius erected churches and coenobia in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of SS. Peter and Paul, and of St. Eustathius.

[19] Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος γνοὺς ὅτι καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔρευναν ποιεῖσθαι μέλλουσιν, ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Ἄλσος μεταναστεύει· κἀκεῖσε μετὰ παρρησίας τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας κηρύττων, ἀνεγείρει καὶ σεβασμίους ναοὺς ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τῆς δεσποίνης ἡμῶν τῆς Θεοτόκου καὶ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ κορυφαίων τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου καὶ τοῦ στρατηλάτου μάρτυρος Εὐσταθίου. Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς ἀκούων τὸν ὅσιον πατέρα ἡμῶν ἀποδράσαντα, ὑπολάβοι αὐτὸν δειλιάσαι τὸν τύραννον ἢ τὸν θάνατον· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου μετανάστης γενόμενος καὶ πάντα τὰ τερπνὰ αὐτοῦ ἀπαρνησάμενος, ἔτι τε καὶ πατέρα καὶ μητέρα καὶ ἀδελφὰς ἐάσας διὰ τὸν Κύριον, θάνατον οὐκ ἐπτοεῖτο οὐδὲ θυμὸν τυράννου, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκούσας τοῦ Ἀποστόλου εἰρηκότος· Δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργεͅ, καὶ πάλιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν τοῖς θείοις εὐαγελίοις παραγγέλλοντος· Ὁτ᾽ ἂν διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης, φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἄλλην, διὰ τοῦτο ἐξέφυγεν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν θρασύτητα συγκλείων. Ὁ δὲ φυλάττων Κύριος τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ ῥυόμενος καὶ τοῦτον ἐρρύσατο ὐπὸ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ χάριτος καὶ διέσωσεν εἰς πολλῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ ὠφέλειαν τῶν σωζομένων. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ σεβασμίων ναῶν ἀνεμνήσθημεν, λέξομεν κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν ἐφικτὸν καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τῆς τούτων ἀνεγέρσεως.

[20] Γουρίας τις ὀνόματι, πάνυ κακεντρεχὴς καὶ δεινός, λαοπλάνος τε καὶ μαγομάντις ὑπάρχων, καὶ, ἀποστολικῶς φάναι, σκεῦος εἰς ὀργὴν ἀπωλείας, τῷ διαβόλῳ κατηρτισμένος καὶ χρηματίζων, ἐρημικόν τε βίον οὐκ ἀληθῶς, ἀλλὰ ψευδῶς καὶ ἐπιπλάστως ἐπανηρημένος καὶ μόρφωσιν εὐσεβείας συσχηματιζόμενος ἔχειν, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν αὐτῆς πάντη ἠρνημένος, οὗτος τὸ παμμίαρος ἀδομένην ὑπὸ πάντων καὶ κατ᾽ ἀξίαν εὐφημουμένην τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου ὀνόματος ἀνάρησιν τοῦ θειοτάτου πατρὸς ἡμῶν μὴ φέρων ἐνηχεῖσθαι, φθονεπῷ πάθει, ὁ βάσκανος καὶ δύστηνος ἁλοὺς δολίως, ὡς ἄλλος τις ὄφις, θανατώσων τὸν ὅσιον ὁ μισάνθρωπος παρεγένετο. Καὶ δὴ τὸν ἰὸν τῆς ὑπουλότητος ταπεινώσει συγκεράσας θρηνητικαῖς ψευδολογίαις, ὡς δῆθεν μαθητεύσων τὸν μέγαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον, ὁ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐραστὴς καθικέτευε συνδιασκεψάμενος, καὶ τοῦτο λίαν εἰκαίως καὶ ματαίως, ὅτιπερ εἰ μόνον τῆς παρακλήσεως τύχοι τοῦ συνεῖναι τῷ ἁγίῳ διχῶς τοῦτον ἀπολέσει, ἢ γὰρ τῇ ἐπηρείᾳ καὶ ἐκφοβήσει τῶν συνυπουργούντων αὐτῷ ταῖς μαγείαις ἀποστατικῶν δυνάμεων δειγματίσας , ἤτοι ἐκφοβήσας τοῦτον ἐκδιώξει, ἢ ταύτῃ ἡττώμενος ἐπὶ τὴν ἐτέραν τέχνην τῆς μαγικῆς καταφυγὼν θανατηφόροις δόσεων κεράσμασιν ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει συσμίγων καὶ λεληθότος προσάγων ἀθρόον τοῦτον τῆς ζωῆς στερήσοι, κἀκεῖνος μονώτατος τῆς ὑψηλοτάτης φήμης τὴν δόξαν, ὡς μονερημίτης, παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων θηράσοιτο, μὴ λαβὼν ὁ ἀσύνετος εἰς τὸν ἐσκοτισμένον αὐτοῦ νοῦν ἀνίκητον ὑπάρχειν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλὰ προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἀσπὶς βυοῦσα, τὰ ὦτα κυφωθεὶς καὶ τῆς θεολέκτου φωνῆς μὴ ὑπακούσας τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους καὶ τῷ μετὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἁγίῳ πατρὶ ἡμῶν φανερώτατα βοώσης· Ὅτι ἐθεώρουν τὸν Σατανᾶν ὡς ἀστραπὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσόντα. Ἰδοὺ δίδωμι ὑμῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, καὶ τὸ· Ἐὰν θανάσιμόν τι πίωσιν, οὐ μὴ αὐτοὺς βλάψῃ. Ταῦτας οὖν τὰς θεολέκτους φωνὰς ὁ ἐν σκότει πορευόμενος μὴ συνιείς, ἀλλ᾽ ἑτέραις δειναῖς κακονοίαις πληρωθεὶς τὴν καρδίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον, ὡς εἴρηται, πρόσεισιν. Ὁ οὖν θεσπέσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν μηδ᾽ ὅλως ἀγνοήσας τὴν αὐτοῦ πανοῦργον δολιότητα, ἀλλά γε μᾶλλον καὶ ἐλέγξαι τοῦτον, ὡς οἶμαι, θέλων καὶ τὸ πεφυσιωμένον ἐκεῖνο ταῖς μαγείαις φρόνημα σαθρὸν καὶ ἀνίσχυρον ἀποδεῖξαι, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν πείσεται τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι τῇ μεταλήψει τῶν μαγικῶν ἐκπομάτων, ἀλλά γε καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ σκότους καὶ τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ὑπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν προμηθείας φρουρούμενος τροπώσεται, καὶ ἀσθενῆ ἀποδείξει, δέχεται αὐτὸν δῆθεν ὡς εἰς μαθητείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὑπουργοῦ τάξιν ἐγχειρίζει αὐτῷ.

[21] Ὁ δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου υἱὸς περιχαρῶς εἰσοικισθεὶς ἐπειρᾶτο καὶ τῶν μαγικῶν ἐργῶν ἤδη ἀπάρξασθαι. Καὶ δὴ ἐν μιᾷ, νυκτὸς βαθείας οὔσης, ἀωρὶ τῆς κέλλης ἐξελθὼν καὶ πρός τινα τόπον ἀνοικειον γενόμενος τὰς συνυπουργούσας αὐτῷ δαιμονικὰς φάλαγγας ὁπλοφόρους παρεστάναι αὐτῷ ἐπεκαλεῖτο. Τῶνδε εἰς πλῆθος ἱππέων καὶ πεζῶν ἐν σχήματι σιδηροθωράκων μεταβληθεισῶν, τόξα τε καὶ τε καὶ βέλη καὶ φαρέτρας φανταστικῶς κατεχουσῶν, κυκλικῷ παραγενάμεναι ἐπέστησαν αὐτῷ. Ὁ δὲ βδελυκτὸς ἐκεῖνος μάγος τούτους θεασάμενος, μάλα θαρρήσας, πρὸς πόλεμον κατὰ τοῦ ὁσίου ἀπιέναι προέτρεπεν. Αὐτῶν τε παραχρῆμα τῇ προστάξει ἐπιπορευομένων τὰ βέλη ἐν ταῖς βελοθήκαις τῶν βασταζόντων ἦχον μέγαν ἀπετέλουν. Ὡς οὖν ἔκ τινος διαστήματος τῆς κέλλης γενόμεναι παρετάξαντο, ἤρξαντο ἀλαλάζειν καὶ πυκνῶς κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου τὰ βέλη ἐπιπέμπειν. ὁ δὲ ἁγιώτατος πατὴρ ἡμῶν, γραφικῶς εἰπεῖν, ὡς λέων πεποιθὼς καὶ μηδ᾽ ὅλως δηλανθείς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἄρας τὰς ἱερὰς παλάμας, τὸν φοβερὸν ἐν πολέμοις καὶ κραταιὸν Κύριον εἰς βοή θειαν αὐτοῦ ἐπεκαλεῖτο, καὶ ψάλλων οὕτως ἔλεγεν· Κύριος φωτισμός μου, καὶ σωτήρ μου, τίνα φοβηθήσομαι; Κύριος ὑπερασπιστὴς τῆς ζωῆς μου, ἀπὸ τίνος δειλιάσω; Ἐὰν παρατάξηται ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ παρεμβολή, οὐ φοβηθήσεται ἡ καρδία μου, καὶ ἐὰν ἐπαναστῇ ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ πόλεμος, ἐν ταύτῃ ἐγὼ ἐλπίζω. Τῇ τε χειρὶ τὸ σταυρικὸν σημεῖον τετραμερῶς ὑπαέριον διατυπώσας παραχρῆμα πᾶσαν ἐκείνην τὴν δαιμονικὴν πληθὺν ἄφαντον ἐποίησεν. Καὶ πάλιν ἀρξάμενος οὕτως ἔψαλλεν· Οἱ θλίβοντές με καὶ οἱ ἐχθροί μου αὐτοὶ ἠσθένησαν καὶ ἔπεσον, ὄντως ἡ ῥομθαῖα αὐτῶν εἰσέλθοι εἰς τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν συντριβείη, καὶ οὗτοι ἐν ἅρμασι καὶ οὐτοι ἐν ἵπποις, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου ἐπικαλεσόμεθα, αὐτοὶ συνεποδίσθησαν καὶ ἔπεσον, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀνέστημεν καὶ ἀνωρθώθημεν. Καὶ πλεῖστα ἄλλα παρόμοια τούτοις ἄσας καὶ ἐκτενῶς προσευξάμενος, ἡσύχασεν.

[22] Ἐν τούτοις ὁ μισομόναχήσας ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος τῶν μαγικῶν αὖθις τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐπέρεισε· καὶ εὐκαίριαν εὑρηκὼς σύνθεσίν τε πολυειδῶν δηλητηρίων * λεάνας καὶ ἐν μέλι καὶ γάλακτι ἀμφότερα συγκεράσας καὶ βαυκάλιον πλήσας κιρνῶν τῷ ἁγίῳ προσφέρει. Ὁ δὲ πανόσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἐκτεινὰς τὴν χεῖρα καὶ, ὡς ἔθος ἦν αὐτῷ, τὸν

ζωοποιὸν τύπον τοῦ σταυροῦ ποιήσας θσοσαλέως τούτο πέπωκεν . Ὁ δὲ δολιόφρων ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἄθλιος μάγος χαρᾶς πλησθείς, ὡς τάχιστα τοῦτον οἰόμενος καὶ ἐλπίζων τεθνήξεσθαι, ὑψνλῷ καὶ γαύρῳ τῷ φρονήματι ὡς τε τυχὼς τοῦ ἐλπιζομένου διέκειτο. Ἀρ᾽ οὖν νενίκηκεν ὡς βεβούλευται, ἢ τεθανάτωκε τὸνν ἅγιον; Ἄπαγε, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ μᾶλλον τῆς ἐλπίδος διέψευσται καὶ κενῶς ἀνομήσας φανερώτατα διήλεγκται. Πεπωκὼς γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, τὸ δηλητήριον καὶ ποσῶς τὰ ἐντὸς ὀδυνώμενος, ἐδέετο τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ ῥυσθῆναι αὐτὸν τῆς θανατηφόρου ἐκείνης μαγικῆς σκαιωρίας. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν συνεχουσῶν αὐτῷ ὀδυνῶν τραπεὶς πρὸς ὕπνον, ὁρᾷ τινα ἄδρα, πάνυ ὡραιότατον, στρατιωτικὸν σχῆμα φοροῦντα, παριστάμενον αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοὺ τῇ δεξιᾷ κατέχοντα ὑγιεινόν τι φάρμακον, καὶ τοῦτον προτρεπόμενον λαβεῖν αὐτπό, καὶ φαγεῖν καὶ τὴν ῥῶσιν δέξασθαι. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἐπύθετο τίς τε εἴη εἰπεῖν, καὶ παρὰ τίνος ἀποσταλεὶς παρεγένετο; Ὅδε Εὐστάθιον στρατηλάτην ἑαυτὸν ἀνεκήρυττεν, καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀπεστάλθαι εἰς βοήθειαν καὶ ἐπίσκεψιν αὐτοῦ, ὑποδεικνύων ἅμα καὶ τὸ ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ κρατούμενον φάρμακιον καὶ ὡσεὶ τοῦτο λάβοι καὶ φάγοι μηκέτι δεδιέναι αὐτὸν ἢ βλάπτεσθαι ἢ ἀδικεῖσθαι ἐν παντοίαις, εἰ τύχοι, ἐπιφερομέναις αὐτῷ μαγικαῖς δόσεσιν. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος λαβὼν τοῦτο καὶ ὑφ᾽ ἕν ἐκπιὼν παραχρῆμα διυπνίσθη καὶ περιβλεψάμενος ὧδε κἀκεῖσε οὐδένα ὁρᾷ, τὴν δέ κοιλίαν βιαίως ἀλγῶν καὶ διαπριώμενος πρὸς ἔμετον ὠθεῖτο καὶ δὴ πρὸς γῆν κύψας τὸ στόμα σὺν πλείστῳ αἵματι τὸ δηλητήριοιν ἐξέχεεν, καὶ τῶν πόνων κουφισθεὶς τὸν Θεὸν ἐδόξασε, τὸν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐσταθίου σεσωκότα αὐτόν, καὶ τὸν μὲν μάγον ἐκεῖνον πάνυ ἐντρέψας καὶ καταισχύνας ἀξεδίωξε, δόμον τε ἱερὸν παραχρῆμα ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ ἁγὶου μάρτυρος Εὐσταθίου ἀνίστησι, καὶ σεμνεῖον ποιήσας τοῦτον πλείστους ἐκεῖσε κείρας τῷ Κυρίῳ προσέφερεν , ὡς μέχρι καὶ νῦν ὑπάρχειν τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐκεῖσε οἰκούντων ὡσεὶ ὁ. Ἕνα δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν πάνυ εὐλαβέστατον ἡγούμενον καταστήσας καὶ τὴν φροντίδα αὐτῷ καταλείψας καὶ καταπίστευσας, αὐτὸς πάλιν τῆς ἡσυχίας εἶχε.

[23] Καὶ δὴ πάλιν μετά τινας ἡμέρας ὁρᾷ κατ᾽ ὄναρ πηγὴν πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ύπάρχουσαν καὶ πλῆθος προβάτων ἐστερημένων φωτὸς πρὸς τὴν πηγὴν ἀπιόντων καὶ ἅμα τοῦ προσψαύειν καὶ ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ ὕδατος, αὖθις τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν λαμβάνειν καὶ ὑγιἡ ὑποστρέφειν. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος θαυμάζων καὶ διαλογιζόμενος τί ἄν εἴη τοῦτο, βλέπει λευχειμονοῦντα ἄνδρα, δακτυλοδεικτοῦντα καὶ λέγοντα αὐτῷ· Αὔτη ἡ πηγὴ ἣν ἀποθαυμάζων ὁρᾷς, ὦ Ἰωαννίκιε, τῆς Θεομήτορός ἐστι, καὶ ὅστις ἂν πηροῖς τοῖς ὄμμασι προσέλθοι καὶ λαβὼν τοῦ ὕδατος νίψεται, ἀναβλέψει τοὺς τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ σωθέσεται. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος σύντρομος διυπνισθεὶς καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὁραθέντα τόπον ἀπιὼν τὴν μὲν πηγὴν ἣν ἐθεάσατο οὐχ εὗρεν. Περικαλλῆ δε τὸν τόπον καὶ εὔθετον θεασάμενος καὶ διαλογισάμενος ὅτιπερ εὐάρεστός ἐστι παραχρῆμα τὴν Θεοτόκον οἰκεῖν ἐκεῖσε, σεβάσμιον ναὸν ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι αὐτῆς ἀνέστησε, καὶ τούτον μοναστήριον ποιήσας πολλοὺς ἐκ τῆς πωρώσεως τοῦ βίου ἐξῆξε καὶ τούτους ἀποκείρας καὶ τὸν φωτισμὸν τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς προσιοῦσι καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς προσερχομένοις ἅπασι νέμει. Καὶ ἕτερον δὲ ναὸν ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τῶν ἁγίων καὶ κορυφαίων ἀποστόλων Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου ἀνοικοδομήσας καὶ ποιήσας καὶ τοῦταν μοναστήριον, ἐν ἀμφοτέροις τε καταστήσας ἀρίστους καθηγεμόνας καὶ τύπους ἱεροὺς καὶ κανόνας ἐκθέμενος, καὶ τούτοις παραδούς, αὐτὸς πάλιν τῆς ὑψηλοτάτης ἡσυχίας, ὡς πρώην, εἴχετο. Αὔτη δὲ ἧν ἡ αἰτία τῆς τῶν σεβασμίων οἴκων τοῦΘεοῦ ἀνεγέρσεως, ἣ διεξοδικώτερον, κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν θεμιτόν, ὑμῖν διεσαφήσαμεν. Ἐπεὶ οὐν περὶ τούτων ἱκανῶς εἴρηται, ἐφ᾽ ἕτερον θαῦμα τὸν λόγον μεταγάγωμεν.

[19] St. Ioannicius, while he lives on Mount Alsus, The saint, knowing that they would search for him, migrates to the mountain called Alsus ^a; and there, preaching freely the word of truth, he builds holy churches in the name of our Lady the Mother of God, and of the holy princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and of the soldier-martyr Eustathius ^b. Let no one, however, on hearing that our holy father fled, suspect that he feared the tyrant or death. For he who had become a deserter of the world and had sent notice of dismissal to all its pleasures, and had even left father, mother and brothers for the Lord, did not fear death or the fury of the tyrant; but obeying the Apostle when he says ^c: "Give place to wrath," and again the Lord when He commands in the Gospels ^d: "But when they drive you out of this city, flee into another," he therefore fled, his fortitude restrained at the same time. And the Lord, who guards the souls of His saints and rescues them from the hand of the sinner, rescued him also on account of His divine charity and preserved him for the salvation and profit of many who were saved. But since we have mentioned the holy and venerable churches, we shall tell, as it has been reported to us, what the occasion of their erection was.

[20] he is attacked by a wicked monk, There was a certain man named Gurias, very wicked and malevolent, a deceiver of the people and addicted to magic, and, to speak with the Apostle ^e, a vessel of wrath for perdition, serving and cooperating with the devil, who had taken up the eremitical life not truly but falsely and feignedly, and, pretending to have the form of piety, had altogether cast away its power. This most wicked man, not bearing that the invocation of the holy name of our godly father, celebrated by all and exalted with praises, should resound, seized by the passion of envy, malevolent and wretched, this hater of men came, like another serpent, to kill the saint secretly. Mixing, of course, the poison of his malice with lamentable lies under the appearance of humility, this lover of falsehood begged as a suppliant that he might become a disciple of the great man of God. For he foresaw, rashly indeed and in vain, that if only his petition were satisfied he would obtain the opportunity of approaching nearer to the saint, and would ruin him in one of two ways: either he would drive the saint out terrified by displaying the malignity and terror of the adverse powers which he subjected to himself by magic arts, or, if defeated in this, by having recourse to another magical contrivance he would put deadly mixtures into his food or drink, and so, proceeding secretly, would suddenly deprive him of life, while he himself, being a solitary, would alone obtain among men the glory of the highest fame. The madman, his mind darkened, did not understand that the power of Christ is invincible, but, according to the prophetic word, like a deaf asp stopping its ears, he did not hear the divine voice crying most clearly to the apostles, and after the apostles to our holy father: "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy," and that other: "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ^f." Those divine voices, then, this man who walked in darkness did not understand, but, filled in heart with other depraved thoughts through Satan, he advances against the saint, as has been said. Our godly father therefore, by no means ignorant of his evil fraud, but wishing, as I suppose, to convict him of a greater crime and to show that mind puffed up with magic to be weak and powerless, since by God's grace he was to suffer nothing from the magic potions he would take, but rather, guarded by providence from on high, was to put to flight both the prince of darkness and the spirits of wickedness ^g and convict them of weakness, receives him as though for discipleship and entrusts to him the office of his assistant.

[21] who tries to kill him by magic arts; The son of the devil, brought into the house with joy, at once tried to set about his magic works. When the night was very dark, having gone out of the cell before dawn and come to a certain desert place, he invokes the phalanxes of demons, his allies, to be present in arms. They assemble in many horsemen and foot-soldiers in the guise of soldiers clad in iron breastplates; holding bows, javelins and quivers in phantasm, they stand around him gathered in a circle. That wicked magician, looking at them and greatly heartened, urges them to set out to war against the saint. They at once carry out the order and depart, the javelins carried by the soldiers in their cases giving out a great noise. And when they had come within a certain distance of the cell, they draw up in order and begin to howl and to shoot thick missiles against the saint. But our most holy father, to speak with the Scripture, confident as a lion and in no way terrified, but raising his sacred hands to heaven, called to his help the Lord terrible and mighty in battles, and singing psalms said this ^h: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Though armies should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. Though battle should rise up against me, in this will I hope." For, tracing with his hand the sign of the cross four times in the air, he at once put this whole multitude of demons to flight. And again he began to sing this: "My enemies that trouble me have themselves been weakened and have fallen ⁱ. Let their sword enter into their own hearts and let their bow be broken ^k. Some trust in chariots and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of our God. They are bound and have fallen, but we are risen and are set upright ^l." And when he had sung many other things like these and prayed intently, he rested.

[22] [but he is saved by the intercession of St. Eustathius, to whom he dedicates a church,] Then that hater of monks, repulsed in this hope, placed his hope anew in another kind of magic arts, and having found an opportunity, when he had ground a mixture of various poisons and mixed both in honey and milk, he offers to the saint a bowl filled with the mixture. Our blessed father, stretching out his hand and, as was his custom, making the life-giving sign of the cross, drank it off with good courage. That fraudulent and miserable magician, full of joy because he thought and hoped that he would shortly die, stood forth with an elated and arrogant mind, as though he had obtained his wish. Did he, then, prevail as he had planned, and kill the saint? Far from it; rather he was shown most evidently to have been deceived in his hope and to have meditated vain things. For when he had drunk the poison, as has been said, and was suffering severely in his bowels, he asked the kind God to preserve him from that deadly magical contrivance. And when, because of the pains which held him, he had fallen asleep, he sees a certain very comely man in military dress standing beside him, holding in his right hand a certain healing remedy; he urges him to take it and eat it, whereby he would obtain health. The saint asked who he was and by whom he had been sent to be present. He declared that he was Eustathius the soldier and had been sent by God for his help and protection, showing at the same time the remedy placed in his hand: if he took it and ate it, fear would be absent

lest he should receive harm or be hurt by the various magic arts which might perhaps be brought against him. The saint, having taken it and drunk it at one draught, at once awoke and, looking around, saw no one there. But, suffering violently in his belly, and even gnashing his teeth, he was driven to vomit and, lowering his mouth to the ground, spat out the poison with much blood; and, relieved of his sufferings, he glorified God, who had saved him through St. Eustathius; and when he had utterly convicted that magician and covered him with shame, he expelled him. Forthwith he erects a sacred house in the name of the holy martyr Eustathius, and, a monastery having been added, he consecrated to God a great many marked with the tonsure, so that up to now the number of those dwelling there is about seventy. And when he had appointed one of them, a thoroughly most pious man, hegumen, to whom he left and handed over the care, he himself again gave himself to solitude.

[23] and also to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the princes of the apostles. After some days he again sees in a dream a fountain which rose towards the east, and a multitude of sheep bereft of light coming to the fountain, which, as soon as they had touched the water, received again the light of their eyes and went back healed. The saint, marvelling and turning over with himself what this might mean, sees a man clothed in white pointing and saying to him: "This fountain which you behold with wonder, O Ioannicius, is the Mother of God's, and whoever approaches with blind eyes and, having drawn water, is washed, will see with the eyes of the mind and will be saved." The saint awoke trembling and, having set out for the place he had seen, did not find the fountain which he had beheld. But when he had noticed that this place was very beautiful and most suitable, and had reflected that it would be a pleasant dwelling for the Mother of God, he forthwith erected there a venerable church in her name, and also, establishing a monastery, he led many out of a life hardened by sins, adorned them with the tonsure, and distributed the light of the knowledge of Christ to all who came and passed by. And when he had built another church also under the invocation of the holy princes of the apostles Peter and Paul and had erected a monastery there as well, excellent cathegumens having been appointed in both, sacred images set up and rules handed down, he himself again kept himself in the deepest solitude, as before. This, then, was the reason why he built the venerable houses of God, which we have set out to you more fully according to our strength ^m. Since, then, enough has been said of these things, let us lead our discourse to another prodigy.

ANNOTATA.

c. Rom. XII, 19.

d. Matth. X, 23.

e. Rom. IX, 22.

f. Prov. XXXIII, 1.

h. Ps. XXXV, 1, 3.

i. Ps. XXVI, 2.

k. Ps. XXXVI, 14.

l. Ps. XIX, 8, 9.

codex καταξίαν. codex δειγματήσας. codex θανατιφόροις. codex πήσεται. codex ἀνοίκιον. codex ὑπ᾽ ἀέριον. codex δειλιτηρίων. codex πέποκεν. codex πεποκὼς. codex ὑγευνόν. codex λάβει. codex δεδειέναι. codex συμπλείστῳ. codex δειλιτήριον. codex προσήφερεν. codex ἀνατωλὰς. * codex λευχιμονοῦντα.

CHAPTER FIVE. Some miracles of St. Ioannicius. He frees a monastery from the danger of lightning, is rapt in ecstasy through prayer, saves a boy from the demons, heals a woman possessed, and puts demons to flight both from himself and from a village which they were infesting.

[24] Ἐν μιᾷ γὰρ τῶν ἡμερῶν συννεφὴς γεγονὼς ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τῇ ἐπιπλήσει καὶ τάσει τῶν νεφῶν στερρᾶς βροντῆς ἤδη ἀπηχουμένης, πνεῦμα πυρὸς ἀναφανὲν φοβερῷ ῥοιζήματι ὑφ᾽ ἓν τῶν σεβασμίων ναῶν ἀπειλοῦν ἐπορεύετο. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τοῦτο θεασάμενος στὰς εἰς προσευχὴν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐκπετάσας τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπειλὴν ὑπολοφῆσαι ἐδέετο. Ὁ δὲ τῶν θαυμασίων Θεός, ὁ δοξάζων τοὺς δοξάζοντας αὐτόν, ὁ τὸ θέλημα τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν ποιῶν, καὶ τῆς δεήσεως αὐτῶν εἰσακούων καὶ σώζων αὐτούς, ὑπακούει τάχιστα τοῦ ἰδίου δούλου καὶ ἀβλαβῆ τὸν ναὸν διαφυλάττει τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ. Τὸ γὰρ πῦρ πλησιάσαν τῷ ἱερῷ οἴκῳ, δίκην ὀθόνης * πλοίου ὑπὸ πνεύματος πληρουμένης, καμαροειδῶς ἐπὶ πλείστη ὥραν περιετείχισε. Πάντων τῶν ἐκεῖσε συνόντων τῷ θεάματι ἀποσκοπούντων καὶ διαλογιζομένων εἰς ἅπαν τὸν ναὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀποτεφρῶσθαι, δυνάμει θείᾳ διεχέθη τὸ πῦρ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς μέρεσι καὶ εἰς τέλος ἠφανίσθη. Ὁ δὲ σεβάσμιος οἷκος διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς, ὡς εἴρηται, τοῦ θεσπεσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν σῶος καὶ ἀλώβητος ἐξέλαμψε. Πάντες δὲ οἱ τότε παρόντες ἐκεῖσε καὶ τὸ παράδοξον τοῦτο θαῦμα θεασάμενοι κοινῇ βοῇ εὐχαριστηρίους ἀναπέμψαντες ὕμνους τὸν Θεὸν ἐδόξαζον.

[25] Ἐν τούτοις ἤγουν τοῖς σεβασμίοις ναοῖς ἄντρον πλησίαζον ὑπῆρχειν, ἐν ᾧ ἀπερχόμενος ὁ ἅγιος προσηύχετο. Τοῦ οὖν προμνημονευθέντος Εὐστρατίου, ὡς ἔθος ἦν αὐτῷ, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον παραγενομένου, καὶ τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν τοῦ διωγμοῦ δεινὴν συμφορὰν ἐκδιηγουμένου, αὖθις ἀναστὰς ὁ ὅσιος πρὸς τὸ σπήλαιον προσευξόμενος ἐπορεύθη. Χρονίσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πλείστην ὥραν διελογίζετο ὁ ἀοίδιμος Εὐστράτιος τίνος χάριν εἴη ἡ τοσαύτη βραδυτής. Ὡς οὖν ἀναστὰς πλησίον τοῦ σφηλαίου ἀποσκοπήσων παρεγένετο, ὁρᾷ τὸν ὅσιον ἐπὶ προσευχὴν οὐκ εἰς γῆν ἱστάμενον, ἀλλὰ κρεμάμενον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν ἀέρα μέχρι δύο πηχῶν, ὅλον φωτοειδῆ ὑπὲρ τὸν ἣλιον ἀποστίλβοντα. Ὅδε ἐπὶ τὸ ὁραθὲν καταπλαγεὶς καὶ φοβηθεὶς μήτι τῷ ἁγίῳ περικοπήν τινα δῷ, ἡσυχῇ βηματίσας καὶ οἰόμενος λανθάνειν ἐπανέστρεψεν· μικρὸν δὲ ὅσον παρεγένετο καὶ ὅ ἅγιος. Ὁ δὲ πάνσοφος πατὴρ ἡμῶν οὐ γαρ᾽ αὐτὰ τοῦτον διελέγχει, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη πλείστων ἡμερῶν διαδραμουσῶν ἐν μιᾷ πάλιν προσομιλούντων αὐτῶν, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ὅσιος· Οὐ καλόν ἐστιν, ὦ ἀγαπητὲ Εὐστράτιε, ἐπὶ προσευχήν τινα ἱστάμενον τοῦτον παρ᾽ ἄλλου κατασκοπεύεσθαι. Ὅδε γνοὺς ὅτι οὐ διέλαθεν· Οὐ, φησί, πάτερ, ἀπελογεῖτο, ἕνεκεν τοῦ κατασκοπῆσαι τὴν εὐχὴν ὑμῶν παρεγενόμην, ἀλλ᾽ ἕνεκεν τῆς συμβάσης πολλῆς βραδυτῆτος, τούτου χάριν μαθεῖν ἀφικόμην. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος· Καὶ γε ἐγὼ ἔγνωκα, ὦ καλὲ Εὐστράτιε, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως τὸ πάντα ἐπεσκεμμένως πράττειν καλόν. Ὅδε μηδὲν πρὸς τοῦτο ἀντεπεῖν * δυνηθείς, μετάνοιαν βαλὼν τὴν συγχωρίαν ἐδέξατο.

[26] Ἔτι τοῦ ἁγίου ἐγκαρτεροῦντος ἐκεῖσε καὶ τοῦ διωγμοῦ ἐπικρατοῦντος, ἐγένετό τινα παῖδα παρὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ γεννητόρων ἀποσταλέντα ὕδωρ ἀντλῆσαι, καὶ τοῦ παιδὸς τὴν πρόσταξιν πεποιηκότος καὶ ἀνθυποστρέφειν οἴκαδε μέλλοντος ὁρᾷ τινας ἄνδρας ζοφεροὺς τῷ εἰδει πλησιάσαντας αὐτῷ φᾶναι· Ὤ παῖ, οὐ καλῶς τὴν πορείαν πεποίησαι· ἔνθεν γὰρ ἀριστερὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔκκλινον, ὅπως τὴν ὁδὸν ὑποδείξωμέν σοι. Ἐβούλοντο δὲ τὸν παῖδα οἱ τοῦ σκότους ἐργάται πρὸς τὸν κρημνὸν ἀπαγαγεῖν καὶ ἀπολέσαι. Ὅδε ἀληθῆ τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν λεχθέντα ὑπολοαβὼν συνηκολούθει αὐτοῖς. Ὡς δὲ πέφθακε πλησίοι τοῦ κρημνοῦ, ἄφνω ἐπιφαίνεται τῷ παιδὶ ὁ ἄγιος. Ἡ δὲ δαιμονικὴ πληθὺς πᾶσα, ὡς ᾔσθετο τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ ἁγίου θρηνητικῶς ἀλαλάξασο, ἑαυτὴν κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ ἔβαλεν. Δοὺς δὲ χεῖρα τῷ παιδὶ ὁ ἅγιος, τὴν ὁδόν τε ὁδηγήσας, καὶ ἐπευξάμενος, ἀπέλυσεν. Οἱ δὲ γονεῖς διηρώτων τὸν παῖδα τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐπὶ πλείστη ὥραν χρονίσας οὐ παρεγένετο. Ὁ δὲ παῖς ἀνήγγειλε πάντα καὶ πῶς ὑπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων πλανηθεὶς κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ ἠπείγετο, καὶ πῶς διὰ τῆς ἐπιστασίας τοῦ ἁγίου παραδόξως ἐρρύσθη. Καὶ τοῦτο ἀκούσαντες, τῷ Θεῷ καὶ αὐτοῦ θεράποντι ηὐχαρίστουν.

[27] Γυνή τις πνεύματι πορνείας καθυποβληθεῖσα καὶ τῷ οἴστρῳ τῆς φιληδονίας, καθάπερ πυρί, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι φλεγομένη, λογισμῷ δὲ κρείττονι ἀντιταττομένη τῇ ἁγνείᾳ δοῦναι τὰ νικητήρια, τέλος ἡττηθεῖσα καὶ μανικῷ ἔρωτι φρενοβλαβήσασα, τήν τε ἐσθῆτα διαρρήξασα καὶ τοὺς πλοκάμους ξάνασα καὶ ἀπρεπῶς διαπετάσασα, καθάπερ ὗς ἄγριος, ἐν ταῖς ἐρημίαις περιπλανωμένη νὐλίζετο· καὶ ἧν ἰδεῖν θαῦμα ἐξαίσιον λογικὴν φύσιν τὰ τῶν ἀλόγων ἔργα διαπραττομένην. Οὔτε γὰρ αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν ἀλόγων τροφῆς μετελάμβανεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀφειδῶς τὰς ἰδίας σάρκας κατήσθιεν, θηριότροπον ἔχουσα μορφὴν καὶ παντελῶς ἠλλοιωμένην, τό τε ὄμμα φοβερὸν καὶ καταπληκτικὸν ὑποβλέπουσα, καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας τρίζουσα, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα κατατείνουσα, καὶ κρουνοῖς αἱμάτων τὴν γῆν πληροῦσα, φωναῖς τε πολυσήμοις ἀλαλάζουσα. Ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ὑλακτοῦσα, ὡς κύων ἀνέκραζεν, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς ταῦρος ἐμυκᾶτο, καὶ πῆ μὲν ὠγκᾶτο ὡς ὄνος, πῆ δὲ ὡς ὄφις βιαίοις συριγμοῖς ἀπήχει. Ὡς δ᾽ ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας οὕτω μανικῶς διεκαρτέρει, Θεοῦ δυνάμει ἐφοδηγηθὲν τὸ γύναιον τῷ ἁγίῳ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὄντι πρόσεισιν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ταύτην θεασάμενος, γνοὺς δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ μισοκάλου καὶ πονηροῦ δαίμονος, ἱκετικαῖς δεήσεσι τὸν φιλάνθρωπον Θεὸν ἐξεβιάζετο ταύτην πάλιν ἐν τῷ ταῦτῳ τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως τὸν ἡγεμόνα καὶ κύριον λογισμὸν ἐρρωμένην ἀπολήψασθαι. Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος καὶ φιλοικτίρμων Κύριος, ὁ πάντας θέλων σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, ὁ μὴ βουλόμενος τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ζῆν αὐτόν, ἐπικαμφθεὶς τοῖς ἐντεύξεσι τοῦ ἰδίου θεράποντος τὴν ἰδίαν εἰκόνα οἰκτείρας ἐκ τῆς παρὰ φύσιν ἀλογίας τὰ αἰσθητήρια τραπεῖσαν τῆς κατὰ φύσιν λογικῆς φύσεως ὑγιὲς τὸ γύναιον ἀποδίδωσι πάλιν. Ὡς γοῦν εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἡ γυνὴ ἐγένετο, καὶ τὸν ἅγιον πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῆς ἱστάμενον ἔβλεψεν, ῥίψασα ἑαυτὴν πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ θρηνητικῶς ἀλαλάζουσα ἔλεγεν· Ἐλέησόν με, ὦ πάτερ, τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἁμαρτωλήν, τὴν μηδὲ πρὸς μικρὸν ἑαυτὴν τοῖς λογισμοῖς κατασχοῦσαν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν ναὸν τοῦ σώματος διαφθείρασαν, καὶ ἀσωτίᾳ ἑαυτὴν καθυποβαλοῦσαν, καὶ παίγνιον δαιμόνων γεναμένην· οἴκτειρόν με τὴν ἐκ λογικῆς φύσεως εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων μεταβληθεῖσαν, καὶ ὡς ὁρᾷς με πάντη τεταπεινωμένην ὑπάρχουσαν καὶ ἑαυτὴν καταδαπανήσασαν καὶ ἀφανίσασαν ὁλὴν τὴν εὐπρέπειάν μου, ἐπικούφισον τὴν ἐγκειμένην ἐν ἐμοὶ φλογώδη οἰστρομανίαν καὶ δρόσον ἁγνείας ** πεμφθῆναί μοι καθικέτευσον· ἆρον ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὸν βαρὺν κλοιὸν τῆς πορνείας καὶ σωφροσύνης ἅμμασι σαῖς λιταῖς περίσφιγξον· κυβέρνησόν μου τὴν ψυχικὴν ναῦν πνεύμασι πορνείας κλυδωνιζομένην, καὶ πρὸς λιμένα τὸν τῆς ἀπαθείας με καθώρμησον· βοήθησόν μοι τῇ ἀθλίᾳ, τὴν πολλοῖς πταίσμασι καὶ πάθεσι σαλευθεῖσαν καὶ πρὸς τὴν πέτραν με τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ στερέωσον. Οἶδα ὅτι πάντα δύνασαι ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί σε Θεῷ, ἀδυντεῖ δέ σοι οὐδέν· διὸ δέομαί

σου μή με ἀπορρίψῃς τὴν ἐν μεγάλῃ ἀνάγκῃ ὑπάρχουσαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ταπεινοῖς μου δάκρυσι παρακληθεὶς κάθαρόν με πρὸς σωφροσύνην ποδηγήσας, καθάπερ τὸ πάλαι ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν μακαρίαν καὶ ἐπαινουμένην πόρνην. Τούτων ὁ ἅγιος ὑπακούσας, σπλάγχνοις τε συμπαθείας κινηθείς, καὶ γὰρ ἧν ἄγαν φιλανθρωπότατος, τό τε ὄμμα πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐκτείνας καὶ ἐκ βάθους στεναγμὸν ἀναπέμψας φησι τῇ γυναικί· Ὦ γύναι, θάρσει, καὶ ἐν ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔστω ὑγιὴς ἀπὸ τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ νῦν ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ὁ σὸς πόλεμος ἔσται, καί σε μὲν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ λοιποῦ ἐλευθερώσει τοῦ πάθους· ἐν ἐμοὶ δὲ ὡς ἂν παραχωρήσῃ ἐνεργήσει. Ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ παραχρῆμα ἰαθεῖσα καὶ τοῦ πάθους τῆς ἐρωτομανίας ἐλευθερωθεῖσα, ἀπῆλθεν ὑγιὴς εἰς τὸν οἴκον αὐτῆς, δοξάζουσα καὶ αἰνοῦσα τὸν Θεόν· καὶ ἔκτοτε σωφρόνως καὶ εὐσεβῶς τὸν ἑαυτῆς βίον διαρυθμίσασα τῷ Κυρίῳ ἑαυτὴν καθολικῶς ἀνατέθεικεν.

[28] Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν, ὡς εἴρηται, τὸν πόλεμον ἀναδεξάμενος, ἐν δάκρυσι καὶ προσευχαῖς καὶ νηστείαις τὸν Θεὸν καθικέτευεν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς τοιαύτης νόσου. Ὁ δὲ δαίμων μὴ ὑποφέρων μηδὲ πρὸς ὥραν ἀντιστῆναι, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ βέλει ταῖς προσευχαῖς τοῦ ἁγίου βαλλόμενος μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ ἀνέκραξεν· Ὤ τῆς βίας, ὤ τῆς δεινῆς προσπλήξεως, ὤ ἀπὸ τῆς φλογώσεως τοῦ κακογήρου ἧς νῦν ἐκκαίομαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἴσχυσα ἐμποδίσαι αὐτῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ κανόνος αὐτοῦ. Εἶτα καὶ γοεροῖς τοῖς ῥήμασι πάλιν ἔλεγεν· Ἔασόν με ἐξελθεῖν, καὶ μὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖον βασανίσῃς με, μηδ᾽ ἔτι ἀδικήσῃς με, ὁρκῶ σε τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον, ὅτι οὐχ ὑποφέρω καθορᾶν τὴν θείαν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐνοικοῦσάν σοι. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἔφη· Τί οὕτω ταχέως ἐπισπεύδεις καὶ διαπληκτιζῃ καὶ κραυγάζεις ἄσημα; Ἐπίμεινον γὰρ κἂν μέχρι ἑβδομάδος ἡμερῶν, καὶ οὕτως ἀπαλλάσσῃ * μου. Ὁ δὲ δαίμων πάλιν· Μή με κατάσχῃς ἐπὶ πλεῖον μηδὲ παραδώσῃς με τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρί, παρακαλῶ σε. Εἶτα τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης διαδραμούσης, περὶ πρώτην φυλακὴν τῆς νυκτὸς μικρὸν καθευδήσαντος τοῦ ἁγίου, μεταβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν ὁ δαίμων εἰς ἄρκον παμμέγιστον, βρυγμόν τε μέγαν ἀνακρουσάμενος ἐπιπίπτει τῷ ἁγίῳ. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα καὶ κρατήσας τῆς κόμης τῆς κεφαλῆς καὶ βίᾳ πρὸς αὔτον ἕλξας, πάλιν ὁ δαίμων ἀνθρωπίνῃ φωνῇ ἀπεκρίθη· Αἴ, αἴ με τὸν ἄθλιον. Εἶτα σφραγίσας ἑαυτὸν ὁ ἅγιος τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τῷ δαίμονι ἐπιτιμήσας, παραχρῆμα τοῦ πολέμου ἐπεκουφίσθη καὶ ἄφαντον αὐτὸν πεποίηκεν.

[29] Ἐπεὶ οὖν κατάδηλος πᾶσιν ἐκεῖσε ἐγένετο καὶ ἡ φήμη αὐτοῦ πανταχοῦ διέδραμεν, νυκτὸς ἀναστὰς καὶ διαλαθὼν πάντας καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ζεντοῦντας πρὸς τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος πάλιν ἠπείγετο. Κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν δὲ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ ἐγένετο αὐτὸν πλησιάσαι πρός τινα κώμην· μαθόντες δὲ οἱ ἐκεῖσε οἰκήτορες τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου παρουσίαν ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἅπαντες εἰς ὑπάντησιν αὐτοῦ ἐπορεύθησαν καὶ εὐκῆς ἤδη γενομένης ῥίπτουσιν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς πόδας τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ἐλεεινῇ τῇ φωνῇ κατολοφυρόμενοι χεῖρα βοηθείας παρασχεῖν τούτοις καθικέτευον. Ὅδε τῷ προβλεπτικῷ χαρίσματι γνοὺς τὴν τούτων αἴτησιν, ὡς μὴ εἰδὼς ἠρώτα τί ἂν θέλοιεν. Οἵδε· Ὅτιπερ κατὰ τὰς ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίας, ἔφασαν, δράκων μέγιστος γειτνιάσας ἡμῖν τὴν μὲν ὁδὸν ἡμῶν ἄβατον πεποίηκε, τὰ δὲ κτήνη ἡμῶν, εἰ τύχοι τούτον συναντῆσαι, ὁλόκληρα ταῦτα καταπίνων ὑποδέχεται. Ὁ δὲ λίαν συμπαθέστατος πατὴρ ἡμῶν τούτων οἰκτείρας τὰ δάκρυα, φησίν· Ὦ ἀδελφοί, μακροθυμήσατε καὶ Κύριος ποιήσει τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν. Αὖθις τε κηρύττει νηστείαν γενέσθαι ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἑπτά, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν θερμότατα περὶ τούτου ἐκλιπαρεῖν. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν συμπλήρωσιν τῶν τῆς νηστείας ἡμερῶν, λαβὼν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἅγιος τὸ νικητικὸν ὅπλον τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ, ὃ εἰς ὁδηγίαν ἐπεφέρετο καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ἐκεῖνα, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰπεῖν ὑψηλά, ἃ περιεβέβλητο καὶ περιέσκεπε τὰ ἀναγκαῖα τοῦ σώματος τρίχινα ἀμφιάσματα, πίστιν τε εἰλικρινῆ ἀντὶ θώρακος περιζωσάμενος, γυμνοποδῶν ὡραίους πόδας λύτρωσιν τῷ λαῷ Κυρίου ποιησόμενος ἐξαπενίσατο καὶ ἀρξάμενος ψάλλειν· Ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, καὶ· Ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, τῷ σπηλαίῳ πρόσεισι· καὶ τὸν Ὕψιστον αὐτοῦ καταφυγὴν θέμενος ἐξέρχεσθαι τῷ πονηρῷ θηρίῳ προσέταττε. Τὸ δὲ ἐξελθὸν καὶ πλησίον τοῦ ὁσίου γενάμενον φοβερώτατόν τε τὸ στόμα διανοίξαν καταπιεῖν τὸν δίκαιον ἐπειρᾶτο, πάντων οὖν ἀπέναντι ἐστηκότων καὶ τὸ· Κυρίε ἐλέησον ἐπιβοώντων. Ἀτρέμας ὁ ὅσιος τὴν τρισυπόστατον καὶ μίαν φύσιν τῆς ζωοποιοῦ Τριάδος ἐπικαλεσάμενος καὶ τῷ σημειοφόρῳ ὅπλῳ τρίτον τὸ θηρίον σφραγίσας νεκρὸν παραχρῆμα ἀπέδειξε. Καὶ ἔκτοτε ἐλεηθεὶς ὁ ἐκεῖσε λαὸς τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ ὁσίῳ ηὐχαρίστησεν.

[24] Having freed a monastery from the danger of lightning, One day, when the sky had become overcast and, the clouds having gathered and spread out, a mighty thunder was already resounding, a fiery globe appeared and rushed threateningly with a fearful din upon one of the holy churches. The saint, beholding this and standing in prayer with his hands raised to heaven, prayed that the threat of the fire might be turned away. And the God of miracles, who glorifies those who glorify Him, who fulfils the desire of those who fear Him, and hears their prayer and saves them, very swiftly hears His own servant and guards the church intact in this manner. For when the fire was approaching the sacred house, like the sail of a ship swollen by the wind, it surrounded the building in the shape of a vault for several hours. When all had gathered there and were beholding the spectacle, thinking that the church would surely be burned by the fire, by divine power the fire was split on either side and at length vanished. The venerable house, through the prayer of our godly father, as has been said, shone out safe and sound. When all who were then present there had seen that prodigy, uttering eucharistic hymns with a common voice, they glorified God ^a.

[25] St. Ioannicius, praying, is rapt into ecstasy, Not far from those venerable churches lay a cave, into which the saint withdrew to pray. When, then, the already mentioned Eustratius had come to the saint and was relating the terrible havoc of the persecution ^b, which was growing stronger, the saint, rising again, went off to the cave to pray. When he had stayed there a long time, the praiseworthy Eustratius wondered why there was so long a delay. Rising, therefore, when he had come near the cave to look in, he sees the saint in prayer, not standing on the earth, but suspended from the earth in the air about two cubits, wholly illuminated and shining above the sun. Moved by the sight and fearing to interrupt the saint, walking quietly and thinking himself unobserved, he went back; a little later the saint also came. But our most wise father did not reprove him at once; but when many days had already elapsed and they were again together one day, the saint says to him: "It is not well, O beloved Eustratius, for one standing in prayer to be watched by another." He, knowing that he had not been unobserved: "By no means, father," he said, excusing himself, "had I come for the sake of watching your prayer; but on account of the long delay that had occurred, I came to learn the cause of it." To whom the saint: "And this I know, O good Eustratius; nevertheless it is well to do all things with caution." He, having nothing to answer, made a prostration and received pardon ^c.

[26] he saves a boy from the assault of demons, While the saint persevered there and the persecution raged, it happened that a certain boy was sent by his parents to draw water. The errand done, he was about to return home when he sees certain men, black in appearance, approaching, who say to him: "O boy, you are not following the right road; turn aside from here to the left towards us, so that we may show you the way." Now these workers of darkness wished to throw the boy into the abyss and destroy him. He, thinking what they said to him to be true, followed them. But when he had come near the chasm, the saint suddenly appears to the boy. The whole demonic crowd, when it perceived the presence of the saint, howling plaintively, cast itself into the abyss. Giving his hand to the boy, the saint showed himself his guide on the road and, blessing him, dismissed him. The parents asked the boy for what reason he had stayed away so long. The boy related everything, both how he had been led astray by the demons and driven to the chasm, and how he had been unexpectedly saved by the coming of the saint. Hearing this, they rendered thanks to God and to His servant ^d.

[27] he heals a possessed woman, A certain woman, vexed by a spirit of uncleanness and by the goad of pleasure, burning, so to speak, as with fire throughout her whole body, yet subject to a better thought so as to give the victory to purity, but at length overcome and made mad by a raging love, with torn garments and her hair loosed and indecently scattered, like a wild sow, lived wandering in the deserts. One could see, indeed, an abominable prodigy, this rational creature performing the works of irrational ones. For she did not use the food of living creatures, but, not sparing her own flesh, she ate it, having put on a wild form, entirely changed. She would look with a grim and terrible eye, gnash her teeth, tear her entrails with her hands and befoul the ground with a stream of blood, and howl with various cries: now barking like a dog she would bawl, now bellow like an ox, now cry out in the manner of an ass, then give out the sound of strong hissings like a serpent. When she had passed some days thus out of her mind, the poor woman, led by the power of God, came to the saint, who was then in the desert. The saint, beholding her and recognizing the operation of the wicked demon who hates men, did violence by suppliant petitions to God, the lover of men, that she might in that moment receive back, healed, reason, the guide and mistress of rational nature. The kind and merciful Lord, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth ^e, who wills not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live, overcome by the prayers of His servant and taking pity on His own image, restored the poor woman again, healed, from that madness against nature which had perverted her senses to the connatural rational essence. When, therefore, the woman had come to herself and saw the saint standing before her, throwing herself at his feet and wailing with a lamentable voice, she said: "Have mercy on me, O father, a sinner more than any human being, not merely one not using reason, but one who has utterly profaned the temple of the body, both subjected to lust and made the plaything of demons. Have mercy on me, changed from a rational nature into the state of the brutes; and since you see me wholly humbled and lost and stripped of all my beauty, relieve the burning fury of desire implanted in me, and implore that the dew of purity be sent into me. Take from me the heavy collar of unchastity,

and gird me round with the bonds of chastity by your prayers; steer the ship of my soul, tossed by the winds of uncleanness, and direct me to the harbour in which there is no lust; help me, wretched woman, shaken by many falls and desires, and make me firm on the rock of the commandments of Christ. I know that you can do all things in God who strengthens you; nothing is impossible with you; therefore I beseech you, do not reject me in the greatest necessity, but, moved by my humble tears, purify me, leading me to chastity, as Christ once did the blessed and praised sinful woman." The saint, hearing this and moved in the bowels of mercy, for he was of the greatest kindness, lifting his eye to heaven and sighing deeply, says to the woman: "O woman, take heart, and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be healed from this day. For from now on your warfare will be in me, but you Christ will free from lust hereafter; in me, however, since He will so permit, it will work." The woman, as soon as he had spoken, was at once healed and freed from the lust of pleasure, and returned sound to her house, glorifying and praising God, and from that time, ordering her life chastely and piously, gave herself wholly to God ^f.

[28] whose temptation he takes upon himself, Our holy father, as has been said, having taken the warfare upon himself, besought God with tears, prayers and fasts that he might be freed from such a disease. The devil, not bearing this and unable to resist even for one hour, but struck as it were by the javelins of the saint's prayers, cried out with a loud voice: "O violence, O terrible chastisement, O flame of this wicked old man ^g with which I am now burned; for I am not able even for the least time to hinder him from his office." Then, with plaintive cries, he said again: "Let me go out, and do not vex me any longer, nor harm me either, I adjure you by God most high, because I cannot bear the sight of the divine glory of God which dwells in you." The saint said: "Why do you hurry so and struggle and cry out, crazy one? Stay at least a week of days, and then you will leave me." To whom the demon again: "Do not keep me any longer, and do not hand me over to the eternal fire, I beg you." Then, that day having passed, in the first watch of the night, while the saint slept a little, the devil, changing himself into the form of a very large bear ^h and giving out a mighty gnashing of teeth, leaps upon the saint. When he, with outstretched hand, had caught the head by the hair and drawn it forcibly to himself, the demon again answered with a human voice: "Woe, woe, wretched me." Then the saint, signing himself with the sign of the life-giving cross and threatening the devil, was at once freed from the warfare and made it vanish.

[29] and he frees a village from a dragon that infested it. When, then, he had become known to all who were there and his fame had spread everywhere, rising by night and escaping the notice of all, and especially of those who sought his life, he came again to Mount Olympus. And by the providence of the kind God it happened that he drew near to a certain village; and when those who lived there had learned of the saint's presence, they all set out in eager rivalry to meet him and, prayer having been made, they throw themselves at the saint's feet and, complaining with a lamentable voice, begged that the arm of help be extended to them. He, although by the prophetic charism he knew their petition, nevertheless, as if he did not know it, asked what they wanted. They said: "Father, on account of our sins a huge dragon dwelling near us makes our road impassable; if our flocks happen to meet it, it swallows those wretched beasts and destroys them." Our father, greatly compassionating them and taking pity on their tears, says: "Brethren, have patience, and the Lord will work mercy with you." Again he bids a fast be held for seven days and God be implored most fervently for this cause. The days of the fast having been fulfilled, taking in his hand the victorious armour of the life-giving cross, which he carried with him for making journeys, and with those mean garments, or, I should better say, heavenly ones, which he had put on and with which he protected himself, the necessary clothing of the body made of hair, and armed with pure faith for a breastplate, baring his comely feet, he washed them, being about to work the salvation of the Lord's people, and beginning to sing: "He who dwells in the help of the Most High," and "Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou shalt trample the lion and the dragon," and the rest of the psalm ⁱ, he goes forward to the cave and, setting the Most High as his refuge, bids the evil beast come out. It came out and, approaching the saint and opening its terrible mouth, tried to swallow the just man, while all stood on the opposite side crying out Kyrie eleison. The saint, undaunted, invoking the life-giving Trinity, threefold in hypostasis and of one nature, and signing the beast three times with the sign-bearing weapon, at once showed it dead. Then the people who had been spared and who lived there gave thanks to God and to the saint ^k.

ANNOTATA.

i. Namely Psalm XC.

codex ὀθώνης. codex ἀντιπεῖν. codex ὠγκεῖτο. codex ὑστρομανίαν. codex ἁγνίας. codex στεναγμῶν. codex ἔσω. codex ἀπαλλάση.

CHAPTER SIX. St. Ioannicius foretells the death of Leo the Armenian and of a certain monk Elias, and works various miracles.

[30] Καταλαμβάνει οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, ὁ ὅσιος τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος, τοῦ διωγμοῦ ἔτι ἐπικρατοῦντος, καὶ κρύπτεται μὲν ἐπί τινος σκληροῦ χώρου, μηδενὸς εἰδότος πλὴν μόνου Εὐστρατίου. Κἀκεῖ αὐτοῦ διακαρτεροῦντος, παραγίνεται ὁ πανάγαστος Εὐστράτιος ἐπισκεψόμενος αὐτόν· εἶτα τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ τὴν φοβερὰν ζάλην τοῦ διωγμοῦ ἐκδιηγούμενος, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ὅσιος· Ὦ περίψυχε Εὐστράτιε, μὴ ἀνιῶ· μικρὸν γὰρ ὅσον ὅσον καὶ Κύριος ἐλεήσει τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ. Ἔγνω γὰρ ὁ ὅσιος ὅτι ἐν τάχει ὁ ἀσεβὴς ἀπολεῖται, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς προθύροις τοῦ ναοῦ, γραφικῶς φάναι, εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἐργαζόμενος τὴν ἀνομίαν ἀποκτανθεὶς ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἐκ πόλεως Κυρίου. Ὅμως, ὦ καλὲ Εὐστράτιε, πρὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κύρου Νικῆτα τοῦ Λυγδηνοῦ * ἀπελθὼν καὶ ποιήσας ἐκεῖ ἄχρι τῆς τοιᾶσδε ἡμέρας εἴ τι ἂν ἀκούσειας, παραγενόμενος ἀνάγγειλόν μοι. Τελέσαντος οὖν ἐκείνου τὰ προσταχθέντα καὶ ἤδη τῆς τρίτης ἡμέρας καταλαβούσης, διαδίδοται ἐν πᾶσι καὶ διηχεῖται ἡ παμμίαρος πτῶσις τοῦ ἀσεβεστάτου. Ὁ δὲ κῦρις Εὐστράτιος πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον παραγενόμενος καὶ πάντα τὰ πραχθέντα ἐκδιηγησάμενος, ἅμα αὐτῷ αἶνον τῷ Θεῷ ἀνέπεμψεν.

[31] Ἐν ἄλλῳ τε πάλιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς Νικήτας συμπαραλαβὼν μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἡγιασμένον Εὐστράτιον εὐχῆς χάριν πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀφίκετο, καὶ δὴ εὐλογηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου, ἀμβροσίας δὲ καὶ πνευματικῆς τροφῆς καὶ θείων λόγων καὶ ἐπωφελῶν παραινέσεων πρότερον ἐμπλησθείς, τῆς ὥρας παρεκτανθείσης, προτρέπεται αὐτὸν ὁ ἅγιος καὶ σωματικῆς τροφῆς μεταλήψασθαι. Τόνδε πλησίον τοῦ ἁγίου ἡσυχάζοντα ἄνδρα εὐλαβέστατον, Ἠλίαν τούνομα, ἐξυπηρετεῖν αὐτοῖς ὁ ὅσιος παρεκελεύσατο. Τῆς οὖν εὐωχίας ἐπικρατούσης ἀνοίξας τὸ στρόμα αὐτοῦ ὁ ἅγιος πρὸς τὸν ἡγιασμένον Ἠλίαν ἔφη· Εὔξαι, ὦ κύρι Ἠλία, ἵνα μὴ φθασθῃς ἀθρόως ἀποθανεῖν ἐν κοσμικῷ χωρίῳ. Ὅδε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφη· Τοσαῦτα ἔτη οἰκῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ μηδαμῶς προσψαύσας κοσμικοῖς χωρίοις, φοβῂ με ἐν ἐκείνοις τεθνάναι· ἀδύνατον τοῦτον, ὧ πάτερ, ἀδύνατον. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἐκ δευτέρου τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἡσύχασεν. Εἶτα τῆς εὐωχίας τελεσθείσης, εὐχὴν κομισάμενος ὁ ῥηθεὶς Νικήτας πρὸς τὰ ἴδια ἀπῆρεν. Ὁ δὲ εὐλαβέστατος Εὐστράτιος προσεκαρτέρει συνὼν τῷ ἁγίῳ. Τῆς οὖν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἐκείνης τελεσθείσης, καὶ ἤδη τῆς ἄλλης ἀρχομένης, πρωΐθεν ἀναστὰς ὁ θεάρεστος Ἠλίας καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον παραγενάμενος ἐξῄτει εὐχὴν πρὸς τὰ θερμὰ ἀπολυθῆναι αὐτόν, προφάσει τινὸς σωματικῆς ἀσθενείας. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος πρὸς αὐτόν· Βούλομαί σε, ὦ ἀδελφε, προσκαρτερεῖν ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ καὶ μηδαμοῦ πορευθῆναι, ὅτι οὐ συμψέρει σοι. Ὅδε ἐνοχλῶν ἀπολυθῆναι ἐξῄτει · ὡς δὲ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς τοῦτον κωλύων ὁ ἅγιος οὐδὶν ὤνησε, τέλος ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Ὁ δὲ ἀγαπητὸς Εὐστράτιος ἔγνω τὸ μέλλον συμβήσεσθαι τῷ ἀνδρὶ διὰ τῆς ἀψευδοὺς προψητείας τοῦ ἁγίου· καὶ γὰρ ἐχέφρων ὢν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν λόγων καὶ σημείων καὶ ὑροδειγμάτων τοῦ ἁγίου ἐγίνωσκε τὰ μέλλοντα πραχθήσεσθαι. Εἶτα προφασισάμενος καὶ αὐτὸς διακονίαν τινὰ ἔχειν πλησίον τῶν θερμῶν, εὐχὴν ᾔτει τοῦ ἀπολυθῆναι. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος· Ναὶ παρακαλῶ σε, ὦ προσφιλέστατε Εὐστράτιε, τάχιον πρὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας ἀπελθεῖν, καὶ μηδαμῶς ἔν τινι ἀσχοληθῆναι. Ὡς οὗν ἀμφότεροι ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων διέστησαν, ὁ μὲν εὐλαβέστατος Ἠλίας προσψαύσας ἤδη τοῖς θερμοῖς, καὶ ἄμφω τὼ πόδε πρὸς τὴν βλυστάνουσαν πηγὴν τῶν θερμῶν ὑροχαλάσας, ἄγαν λιποθυμήσας ἤρθη παρὰ τῶν ἐκεῖσε εὑρεθέντων ἡμιθανής, καὶ πρὸς οἶκόν τινος γυναικὸς Λεοπαρδίνας καλουμένης κατέπεσεν. Ὁ δὲ θεοφιλὴς Εὐστράτιος τελέσας αὐτοῦ τὴν διακονίαν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀπάγουσαν ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον ἐκείνον ὁδὸν ἐπιπορευόμενος, ἤκουσε φωνῶν τινων καὶ στεναγμῶν ἀναπεμπομένων, καὶ ὑπερκύψας διὰ τοῦ τροχοῦ ἀποσκοπῆσαι τὰ τῆς βοῆς, βλέπει τὸν Ἠλίαν ἀνακεκλιμένον καὶ, ὡς εἴρηται, ὀδυνηρῶς στενάζοντα, καὶ μνζημονεύσας τῆς πατρικῆς προφητείας φησιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· Ἰδοὺ καὶ τὸ χωρίον, ὅν ὁ πατὴρ προείρῆκεν. Εἶτα εἰσελθὼν πρὸς τὸν ἀσθενῆ, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν· Θέλησον, ὦ ἄνερ, τάχιον μεταβῆναι τῶν ὧδε, μήπως κατὰ τὴν προφητικὴν ἀνάρρησιν ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ φθασθῇς καὶ τοὺς καμάτους σου ἀπολέσῃς. Ὅδε τούτων ἀκούσας καὶ εἰς ἔννοιαν ἐλθὼν τῶν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς λεχθέντων, ὅρκοις φρικωδεστάτοις ἆραι αὐτὸν συντόμως τῶν ἐκεῖ παρεκάλει. Εἶτα διαβασταχθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἓν τῶν Ἀγαυρίνων μετοχίων, τὸ ἐπονομαζόμενον τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀγαπίου, ἀνακλιθεὶς περὶ ἕκτην ὥραν τῆς νυκτός, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδῆ προφητείαν, εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα παραδοὺς ἐξέπνευσε, καὶ ἐν ἁμάξῃ τεθέντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὴν μονὴν ἣν προώρισεν ἀπεκομίσθη. Γνοὺς δὲ ὁ ἅγιος τὴν τούτου κοίμησιν, κατῆλθεν καὶ ἠσπάσατο τὸ σεπτὸν ἐκεῖνο σκῆνος. Τῆς οὖν συνήθους ψαλμωδίας ἐπιτελεσθείσης, αἰσίᾳ ταφῆ

τὸ λείψανον παραδόντες καὶ τῷ Θεῷ εὐχαριστήσαντες, ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων διεκρίθησαν.

[32] Τοῦ οὖν ἁγίου ἀνθυποστρέφοντος καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀρέων πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κέλλαν ἐπειγομένου, παραγενέσθαι ἐγένετο αὐτὸν πρός τινα τόπον πάνυ φαραγγοειδῆ πλησιάσαι, ἀφαρπαγῆναί τε ἐκ διαβολικῆς ἐνεργείας τὸ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ κατεχόμενον σιδηροῦν σταυρίον, καὶ πρὸς τὸν φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνον κρημνὸν ὑποχαλάσαι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐκ ἦν τοῦτον κατελθόντα διὰ τὸ δύσβατον τοῦ ἐκεῖσε τόπου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐφελκύσασθαι τὸ κατενεχθέν, τί ποῖει; Στὰς εἰς προσευχὴν σὺν δάκρυσι τὸν Θεὸν καθικέτευε τοῦτο ἀπολήψασθαι. Ὁ δὲ τῶν ἁγίων Κύριος, ὁ ποιῶν μεγάλα θαυμάσια ἔνδοξά τε καὶ ἐξαίσια, ὧν οὔκ ἐστιν ἀριθμός, προλαμβάνει τὴν δέησιν τοῦ ἰδίου θεράποντος, καὶ τὸ ἀφαρπαγὲν ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ σταυρικὸν σημεῖον ἄφνω ἐκ τῶν ὑπογείων * χασμάτων ἀνελκυσθὲν καὶ ὑπαέριον ἀναδραμὸν ταῖς χερσὶ τοῦ ἁγίου παραδίδωσιν. Ὅδε δεξάμενος καὶ τοῖς ἁγνοῖς τοῦτο χείλεσι κατασπασάμενος, τῷ Θεῷ ηὐχαρίστησεν.

[33] Πλησίον τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου κέλλης σπήλαιον ὑπῆρχεν, ἐν ᾧ κατῴκει πλῆθος πονηρῶν πνευμάτων. Ὁ οὐν πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος καθαρίσαι τὸν τόπον βουληθεὶς διὰ τὸ τοὺς παραγενομένους αβλαβεῖς διατηρεῖσθαι, δυνάμει τοῦ Θεοῦ θαρρήσας, ἐπὶ ῥητὰς ἡμέρας πρὸς τὸ ἄντρον οἰκῆσαι παρεγένετο. Ὡς δ᾽ οὖν ἔνδον εἰσῆλθε, παρατάττεται μὲν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἐκείνη ἡ δαιμονικὴ πληθύς, κραυγαί τε πολλαὶ καὶ ἀπρεπεῖς φωναὶ ἐπέμποντο. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ὕβρεσι τὸν ὅστον ἔβαλλον, οἱ δὲ ἠπείλουν καὶ ἄλλοι παντάπασιν ἐπεχείρουν καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν ἐκεισε ἀναχωρεῖν ἔσπευδον· ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σπήλαιον ὲκ τῶν θεμελίων κατασκάπτειν ἀλλήλοις διεκελεύοντο. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος διαπετάσας τὰς χεῖρας εἰς οὐρανόν, τὸν Θεὸν καθικέτευε τούτους ἐκδιωχθῆναι. Ὡς οὖν μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν ψάλλειν ἀπήρξατο· Ἀναστήτω ὁ Θεὸς καὶ διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυγέτωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ οἱ μισοῦντες αὐτόν, ἀοράτως ὡς ὑπό τινος μάστιγος ἐλαυνομένη ἡ δαιμονικὴ φάλαγξ καὶ εἰς εἶδος κοράκων μεταβληθεῖσα, ἀναπτᾶσα ἅπασα καὶ διά τινος τρυμαλιᾶς τρώγλης σὺν οἰμωγῇ πολλῇ ἐξελθοῦσα ἠφανίσθη, καὶ γέγονεν ἀπὸ τότε σωτηρία μεγάλη τοῖς ἐξεῖσε διερχομένοις.

[34] Θεόδοτος ὁ κανδιδάτος, ὁ ἐπιλεγόμεος Σελλοκάκας, πίστιν ἀκραιφνη πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἔχων, συμπαραλαβὼν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ θυγάτριον, ὅλον ἔκλυτον ὑπάρχον καὶ παρειμένον, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον κατέλαβεν, καὶ δὴ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἀξιωθεὶς καταπολαῦσαι θέας, θεὶς τὴν παῖδα ἐπίροσθεν τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ ὁσίου ἱκετευτικοῖς τοῖς ῥήμασι βοῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἐλένσον, ὦ πάτερ, τὴν διὰ τὰς ἐμὰς ἁμαρτίας ἄμφω πᾶσι τοῖς μέλεσι

παρειμένην παῖδα, σπλαγχνίσθητι ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ τῷ μετὰ πίστεως προσδραμόντι τῇ σῇ ἁγιότητι, ἀπόδος μοι ταῖς σαῖς πρὸς Θεὸν καθαραῖς προσευχαῖς ὁλόκληρον καὶ ὑγιὲς τὸ θυγάτριον· ἐλέησόν με, ὦ μαθητὰ καὶ δοῦλε Χριστοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἄπρακτόν με εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἀπολύσηις τεταπεινωμένον καὶ ᾐσχυμμένον · τύχω τῆς παρὰ σοῦ βοηθείας καὶ ἀντιλήψεως, τύχω κάγὼ μετὰ πάντων τῆς παρὰ σοῦ σωτηρίας, τύχω κἀγὼ πλουσίων σοῦ ἰαματικῶν δωρεῶν, ὡς οὖν μιμητὴς τοῦ Κυρίου ἰασἀμενός μου τὸ θυγάτρτον, ἀπόλυσόν με κηρύττειν τὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναστείας καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια, ἅδιὰ σοῦ ἐργάζεται. Ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἐπικαμφθεὶς ὁ ἅγιος, λίαν γὰρ ἐ͂ν συμπαθέστατος, ἐκέλευσε τὴν παῖδα ὑποβασταχθεῖσαν πρὸς αὐτὸν φέρειν καὶ, τούτου γενομένου, σύνδακρυς γεγονὼς ὁ ἅγιος σφραγίζει τρίτον τῆν παῖδα τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ, οὔτω ψήσας· Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ ἰωμένου πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν, ἤγειρε καὶ περιπάτει. Καὶ ἅμα τῇ φωνῇ ἐστερεώθησαν αἱ βάσεις τῆς παιδὸς καὶ τὰ σφυρὰ, καὶ τῶν μελῶν εἰς ἄλληλα παραδόξως συσφιγχθέντων ἐνώπιον πάντων ἀναστᾶσα καὶ ἁλλομένη, προσελθοῦσα προσέπεσε τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ ἁγίου. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ταύτῃ ἐπευξάμενος καὶ εὐλογήσας, ἐρρωμένην τῷ ἰδίῳ πάτρι ἀπέδοτο, καὶ ταύτην ὁ πατὴρ λαβὼν ὐπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα μετὰ καρᾶς, δόξαν καὶ αἶνον ἀναπέμπων τῷ τῶν ἁπάντων Θεῷ.

[35] Οὗτος ὁ σημειοφόρος καὶ τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενεᾶς προφήτης γαμβρὸν ἔσχε πάνυ αἱρετίζοντα φρονοῦντα καὶ ἀντιποιούμενον τῶν βεβήλων δογμάτων τοῦ θεοστυγοῦς καὶ μυσαρωτάτου Κοπρωνύμου. Τοῦτον ὁ πατὴρ πολλάκις νουθάκις νουθετήσας καὶ πρὸς βελτίστην ἀλλοίωσιν ἀλλοιωθῆναι βουλευσάμενος τὴν ἔμμονον ποιότητα τῆς κακίας ἤγουν ἔξιν μεταστρέψαι οὐκ ἠδυνήη, ἐκείνου δὲ ἔτι τοῖς αἰσχίστοις ἐπιμένοντος καὶ βλασφήμους λόγους κατά τε τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἱεροῦ σχήματος ἐπιφέροντος. Οὐδε γὰρ τὰς πρεσβείας τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἅπαν ὁ πανάθλιος ἐδέχετο, οὔτε μὴν τούτων τὰ ἱερὰ λείψανα κατησπάζετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἀγγελομιμήτους μοναχοὺς φληναφίαις * καθυποβάλλων οὐκ ἐπαύετο. Τούτου τὸ ἀδιόρθωτον θεασάμενος ὁ ὅσιος καὶ τοῦτον βουλόμενος διά τινος παιδευτικῆς τιμωρίας ἰάσασθαι, φησί· Θῶμεν, ἄδελφε, ἀμφότεροι σύμφωνον τοιοῦτον καὶ ὅστις κακῶς πιστεύει πηρωθεὶς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μεταβληθήτω τῇ διανοίᾳ πρὸς τὴν ἀμείνονα πίστιν. Ἐκείνου δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦτο κατανεύσαντος, ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ ἀπόλλυσι τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν. Ὁδὲ ἅγιος· Τί φῆς πρὸς τοῦτον, ἔφη, ὦ ἄδελφε; Ἆρά γε τὰ νῦν οὐ πληροφορῇ καὶ ἐπιστρέφεις ἐν καθαρᾷ μετανοίᾳ πρὸς τὴν ὀρθόδοξον καὶ ἀμώμητον πίστιν, ἢ ἔτι τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ἐκείνου καὶ ἐξαγίστου Κοπρωνύμου ταῖς ἀνόμοις νουθεσίαις καὶ διδασκαλίαις ἐμμένεις; Ὅδε φησι· Καὶ ἔμεινα καὶ μενῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τοῦτον βδελυξάμενος ἀπεδίωξε, καὶ οὐ μετὰ πολλὰς ἡμέρας χαλεπῶς νοσήσας κακινκάκως τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπέρρηξε, καὶ τό γε ἐλεεινότερον ὅτι καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς στερηθεὶς ὁ ἄθλιος πρὸς σκότος τὸ αἰώνιον ἐξεδήμησεν.

[30] Having foretold the death of Leo the Armenian The saint goes ^a, then, as has been said, to Mount Olympus, the persecution still raging, and hides himself in a certain rugged place, all being unaware of it except Eustratius alone. While he was living there, the venerable Eustratius came to visit him. When he had related the disturbance and the terrible storm of the persecution, the saint said to him: "O fearful Eustratius, do not be saddened; after a little while God will have mercy on His inheritance." For the saint knew that the impious man would soon perish and that in the very vestibule of the church ^b, to speak with the Scripture ^c, that sinner who had worked iniquity would be slain before his time and cast out of the city of the Lord. "Nevertheless, excellent Eustratius, go to the house of the lord Nicetas of Lygdene ^d and remain there until that day, and whatever you hear, come and report it to me." When, then, he had carried out the commands and the third day had already passed, the news of the wicked downfall of the impious man ^e is passed on by all and resounds. The lord Eustratius came to the saint and, having related all that had happened, sent up praise to God together with him.

[31] and of the monk Elias, On another occasion, when the said Nicetas had again taken with him the venerable Eustratius, he came to the saint for the sake of receiving a blessing, and when the saint had blessed him, he was first filled by him with immortal and spiritual food, with divine and profitable words of exhortation; then, the hour being advanced, the saint invites him to partake also of bodily food. The saint asked a certain reverend man who lived near the saint in solitude, named Elias, to serve them. The meal having been set out, the saint, opening his mouth, said to the reverend Elias: "Pray, lord Elias, that you be not overtaken by sudden death in a worldly place." He said to him: "So many years I have dwelt in the desert and have never come near worldly places, and you fear that I may die in such a place; this cannot happen, father, it cannot happen." When the saint had said the same again, he was silent. Then, the meal finished, the said Nicetas, having received the blessing, returned to his own home, while the reverend Eustratius remained with the saint. That day and that night having passed, then, and the next day already dawning, Elias, beloved of God, rising early and going to the saint, asked leave to go out to the hot springs ^f, on the pretext of some bodily infirmity. To whom the saint: "I want you, brother, to remain in your cell and by no means to go out; it is in no way good for you." He, insisting, sought to be let go; and when the saint, by forbidding him once and again, had achieved nothing, at length, having given his blessing, he let him go. The beloved Eustratius, however, knew what would happen, because of the most certain prophecy of the saint. And since he was perspicacious, he understood from the very words, signs and tokens of the saint what was to come. Therefore, alleging some business that he himself had to fulfil near the hot springs, he asked permission to go out. To whom the saint: "Certainly; but I exhort you, O most beloved Eustratius, to return at once before evening and not to be held back by any delay." When, then, they had parted from one another, the reverend Elias, already drawing near the hot springs, letting down both feet into the gushing fountain of hot waters, but soon becoming lifeless, was lifted out half-dead by those who were there, and collapsed in the house of a certain woman called Leopardina. Eustratius, beloved of God, having completed his business and proceeding on the road that led to that house, heard certain voices and groans being uttered. When he had stooped through the opening of the door to find out the cause of the outcry, he sees Elias lying and, as has been said, groaning lamentably, and, remembering the father's prophecy, he says within himself: "Behold the place which the father foretold." Then, going in to the sick man, he says to him: "Be so good, O man, as to depart from here at once, lest, according to the prophetic word, you be overtaken in this place and lose your labours." When Elias had heard this and there had come into his thought what the father had said, he begged those who were there with terrible adjurations to carry him away without delay. Then, having been carried across and laid down in one of the Agaurine coenobia, which is surnamed of Saint Agapius, about the sixth hour, according to the most certain prophecy, he died, giving up his spirit into the hands of God. His body, placed on a cart, was carried to the monastery which he had indicated. When the saint had heard of his decease, he came down and embraced that venerable corpse. The customary psalmody having been completed, handing over the remains to due burial and giving thanks to God, they parted from one another ^g.

[32] St. Ioannicius recovers his cross in a wonderful manner, When, then, the saint was returning and was hastening through the mountains to go back to his cell, it happened to him that he came near a certain place gaping all over with chasms, and the iron cross which he was holding in his hand, snatched away by diabolical operation, was cast down into that terrible abyss. Since it was not possible for him to go down there through that utterly impassable place and draw up to himself the cross that had fallen, what does he do? Standing in prayer, he besought God with tears that he might recover that cross. And the Lord of the saints, who does great wonders, illustrious things and prodigies without number, receives the petition of His servant, and the sign of the cross that had slipped from his hand, at once drawn up out of the subterranean chasms and rising through the air, He delivers into the hands of the saint. He, having received it and kissed it with his holy lips, rendered thanks to God ^h.

[33] he puts demons to flight from a place which they infested, Not far from the saint's cell there was a cave in which dwelt a multitude of evil spirits. Our holy father Ioannicius, therefore, wishing to purify this place, so that those who came there might be kept unharmed, trusting in the power of God, went to the cave to dwell in it for certain days. And when he had entered, that whole demonic army is drawn up against him; many cries and confused voices were uttered. For some assailed the saint with insults, others threatened, some indeed tried everything, others again hastened to depart, and there were some who urged one another to tear the cave from its foundations. The saint, having stretched out his hands to heaven, prayed God that they might be expelled. And when after the prayer he had begun to sing ⁱ: "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee from before His face," the demonic phalanx, driven invisibly as by some scourge and changed into the form of ravens, flew out all together and, going out through a certain cleft of the cavern with much groaning, vanished; and from that time there was great safety for those who passed that way ^k.

[34] he heals a languishing girl Theodotus the candidatus ^l, surnamed

Sellocacas, having an unconquered faith in the saint, taking with him his daughter, who was wholly infirm and languishing, brings her to the saint. And when he had been found worthy to enjoy that angelic presence, having laid his daughter before the saint's feet, he cried out with suppliant words, saying: "Have pity, father, on this girl, languishing on account of my sins on both sides in all her members; have compassion on me, who flee with confidence to your holiness; give me back by your pure prayers to God a daughter whole and sound; have pity on me, O disciple and servant of Christ, and do not leave me behind you humbled and covered with shame, as one who has obtained nothing; let me become a partaker of your help and protection, let me too become a partaker with all of the salvation that is through you, let me too become a partaker of your precious gifts of healing, and, imitating the Lord by healing my daughter, send me away to proclaim the powers of the Lord and the wonders which He works through you." Moved by these words, for he was exceedingly kind, the saint bids the daughter who had been brought be carried to him. This done, the saint with tears signs the girl three times with the sign of the life-giving cross, saying this: "In the name of Jesus Christ, who heals every disease and every infirmity, rise and walk"; and as soon as he had spoken, the girl's feet and ankles were made firm, and, her members having been incredibly drawn together, rising and leaping up before all, she went forward and fell at the saint's feet. He, blessing her and rejoicing with her, restored her safe to her father; having received her, the father returned to his own home, with joy rendering glory and praise to the God of all things.

[35] and he convicts a heretical kinsman. This wonder-worker and prophet in our generation had a kinsman who held thoroughly heretical opinions and was a follower of the depraved opinions of the God-hating and wicked Copronymus. When the father had often exhorted him and urged him to return to better fruit, he was not able to convert the persisting force of his malice, since he persevered in a shameful manner of acting, uttering blasphemies against the saints and against Him who appeared incarnate for us. For that wretch never invoked the intercessions of the saints, nor venerated their sacred relics, but did not cease from assailing with calumnies the monks, who among us imitate the angels. When the saint had seen this wicked man, whom he wished to heal by some disciplinary chastisement, he said: "Let us agree, brother, both of us being of one mind on this, that he who believes wrongly shall be seized in his eyes and shall change his understanding to the faith of the better." When he had consented to this, he had scarcely spoken when he loses the light of his eyes. To whom the saint said: "What do you say to this, O brother? Will you not, then, fulfil your promise and convert yourself with a pure mind to the orthodox and irreproachable faith? Will you adhere any longer to the wicked thoughts and doctrines of this adversary of Christ and most criminal Copronymus?" He said: "I have both persisted and will persist for ever." The saint, having cursed him, cast him out; and he, after a few days, having fallen ill, wretchedly gave up his wretched soul, and the more miserably in that, deprived of light, he departed into eternal darkness ^m.

ANNOTATA.

c. Ezech. VIII, 16.

i. Ps. LXVII, 2.

codex Λυγδινοῦ. codex ἄλλοτε. codex ἐζήτει. codex ἐζήτει. corrected from ὁσία. codex ὑπογαίων. codex αὐτὸν. codex οίμογῇ. codex βέλεσι. codex κατησχυμμένον. codex ἀλλοιοθῆναι. codex βλασφίμους. * codex φλιναφίαις.

CHAPTER SEVEN. St. Ioannicius is visited by certain most holy men, foretells the death of Joseph the oeconomus, goes to the tomb of St. Theophanes, and casts out a dragon from the island of Thasios.

[36] Ἐγένετό ποτε τοὺς ἐγκρίτους τῶν πατέρων συμφωνῆσαι καὶ εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν τοῦ ἁγίου ἀπελθεῖν. Ὑπῆρχον δὲ ἐκ μὲν τῶν μητροπολίτων ὁ παναγιώτατος Ἰωάννης, ὁ Χαλκηδόνος, καὶ Πετρός, ὁ ἁγιώτατος μητροπολίτης Νικαίας, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἡγουμένων Κλήμης ὁ ἱερώτατος, Θεόδωρος ὁ Στουδίτης, Ἰωσὴφ ὅ ποτε γεγονὼς οἰκονόμος τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας, ἅμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄλλοι πλεῖστοι τῶν ἡγουμένων, ὡς ἀριθμηθῆναι πάντας ἑκατόν ἢ καὶ ἐπέκεινα. Διὰ δὲ τὴν δυσχέρειαν τοῦ ὄρους ἀνελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον μὴ δυνηθέντες, ὁμαδὸν συναχθέντες πρὸς τὸ Ἀγαυρινὸν μετόχιον, ἐν οῖς τιμᾶται ὁ πάνσεπτος ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου Ἠλία, δηλοποιοῦσι τῷ ὁσίῳ διὰ τοῦ εὐλαβεστάτου Εὐστρατίου κατελθεῖν διὰ τὸν Κύριον, καὶ εὐλογῆσαι αὐτούς. Ὡς οὖν κατελθὼν ἔμελλε πλησιάζειν αὐτοῖς, ἀναστάντες ἐκεῖνοι ἐξῆλθον εἰς ὑπάντησιν προσκυνήσοντες αὐτῷ. Εὐχῆς δὲ γεναμένης, καὶ καθίσαντες ἀμφότεροι ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑδάφους, διερωτᾶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀπήρξαντο τὸ ποῖα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἄν εἴη ὑψηλοτέρα; Καὶ ὁ μὲν προεβάλετο τὴν ἀγάπην, ὁ δὲ τὴν προσευχήν, ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην, καὶ ἕτερος φιλοξενίαν, καὶ ἄλλος τὴν νηστείαν, καὶ πάντας ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως φάναι. Ἐνστάσεως οὐ τῆς τυχούσης γεναμένης, παρεκάλουν τὸν ὅσιον τὸ παρεμπεσὸν αὐτοῖς ζήτημα διαλῦσαι. Ὁ δὲ ταπεινόφρων καὶ ἰσάγγελος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος πολλὰ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκβιασθεὶς μόλις ποτε γαληνῷ τῷ ῥήματι ἐπεκρίθη· Ἐγώ, πατέρες ἅγιοι, ὡς λογίζομαι, ὅτι ὑψηλοτέρα τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης ἄλλη ἀρετὴ οὔκ ἐστιν. Οἴδε κατανεύσαντες καὶ μετάνοιαν βαλόντες ἡσύχασαν. Μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ ἅπαντες ἀναστάντες ἐδυσώπουν τὸν ἅγιον συνευωχηθῆναι αὐτοῖς· καὶ δὴ τῇ παρακλήσει αὐτῶν ἐπινεύσας ὁ ὅσιος ἅμα αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ ἄριστον ἐπορεύθη. Ἀνακλιθέντων οὖν πάντων ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀρίστου, ἀνοίξας τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ στόμα ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν φησι πρὸς τόν ποτε γεγονότα οἰκονόμον τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας τὸν κύριν Ἰωσὴφ ἐνώπιον πάντων ὅτι· Πρὸ καιροῦ βουληθέντος σου θεάσασθαι ἡμᾶς ἐμφανισθῆναί σοι οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν· ἴσως γὰρ οὐκ ἦν τότε θέλημᾳ Θεοῦ· νῦν γοῦν καὶ τεθέαμαι καὶ ἐνώπιον πάντων τῶν πατέρων παρακαλῶ σε ὅπως τὰ κατὰ σὲ διαφέροντα καλῶς διοικῶν ἀεὶ ἀποβλέπειν σε καθ᾽ ἑκάστην πρὸς τὴν ὥραν τοῦ θανάτου· ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς τῆς ἀναλύσεώς σου ἤδη ἔφθακεν. Ὅδε συγκαθέμενος πάντα τὰ λαληθέντα σὺν προθυμίᾳ πράττειν, βαλὼν μετάνοιαν πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἐκάθισε. Σκανδαλισθέντες οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦτο οἱ Στουδίται, καὶ γὰρ εἰώθασι σκάνδαλα συρράπτειν πάντοτε, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ὑψηλοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι εἴπερ ἄλλους, οὐ μικρῶς ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν κατεμέμφοντο τὸν ὅσιον ἐπιλέγοντες καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ· Τίς ἄρα γινώσκει τὸν ἑκάστου θάνατον πλὴν μόνου Θεοῦ; Γνοὺς οὖν ὁ ἅγιος τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς αὐτῶν, ἐν τῷ τέως μὲν ἡσύχασεν, τελεσθέντος δὲ τοῦ πότου προσκαλεῖται μὲν αὐτοὺς κατ᾽ ἰδίαν καὶ τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐξειπὼν ἄγαν κατέπληξε καὶ ἐνέτρεψεν αὐτούς, κατηχήσας τε αὐτοὺς μὴ ἀκρίτως οὕτως ἑτοίμους εἶναι πρὸς κακίαν μηδὲ τὰ κάρφη τὰ ἀλλότρια προβλέποντες τοὺς ἑαυτῶν δοκοὺς μὴ κατανοεῖν, καί τισιν ἄλλοις ἐπωφελέσι ῥήμασιν ἐπιστύψας πρὸς γῆν τούτους κατέκλινε, τὸ· Ἥμαρτον καὶ τὴν συγχώρησιν ἐπιβοήσαντας. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τούτους ἀναστήσας καὶ συγχωρήσας ἀπέλυσεν. Ὁ δὲ προλεχθεὶς Ἰωσὴφ πάντα τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν διανείμας πένησι, κατὰ τὴν προφητικὴν ἀνάρρησιν τοῦ ἁγίου, ἐπιζήσας ἡμέρας δεκαοτὼ πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν.

[37] Ἐγένετό ποτε τὸν ὅσιον κατελθεῖν πρὸς τὸ μοναστήριον τοῦ μεγάλου Ἰσακίου, τὸ ἐπονομαζόμενον Ἀγρός, κἀκεῖ προσευξάμενον καὶ τὸν τάφον ἀσπασάμενον τοῦ ἁγίου ἀνθυποστρέφοντα εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν νῆσον τὴν καλουμένην Θάσιον πρὸς τὸν μέγαν Δανιήλ. Ὁ δὲ ἡγιασμένος Δανιὴλ μαθὼν τὴν ἔλευσιν τοῦ ἁγίου ἔξεισιν εἰς ὑπάντησιν μετὰ πάσης τῆς ὑποτεταγμένης αὐτῷ ἱερᾶς ἀδελφότητος, καὶ ὡς οἷα προφήτην Θεοῦ τιμητικῶς ὑποδέχεται αὐτόν. Εἶτα διαλογισάμενος θεόθεν τοῦτον πεμφθῆναι διὰ τὴν ἐπικειμένην αὐτοῖς συμφοράν, ἦν γὰρ ἔν τινι μέρει τοῦ νησίου κατοικῶν δράκων φοβερώτατος, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν νῆσον πλῆθος εἶναι ἀναριθμήτων ὄφεων, βουλεύεται τοίνυν ὁ μέγας Δανιὴλ βουλὴν ἀγαθήν, καὶ συμπαραλαβὼν μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀδελφότητα ῥίπτει πρὸς τοὺς πόδας τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ καθικετεύει διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς αὐτοῦ ἀπελαθῆναι τὸ θηρίον. Εἴξας * οὖν τῇ παρακλήσει, ὁ ἅγιος κελεύει μὲν τὸ ξύλον κροῦσαι, προτρέπεται δὲ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν εἰσίεναι, καὶ ἀπὸ ἑσπέρας μέχρι πρωῒ ἐν δοξολογίαις καὶ εὐχαῖς ἐπαγρυπνοῦντας τὸν Θεὸν ὑπερ τούτου καθικετεύειν. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, λαβὼν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸν καθοδηγοῦντα αὐτὸν τίμιον σταυρὸν μόνος κατὰ τοῦ θηρὸς ἐξέρχεται. Ὡς δ᾽ ἐπάνω τοῦ σπηλαίου οὗ ᾤκει ὁ δράκων ἐγένετο, ἐδέετο τοῦ Θεοῦ δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς τὸν παγκάκιστον ὄφιν ἀπελαθῆναι. Ὡς δ᾽ ᾔσθετο ὁ δράκων τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ ἁγίου, ἤρξατο στερροτέραις συστροφαῖς καὶ βιαίοις συρίγμασι πάντα δονεῖν τὰ ἐκεῖσε· περὶ δὲ τὸ αὖγος τῆς ἡμέρας, ἀνισχόντος ἤδη τοῦ ἡλίου, ὡς ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἐλαυνόμενος, παντων θεωρούντων, ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ, καὶ ταύτην διαπεράσας πρὸς τὴν ἤπειρον γενόμενος ἄφαντος γεγόνεν. Οἱ δὲ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ παράδοξον τοῦτο θεασάμενοι θαῦμα, αἶνον ἀναπέμψαντες τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν τιμητικὴν προσκύνησιν τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀπένειμαν.

[36] After the visit of certain holy men, It happened once that celebrated fathers by common counsel went off to visit the saint ^a. There were among the metropolitans the most holy John of Chalcedon and Peter, the most holy metropolitan of Nicaea, and among the hegumens the most sacred Clement, Theodore the Studite, Joseph, who had formerly been oeconomus of the Great Church, with his brother, and many others of the superiors, so that they numbered a hundred in all, or even more ^b. When, because of the narrowness of the mountain, to ascend

to the saint they were unable, gathering together in the Agaurine monastery, where the venerable church of Saint Elias ^c is honoured, they signified to the saint through the reverend Eustratius that he should come down and bless them in the name of the Lord. When, then, he had come down and was about to draw near to them, they rose and went out to meet him in order to venerate him. Prayer having been made, as they sat on either side on the ground, they began to ask one another which virtue seemed to them to excel. One preferred charity, another prayer; this one almsgiving, that one hospitality, and another fasting; each, namely, thought differently. A great contention having arisen, they urged the saint to resolve the question that had come up. Our father Ioannicius, humble and an emulator of the angels, compelled by them with great insistence, at length with difficulty answered in a gentle word: "For my part, holy fathers, I think thus: that there is no other virtue higher than humility." They, having assented and asked pardon, were silent. A little later all rose and invited the saint to recline at table with them. He consented to their petition and went with them to the meal. While, then, all were reclining at the meal, our father, opening his holy mouth, says to him who had once been oeconomus of the Great Church, the lord Joseph, before all: "Formerly, when you wished to see us, we could not appear before you, nor perhaps was it then the will of God; now, therefore, I both behold you and exhort you before all the fathers that, having rightly arranged all things that pertain to you, you look daily towards the hour of your death: for the time of your dissolution is already at hand." That guest, having promised to carry out diligently all that had been said, made a prostration and sat beside the saint. The Studites were scandalized at this, for they are wont to stitch together scandals from every source, since they consider themselves greater than all others; and not a little did they find fault with the saint in their thoughts, saying this in their minds: "But who knows the death of each one, except God alone?" The saint, then, knowing their thoughts, kept silent for the present; but when the drinking together was over, he calls them aside privately and, going back over their thoughts, greatly terrified them, and exhorted them, admonishing them not to be so unjustly ready for malignity, nor, while looking at others' straws, to be ignorant of their own beams; and, rebuked with other fitting words, they prostrated themselves on the ground, crying "I have sinned" and asking pardon. The saint, having raised them up and granted pardon, dismissed them. And the aforesaid Joseph, having distributed all his goods to the poor, and having lived, according to the prophetic utterance of the saint, only eighteen days, departed to the Lord.

[37] St. Ioannicius makes his way to St. Daniel in Thasios. It came about that the saint once went down to the monastery of the great Isaac ^d, which is surnamed Ager ^e, and when he had prayed there and kissed the saint's tomb, on his return he entered the island called Thasios ^f, to the great Daniel ^g. The venerable Daniel, when he had heard of the saint's arrival, goes out to meet him with the whole brotherhood subject to him, and receives him honourably as a prophet of God. Then, thinking that he had been sent by God on account of the calamity that had been brought upon him, for in a certain part of the island there dwelt a most hostile dragon, and moreover throughout the whole island a multitude of innumerable serpents, the great Daniel therefore takes the best counsel and, taking with him the whole brotherhood, throws himself at the saint's feet and begs him to expel the beast by his prayer. When, therefore, he had yielded to the invitation, the saint orders the wood to be struck ^h, and exhorts the brethren to enter the church and, keeping vigil from evening until morning in doxologies and prayers, to pray God for this cause. This done, taking in his hand that venerable cross which guided him, he goes forward alone against the beast. When he had come above the cave in which the dragon dwelt, he prayed God through the whole night to cast out the most evil serpent. When the dragon perceived the saint's presence, it began with terrible writhings and mighty hissings to make everything round about tremble. But when day dawned and the sun had already risen, as if driven by fire, while all looked on, it threw itself into the lake, and, having swum across it, reached land and vanished. The brethren, seeing that incredible prodigy, gave praise to God and showed honourable veneration to the saint.

ANNOTATA.

codex οὖν. codex κατιδίαν. * codex ἥξας.

CHAPTER EIGHT. Other miracles of St. Ioannicius.

[38] Τοῦ οὖν ἁγίου πάλιν πρὸς τὸ ὄρος ἐπανελθόντος, ἀνῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅ ποτε ἡγούμενος τῶν Ἐλαιοβωμῶν Ἀντώνιος, ἅμα Βασιλείῳ τῷ οἰκονόμῳ αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ ὅσιος τούτους ὑποδεξάμενος καὶ εὐλογήσας, ἤρετο πρὸς τὸν εὐλαβέστατον ἡγούμενον· Ἆρά γε, κύρι Ἀντώνιε, ἃ ἂν ἀκούσῃς παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀποφέρεις πρὸς τὸν μητροπολίτην τῆς Νικαίας τὸν ἐπιλεγόμενον Ἴγγερ ; Ὅδε γινώσκων τὸ αὐστηρὸν τοῦ ἀνδρός· Οὐ, φησίν, ἀπεκρίθη, ὦ πάτερ. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ τοῦτον καταλείψας, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Βασίλειον ἀποβλέψας· Σὺ τί φης , ἔφη, ὦ Βασίλειε; Ὅδε μετὰ φόβον λέγει· Εἴ τι ἂν κελεύσειας, ὦ δέσποτα, ἀπαραλείπτως τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἀποκομίσω. Ὁ δὲ θεσπέσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν· Τάδε ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι· Εἰ βούλει πρόσωπον τοῦ Θεοῦ θεάσασθαι, τὴν μητρόπολιν ἐάσας τῇ μετανοίᾳ πρόσδραμε· ὁ γὰρ θάνατός σου ἤδη ἤγγικε καὶ βλέπε τοὺς καμάτους σου μὴ ἀπολέσῃς. Ταῦτα ὁ ἅγιος εἰπὼν καὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Ὁ δὲ Βασίλειος κατὰ τὴν κέλευσιν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπελθὼν πρὸς τὸν Ἴγγερ, ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῷ πάντα ὅσα διετέτακτο. Ὅδε κάμπτεται μὲν πρὸς μικρὸν τῇ μετανοίᾳ, τῇ δὲ δόξῃ πάλιν τοῦ ῥέοντος καὶ φθαρτικοῦ βίου κλαπεὶς ἀμνημονεῖ τῶν λεχθέντων. Εἶτα μετὰ πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν καθεζομένου αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ θρονίῳ, μηδὲν τὸ σύνολον τούτου ἐπειπόντος, μήτε τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν διαθεμένου, ἐξέπνευσεν. Ἐν αὐτῇ οὖν τῇ ὥρα, τῷ προορατικῷ χαρίσματι γνοὺς ἅγιος, προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν πανάγαστον Εὐστράτιον πικρῶς ἀποκλαιόμενος, φησίν· Ἔστω * γινώσκων, ἄδελφε Εὐστράτιε, ὅτι ὁ ταπεινὸς Ἰγγερ ἀμετανόητος φθασθεὶς τέθνηκε, μὴ ὑπακούσας τῷ λόγῳ ἡμῶν· ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς μὲν ἀθῶοί ἐσμεν, ἤδη γὰρ προειρήκαμεν αὐτῷ, αὐτὸς δὲ τῆς παρακοῆς τοὺς καρποὺς δρέψεται, μὴ χωρισθεὶς τῆς αἱρέσεως, ἀλλ᾽ ἀποθανὼν ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ αὐτοῦ.

[39] Ἐπεὶ οὖν περιβόητος τῷ κόσμῷ ἐγεγόνει ὁ θεόπνευστος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος, καὶ πολὺ πλῆθος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπῄει πρὸς αὐτὸν τὰ δέσντα καὶ ψυχωφελῆ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ διαδχθησόμενον, μέντοι γε οὖν καὶ ἀποχρώντως ἕκαστος ἐκ τοῦ παναγίου στόματος αὐτοῦ ὡς ἐκ στόματος Θεοῦ τὴν ὄνησιν ἐκαρποῦτο, καὶ ὑπέστρεφε τὸν Θεὸν δοξάζων, αὐτὸς ἄτε τῷ καθαρῷ καθαρῶς ὁμιλεῖν γλιχόμενος καὶ ἐμποδίου τῆς ἐναρέτου καὶ ἡσυχίου βιώσεως αὐτοῦ τὰ προσφοιτῶντα πλήθη λογιζόμενος, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τὴν διάκενον δόξαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκκλίνων, κρυφίως ἐκ τοῦ τόπου ἐν ᾧ ἦν μεταβὰς πρὸς τὰ ἐπιλεγόμενα Κτήματα, τὰ ἐπέκεινα πέλοντα τοῦ προονομασθέντος Λησσοῦ, ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ καλουμένῳ Λοργύτῃ, πρὸς σπήλαιον ἐκεῖσε ὄντι λίαν δύσβατον καὶ δυσάγωγον ἐχώρησεν, τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκεῖνο λόγιον ἐπιφθεγξάμενος τὸ φάσκον· Σύ, Κύριε, καταμόνας ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι κατῴκησάς με. Εὗρεν δὲ εἶ λίθον κείμενον παμμεγέθη, προστάττει δὲ ἅλυσιν γενέσθαι ἕξ τὸ μῆκος ὀργυίας ἔχουσαν, καὶ τῇ ἁλύσει ἑαυτὸν δήσας τῷ μεγίστω ἐκείνῳ λίθῳ τὴν ἅλυσιν προσήρμοσεν. Οὕτως δὲ σιδηροδέσμιος ὢν καὶ πάνυ θλιβόμενος καὶ κακοχούμενος ἐπὶ ὅλοις τρισὶν ἔτεσιν ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀνάγκῃ. ἐκαρτέρησε. Τελεσθέντος οὖν τοῦ τριετοῦς χρόνου καὶ τὴν εὐχὴν ἣν ἤρξατο, φημὶ δὴ τὴν τῆς καθείρξεως , Θεῷ ἀποδούς, καὶ γὰρ ἦν τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ συνθέμενος, τὰ δεσμὰ διαρρήξας πρὸς ἐπίσκεψίν τινος πανθαυμάστου γέροντος ἔξεισι.

[40] Τὸν Γοργύτην ποταμὸν περᾶν μέλλων, ἦν γὰρ ὁ γέρων ἐπέκεινα τοῦ ποταμοῦ, ἀναβλέψας οὖν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁ σεβάσμιος Ἰωαννίκιος θεωρεῖ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τοῦ ποταμοῦ δράκοντα πάνυ φοβερώτατον, ὡς τῇ· τοῦ εἰδους μεγαλειότητι συνέχειν τὸ ὕδωρ ὅτε ἡπλουτο καὶ μηδαμῶς ἐᾶν χεύεσθαι ἕως οὗ κατὰ μικρὸν τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ παμμεγέθους ἐκείνου σώματος ὑψοῦτο καὶ οὕτω ῥαγδαίως ἐπὶ τὸ πρανὲς ἐφέρετο. Τοιοῦτον οὖν ὑπάρχον τὸ θηρίον ὁ ἅγιος θεασάμενος καὶ πάνυ θαυμάσας πρὸς τὸ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σπήλαιον ὑπέστρεψε, νηστείαις δὲ καὶ χαμευνίαις καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις ὁλονύκτοις καὶ πλείσταις προσευχαῖς ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τοῦ δράκοντος τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύσας, καὶ οἷα εἰπεῖν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὴν τοῦ θηρὸς ἀνάλωσιν λαβὼν καὶ βεβαιωθείς, ἀξινορόγιον ἄρας τοῦ σπηλαίου ἔξεισι καὶ τὸν τόπον κατέλαβεν ἐν ᾧ εἰώθει τὸ θηρίον ἐξέρχεσθαι καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου θερμόθητα ὑποδέχεσθαι. Μήκοθεν οὖν τοῦτο θεασάμενος ἐμπροσθέως αὐτοῦ πορευθεὶς ἐπλησίασεν. Ὁ δὲ κάκιστος ἐκεῖνος θὴρ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ δοῦλον Ἰωαννίκιον θεασάμενος μέγα κεχηνῶς ἐδόκει τοῦτον ὑποδέχεσθαι. Ὅδε πρὸς οὐρανὸν τὰ ὄμματα διαπετάσας, δύναμίν τε ἐξ ὕψους λαβών, καὶ τῇ χειρὶ ὑψώσας τὸ σιδήριον καὶ μέγα κατεάξας τοῦτο κατὰ τῆς κάρας, κατέτρωσε καὶ παραχ·ρῆμα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμει τὸ θηρίον ἀπενεκρώθη. Ἔλεγεν δὲ ὁ τοῦ

Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἡγιασμένος καὶ περιβόητος * Εὐστράτιος ὅτι καὶ ἔχιδναν κακὴν ἐπὶ πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ ἐκείνῳ οἰκοῦσαν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ θεράπων Ἰωαννίκιος διὰ προσευχῆς ἐθανάτωσεν.

[41] Μεταβὰς οὖν ἐκ τοῦ σπηλαίου καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ καλουμένῳ Ἄλσος ἐπιβάς, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸν προειρημένον πανθαύμαστονύμαστον ναὸν τοῦ στρατηλάτου μάρτυρος Εὐσταθίου ὁ πανόσιος ἀνήγειρε, κελλίον ἀνοικοδομῆσαι ἔσπευδεν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν καὶ σκέπην τοῦ παναγάστου αὐτοῦ σκήνους ὁ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς κεκτημένος. Τὸν χῶρον οὖν σχηματίσας καὶ τὸ τεκτόνημα διαγράψας καὶ ἐπειπὼν τοῖς τεχνιταις ἐπιμελῶς ἐργάζεσθαι, αὐτὸς πρὸς τὴν ἐσωτέραν ἔρημον εἰσέδυ. Τοῦ οὖν ἔργου ἀπαρτιζομένου, τῆς ἑσπέρας καταλαβούσησ, πρὸς ὕπνον ἅπαντες ἐτράπησαν· καὶ δὴ ἔχιδνα κακὴ ἐκ διαβολικῆς συνελάσεως ἐξελθοῦσα ἑνὶ τῶν ἐργατῶν, οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Πάρδος, κατὰ τοῦ κροτάφου πλήξασα ἀπέδρα. Αἰσθόμενος οὖν τοῦ πόνου καὶ διυπνισθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐβόα φωνῇ μεγάλῃ. Διυπνισθέντων οὖν πάντων καὶ πειθομένων τίνος χάριν οὕτω σφοδρῶς βοᾷ, τὴν μὲν ὁδύνην ἔχειν ἔλεγε τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀφόρητον, μὴ εἰδέναι δὲ τὸ σύνολον τί πέπονθεν. Τοῦ οὖν φαρμάκου περί τε τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ παντὸς τοῦ σώματος ἐπιδραμόντος, καὶ μελανίαν καὶ οἴδησιν περὶ τὸ σῶμα μεγάλην πεποιηκότος εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ τοῦ θανάτου ἔσχατα τὸν ἄνθρωπον περιέστησεν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Ἰωαννίκιος θεόθεν γνοὺς ἐν ᾧ ἦν τόπῳ τὸ γεγονός, ἀπάρας τῶν ἐκεῖ, τῇ ἕωθεν περὶ τρίτην ὥραν τοὺς τεχνίτας κατέλαβεν. Οἱ δὲ ἄνδρες ὡς μόνον τὸν ἅγιον ἐθεάσαντο, ἔρριψαν ἑαυτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ, καθικετεύοντες ἐλεῆσαι τὸν πάσχοντα. Ὅδε τοῦτον παραλαβὼν ὡσεὶ λίθου βολὴ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν διέστη, καὶ στὰς εἰς προσευχὴν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας σταυροειδῶς εἰς οὐρανὸν ἐπάρας μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ δακτύλῳ ἁψάμενος τοῦ δηχθέντος τόπου τὸν τόπον τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ διεχάραξε, καὶ εὐθέως τοῦ φοβεροῦ ἐκείνου οἰδήματος ῥαγέντος ἡ ἰοβόλος ἐκείνη ὀζωδία πᾶσα κατέρρευσεν . Ὅδε ἰαθεὶς τὸν Θεὸν δοξάσας, τὸν παρασχόντα αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ θεράποντος αὐτοῦ Ἰωαννίκιον τὴν ἴασιν ἀκωλύτως, ὡς καὶ πρότερον τοῦ ἔργου εἴχετο. Μέχρι δὲ τοῦ νῦν διατετήρηται τῇ τῇ ζωῆς ἐκτάσει ὁ ῥηθεὶς Πάρδος, τὴν δυναστείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου γινομένην εἰς αὐτὸν ἴασιν πᾶσι καταγγέλλων, καὶ ἀριδήλωσ διηγούμενος ὡς δοξάζειν πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ Ἰωαννίκιον εὐφημεῖν.

[42] Ἐπιθυμία ποτε ἐγεγόνει τῷ ἁγίῳ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίῳ ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τῶν Θρακησίων * πορευθῆναι καὶ πρὸς τὸν πάνσεπτον ναὸν τοῦ ἀποστόλου καὶ εὐαγγελιστοῦ Ἰωάννου τοῦ θεολόγου εἰσιέναι καὶ εὔξασθαι. Καὶ δὴ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἀρξάμενος ἐπορεύετο· τῇ οὖν σπάνῃ τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου καύσει, καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὁ τῶν μηνῶν ὕστατος, καὶ τῇ πολλῇ ὁδοιπορίᾳ κεκοπιακὼς εὐκτήριον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ θεασάμενος πρὸς αὐτὸ ἐξεκλίνε, καὶ ἔνδον τοῦ εὐκτηρίου ἐγένετο. Καὶ ἰδού τις ἀνὴρ μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικὸς καρποφορίαν ἐπιφερόμενοι κατέλαβον. Ὡς δὲ ἔνδον τοῦ ναοῦ ἐγένοντο, ἄφνω τοὸς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπάραντες θεωροῦσι τὸν ἅγιον τῷ προσώπῳ ἐκλάμποντα οἷα ἥλιον. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀγγελοειδὴς ὁ θεοφόρος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, καὶ φοβηθέντες συντόμως εἰς τουπίσω ἀνέκαμψαν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος φησι πρὸς αὐτούς· Στῆτε, ὦ τέκνα, καὶ μηδαμῶς δειλιάσητε, κἀγὼ γὰρ ἄνθρωπός εἰμι ὁμοιοπαθὴς ὑμῖν, ἐγγίσατε οὖν μοι, καὶ γνώσεσθε ὅτι οὔκ εἰμι πνεῦμα ὡς ὑπονοεῖτε, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ πλάομα. Τῇ οὖν κελεύσει τοῦ ἁγίου ὑπακούσαντες, καὶ ἐπιστραφέντες ἔρριψαν ἑαυτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς τιμίους πόδας αὐτοῦ, δεόμενοι ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εὔξασθαι, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐπευξαμένου αὐτοῖς, αὐτοὶ μετὰ χαρᾶς τὸν Θεὸν δοξάζοντες οἴκαδε ἀνεχώρουν. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λαβόντες ἄρτον καὶ τινα ἄλλα τῶν ἐδωδίμων προσήνεγκαν τῷ ἁγίῳ· ὅδε λαβὼν ἐκ πάντων βραχὺ λίαν καὶ μικρόν ἐνισχύσας, τὰ περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοὺς διηρώτα καὶ πόθεν βαδίζειν αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς λέγειν παρεκελεύετο. Οἵδε φασι· Μηδαμῶς, ὦ ἅγιε, θελήσῃς νυκτὸς τὴν ὁδὸν ποιῆσαι, ἀπεράτου ὑπάρχοντος τοῦ ὧδε προσκειμένου ποταμοῦ, καὶ μόγις ἔν τινι τόπῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμπείρων, καί γε ἡμέρας οὔσης, περᾶσθαι· μήτι γε ἀπείρως ἔχοντά σε καὶ σπεύδοντα διελθεῖν νυκτὸς τὴν εὐθείαν ὁδὸν οὐχ εὑρήσεις. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ βουληθείης τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, πάντως γε ὑποβρύχιος τοῖς ὕδασι γενήσῃ. Ὅδε τὸ δοκεῖν κατανεύσας, καὶ καλῶς λέγειν εἰπών, τούτους ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Αὐτὸς δὲ παραχρῆμα ἀναστὰς τῆς ὁδοῦ εἴχετο, καὶ ὡς πλησίον τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἔφθασεν εἰς προσευχὴν ἔστη, καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα καὶ τῷ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ σφραγίσας τὰ ὕδατα οὐ διχῇ ταῦτα διεῖλεν, οἷα τῇ τοῦ Ἠλίου μηλωτῇ ὁ Ἐλισσσαῖος, ἀλλὰ δυνάμει Θεοῦ τὴν ῥευστὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν παγιώσας ἐπέβη. Καὶ ἐπεφέρετο ὡς διὰ ξηρᾶς πεζοπορῶν ἐπάνω αὐτῶν, ἕως οὗ ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς ἠπείρου ἔστη, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀνυμνήσας πάλιν τὴν ὁδὸν ἤνυεν.

[43] Φθάσας οὖν τὸν πάντιμον ναὸν τοῦ ἀποστόλου καὶ εὐαγγελιστοῦ Ἰωάννου καὶ σὺν τῷ ἐκεῖσε ἐπιρρέοντι ὄχλῳ οὐδ᾽ ὅλως εἰσελθεῖν βουλόμενος, ἠντιβόλει τὸν τοῦ ναοῦ τὴν φροντίδα ἔχοντα νύκτωρ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν παραχωρῆσαι τοῦτον εἰσελθεῖν. Ὅδε εἰσάπαν ἀπηνήνατο παρακληθῆναι· εἴπερ δὲ θέλοιεν, ἔλεγε μετὰ πάντων εἰσελθεῖν καὶ εὔξασθαι. Καὶ τοῦ ὁσίου μὴ ἐπινεύοντος, αὐτὸς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ κλείων τὰς θύρας, ὡς ἐπὶ τρίτης ἡμέρας, ἀνεχώρει. Ὁ δὲ γενναῖος καὶ καρτερικὸς πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος μνδ᾽ ὅλως ἀθυμήσας, ἀλλ᾽ ἔξω που περὶ τὰ προπύλαια τοῦ ναοῦ ἑστηκὼς καὶ μηδαμῶς ταῖς τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐπικλιθείς, ἐδέετο τοῦ Φεοῦ ἐπιτυχεῖν τῆς ἐφέσεως. Καὶ δὴ μετὰ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν, ἑσπέρας ἀρχομένης κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ὑπὸ τοῦ κλειδούχου αἱ πύλαι ἐκλείσθησαν πᾶσαι, καὶ τῇ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ ὀφθαλμοφανῶς ἐφάνη αὐτῷ ὁ ἀπόστολος καὶ θεολόγος Ἰωάννης, καὶ δὴ ἠρώτα αὐτὸν τί ἂν θέλοι. Ὅδε εὐχῆς χάριν παραγενέσθαι εἰπών, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε κλειδοφύλακος εἴργεσθαι, αὐτὸς ἐφέπεσθαι αὐτῷ παρεκελεύετο, καὶ ὅπου βούλοιτο ἀποφέρειν. Καὶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπιπορευομένου αὐτὸς κατόπιν ἐβάδιζε μέχρις ὅτου τῶν κεκλεισμένων πυλῶν ἀμφότεροι ἐγένοντο. Ἄμφω δὲ διαρραγεῖσαι αἱ κλεῖς σὺν τῶν ῥωμανισίων καὶ αἱ πύλαι ἐπαρθεῖσαι ἀκωλύτως τὴν εἴσοδον αὐτοῖς παρέσχον, καὶ ἕως τῶν κιγκλίδων τοῦ ἁγίου θυσιαστηρίου ὁ ὁδηγῶν τὸν ἅγιον ἐφαίνετο, μετὰ δὲ τὴν εἴσοδον ἄφαντος ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγεγόνει. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἱωαννίκιος ἀποδοὺς τῷ Θεῷ τὰς εὐχάς, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ πολλὰ εὐχαριστήσας, τοῦ ναοῦ ἔξεισι, καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐξόδῳ πάλιν αἱ πύλαι κλεισθεῖσαι, ἀποκατέστησαν ὡς τὸ πρότερον, καὶ ὑποστρέψας πάλιν ἦλθεν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ὄρει τῷ καλουμένῳ Λισσῷ *.

[44] Ἐγένετό ποτε ἀπελθεῖν τὸν σημειοφόρον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιον πρὸς τὸ εὐαγὲς σεμνεῖον τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον Κούνιν. Ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖσε κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν πλείστη συναθρόισις γεναμένη πατέρων τε καὶ εὐλαβεστάτων μοναχῶν χάριν τῆς ἐπιτελουμένης ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ ἐνιαυσιαίας ἑορταστικῆς ἡμέρας. Τὸν οὖν συνήθη κανόνα καὶ τὴν θείαν λειτουργίαν τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκείνων θιασώτων τελεσάντων, ἔσπευδον καὶ τροφῆς οωματικῆς μεταλαβεῖν. Τῶν οὖν δαιτυμόνων πάντων ἀνακλιθέντων, ἐπέστρεψαν καὶ τῷ ὁσίῳ Ἰωαννικίῳ ὡς ξένον καὶ ἀγνώτην περὶ τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον κεκαθικέναι. Τῆς οὖν εὐωχίας τελουμένης μονάζουσά τις τῶν ἐκεῖσε ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου ὀχλουμένη ἄφνω ταραχθεῖσα, ἀφρίζουσα καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας τρίζουσα ὀπίσω τοῦ δούλου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔστη. Σφοδρῶς δὲ μαστιζομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος καὶ ἐλεγχομένη ἐπεβόα τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου ὀνόματος ἀνάρρησιν. Ἡ δὲ ἱερὰ ἐκείνη ὁμήγυρις, ὡς τοῦτο ἤκουσε, προσέπεσον τοῖς τοῦ ἁγίου ποσὶ καὶ συγχώρησιν, οἶμαι, αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ καθικέτευον. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, πάλιν ἐδυσώπουν αὐτὸν διὰ προσευχῆς αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἀπελάσαι. Ὁ δὲ ἀληθῶς ταπεινὸς τῷ φρονήματι πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος μᾶλλον τοῖς πατράσιν ἔλεγεν εὔξασθαι, ἁμαρτωλὸν καὶ γεήφρονα ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαλῶν, αὐτοὺς δὲ ὑψηλοὺς καὶ οὐρανίους. Καὶ γάρ τινας ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔλεγον τῇ τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου ἀξίᾳ τετιμημένους. Αὐτοὶ δὲ ἔλεγον ὡς παρὰ Θεοῦ τὴν χάριν τῶν σημείων εἰληφότα εἰκότως αὐτὸν εὔξασθαι. Ὡς οὖν ἀνὰ μεταξὺ αὐτῶν πλείστη γέγονεν ἀντίστασις, ἅτε δὴ τῶν πατέρων πλήθους ὄντος , ὑπήκουσε καὶ ἐπείσθη. Εἰς οὐρανὸν δὲ τὸν νοῦν σχὼν εἰς προσευχὴν ἔστη, καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐχήν, ὡς μόνον τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν πάσχουσαν ἐσφράγισε, ῥῆξαν αὐτὴν καὶ σπαράξαν τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἐξῆλθεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς, καὶ ὑγιὴς γεναμένη ἡ ἄνθρωπος, ἅπαντες σὺν αὐτῇ τὸν Φεὸν καὶ τὸν ἅγιον αὐτοῦ ἐδόξαζον.

[45] Ἐπεὶ οὖν τῇ τῶν θαυμάτων ποικιλίᾳ ὁ φαιδρός λύχνος οὗτος κατέλαμπε καὶ πανταχοῦ ἡ φήμη αὐτοῦ διεδίδοτο, αὐτός, ὡς ᾤετο, ἐδόκει κρύβειν ἑαυτόν μεταβαίνων ἐν τόποις ἀνημέροις καὶ θηριοτρόφοις. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐλάνθανεν· ὅπου γὰρ ἂν ἀπίῃ κατάδηλον αὐτὸν ἐποῖει ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις. Ἀπιὼν οὖν πρὸς τὸς τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Χελιδόνα καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἐνδότατα τῆς ἐρήμου μέρη γεγονώς, εὗρεν ἐκεῖσε ἄντρον ἄνυδρον πάνυ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ διέτριψε χρόνον τινα. Ἔχαιρε γὰρ πάντοτε ἐν σκληροῖς τόποις οἰκεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἐκθλίβειν τὴν σάρκα αὐτοῦ νηστείᾳ καὶ δίψει, ψύχει τε καὶ γυμνότητι. Μετὰ οὖν χρόνον τινα ἠθέλησεν εὐκτήριον ναὸν ἐγεῖραι ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ καὶ τῷ σπηλαίῳ. Προσκαλεσάμενος οὖν τεχνίτας πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ ἐργοῦ καὶ τὸν τόπον περινοστήσαντες, ἐδυσχέραινον πρὸς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν ὕδατος μὴ παρόντος· μήκοθεν γὰρ ἦν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ὕδωρ κομίζων ὁ ὅσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιος. Τούτους οὖν θεασάμενος ἀμηχανήσαντας ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς· Μηδὲν περὶ τούτου ἀχθεσθῆτε, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιρρίψωμεν τὰς ἐλπίδας ἡμῶν πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ ὡς κελεύει ἡ αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότης ποιεῖ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν. Μικρὸν οὖν διαστάς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ κρυφίως τὰς χεῖρας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐκτείνας, ἐδέετο τοῦ Θεοῦ δοθῆναι ὕδωρ ἐν τῷ αὐχμώδει τόπῳ ἐκείνῳ. Ὁ δὲ τὰς καρδίας πάντων ἐφορῶν Χριστός, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ τὸ θέλημα τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν ποιῶν καὶ τῆς δεήσεως αὐτῶν εἰσακούων, παραυτίκα καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν πεπλήρωκε· καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὕδωρ, ὅπερ καὶ ἕως τοῦ νῦν διαμένει, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἰάσεις πολλαὶ ἐπιτελοῦνται, ὥστε πληπωθῆναι τὸ προψητικὸν λόγιον· Καὶ εἐς τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν πηγὴ ὕδατος ἔσται. Τελεσθέντος οὖν τοῦ ναοῦ, ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν μοναστήριον εἰς πολλῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ ψυχῶν θελόντων σωθῆναι ὠφέλειαν.

[46] Ἀποστὰς οὖν τῶν ἐκεῖ πρὸς τὸ σπήλαιον τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον Μαρσαληνὸν, τῷ πλησίον ὄντι Χελιδῶνος μετέβη. Καὶ εἰσελθὼν ἔνδον

εὗρε δράκοντα λίαν καταπληκτικόν, οὗ τὸ μῆκος, ὡς ἔλεγεν ἡμῖν ὁ ἁγιώτατος Εὐστράτιος, ὁ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πληροφορηθείς, εἶχεν πήχεις ἑξήκοντα. Τοῦτον οὖν ἰδὼν ὁ ἅγιος πάνυ κατεπλάγη, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ θερμῦς ἐδέετο ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τοῦ θηρός. Καὶ δὴ τῆς εὐχῆς ἀναπεμπομένης ἀορασίᾳ νενέκρωται ὁ θὴρ καὶ ἀπώλετο· καὶ ὑμνήσας ὁ ἅγιος τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ σπηλαίου ἐξῄει , πρὸς δὲ τὰ μέρη τῆς Κουντουρίας ἀπερχόμενος, μονάζουσά τις τῶν ἐπισήμων μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτῆς θυγατρὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε ἐπὶ τὰ ὧδε τὴν πορείαν ἐποιεῖτο. Καὶ δὴ κατα τὴν ὁδόν, Θεοῦ παπαχωρήσει, τὸ τῆς πορνείας πνεῦμα ἐπισφρίσαν τῇ αὐτῆς θυγατρὶ δεινῶς ἐτάραττεν. Ἥ τε κόρη τὴν πύρωσιν τοῦ δαίμονος μὴ φέρουσα ἑαυτὴν ἀπολεγομένη ἐβόα ἄσεμνα πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῆς μητέρα. Ἡ δὲ μήτηρ νενικημένην εἰς τὸ παντελὲς τὴς ἑαυτῆς θυγατέρα θεασαμένη ἑλεεινῶς θρηνοῦσα, ἔλεγεν· Οἴμοι, οἴμοι, ὦ τέκνον ἐμόν, τί οὕτως ἀπρεπῶς καὶ ἀναιδῶς ἐπιβοᾶς; Μνήσθητι, ὦ τέκνον μου, τῆς καλῆς καὶ ἱερᾶς ἀνατροφῆς ἧς ἐξ ἁπαλῶν ὀνύχων τῷ φόβῳ Κυρίου καὶ τῇ μελέτῃ τῶν θείων λογίων ἐξεθρεψα καὶ εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας πανευλαβῶς σὺν Θεῷ ἤγαγον· μνήσθητι τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκείνων παρθένων, αἳ τῷ ἀχράντῳ τῆς παρθενίας κάλλει τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῆς εὐποιΐας τὰς ἑαυτῶν λαμπάλας κοσμήσασαι στεφανηφοροῦσαι τῷ νυμφίῳ συνεισῆλθον· μνήσθητι, ὦ τέκνον, τῆς φοβερᾶς κρίσεως, καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀτελευτήτου, ἐν ᾧ πάντες κατακαήσονται οἱ τῇ προσκαίρῳ καὶ φθοροποιῷ ἑαυτοὺς ἀφρόνως ἐκδεδωκότες καὶ ἀσώτως βιώσαντες καὶ εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων κολασθήσονται· μνήσθητι, ὦ τέκνον μου, τῆς χαρᾶς τῶς ἁγίων καὶ τῆς ἀνεκλαλήτου δόξης ἐκείνης ἐν ᾗ ἀναπαύσονται οἱ τὸν ναὸν τοῦ σώματος μὴ φθείραντες καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡνωμένην μὴ μολύναντες· ναὶ, τέκνον μου, παρακαλῶ, παῦσαι τῆς ἀπρεποῦς τῶν ἀλόγων ὁρμῆς, καὶ δεῦρο στῶμεν ἄμφω εἰς προσευχήν, καὶ πάντως ποιήσει Κύριος τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἐκδιώκων ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν τὸ πονηρὸν πνεῦμα. Ὡς δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τινα πλεόνα νενουθετήκει ἡ μήτηρ τῇ ἰδίᾳ θυγατρί, αὐτὴ μᾶλλον τῷ οἴστρῳ πεπληγμένη οὐδ᾽ ὅλως τῶν νουθεσιῶν τῆς μητρὸς ἀκοῦσαι ἠνείχετο, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναιδῶς ἐβόα· Ὦ μήτερ, ἢ ἐπίτρεψόν μοι ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὸν κόσμον καὶ πληρῶσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν μου, ἢ ἐμαυτὴν διαχειρίζομαι. Ὡς δὲ ἡ μήτηρ ἐν τῷ παντὶ ἐγένετο, ἑαυτὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐπιρρίψασα ἐν βοῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ στεναγμῷ ἱκέτευε δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους ἐξαποσταλῆναι αὐταῖς, καὶ, εἴτε ἀοράτως δι᾽ ἐπιτασίας, φημί, ἀγγέλου, εἴτε καὶ ὁράτως διά τινος δούλου αὐτοῦ, τὴν ἐπελθοῦσαν τῇ θυγατρὶ αὐτῆς καμινιαίαν πύρωσιν τοῦ σώματος ἐν τάχει κατασβέσαι. Καὶ δὴ ὡς τῆς βοῆς ἡ μητὴρ καὶ τῆς δεήσεως εἴχετο, ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς θεωρεῖ τὸν τρισόλβιον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιον βαδίζοντα ἐκ τοῦ ἑτέρου μέρους, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Κουντουρίαν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀπιόντα. Καὶ δραμοῦσα σφοδρῶς ἐπελάβετο τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς δάκρυσιν, οἷα ἡ μακαρία ἐκείνη πόρνη τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ πλύνουσα, ἐλεῆσαι αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ ἑαυτῆς θυγάτριον ἐδέετο. Ὅδε τὴν πίστιν αὐτῆς θαυμάσας ἀναστῆναι μὲν παρεκελεύσατο, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ θρήνους εἰπεῖν αὐτῇ ἐπέστρεψεν. Ἣ τὸ συμβᾶν ἀπαγγείλασα, ἐπιλαβόμενος ὁ ἅγιος τῆς δεξιᾶς χειρὸς τῆς κόρης καὶ τῷ τραχήλῳ αὐτοῦ ἐπιθείς, ἐβόνσεν· Ὦ παῖ, ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν εἴη ὁ σὸς πόλεμος, καὶ σὺ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔστω ὑγιὴς ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγός σου. Καὶ εὐθέως ἡ κόρη σωφρονήσασα τοῦ πολέμου ἐκουφίσθη καὶ σὺν τῇ μητρὶ τὴν ὁδὸν χαίρουσα τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἅγιον ἀνυμνοῦσα μετ᾽ εἰρήνης τοῦ λοιποῦ ἤνυεν.

[47] Ὁ δὲ παγχάλεπος ἐκεῖνος πόλεμος ἐπαναστρέψας καὶ οἶα σκόλοψ τις ἐπιπεσὼν τῷ ἁγίῳ οὐ μετρίως αὐτὸν ἔθλιβεν. Νηστείαις δὲ καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις καὶ χαμευνίαις καὶ ὁλονύκτοις προσευχαῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐκδοὺς καὶ τὸν Θεὸν λιτανεύων ηὕρισκε μὲν ἐν τῷ τέως οὐδ᾽ ὅλως ἄνεσιν· τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἶμαι, τοῦτο παραχωροῦντος, καὶ εἰς καθαρὸν ἐκπυροῦντος τὸν ὅσιον αὐτοῦ. Ὡς δὲ ἐπὶ πλεῖστας ἡμέρας τῇ ἀνάγκῃ συνείχετο εἰς πέλαγος ἀθυμίας περιέπεσεν· εἰδὼς δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐκεῖσε σπηλαίοις ἀσπίδα οἰκοῦσαν μεγάλην ἐκ σάκκου εἰς θηριομορφίαν μεταβληθεῖσαν, φησὶ πρὸς ἑαυτόν· Καλὸν σοί ἐστιν, ὦ ταπεινὲ Ἰωαννίκιε, ἀπελθεῖν καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς αἰσθητῆς ἀσπίδος σωματικῶς βρωθῆναι·, ἢ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑποκύψαντα ψυχικῶς τῆς νοητῆς ἀσπίδος κατάβρωμα γενέσθαι. Καὶ ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τὴν ἀσπίδα ἐπορεύθη, καὶ ὡς πλησίον ταύτης ἐγένετο, ἄμφω τὼ χεῖρε τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς κρατήσας καὶ σφοδρῶς διασείσας πρὸς παροξυσμὸν ἑαυτοῦ τὸ θηρίον ἐκίνει. Τόδε μανίας πληρωθὲν μέγα κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου ἀπεφύσησεν καὶ ἔβλαψε μὲν οὐδὲν ἢ ἠδίκησε τὸν ἅγιον, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀντιλήψει καὶ βοηθείᾳ, καὶ ὁ σφοδρὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ δεινὸς πόλεμος κουφισθεὶς εἰς τέλος ἐλόφησε καὶ τῷ Θεῷ εὐχαριστήσας ὁ ἅγιος χαίρων καὶ ψάλλων ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ὁδόν ἐπορεύθη.

[38] Having foretold the death of Inger, bishop of Nicaea, When the saint had returned again to the mountain ^a, there came to him Antony, who had once been hegumen of the Altars of Elias, together with Basil his oeconomus. The saint, having received them and blessed them, asked the reverend hegumen: "Will you carry, lord Antony, whatever you hear from us to the metropolitan of Nicaea, called Inger?" He, knowing the man's severity, said: "By no means," and answered, "O father." Then the father, leaving him and looking at Basil, said: "And you, what do you say, O Basil?" He said with fear: "If you command me anything, O master, I will carry it diligently to the man." Our godly father said: "You will say this to him: If you wish to see the face of God, leave your metropolis and turn to repentance; for your death has already drawn near, and see to it that you do not lose your labours." When the saint had said this and blessed the men, he dismissed them. Basil, setting out to Inger according to the father's command, reported to him all that he had been ordered. He, for a little while, gave himself to repentance, but, deceived again by the glory of a passing and perishing life, forgot what had been said. Then, after the fifteenth day, as he sat on his throne, without uttering a word or disposing of any of his affairs, he breathed out his soul. And at the same hour the saint, knowing it by the prophetic charism, having called the venerable Eustratius, said, weeping bitterly: "Know, brother Eustratius, that the wretched Inger has been overtaken by death unrepentant, not having obeyed our word. But we are guiltless, for we had foretold it to him; he, however, will gather the fruits of disobedience, since he would not separate himself from the heresy and has died in his sin ^b."

[39] and having performed a hard penance, Our father Ioannicius, whom God inspired, therefore became celebrated in the world, and a great multitude of men went to him to learn what they needed and what would profit the soul. For each one abundantly gathered profit from his most holy mouth as from the mouth of God, and returned glorifying God. But he, since he desired to converse holily with the Holy One and thought the crowds coming to him a hindrance to his virtuous and quiet life, or else, as I suppose, to avoid the vain glory of men, secretly migrates from the place in which he was to the places called Ctimata, which are beyond the aforesaid Lissus ^c, across the river called Gorgytes, and betook himself to a cave very inaccessible and impassable, reciting that prophetic word: "Thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope ^d." He found there a rock lying of enormous size, and orders a chain to be made six ells in length, and when he had bound himself with the chain he fastened the chain to that great stone. And so, bound fast with iron chains and utterly worn down and suffering hardships, he persevered in that constraint for three whole years. The time of the three years being completed, then, and the prayer which he had begun, I mean that captivity by which he had bound himself to God, having been discharged to God, he broke the chains and goes out to visit a certain venerable old man ^e.

[40] St. Ioannicius kills a serpent, When he was about to cross the river Gorgytes, for the old man lived beyond the river, the venerable Ioannicius, having raised his eyes, sees in the middle of the river a most hostile dragon. When it uncoiled itself, by the immensity of its body it held the whole water and did not let it flow, so that in a short time the river rose up against that immense body and so was carried headlong with violence. The saint, beholding that beast which came upon him and greatly astonished, returned to his cave, and, suppliantly praying God for the destruction of the dragon with fasts, sleeping on the ground and vigils through whole nights and many prayers, and, so to speak, taking upon himself the destruction of the beast, and strengthened, he took an axe, goes out of the cave and makes for the place where the beast was accustomed to take the heat of the sun. When, then, he had seen it from afar, he advanced against it and drew near. And this most evil beast, when it had seen the servant of God Ioannicius, gaped wide to devour him. He, raising his eyes to heaven, having received strength from on high and lifted up the iron with his hand, striking the beast mightily, wounded it in the head, and it was at once killed by the power of God ^f. The wonderful and illustrious man of God Eustratius used to say that a hostile serpent which had dwelt for many years in that cave was killed through prayer by the servant of God Ioannicius.

[41] he heals a workman wounded by a serpent, When, then, he had moved out of the cave and gone to the mountain called Alsus, on which the most holy man had erected the aforesaid venerable church of the commander Eustathius the martyr, he hastened to build a cell as a refuge and keeping for his venerable body, whose conversation had been in heaven. The place having been pointed out, then, and the work laid out, when he had charged the workmen to labour diligently, he himself went on into a more remote desert. The work having been fitted together and evening having come, all betook themselves to sleep. And a malignant viper, roused by the devil, having come out and struck a certain workman, whose name was Pardus, on the temples, fled. Feeling the pain, the man awoke and cried out with a loud voice. When all had been roused and asked why he cried out so loudly, he answered that he felt an intolerable pain in the head, but did not know at all what he was suffering. The poison having made its way through the head and the whole body, since the body blackened and swelled violently, that man was brought to the extreme peril of life. St. Ioannicius, however, knowing by divine means, in the place where he was staying, what had happened, rising from there, came to the workmen in the morning towards the third hour. As soon as those men saw the saint, they threw themselves at his feet, begging him to have pity on the sufferer. He, when

he had drawn near to him, stood about a stone's throw from them and, turning to prayer, with his hands stretched out to heaven in the form of a cross, after the prayer, having touched the wounded place of the body with his holy finger, traced the sign of the precious cross; and at once that horrible swelling vanished, and that poison-making pestilence flowed away. He who had been healed, having glorified God, who had granted him healing through His servant Ioannicius, unencumbered as before, resumed his labour. The said Pardus is still preserved in the course of life up to now, proclaiming to all the power of God and the healing done for him by the saint, and narrating it openly, so that all who hear praise God and bless His servant Ioannicius ^g.

[42] and in a wonderful manner he enters the closed church of St. John. A desire once seized our holy father Ioannicius of going into the territory of the Thracesians to visit the venerable church of the apostle and evangelist John the theologian and pray there ^h. Having undertaken the journey, then, he set out, lacking all necessary things and scorched by the heat of the sun, for it was the last of the months ⁱ. Wearied by the long road, when he had caught sight of an oratory on the way he turned aside to it and went into it. And behold, a certain man and his wife came bringing offerings. Having entered the church, suddenly raising their eyes, they see the saint with a face shining like the sun. For our God-bearing father Ioannicius was truly of angelic aspect, more than anyone else. But they, afraid, fled in haste. The saint said to them: "Stand still, O children, do not be afraid; I am indeed a man like you; come near to me and you will know that I am not a spirit, as you suspect, but a creature of God." Obeying the saint's command and returning, they threw themselves at his venerable feet, asking him to bless them, and when the saint had prayed over them, they returned home with joy, glorifying God. After this, taking bread and certain other foods, they offered them to the saint. He, having accepted very little of everything and being a little refreshed, asked them about the journey and invited them to tell him which way he should proceed. They said: "By no means, O holy one, should you wish to travel by night; for an impassable river lies below here, and it is crossed with difficulty at a certain spot by those who know it, and that by day ^k. Since you are altogether unacquainted with it and in a hurry to cross, you will not find the right road by night. For if you should wish to try it, you would surely expose yourself to shipwreck in the waters." He, having signified that it seemed so to him and said that they spoke rightly, blessed them and dismissed them. But he himself, rising at once, took up the road, and when he had come near the river he stood still to pray, and, prayer having been made, stretching out his hand and signing the waters with the sign of the cross, he did not separate them into two parts, as Elisha did with the mantle of Elijah, but, binding the nature of the river by the power of God, he passed over it. And he was carried across as if he were walking dry-shod over the waters, until he stood on the mainland on the other side of the river, and, singing a hymn to God, he completed the journey.

[43] Whose doors the apostle himself opens. When he had reached the venerable church of the apostle and evangelist John, and was in no way willing to enter with the crowd that flocked there, he asked the keeper of the church to let him enter it privately by night. But he refused his assent altogether. If he wished to enter, he said, let him enter and pray with everyone. When the saint declined, the other, having shut the doors, went away until the third day. Our noble and patient father Ioannicius, not at all losing heart, but standing somewhere outside in the propylaeum of the church, without going to bed at all for three days, asked God that he might obtain leave to enter. And indeed after the third day, evening having come, all the doors were shut by the key-bearer according to custom. But that same night the apostle and theologian John appeared to him visible to the eyes and asked him what he wanted. When he had said that he had come for the sake of prayer, but was hindered by the keeper of the place, the apostle bade him follow him, intending to lead him where he wished to go. As the apostle went forward, Ioannicius followed behind until both came to the closed doors. Then both the keys and the bars were broken, and the doors, opened, afforded them an unhindered entrance, and the saint's guide was seen as far as the screens of the sacred altar, but after he had gone within the screens he became invisible [l]. Our holy father Ioannicius, having paid his prayers to God and given many thanks to the saint, went out of the church, and at his very going out the doors were again locked as before. And he, returning, went again to the same mountain, which is called Lissus.

[44] Then St. Ioannicius frees a possessed nun, It happened one day that our wonder-working father Ioannicius went to the holy monastery called Cunis ^m. At that time a great congregation of fathers and reverend monks had assembled there to celebrate the annual festival in the monastery. When these holy ascetics had completed the customary canon and the divine liturgy, they betook themselves to taking bodily food. After all the guests had reclined, they bade St. Ioannicius, as a stranger and unknown, sit in the last place. The meal finished, a certain religious woman among those who were there, vexed by an impure spirit, suddenly agitated, raging and gnashing her teeth, stood behind the servant of God. And being violently beaten by the demon and assailed with insults, she called upon that saint by name. When that sacred congregation heard this, it fell at the saint's feet and implored pardon, as I suppose, for its ignorance. This done, they again asked him to cast out the impure spirit by his prayer. Our father Ioannicius, truly humble in thought, told the fathers that they should rather pray, calling himself a sinner and an earthly man, but them exalted and heavenly. For they say that certain among them were distinguished by the dignity of the presbyterate. They answered that, since he had received from God the charism of miracles, it was just that he himself should pray. And since a strong contention had arisen among them, as being a contention of many fathers, he obeyed and was persuaded. Lifting his mind to heaven he stood to pray, and after the prayer, as soon as he had signed the sufferer with the sign of the cross, the impure spirit which was breaking her and tearing her with convulsions went out of her. The woman having been made well, all glorified God and His saint together with her.

[45] he calls forth a fountain of water for the sake of the workmen, When, then, that lamp had shone, resplendent with a variety of prodigies, and his fame had spread everywhere, he himself, thinking that he would remain hidden, migrated to wooded places full of wild beasts. Nevertheless he was not hidden; for wherever he went the grace of the Spirit made him manifest. When, then, he had set out for the place called Chelidonium and had penetrated into the deepest desert, he found there a very dry cave in which he remained for some time. For he rejoiced altogether to dwell in rough places, so as to wear down his flesh with fasting and thirst, cold and nakedness. After a certain time, then, he wished to build an oratory in this very place and in that cave. When, therefore, he had called together craftsmen to build, the place having been examined, they were in straits as to how to build, since water was lacking. For it had to be brought from far off by our blessed father Ioannicius for his own use. He, seeing them in straits, said to them: "Do not be saddened on that account, but let us cast our hope on the Lord, and according as His goodness commands He will do with us." When he had turned aside a little from them and secretly stretched out his hands to heaven, he asked that water be granted by God in that arid place. And Christ our God, who beholds the hearts of all and does the will of those who fear Him and hears their petitions, at once fulfilled his prayers also. Water gushed forth, which remains even now, in which many healings occur, so that the prophetic word is fulfilled ⁿ: "And in a thirsty land there shall be a fountain of water." The church having been completed, he made a monastery there for the salvation of many and the profit of souls wishing to save themselves ^o.

[46] the diabolical temptation of a religious girl When he had departed from there, he migrated to the cave surnamed Marsalenum, in a place that was very near Chelidonium. Having entered it, he found a very terrible dragon, whose length, as the most holy Eustratius related to us, who had himself learned it from the saint, was sixty cubits. Seeing it, then, the saint was utterly terrified, and prayed God fervently that the monster might perish; and the prayer being completed, the beast was invisibly slain and perished. Having said a hymn to God, the saint goes out of the cave. When he had come into the parts of Conturia, a certain religious woman of the more illustrious class was making a journey from there to here with her daughter. On the way, God permitting, a spirit of unchastity, coming upon her daughter, troubled her terribly. The girl, unable to bear the burning demon, cursing herself, cried out shameful things against her mother. The mother, seeing her daughter wholly overcome, said, weeping miserably: "Alas for me, alas for me, O my girl, why do you cry out so indecently and shamefully? Remember, O my daughter, the fair and holy upbringing with which from your tenderest years I instructed you in the fear of the Lord and the practice of the divine precepts, and piously brought you with God to full age; remember those sacred virgins who, with the immaculate beauty of virginity, adorning their lamps with the oil of good works, went in crowned with the bridegroom; remember, O daughter, the tremendous judgment and that eternal fire in which all will burn who have imprudently given themselves over to a temporal and ruinous pleasure and have lived luxuriously, and they will be chastised for ages of ages; remember, my daughter, the joy of the saints and that ineffable glory in which those will rest who have not polluted the temple of the body nor defiled the soul united to the body. Truly, my daughter, I exhort you to cease from the indecent rush of irrational words; let us both stand here to pray, and surely the Lord will work His mercy with us and will cast the wicked spirit out from us." When with these and many other words the mother had admonished her daughter, she, struck the more by the goad of impurity, by no means bore to hear her mother's words, but cried out shamelessly: "O mother, either let me go back into the world and fulfil my desire, or I will kill myself." The mother, brought into extreme straits, prostrating herself before God, with a mighty cry and groaning prayed as a suppliant that power might be sent to her from on high, so that, either invisibly, through the form, I mean, of an angel, or visibly through one of His servants coming upon them, it might at once quench the burning flame of her daughter's body. And while the mother was held in crying out and prayer, raising her eyes she sees our venerable father Ioannicius coming from the other direction and going, as has been said, into Conturia. And running, she embraced his feet intently and with tears, like

that blessed adulteress, watering his feet, she asked him to have pity on her and on her daughter. He, marvelling at her faith, bade her rise and ordered her to disclose to him the cause of her weeping. When she had reported what had happened, the saint, taking the girl's right hand and putting it on his own neck, cried out: "O daughter, from now on let your warfare be in me; but you, by the grace of God, be healed of your goad." And at once the girl, coming to her senses, was relieved of the warfare, and, rejoicing with her mother, praising God and the saint, she thenceforth completed her life in peace.

[47] he takes upon himself. And when that very hard warfare had been turned upon him and had stuck in the saint like a sort of thorn [p], it wore him down not a little. Giving himself to fasts and vigils, and sleeping on the ground, and prayers through whole nights, and entreating God, he found at that time no remission in any way, God, as I suppose, permitting it and purging His saint in fire. When he had passed very many days in straits, he fell into a sea of despair. And knowing that there dwelt in those caves there a great asp, which had been changed from a sack into the form of a beast, he says to himself: "It is better for you, O lowly Ioannicius, to go away and be devoured bodily by a sensible asp than, the soul overcome by sin, to become the food of the spiritual asp." Scarcely had he said this when he sets out for the asp, and when he had come near it, holding its head with both hands and shaking it violently, he roused the beast to fury against himself. It, full of rage, blew violently upon the saint, yet did not harm him or do the saint any evil; but also, by the grace and help of God, that strong and terrible warfare ceasing, he at length triumphed, and, returning thanks to God, the saint, rejoicing and singing psalms, continued the journey he had begun [q].

ANNOTATA.

a. Namely to Olympus.

d. Ps. IV, 17.

p. On the sense of the word σκόλοψ, compare what the distinguished Max Krenkel lately discussed with learning, Beiträge zur Aufhellung der Geschichte und der Briefe des Apostels Paulus, pp. 47–125.

q. Compare the same whole story narrated in Sabas, chap. VI, no. 22, p. 352.

codex Ελαιοβομῶν. codex Ἤγγερ, and so thereafter. codex φησίν. codex μετρόπολιν. codex ἔσο. codex περιβώητος. codex ἀπείη. codex ὀργύας. codex καθήρξεως. codex ὃς. codex ῥαγδέως. codex ἀπολείᾳ. codex εἰώθη. codex περιβώητος. codex τεχνήταις here and below. codex κατέρευσεν. codex Θρακισίων. codex διαρραγῆσαι. codex ῥομανισίων. codex Λησσῷ. codex θειασότων. codex ὄντων. codex ἐξίη codex ἐπησφρίσαν. codex ἐλέῳ. codex στεφανιφοροῦσαι. codex ὕστρῳ. codex ἔσο. codex σκόλωψ. codex ἐπιπεσὸν. * codex εὕρισκε.

CHAPTER NINE. The narration of the miracles of St. Ioannicius continues. He makes St. Eustratius well from a grave illness.

[48] Ἄλλοτε δὲ πάλιν χειμονικοῦ καιροῦ ἐνστάντος, οἶα δὲ εἰώθει πολλάκις ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις γαλήνην σταθηρὰν γίνεσθαι, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταῖς καλουμέναις ἁλκυόναις, καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου πεφυκότος τότε πρὸς τὰ νότια ἐπανατέλλειν μέρη καὶ ποσῶς πρυκτωρεῖν διὰ τὸ μὴ κατὰ κεφαλῆς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ κατώτερον μέρος πέλειν, ἐξήει ὁ ἅγιος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κέλλης περιθαλφθῆναί τε ὁμοῦ καὶ περιπατῆσαι. Καὶ τῆς κέλλης αὐτοῦ μακρύνας, ἄφνω χειμὼν μέγας ἐπέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ μενκέτι δυνάμενος ὑποστρέφειν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τοῦ ὄρους καθάπερ ἐν πελάγει δεινῶς ἐχειμάζετο. Καὶ δὴ τῷ Θεῷ δεόμενος τοῦ διασῶσαι αὐτόν, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περισκοπήσας ὁρᾷ ἔναγχος αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχον σπήλαιον καὶ περιχαρὴς γενάμενος πρὸς αὐτὸ ἐξέκλινε. Γενόμενος δὲ κατὰ τῆς εἰσόδου τοῦ σπηλαίου ὁρᾷ εἰς τὸ ἐνδότατον μέρος τοῦ ἄντρου ὡσεὶ ἀνθρακίαν πυρὸς ἐπικειμένην· τόδε ἦν ἀληθὲς δράκων, οὗ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ τῷ λάμποντι πυρὶ ὁμοιοῦντο. Ὅδε μὴ γνούς, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, τοῦτο πῦρ οἰόμενος εἶναι χαίρων πάνυ τὰ προσκείμενα φύλλα ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ συνέλεγε καὶ ἄμφω τῶ χεῖρε πλήσας ἀπελθὼν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ δράκοντος ὑπέστρωσε. Καὶ ὡς τοῦτο ὲγεγόνει, μέγα διατιναξάμενος ὁ θὴρ ἠβουλήθη μὲν κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου ὁρμῆσαι, οὐκ ἠδυνήθη δέ, τῆς θείας χάριτος πάντοτε περισκεπούσης αὐτὸν καὶ διαφυλαττούσης. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τοῦτον θεασάμενος ἠμέρα πως ὑπανεχώρησε καὶ πρός τι μέρος τοῦ σπηλαίου κεκάθικε * καὶ διετέλεσεν ἐκεῖσε συνοικῶν τῷ δράκοντι ἕως οὗ ὁ χειμῶν κεκόπακεν. Εἰθ᾽ οὕτως ἀβλαβὴς ἐξελθών, ὑμνῶν τὸν Θεὸν πρὸς τὸ κελλίον αὐτοῦ ὲπορεύθη.

[49] Ἐπέτρεψέν ποτε ὁ ἅγιος τὸν εὐλαβέστατον αὐτοῦ ὑπουργόν, τούνομα Θεόφιλον, ὅτε κατῴκει ἐν τῇ εὐαγεστάτῃ μονῇ τοῦ Ἀντιδίου, λαβεῖν σκαμάνην καὶ διορύξαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κελλης ἐπὶ ἱκανὸν τόπον τοῦ ποῖησαι διέξοδον· ἦν γὰρ, ὡς πολλάκις εἶπον, ἐν οἷς χώροις κατέμενεν ὁ τόπος δυσάγωγος. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, συμπαραλαβὼν ὁ ἅγιος Θεόφιλον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ὑπουργόν ἐξῄει * συμπεριπατῶν αὐτῷ. Τοῖς οὖν κατασκίοις τῶν ὀρέων δένδροις διελθόντες, καὶ πρός τινα χῶρον ἄδασον καὶ εὐήλιον γεγονότες τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἄρας ὸ ῥηθεὶς μαθητής, ὁ ἡγιασμένος Θεόφιλος, θεωρεῖ τοὺς τοῦ μοναστηρίου ἀδελφοὺς ἀνερχομένους, ἅμα καὶ πλείστων πτωχῶν τῶν συνήθως πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἀνερχομένων καὶ διακονουμένων, καὶ ὑπομνήσας τὸν μέγαν ὑποστρέφειν ἔλεγεν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τῷ γήρει ἐπικαμφθεὶς καὶ μηκέτι βαδίζειν ἰσχύων μόλις ἐπιστραφεὶς ἔστη ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου οὗ ἦν. Ὡς δὲ οἱ ἐρχόμενοι πλησίον αὐτῶν ἐγένοντο, τὸν μὲν μαθητὴν Θεόφιλον πάντες ἐθεάσαντο, καὶ πάντες αὐτῷ μετάνοιαν ἔβαλον, τὸν δὲ ἅγιον σὺν τῷ μαθητῇ εἰς τὸν τόπον ἱστάμενον, καίπερ, ὡς ἲστε πάντες, παμμεγέθη τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ὄντα οὐδ᾽ ὅλως ἐθεάσαντο. Ὡς οὖν διῆλθον, φησὶ πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὴν ὁ ἅγιος· Ὤ Θεόπιλε, εὐλογίας λαβὼν τοῖς πτωχοῖς ἀποκόμισον, ὅτι μεγάλη βία κατηνάγκασεν αὐτοὺς τὰ ἐνταῦθα καταλαβεῖν. Καὶ τοῦτο ποιήσας καὶ διανείμας ἑκάστῳ τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν, ἠρωτᾶτο ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὁ Θεόφιλος τίνος χάριν μόνος ἐκεῖσε ἵστατο καὶ διὰ ποίαν αἰτίαν; Αὐτὸς δὲ εφασκε μὴ μόνον αὐτὸν εἰναι, ἀλλὰ σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ ἵστασθαι. Οἵδε μεθ᾽ ὅρκου διεβεβαιοῦντο μηδένα ἕτερον τεθεᾶσθαι πλὴν αὐτοῦ· διὸ καὶ κοινῇ τῷ Θεῷ εὐχαριστήσαντες δόξαν ἀνέπεμψαν.

[50] Ἄνθρωποι τινές ποτε ἀπὸ μακρόθεν παραγενάμενοι πρὸς τὸ τὸν ἅγιον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιον θεάσασθαι τὴν μονὴν τοῦ Ἀντιδίου κατέλαβον. Καὶ δὴ κατὰ συγκυρίαν ὁ ἐκεῖσε μοναχὸς ὤν, ὁ ἡγιασμένος Παῦλος, ἐκπορευόμενος πρὸς τὴν ἐκκαιομένην ἄβεστον ὕλην κομίσαι, λόγῳ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τοῦ εὐκτηρίου τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου, συνήντησεν αὐτοῖς. Αὐτοὶ δὲ συμπεσόντες αὐτῷ παρεκάλουν ὑπόμνησιν ποιῆσαι περὶ αὐτῶν ὅπως θεάσωνται τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον. Καὶ φησιν αὐτός· Ὦ ἄνδρες, μείνατε ἐν τῷ τέως καὶ μακροθυμήσατε ἐν ᾧ ἐστε τόπῳ, καὶ ὅστις ἄν ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ διέλθοι, αὐτός ἐστιν ὅν ζητεῖτε· προσπέσατε αὐτῷ. Οἵδε ἐποίησαν ὡς ἐδιδάχθησαν, καὶ οὐ μετὰ * πολὺ διελθὼν διὰ αὐτῶν ὁ ἅγιος οὐδc, ὅλως ἐθεάθη ὑπ᾽ αὐτων. Αὐτῶν δὲ ἐπὶ πολλαις ὥραις προσκαρτερούντων καὶ μήτι γε πλάνη τινα πεπονθέναι ὑπονόουντων διὰ τὸ τὸν ποθούμενον μὴ φαίνεσθαι, πάλιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς Παῦλος πρὸς τὸ μοναστήριον ὑπέστρεψε, καὶ φησι πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας· Ἰδού, τέκνα, τὸ ἐπιθύμημα ὑμῶν τετελείωται. Αὐτοὶ δὲ διαβεβαιούμενοι ἔλεγον μηδαμῶς ἕως τοῦ νὺν τινα πλὴν αὐτοῦ θεάσασθαι. Τὸν δὲ μοναχὸν καταπλαγέντα καὶ ἔτι παρὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐjδyσωοθέντα ὑπόμνησιν ποιῆσαι περὶ αὐτῶν αὐτὸς συνθέμενος αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ὑπέστρεψε, καὶ βαλὼν αύτῷ μετάνοιαν μετρίᾳ τῇ ἠρωτήσει ἐπύθετο· Πῶς ἐάσας τοὺς ξένους ἀπεριλογήτους διέβης; Ὅδε ψησιν· Ὅτι οὐκ ἐθεασάμην αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ τὰ νῦν ἄπελθε, καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτοῖς, μηκέτι ποτνιᾶν, ἀλ᾽ ὡς ἤδη εἰδότας καὶ εὐλογηθέντας πιστεύειν καὶ χαίροντας παλινοστεῖν πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα. Καὶ τούτου γεναμένου τὴν ἀγγελίαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι δεξάμενοι, καὶ οὕτως ἔχειν ἀδιστάκτως πιστεύσαντες ὁποῖα καὶ δεδήλωκεν ὁ ἅγιος, εὐχαριστοῦντες καὶ αἰνούντες τὸν Θεὸς πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν πατρίδα ὑπέστρεψαν.

[51] Ἔθος ἦν τινι τῶν πολιτῶν πυκνότερον ἀπιέναι πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον καὶ τὰς ριμίας εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ κομίζεσθαι, ἐκδιηγεῖσθαί τε πᾶσι τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ ὄσα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι ἐκτελεῖ. Τεθέατο γὰρ πολλάκις ἀπιὼν θήρας ἀγρίους ὑποτεταγμένους αὐτῷ καὶ ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ ἐκτρεφομένους. Ἐν μιᾷ οὗν ἐν συλλόγῳ πολυανθρώπῳ καθεζόμενος καὶ μεγαλύνων τὸν ἅγιον, ἀναστάς τις ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ συνεδρίου εἶπε· Ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ξένα μοι δοκεῖ καὶ μεγάλα τὰ ὑπὸ σοῦ λαλούμενα καὶ ἀπιθάνως * πρὸς τούτοις ἔχω, ἀλλ᾽ εἰ βούλοιο πιστῶσαί με, λάβε με μετὰ σοῦ, εἴπερ καὶ παρρησίαν, ὡς λέγεις, πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἔχεις, ὄπως κἀγὼ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου θεασάμενος μηκέτι ἀναδύωμαι, ἀλλ᾽ εἰλικρινῶς πιστεύσω. Καὶ δὴ ἀμφότεροι λαβόντες ἀπῆλθον πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον, καὶ

τοῦτον θεασάμενοι καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ κομισάμενοι ἐκελεύσθησαν συνευωχηθῆναι αὐτῷ. Κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέσον τοῦ ἀρίστου ἰδοὺ καὶ ἄρκος μεγίστη παρεγένετο, καὶ πλησίον τῶν δαιτυμόνων ἔσπευδεν ἑαυτὴν ἐφαπλῶσαι. Τῶνδε λίαν ταραχθέντων καὶ τὸ· Βοήθει, ἅγιε τοῦ Θεοῦ, μεγάλῃ φωνῇ ἐπιβοώντων, αὐτὸς ἠμέρα πως μειδιῶν, μὴ φοβεῖσθαι * τούτοις ἔλεγεν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς λεγομένοις σημείοις στέργειν πιστοῖς οὖσι καὶ πιστεύειν καὶ μὴ ἀναβάλλεσθαι οἷα ἀπίστοις τὸ σύνολον. Εἶτα καὶ ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ τὸ θηρίον ψωμίζειν ἐπέτρεπεν αὐτοῖς· αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ φόβῳ νεκρωθέντες ἀχανεῖς ἔμειναν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἔφη πρὸς τὸ θηρίον· Ἐπειδὴ οὗτοι ἀδιακρίτως πρὸς σὲ ἔχουσιν, ἄπελθε ἐν τῷ τέως καὶ πάλιν μετὰ ταῦτα ἐλεύσῃ. Ὁ δὲ θὴρ ἅμα τῇ προστάξει προσκυνήσας τῷ ἁγίῳ ἐπανεχώρησε, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς γενόμενοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ ἁγίου προσέπεσον· εὐξαμένου τε αὐτοῖς καὶ εὐλογήσαντος ἀπέλυσε μετ᾽ εἰρήνης.

[52] Ἐπέτρεψέ ποτε ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητήν, τὸν σεβάσμιον Θεόδουλον, λαβεῖν μαγαρικὸν ἐλαίου * καὶ δοῦναι τοῖς πτωχοῖς καὶ ἓτερον δὲ κενὸν μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιφέρεσθαι. Καὶ τούτου μὴ βουλομένου, ἀλλὰ μάτην λέγοντος τοῦτο βαστάζειν, πάλιν μειδιῶν ὁ ἅγιος ἔλεγεν· Λήψῃ δὴ αὐτὸ πάντως, μήπως καὶ συναντήσῃς τινι τοῦτο χρήζοντι, καὶ δώσεις αὐτῷ καὶ μισθὸν κομίσῃ. Ὅδε ὡς ἐκελεύσθη ἀμφότερα ἔλαβεν· καὶ δὴ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀνύων μέγα ὀλισθήσας πέπτωκεν καὶ τῇ κρούσει τοῦ πεπλησμένου ἀγγείου ὀπὴν πεποιηκότος, αὐτὸς συντόμως διαναστὰς πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον τὸ κενὸν μετέβαλεν, καὶ μνησθεὶς τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ἁγίου ἐπὶ τῇ ἀντιστάσει τῆς παρακοῆς πικρῶς ἔκλαυσεν. Εἶτα πληρώσας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διακονίαν ὑπέστρεψε καὶ βαλὼν μετάνοιαν ᾔτει τὸν ἅγιον συγχωρῆσαι αὐτῷ, διηγησάμενος καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν αὐῷ συμβάντα. Ὅδε ποσῶς ἐπιστύψας, συγχωρήσας τε καὶ ἐπευξάμενος αὐτὸν ἀπέλυσεν.

[53] Διερχομένου ποτε κατά τινα τόπον τοῦ ἀξιαγάστου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου, καὶ συμπορευομένου αὐτῷ Δανιὴλ τοῦ μακαριωτάτου, τοῦ γεγονότος ποτε ἡγουμένου τοῦ νησίου τῆς εὐαγοῦς μονῆς τοῦ Θασίου, εὗρον σπήλαια πάνυ δεινὰ καὶ πλήρη δαιμόνων. Κατῴκει γὰρ εἰς αὐτὰ ἄρχων δαιμόνων μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πανολέθρου στρατιᾶς, ἃ καὶ παρὰ τῶν πόρρωθεν οἰκούντων ἐκαλεῖτο τὸ ἄντρον εἰς τὸν Τοπάρχην, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο διελθεῖν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἐκείνῳ. Τῷ οὗν διορατικῷ τῆς καρδίας ὀφθαλυῷ τὸν δαιμόνιον ἐκεῖνον ὅμιλον αἰσθόμενος ὁ λίαν τὰς αἰσθήσεις κεκαθαρμένος σεβάσμιος Ἰωαννίκιος, ἔφη πρὸς τὸν μέγαν Δανιήλ· Ὦ πάτερ, ἐπάκουσον καὶ κατάνευσον, καὶ οἰκήσωμεν μεμερισμένως ἀμφότεροι ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραις ἐν τούτοις τοῖς σπηλαίοις καὶ ἐλπίζω εἰς τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὅτι ἡμᾶς μὲν ἡ χάρις τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἀπημάντους διαφυλάξει, τὴν δὲ δαιμόνιον πληθὺν ἐκδιώξει καὶ ἀπελάσει καὶ οἰκητήριον σωζομένων ἀνθρώπων ἀναδείξει. Καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ ὁσίου οὐκ ἠπείθησεν ὁ ἱερώτατος Δανιήλ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπείσθη. Καὶ δὴ ἀμφότεροι χωρισθέντες ἐπὶ τὰ σπήλαια οἰκήσοντες ὲπορεύθησαν, καὶ ἐκτενῶς τὸν Θεὸν ἐλιτάνευον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐκδιώξει τῶν ἀκαθάρτων πνευμάτων. Καὶ περὶ τὸ τέλος που τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν φαίνεταί τις ἀνὴρ φοβερός, δυσειδής, οὗ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἐπὶ πολλοῦ τοῦ ὕψους ἤρετο, τά τε σκελῆ δίκην παμμεγέθων κιόνων ὑπῆρχον, καὶ ὀξέως βαδίζων καὶ μεγάλως ὀργιζόμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐφώρμησεν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ θωρακίσας ἑαυτόν, ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα πυκνότερον τὸν ὁρώμενον κατεσφράγιζεν. Ὅδε οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπέδρα, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν ἀναιδευόμενος ἐπλησίαζεν. Ὡς δὲ πλησιάσαν ἐκεῖνο τὸ φοβερὸν θέαμα ἔναγχος τοῦ ἁγίου ἐγεγόνει, ἀμφοῖν ταῖς χερσὶν ὁ ἅγιος ἐκτείνας τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπελάβετο καὶ μεγάλῃ φωνῇ ἐκβοήσας· Παναγία Θεοτόκε, βοήθει, πρὸς γῆν τοῦτον μετὰ φοβεροῦ πατάγου, κατέρρηξεν *. Ὅδε καταγόμενος κατὰ τοῦ πλευροῦ τὸν ἅγιον σφοδρῶς ἐλάκτισε, καὶ ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ ἄφωνος ὁ ἅγιος ἧν. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὁ πανάγαστος πατὴρ ἡμῶν· Ἰωαννίκιος γεγονὼς καὶ τέλεον χάριτι Θεοῦ ῥωσθείς, ἑνωθεὶς πάλιν τῷ θεοφόρῳ Δανιὴλ καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀμφότεροι ὑμνήσαντες ἐπὶ τῇ παντελεῖ ἐκδιώξει τῶν ἀκαθάρτων πνευμάτων χαίροντες καὶ ψάλλοντες τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτῶν ἤνυον.

[54] Κένωσίς ποτε πολλοῦ αἵματος ἐγεγόνει ἐκ τῶν ῥινῶν τῷ σεβασμίῳ ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐστρατίῳ, τῷ καὶ τὴν θαυμαστὴν ταύτην καὶ ὀνησιφόρον πραγματείαν θερμῶς καὶ μετὰ πίστεως ἀναταξαμένῳ καὶ τῇ μετέπειτα γενεᾷ μνημόσυνον αἰώνιον καταλείψαντι· καὶ δὴ τῇ πολλῇ ἐκχύσει τοῦ αἵματος λίαν ὁ ἡγιασμένος ἀνὴρ λιποθυμήσας σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν ἄφωνος ἐγεγόνει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἰατροὶ πλεῖστοι, ἄτε θαυμαστοῦ καὶ περιβοήτου πᾶσιν ὄντος τοῦ πανοσίου Εὐστρατίου, παρεγένοντο καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ ἐμηχανᾶτο ἕκαστος τὴν σφοδρὰν ἐκείνην ῥύσιν τοῦ αἵματος στῆσαι. Ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ὠφέλουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ἔβλαπτον, τέλεον ἀπελπίσαντες κατέλιπον. Προσκαλεσάμενος δὲ αὐτὸς τὸν εὐλαβέστατον Νικόλαον μόλις τῷ ἄσθματι τοῦτον καθικέτευε μετὰ πολλῆς ττῆς ταχυτῆτος ἀπιέναι καὶ μηνύσαι τῷ ἁγίῳ τὴν τούτου ἀσθένειαν καὶ καθικετεύσαι αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ θερμῶς προσεύξασθαι. Διενοήθη γὰρ πάνυ ὀρθῶς ὁ κλεινὸς Εὐστράτιος ὅτιπερ· Τῆς ἀγγελίας ἀπιούσης καὶ τῆς εὐχῆς γενομένης, πάντως ἐλέους τεύξομαι· ὅπερ καὶ γέγονε. Τοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρός, ὡς ἐκελεύσθη, ἀπιόντος, γνοὺς ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκεῖνος νοῦς τὸ συμβᾶν ἐξῆλθεν εἰς ὑπάντησιν αὐτοῦ. Ὅδε τὸν ἅγιον θεασάμενος πρὸς γὴν ἑαυτὸν κλίνας καὶ εὐχὴν αἰτήσας καὶ λαβὼν ἀνέστη· καὶ φησιν ὁ ὅσιος πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα καίπερ εἰδὼς τί ἄρα ἐσκύλη ἐπύθετο καὶ τίς ἡ τοσαύτη περίσπασις καὶ εἰ ὑγιαίνει ὁ πιστὸς καὶ καλὸς φίλος καὶ ἀγαπητὸς Εὐστράτιος. Ὅδε ἕνεκε τούτου ἐπειπὼν παραγενέσθαι ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ὁ ὅσιος ἐπίτοπίως ἐκεῖσε καθεσθέντα μικρὸν ἀναμεῖναι· καὶ τούτου γενομένου, πρὸς τὸ κελλίον αὐτοῦ ὑπέστρεψεν ὁ ἅγιος καὶ ἐπὶ πλείστην ὥραν τῷ Θεῷ δεηθεὶς ἐλθών φησι πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα· Ὦ ἄνερ, ἄπελθε καὶ εἰπὲ τῷ προσφιλεστάτῳ μοι Εὐστρατίῳ ὅτι· Ἐν τῷ τέως μὴ λυποῦ, οὐ θνήσκεις γάρ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τάχει, Θεοῦ εὐδοκοῦντος, ἀλλήλους ὀψόμεθα. Καὶ σὺν τῷ λόγῳ ὁ μὲν ἀποσταλεὶς συνταξάμενος τῷ ἁγίῳ γεγηθὼς ἐπορεύθη, ἥ τε ῥύσις τοῦ αἵματος, τῇ αὐτῇ ὥρᾳ, ἐν ᾗ εἶπεν ὁ ἅγιος τῷ ἀνδρὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἀποθνήσκει, ἔστη καὶ εἰσάπαν ἡ ἀσθένεια διὰ τῶν ἐντεύξεων τοῦ ἁγίου ἀπηλάθη. Καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καταλαβόντος καὶ τὴν χαροποιὸν ἐκείνην ἀγγελίαν ἐπὶ πάντων ἐξειπόντος ἀκριβῶς ὁ ἡγιασμένος Εὐστράτιος τὴν ὥραν ἐπύθετο ἐν ᾗ τοῦτο ὁ ἅγιος εἷπεν. Καὶ μαθὼν ἔγνω παναλήθως ὅτι ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἅγιος λελάληκε κομψότερον ἔσχηκεν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ σὺν πᾶσι τὸν Θεὸν ὑμνήσας τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀπένειμε. Καὶ οὐ μετὰ πολλὰς ἡμέρας, ἔτι τοῦ κλεινοῦ Εὐστρατίου ἐκ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἀδυναμοῦντος, ἐξελιπάρησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ἐν τῷ μετοχίῳ τῷ ἐπονομαζομένῳ Λευκάδων κατοικοῦντες ἀδελφοὶ ἐλθεῖν καὶ ἐπισκέψασθαι αὐτοὺς καὶ καταρτίσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ οἰκοδομῆσαι τὰ εἰς σωτηρίαν φέροντα. Καὶ δὴ πεισθεὶς ὁ ἡγιασμένος Εὐστράτιος, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνεβάλετό ποτε ἐπὶ τοῦτο, ἀλλ᾽ ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἴστε ὡς παρὰ πάντων ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ ψυχῆς προσκαλούμενος ζεόντως ἐπιτρέχει, ὡς πολλὰς ψυχὰς καὶ ἀναριθμήτους τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ ἐπισπεύδων ἐκσπᾶν χάριτι Θεοῦ ἐκ στόματος τοῦ δεινοῦ δράκοντος καὶ προσάγειν Θεῷ διὰ μετανοίας, καὶ ποιεῖν καθαρώτατα κτήματα καὶ ἐθελούσια ἱερεῖα καὶ ἄμωμα θύματα. Ὑπήκουσεν οὖν, καὶ συνέθετο πορεύεσθαι, εἰ καὶ βεβιασμένως, διὰ τήν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀσθένειαν καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν. Καὶ ἐπείπερ κεκίνηκε, καὶ τὸν τόπον, ὅν ἔφθην εἰπών, ἔφθασε, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐπευξάμενος καὶ συμβιβάσας ἕκαστον τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν, διὰ τὸν κόπον τῆς ὁδοῦ πάλιν αὐτὸς ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ περιπέπτωκεν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἡμέρας τέσσαρας ἄβρωτος ἦν διαμένων, τῇ ἐπιτάσει τοῦ λαύρου πυρετοῦ δεινῶς ἔκαμνεν. Πάντων οὖν τῶν ἀδελφῶν κύκλοθεν παρισταμένων, καὶ δακρυόντων πικρῶς ἐπὶ τῷ χωρισμῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ὀρφανίαν αὐτῶν ἀποκλαιομένων, καὶ αὐτὸς σύνδακρυς ἐγένετο. Ὡς οὖν ἐπὶ πολλὰς ὥρας ὁ θρῆνος ἐκεκρατήκει, καὶ τῶν φοιτητῶν τὸ οὐαὶ ἐπιβοωμένων καὶ λεγόντων· Τίς ἡμᾶς ποιμανεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν, ὦ καλὲ καὶ συμπαθέστατε πάτερ; Αἴ, αἲ ἡμῖν, τίς ἡμᾶς ὁδηγήσει καὶ περισκεπάσει, ὡς σύ, ὦ φιλοτεκνότατε; Ποῦ εὕρομεν ἡμεῖς οἱ ταπεινοὶ πηγὴν καθαρὰν τοιαύτης διακρίσεως; Πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα ῥήματα ζωῆς καθ᾽ έκάστην παρὰ σοῦ ἀκούοντες; Τίς ύποδείξει ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν; Ὤ, ὢ ἡμῖν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς ὅτι τοιούτου λαμπτῆρος καὶ φωστῆρος ἡμεῖς χωριζόμεθα, ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν αἴτιοι τοῦ θανάτου σου, ὦ καλὲ πάτερ· εἰ γὰρ ἡμεῖς μὴ προσκεκλήκαμέν σε, ἀλλὰ μικρὸν εἰάσαμέν σε ἀναπνεῦσαι τῆς ἀοθενείας σου, ἄρα ἂν πάντως καὶ ἕξης θερμῶς φροντίζων τοῦ σοῦ ποιμνίου. Ταῦτα οὖν καὶ τινα ἄλλα ῥήματα θρηνητικὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὡς ἐπὶ πλείστην ὥραν λεγόντων, κατασείσας τῇ χειρὶ καὶ τὸν θρῆνον παυθῆναι φήσας, πάντας εὐλογήσας καὶ ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσε. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ εἰς ἱκεσίαν ἐτράπη καὶ τὸν σημειοφόρον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιον, ὡς ἤδη, κατοπτριζόμενος καθικέτευε δοῦναι αὐτῷ τὴν ἴασιν καὶ, ὡς ὑπέσχετο, θεάσασθαι αὐτόν. Καὶ δὴ εὐχόμενος καθ᾽ ὓπνους ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁρᾷ τὸν ἅγιον παριστάμενον, καὶ λέγοντα αὐτῷ· Μηδαμῶς δειλανδρίσῃς, ὦ Εὐστράτιε, ἀλλὰ ταχέως πορεύθητι πρὸς δὲ τὸν τόπον καὶ πρὸς τοὺς τοιούσδε ἡγιασμένους μοναχοὺς καὶ λάλησον αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἡμῶν τὰ καὶ τά. Καὶ εὐθέως ὁ ἀσθενῶν βαλὼν μετάνοιαν τὸ δοκεῖν ἐπορεύετο καὶ πρὸς τὸν τόπον γενόμενος ύπηντήθη παρὰ τῶν ἐκεῖσε κεκρυμμένων ὑψηλοτάτων μοναχῶν καὶ ἀυφότεροι πεσόντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ᾐτοῦν εὐχήν. Ὡς δὲ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου ἐν τῇ δοχῇ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πορευομένων εὐχὴ ἐγεγόνει, ταύτην ἀναλαβὼν ὁ πανιερώτατος Εὐστράτιος σὺν αὐτοῖς τὸ δοκεῖν ὑπνῶν ἔλεγε, καὶ τῆς ἐκτενοῦς ἐπιβοωμένης οἱ συνόντες ἐκεῖσε ἀδελφοὶ ζώσῃ φωννῇ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ θεσπεσίου ὴγουμένου αὐτῶν Εὐστρατίου τό· Κύριε ἐλέησον, ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀναπεμπόμενον ἤκουον. Καὶ δὴ πάλιν λυπούμενοι διηρώτων αὐτόν· Τί, ἐγκαλὲ πάτερ, ἀφίης ὴμᾶς ὀρφανούς; Ὅδε διϋπνισθεὶς θαρσαλεωτέπᾳ τῇ φωνῇ· Οὔ φησι, τέκνα, ἀπεκρίθη, μὴ λυπεῖσθε, ὁ γὰρ ἅγιος Ἰωαννίκιος ἐπεσκέψατό με. Καὶ ζητήσας τροφὴν παραχρῆμα μετέλαβεν, καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον ὁ ἤδη πρὸς αὐτὰς τὰς πύλας τοῦ θανάτου ἐγγίσας δυναμωθεὶς τῇ ἐπισκέψει τοῦ ἁγίου ἐπέβη τὸ ἴδιον κτῆνος, καὶ περιπατήσας σταδίους δεκαπέντε δοξάζων τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἅγιον εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν μονὴν παρεγένετο.

[48] St. Ioannicius dwells with a dragon, On another occasion again, when the winter season was at hand, as

there was commonly wont to be in those days a settled calm, and especially through the days called halcyon, the sun then rising towards the southern regions and lighting things up only somewhat, because it moves not at the zenith but in a lower course, the saint went out of his cell to take the warmth and at the same time to walk. When he was far from his cell, suddenly a violent storm burst upon him, and since he was no longer able to return, he was terribly tossed in the middle of the mountain as in a tempest at sea. But, imploring God to preserve him and looking around on every side, he sees a cave not far off; rejoicing, he turned aside to it. And when he had come to the entrance of the cave, he sees in the innermost part of the cave something like burning coals lying. This was in fact a real dragon, whose eyes were like shining fire. The saint, not knowing this, but, as I said before, thinking it to be fire, rejoicing greatly, gathered the leaves lying in the cave and, filling both hands, went and scattered them on the dragon's eyes. Then the beast, shaking itself violently, wished to rush upon the saint, but could not, the grace of God altogether protecting and guarding him. The saint, having seen the monster, withdrew quietly and sat down in the other part of the cave and remained there dwelling with the dragon until the storm was calmed. Then, coming out unharmed, praising God, he returned to his cell ^a.

[49] he makes himself twice invisible The saint once commanded his reverend assistant, named Theophilus, when he was living in the most holy monastery of Antidium, to take a mattock and dig in front of his cell up to a certain spot, so that a way out might lie open for him. For, as I have often said, in the region which he inhabited the place was impassable. This done, the saint, taking with him Theophilus his assistant, went out with him for a walk. Passing among the spreading trees of the mountains, when they had come to a certain open and sunny spot, the said disciple, the venerable Theophilus, raising his eyes, sees the brethren of the monastery coming, together with many poor people who were accustomed to visit the saint and serve him, and, having advised the saint to go back, he told him of it. But the saint, broken by old age and not able to go any further, turned with difficulty and stood in the place where he was. When those coming had approached near to them, all saw the disciple Theophilus, and all bowed their heads to him; but the saint, standing on the road with the disciple, although, as you all know, he was of great stature, they did not see at all. When they had passed, the saint said to his disciple: "O Theophilus, take the blessed loaves and bring them to the poor, because grave necessity has compelled them to come here." This done, when he had distributed to each according to need, Theophilus was asked by the brethren for what reason he stood there alone, and on account of what. He answered that he was not alone, but was standing beside the saint. They asserted with an oath that no one had been seen by them except him; wherefore, having together rendered thanks to God, they glorified Him.

[50] to passers-by, Certain men, once coming from far away to see our holy father Ioannicius, made for the monastery of Antidium. By chance the venerable Paul, who was a monk there, who had set out to procure, besides quicklime, timber for building the church of Saint John, met them. Coming upon him, they charged him to show them how they might see the holy man of God. He said to them: "Men, stay here and have patience in the place where you are, and he who passes by after me is the one you seek: prostrate yourselves at his feet." They did as they had been told; and not long afterwards the saint, passing through the midst of them, was not seen by them at all. And when they had waited for many hours, suspecting that they had been deceived because he whom they desired did not appear, the said Paul came back again to the monastery. He says these words to the men: "Behold, sons, your desire has been fulfilled." But they affirmed and said that up to then they had not seen anyone else at all. The monk, astonished, and again asked to make mention of them, returned with them accompanying him to the saint, of whom, bowing his head, he asked with a respectful question: "How did you pass by these strangers and have no care for them?" He answered: "I did not see them; but now go and tell them not to be saddened; but now, as if they had recognized me and I had blessed them, let them believe and return home with joy." This done, the men, receiving the message and firmly believing that it was so, as the saint had said, giving thanks to God and praising Him, returned to their homeland ^b.

[51] he tames a she-bear, It was the custom of a certain citizen to visit the saint frequently and receive his precious prayers, and also to tell everyone all the wonders which he worked with the help of God's grace. For he had often seen, when he came, the wild beasts of the woods subject to him and taking food from his hands. One day, therefore, when he was sitting in a crowded gathering and was extolling the saint, someone rising in the midst of the assembly said: "O man, the things you tell seem to me unusual and great, and I give credence to them with difficulty; but if you wish to move me to believe, take me with you, since, as you say, you have dealings with the saint, so that I too, seeing with my own eyes, may no longer distrust, but believe manifestly." And both, setting out, made their way to the saint; having seen him and received his blessing, they were invited to dine with him. And in the middle of the meal, behold, a very large she-bear came, which hastened to roll itself over near the guests. When they were greatly disturbed and had cried out with a loud voice: "Help, saint of God," he, smiling gently, said to them: "Do not be terrified, but take delight in the signs spoken of, which are worthy of faith, and believe, and do not doubt in any way, as though these things were not certain." Then he urged them to stroke the beast with their hand, but they remained mute, as if half-dead with fear. Then the saint said to the beast: "Since these men behave so foolishly towards you, go away for the present and come back to me afterwards." The beast, obeying the command and having made reverence to the saint, departed; and when the men had come to themselves they fell at the saint's feet. He blessed them and prayed well for them, and dismissed them in peace ^c.

[52] he foretells future things, One day the servant of God charged his disciple, the venerable Theodulus, to take a small vessel full of oil to give to the poor, and to carry another, empty, with him. When he demurred and said that he would carry this off to no purpose, the saint, smiling, said again: "Take it nonetheless, lest perhaps you meet someone in need of oil, to whom you will give it and bring back the price." He, as he had been ordered, took both, and finishing the journey he stumbled heavily and fell, and in the fall the full vessel was holed; he, rising at once, poured the oil into the other, empty one, and, remembering the saint's word, wept bitterly on account of his sluggishness in obeying. Then, having performed his errand, he returned and, having done penance, asked the saint to grant him pardon, and related all that had happened on the way. He, when he had blamed him a little, granted pardon, blessed him and dismissed him ^d.

[53] he purges a place full of demons, When our very wonderful father Ioannicius was once passing through a certain place, and the most blessed Daniel, who was once hegumen of the holy island monastery of Thasios, accompanied him, they found very horrible caves full of demons. For the leader of the demons with his most abandoned army inhabited them, which were called by those who lived far off the cave at the Toparch, nor could anyone pass by in that place. When, therefore, the venerable Ioannicius, very keen in his senses, had perceived that demonic crowd with the clear-sighted eye of his heart, he said to the abbot Daniel: "O father, listen and agree that we both dwell separately for forty days in these caves, and I hope by the mercy of God that the grace of the most Holy Spirit will keep us unharmed, and will throw down and cast out the diabolical crowd, and show a refuge for men who are to be saved." Nor did the most holy Daniel distrust the saint's word, but consented. When, therefore, they had parted, both set out to dwell in the caves, praying God intently that the impure spirits might be cast out. And towards the end of the forty days there appears a certain terrible and misshapen man, whose head was raised to a great height and whose legs stood up like great columns; who, advancing with a rapid step, very angry, rushed upon the saint. The saint, armed with the sign of the cross, with his hand stretched out, repeatedly signed the man he saw. Yet he not only did not flee, but drew near very shamelessly. And when that horrible monster, approaching, had come opposite the saint, he, stretching out both hands, held his feet and cried out with a loud voice: "Most holy Mother of God, help me," and threw him to the ground with a great crash. He, having fallen, struck the saint violently in the side, and he remained without voice for seven days. After the seventh day, our venerable father Ioannicius, having come to himself and at length saved by the grace of God, returned to the God-bearing Daniel, and both, praising God for the complete casting out of the impure spirits, rejoicing and singing psalms, completed their journey [e].

[54] and he heals St. Eustratius. One day much blood flowed from the nose of the venerable man of God Eustratius, who fervently and faithfully committed this wonderful and profitable deed to writing, and left its memory everlasting to a later generation ^f. Through the great effusion of blood the very wonderful man became so weak that, I might almost say, he was deprived of voice. Moreover several physicians, since the most holy Eustratius was admired and celebrated by all, came together, and each tried by his art to check this violent flux of blood. When they made no progress, but rather harmed him, at length despairing they left him. When he had called to him the most reverend Nicholas, with difficulty, because of the constriction of his breath, he begged him as a suppliant to go with the utmost diligence to make known his illness to the saint and to ask him to pray fervently for him. For the illustrious Eustratius thought, quite rightly: "When a messenger has been sent and prayer made, I shall certainly obtain mercy": which in fact came to pass. When the messenger had set out as he had been ordered, that heavenly mind, knowing what had happened, went out to meet him. He, when he had seen the saint and bowed down to the ground and received the blessing he sought, rose. The saint addresses the man and, although he knew everything, asked what then was troubling him, and what his so great anxiety was, and whether the faithful, good friend and beloved Eustratius was well. When he had said that he was there on his account, the saint bade him sit down there and wait a little. This done, the saint went back to his cell, and when he had prayed to God for a long time, returning he said to the man: "O man, go and report to my most beloved Eustratius: do not be saddened now, for you will not die; but soon, God granting, we shall see one another."

And with this word the messenger, obedient to the saint, set out with joy; and the flux of blood had stopped at the very hour at which the saint had said: "You will not die," and the illness had entirely vanished through the intercession of the saint. When the messenger, returning, had brought that joyful news to all, the admirable Eustratius asked carefully at what hour the saint had said this. Having learned it, he found that he had in fact become better at the very hour at which the saint had spoken, and, praising God with all, he gave thanks to the saint. A few days later, while the illustrious Eustratius was still weakened from his illness, the brethren who lived in the little monastery surnamed of the Leucades earnestly asked him to come to visit them and to instruct and edify them in the things that pertain to salvation. The venerable Eustratius, consenting, for he never refused this, but you know how to this day, when called by anyone for the salvation of the soul, he ran fervently, how by the grace of God he snatched many and innumerable souls from the mouth of the terrible dragon and brought them to God through repentance, making them most pure goods, voluntary victims and irreproachable offerings, consented, then, and girded himself to set out, though with difficulty on account of the illness of which we have spoken, to save the brethren. When he had begun the journey and had come to the place which I mentioned before, after he had blessed the brethren and led each on the way of salvation, on account of the weariness of the journey he himself fell into illness again. When, then, he had passed four days fasting, he suffered from the onset of a violent fever. All the brethren surrounded him, weeping bitterly because they feared he would die and they would become orphans; Eustratius too wept with them. When the lamentation had lasted many hours, and those who were there cried "Woe to us" and said: "Who will lead us to pasture hereafter, O good and most beloved father? Alas for us, who will rule and protect us as you do, most loving of sons? Where shall we, the lowly, find the pure fountain of such direction? To whom shall we go, we who daily heard from you the words of life? Who will show us the way of salvation? Alas for us, wretched sinners, because we shall be bereft of such a light and torch; we are the cause of your death, O good father. For had we not called you, but let you rest a little from your illness, you would surely now be caring fervently for your flock." When these and other mournful words had been spoken by the brethren for a long time, having given a sign with his hand and bidden them moderate their weeping, he blessed them all and, praying well for them, dismissed them. He himself turned to supplication and, beholding as in a mirror, as before, our father Ioannicius, the worker of prodigies, asked him to grant him healing and, as he had promised, to visit him. When he had prayed, he fell asleep, and saw the saint standing by him and saying: "Do not be afraid at all, O Eustratius; but go at once to the place and to the venerable monks, to whom speak in our name this and this." And at once the sick man, bowing his head, seemed to himself to go away; and when he had come to the place, the most illustrious monks who were hidden there came to meet him and, falling to the ground, asked for a blessing. After the blessing had been given, as was the custom of our holy father Ioannicius when receiving those who came to him, when the most holy Eustratius had received it, he spoke with them while sleeping, as it seems, and as he chanted the prayer, the brethren gathered there heard Kyrie eleison uttered strongly in a firm voice from the mouth of their godly hegumen Eustratius. But again, sad, they asked him: "What, best father, are you leaving us orphans?" He, awaking, answered in a still louder voice: "By no means, sons; do not mourn. For St. Ioannicius has protected me." When he had asked for food, he at once took some of it, and on the next day he who was already approaching the gates of death, saved by the protection of the saint, mounted his beast and covered fifteen stadia, glorifying God and His saint, and arrived at his own monastery ^g.

ANNOTATA.

codex νοτεία. codex ἐξίη. codex κεκάθηκε. codex ἐξείη. codex μετ᾽ οὐ. codex ἀπειθάνως. codex φοβεῖσθε. codex ἔλαιον. codex κατέρρεξεν. codex λειποθυμήσας. codex περιβωήτου. codex ἀνανεῦσαι. * codex ἔν καλὲ.

CHAPTER TEN. St. Ioannicius professes his orthodox faith, and foretells many future and hidden things.

[55] Ἄλλοτε πάλιν τινὲς ἀντέβαλλον πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες· Ἆρά γε τῇ τῶν σημείων δόσει καὶ τὸν τῆς πίστεως λόγον κεκόσμηται ὁ μέγας Ἰωαννίκιος; Ἢ ἒν τινι τῇ ἁπλότητι καὶ τῇ ἰδιωτείᾳ ἒσφαλται; Καὶ εἰ ἧν δυνατὸν περὶ τούτου ἂν ἠκούσὰμεν καὶ ἒγνωμεν καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστεύσαμεν.Καὶ δὴ συμθωνήσαντες ἐβουλεύσαντο εὐχῆς χάριν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπιέναι καὶ περὶ τούτου ἀκριβῶς διερευνῆσαι. Καὶ ἀπελθόντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐδέχθησαν καί τινα πολλὰ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ λελαληκότες γνοὺς ὀ προβλεπτικὸς ἐκεῖνος νοῦς τὴν πανουργίαν αὐτῶν φησιν· Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις τινὲς περὶ ἐμοῦ θρυλλοῦσι καὶ κακῶς σκανδαλίζονται, οὐκ ὀρθῶς πιστεύειν με λέγοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἐσφαλμένως, βούλομαι ἐπὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐλαβείας τὴν ἐμὴν πίστιν δημηγορῆσαι. Καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν πάνυ ἐπὶ τοῦτο γεγηθότων, αὐτὸς ἀνοίξας τὸ τίμιον αὐτοῦ στόμα, ὡς ἐν ἐπιτόμῳ τάδε φησι [Hic incipit locus quem Petrus desumpsit ex Nicephori Apologetico pro sanctis imaginibus. Cfr. Mai, Patrum nova bibl., tom. V, p. 22 – 27. Quoniam tamen haud raro scriba nostri codicis in transcribendo erraverit, opportunum duximus variantes lectiones notare. Editionem Mai signamus 1, codicem Coislinianum 2.] . Πιστεύω πιστεύομεν 1. εἐς ἕνα Θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, πάντων ὁρωμένων τε omits 1. καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητὴν τε adds 1. καὶ κύριον, ἄναρχον, ἀόρατον, ἀκατάληπτον, ἀναλλοίωτον, ἀτελεύτητον· καὶ εἰς ἓνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ, ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀχρόνως καὶ πρὸ πάντων τῶν omits 2. αἰώνων τῆς πατρικῆς οὐσίας ἐκλάμψαντα· καὶ εἰς ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς προἳόν, * καὶ Πατρὶ καὶ Πατρὶ καὶ omits 2. Υἱῷ συνθεολογούμενον τε adds 1. καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, ὡς συμφυὲς καὶ συναΐδιον. Τριάδα μὲν δοξάζω δοξάζοντες 1. ὑποστάσεσιν ἤτοι προσώποις, καὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀμιγεῖς καὶ ἀσυγχύτους τηρῶν τηροῦντες 1. τὰς ἀφοριστικὰς ἰδιότητας, ὡς οὐδαμῶς μεταπιπτούσας ἢ μετακινουμένας κινουμένας 1. , Πατρὶ μὲν τὴν ἀγεννησίαν καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ νέμων νέμοντες 1. , Υἱῷ δὲ τὴν γέννησιν, Πνεύματι δὲ τὴν ἐκπόρευσιν· καὶ ὡς ἐξ αἰτίου τοῦ Πατρός, τό τε γεννώμενον καὶ τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον νοοῦντες adds 1. ἀπαυγάσαντα, καὶ ὡς φῶς ἑκάτερον ἐκ φωτὸς προελθόν προσελθὼν 2. , ἕν, ὑπερκόσμιον, τροσσοφεγγὲς καὶ τρισήλιον φῶς· μονάδα δὲ οὐσίᾳ καὶ φύσει προσκυνῶ προσκυνοῦντες 1. εἰς ἓν ὑπερούσιον καὶ ὑπερφυὲς θεότητος ὕψος συνιοῦσαν, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀμέριστον καὶ ἀδιάσπατον, τήν τε δόξαν καὶ τὸ κράτος κεκτημένην, ἐν ταυτοβουλίᾳ καὶ θελήσει, καὶ μιᾷ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ γνωριζομένην, καὶ οἶα adds 1. ἁπάντων πάντων 1. βασιλίδα καὶ τῶν ὅλων δεσποτεύουσαν παρὰ omits 2. πάσης τῆς adds 1. ὁρατῆς καὶ ἀοράτου κτίσεως, ὡς ὁμότιμόν τε καὶ σύνθρονον, προσκυνουμένην τε καὶ λατρευομένην· μίαν μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς adds 1. τρισὶ θεωρουμένην θεωροῦμεν 1. θεότητα τῷ ταὐτῷ τῆς οὐσίας ἑνιζομένην, τρεῖς δὲ ὑποστάσεις ἐν τῇ μιᾷ θεότητι, τῷ ἑτεροίῳ τῶν περὶ ἑκάστην ἐνυπαρχουσῶν ἰδιοτήτων ἀμερίστως διαιρουμένας. Οὔτε τὸν Υἱὸν τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου Πατρὸς οὐσίας ἀλλοτριῶ ἀλλοτριοῦντες 1. διὰ τὴν γέννησιν, οὔτε τό Πνεῦμα Πατρός καὶ Υἱοῦ διὰ τὴν ἐκπόρευσιν, οὔτε σύγχυσιν εἰδὼς εἴδοτες 1. διὰ τὸ ἑνιαῖον τῆς συμφυΐας καὶ ἄτμητον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῇς φύσεως τὸ διακεκριμένον ἑνῶν ἑνοὑντες1. τοῦ ἰδιάζοντος. Διαιρεῖται γὰρ ἀδιαιρέτως καὶ συνάπτεται διῃρημένως· ἓν γὰρ ἐν τρισὶν ἡ θεότης, ξαὶ τὰ τρία ἕν, τὰ ἐν οἷς ἡ θεότης, ἤ, τό γε ἀκριβέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἃ ἡ θεότης, καθ᾽ ἃ μεμυσταγηκεν ἡμᾶς τῶν θεολόγων ὁ κράτιστος. Θεὸν οὖν τὸν Πατέρα σέβω σέβομεν 1. , ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐκ μὴ ὄντων παρῆκται εἰς πρός 1. ὕπαρξιν· Θεὸν τὸν Υἱὸν δοξάζω δοξάζομεν 1. , δι᾽ οὗ τὰ πάντα γεγένηται, καὶ πρὸς οὐσιώδη διαμονὴν διασώζεται· Θεὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον προσκυνῶ προσκυνοῦμεν 1. , ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα (πάντα-Θεὸν τὰ) omits 1. συντηρεῖται καὶ συνέχεται· ἕνα Θεὸν τὰ (πάντα-Θεὸν τὰ) omits 1. τρία σέβω σέβοντες 1. , οὐκ εἰς τρεῖς θεοὺς τὴν μίαν διἳστῶ διἳστάντες 1. θεότητα ἱν᾽ ἐκκλίνω ἐκκλίνωμεν 1. τῆς τριθεΐας, μᾶλλον δὲ πολυθεΐας τὸ ἀθεώτατον, καὶ τέλειον τούτων ἕκαστον ἐπίσταμαι ἐπιστάμεθα 1. . οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τριῶν ἀτελῶν ἕν τι ὁμολογῶ ὁμολογοῦμεν 1. τέλειον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τριῶν τελείων (ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τρ. τελ.) omits 2. ἓν ὑπερτελὲς καὶ προτέλειον, ὡς ἡ τῶν θεομυστῶν πατέρων εἰσηγεῖται θεολογία· οὔτε οὖν τὰς ὑποστάσεις ὡς φύσεις ἐκφύλους καὶ διαφόρουσ, ἀνισότησί τισι τε 1. καὶ ἀνωμαλότησι ἀνομαλότησι 2. τέμνων προχειρζομαι τέμνοντες προχειριζόμεθα 1. , ἀλλὰ διαιρῶ διαιροῦμεν 1. τῷ λόγῳ τῶν ἰδιοτήτων πρὸς τὴν ἑνάδα τῆς οὐσίας συνάπτων συνάπτοντες 1. . τὸ ὑπερβάλλον ἐν τούτοις, ἢ μειονεκτούμενον (ἢ μειονεκτούμενον) σημείον ἐκ τούτουμένον 2. ἀποπεμπόμενος ἀποπεμπόμενοι 1. . Τὸ γὰρ μεῖζον ἢ ἔλαττον ὥσπερ ἐν omits 2. τῇ οὐσίᾳ θεωρῆσαι οὐκ ἐνόν, οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ Τριάδι κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἢ τὴν θεότητα, ἵνα τὴν ἀρειανικὴν λύσσαν, ἐξ ἧς καὶ πρὸς ἣν ἡμῖν ὁ

νῦν πόλεμος, κατασβέσωμεν. Οὔτε μὴν εἐς μίαν ὑπόστασιν συγχέω συγχέοντες 1. ἢ συναλείφω συναλείφοντες 1. , ἀλλὰ προσώποις ὑφεστῶσι καὶ πράγμασι καὶ ὀνόμασι τὸ διῃρημένον συνημμένως κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν εἰσφέρω εἰσφέροντες 1. , ἵνα τὴν σαβελλιανὴν μανίαν ἐξαμαυρώσω ἐξαμαυρώσωμεν 1. , τὰ ἀντίθετα κακὰ καὶ σύνδρομα τὴν ἀσέβειαν· καὶ συλλαβόντα μετειπεῖν εἰπεῖν 1. συνάπτω διαιρῶν συνάπτομεν διαιροῦντες 1. εὐσεβῶς καὶ διαιρῶ συνάπτων διαιροῦμεν συνάπτοντες 1. θεοπρεπῶς. Ταύτῃ τοι τὸ μὲν διῃρημένον ταῖς ὑποστάσεσι τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ἑνῶν ἑνοῦμεν 1. τῆς φύσεως, τὸ δὲ ἡνωμένον τῇ οὐσίᾳ καὶ θεότητι τῇ διαφορᾷ γνωρίζων γνωρίζομεν 1. τῶν ὑποστάσεων, κατ᾽ ἄμφω περὶ τὸ μέγα καὶ θειότατον καὶ ὑπέρτατον τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς θεοσοφίας μυστήριον, εὐσεβῶν εὐσεβοῦντες 1. καὶ ὑγιαίνων ὑγιαίνοντες 1. . οὕτω προσκυνητὴς προσκυνηταὶ 1. τῆς παναγίας καὶ ὑπερουσίου Τριάδος ἐν πνεύματι ἀληθείας καὶ ἀληθείᾳ 1. ὑπάρχων λατρεύω ὑπάρχοντες λατρεύομεν 1. αὐτῇ ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ πίστεως, ἐν καθαρᾷ ἐν καθαρᾷ omits 2. καὶ ἀμωμήτῳ δόξῃ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς μου ἡμων 1. Hic integram lineam omisit codex Coislinianus seu forsan auctor ipse. . Ἑπόμενως ἑπομένος 2. δὲ ὁμολογῶ ὁμολογοῦμεν 1. καὶ τὸν ἕνα τῆς ὁμοουσίου καὶ ὑπερουσίου (κ. ὑπερους.) omits 1. καὶ ὑπερθέου Τριάδος τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεὸν ἡμῶν, τὸ τῆς πατρικῆς δοξῆς ἀπαύγασμα, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς φῶς (τὸ τῆς-φωτὸς φῶς) omits 2. , τὴν ἀπαράλλακτον τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰκόνα καὶ χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν οἰκονομίαν γεγονότα καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐπιτελέσαι. Ἀφράστῳ γὰρ αὐτὸς φιλανθρωπίᾳ omits 1. διὰ σπλάγχνα ἐλέους καὶ οἰκτιρμῶν φιλανθρωπίᾳ adds 1. κινούμενος, οὐκ ἔφερε μέχρι τέλους τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν τῷ πικρῷ τυράννῳ δουλουμένην δουλωμένην 2. ἐφορᾶλλ᾽ εύδοκοῦντος τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ τοῦ παναγίου καὶ ζωαρχικοῦ συνεργοῦντος Πνεύματος, τῆς πατρικῆς δόξης μνδαμῶς ἀπολειπόμενος, οὐδὲ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ θεοπρεπῶν ἀξιωμάτων κατά τι γοῦν ἐλαττούμενος, καθῆκεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς κένωσιν ἑκούσιον· καὶ σαρκωθεὶς ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ τῆς παναγίας, ἐνδόξου καὶ ἀληθῶς θεοτόκου καὶ omits 1. ἀεὶ παρθένου Μαρίας, καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σάρκα προκαθαρθείσης τῷ Πνεύματι· καὶ ἆνθρωπος κατὰ πάντα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας πεφηνώς, τὴν θνητὴν δὴ ταύτην ταύτην δὴ 1. καὶ φθαρτήν, γραπτήν ἁπτήν 1. τε καὶ περιγραπτὴν φύσιν περιβαλόμενος περιβαλλόμενος 2. , εἷς τε ἐξ ἀμφοῖν προελθὼν ὁ ᾳτὸς ἐκ τε adds 1. θεότητος καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος, καὶ τέλειος κατὰ πάντα καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος μεμενηκὼς θεότητι καὶ τέλειος ὡσαύτως καὶ ἆτρεπτος ἐν omits 1. ἀνθρωπότητι καθ᾽ ἥν ἡμῖν συμπολιτευσάμενος τὴν μὲν ἐξ Ἀδὰμ παράβασιν διὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀναμαρτησίας ἐξιάσατο, τὴν δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας φθορὰν πάθει σαρκὸς ἑκουσίω, καὶ θανάτῳ ζωοποιῷ, καὶ ἀναστάσει θεοπρεπεῖ καθελών, τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσατο· ἀνεβίω γὰρ τριήμερος σκυλεύσας τὸν θάνατον, καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ἐγένετο, ὁδοποιήσας τε τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει (τε τῇ ἀνρ. φύς..) omits 2. εὴν τῇ 2. εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ὁδὸν ἀνόδῳ 2. , ἐξελὼν ἐξεῖλε 1. τὸν ἀόρατον ἐχθρὸν τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν δυναστείας, πάντα δράσας καὶ παθὼν ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις κηρύσσεται καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἡμῶν 1. πιστεύεται. Δι᾽ ὧν τόν τε παλαὶον Ἀδὰμ ἀνεπλάσατο, καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐκαινούργησε φύσιν, καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀρχαῖς τῆς εὐμοιρίας ἐπανεκόμισε, καὶ ἀναληφθεὶς εἰς οὐρανοὺς συμπάρεδρον τῷ θρόνῳ τῷ πατρικῷ τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς φυράματος ἐποιήσατο. Οὕτω γάρ, ὡς συνπτικώτερον συναπτικώτερον 2. εἰπεῖν, τὸ μέγα καὶ σεβάσμιον τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας ὁμολογῶν ὁμολογοῦντες 1. γεγενῆσθαι πρεσβεύω πρεσβεύομεν 1. μυστηριον [Petrus hic omittit integram paragraphum x, pp. 24, 25 in editione citata card. Mai.] . Δοξάζω δοξάζομεν 1. δὲ καὶ τὴν διπλὴν διπλόην 1. τῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ συνελθουσῶν οὐσιῶν οὐσιότητα omits 1. , μετὰ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων, τέλεια γὰπ καὶ ἀνελλιπὴς ἀνελλειπῆς 2. τούτων ἑκάτερα, κηρύσσω κηρύττομεν 1. . τὴν δὲ ἐκ τούτων εἰς ἑνότητα προσώπου τῇ τὴν 2. καθ᾽ ὑπόστασιν ἑνώσει ἑνωσιν 2. οὐσιωδῶς γεγενημένην γεγονημέην 2. συνδρομήν, ὡσαύτως ἐξαγγέλλω ἐξαγγέλλομεν 2. , οὐ τέμνων τέμνομεν 2. , οὐ διαιρῶν διαιροῦμεν. εἰς δυάδα υἱῶν τὸν ἑνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, εἐς ἄνθρωπον ἰδικῶς εἴδικῶς 2. καὶ εἰς Θεὸν ἰδικῶς εἴδικῶς 2. ἀνὰ μέρος, ἴνα τῆς φρενοβλαβοῦς καὶ ἀνθρωπολάτρου μανίας omits 1. τῆν omits 1. ματαίαν διαίρεσιν Νεστορίου Νεστ. ματ. διαίρ. 1. καθέλω καθέλωμεν 1. , οὖτε μὴν συγχέων συγχέομεν 1. ἢ ἀλλοιῶν ἀλλοιοῦμεν 1. εἰς ταὐτὸν μιᾶς φύσεως ἄγω ἄγοντες 1. τὴν τοῦ ἑνὸς προσώπου μονότητα, ἀλλ᾽ ἀσυγχύτους καὶ ἀσυμφύρτους ἀφύρτους 2. φυλάττω φυλάσσομεν 1. τὰς ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ φύσει προσούσας διαφοράς, ἵνα τὴν τοῶ ματαίου· καὶ ἄφρονος (ματ. καὶ ἀφρ.) ματαιόφρονος 1. Εὐτυχοῦς συναίρεσιν συγκαταβάλω συγκαταβάλλωμεν 1. , ἅμα τοῖς περὶ Σευῆρον καλῶς ὀνομασθεῖσιν Ἀκεφάλοις· καὶ οὖτοι γὰρ συναιροῦσι κακῶς, κᾀκεῖνος διαιρεῖ ἀσεβῶς, ὥστε ταὐτὸν πέπονθε περὶ οἰκονομίαν Εὐτυχὴς πρὸς Νεστόριον, ὅπερ περὶ τὴν θεολογίαν Σαβέλλιος πρὸς τὸν Ἄρειον. Τῶν τοίνυν κατὰ Χριστὸν δύο φύσεων τελείων ὁμολογουμένων, ὑπάρξει τε καὶ ταῖς κατ᾽ αὐτὰς φυσικαῖς ποιότησι συνομολογεῖν ἀκολούθως δεήσει καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἑκατέραν φύσιν ἐνυπάρχοντα φυσικὰ θελήματα καὶ τὰς adds 2. ἐνεργείας. Ἀνάγκηγὰρ διπλῶν πιστευομένων τῶν οὐσιῶν, διπλὰ καὶ ταῦτα συγκηρύσσεσθαι· οὐδὲ γάρ πως ἑτέρως τὸ ἐν τελειότητι ἀκραιφνὲς ἐν ταύταις περισωθήσεται, ἐπείπερ χαρακτηριστικὰ ταῦτα τῶν φύσεων, καὶ οὐκ ἔξεστιν εὑρεῖν ἐστιν ἐξευρεῖν 2. φύσιν ἀνεθέλητον ἢ ἀνενέργητον. Ὥσπερ οὖν καθ᾽ ὃ Θεὸς ἤθελέν τε καὶ ἐνήργησεν ἐνήργει 2. , οὕτω καὶ καθ᾽ ὃ ἄνθρωπος ἤθελέ τε καὶ ἐνήργει, ἐπί τε (ἤθελε-ἐπί τε) omits 1. τῶν θεοσημείων, ἐπί τε καὶ omits 2. τῶν ἑτέρων τῆς οἰκονομίας πραγμάτων, οὐχ ὑπεναντία δὲ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις ἐκέκτητο· ὑπεῖκε γὰρ καὶ ὑπετάττετο τοῖς τοῦ προσειληφότος τὰ τοῦ προσλήμματος. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐδὲν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἐναντίωσιν καὶ ἀντίθεσιν ἐκ τῶν συνελθουσῶν φύσεων, καίτοι ἐναντίων οὐσῶν, τεθεώρηται· τεκμήριον δέ, καὶ γὰρ ὧν αἱ οὐσίαι ἐξηλλαγμέναι, καὶ ὁ τοῦ πως (τοῦ πως) τούτων 1. εἶναι λόγος διάφορος, ὃ δὴ καὶ omits 1. ἐπὶ τῶν ἑτεροφυῶν διαφαίνεται, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰς κατὰ θέλησιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν οὐσιώδεις ποιότητας ἑτεροίως ἔχειν· δι᾽ αὐτῶν γὰρ adds 2. καὶ τὴν τῶν φύσεων ἐπιστήμην μεταχειριζόμεθα, ἐπείπερ καὶ ὧν αἱ ἐνέργειαι αἱ adds 2. αὐταὶ καὶ αἱ φύσεις ὁμότιμοι, οὕτω οὖν adds 2. καὶ ὁ adds 2. τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν θεανδρικῆς ἐνεργείας καθ᾽ ὅ ὃν 2. ἐν ἡμῖν ἐπολιτεύσατο, ἀνακαθαρθήσεται τρόπος, περιφραστικῶς ἤδη νοόυμενος, τῇ καταλλήλῳ κλήσει τῆς καταλλήλῳ κλήσει τῆς δυάδος τῶν φύσεων, τὸ διττὸν ἑρμηνεύων τῆς ἐνεργείας· ὁ γὰρ τῆς ἑνώσεως τρόπος, τὸν τῆς διαφορᾶς λόγον ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει σωζόμενον. Ταύτῃ γὰρ ἄν δοίη τις καὶ ἐνεργεῖν ἑκατέραν μορφὴν μετὰ τῆς θατέρου κοινωνίας; Οὐ τοίνυν μίαν θέλησιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν ἐπὶ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας κηρύσσομεν, ἀποστεροῦντες τὰ θατέρᾳ τῶν οὐσιῶν προσπεφυκότα, εἰ μὴ μὲλλωμεν μέλλοιμεν 2. καὶ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν τέλεον ἀποσκευάζεσθαι, ὡς ἄν μὴ τὰ τοῦ ἀνοήτου καὶ ἐμμανοῦς Ἀπολιναρίου νοσήσωμεν, συγκαθαιρήσωμεν δὲ αὐτῷ 2. καὶ τὴν ἀμφὶ Σέργιον καὶ Πύρρον περὶ τὴν τοῦ ὀρθοῦ Λόγου ἀνενέργητον καὶ ἀνεθέλητον ὀφθεῖσαν συμμορίαν. Καὶ καταὰ 2. τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ τὴν σεπτῆς καὶ σωτηρίου οἰκονομίας δοξάζεται μυστήριον, ὃ καὶ νοούμενον, κατὰ τὸν εἰρηκότα θεοφόρον (κατὰ τὸν εἰρ. θεοφόρον) omits 2. , ἄρρητον μένει καὶ λεγόμενον ἄγνωστον. Δι᾽ αὐτῆς τοίνυν ἐπισκεφθέντες σεσῶσθαι omits 2. ὁμολογοῦμεν, καὶ μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἐνἡμῖν ἱερῶν σεβασμάτων, καὶ τὰ ταύτης ἅγια καὶ σεβάσμια συμβολα καὶ γνωρίσματα τιμῶμεν καὶ κατασπαζόμεθα, δι᾽ ὧν ἡμῖν καθ᾽ μοιότητα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἱστορίας καὶ ἀνιστόρηται καὶ σημαίνεται, εἴ γε εἰς μνήμην ἡμᾶς διανίστησι τῆς πεπραγματευμένης τῷ Σωτῆρι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν συγκαταβάσεως τῆς πεπρ. τῷ Σ. ὑπ᾽ ἡμ. συγκ. διανίστ. 2. , καθάπερ ἄνωθέν τε καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς παῖδες παρὰ πατέρων διαδεξάμενοι εὐσεβῶς παρειλήφαμεν. Ταῦτα περιέποντες τὸ κατὰ τιμὴν σέβας νέμομεν, οὐ μὴν τήν γε κατὰ λατρείαν προσκύνησιν φέρομεν προσφέρομεν 2. , ἄπαγε, ἣ μόνη μονῳ 2. πρέπει τῷ πάντων κατεξουσιάζοντι Θεῷ· πάντες γάρ, ὅσοι διδακτοὶ Θεοῦ ἐν πνεύματι, ἴσασι τὸ ἐν σεβάσματι διάφορον, καὶ ὁποίαν δεῖ ὃὴ 1. καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ Θεῷ ἡμῶν τὴν προσκύνησιν ἀποδιδόναι, καὶ ταῖς ἱεραις εἰκόσι τὸ προσῆκον ἐκνέμειν σέβας, καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον τὴν τιμὴ ἀναφέρειν. Πρὸς τούτοις τιμῶμεν καὶ omits 1. τὰς σεβασμίους σεβασμίας 1. εἰκόνας τῆς παναγίας ἀχράντου δεσποίνης ἡμῶν καὶ ἀληθινῆς προστασίας ἀεὶ παρθένου θεοτόκου, τῆς κατὰ σάρκα τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν ἀσπόρως καὶ ἀφράστως καὶ ὑπερφυῶς τεκούσης, ὡσαύτως καὶ τῶν ἁγίω ἀγγέλων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων adds 1. ἁπάντων ἁγίων τῶν ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος αὐτῷ εὐαρεστησάντων, ὧν καὶ τὰς μνήμας εὐσεβοῦντες γεραίρομεν καὶ τὰς πρεσβείας ἐξαιτοῦμεν· ζῶσι γὰρ ἐν Θεῷ, καὶ ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῖς προστρέχουσι καὶ δεομένοις ἐπικουρεῖν καὶ βοηθεῖν τῇ ἐνύσῃ αὐτοῖς παρὰ Θεοῦ δυνάμει καὶ Χάριτι δύνανται. Ταῦτα τὸ θεολόγον καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου πεπλησμένον στόμα εὐσεβῶς θεολογῆσαν, ἐξέστησεν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἀκηκοότας. Καὶ προσπεσόντες οἱ παραγενάμενοι τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξομολογησάμενοι τὸ δράμα τῆς πανουργίας αὐτῶν, συγχώρησιν ἐξῄτουν, καὶ δὴ λαβόντες ὑπέστρεψαν μετὰ χαρᾶς, τὸν Θεὸν δοξάζοντες τῷ δόντι λόγον καὶ σοφίαν τοιαύτην τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ.

[56] Ἔπεσέ ποτε κάμπη ἀφόρητος ἐν τῷ μετοχίῳ * τῶν Ἀγαύρων, ἔνθα τιμᾶται ὁ πάνσεπτος ναὸς τῶν ἁγίων θαυματουργῶν Κοσμᾶ καὶ Δαμιανοῦ, καὶ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε προσποιουμένοις λαχάνοις ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν λοίμη οὐ μικρὰ ἐγεγόνει. Ὡς δὲ τοῦτο ἐθεάσαντο οἱ ἐκεῖσε οἰκοῦντες ἀδελφοί, ἀνήγγειλαν τῷ ἡγουμένῳ αὐτῶν, τῷ σεβασμίῳ λέγω Εὐστρατίῳ, καὶ δὴ αὐτὸς τούτους, ὡς ἤθισται αὐτῷ, ταῖς ἡδυεπίαις παραμυθησάμενος ἀπέστειλεν. Καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν ἄνεισι πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ὁ ἡγιασμένος Εὐστράτιος, καὶ διηγεῖται αὐτῷ τὸ δράμα. Ὅδε φησι πρὸς αὐτόν. Ἄπελθε καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς πάντας συναθρόισον, καὶ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ποιήσαντες εὐχήν, ὄψεσθε μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν τούτων ἀφάνισιν. Ἔλεγε δὲ τοῦτο

ταπεινοφρονῶν καὶ τὴν δόξαν ἐκφεύγων τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὅδε αὐτὸν τὸν ἅγιον παραγενέσθαι ἐκλιπαρῶν, καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ προσταξει καὶ εὐχῇ ταύτην ἀφανίζειν, αὐτὸς πάλιν ἔψη· Ἄπελθε καὶ ὡς εἶπόν σοι ποίησον, κἀγὼ τῇ ἕωθεν ἐλεύσομαι. Καὶ δὴ ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἀμφότεροι ἐχωρίσθησαν. Καὶ τοῦ ἡγιασμένου Εὐτρατιου τὸν λαὸν παρακαλέσαντος, καὶ λέξαντος τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου ἔλευσιν, εὐχὴν ποιήσαντες * ὕπνωσαν· ἦν γὰρ νύξ. Καὶ τῇ ἕωθεν ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἀπελθόντες θεωροῦσι τὸν ἅγιον κατὰ τὸ μεσὸν τοῦ κήπου ἱστάμενο καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἐκεῖνο τῆς κάμπης ἐκδιωκώμενον, καὶ ἔξω τοῦ κήπου γενόμενον. Καὶ τοῦτο θεασάμενοι ἔπεσον ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ καὶ εὐχὴν ἤτουν, καὶ λαβόντες ὑπέστρεψαν μετὰ χαρᾶς δοξάζοντες τὸν Θεὸν.

[57] Ἰσαάκις τις τούνομα, κουράτωρ γενόμενος τῆς μονῆς τῆς ἐπονομαζομένης τοῦ Κλουβίου, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνῆλθε τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ κομισόμενος. Ἐγένετο δὲ συνεῖναι τότε τῷ ἁγίῳ τοὺς εὐλαβεστάτους ἄνδρας Δοσίθεον καὶ Εὐστράτιον. Εἶτα πρὸς τὸν κουράτορά φησιν ὁ ὅσιος· Οὐκ εἶ συντεταγμένος γενέσθαι μοναχός; Ὅδε φησί· Ναί, πάτερ, ἀλλὰ κρατοῦμαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἡγουμένης καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καθυστερῶ. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ τοῦτον κατηχήσας καὶ σφραγίσας τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, αἰνιξάμενος καὶ τὸ τέλος αὐτοῦ σύντομον ἔσεσθαι ἀπέλυσεν, φήσας καὶ τοῦτο· Τῶν δύο εὐλαβεστάτων ἀνδρῶν Εὐστρατίου καὶ Δοσιθέου ἐπὶ τὴν διακονίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἀπερχομένων, αὐτοὶ πάντως πείσουσι τὴν ἡγουμένην ἀπολύσαι σε. Ἀμφοτέρων οὖν τὰς τοῦ ἁγίου εὐχὰς κομισαμένων καὶ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀφικομένων, παραλαβὼν ὁ ῥηθεὶς κουράτωρ τὸν κύριν Δοσίθεον μόνον ἀπέφερε πρὸς τὴν ἡγουμένη τὰ παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου λαληθέντα διηγησόμενον. Ἥδε τούτων ἀκούσασα σφόδρα διεταράχθη, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸν εὐλαβέστατον Δοσίθεον οὐ μικρῶς καθήψατο· εἶχε γὰρ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἀνήκουσιν αὐτῇ πράγμασιν ἄριστον φροντιστήριον. Ὅμως οὖν ἐσχάτως τυπτομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου νοός, καὶ γὰρ ἦν εὐλαβὲς τὸ γύναιον, ἐπεζήτει τὸν εὐλαβέστατον Εὐστράτιον παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ θέλουσα μαθεῖν τὸ ἀληθές· ᾔδει γὰρ φίλον γνήσιον ὑπάρχειν αὐτὸν τοῦ ὁσίου. Ὅδε ἀπελθὼν καὶ πληροφορήσας αὐτὴν περὶ πάντων καὶ· Ὅτι οὐδεν ὀνήσεις, εἰ καὶ βουληθῇς αὐτὸν κρατῆσαι, ἐπειδὴ συντόμως ἀποθνήσκει, πείθει μὲν τὴν εὐλαβεστάτην γυναῖκα κατανεῦσαι καὶ τοῦτον ἀπολύσαι. Ὡς δὲ συνταξάμενος ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀπέστη, ἐδοὺ καὶ οἱ Στουδίται, οἱ περὶ Ἀθανάσιον καὶ Ναυκράτιον παρεγένοντο. Καὶ ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ τούτοις ταραχὰς ἐμποιεῖν καὶ κατασείειν οὐ μόνον τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακειμένους καὶ τὴν ἰοβόλον γλῶσσαν εὔθετα πρὸς ἁγιοκατηγορίαν κινεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ μόνον συνιστᾶν καὶ τὰς ἰδίας ὑλακὰς θνεοπνεύστους ἀναγορεύειν, ἐξαπατήσαντες οἱ ἀπαταιώνες καὶ τὸ γύναιον ἐκεῖνο, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναστρέψαντες καὶ καταπτύσαντες τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου ῥηθέντα οἱ καταπτύστοι καὶ μεμισημένοι ὑπὸ πάντων, οἱ βάρος τῷ κόσμῳ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, γενηθέντες, τὰ ἀχάριστα κτίσματα, τὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ πλάσματα, ἐνέκοψαν καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὡς αὐτοὶ ἐνόμισαν, τοῦ τῷ Θεῷ μέλλοντος προσελθεῖν, καὶ ἤδη τῷ θανάτῳ ἀμετανόητος παρεδόθη εἰ μὴ ἂν ἄρα ἡ εὐχὴ τοῦ ἁγίου εἰς ὦτα Κυρίου εἰσελθοῦσα ζωῆς βραχύτατα μέτρα αὐτῷ παρέσχετο. Τῆς γὰρ ἡγουμένης, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀπατηθείσης καὶ πεμψάσης τὸν ἄνδρα εἰς ἓν αὐτῆς τῶν προαστείων , πίπτει μὲν ὁ ἀνὴρ εὐθὺς εἰς νόσον. Ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀποστέλλεταί τις τῶν εὐλαβεστάτων μοναχῶν ἐπισκεψόμενος αὐτόν, ὅστις καὶ κείρει αὐτὸν καὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀνατίθησι. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν. Ἐνδυσάσθωσαν οὖν ἐντροπὴν καὶ περιβαλέσθωσαν ὡς διπλοΐδα αἰσχύνην αὐτῶν οἱ τὰς προφητικὰς ἀναρρήσεις τῶν ἁγίων ἀθετοῦντες καὶ τὰς ἰδίας ὑλακὰς λέγοντες· Εὗγε, εὗγε.

[58] Ἀνῆλθέποτε ἡ προλεχθεῖσα ἡγουμένη ἅμα τῇ θυγατρὶ αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον, συνόντοςαὐταῖς καὶ τοῦ ἡγιασμένου Εὐστρατίου, εὐλογηθῆναι ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ μακαριώτατος πατὴρ ἡμῶν ταύτας εὐλογήσας, προτρέπεται μὲν ἑνὶ τῶν ὑπουργούντων αὐτῷ μίαν τῶν ὑπηριστικῶν ῥάβδων ἀποκομίσαι. Δεξάμενσς οὗν ταύτην ὁ πατήρ, τῷ προφητικῷ χαρίσματι αἰσθομενος, δίδωσιν αὐτήν, ἤγουν τὴν ποιμαντικὴν ῥάβδον, τῇ θυγατρὶ τῆς ἡγουμένης. Ἡ δὲ μήτηρ ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἀχθεσθεῖσά φησιν· Οὐ καλῶς, πάτερ, πέπραχας. Ἔδει γὰρ τὴν ὑμῶν ἁγιότητα κατά τε τὴν γηραιότητα κατὰ τε τὴν μητρικὴν εὔκλειαν ἐμοὶ ταύτην δοῦναι. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἡμῶν πραείᾳ τῇ φωῇ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀπεκρίθη· Καλῶς μὲν ἔφης, ὦ μήτερ· ἀλλ᾽ ᾕτινι προώριστο, ἐκείῃ καὶ δέδοτο. Εἶτα ταύταις ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Κατιόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἕως τὸ προάστειον τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον Μανδρῶν, ἔτι δεινοπαθοῦσα ἡ ῥηθεῖσα ἡγουμένη φησι πρὸς τὸν κύριν Εὐστράτιον. Ὁρκῶ σε τὸν μέγαν Θεὸν ἵνα μοι εἴπῃς τίνος χάριν ὁ ἅγιος ἐμὲ μὲν ἠτίμασεν, τὴν δὲ ἐμὴν τιμὴν λαβὼν δέδωκε τῇ ἐμῇ θυγατρί; Ὅδε μετὰ παρρησίας ἀπεκρίθη· Ὦ γύναι, οὐχ οὕτως, ὡς οἴῃ *, ὁ θεσπέσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἀτίμως ἐνύβρισέ σε, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ προέβλεψέ σε μὲν πρὸς Θεὸν ἐκδημεῖν, τὴν δὲ σὴν θυγατέρα διάδοχον τῆς σῆς ποιμαντικῆς ἀρχς ἔσεσθαι, τούτου ἕνεκεν τὴν προτίμησιν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐποιήσατο. Ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ταῦτα ἀκούσασα, ἐδόξασεν τὸν Θεόν· κατὰ δὲ τὴν πρόγνωσιν τοῦ ἁγίου εἰσελθοῦσα ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἡ μὲν μήτηρ εὐθέως τῶν τῇδε μετέστη, τῇ δὲ θυγατρὶ αὐτῆς ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐδόθη, ἥτις καὶ νῦν εὐβιοῦσα τὰ τῆς ἀρχικῆς ἀξίας διέπει.

[59] Ἐγένετο τὸν ἀνωτέρω μνημονευθέντα ἁγιώτατον ἡγούμενον τῶν Ἀγαύρων ἔν τινι διακονίᾳ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀπιέναι· μέλλων δὲ τῶν ἔνθεν ἀπαίρειν δηλοποιεῖ τῷ ἁγίῳ διὰ τὸν Κύριον κατελθεῖν, καὶ εὔξασθαι αὐτῷ. Ἑνωθέντων οὗν ἀμφοτέρων εἰς ἓν τῶν Ἀγαυρινῶν μετοχίων, ἐν οῖς τιμᾶται ὁ πανσεπτος ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου μεγαλομάρτυρος Γεωργίου καὶ εὐχῆς γεναμένης καθίσαι καὶ προσομιλεῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἱωαννίκιος αἰνιγματωδῶς φησι πρὸς τὸν θεοτίμητον ἐκεῖνον ἄνδρα· Ἔστω * γινώσκων, πάτερ, ὅτι ἡ χώρα ἤδη ἐλεύκανε, καὶ οἱ θερισταὶ ἤδη παρέστησαν, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἕνα ἐξ ἡμῶν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν μέλλει προσκαλεῖσθαι. Εἰρήκει δὲ ὁ ὅσιος περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, καὶ γὰρ προέγνω ὅτι ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσελθὼν καὶ τὴν διακονίαν πληρώσας, ἐκεῖ τελευτήσει. Ὁ δὲ πραότατος ἡγούμενος ἁπλούστατος ὢν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸ εἰρημένον, καὶ δὴ εὐχῆς γεναμένης καὶ ἀσπασμοῦ, διέστησαν ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων. Ὁ μὴν οὖν ἡγούμενος εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ τὰ τῆς διακονίας πληρώσας καὶ νοσήσας, ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἕνδεκα πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν. Διαδέχεται δὲ τὴν ἡγουμενίαν ὁ τούτου ἀνεψιός, καὶ τούτου τελευτήσαντος κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδῆ προφητείαν τοῦ ἀγελομιμήτου πατρὸς ἡμῶν διαδέχεται τὴν ὴγουμενίαν ὁ πανοσιώτατος Εὐστράτιος, ὅστις καὶ μέχρι τῆς σήμερον, καθάπερ ἥλιος διαλάμπων, ἅπαντας τοὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἰθυνομένους καταφωτίζει.

[60] Ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ἐξαισίοις καὶ θαυμαστοῖς χαρίσμασιν. ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεράπων διαπρέπων προνοίᾳ Θεοῦ τῶν τοποθεσιῶν τοῦ ἀνωτέρω προμνημονευθέντος Τριχάλικος μεταναστεύσας, ἐν τοῖς καλουμένοις Κόρακος κεφαλῆς ὀρέοις ἅμα τῷ ἀγαπητῷ Εὐστρατίῳ ἐπορεύετο. Ὡς δὲ πλησίον Μερίλλου κώμης ἐγένετο, φησὶν ὁ οὐρανόφρων πατὴρ ἡμῶν πρὸς τὸν πανθαύμαστον Εὐστράτιον· Μήτι, ὦ κύρι Εὐστράτιε, φοβηθήσῃ ἐὰν κύνας θεάσῃ. Ὅδε· Οὐ, φησί, πάτερ. Στῶμεν οὖν, ὁ ἅγιος ἔφη, ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς παρεμπεσούσης πέτρας, καὶ μικρὸν ἀναπαυσόμεθα, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως τὸ ὑπόλοιπον τῆς ὁδοῦ ἐπιπορευσόμεθα. Ὡς οὖν ἀμφότεροι ἔστησαν, ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ πανάριστος Εὐστράτιος θεωρεῖ ἀγέλην προβάτων πολλῶν νεμομένην, καὶ κύνας φοβεροὺς τῷ εἰδει κύκλῳ τῶν προβάτων φυλακτικῶς ἐπιτρέχοντας. Ὡς οὖν ᾔσθοντο οἱ κύνες τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτῶν, φοβερὸν καὶ μέγα ἀλαλάξαντες καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλον ἐπισπεύδοντες καὶ τὸ στόμα λεοντοειδῶς κεχηνότες, κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου λυττῶντες ἐφώρμων. Ὡς δ᾽ οὖν πλησίον ἐγένοντο, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων καὶ εὐόσμων καὶ ἡδυτάτων χρωτῶν * ὠσφράνθησαν, εἰς λίαν ἠμερότητα τραπέντες χαριεντιζόμενοι τοῖς τοῦ ἁγίου ἴχνεσι προσέπεσαν. Καί φησιν ὁ ἅγιος πρὸς τὸν πανευλαβέστατον Εὐστράτιον· Κάλεσον τοὺς ποιμένας. Καὶ πῶς δύναμαι, ἔφη, ὦ πάτερ, τούτους καλέσαι μὴ εἰδὼς τὰς τούτων προσηγορίας τὸ σύνολον; Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος· Ἐπιφώνησον, φησί, Θεοφύλακτον. Τοῦδε τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος προσηγορίαν ἀπηχήσαντος, ἐν τῷ τέως οὐκ ἦν προσυπακουστικὴ φώνη, οὔτε ἀκρόασις, πάλιν δὲ ὁ ἅγιος· Ἐπιφώησον ἔτι Χριστοφόρον, καὶ τούτου τὴν προσωνυμίαν ἐπικηρύξαντος προσυπακοῦσαί τινας ὡς ἀπό τινος διαστήματος ἑστῶτας, αὖθίς τε τοὺς δύο ποιμένας Θεοφύλακτον καὶ Χριστοφόρον πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον παραγενέσθαι. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τὴν πρὸς τὴν Τράπεζαν ἀπάγουσαν ὁδὸν ὁδηγῆσαι τούτους προέτρεπεν· Δύο ὄντων ἡμῶν, ἐκεῖνοι ἔφησαν, ἀδυνάτως ἔχομεν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι. Ὁ μὴν γὰρ εἷς ἡμῶν πρὸς τήρησιν καὶ φυλακὴν τῆς ποίμνης λαχών, οὐκ ἔχει ὅπως ταύτην καταλείψῃ, ὁ δὲ ἕτερος τῆς προσγεναμένης ἡμῶν ἀπωλείας πρὸς ἔρευναν ἀπαίρειν βούλεται. Μηδ᾽ ὅλως ἀδολεσχεῖτε, ἔφη ὁ ἅγιος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἡμῖν ὑποδείξατε καὶ εὑρήσετε τὸ ἀρνίον μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ σεσωσμένον· οὐ γάρ, ὡς ὑμεῖς διαλογίζεσθε, θηρίαλωτον γέγονεν ἢ ὑπό τινος κέκλεπται, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τινα θάμνον ἀβλαβὲς ἵσταται. Οἵδε ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες καὶ ἄγαν θαμβηθέντες πρὸς γῆν κατέπεσαν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος τούτους εὐλογήσας ἀνέστησε καὶ παραλαβὼν ἕνα ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ μέχρι τινὸς διαστήματος ἐποδηγῆσαι ὑποδείξας ἀπέλυσεν.

[61] Μικρὸν δὲ προβάντων, πάλιν ὁ προφήτης τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν κύριν Εὐστράτιον· Ὅτι ἐπεκεῖνα τοῦ βουνοῦ τινων ἐπιπορευομένων ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἡμῶν δὲ ὡς πρὸς ἐκείνους, συναντᾶν ἀλλήλοις μέλλομεν, καί γε ἤθελον, ὦ κύρι Εὐστράτιε, μηδ᾽ ὅλως ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν θεαθῆναι. Ὅδε ἔφη· Εἰ μηδ᾽ ὅλως ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν θεαθῆαι θέλεις, ὦ πάτερ, οὐκ ἄν τεθέασαι· ἐν σοὶ γὰρ ἐστι διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς ἐνοικούσης σοι τοῦτο πράξαι ἢ καὶ μή. Ταχυποδεῖν δὲ παρακελευσάμενος, αὐτὸς ὀπίσω μου παρείπετο. Ὡς οὖν παρέδραμον τὸν ἑκατέρους ἀλλήλους διείργοντα φραγμόν, ἤγουν τὸν βουνόν, ῥαδίως ἀλλήλους προσέβλεπον καὶ ἄμφω πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς πλησιάσαντες, καὶ ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ τό· Εὐλογεῖτε, ἅγιοι, ἐπειπόντες ἐκεῖνοι ἠρώτησαν τὸν κύριν Εὐστράτιον ποίας μονῆς εἴη; Τοῦδε φήσαντος τῶν Ἀγαύρων· Πῶς οὕτως, ἐκεῖνοι ἔφησαν, ἐν τοῖς ἀβάτοις ὀρέοις, μηδενὸς συνοδοιποροῦντός σοι, πορεύῃ; Ὅδε ἔφῃ Ὁ τὸν Θεὸν ἔχων εἰς βοήθειαν καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀγγελικὰς δυνάμεις, οὔκ ἐστι μόνος, ὡς ὑμεῖς φατέ. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ὀπίσω ἱστάμενος τοῦ ἀοιδίμου Εὐστρατίου, παρ᾽ οὐδενὸς ὡρᾶτο. Καί τινα ἄλλα δὲ ἀμφότεροι προσομιλήσαντες ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων διεκρίθησαν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ταπεινοφρονῶν φησι πρὸς τὸν πανάγαστον Εύστράτιον· Ὄντως, προσφιλέστατε Εὐστραιε, ὡς ὑπὸ παραπετάσματος ταῖς εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν καλυφθείς, οὐδ᾽ ὅλως ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν

τεθέαμαι.

[55] St. Ioannicius professes the orthodox faith, On another occasion certain men were disputing among themselves, saying: "Is the great Ioannicius really distinguished by the gift of miracles and by the word of faith? Or does he not rather deceive himself through a certain simplicity and ignorance? If it could be done, we should hear him on these matters, and know, and believe with certainty." And agreeing, they formed the plan of coming to him for the sake of receiving his blessing and of investigating this matter diligently. Having set out, they are received by the saint, and after they had brought forward various things, that clear-sighted mind, knowing their cunning, said: "Since certain men often mutter against me and are wrongly scandalized, asserting that I do not believe rightly, but falsely, I wish to profess my faith to your piety." When those men rejoiced greatly at this, he, having opened his venerable mouth, says this, as it were in summary [a]: "I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker and lord of all things visible and invisible, without principle, invisible, incomprehensible, immutable, immortal. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, who without beginning, timelessly, before all ages shone forth from the paternal essence. And in one Holy Spirit, proceeding from God the Father, and with the Father and the Son to be proclaimed and glorified as one God, being consubstantial and coeternal. I glorify the Trinity in hypostases or persons, and preserve for each of the aforesaid the distinctive properties discrete and unconfused, as never to cease or be changed, attributing to the Father unbegottenness and the causality of those who are from Him, to the Son generation, and to the Spirit procession. And believing that from the Father as cause both the Begotten and the Proceeding shone forth, each as light from light; one, supernatural, radiating threefold and as it were a threefold solar light. And I adore the unity of nature and essence, coming together into one supernatural and superessential sublimity of the deity, the same undivided and inseparable, enjoying glory and power; in which one counsel, a single will, power and operation is recognized, and which, as queen of all and universal lady, is adored and worshipped by all visible and invisible creation as worthy of equal honour and a common throne. One deity appears in three, united in the same substance; and there are three hypostases in one deity, distinct without partition by the difference of the properties which inhere in each. Nor do I make the Son alien from the essence of the unbegotten Father on account of generation; nor the Spirit from the Father and the Son on account of procession; nor do I admit confusion on account of the unity of consubstantiality and the indivisibility, but in the common nature I join that which is distinct in each. 'For it is divided indivisibly and conjoined dividedly: the divinity is one in three, and the three are one, those in whom the divinity is, or, to speak more accurately, who are the divinity,' according to what the best of theologians taught us ^b. And so I worship God the Father, from whom all things came from nothing into existence; I glorify God the Son, through whom all things were made and the essential stability of all things is preserved; I adore God the Holy Spirit, in whom all things are preserved and held together. I worship these three as one God, not dividing the single deity into three gods, lest I fall into the impiety of tritheism or rather of polytheism; since I know that each one of these singly is perfect. For I do not confess one perfect out of three imperfect, but out of three perfect one superperfect and preperfect [c], according to what the theology of the Fathers initiated into the divine mysteries sets out. Nor, therefore, do I profess the hypostases separating them as alien and diverse natures by certain inequalities and differences, but I separate them by reason of the properties, joining them into a single essence, admitting nothing in them greater or less. For as one may not consider greater or less in the essence, so neither in the Trinity according to essence or deity, that we may extinguish the madness of the Arians, from which and against which our present war is. Nor do I confuse or contract them into one hypostasis, but with the persons subsisting, both in reality and in names, I introduce a distinction conjoined in essence, that I may destroy the Sabellian fury, evils opposite but equal in impiety. And, to sum it up, I join while religiously separating, and I separate while joining in the manner that befits God; uniting, then, that which is distinct in hypostases by the communion of nature, and distinguishing by the difference of persons that which is united in essence and divinity. At the same time holding piously and wholly the greatest, most divine and highest mystery of the divine wisdom, being thus a worshipper of the most holy and supersubstantial Trinity in the spirit of truth, I worship it with holiness and rectitude of faith, and with a pure and blameless belief, all the days of my life. Consequently I also confess that one person of the consubstantial, supersubstantial and divine Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our God, the splendour of the paternal glory, light from light, the image most like to the Father and the character of His substance, came incarnate to earth, and, made one of us, accomplished for us the work of the dispensation. For, moved by an ineffable love of men through the bowels of mercy and clemency, He did not bear any longer to see our nature serving a bitter tyrant; but, the Father consenting and the most holy and life-giving Spirit at the same time cooperating, not leaving the paternal glory, nor in any way diminishing His own divine dignity, He let Himself down into a voluntary emptying, and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and of the most holy, glorious and truly Mother of God, ever-Virgin Mary, whose soul and flesh had been purified by the Spirit; and appearing as man in all things except sin, clothed in this mortal, tangible and circumscribed nature, and proceeding as one in two, the same in divinity and humanity; at once perfect in every respect and remaining immutable in the divinity, likewise perfect and unchangeable in the humanity, in which He conversed with us, He healed the transgression of Adam through His own sinlessness; and taking away the corruption of sin by the voluntary passion of the flesh and by His life-giving death and resurrection worthy of God, He gained immortality for us. For He came to life again after three days, death being overcome, and the firstborn from the dead, leading human nature into the entrance of immortality, removing the invisible enemy who held us in tyranny; having worked and suffered all the things which, announced in the holy Gospels, are believed by us. Through these He reformed the old Adam, and renewed our nature and transferred it to its original happiness. Who, taken up into heaven, made the first-fruits of our lump to sit down beside the paternal throne. And so, to speak more compendiously, having confessed that the great and most august mystery of the divine dispensation has been accomplished, I honour it [d]. And I glorify the twofold essence of the natures concurring in Him, which I proclaim with their own idioms, for each is perfect and unfailing. And that concourse which thence takes place substantially into the unity of the person, on account of the hypostatic union, I announce equally, not separating, not dividing the one Lord Jesus Christ into a duality of sons, into a man apart and into God apart, and as it were into parts, that I may exclude the furious and foolish division of the man-worshipper Nestorius; nor, mixing or altering, do I draw the unity of the single person into one and the same nature, but I preserve unmixed and unconfused the differences which inhere in both natures, that I may avoid the synaeresis of the vain and insane Eutyches, and also of those who follow Severus, rightly named Acephali [e]. For they wrongly join what that other impiously separates, so that Eutyches and Nestorius labour under the same vice concerning the dispensation of Christ as Sabellius and Arius concerning the character of the divinity ^f. Since, then, we have confessed in Christ two natures perfect both in their being and in the physical properties which flow from those natures, it will be necessary consequently to profess wills and operations proper to each nature. For it is necessary that those who believe a twofold nature should also profess these things twofold. Otherwise, certainly, that which is purest in their perfection will not be preserved, since these too mark the natures. For it is not possible to find a nature which neither wills nor operates. As, therefore, inasmuch as He was God He willed and operated, so also inasmuch as He was man He willed and operated, both in performing the divine signs and in the other offices of the humanity He had assumed. Which, however, He did not find contrary to one another; for the things of the assumption were subject and submitted to those of the one assuming, so that nothing contrary or opposed to Him appeared from the concurring natures, although they were opposite. Which is proved from this, that of those whose natures are diverse, the principle also differs; which is evident in heterogeneous natures. It is necessary, therefore, that according to will and according to operation the essential properties differ among themselves. For through them we grasp the knowledge of the natures, since those whose operations are the same, their natures also agree. So in Christ the mode of the theandric operation, which He used while He conversed among us, is conceived through this periphrasis: the communication of idioms between the two natures signifies a twofold operation, because the mode of union has within itself the principle of difference preserved. Will anyone, indeed, grant that each form operates not without the participation of the other ^g? By no means, then, do we proclaim one will and operation in the divine dispensation, snatching away what befits each nature, if we maintain that the nature itself is perfect, lest we fall into the disease of the insane and demented Apollinaris, we who also excommunicate, in Sergius and Pyrrhus ^h, the inoperative and unwilling fellowship of the true Word. Such is the mystery of the venerable and saving incarnation celebrated by us, which, though grasped by the mind, remains ineffable, and though spoken by the mouth, remains unknown, as the said God-bearing man says. Through this incarnation, then, we confess that, having been visited, we have been saved, and with all the sacred things that are among us we also revere and embrace its holy and venerable symbols and signs, by which, no otherwise than by the evangelical history, whatever was done by the Saviour for us is signified and reported and recalled to memory, as from of old and from the beginning of religion we, sons receiving from fathers, have piously received. Worshipping these symbols, we pursue them with the veneration that is according to religion; we do not indeed show them the adoration of latria, far from it, which is due to God alone, the supreme ruler of all. For all who are taught of God in spirit know the distinction of worship, and what adoration to render to Christ our God, and what honour it is fitting to show to the holy images, and through them to pour back the honour upon the archetype. Moreover we also honour the venerable images of our most holy and spotless Lady and true patroness, the ever-Virgin Mother of God, who according to the flesh bore our Lord Jesus Christ, God, without seed, ineffably and supernaturally; and likewise of the holy angels and of all the saints who from of old have pleased God; whose monuments too we piously adorn with gifts and whose intercession we entreat. For they live in God and operate in Him, and they come to the help and succour of those who have recourse to them and entreat them, through that which

is at their disposal from God, power and grace." When he had piously discoursed on these things with a theological mouth full of the Holy Spirit, he filled all his hearers with astonishment. And those who had come, falling at his feet and confessing the deed of their malignity, asked pardon. When they had obtained it, they returned with joy, glorifying God, who had given such speech and wisdom to His saint.

[56] The caterpillars having been cast out of the monastery of the Agauri, Once an intolerable caterpillar fell upon the monastery of the Agauri, where the venerable church of the holy wonder-workers Cosmas and Damian is honoured, and no small ruin was made of the vegetables which were cultivated there by the brethren. When the brethren who lived there had seen this, they reported it to their hegumen, to the venerable Eustratius, I mean. He, consoling them with pleasant words, as was his custom, dismisses them; but a little later the venerable Eustratius goes up to the saint and tells him what had happened. He said to him: "Go and gather all the brethren, and when you have prayed in the church of the saints, you will afterwards see the caterpillars vanish." The humble man said this, fleeing the praise of men; but since Eustratius desired the saint himself to be present and the caterpillar to vanish at his command and prayer, he said again: "Go, and as I have told you, so do; I for my part will come at first light." And so they parted from one another, and when the venerable Eustratius had called the people together, the saint's coming having been announced and prayer having been made, they gave themselves to sleep; for it was night. But at earliest morning, when they had come in eager rivalry, they see the saint standing in the middle of the garden and that multitude of caterpillars cast out and driven out of the garden. Seeing this, they fell at his feet and, having asked for and received a blessing, returned with joy, praising God [i].

[57] St. Ioannicius foretells the death of Isaac the curator, A certain man named Isaac, who had been made curator of the monastery called Clubium ^k, went up to the saint to commend himself to his prayers. It happened that the reverend men Dositheus and Eustratius were then present with the saint. Then the saint said to the curator: "Is it not in your mind to become a monk?" He answered: "Certainly, father; but I depend on the hegumena and therefore I delay." When the father had instructed him, and had signed his head with the sign of the cross and warned him enigmatically that his end would come shortly, he dismissed him, saying this as well: "Since the two most reverend men Eustratius and Dositheus are to come into the city on business, they will surely persuade the hegumena to release you." When, then, both holy men had received the blessing and had come into the city, the said curator, taking the lord Dositheus aside, led him to the hegumena to set out what the saint had said. When she had heard it, she was greatly disturbed, and rebuked the reverend Dositheus not a little: for she had this man as her best counsellor in all matters that concerned her. Yet at length, moved in her mind, for she was indeed a pious woman, she sought out the most pious Eustratius, wishing to learn the truth from him, whom she knew to be a very close friend and intimate of the saint. He, when he had come and had confirmed everything to her, since, "You will gain nothing if you wish to keep him, for he will die shortly," persuades the most pious woman to consent and let the man go. When the man had gone away according to the command, behold, the Studites, those who were with Athanasius and Naucratius [l], arrived. And, as is their custom to trouble and agitate not only the Church of God but all who are subject to God, and to move their poisonous tongue to the defaming of the saints, as though they alone were conscious of all things and their barking were inspired by God ^m, these deceivers deceived that woman too, and entirely changed her counsel. Despising what the saint had said, those contemptible men, hateful to all, become a burden to the world, so to speak, ungrateful creatures and fictions of the evil one, mocked even the salvation, as they thought, of him who was about to depart to God; and he would already have been handed over to death unawares, had not the prayer of the saint, entering the ears of the Lord, procured for him a very brief measure of life. The hegumena, then, deceived as has been said, having sent the man to one of her estates in the suburb, that man forthwith fell ill; but there is sent by God, so to speak, one of the most reverend monks to visit him, who both tonsured him and consecrated him to the Lord. This done, after two days he departed to the Lord ⁿ. Let them therefore put on confusion and be covered as with a double shame, those who despise the prophetic words of the saints and speak their own barking: "Well done, well done."

[58] of a certain nun One day the said hegumena went up together with her daughter to the saint, that he might bless them; and the venerable Eustratius accompanied them. Our most blessed father, having blessed them, commands one of those who ministered to him to bring one of the servants' staffs. When the father had received it, impelled by the prophetic charism, he hands it, namely as a pastoral crook, to the hegumena's daughter. The mother, taking this ill, said: "You have not acted rightly, father. For your holiness ought, on account of my old age and maternal dignity, to have handed this to me." Our father answered her in a gentle voice: "You speak rightly, mother; but to whom it has been foreseen, to her it has been given." Then, having prayed well for them, he dismissed them. When they had gone down as far as the suburb called of the Mandrae ^o, the said hegumena, still ill-disposed, said to the lord Eustratius: "I adjure you by the great God, tell me why the saint dishonoured me, and gave to my daughter the honour taken from me?" He answered most freely: "O woman, our godly father did not put dishonour on you, as you think; but because he foresaw that you would depart to God, and that your daughter would succeed you in the pastoral office, he therefore preferred her." The woman, hearing this, glorified God, and, according to the saint's foreknowledge, when she had entered the city, she suddenly passed from this life; and the office was handed over to her daughter, who even now still enjoys life and carries out what belongs to her dignity [p].

[59] and of the superior of the Agauri; It happened that the most holy hegumen of the Agauri [q] mentioned above set out for the city on account of some business. When he was about to depart from the inhabitants of this monastery, he signifies to the saint that he should come down in the name of the Lord and pray well for him. When both had met in one of the Agaurine coenobia, in which the church of the holy and great martyr George [r] is honoured, prayer having been made, they sat down and talked together about the journey. Our father Ioannicius said enigmatically to that venerable man of God: "Know, father, that the field is already whitening; see, the reapers are already here, and the King is about to call one of us to Himself." The saint was speaking of the death of this man, who, he foreknew, having entered the city and fulfilled his business, would die there. But the most gentle hegumen, being most simple, did not understand the word. Prayer having been made, then, and an embrace given, they parted from one another. The hegumen, having entered the city and performed what pertained to his business, fell ill, and after eleven days departed to the Lord. His cousin received his prelacy, and when he too had died, according to the certain prophecy of our angelic father, the most holy Eustratius receives the prefecture, who up to now, shining like the sun, illuminates all who are directed by him [s].

[60] who also reveals hidden things, The servant of Christ, distinguished by these wonderful and singular charisms, when, by the providence of God, he had departed from his station of the above-mentioned Trichalix, set out for the mountains called Raven's Head with the beloved Eustratius. And when they were drawing near the village of Merillus [t], our heavenly father said to the admirable Eustratius: "Do not be afraid, lord Eustratius, if you see dogs." He said: "By no means, father." "Let us stop, then," said the saint, "on that rock which lies very near, and we will rest a little, and afterwards complete the rest of the journey." When, then, both had stopped, the excellent Eustratius, raising his eyes, sees a flock of many sheep grazing, and dogs fearful in appearance running around the sheep for the sake of guarding them. And when the dogs had perceived their presence, howling terribly and loudly and rousing one another, with their mouths gaping like lions, they rushed rabidly against the saint. Having now come near, and smelling the sweet-scented and pleasant bodies of those saints, suddenly turned to gentleness, they lay down fawning at the saint's feet. And the saint said to the most reverend Eustratius: "Call the shepherds." "But how am I able, O father," he answered, "to call them, not knowing their names at all?" To whom the saint said: "Cry out for Theophylact." When he had answered to the calling of his name, though it could not be that the voice should reach him and be heard and perceived, the saint says again: "Cry out for Christopher too." When he had pronounced the name, certain men standing not far off heard, and at once two shepherds, Theophylact and Christopher, were present with the saint. The saint bade them show them the road that would lead to Trapeza. "Since we are only two," they answered, "we are by no means able to do this. For one of us, who is appointed to keep and guard the flock, cannot leave it; and the other, a loss having befallen us, wishes to go off to search." "Do not be anxious at all," said the saint; "but show us the road and you will find the lamb kept safe with its mother. For it has not, as you think, become the prey of wild beasts, nor has anyone stolen it, but it stands unharmed beside a certain bush." They, hearing this and trembling violently, fell to the ground. The saint, having blessed them, bade them rise and, taking one of them, signified that he should lead them for a certain distance, and dismissed him [u].

[61] and makes himself invisible. When they had gone forward a little, the prophet of God again said to the lord Eustratius: "Since certain men are coming towards us from the other side of the hill, and we towards them, we shall meet one another. But I do not wish, lord Eustratius, to be seen by them in any way." He answered: "If you do not wish to be seen by them at all, O father, you will not be seen; for it is yours, through the grace which dwells in you, to bring this about or not." When he had bidden him hasten, he himself followed behind. When, then, they had passed the barrier by which they were separated from one another, namely the hill, they easily caught sight of one another. When they had come near each other and had said, as is the custom, "Bless, holy ones," these men asked the lord Eustratius of what monastery he was. When he had answered that he was of the Agaurine: "How," they said, "do you go about in the trackless mountains with no one accompanying you?" He said: "He who has God for his help and all the angelic powers is not alone, as you say." The saint, standing behind the illustrious Eustratius, was seen by no one. And when

they had both talked of certain other things, they parted from one another. And the humble man says to the venerable Eustratius: "Truly, most beloved Eustratius, covered as with a veil through your prayers, I was in no way at all seen by them [v]."

ANNOTATA.

p. Compare the preceding Acts, chap. VIII, no. 33, p. 362.

q. Namely Gregory, and not St. Eustratius. From this it is again clear that Peter kept no chronological order in narrating the miracles of St. Ioannicius, since a little before, for example at no. 59, he was already calling Eustratius hegumen of the Agauri.

r. Of the monastery of Saint George on Mount Olympus we have spoken in the earlier Life, note m of chap. VII, above, p. 358. If what Peter has is compared with the notice given by Sabas the monk, it again becomes clear that the coenobium of the Cells, of which we treated in the aforesaid note, is the coenobium τοῦ ἁγίου Γεωργίου τῶν Κελλίων, which is mentioned in the Acts of the Second Synod of Nicaea. P. G., vol. XCVIII, p. 215.

s. Sabas reports the same, chap. VIII, no. 32, p. 361. Especially to be noted is the series of hegumens of the Agauri which both writers report in agreement.

t. Μεριλλοῦ κώμη in Sabas, no. 34, p. 362, is written as one word: πλησίον Μεριλουκώμεως. Perhaps this last reading should have been emended from the other.

u. This narrative is to be compared with what Sabas has, chap. VIII, no. 34, pp. 362–3.

v. Sabas reports these same things, ibid., p. 363.

codex προἳών. codex μετωχίῳ. codex ποιήσαντος. codex αἰνιξάμενον. codex εἴδει. codex βουληθεὶς. codex προαστίων. codex οἴει. codex Ἔσο. codex χροτῶν.

CHAPTER ELEVEN. The narration of the miracles of St. Ioannicius continues.

[62] Τὸ πλῆρες οὖν τῆς ὁδοῦ διανύσαντες καταλαμβάνουσι τὴν μονὴν τὴν ἐπονομαζομένην Ἀντίδιον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς σκληροτέροις τῶν ὀρῶν δάσεσι κέλλαν ἀνοικοδομάνσαντες, ὥσπερ τι τερπνὸν παλάτιον, τῷ ἀοιδίμῳ Εὐστρατίῳ συνταξάμενος οἰκήσων ὁ ἅγιος προσώρμησεν . Ἆρ᾽ οὖν, ὡς βεβούλευται, τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποκέκρυπται, ἢ ἐπιλέλησται τοῖς γε αὐτὸν ποθοῦσι καὶ ζητοῦσιν; Οὔμενουν, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖ ἐμφανέστερος διὰ τῆς ἐνοικούσης αὐτῷ χάριτος γεγένηται, καὶ πλεῖστα σημεῖα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεὸς ἐργάζεται. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐπιλήψῃ με ὁ χρόνος ταῦτα διηγούμενον ἢ καὶ ἔξω τοῦ κόρου γενόμενος, ἄχθος ὑμῖν ἐπιθῶ τοῖς ἀκούουσιν, ὀλίγων θαυμάτων ἐπιμνησθείς, τὰ λοιπὰ τοῖς φιλοπονωτέροις ἐπαφήσοιμι· πλεῖστα γὰρ καὶ ὑμεῖς παρὰ πολλῶν ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως ἀκηκοότες, οὐκ ἀπιστοῦντες, ἄπαγε, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν πεπιστευκότες· μόνοις τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ ἡγιασμένου Εὐστρατίου, τοῦ καὶ συνόντος αὐτῷ καὶ αὐταῖς ὄψεσι ταῦτα θεασαμένου, ὑποσημᾶναι προεθυμήθημεν. Οὐκοῦν λοιπὸν ῥητέον κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν θεμιτὸν καὶ τὰς λοιπάς, ὡς εἴρηται, ὑποχρέους σημειοφανίας τοῦ ἰσαγγέλου καὶ θεομιμήτου πατρός· ἀρκτέον δε ἐντεῦθεν. Ἄνθρωπός τις οἰκῶν ἐν κώμῃ καλουμένῃ Ἔλος, ἀδελφιδὸς πέλων τοῦ νοταρίου Εὐγάντρη, ἀπάρας τῶν οἰκείων καὶ πρὸς ἑτέραν χώραν διά τινα πραγματείαν καταλαβών, ἀθρόον τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐκεῖσε ἐπιρριψάντων, αἰχμαλωτίσαι αὐτὸν καὶ σιδηροδέσμιον ἐν Συρίᾳ ἀπαχθέντα τῇ εἰρκτῇ αὐτὸν παραδοθῆναι. Ἐγένετο οὖν τῷ τότε καιρῷ Λέοντα, τὸν βασιλικὸν πατρίκιον καὶ σακελλάριον, καὶ Ἀγαπητὸν τὸν βασιλικὸν κουβικουλάριον καὶ πρωτοβεστιάριον εὐχῆς χάριν πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον παραγενέσθαι. Ὡς οὖν οἱ ἴδιοι τοῦ αἰχμαλώτου τὴν ἔλευσιν τῶν πανευφήμων ἀνδρῶν ἔμαθον τάχιον δραμόντες καὶ πρῶτοι ἐμφανισθέντες τῷ ἁγίῳ πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ πεπτωκότες μετὰ δακρύων καθικέτευον ὅπως τοὺς ἄνδρας παρακελεύσῃ ὑπόμνησιν ποιήσασθαι πρὸς τὴν εὐσεβεστάτην καὶ φιλόχριστον καὶ ὀρθόδοξον βασίλισσαν Θεοδώραν, ἕνα τῶν Ἀγαυρινῶν ἐκπεμφθῆναι πρὸς ἀντικαταλλαγὴν τοῦ αἰχμαλωτισθέντος, καὶ ῥυσθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐκ χειρὸς τῶν ἀθέων. Ὡς δ᾽ οὖν μετὰ ταῦτα ἀνῆλθον καὶ οἱ περιφανεῖς ἄνδρες, εὐχῆς γεναμένης, ἄμφω καθεσθέντες προσομιλεῖν ἤρξαντο. Ὁ δὲ δεηθεὶς ἄντικρυς ἱστάμενος τοῦ ἁγίου, δυσωπητικοῖς τοῖς νεύμασι τὸν ὅσιον ἐξελιπαρεῖ τὴν δέησιν αὐτοῦ ἐκπληρῶσαι. Πολλῶν οὖν ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ αὐτῶν λαληθέντων, παρεμπεσεῖν καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν γενομένην ἅλωσιν τοῦ Ἀμορίου καὶ τὸ ἀόριστον ποσὸν τῶν αἰχμαλωτισθέντων. Τοῦ οὖν ἁγίου ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εὐξαμένου, ἐπέβλεπεν ὁ δεηθεὶς τὸ τίμιον στόμα ἐκεῖνο πότε καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λαλήσει. Ὡς οὖν ἀγωνιῶντα τοῦτον ὁ ἅγιος ἐθεάσατο, σύνδακρυς γεγονὼς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἄρας, ἔτι πάντων συνόντων, τοιάδε γλυκείαν φωνὴν ἐφθέγξατο· Ἐλπίζω γὰρ εἰς τὸν Θεόν, ἔφη, ὅτι ὁ κρατηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐν τάχει ἀνακληθήσεται. Ἐπευξάμενος οὖν καὶ εὐλογήσας τοὺς ῥηθέντας πανευφήμους ἄνδρας, ἐξαπέστειλεν. Τοῦ οὖν δεηθέντος ὑπὸ τῆς λύπης καταποθέντος ὡς μὴ τὰ τῆς ἀιτήσεως αὐτοῦ πειρατοθῆναι, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ αὐτοῦ λοιδοροῦντος τὸν ἅγιον, καὶ προσωπολήπτην ἀποκαλοῦντος, γνοὺς ὁ θεηγόρος ἐκεῖνος νοῦς, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν προσκαλεῖται, καί φησιπρὸς αὐτὸν πραείᾳ τῇ φωνῇ· Ὦ τέκνον, οὐ καλὸν οὐδὲ δίκαιον ἡμᾶς καταλιπόντας τὸν παμβασιλέα Θεὸν ἔχειν τὴν ἐλπίδα ἐπ᾽ ἄρχοντας, οἶς οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρία, βέλτιον γὰρ ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ Κύριον ἢ ἐπ᾽ ἄρχουσι· πλήν, ὦ τέκνον, ἀνενδοιάστως πίστευε, καὶ ὄψει τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ πλείστοις ἄλλοις προσηγορικοῖς λόγοις τοῦτον ἐπαλείψας ἀπέλυσε. Τῇ οὖν νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ ἐπιστάς τις τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τῷ συναιχμαλώτῳ ἐκείνῳ καὶ καταδίκῳ ἐν σχήματι τοῦ ἁγίου, προέτρεπεν ἀναστάντα ἐπακολουθεῖν αὐτῷ. Ὅδε νύξας τῷ πλησίον· Δεῦρο ἀνάστα, ἄδελφε, ἔφη, ἐπακολουθήσαντες τῷ ἁγίῳ λυτρωθῶμεν τῆς κατεχούσης ἡμᾶς συμφορᾶς. Ὅδε θαυμάσας ἐπύθετο τίς ἐστιν οὗτος λέγων ὁ ἅγιος; Πῶς τε δυνατὸν ἀφεθέντας τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ, τῶν πυλῶν ἀσφαλῶς κεκλεισμένων, πάντας παρελθεῖν, ἢ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπαγρυπνύντων φρουρῶν διαλαθεῖν, καὶ διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν ἀποδράσαι; Πάντως γὰρ τοῦτο ἀνέλπιστον. Ὅδε πάλιν ἔφη· Δεῦρο, δεῦρο ἀδελφοί, εἰλικρινῶς πιστεύσαντες ἐπακολουθήσωμεν τῷ ὁσίῳ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίῳ προτρεπομένῳ ἡμᾶς, καὶ τῶν θαυμασίων Θεός, ὁ δι᾽ ἀγγέλου τῷ κορυφαίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ Πέτρῳ αὐτομάτως τῶν θυρῶν τὰ κλεῖθρα διαπετάσας καὶ διὰ μέσου τῶν φυλάκων ἀβλαβῆ διασώσας, αὐτὸς ποιήσει ἔλεος διὰ τοῦ θεράποντος αὐτοῦ καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν. Εἶτα ὡς πιστεύσαντες ἀνέστησαν, εὐθέως ἐκ τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῶν τὰ δεσμὰ ἐξέπεσαν, καὶ τοῦ ὁσίου ἐποδηγοῦντος αὐτοὺς διὰ μέσου τῶν συγκαταδίκων, διελθόντες κατέλαβον τὰς πύλας τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, καὶ ταύτας ἀνεωγμένας παραδόξως εὑρηκότες, τῶν φυλάκων ὕπνῳ βαθεῖ κατενεχθέντων, ταύτας ὑπὲρ ἀνθρωπίνην ἔννοιαν διέδραμον. Παρείποντο δὲ τῷ ἁγίῳ προάγοντι καὶ διαβιβάζοντι αὐτοὺς ἀπηάντως ἐκ πασῶν τῶν βιγλῶν καὶ σκοπιῶν, ὧν ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς πονηροτάτοις Ἀγαρηνοῖς κατὰ τὰ ἀναγκαίας ὁδοὺς τιθέναι πρὸς τὸ μὴ λαθεῖν εἰ τύχοι τινὰ τῶν δεσμίων καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀποδράσαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐάν ποτε ἐν οἷς τόποις κρατῆται χώραν δρασμοῦ, εὕροι ἀλλαχόθεν μὴ δυνάμενον διαβῆναι ἐκεῖσε κρατεῖσθαι αὐτόν. Ὡς οὖν εἴρηται, θαυμαστῶς ταύτας ὑπεξιόντες, ἤδη τῆς διαφανοῦς, ἡμέρας διαφαυούσης, πρός τι δάσος κατέπεσον, Τῇ δὲ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγένετο ποιμένας τῶν Σαρακηνῶν διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ δάσους διέρχεσθαι καὶ ποιμαίνειν τὴν ποίμνην αὐτῶν. Ὡς οὖν ᾔσθοντο οἱ κύνες τὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἴχνη, τούτους ἀνιχνεύσαντες τὴν ἀποκρυβὴν αὐτῶν εὖρον. Ὡς δ᾽ ἀπεναντίας ἔστησαν ἀναύδως πλησιάσαι

αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἐτόλμων, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἀφρῶν καὶ σιάλων χρανθῆναι αὐτοὺς καταχριστικῶς . Ἐντρόμων δὲ ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῶν καὶ ἤδη τὸν θάνατον πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἐχόντων, διελογίζοντο γὰρ ὅτι πάντως διὰ τῆς τῶν κυνῶν ἐπιδρομῆς παραδοθήσονται. ἄφνω ἐπιφανεὶς αὐτοῖς ὁ ἅγιος τοὺς μὲν κύνας ἀπήλασεν, αὐτοὺς δὲ θαρσύνας μηδὲν δεδιέναι τὸ σύνολον ἔλεγε, καὶ ἕως αὐτῶν τῶν κλεισουρῶν προηγούμενος αὐτοῖς ὁ ἅγιος οὐκ ἐγκατέλειπεν. Ὡς οὖν καὶ ταύτας ὑπερβάντες κατέλιπον, ὑποδείξας αὐτοῖς τὴν ὁδὸν ἄφαντος ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν γέγονε. Τῶνδε μετὰ δακρύων τὸν Θεὸν δοξασάντων, καὶ ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας τὸ πᾶν τῆς ὁδοῦ διανυσάντων, κατέλαβον πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον καὶ αὐτῷ ἐμφανισθέντες τὰς δυναστείας καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκδιηγήσαντο, ἃ ἐποίησε δἰ αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεός. Μηδεὶς οὖν τῷ παραδόξῳ θαύματι ἀπιστείτω, ἀλλὰ καθαρῶς καὶ ἀναμφιβόλως πάντες πιστευέτωσαν· τὰ γὰρ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ δυνατά ἐστιν. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τοῦ Θεοῦ τυχὼν διὰ τῶν καθαρῶν ἐντεύξεων τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτͅ περίεστι, καὶ εἴπερ τινές, τὸ μὴ δῴη ὁ Θεός, ἀπιστίαν τινὰ περὶ τούτου τοῦ θαῦματος ἔχωσι, πορευέσθωσαν πρὸς τὸν ἀνασωθέντα ἄνδρα καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐνωτιζόμενοι τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ, λυέσθω τῆς ἀπιστίας αὐτῶν ὁ σκότος * καὶ σὺν ἡμῖν τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ θαυμαστόν, δοξαζέτωσαν.

[63] Ἡ γυνὴ Στεφάνου, τοῦ ποτε γεγονότος μαγίστρου, ἐκ διαβολικοῦ ζήλου παρὰ τῶν δουλίδων αὐτῆς φθονηθεῖσα, καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν δηλητήριον * λαβοῦσα, καὶ ἀγνώστως πιοῦσα κατὰ παραχώρησιν Θεοῦ τὰς φρένας βέβλατο· πολλὰ οὖν εἰς τοὺς ἰατροὺς ἀναλώσασα χρήματα καὶ μηδὲν ὠφεληθεῖσα τέλος πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ἄπιει, καὶ ῥίψασα ἑαυτὴν εἰς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ἐδέετο τυχεῖν ἐλέους. Γνοὺς οὖν ὁ ἅγιος ἐκ περιεργίας πάσχειν, φησίν· Ὦ γύναι, εἰ βούλει τῆς ἰάσεως τυχεῖν, σύνθου μῆδένα ἀδικεῖν τῶν θανατῶσαί σε βουληθέντων καὶ τάχιον ἰᾶταί σε ὁ. Κύριος. Τῆσδε μεθ᾽ ὅρκου τοῦτο καταθεμένης, ἐπευξάμενος αὐτῇ ὁ ἅγιος καὶ τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ τρίτον σφραγίσας, ἐρρωμένας τὰς φρένας ἀποδούς, ὑγιῆ ταύτην ἀπέλυσε δοξάζουσαν τὸν Θεόν.

[64] Στέφανος, ὁ εὐλαβέστατος μοναχός, ὅ ποτε γεγονώς πρωτονοτάριος τοῦ στρατῆγοῦ Ὀλβιανοῦ, ἐπὶ συχνὸν πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον πορευόμενος ταῖς φυτοποιαῖς αὐτοῦ ἐντολαῖς ἐκανονίζετο. Ἐν μιᾷ οὖν ἀπελθόντος αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον, αἰνιγματωδῶς, ὡς ἔθος ἦν τῷ ἁγίῳ, πρὸς αὐτὸν φάναι ὡς· Ὅτι ὁ βασιλεὺς ἕνα ἐκ τῶν δύο ἡμῶν μέλλει καλεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Σκεψώμεθα οὖν, ἄδελφε Στέφανε, καὶ εὐτρεπίσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ὅπως γενώμεθα πρὸς ἀρέσκειαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ὡς ἄχρηστοι τουναντίον καὶ ἀμελεῖς δοῦλοι τὴν ἀγανάκτησιν αὐτοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν προσάξαντες ἐκβληθῶμεν τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Πρὸς τούτοις τε καὶ ἄλλα πλείονα εἰπὼν καὶ ἀσπασάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Ὅδε ἐξελθὼν ἀπελήλυθε καὶ ἔκτοτε ζήσας ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν. Πολλαὶ δὲ ἰάσεις ἐν τῷ τάφῳ αὐτοῦ μέχρι τῆς σήμερον γίνονται διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ.

[65] Θωμᾶς, ὁ εὐλαβεστατος μοναχός, ἅμα Εὐθυμίῳ, τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ μαγίστρου, τοῦ ποτε γεγονότος σπαθαρίου, νυνὶ δὲ ἐν τῇ μοναδικῇ τάξει καλῶς διαπρέποντος, ἀνῆλθον πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον ληψόμενοι τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ. Θεασάμενοι οὖν αὐτὸν καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθέντες ἐν τῷ μέλλειν αὐτοὺς ἀπαίρειν φησιν ὁ θεσπέσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν πρὸς τὸν εὐλαβέστατον Θωμᾶν· Θέλησον φροντίδα τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς ποιῆσαι καὶ ἑτοίμασον τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον ἔργα σου ὅτι ἐν τάχει τῶν τῇδε μεταναστεύεις. Καὶ δὴ εὐχῆς γεναμένης καὶ ἀπολυθέντων, ἐμμελεστάτην φροντίδα κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν τοῦ ἁγίου ὁ εὐλαβέστατος Θωμᾶς ποιήσας, καὶ πάντα τὰ αὐτοῦ καλῶς διανείμας τοῖς πένησι, ζήσας ἄλλας πεντεκαίδεκα ἡμέρας ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐκοίμηθη.

[66] Ἀντώνιος μοναχός, ὁ ἀμελῶς περὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς διακείμενος, ὁ καὶ πολλάκις ὑποπεσὼν τῇ αἱρέσει, ὅστις καὶ προεχειρίσθη εἰς προστασίαν τῶν Ἀγαύρων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκπεμφθέντων τῷ τότε καιρῷ αἱρεσιαρχῶν ἐξάρχων· οὗτος ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἐπιτιμηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ πάλιν, καθάπερ κύων ἐπὶ τὸν ἴδιον ἔμετον, ὑποστρέψας αὖθις καθ᾽ ἃ καὶ πρότερον, τὸν ἅγιον ἐδυσώπει τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἐπιτίμησιν δέξασθαι. Ὁ δὲ λίαν συμπαθέστατος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιός φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ Ἀντώνιε, καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς κατὰ τὸ ἐμοὶ θεμιτὸν χεῖρα βοηθείας δέδωκά σοι· αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς κακοῖς ἐμπεσὼν σαυτῷ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπώλειαν ἐπήγαγες. Πλὴν ἔτι θαρρῶν εἰς τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ταύτην τῆν ἰατρείαν προσάγω σοι· οὐκ οἴνον, οὐκ ἔλαιον ἢ ἄλλο τι φυλάττειν παρακελευόμενός σοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ὑπομονιτικῶς φέρειν τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπὶ σοὶ συμβήσεσθαι ἐπιτίμησιν, καὶ καθικετεύειν καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν Θεόν, καὶ ἐλπίζω εἰς τὴν ἄφατον φιλανθρωπίαν αὐτοῦ ὅτι ποιήσει τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ μετὰ σοῦ, συγχωρῶν σοι πάντα τὰ πεπλημμένα. Τοῦδε βαλόντος μετάνοιαν καὶ εἰπόντος· Ὡς κελεύεις, πάτερ μόνον βοήθει μοι, ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ ἐψύγη τὸ ἓν μέρος τῶν μελῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπ᾽ ἄνω ἕως κάτω, καὶ νεκρὸς σχεδὸν ὑπὸ τῶν εὑρεθέντων ἀρθεὶς καὶ κατακλιθεὶς ἐν τῇ μονῇ γενναίως τε τὰ τῆς ἐπιτιμήσεως ὑπενεγκών, καὶ εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ, τῆς τεσσαρακοστῆς ἡμέρας πληρουμένης, καλῶς ἐν Θεῷ κεκοίμηται.

[67] Ὁ σπαθάριος Δρόσος, ὅ ποτε γεγονὼς ἀντιγραφεὺς τοῦ Ὀψικίου, διατρίβων ἐν τῇ ἀναγραφῇ ἀνῆλθε πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον εὐλογηθῆναι θέλων. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἡμῶν τοῦτον δεξάμενος, φησίν· Ἐυτρέπισον σεαυτόν, ὦ σπαθάριε, καὶ ἀκριβῶς τοὺς κατὰ σὲ διαφέροντας χάρτας σύνταξον, ὅτι ὁ βασιλεὺς μέλλει ζήτησιν παρὰ σοῦ ποιῆσαι. Ὅδε πνευματικῶς τὸ λεχθὲν μὴ νοήσας, ἀλλὰ ψυχικῶς, ὑπολαβών φησιν· Ἐγώ, πάτερ, ἕτοιμός εἰμι, καὶ εἰ ταύτῆς τὴν ὥραν βουληθείη ζητῆσαί με. Εἶτα πάλιν ὁ πατήρ· Ἡμεῖς τὸ δοκοῦν προσείπομέν σοι, καὶ ἀθῶοί ἐσμεν· οὐ γὰρ περὶ αἰσθητῶν χαρτῶν ἢ βασιλέως αἰσθητοῦ, ὡς οἴει, ὦ τέκνον, ἀσφαλιζόμεθά σε, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν βασιλευόντων τοῦ μέλλοντος καὶ τὰ κρυπτὰ πάντων καὶ τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς ἐξετάζειν, καὶ ἢ τῇ πράξει τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων καὶ εὐποιἳῶν καὶ δικαιοσυνῶν δικαιοῦντος, ἢ τῇ ἀπραξίᾳ κατακρίνοντος. Ἐν τούτοις ἐπευξάμενος ἀπολύει τὸν ἄνδρα· ὅδε κατελθὼν καὶ πρὸς τὰ μητάτα γενόμενος νόσῳ περιπεσὼν ἐξέπνευσεν, ἀόριστον ἡμῖν καταλείψας τὴν αὐτοῦ μετάνοιαν.

[68] Ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ, τοῦ καὶ ταύτην τὴν πραγματείαν ἀμαθῶς καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἐμοὶ ἐφικτὸν συντάξαντος, καθεζομένου μοῦ ποτε ἐν τῷ ταπεινῷ μου κελλίῳ, λογισμός μοι ὑπεισῆλθε τοῦ ἀπιέναι πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς αὐτοῦ κομίσασθαι. Καὶ δὴ παραλαβὼν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὸν σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐφησυχάζοντα ἀδελφὸν Πλάτωνα, πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον παρεγενόμεθα, καὶ θεαταὶ ἀξιωθέντες γενέσθαι τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἐκείνης θέας καὶ πλείστων ἐπωφελῶν καὶ παραινετικῶν λόγων ἐπαπολαύσαντες, φησὶν ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφὸς πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον· Παρακαλῶ σε, ὦ πάτερ, ἵνα διὰ τὸν Κύριον παράσχῃς ἡμῖν ἄδειαν μίαν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν σὴν τιμιότητα ἔρκεσθαι καὶ τῶν σῶν ἁγίων εὐχῶν κατατρυφᾶν καὶ μετὰ χαρᾶς ἀνθυποστρέφειν. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἑστὼς μετὰ πολλοῦ τρόμου, ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς ὀφθλμούς μου ὁλῶς τολμᾶν ἆραι καὶ προσβλέπειν τῇ θεοδεῖ ἐκείνῃ θέᾳ, ἢ φωνὴν τὴν οἵαν οὖν ἀφιέναι, ἀλλὰ δεδοικὼς διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐμῶν πλημμελημάτων, καὶ ταλανίζων τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ συνείδησιν καὶ ἀποκλαιόμενος ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ μου καὶ λέγω ὅτι ἀκάθαρτος ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη καὶ ἔργα ἔχων ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ καὶ γῆς Κυρίου ἐγὼ κατοικῶ καὶ ὁλῶς τὸν αὐτοῦ θεράποντα ἰδεῖν καὶ ἀσπάσασθαι κατηξίωμαι, καὶ ἄλλοις πλείστοις ἐμαυτὸν ἀποθρηνῶν κατεδίκαζον. Ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ἀφώνοις ὀδυρμοῖς συνεχομένου μου, ἀνοίξας τὸ τίμιον στόμα ὁ ὅσιός φησι πρὸς τὸν σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφόν· Γινώσκειν σε βούλομαι, ὦ μεγαλόψυχε Πλάτων, ὅτι ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ οὐ μή με ἄλλο θεάσῃ· Ἐμοῦ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ λίαν καταπλαγέντος, περισσοτέρως τῷ φόβῳ κατεπόθην μηδαμῶς τὸ σύνολον τολμήσας τι φθέγξασθαι. Δοὺς δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ ὅσιος εὐλογίας ἐκ τῶν αὐτῷ συνήθως διδομένων παξαματίων καὶ πρὸς ἕνα σταυρὸν ἐκ ξύλου ἰδιοχείρως αὐτῷ εἰργασμένον καὶ κάλλιστα ἐξεσμένον, ἐπευξάμενος ἀπέλυσεν. Τοῦ οὖν ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου διελθόντος καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος εἰσιόντος, ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν ἐπισκέψεως χάριν κατελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν ἁγιώτατον Πέτρον, τὸν νυνὶ μητροπολίτην τοῦ Συλαίου. Ὅδε δεξάμενος ἡμᾶς, ἅμα αὐτῷ συνεσθιαθῆναι προέτρεψεν· ἐσθιόντων δὲ ἡμῶν, φησὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ ῥηθεὶς Πέτρος ὅτι· Εἰ εὐδοκεῖ Κύριος, βουλῆς ἔχω τοῦ πορευθῆναι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν τὸν κύριν Ἰωαννίκιον, καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντά μοι πάντα αὐτῷ ἀναθέσθαι, καὶ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εὐλογηθῆναι. Ἡμῶν δὲ φησάντων ὅτι· Καὶ ἡμεῖς σὺν σοὶ πορευσόμεθα, λίαν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐγεγήθη. Ὡς οὖν ἀναστάντες τῆς τραπέζης περισπωμένως φροντίδα περὶ ἀλόγων ἐποιούμεθα τοῦ εὑρᾶσθαι διά τε τὸ μῆκος τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀσυνηθῆ πεζοπορείαν, παρακληθεὶς ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐκ Θεοῦ τῇ καρδίᾳ ὁ μητροπολίτης φάναι πρὸς μέ· Τί οὕτως θορυβῇ καὶ τυρβάζῃ; Ἐκ γὰρ τῶν προσόντων μοι ἀλοόγων ληψόμενος, παύου μὴν τῆς μερίμνης· ἅμα δὲ ἐμοὶ· ἀνάτρεχε καὶ μόνης τῆς ἀγαθῆς εὐχῆς τοῦ ὑψηλοτάτου πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἀντέχου, καὶ εὔχου ὁλικῶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, ἥτις ἐκ σοῦ είς τὸν αἰῶνα οὐκ ἀφαιρεθήσεται. Εἶτα ἐμοῦ τῷ μητροπολίτῃ εὐχαπιστήσαντος καὶ ἐν θαυμασμῷ μένοντος ὅτι καὶ ἄλλων ἀλόγων προσόντων τῷ μητροπολίτῃ καὶ ἱκετευόντων ἡμῶν δοῦναι καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Πλάτωνι ἀπηνήατο παρακληθῆναι, τόνδε δοξασάντων ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα χαριστηρίοις ἔπεσι καταστεψάντων ἡμῶν, στραφεὶς πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἔρευναν ποιῆσαι αὐτὸν προέτρεπον ἔνν τε τοῖς προκειμένοις φίλοις καὶ μοναατηρίοις. Ὡς οὖν τούτου γενομένου τῆς ἐφέσεως ἠμοίρησεν, ἀπορηθεὶς πάντη ὁ ἀδελφὸς βαθυτάτης λύπης ἐνεπλήσθη. Ὡς δ᾽ οὖν στραφεὶς τουτὸν περίλυπον ἐθεασάμην, ᾔσθην κἀγὼ καὶ δεινῶς ἔπαθον, καὶ γὰρ λίαν ἐν πνεύματι Κυρίου ἀγαπητὸς ἦν μοι ἀδελφός, καὶ ξυνωρὶς * μία παρὰ πάντων ἐβλεπόμεθα καὶ οὐδὲν ἄμεινον ἦν ἐν σώμασι μίαν ψυχὴν ὁρᾶσθαι, ὡς εἶναι ἐν Πέτρον καὶ ἐν Πέτρῳ Πλάτωνα. Ὅμως τοῖς προσηγορικοῖς λόγοις πρὺμναν ποιησάμενος, καὶ τὴν προφητικὴν ἐκείνην ὑπομνήσας φωνήν, χαρὰν τέως καὶ νίκην ὑπομονῆς ἐδωρησάμην, καὶ συνταξάμενος αὐτῷ ἅμα τῷ μητροπολίτῃ καὶ τῷ νυνὶ ἐπισκόπῳ Προύσης Ἰωάννῃ ἐπορεύθην. Καὶ ἀνελθόντες πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον καὶ τῆς φωτοειδοῦς ἐκείνης θέας ἀπολαύσαντες ἠξιώθημεν καὶ ὁμοδίαιτοι γενέσθαι, λόγῳ τε καὶ θείῳ νόμῳ καὶ χάριτος διηγήμασιν ἐμπλησθέντες, εἴπερ τρυφῆς τῆς εὐωχίας ἀνέστημεν. Διακεκριμένως οὖν, ἰδίᾳ καὶ κατὰ βαθμὸν ἕκαστος εἰσιὼν καὶ τοὺς

ἑαυτοῦ λογισμοὺς καὶ πράξεις ἀνακαλύπτων ἢ τουναντίον αἰσχυνόμενος, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ φωτεινοτάτου ἐκείνου αἰνιγματωδῶς καὶ ποσῶς διελεγχόμενος καὶ τὰς συνήθεις εὐλογίας κομιζόμενος ἀπέτρεχεν. Φθάσαντος οὔν καὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ βαθμοῦ εἰσίειν ὅλος δεδιὼς καὶ κατάπληκτος καὶ διαλογιζόμενος ἐν ἐμαυτῷ ἔλεγον· Ὦ ταπεινὲ Πέτρε, πῶς σκότος ὢν τῷ ἡλίῳ προσπελάσεις; Πὼς δὲ ψαύσεις ἢ καὶ ἅψῃ τῶν ἱερῶν ποδῶν ἐκείνων μεμολυσμένα χείλη ἔχων καὶ ὁλοτελῶς χρανθεὶς τοῖς αἰσχίστοις πάθεσι; Πῶς δὲ θεάσῃ τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκεῖνα ὄμματα, ὁ τὰ ὄμματα πρὸς πᾶσαν κακίαν τείνας, καὶ πρὸς ὁδοὺς οὐκ εὐθείας οὔτε μὴν ὀρθῶς προσβλέψας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς διεστραμμένας ἀνοδίας ταῦτα ἀπευθύνας; Ποῖαν δὲ καὶ ὅλως ἀπολογίαν προσοίσεις, ἀναπολόγητος ὅλος τῇ τῶν παθῶν νίκῃ γεγονώς; Εἶτα δυνάμεώς τινος ἐνισχυσάσης με, προσῆλθον τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ ῥίψας ἐμαυτὸν πρὸς γῆς καὶ τῶν τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ ποδῶν ἁψάμενος καταχριστικῶς τοῖς δάκρυσι ἔλουσα. Ὅδε τῆς κορυφῆς ἁψάμενος καὶ σφραγίσας, ἀνίστησι καὶ τὸν ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀσπασμὸν εἰρηνικώτατα δίδωσι. Καὶ λαβὼν ἐκ τῶν εὐλογιῶν δώδεκα τὸν ἀριθμὸν *, δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταύτα καὶ δὸς τῷ ἀδελφῷ Πλάτωνι, καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτῷ· Μὴ λυποῦ, ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς τὴν προαάρεσίν σου ἀπεδέξατο. Εἶτα λαβὼν ἑτέρας εὐλογίας δώδεκα δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταῦτα εἰς περιποίησιν τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς. Ἐμοῦ δὲ διαλογιζομένου· Εἴθε ὁ Θεὸς ἐπληροφόρει αὐτὸν δοῦναι καὶ τῇ ἐμῇ μητρί, αὖθις προσβλέψας καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν εὐλογιῶν θέσιν τετανικῶς τὴν χεῖρα μεστὴν ταύτην ἀνείλκυσεν. Ἄμφω οὖν μοῦ τὼ χεῖρε ἁπλεῖν προτρεψάμενος τριάκοντα ἓξ τὸν ἀριθμὸν δίδωσί μοι καὶ λέγει· Δέξαι ταῦτα, καὶ δὸς ἀνὰ ἓξ τῇ τε σῇ μητρὶ καὶ ιαῖς σαῖς πέντε δελφαῖς. Ἐμοῦ δὲ λίαν ἀπορηθέντος ἐπὶ τῇ τοσαύτῃ θαυμαστῇ άναρρήσει, λαβών μου πάλιν τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπευξάμενος καὶ σφραίσας ἀπέλυσε. Καὸ οὕτως ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἅπαντες ὑπεστρέψαμεν δοξάζοντες τὸν Θεόν.

[62] St. Ioannicius frees a captive from the hands of the Saracens, The journey completed, they make for the monastery called Antidium, and, a cell having been built for himself in the densest forests of the mountains, as in a pleasant palace, the saint sets out to dwell there together with the illustrious Eustratius. Was he, then, hidden from men, as he had resolved, and did he escape the notice of those who sought and searched for him? By no means; but there too he becomes more celebrated on account of the grace which dwells in him, and God works very many signs through him. But lest time overtake me as I relate these things, or, going beyond measure, I bring weariness upon my hearers, having recorded a few prodigies, I shall leave the rest to the more industrious. For you have already heard very many things from others in one way and another, not distrusting them at all, far from it! but trusting them greatly. We have been eager to make known only the things which were told us by the venerable Eustratius, his companion, who saw them with his own eyes. It remains, then, as it seems to us, to speak of the remaining signs which our father, the emulator of the angels and of God, manifested because of some necessity. From here we must begin. A certain man, an inhabitant of the village called Elos [a], nephew of the notary Eugantrus, emigrating from his homeland and having set out for another region on account of certain business, was taken captive by many Agarenes who had made an incursion there, and, bound with iron chains, was led into Syria, to be thrust into prison there. And it happened at the same time that Leo [b], royal patrician and sacellarius, together with Agapetus, the king's chamberlain [c] and protovestiarius [d], came to the saint to be blessed by him. When the kinsmen of that captive had learned of the coming of those illustrious men, running quickly and appearing first before the saint, they fell at his feet and with tears asked him to urge those men to remind the most pious, most faithful to Christ and orthodox queen Theodora to send one of the Agaurines in exchange for the captive and snatch him from the hands of the impious. When afterwards the illustrious men had come, prayer having been made, sitting on either side they began to converse. And he who had come to petition, standing opposite the saint, besought the blessed man with suppliant nods to fulfil his petition. And when they had already exchanged many words among themselves, there was perhaps also mention of the capture of the city of Amorium [e], which had happened on account of our sins, and of the infinite number of captives. When the saint had prayed for them, the petitioner looked at his venerable mouth, to see whether perhaps he would not also speak for this man. When, then, the saint saw him in distress, weeping and raising his hands to heaven, with all present, he uttered this sweet word: "I hope indeed in God," he said, "that this captive will soon be recalled from the heathen." When he had prayed well for and blessed the said distinguished men, he dismissed them. But when the petitioner was grieved, as though he would not obtain what he had asked, and was assailing the saint in his mind with reproaches and calling him a respecter of persons, that prophetic spirit, knowing it, calls him to himself and says to him in a gentle voice: "O son, it is neither right nor just for us to have forsaken God, the King of all, and to place our hope in princes in whom there is no salvation; for it is better to trust in the Lord than in princes; for the rest, O son, believe without doubting, and you will see the glory of God." And soothing him with many other hortatory words, he dismissed him. And that same night, appearing in the form of the saint to one of the captives, he commanded that fellow-captive and condemned man to rise and follow him. He, signifying this to another who was near: "Rise at once, brother," he said, "and, following the saint, let us be loosed from the misfortune that holds us." But he, astonished, asked who this saint was who said these things. How could it happen that, the chains being loosed, they should all go out through doors firmly shut, or escape the notice of the multitude of watchful guards and flee through the midst of them? For this was not to be hoped for. The other said again: "Now, now, brethren, believing firmly, let us follow our holy father Ioannicius who is exhorting us, and the God of wonders, who through an angel of His own accord unlocked the bars of the doors for Peter, the prince of His apostles, and led him unharmed out of the midst of the guards, will Himself work mercy with us on account of His servant." When then, trusting, they had risen, the chains at once fell from their feet, and, the saint leading them, passing through the midst of the fellow-captives, they came to the doors of the prison, which, incredible to tell, they found open, the guards being overtaken by a deep sleep, and they passed by beyond human expectation. And they followed the saint going before them and leading them out unharmed from all the stations and look-outs which the most wicked Agarenes are accustomed to place on the roads by which one must necessarily pass, so that, if it should happen that one of the chained men escapes, as it did happen, it may not escape their notice, but, if anyone has perhaps found an opportunity of flight there, someone may meet him everywhere who will not let him pass and will hold him back. When, then, as has been said, they had gone out from there wonderfully, day already dawning, they turned aside into a thick forest. And on that same day it happened that shepherds of the Saracens were passing through this forest and pasturing their flock. When the dogs perceived the traces of the captives, keeping close to them they found their hiding-place. When they had stood opposite them, having become voiceless they did not dare to approach, though the men were defiled, smeared with foam and slaver. When these trembled and already saw death before their eyes, thinking that they would be betrayed by the onrush of the dogs, the saint suddenly appeared to them, who drove off the dogs, and gave them courage, exhorting them not to fear at all, and he did not leave them before he had conducted them to the barriers of the mountains. When they had passed these, the road having been pointed out, he vanished from them. They glorified God with tears, and after some days, the whole journey having been completed, they made their way to the saint and related before him the powers and prodigies of God which God had done through him. Let no one, then, call this incredible miracle into doubt, but let all believe simply and without hesitation; for the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. For he who obtained this divine help through the most pure intercession of our holy father is still surviving in this life; and if any, which God forbid, are held by some incredulity concerning this prodigy, let them go to this man who was saved, that they may learn from him the great works of God, that the darkness of their incredulity may be dispelled and they may glorify with us God, wonderful in His saints [f].

[63] he heals the wife of Stephen the magister, When her maidservants, out of diabolical envy, were persecuting the wife of Stephen, who had once been magister, having received poison from them, she drank it unawares, God permitting, and was deprived of her mind. Having already lost much money on physicians, since she made no progress she at length goes to the saint and, throwing herself at his feet, begged him to obtain mercy for her. The saint, knowing that she was labouring under excessive anxiety, said: "O woman, if you wish to obtain health, promise to do no injury to anyone of those who wish to kill you, and the Lord will heal you very quickly." When she had promised this with an oath, the saint, blessing her and signing her three times with the sign of the life-giving cross, her mind having been restored sound, dismissed her healed, glorifying God ^g.

[64] of Stephen Stephen, a very reverend monk, who had once been protonotary of the general Olbianus, since he visited the saint very frequently, was instructed by his fruitful counsels. One day, then, when he had come to the saint, the latter said to him enigmatically, as was his custom: "The King is about to call to Himself one of the two of us. Let us consider, then, brother Stephen, and dispose ourselves, that we may be to His good pleasure, and not rather, as useless and negligent servants, provoke His indignation against us and be cast down from His glory." When he had said these and many other things, he embraced him and dismissed him. He, having gone away, departed, and when he had lived eight days more, he departed to the Lord. And many healings take place at his tomb up to the present day through the grace of God [h].

[65] of Thomas Thomas, a venerable monk, with Euthymius, son of that magister, who had once been a spatharius, but now lives rightly in the monastic order, came to the saint that he might bless them. When they had seen him and he had prayed well for them, and they were now about to set out, our divinely inspired father said to the reverend Thomas: "Be so good as to make the reckoning of your soul, and dispose your affairs for your departure, because you will soon depart from this life." Prayer having been made, when they had been dismissed, the venerable Thomas, subjecting himself to a most careful examination according to the saint's prophecy and having generously distributed all his goods to the poor, when he had lived another fifteen days, rested in peace [i].

[66] of Antony, monks, Antony the monk, who conducted himself very negligently towards his own soul, and indeed had often lapsed into heresy, who had also been appointed

superior to govern the monastery of the Agauri by the heresiarchs of that time, he, having been chastised by the saint once and again, and having returned again, like a dog to his vomit, yet once more, as before, asked the saint that he might receive a salutary penance. Our most kind father Ioannicius said to him: "Indeed, O Antony, once and again, as was just for me, I have offered you my hand in help. But you yourself, falling into the same evils, have prepared your own ruin for yourself. Nevertheless, trusting in the divine mercy, I propose to you this remedy: I exhort you to use neither wine nor oil nor anything else whatever; but for forty days bear steadfastly this chastisement which will befall you, and pray as a suppliant and glorify God, and I hope from His ineffable kindness that He will work mercy with you, pardoning you all in which you have offended." When he had asked pardon and said: "As you command, father; only help me," as soon as he had spoken, one half of his members grew cold from the crown of the head to the feet, and, lifted up almost dead by those who were there and laid down in the monastery, bearing the penance with a strong heart and giving thanks to the Lord, when the fortieth day had been completed, he died piously in God [k].

[67] and he foretells the death of the spatharius Drosus. The spatharius Drosus, who was once scribe of the Opsikion, while he was engaged in the registry, went up to the saint, desiring him to bless him. When our father had received him, he said: "Convert yourself, O spatharius, and set in order diligently the papers that pertain to you, because the King is about to ask an account of you." He, having understood this not spiritually but in its proper sense, answered: "Indeed, father, I am ready even if he should wish to inquire into me at this very hour." To whom the father again: "We have told you what seemed right and have discharged our debt. For we are not speaking to you of sensible papers or of an earthly king, as you suppose, son, but of the King of kings, who is about to search out the hidden things and thoughts of all, and judges by good and beneficent and just works and punishes negligence." And so, having prayed well for him, he dismisses the man. He, having gone down and come to his quarters, fell ill and expired, leaving his repentance uncertain to us [l].

[68] The author visits St. Ioannicius. To me, wretched as I am, who relate this history so unskilfully, but according to my strength, as I was once sitting in my humble cell ^m, the thought came of going to the saint and obtaining his prayers. And taking brother Plato, who was leading the solitary life with me, we came to the saint, and when it had befallen us to behold his angelic face and to enjoy his very many profitable and hortatory discourses, the brother who was with me said to the saint: "I beg you, father, by the Lord, grant us this leave to come back to your reverence once this year, that, delighted by your holy prayers, we may go away with joy." I, for my part, was standing with great trembling, so that I did not dare to raise my eyes at all, nor look upon that godly face, nor utter any word, but, fearing on account of the multitude of my iniquities, and weeping over my conscience and groaning in my thought, and saying that, though I was impure and polluted in lips and works, I dwelt in the midst of the people and the land of the Lord [n], and yet had been held worthy to behold and embrace His servant, so, lamenting myself with many other words, I judged myself. While I was silently groaning over these things, the saint, opening his venerable mouth, said to the brother who was with me: "I wish you to know, magnanimous Plato, that you will see me no more in this life." At this word I was greatly moved and feared the more, daring to say nothing at all. When the saint had given us as eulogiae some of the paxamatia ^o which were frequently given to him, and besides a wooden cross made by his own hand and most beautifully adorned, having prayed well for us, he dismissed us. That same year having passed and the next already beginning, it pleased us to go to visit the most holy Peter, who is now metropolitan of Sylaeum [p]. He, having received us, invited us to dine with him. While we were eating together, the said Peter said to us: "If it seems good to the Lord, I have it in mind to set out to our father the lord Ioannicius, and to lay before him whatever I bear in my mind, and to receive his blessing." When we had answered: "We too will go with you," the man was greatly pleased. When, rising from the table, we were at once anxious about finding beasts of burden, on account of the length of the journey, which was not usually made on foot, the metropolitan, inspired, so to speak, by God in his heart, said to me: "Why are you so anxious and troubled? Take one of the beasts which I have at hand and put away your cares; come with me and be intent solely on the excellent prayer of our most exalted father, and pray that you may obtain only that portion which will not be taken from you for ever [q]." When I had then returned thanks to the metropolitan, and yet wondered at him that, although he had other beasts too and we asked him to give one to brother Plato as well, he was unwilling to invite him, while we praised him and adorned him with words of gratitude, I turned to the brother and urged him to seek a beast from neighbouring friends or in the monasteries. This done, when he had obtained nothing, the brother, utterly forsaken, was filled with the deepest grief. When, then, turning, I saw him afflicted, I for my part had compassion and felt the grief vehemently. For this brother was very dear to me in the spirit of the Lord, and we seemed to all like a yoked pair, nor was it more to see one soul in two bodies than Peter in Plato and Plato in Peter. Nevertheless, making an end with friendly words and recalling the prophetic voice, I procured for him the joy and victory of patience, and having bidden him farewell, I set out with the metropolitan and with John, now bishop of Prusa [r]. When we had gone up to the saint and enjoyed the bright sight of him, he deigned to admit us into his company, and we were filled with his discourses and heavenly discipline and conversations of grace, as if we had attended a most sumptuous banquet. One by one, then, privately and each in his order, entering, each revealed his thoughts and manner of acting, or rather blushed for them, since that most illustrious man as it were reproached him enigmatically; and having received the customary blessings, he went away. When, then, my turn had come, fearing greatly to go in and much moved, and thinking these things within myself, I said: "O base Peter, how, being darkness, will you approach the sun? How will you touch or even press those sacred feet, having polluted lips and being wholly befouled by the foulest desires? How are you going to behold those holy eyes, you who have turned your eyes to every wickedness, and, looking not rightly on ways not right, have directed them into straying paths? What excuse will you bring, who have become wholly inexcusable by the victory of the desires?" Yet, somewhat strengthened, I went to the saint and, throwing myself on the ground and embracing his holy feet, I watered them abundantly with my tears. He, touching and signing my head, bade me rise and gave me a kiss in the Lord most tenderly. Having taken twelve eulogiae in number, he hands them to me, saying: "Take these and give them to brother Plato, and tell him: 'Do not be saddened. For God has accepted your good will.'" Then, having taken another twelve eulogiae, he gave them to me, saying: "Take these for the safeguard of your soul." As I was thinking: "Would that God might persuade him to give to my mother too," looking again and stretching out his hand into the heap of eulogiae, he drew it back full. Having urged me to fill both hands, he gives me thirty-six eulogiae in number, saying: "Take these, of which you will give six to your mother, and six each to your five sisters." And when I was in great embarrassment at such wonderful liberality, holding my head again, blessing me and signing me with the cross, he dismissed me. And so we all returned in peace, glorifying God [s].

ANNOTATA.

n. Is. VI, 5.

p. On Peter, metropolitan of Syllaeum, see Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 1019. Le Quien adduced the present passage from the Life of St. Ioannicius in evidence, in order thereby to bring Peter into the series of the bishops of Syllaeum.

q. Compare Luke X, 41.

r. This John is absent from the series of bishops which Le Quien recites. Here, then, is one restored between Theodore, whom Le Quien gives as the tenth bishop of Prusa, and Nicetas, the eleventh, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 617. Surely several more must be inserted between the years 787 and 879, in which the above-mentioned bishops began to sit.

s. This narrative of Peter's visit to St. Ioannicius is also to be compared with the narrative of Sabas, chap. IX, no. 43, pp. 368–9. Compare the Preliminary Commentary, no. 15.

CHAPTER TWELVE. St. Ioannicius, after he had strengthened the patriarch Methodius by his words and authority, dies.

[69] Δίκαιον μὲν οὖν ἐστι πάντας θαυμάζειν τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου γεγὁνότα τε καὶ πραχθέντα φωτοποιὰ καὶ ὑψηλὰ τεράστια, μάλιστα δὲ τὰς ἐν τῷ βαθυτάτῳ καὶ τιμίῳ αὐτοῦ γήρᾳ θεοπρεπεῖς τε καὶ προφητικὰς ἀναφωνήσεις ἃς μέλλειν καὶ ἔσεσθαι ἐκήρυξεν εἰς τὸν μακαριώτατον καὶ ἀκροτάτον ἐν παρτιάρχαις καὶ ἐν μάρτυσι Μεθόδιον. Τῆς γὰρ αἱρέσεως ἔτι κυμαινομένης, ἐγένετο τὸν πολλάκις μνημονευθέντα εὐλαβέστατον Εὐστράτιον πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον ἀνελθεῖν, αὖθις ἀκοῦσαι παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου στόματος τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι ἀνάστασιν τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας, καὶ παντελῆ κατάπτωσιν τῆς κακοδοξίας. Περιχαρὴς οὖν ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἐνηχήσει ὁ ἀνὴρ γεγονώς, καί, ὡς ἔθος ἦν αὐτῷ μάλα θαρρήσας, φησὶ πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον· Εἴθε εἰὴν δυνατόν, ὦ τίμιε πάτερ, κατὰ τὴν ἐν σοὶ δοθεῖσαν τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος χάριν ἕλξαι ἡμῖν καὶ τὸν τοὺς ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς οἴακας ὀρθοδόξως καὶ καλῶς κρατεῖν καὶ πηδαλιοῦχεῖν μέλλοντα, ὅτι πάνυ ἡ δόξα ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωποις μεμερισμένη ἐστί, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλον ἀνακηρύττειν καὶ ἀναβιβάζειν ἐπείγεται. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς μφὶ Ἀθανάσιον καὶ Ναυκράτιον καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν λεγόμενον Κακοσάμβαν δοξάζειν ἀγωνίζονται, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἐν λόγοις ἐξοχώτατον καὶ φιλοσοφώτατον Μεθόδιον, καὶ ἄλλοι ἑτέρους. Καί φησιν ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν· Ματαιοπονοῦσιν, ὦ Εὐστράτιε, οἱ δοκοῦντες συνιστᾶν τοὺς ῥηθέντας Στουδίτας, καὶ τὸν σὺν αὐτοῖς Ἰωάννην· εἰ δέ γε τὸν πτωχὸν τῷ πνεύματι καὶ πραότατον ὑπάρχοντα, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Δαΰͅ ιδ, Μεθόδιον ψηφιζόμενοι, οὐκ ἄλλοθι ἢ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦτο ἀναβοῶσι. Τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ εὐλαβέστατος Εὐστράτιος τὸν Θεὸν δοξάσας, καὶ ἐυχὴν αἰτησάμενος καὶ λαβών, ἐπορεύθη. Κάριτι δὲ Θεοῦ τῆς αἱρέσεως λοφησάσης, καὶ ψήφῳεοῦ καὶ ἀγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ τὸν ἀρχιερατικὸν θρόνον ἀνυψωθείς, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἔνθεον ἀνάρρησιν, ὁ παναγιώτατος Μεθόδιος τὸ ἀρχαῖον κάλλος τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ οἰκονομίας καὶ τὴν εὐπρεπν ὡραιότητα ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλησίαις ἀπέδωκε. Καὶ γέγονεν εἰρήνη βαθεία ἐν ὁλῇ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἐπιμελείας τοῦ μεγάλου πατριάρχου Μεθοδίου, καὶ τῶν τιμίων εὐχῶν τοῦ σημειοφόρου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου. Ὁ οὖν μισόκαλος καὶ πονηρὸς δάιμων μὴ φέρων ὁρᾶν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ταῖς ἐκλησίαις τοῦεοῦ εἰρηνικὴν κατάστασιν, εἰσελθὼν εἴς τινας φιλοδόξους καὶ γηραιοὺς τῷ εἴδει καὶ ληρωδοῦντας τῷ φρονήματι τοὺς δηλωθέντας φθονεροὺς Στουδίτας, καὶ τὸν σὺν αὐτοῖς Κακοσάμβαν, οὓς καὶ πάντες ἐπίστασθε σκεύη εἰς ἀπώλειαν κατηρτισμένα, τούτους εὑρηκὼς καὶ πρὸς φλιναφίαν τὰς ἀδίκους καὶ βεβήλους γλώσσας αὐτῶν μεταρυθμίσας καὶ πλεῖστον μέρος δι᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπισπασάμενος, ταραχὰς δι᾽ αὐτῶν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπεγείρει. Ἴστε δὲ πάντες τὸ ἀναιδὲς πρόσωπον τῶν ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τὰ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν κατατιθέντα κατὰ τοῦ μεγάλου ἐκείνου φωστῆρος καὶ μάρτυρος Μεθοδίου, μηδὲν ἀπεοικότα τῷ μεγάλῳ ἐκείνῳ καὶ θαυμαστῷ Ἀθανασίῳ τὰ ταρὰ τῶν σχισματικῶν καὶ Ἀρειανῶν συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ. Ἐν τούτοις πενθηκῶς διακειμένης τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλησίας ὡς τὸν ἑαυτῆς διδάσκαλον ὁρᾶν μὴ φερούσης. ἀδίκως ταῖς ὕβρεσι βαλλόμενον, καὶ κλόνου οὐ μικροῦ καθεστηκότος τῆς φήμης τε τῶν ἀνιαρῶς συμβάντων τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἁγιώτατον πατέρα ἡμῶν Ἰωαννίκιον ἐπαναδραμούσης, ἐμπνευσθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τῷ συνήθει φίλῳ Εὐστρατίῳ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν δεδηλώκει, καὶ χαράξας ἐπιστολὴν παραμυθίας γέμουσαν πρὸς τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ποιμένα καὶ διδάσκαλον ἐν πολλῷ τῷ τάχει τὴν παραμυθητικὴν συλλαβὴν παρ᾽ ἑνὸς τῶν δοκιμωτάτων ὑποτακτικῶν τῶν συνόντων τῷ ἀγαπητῷ Εὐστρατίῳ ἀποσταλῆναι ἐπέτρεψε. Μηδαμῶς αὐτὸν θυμεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίπεσι παρεκελεύετο, ὡς εἰδότα τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ Χριστῷ πάσχειν καὶ ροῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ, παρὰ τῶν ὁμοίων τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποστατῶν. Ἐν ταὐτῷ προτρεπόμενος καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν φικέσθαι, τὴν ἀνάλυσιν αὐτοῦ ποσῶς αἰνιξάμενος.

[70] Ὁ δὲ θειότατος Μεθόδιος περιχαρὴς ἐπὶ τῇ προτροπῇ γεγονώς, μηδὲν μελλήσας τὸ μεν γράμμα τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ὑπέδειξε, τοὸς δέ γε βεβήλουσ ἐκείνους τοὺς κατὰ τῆς Σωσάννης γέροντας, συκοφάντας, ἀπελεγχθέντας ἐνδίκῳ καὶ κανονικῇ ἐξρίᾳ τε καὶ ἀναθεματισμῷ παραδέδωκεν, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον τάχιστα ἀνέδραμεν. Ὡς οὖν ἀλλήλοις τὸν ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀσπασμόν ὅ τε μέγας πατρίαρχης καὶ ὁ θεοφόρος Ἰωαννίκιος ἀτοδεδώκασι, φησὶν ὁ πολιστὴς τῆς ἐρήμου Ἰωαννίκιος πρὸς τὸν ἐν ἁγίοις πατριάρχήν· Ἐγὼ μέν, δέσποτα, ούδέποτε τετόλμηκά σοι δηλοποιῆσαι πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν ἐλθεῖν ἀναξιότητα· σὸν δὲ ἦν τὸ κατόρθωμα, ἡνίκα ἐκέκλησο παρὰ τυῦ κινοῦντός σε παναγίου Πνεύματος τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναξιότητα ἐπισκέπτεσθαι, καὶ λόγοις προτροπῆς τοῖς εἰς ἀρετὴν νουθετεῖν ἡμᾶς. Νῦν δέ, μεγάλης ἀνάγκης βιασάσης με, θεόθεν κινηθεὲς αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ὡρμήθην ἐπιστεῖλαι τῷ ἁγίῳ μου δεσπότῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν κοπωθῆναι ἀγροικότητα πρὸς τὸ κομίσασθαί σου τὰς εὐχας καὶ πορευθῆναι ἐν εἰρήνῃ· ροῦτο γάρ μοι ἀπεκαλέφθη φανερῶς. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν συκοφαντούντων τὴν ἱερὰν ὑμῶν ἁγιότητα πλεῖστα ζιζάνια ἀναφύει ἐν τῇ ἁγάᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ τινες συνηγορίαν τῶν βλασφημιῶν τὴν ἡμετέραν οὐκ ἐνάρκησαν ἀναφέρειν μετριότητα, ἰδοὺ παρρησίᾳ λαλῆσαι βούλομαι τὰ ἐμοὶ παρὰ τοῦ Θεο περὶ τῆς σῆς ἀποκαλυφθέντα ἁγιότητος. Κελεύσας οὖν παραγενέσθαι πάντα τὸν λαόν, τὸν μετὰ τῦ σεβασμίου πατρίαρχου ἀνεληλυθότα, ὡς ἑβδομήκοντα ἀνδρῶν ὑπαρχόντων, ἐπισκόπων τε καὶ κληρικῶν καὶ μοναζόντων, τάδε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ μέγας ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰωαννίκιος ἀγγελικῷ τῷ στόματι ἐδημηγόρησεν· Ἀκούσατε πάντες οἱ ἐν ταύτῃ περιοστῶτες τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ ἐν πόλεσι καὶ κώμαις κηρύξατε. Πάλαι μὲν ὁ μέγας Ἀντώνιος τοἱς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς παρεκελεύετο μηδεμίαν κοινωνίαν ἔχειν μετὰ μετὰ Ἀρειανῶν, μήτε μετὰ Μελετιανῶν τῶν σχισματικῶν , μήτε πρὸς τὸ χριστομάχον αὐτῶν ἐργαστήριον. Καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ κἀγὼ ὁ ἀνάξιος καὶ εὐτελὴς καὶ ἰὸιώτης, ὁμοίως ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ κινούμενος λέγω ὑμῖν· ἀποσχόσθητε πάντες ἀπὸ τῶν δυσσεβῶν αἱρετικῶν, καὶ τῶν μυσαρωτάτων Στουδιτῶν, τοῦ τε σὺν αὐτοῖς Κακοσάμβα, καὶ τῆς Νικομηδείας ἐπισκοπῆς ἐκπεπτωκότος τοῦ μονομάχου ἤτοι θεομάχου, καὶ τοῦ ἀλογωτάτου εὐνούχου τῆς Κυζικηνῶν ἐκκλησίας. Οἵτινες πολλαῖς φλυαρίαις κατελάλησαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν τοῦ προεστώτος πατριάρχου, μὴ δεδοικότες μὴδε φρίξαντες τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον· γινώσκετε γὰρ ὅτι ἕνεκε τούτου ἐνήνοχα ὑμᾶς λόγους μου ἐκκενῶσαι ὑμζῖν. Ἰδοὸ γὰρ μέλλουσί τινες ἐπιστολιδίοις ἀπατηλοῖς καὶ ῥήμασί τισι πειρᾶσθαί τινας ἀποπλανᾶν ὡς δι᾽ ἡμῶν, καθ᾽ ἄ φησιν ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος. Ἐγὼ δὲ νῦν στόματι λαλῶ ὑμῖν· ἀποσχίαθητε ἀ᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖαυτα τετολμηκότων, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου μὴ δεδοικότων διαρρῆξαι, καὶ εἰς πολλὰ τμήματα ταύτην διαρρηξάντων . Οἳ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν προοδευκότων πατέρων καὶ ἁγίων πατριαρχῶν ταῦτα ποιῆσαι μὴ φρίξαντες, ἔκτοτε τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοὶ ἑαυτῶν γεγόνασι σκάνδαλα, καὶ υἱοὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ, καὶ ζιζάνια. Εἴ τις τοίνυν τὸν μεγαν Μεθόδιον οὐ δέχεται πατριάρχην, ὡς τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον, καὶ τὸν θεολόγον Γρηγόριον, καὶ τὸν θεῖον Χρυσόστομον, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω· καὶ εἴ τις τῆς κοινωνίας αὐτοῦἀπορρήγνυται, ἀπορραγήσεται τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξης ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως, καὶ ὁ τέμνων τὴν καθαλικὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν διχοτομηθήσεται κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, καὶ μέρος αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀπίστων τεθείη. Ταῦτα καὶ πλείονα τούτοις ἐπειπὼν καὶ μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ ἐκεῖσε ἱερωτάτου συναθροίσματος τόν τε ἅγιον ἀνακηρύξας, τούς τε βεβήλους ἐκείνους καὶ φθορέας πλείστοις ἀναθέμασιν ὑποβαλών, τὰ ἐξιτήρια τῷ ἁγίῳ προσωμίλησε.

[71] Πλείοσι γοῦν πνευματικοῖς λόγοφρονηθέντες καὶ συνταξάμενοι ἀλλήλοι ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ, διέστησαν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν θεολογικώτατος ἐκεῖνος πατριάρχης μεμυσταγωγημένος κάτεισιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους πλάκας νοεράς, ὡς ἐκ Μωσέως ἄλλου θεόθεν γεγραμμένας, τὰς τοῦ ἁγίου ὁυιγίας, περιφέρων. Ὁ δέ γε θειότατος οὗτος καὶ ἐρήμου φωστὴρ Ἰωαννίκιος τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐπιβιώσας, ἐξάρας σεμνοπρεπῶς ὁσίους πόδας, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Ἰακώβ, πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμησεν, ἀγωνισάμενος καλῶς, ποιήσας ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἔτη πεντήκοντα δύο, ζήσας τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ ἔτη πδ᾽. Τελειωθεὶς δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων βασιλέων ἡμῶν, Μιχαὴλ μὲν τοῦ νέου καὶ πραστάτου καὶ τροφίμου τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας, Θεοδώρας δὲ τῆς φερωνύμου, καὶ θεῖον δῶρον ὀρθοδοξίας ἀληθῶς παρὰ Θεοῦ τῷ κόσμῳ δωρηθείσης καὶ παντελῆ εἰρήνην τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ σὺν τοῖς θεοφυλάκτοις καὶ στεφηφόροις αὐτῶν κλάδοις βραβευσάσης, μηνὶ νοεμβρίῳ τριτῇ ἰνδικτιῶνος δεκάτης. Ταῦτα τοῦ θεσπεσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν τὰ κατορθώματα, ταῦτα τοῦ μακαριωτάτου τὰ ἀνδραγαθήματα, ταῦτα τοῦ σεβασμίου τὰ ἀριστεύματα, ταῦτα τοῦ ἀγωνιστοῦ τὰ νικητήρια, ταῦτα τοῦ γενναάου στρατιώτου τὰ ἄθλα. Ὡς δὲ διεφημίσθη πανταχοῦ ἡ ἁγία αὐτοῦ κοίμησις συνήχθη πλῆθος πολὺ ἔκ τε τῶν πέριξ μοναστηρίων καὶ χώρων, καὶ πάντες ὡς προστάτην πρὸς τὸν ἄνω βασιλέα προπομπεύοντες, μετὰ ψαλμῶν καὶ ὕμνων καὶ ᾠδῶν· πνευματικῶν κηδεύσαντες αὐτόν, ἐν γλωσσοκόμῳ κατέθεντο τὸ τίμιον λείψανον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπέθεντο πρὸς τὴν μονὴν τὴν καλουμένην Ἀντίδιον, ἐν ᾖ καὶ χάριτι Χριστοῦ ἰάσεις πολλαὶ καὶ σημεῖα ἐπιτελοῦνται μέχρι τῆς σήμερον. Φάντες γὰρ ὅσοι πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκείνην σορὸν ἀφίκονται ἀσθενεῖς, ἢ δαιμονιῶντες, ἢ παρειμένοι, ἢ καὶ οἱῳδήποτε * κατεχόμενοι νοσήματι, ὑγιεῖς οἴκαδε ἀναστρέφουσιν.

[69] A letter sent to St. Methodius, It is just that all should marvel at the illustrious and most lofty prodigies which were done and performed by the saint, but especially at the divine and prophetic oracles which, in his advanced and venerable old age, he announced concerning the things that were to befall the most blessed Methodius, supreme among patriarchs and martyrs. While the heresy [a] was still raging, it happened that the often-mentioned most reverend Eustratius went up to the saint, to hear again and again from that holy mouth what the resurrection of orthodoxy would be and the full ruin of wickedness. The man, made most joyful by this news, and, as he was wont, conceiving a bold spirit, said to the saint: "If it is possible, O venerable father, according to the grace of the most Holy Spirit that has been given to you,

draw to us him also who will hold the reins of the Church according to the right faith and excellently, and will direct the helm, because authority is now divided among various men and persuades one to announce and follow one thing, another another. For these strive to extol those who protect the party of Athanasius, Naucratius [b] and John surnamed Cacosambas [c]; those, however, Methodius, most skilled in words and most wise; and others others." Then our father spoke: "They labour in vain, O Eustratius, who hope that the aforesaid Studites and John who is with them [d] will prevail. But those who give their votes to Methodius, poor in spirit and very meek, like the godly David, profess this from nothing other than the Holy Spirit." Hearing this, the most reverend Eustratius, having praised God and received the blessing he sought, set out. And by the grace of God, the heresy having been stifled, and God, angels and men giving their votes, the most holy Methodius, raised to the archiepiscopal throne according to the divinely inspired utterance of our father, restored to the churches of God the original beauty of Christ's dispensation and a fitting splendour; and there came an unshaken peace in the whole world through the grace of Christ and the care of the great patriarch Methodius and the precious prayers of our wonder-working father Ioannicius. But the hater of good, the malignant devil, not bearing that a peaceful state had been restored to the churches of God, entered into certain proud men, old in appearance and trifling in mind, the manifestly envious Studites, and into Cacosambas who stood with them, all of whom you know to be vessels fitted for destruction. Having found them and disposed their noxious and profane tongues to chatter, and having drawn the greater part through them, he stirred up disturbances through them in the Church of God. For you all know the foul character of these men and what they perpetrated against that great light, the martyr Methodius, altogether similar to that great and wonderful Athanasius in what befell him from the side of the schismatics and the Arians [e]. While the Church of God was in that mourning, not bearing to see her master unjustly assailed with reproaches, and when no small storm had arisen and the report of the bitter things which had happened in the Church had reached our most holy father Ioannicius, he, inspired by the Holy Spirit, commanded his intimate Eustratius to come to him and, having written a letter full of consoling words, he commanded that these consoling letters be carried with the utmost speed to the shepherd and master of the Church by one of the most approved servants who were with the beloved Eustratius. He exhorted Methodius not to be cast down in spirit in his tribulations, since he knew that he was suffering the same things as Christ and His saints from those who had fallen away from the Church [f]. At the same time he invited him to come to him, hinting in a certain enigmatic manner at his own dissolution.

[70] St. Ioannicius strengthens him by his discourses. The godly Methodius, rejoicing at this invitation, without any delay showed the writing to the emperors; and those impure hypocrites, like the elders who accused Susanna, having been convicted, he handed over to lawful and canonical exile and anathema [g], and then betook himself very quickly to the blessed man. When, then, they had given one another a kiss in the Lord, the great patriarch, that is, and the God-bearing Ioannicius, Ioannicius, the citizen of the desert, said to the holy patriarch: "Indeed, master, I should never have dared to signify to you that you should come to my unworthiness. This deed is yours, because you were called by the most Holy Spirit who inspires you to visit us, the unworthy, and to admonish us to virtue with hortatory discourses. But now, since a great necessity pressed upon me, I was impelled by divine inspiration to write to my holy lord that he should come up, thoroughly wearied, to me, a rustic, that I might receive your blessings and depart in peace; for that has been clearly revealed to me. And since many tares of those who calumniate your sacred holiness have sprung up in the holy Church of God, and certain men have not allowed me, the lowly, to put forward an apology against their blasphemies, I therefore wish to declare with freedom what has been revealed to me by God concerning your holiness." When, then, he had bidden the whole people assemble who had come with the venerable patriarch, there were about seventy men, bishops, clerics and monks, the great man of God Ioannicius discoursed these things to them with an angelic mouth: "Hear, all of you who stand in this desert, and announce these things in the cities and villages. Once the great Antony charged his disciples to have no communion with the Arians, nor with the Meletian schismatics, nor with their workshop which was hostile to Christ [h]. Now behold, I, unworthy, base and simple, moved likewise by God, say to you: Separate yourselves, all of you, from the impious heretics and from the abominable Studites, from Cacosambas who is with them, and from him who fell from the episcopate of Nicomedia [i], a monomach and theomach, and from the mad eunuch of the church of Cyzicus [k]. They have calumniated with very many dirges our patriarch, our God-given father who presides over us, not fearing nor dreading the terrible God. For you know that I have called you together for this, to pour out my words to you. For behold, certain men will attempt with fallacious letters and certain words to seduce some among us, as the great apostle says [l]. I for my part now speak to you by mouth: Separate yourselves from those who have dared to contrive such things against the Church of God and who do not fear to rend the tunic of the Word of God, which they even tear into many fragments. For those who do not dread to perpetrate such things against the fathers who preside over us and the holy patriarchs, already of themselves become scandals to the Church of God and children of the evil one and tares. If anyone, therefore, does not receive the great Methodius as patriarch like the great Basil, or Gregory the theologian, or the godly Chrysostom, let him be anathema; and if anyone tears himself away from his communion, let him be torn away from the glory of God on the day of judgment; and he who rends the catholic and apostolic Church, let him be cut asunder according to the Gospel, and let his portion be set with the unbelievers [m]." When he had said these and more things, and before the whole most sacred assembly that was there had confessed the saint and subjected those profane and pernicious men to very many anathemas, he bade the saint farewell.

[71] The death and burial of St. Ioannicius. Delighted, then, by very many spiritual discourses, when they had bidden one another farewell in the Holy Spirit, they departed. That patriarch, most full of the Word of God, initiated as it were into the mysteries, came down from the mountain, carrying with him spiritual tablets as though inscribed by God from another Moses, namely the conversation of the saint. And that godly Ioannicius, the light of the desert, when he had survived three days, gathering up his sacred feet miraculously [n], like the blessed Jacob, departed to the Lord, after he had fought the good fight and had spent fifty-two years in the desert, and had lived in the whole time of his life eighty-four years ^o. He died in the month of November, on the third day, in the tenth indiction, under the orthodox emperors Michael the younger, most kind and restorer of orthodoxy, and Theodora, so fittingly named, since she truly obtained from God for the world the divine gift of orthodoxy, and procured the entire peace of the Church, with their children preserved by God and wearing the crown. These are the good works of our heavenly father, these the deeds of the most blessed man, these the virtues of the venerable man, these the victories of the warrior, these the rewards of the strenuous soldier. When his sacred falling asleep had been made known everywhere, a great multitude gathered from the neighbouring monasteries and regions, and all, escorting him with solemn pomp as a patron with the King on high, buried him with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and placed his sacred body in a coffin, which they laid in the monastery called Antidium; in which, through the grace of Christ, many healings and prodigies take place up to the present day. For whoever come to that sacred coffin sick, whether possessed by demons, or languishing, or vexed by any infirmity whatever, return home healed.

ANNOTATA.

l. Ephes. V, 6.

m. Luke XII, 46.

n. Gen. XLIX, 32.

codex εἰ ἦν. codex ἕλξας. codex Κατασάμβαν. codex ληροδοῦντας. codex φληναφίαν. codex σχηματικῶν. codex ἀνεφύει. codex σχηυατικῶν. codex Κυζικινῦν. codex δεδοικότα. codex διαρρήξαντας. codex ἐξητήρια. codex τὸν. codex στεφιφόροις. * codex οἱοδήποτε.

EPILOGUE.

[72] Αὔτῆ ἡ πολιτεία τοῦ οὐρανοπολίτου καὶ θεσπεσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωαννικίου. Οὗτος ἠγάπησε τὸν Θεὸν ἀπλήστως, καὶ ἠγαπήθη ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀξίως· ἐδόξασε καὶ ἐδοξάσθη, τοὺς γὰρ δοξάζοντάς με, φησί, δοξάσω. Ἐωαννίκιος οὗτος, ὁ τῆς Τρίαδος ὑπέρμαχος, ὁ τἡς ἐκκλησίας ὑπερασπιστής, ὁ

τὡν ὀρθοδόξων σύμμακος, ὁ τὡν ἀποσχιστῶν καὶ κακοδόξων φιμωτὴς καὶ ἀντίπαλος, ὁ τοῦ πιστοῦ λαοῦ προστάτης, ὁ τῆς σοφίας οἶκος, ὁ οὐρανοδρόμος ἁρματηλάτης, ὁ ἀεροπόρος δρομεύς, ὁ ἀκοίμητος φωστὴρ τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὁ λαμπρὸς ἑωσφόρος, ὁ τῶν πλανωμένων ὁδηγός, τὸ τῆς ἐκλογῆς σκεῦος, τὸ ἡγιασμένον σκῆνος, τὸ ἱερώτατον κειμήλιον, τὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνδιαίτημα, τὸ τῆς Τριάδος οἰκητήριον, τὸ τῶν ἀρετῶν καταγώγιον, τὸ τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργαστήριον, τὸ ἐγκαλλώπισμα τῆς οἰκουμένης, τὸ ἀγλάἵσμα τῶν μοναζόντων, τὸ τῆς ἀνδρίας ὑπόδειγμα, τὸ τῆς ἁγνείας κατόρθωμα, τὸ ἡμέτερον κακύχημα, τὸ τῆς πίστεως ἔρεισμα, τὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἑδραίωμα, τὸ τῆς ἐρήμου κάλλιστον θρέμμα. Ἰωαννίκιος, ὁ χριστομίμητος διδάσκαλος, ὁ πρᾶος καὶ εἰρηνικώτατος, ὁ θεοφόρος ἄνθρωπος, ὁ τῶν ἀσκητῶν ὑπογραμμός, ὁ πεφωτισμένος νοῦς, ὁ πεπυρσευμένος λύχνος, ὁ ἀνύστακτος ὀφθαλμός, ὁ μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ὁ τῶν μετανοούντων ὁδηγός, ὁ τῶν ἐπιστρεφόντων διορθωτής, ὁ τῶν δαιμόνων φυγαδευτής, ὁ τῶν παθῶν ὀλοθρευτής, ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ὁ τῶν θηρίων ἀγρευτής, ὁ ἄγρυπνος φύλαξ, ὁ τῆς ὑπομονῆς θεμέλιος, ὁ εὔκαρπος φοῖνιξ, ὁ τῶν ἀπορρήτων θεωρός, ὁ ὑπερόπτης τῶν κάτω, ὁ αἰθεροδρόμος ἱππεύς, ὁ ὑψιπέτης ἀετός, ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων συνόμιλος, ὁ τῶν ἀποστόλων συμμέτοχος, ὁ τῶν ἀθλοφόρων σύσκηνος, ὁ τῆς βασιλείας οἰκήτωρ, ὁ κληρονόμος Θεοῦ, ὁ συγκληρονόμος Χριστοῦ, ὁ τῇ Τρίαδι παριστάμενος καὶ σὺν ἀγγέλοις ἀκαταπαύστως ὑπὲρ κόσμου ἐξιλεούμενος. Ἀλλ᾽, ὦ θεῖα καὶ ἱερὰ κεφαλή, τὴν πάντων κεφαλὴν Χριστὸν ἔχουσα, φωστὴρ φαεινότατε καὶ φιλόθεε καὶ τρισόλβιε, σὺ καλῶς ἐπολιτεύσω, καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπιμελῶς ἤσκησας, καὶ Χριστῷ ἄριστος στρατίωτης ἀνεδείχθης, καταλιπὼν τὴν στρατείαν τὴν πρόσκαιπον. Σὺ τὸ εὐγενὲς τῆς ψυχῆς τῇ νεκρώσει τοῦ σώματος ἄσπιλον διεφυλάξω, καὶ τῇ μελέτῃ τῶν θείων λόγων ἀδούλωτον διετηρήσας τὸ ταύτης ἀξίωμα καὶ τῇ τοῦ νοὸς καθαρότητι ὅλος θεοειδὴς ἐχρημάτισας καὶ κατέλαβες κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτὸν ἀνθρώποις τὸν πάσης ἐπέκεινα καταλήψεως. Σὺ ἐπ᾽ ὠμῶν τὸ σταυρόν σου ἤρας καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ ἀμεταστρόφως ἠκολούθησας, καὶ εὗρες θησαυρὸν ἄσυλον τετηρημένον ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Σὺ πάντα τὰ τῇδε ἀπεμπολήσας , τὸν πολυτίμητον μαργαρίτην, τὴν βασιλείαν λέγω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἠγόρασας. Σὺ οὐκ ἐν ψάμμῳ τῆς ἀμελοῦς ῥαθυμίας καὶ χαυνότητος τὴν οἰκίαν ἔκτισας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ στερεὰν πέτραν, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, ταύτην ἐθεμελίωσας, ὅθεν καὶ τῶν προσρήξεων τῶν ἀνέμων, ἤτοι πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας, ἔτι καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν τῆς κακοδοξίας ἀκράδαντος ἔμεινεν. Σὺ τὸ βάρος τῆς ἡμέρας ὅλης δι᾽ ὅλου τοῦ βίου ἐβάστασας καὶ τὸν καύσωνα, τὸν δὲ μισθὸν παρὰ τοῦ τῆς φύσεως δημιουργοῦ καὶ φυτουργοῦ ἀπείληφας. Σὺ τὸ δοθέν σοι τάλαντον παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν χαρισμάτων τῇ ἀφθόνῳ μεταδόσει ἐπολυπλασίασασ, καὶ ἤκουσας τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης φωνῆς· Εὖ, δοῦλε ὰγαθὲ καὶ πιστέ, εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ Κυρίου σου. Σὺ τὴν λαμπάδα τῆς ψυχῆς σου ἄσβεστον τῷ τῆς εὐποΐας ἐλαίῳ διετήρησας, καὶ νῦν ἑτοίμως εἰσῆλθες σὺν Χριστῷ εἰς τὸν οὐράνιον νυμφῶνα. Σὺ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τραχείαν ὁδὸν διώδευσας, καὶ νῦν ἀπολαύεις τῆς ἄνω ζωῆς. Σὺ ἐργάτης τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου γεγονώς, τὸ ἀρχέτυπον κάλλος τῆς εἰκόνος ἐφύλαξας. Σὺ ἐν μελέτῃ θανάτου πάντα τὸν βίον διήλλαξας καὶ τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς πάθη πόνοις εὐσεβείας ἀπενέκρωσας καὶ ὅλον τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ φρόνημα καθυπέταξας τῷ πνεύματι. Σὺ πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τῆς ἀπαθείας ἔφθασας, καὶ ταῖς ὑψικόμοις ἀρεταῖς, ἀγάπης λέγω καὶ πίστεως καὶ ἐλπίδος καὶ συμπαθείας ἁρματηλάτης, ὡς Ἠλίας ἁρπαγεὶς πρὸς ὕψος τῶν ἀπορρήτων νοημάτων καὶ ἐξέστης ὅλος Θεῷ, καὶ συνεκράθης αὐτῷ διὰ θεοειδοῦς ἁγνείας καὶ καθαρᾶς ἐλλάμεψεως, καὶ ἵνα συνελὼν εἴπω, σὺ πάντων τῶν ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος ἁγίων ἐμιμήσω τὰς ἀρετάς· τοῦ Ἄβελ τὴν ἄμωμον προσφορὰν δι᾽ ἀμέμπτων προσευχῶν προσήγαγες· τοῦ Ἐνὼς τὴν πρὸς τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα ἐλπίδα· τοῦ Ἐνὼχ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν εὐαρέστησιν δι᾽ ἧς μετετέθη καὶ ἡ σὴ ψυχὴ πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια, τὸ δὲ σῶμα πρόκειται πηγὴ θαυμάτων ἐναργῶς τῶν καμνόντων εἰς ἴασιν· τοῦ Νῶε τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ τὴν φιλοξενίαν, δι᾽ ἧς ἐκεῖνος μὲν τὴν Τρίαδα ἐξένισεν, σὺ δὲ διὰ ταύτης αὐτὴν ἐθεράπευσας· τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τὸ ἄπλαστον, δι᾽ ἧς ηὐλόγησαι καὶ ἠγάπησαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς Ἰσαάκ· διὸ οὐκ ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ἐπισήμοις, ἐν ἀσήμοις δὲ μᾶλλον τοῦ Πνεύματος χαρίσμασι, πολλὰ τέκνα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ εὐπόρησας· τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὴν σωφροσύνην, δι᾽ ἧς καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς μαινάδος Αἰγυπτίας, ἤτοι σαρκός, τῶν ὑλικῶν ἁπάντων γυμνωθεὶς τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἐξέφυγες τὴν ἀναίδειαν· τοῦ Μωσέως τὸ πρᾶον, δι᾽ οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν γνόφον τῶν ἀρετῶν εἰσδύσας, ὄντως πνευματικὰς θεογράφους πλάκας ἐδέξω ἐν αἷς τὸν πνευματικὸν νόμον ἡμῖν ἐνομοθέτησας· τοῦ Σαμουὴλ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἀφιέρωσιν καὶ τὸ λέγειν καὶ προβλέπειν,· ὡς ἐκεῖνος, τὰ μέλλοντα· τοῦ Δαὺιδ τὴν ἀκακίαν, δι᾽ ἧς ἠμύνω καὶ αὐτὸς δι᾽ εὐλογίας τοὺς διώκοντας· τοῦ Ἠλίου τὸν ζῆλον, δι᾽ οὗ αἱρετίζοντα βασιλέα καὶ βέβηλον ἱερέα, ὡς ἐκεῖνος, τοὺς τῆς αἰσχύνης προφήτας προειπὼν κατῄσχυνας· τοῦ Ἰωάννου τὸ ἐρημικὸν καὶ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, δι᾽ ὧν τας αἰσθησεις ἐκάθηρας καὶ καθαρῶς τῷ καθαρῷ προσωμίλησας, μετὰ προφητῶν ἐπαρρησιάσω, μετὰ ἀποστόλων ἐκήρυξας, μετὰ μαρτύρων ὡμολόγησας, μετὰ Χριστοῦ ἐνίκησας. Διὸ καὶ τῆς μεγάλης ἤκουσας φωνῆς· Δεῦτε οἱ εὐλογήμενοι τοῦ πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν. Διὸ δυσωποῦμέν σε, πάτερ ἅγιε καὶ ὁδηγὲ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐκ ἐπελήσθης παρ᾽ ἡμῶν, εἰ καὶ μετέστης ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν βίον παρώδευσας τῷ νόμῳ τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ τὸ μνημόσυνόν σου σὺν ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει, μὴδ᾽ αὐτὸς ἐπιλάθῃ τῆς ἐμῆς ταπεινότητος, ἀλλὰ μνήσθητί μου τοῦ ἀχρείου δούλου σου, καὶ δέχοιο παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ τουτὶ τὸ βραχύτατον ἐπιτάφιον σύνταγμα, εἰ καὶ παρ᾽ ἀξίαν, ἀλλὰ πίστει σοι προσφερόμενον δέχοιο, καὶ γὰρ μιμητὴς Χριστοῦ ὑπάρχεις , ὡς ἐκεῖνος τὰ δύο λεπτὰ τῆς χήρας· οὐ γὰρ εὐπόρησα ἄλλο τι, ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκείνη, προσάξαι σοι· δέξαι, ὦ τίμιε πάτερ, καὶ ἀπαλλαγήν μοι παθῶν πρεσβείαις σου ἀντάμειψον, καὶ στῆσαι τὴν κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ τυραννίδα τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ὁρᾷς ὅσην καὶ ὡς καταπονοῦσάν με, διάλυσόν μου τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ταῖς πρὸς Κυρίον σου ἐντεύξεσι, δύνασαι γάρ, εὖ οἶδα, πρὸς Θεόν, δι᾽ ὃν καὶ τοὺς τῆς ἀσκήσεως πόνους ὑπέμεινας. Δίδου ἡμῖν τοῦτον εὐΐλατον, εὐμενῆ τε, καὶ εὐδιάλλακτον, ὅπως καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀξιώσῃ κοινωνοὺς γενέσθαι τῆς σῆς μερίδος, καθαίρων ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς μετανοίας καὶ φωτίζων ἡμῶν τὸν νοῦν εἰς τὸ τηρεῖν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν εὐβιώσεως καὶ καλῆς ἀναστρο· φῆς τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἐπιτύχωμεν μακαριότητος, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ, τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, σὺν τῷ ἀναρχῷ Πατρί, ἅμα τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεί, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

[72] Praise of St. Ioannicius. This, then, is the conversation of the heavenly citizen and our venerable father Ioannicius. He loved God immeasurably and was worthily loved by Him; he glorified and was glorified: "Whoever glorifies Me," He says, "I will glorify him." This is Ioannicius, champion of the Trinity, defender of the Church, helper of the orthodox, curber and adversary of schismatics and heretics, patron of the faithful people, house of wisdom, charioteer running in heaven, runner advancing through the air, star of the world that does not set, resplendent morning star, guide of the erring, vessel of election, venerable tabernacle, most holy gem, temple of the Spirit, dwelling of the Trinity, seat of the virtues, workshop of the commandments, glory of the whole world, splendour of monks, example of fortitude, prodigy of purity, our glory, firmament of the faith, foundation of the Church, most beautiful nursling of the desert; Ioannicius, a master who imitated Christ, meek and peaceable, a God-bearing man, type of ascetics, illuminated mind, kindled lamp, ever-wakeful eye, mediator between God and men, guide of penitents, director of converts, chaser of demons, destroyer of desires, good shepherd, driver-off of wild beasts, watchful guardian, foundation of patience, fruitful palm, searcher of secrets, despiser of earthly things, horseman running into the ether, eagle flying on high, enjoying the fellowship of the angels, companion of the apostles, comrade of the crowned, citizen of the kingdom, heir of God, co-heir of Christ, standing beside the Trinity and with the angels unceasingly interceding for the world. But, O divine and sacred head, having Christ as the head of all, most brilliant star, beloved of God and thrice venerable, you lived rightly and exercised virtue zealously and appeared as an excellent soldier of Christ, having left temporal warfare; you kept the nobility of the soul incorrupt by the mortification of the body, and by meditation on the divine words you kept your dignity free, and, made wholly divine in aspect by purity of mind, you gained and received, as far as is permitted to men, all heavenly knowledge. You took up your cross upon your shoulders and followed Christ constantly, and found the treasure in heaven that will not be plundered; you sold all earthly things, to buy the precious pearl, I mean the kingdom of heaven. You did not build your house on the sand of negligent softness and sloth, but founded it on the firm rock, on faith in Christ, where it remained unshaken by the onset of the winds, that is, of the spirits of wickedness, and of the rivers of unbelief. You bore the burden of the whole day, through your whole life, and the heat; but you carried off the wage from the maker and creator of nature. You multiplied by copious usury the talent of graces given you by God, and heard that blessed voice: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord." You kept the lamp of your soul unquenched with the oil of good works, and now, ready, you have entered with Christ into the heavenly bridal chamber. You journeyed by the strait and narrow way and now enjoy the life above; having become a doer of the Lord's commandments, you guarded the original beauty of the image; you spent your whole life in meditation on death, and mortified the passions of the flesh by the labours of piety, and subjected the carnal desires wholly to the spirit. You reached the summit of integrity and, borne up, like Elijah, in the chariot of the highest virtues, of charity, I mean, of faith and hope and mercy, rapt into the height of secret thoughts, you stood wholly before God and clung to Him through a divine, as it were, holiness and pure splendour, and, to speak compendiously, you imitated the virtues of all the saints who have been from of old: you offered through perfect prayers the unimpeachable oblation of Abel; the hope of Enos in things invisible; the well-pleasing of Enoch to God, through which your soul too was translated to heavenly things, while your body lies a fountain of miracles

continually for the healing of those who labour; the justice of Noah, by which you appeared, as he did, before God; the hospitality of Abraham, with which he received the Trinity, and through which you served Him; the sincerity of Jacob, on account of which God blessed you and loved you, as he was loved by his father Isaac; whence, not through sensible miracles, but rather through the invisible charisms of the Spirit, you obtained very many sons in the desert; the wisdom of Joseph, through which you too, stripped of the garment of all filth, fled from unchastity, from the Egyptian fury, that is, of the flesh; the meekness of Moses, with which you too, entering into the cloud of virtues, received tablets truly written spiritually by God, on which you promulgated to us the spiritual law; the consecration of Samuel to God and his power of prophesying, as he did, the things to come; the goodness of David, with which you too, by blessing, drove back your persecutors; the zeal of Elijah, with which you covered with shame by your predictions the heretical emperor and the profane priest, as he did the prophets of shame; the solitary life and continence of John, through which you cleansed your senses and, conversing purely with the Pure, you were familiar with the prophets, preached with the apostles, confessed with the martyrs, conquered with Christ. Therefore you have heard this great voice: "Come, blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you." Wherefore we suppliantly beseech you, holy father and guide of our salvation, that, just as we have not forgotten you, although you have departed from us and finished your life by the law of nature, but the memory of you remains with us for ever, so you yourself may not forget me, the lowly one, but may remember me, your useless servant, and receive from me this very brief little book as a funeral eulogy, though not worthy of you; receive it, offered to you with faith, since you are an imitator of Christ, who accepted the widow's two mites. For, like her, I was not able to bring you anything else; receive it, O venerable father, and grant me in return, through your intercession, deliverance from the desires, and restrain this tyranny of sin which is against me; you see how great it is and how it vexes me; loosen the hardness of my soul by your intercessions with God; for you are powerful, I know very well, with God, for whose sake you endured ascetic labours; make Him propitious, kind and merciful to us, that He may deign to make us too sharers of your portion, purifying us through repentance and illuminating our mind, so that, having kept His commandments, through a life rightly spent here and a good conversion, we may obtain the heavenly beatitude in Christ Himself, our Lord, to whom be glory and power with the eternal Father, together with the most holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ages. Amen.

Annotata

codex φιμοτὴς. codex πλανομένων. codex φͅαεινώτατε codex θειοεδής. codex ἀπεμπωλήσας codex στερρεὰν codex προσρρήξεων. codex βίου δι᾽ ὅλου. codex τοῦ. codex ὑπάρχης.

Notes

a. On the monk Sabas, see the Preliminary Commentary no. 10.

b. Of this first sentence we have kept the version given by Oudin in the Commentarius de scriptoribus Ecclesiae antiquis, vol. II, p. 176.

c. Father Joseph seems to have been the abbot of the monk Sabas, in one of the monasteries of Olympus. It has not, however, been possible to find mention of him anywhere else.

d. In the letters of Theodore the Studite, Book II 116 and 166, in the Sirmond edition of his works, vol. V, pp. 444, 518, we read that the proper name of our saint was John, but that he was called Ioannicius as a diminutive from boyhood; which usage thence continually persisted. Which Baronius already pointed out in the Annals at the year 825.

a. In the eighth century the province or eparchy of the Bithynians extended from the river Rhyndacus, by which it was separated from Mysia, to the river Parthenius, by which it was divided from Paphlagonia. The same designation Βιθυνῶν ἐπαρχία is read in another document of the same time, in which namely a certain Eustratius is named, who subscribed a letter of St. Germanus of Constantinople. P. G., vol. XCVIII, p. 212.

b. That village, certainly obscure, is cited also in the Life of St. Paul of Latros (cf. Prelim. Comm. no. 27), and by Cedrenus, P. G., vol. CXXII, p. 283, ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ χωρίῳ τῶν Μαρυκάτου. It was situated not far from the city which today is called Muhalitch, formerly Miletopolis. Metaphrastes uses the singular number, κώμη Μαρυκάτου; the author of the Life of Paul of Latros (Anal. Bolland., vol. XI, p. 21) and Cedrenus the plural number, τοῖς τοῦ Μαρυκάτου, τῶν Μαρυκάτου.

c. The lake of Apollonias, today Aboullonia, is situated between the Propontis and the northern tracts of Mount Olympus, and is fifteen kilometres distant from the sea. It is accurately described in Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 138–141. It is narrated in the other Life of St. Theodore the Studite, written by the monk Michael, that he lived for some time in the fortress which lay beside the lake of Apollonias and whose name was Metopa. See Nov. Patr. Bibl., vol. VI, p. 333.

d. Sabas plays on the false etymology of the word Μυριτζικὸς, which he thinks derived from the word μύρον, which signifies ointment, and on the true etymology of the word Αναστασώ, which belongs to the word ἀνίστημι, to rise again. There will be talk below in chapter VII, no. 26, of another kinsman of St. Ioannicius. From the Acts of St. Paul of Latros, however, we have learned that his mother Eudocia was joined in kin to St. Ioannicius: ἐπεὶ καὶ λόγος διαπεφοίτηκεν οὐ μακρὰν εἶναι γένους αὐτὴν Ἰωαννικίῳ. Cf. Anal. Bolland., vol. XI, p. 21.

f. Constantine the Nestorian is Constantine V, called both Copronymus and Caballinus. The epithet Nestorian we have not found elsewhere. He began to reign in the year 741; therefore, as has been shown in the Preliminary Commentary no. 25, St. Ioannicius was born in the year 754.

g. Leo III the Isaurian, emperor from the year 716 or 717. The Metaphrastic compiler misunderstood this sentence by reporting that St. Ioannicius was born in the fourteenth year of the reign of Leo the Isaurian. See the Preliminary Commentary no. 26.

h. The somewhat obscure Greek word αἰσθητοῖς the Metaphrastic author elucidated by saying αἰσθητοῖς βρῶμασι.

i. The thirty-first year of the reign of Constantine Copronymus is the year of Christ 771, in which Ioannicius was seventeen years old.

k. Irene, who married Leo the Khazar, son of Constantine Copronymus, was sprung from Greece. She is called by our writer φιλόχριστος, surely because she quieted the tumult of the iconoclasts as far as she could. Cf. the Chronographia of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 921–925.

l. Leo, called the Khazar by reason of the descent which he drew from his mother Irene, daughter of the Khagan of Khazaria, as Theophanes has it, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 858. His betrothal to Irene was celebrated on the 3rd day of September 769, and the wedding on the 17th day of December of the same year, as Theophanes reports, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 898. These two chronological points indicated by Sabas therefore do not agree altogether to a hair, namely the thirty-first year of Constantine, which is the year 771, and the year after the marriage of Leo with Irene, which is 770. But this agreement certainly suffices for the purpose of the writer, who does not here intend to define the time so strictly, but only to indicate the beginning of another age of St. Ioannicius.

m. Namely in the year of Christ 773.

n. The Excubitors were soldiers of the praetorian cohorts who kept guard at the emperor's palace. St. Ioannicius enlisted in the military service perhaps compelled by the same cause by which we know that St. Euthymius of Thessalonica took up arms, namely to comply with the laws of the empire. On Euthymius cf. Prelim. Comm. no. 30. Accordingly neither St. Ioannicius nor St. Euthymius is to be reproached with what the distinguished Schlumberger asserts of many monks of that time, Nicéphore Phocas, p. 389, namely that they embraced the monastic life in order to avoid military service. As regards the form of the word ἐξσκουβιτόρων, see what de Boor has discussed, Nicephori archiep. Constantin. opuscula historica, p. XXVIII.

o. As is known, the heresy of the iconoclasts was introduced by Leo the Isaurian, who in the year 726 promulgated an edict against the sacred images.

a. Namely in the year 790. As we pointed out in the Preliminary Commentary no. 23, Baronius erred by referring these things to the year 782; he falsely thought, namely, that St. Ioannicius was born in the year 729 under Leo the Isaurian.

b. The eastern parts, ἑῷα μέρη, that is, western Asia. We read in Theophanes that in this year 790 the army of the Romans was in the theme of the Anatolics, at a place whose name was Copidnadus. P. G., vol. CVII, p. 931. Surius therefore wrongly rendered κατὰ τὴν Ἑῴαν as to the west. Baronius, persevering in the same error, thinks that the appearance of the old man took place in the year 782, when the army was returning with Stauracius celebrating a triumph for the defeat of the Slavs. Accordingly the note which, taken from the same source, is read in our work, vol. II of March, p. 220, note 3, where it is asserted that the conversion of St. Ioannicius took place in the year 782, must also be corrected.

c. Mount Olympus, or, as our author says better, the Olympian mountains, slope toward the northern part of Mysia and Bithynia, near the city of Prusa. Cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 130–135.

d. It has been shown in the Preliminary Commentary no. 25 how these various chronological points, so carefully indicated by our writer, hang together most aptly with one another. Namely, the sixth year of Constantine VI is the year 795, which is the sixth year from the time when we saw St. Ioannicius converted in the year 790 from the error of the iconoclasts; and indeed he was then in the forty-third year of his life, as one who had been born in the year 753 or 754.

e. Constantine, called the Younger, is Constantine VI, who held the Byzantine sceptre, first with his mother from 780 to 790, then alone up to the year 796. As Sabas records, Constantine VI was the son of Leo IV the Khazar, grandson of Constantine V Copronymus and great-grandson of Leo III the Isaurian.

f. In the eighth century the Bulgars rather often harassed the Byzantine empire, and not rarely brought it into the greatest danger. Cf. the Chronographia of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 775, 871, 902, 903, 939.

g. The nations of the Bulgars were at that time trying to establish their seat in European Thrace, especially about Anchialus and Mesembria. Thrace, the first of the western themes of the empire, extended from the sea to Mount Haemus. See Const. Porphyrog., De administrando imperio, P. G., vol. CXIII, pp. 110, 111.

h. This place is known from Theophanes, who narrates that Constantine VI built there the fortress τὸ κάστρον Μαρκέλλων (P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 939). Cf. the same, ibid., pp. 946, 984. Combefis had already noted that the form of the word wavers between Μαρκέλλαι and Μαρκέλλοι (ibid., p. 984, note 45). Here a third occurs, namely Μαρκέλλα. Whose situation it has not been possible for us to define any better than for Nicephorus writing this: φρούριον δὲ τοῦτο πλησιαίτατα Βουλγάρων κείμενον, which fortress is situated near the borders of the Bulgars. P. G., vol. C, p. 975. The battle which is narrated here, so far as may be conjectured from the chronology, seems to have been fought at the time of the war waged against Kardam in the year 795, namely the sixth of the reign of Constantine; Theophanes records the same in the Chronographia, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 946. Muralt ties these things to the year 786 in the month of May, Baronius however to the year 795.

i. The race of the Boilades among the Bulgars designates leaders and nobles. Cf. Theophan., P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 878. But how this designation suits St. Ioannicius, born in a humble station, is not clear. Perhaps Sabas wished to designate a certain family.

k. Returned, as is plain from what follows, to the region of Mount Olympus.

l. This passage has been treated in the Preliminary Commentary no. 27 and it was shown how the Metaphrastic recension wrongly changed the sense and gave occasion to an error concerning the situation of Mount Olympus and to a doubt whether it lay in Bithynia or in Mysia. But perhaps the blame is rather to be laid on Surius or on him from whom he received the Latin version, since in the Greek text is read καὶ τὸ ὑπερκείμενον ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς Βιθυνίας ὄρος ὃ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν Ὄλυμπος καλεῖται, in which sentence the words ἐν δεξιᾷ are not necessarily to be understood of Bithynia, to which rather the word ὄρος is referred.

m. The royal city, that is, Constantinople.

a. As has been said in chapter one, St. Ioannicius was enrolled in the military service in the nineteenth year of his age, that is, in the year of Christ 773; therefore he took up the monastic life in the forty-third year of his age, that is, in the year 796.

b. Prusa ad Olympum, the principal city of Bithynia, today Brousse. See an accurate description of this city in Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 115–135.

c. On this monastery erected in the Olympian tract near Prusa and on Gregory, its hegumen at that time, see Act. SS., January vol. I, p. 599; March vol. II, p. 220, note 9. It is above all to be noted that father Gregory subscribed the letter of St. Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, to Thomas, bishop of Claudiopolis, in these words Γρηγόριος ἡγούμενος Ἀγαύρου ὁμοίως. P. G., vol. XCVIII, p. 218. These subscriptions were appended to this letter in the year 787, which is inserted in the Acts of the seventh synod, celebrated at Nicaea, in the fourth session. Cf. Labbe, vol. VII, pp. 289 ff. Afterwards St. Eustratius was hegumen of this monastery, of whom there has been treatment in Act. SS. January, vol. I, p. 598. Perhaps this Gregory is the superior to whom Theodore the Studite directed letter CIII of Book II. See P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1359, and whom he names in others, namely in letter XLI of Book I, ibid., p. 1059, and XLVII, ibid., p. 1071.

d. The same counsel is read as given by St. Theoctistus, hegumen of Symbola, to St. Plato, likewise undertaking the monastic life. Cf. Act. SS., April vol. I, p. 368. That is to say, before a monk was granted to live alone, he had to go through a novitiate in some monastery, the exercises of which novitiate are enumerated in the Life of the above-said St. Plato, Act. SS., place cited.

e. See Greek hymnology described in our work, June vol. II.

f. The situation of this place called Castulus in Atroa is defined from the following remark of Leo the Deacon: κατὰ τὴν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ παρακειμένην τῆς Ἀτρώας πεδιάδα, into the plain of Atroa lying beneath Olympus. P. G., vol. CXVII, pp. 923, 924. Cf. Prelim. Comm. no. 34.

g. That community of Telai is called Utotelas in Metaphrastes. P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 43. As we shall say below, it seems to be the same as the community surnamed of St. Zacharias.

h. The monastery of Antidius seems to have been among the most celebrated communities of Mount Olympus. It will be named rather often in the course of these Acts. It was erected under the invocation of SS. Cosmas and Damian. The name of the abbot who presided in the year 796 is cited here, namely John.

i. Namely through the years 796 and 797.

k. It is plain that some part of the Olympian mountain is designated here.

l. As is known, in receiving the monastic habit and tonsure a certain anointing was done at the same time. We shall see below in what circumstances and by whom St. Ioannicius was received and consecrated among the monks.

m. Accordingly these things were to happen in the year of Christ 845, and in fact at the end of the life of St. Ioannicius, who died in the year 846. Cf. below in the Life, chap. XII, no. 54.

n. The word λεβητωνάριον, also written λεβιτωνάριον (cf. Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods), occurs in the rules of St. Pachomius, P. G., vol. XL, p. 952, where it is given in the form λευιτωνάριον, perhaps from an inaccurate reading. Du Cange already interpreted the word, which he had plucked from this same Paris manuscript no. 1591. The Metaphrastic author explains not badly the sense of this word, but less correctly its etymology, writing χιτῶνα (λεβητωνάριον αὐτὸν οἷδεν ἡ ἐγχώριος γλῶττα καλεῖν) tunic (the language of that region calls it lebitonarion). P. G., vol. CXVI, pp. 45, 46. There exists also the primitive word from which this is derived, namely λεβήτων, which designates a monastic garment woven of linen or even of hair. Cf. Cotelier, Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta, vol. I, p. 809.

o. Namely the hegumen of Antidius, of whom above.

a. It is not easy to determine of which river there is question. It seems, however, that a river is indicated which flows between Myra and Ephesus. Now two rivers, namely the Xanthus and the Maeander, wash this region.

b. That church of St. John the Theologian in the city of Ephesus is very well known, and mention of it is made rather often in the Byzantine writers. Cf. for example P. G., vol. CV, p. 1143; vol. CVIII, p. 946. That church was not erected within the circuit of the city; for Procopius, de Aedificiis, Book V, chap. 1, teaches that it was built on a hill on the opposite side of the city, which hill is today called Aïasalouk (cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, p. 323). Justinian, when a certain small chapel built in ancient times by the inhabitants had to be repaired, erected another church so great and splendid that it could be compared with the church which a little before he had dedicated at Constantinople to the twelve Apostles.

c. Those mountains of Cilicia seem to be understood as the Taurus and Anti-Taurus, which stretch from Antioch to Caesarea of Cappadocia and became very celebrated when in the fourth century they stood as a refuge for many anchorites. Which is witnessed even today by the caves and caverns which are found dug out there. Cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 525–537.

d. Namely from the year 800 to 806.

e. The fifth year of Nicephorus is the year of Christ 806, since in the year 802 he overthrew Irene. That our author called the empire of Nicephorus εὐσεβῆ βασιλείαν is to be taken not in the strictness of the word but according to the norm of customary and trite speech. For Theophanes observes: τούτου τῆς ἀρχῆς χριστιανοὶ βαρυτέραν οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ ἠτύχησαν· πάντας γὰρ ἐν πλεονεξίαις καὶ ἀκολασίαις καὶ βαρβαρικαῖς ὠμότησιν ὑπερηκόντισεν τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεύσαντας. Certainly no time was more calamitous for Christians than this empire of Nicephorus, so that he surpassed all his most cruel predecessors in avarice, lust and altogether barbaric savagery. P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 987, 988. Cf. ibid., vol. XCV, p. 366, no. 16.

f. Stauracius, son of Nicephorus, was associated with his father on the throne and crowned emperor only in the year 803, in the month of December. Cf. the Chronographia of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 966.

g. Namely from the year 795 to 806, since he had spent two years in the novitiate at Antidius, three years in the mountains of Lycia and seven in the caves of Cilicia.

h. I would rather say in the fifty-third year, at least if credence is to be given to the chronological points proposed by Sabas himself. For we have shown that Ioannicius was born in the year 754.

i. The same name of Pandemus has already occurred above, in which the village named Hellespont was said to be situated. It is certainly this part of Bithynia. Of the monastery of Eristae, however, although Sabas calls it the most celebrated lavra of Olympus, it has not been possible to find mention elsewhere, unless it is the same as the diocese of Eristae, of whose bishop Photius speaks in letter 70 of Book II, P. G., vol. CII, p. 882, and on which Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, pp. 628–630, and Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia minor, pp. 181, 183, 196, may also be consulted. Nor has it been possible any better to identify the abbot Stephen and the steward Anastasius, unless perhaps Stephen is that superior whom Theodore the Studite reports was driven out of his monastery with fifty of his brothers. P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1071.

k. To the letter ἀποτακτικὸν ἄρμα is the monastic armour. The same words occur in the rule of Pachomius, σχῆμα τὸ ἀποτακτικόν, the religious habit, P. G., vol. XL, p. 949, and in the Life of St. Nilus the Younger, ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων συμποδισθεὶς ἀρμάτων, hampered by his own arms. See P. G., vol. CXX, p. 34, with note 13 there, which is by our John Clé.

l. Properly μητάτον or μετάτον signifies "house, dwelling". It is a very usual name for designating certain country houses or estates depending on monasteries, as were formerly the priories of the Carthusians and Benedictines, in which a few brothers lived outside the common community and were free for quiet. Places of this kind are already cited in the Acts of the sixth synod. Cf. Combefis's note 30 to the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, in P. G., vol. CV, p. 908.

m. This river Metaphrastes calls Τοράντην, P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 52; perhaps on account of a bad reading.

n. Critama, a place hitherto unknown.

o. Namely from the year 806 to the year 808.

a. That is, the year of Christ 811, which, however, Sabas would more correctly have named the tenth year of the reigning Nicephorus than the ninth. Cf. Baronius, Annales, vol. IX, pp. 686–688.

b. The Huns, or Bulgars, under their leader Krum. Not rarely the Byzantine writers mix these names. Cf. the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, P. G., vol. CV, p. 877, with Combefis's note.

c. That word Λιβα is read twice in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, P. G., vol. CV, pp. 877, 910. In interpreting it both Combefis (Auctarium novum, vol. II, notes 10 and 32) and our Henschenius (Act. SS., February vol. I, pp. 543, 549) have already sweated, but with unhappy issue. Henschenius certainly erred when he understands a passage similar to ours, καὶ τῶν Οὔνων ἤδη κατὰ τὸν Λίβα ληἳζομένων of a suburb of Constantinople. Nor is one to agree with Combefis, who admits: what that Liba is, I do not well enough understand… For since that word means nothing other than a drop, a dripping, a spring, nothing forbids that many places watered by springs and waters should have obtained that very name. Now that κατὰ τὸν Λίβα is the same as toward the south, to the meridian, was rightly noted by Jacques Loppin in the Life of St. Stephen the Younger (P. G., vol. C, p. 1102, note 4), where he brings forward passages of Sacred Scripture (for example Exod. XXVII, 9; Num. XXXIV, 3, 5, etc.) which offer the same sense. Cf. Stephanus's Glossarium under the word Λίψ.

d. The several things stated here agree excellently with the writings of other Byzantines. Cf. the Chronographia of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 983–986.

e. For the emperors, understand Nicephorus and Stauracius; for the emperor, however, Stauracius only, since St. Ioannicius foretells the death of Nicephorus. Cf. in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite another vision of this defeat, P. G., vol. CV, pp. 894 ff.

f. These things are narrated more expressly by Theophanes: τιτρώσκεται δὲ καὶ Σταυράκιος παῖς αὐτοῦ καιρίως κατὰ τοῦ σπονδύλου τὸ δεξιὸν μέρος … Στέφανος δὲ πατρίκιος … ἀνηγόρευσεν Σταυράκιον αὐτοκράτορα. But his son Stauracius received a mortal wound at the right part of the vertebrae… The patrician Stephen… declared Stauracius emperor. Cf. P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 987, 988.

g. The journey from the Olympian region and the city of Prusa toward Constantinople is easy and not long. For Prusa is twenty kilometres distant from the city today called Moudania, formerly Myrlea and Apamea, a most suitable port whence ships, always at hand for those crossing over, completed the journey to Constantinople very quickly. Cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, p. 114; Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 180.

h. Cf. Theophanes, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 988: ὁ δὲ Σταυράκιος ἀνιάτως ἑαυτὸν ὁρῶν διακείμενον, But Stauracius, when he saw himself tossed by an illness beyond all remedies.

i. It was the custom for monks, when they met either one another or others to converse, to put forward first a brief prayer.

k. Stauracius, on account of the wound received in war altogether unequal to ruling the empire, abdicated the throne in the year 811 (cf. P. G., vol. CLVII, p. 738), and Michael Curopalates, husband of Procopia, the sister of Stauracius, was made emperor. Therefore he could be called in the Greek text τὸν γαμβρὸν αὐτοῦ, because among the Byzantines that word also designates the husband of a sister. Our author, however, does not narrate altogether accurately that Michael assumed the empire when Stauracius had died; since the former was crowned on the 2nd of October 811, while the latter died on the 11th of January 812.

l. Read Baronius, who drew from Theophanes, Theodore the Studite and Michael the Studite how much Michael accomplished to restore peace to the Church. Cf. Annales, vol. IX, pp. 690–704.

m. The second year of Michael's reign is the year 813. In fact, in this year, as Theophanes also reports, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1003, ἐκ πάντων τῶν θεμάτων στρατολογήσας, πρὸ τοῦ ἔαρος εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην περαιοῦσθαι ἐκέλευσεν, he ordered an army collected from all the themes to cross into Thrace.

n. That epithet, on account of his cruelty, Leo the Armenian obtained among various writers. Thus Genesius entitles his first book of kings περὶ τοῦ ἐξ Ἀμαλὴκ Λέοντος, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 992, and in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite we likewise read ὁ νέος Ἀμαληκίτης. P. G., vol. CV, p. 884.

o. Leo was commander of the Anatolic theme, on which consult Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Thematibus, P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 66 ff. The supreme command was conferred on him in the expedition against the Bulgars, as all the Byzantine writers testify; for it was in him above all that Michael trusted.

b. St. Ioannicius had already lived in this place before. See above, chap. IV, note p.

c. St. Eustathius is venerated on the 20th day of September. Cf. Act. SS., September vol. VI, pp. 106–122.

d. Leo the Armenian never relaxed anything of the persecution, but persevered in his wicked manner of acting as long as he lived. Therefore the facts which are narrated here seem to be placed between the years 817 and 820.

e. Of the mountain of Chelidon there has been talk above, p. 346. It is to be noted that St. Ioannicius has now twice passed from the Forest At Lydia to the mountain of Chelidon.

a. Here the situation of Mount Trichalix is openly determined. It is namely a part of the Olympian mountains, not far from the city of Prusa.

c. The seventh and a half year of Leo the Armenian falls in the year 820. For Leo III was made emperor on the 11th day of July 813. Therefore St. Ioannicius returned to Mount Trichalix about the month of October of the year 820.

d. In the night of the Nativity of Christ, 24–25 December 820, Leo was killed in the church of the Pharos. Cf. Theophanes Continuatus, P. G., vol. CIX, pp. 51–54.

e. Michael the Amorian was prefect of the Excubitors. He was called Αμορραῖος, or ὁ ἐξ Ἀμορίου, which the continuator of Theophanes explains thus: ἤνεγκε μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἄνω Φρυγίαν πόλις Ἀμόριον οὕτω καλουμένη. The city of upper Phrygia called Amorium bore him. P. G., vol. CIX, p. 56.

f. How Michael the Amorian behaved toward the orthodox is rightly defined in the Chronographia of Leo the Grammarian, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1041. Ὃς μικρόν τι τῆς προκατεχούσης αὐτὸν κακίας ὑπενδούς, ὅσον τοὺς ἐν εἱρξταῖς, καὶ ποιναῖς, καὶ ἐξορίαις, ἐλευθερίαν τε καὶ ἄνεσιν ὀνειρώδη φαντάζεσθαι, τὸ τοῦ προηγησαμένου δυσσεβοῦς ὑπέθαλπεν θεοστυγὲς φρόνημα: ὁμοίως γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ περιεπάρη δεινῆς αἱρέσεως ἀγκίστρῳ ἐξ ἀκροτάτης ἀλογίας καὶ ἀπαιδευσίας. He, relaxing somewhat of the malice which had long since occupied his soul, so far, namely, as it was permitted to those placed in prisons, punishments and exile to dream of a feigned liberty and relief, cherished the God-hated mind of his impious predecessor: for he was held fast by the like hook of grievous heresy out of stupidity of mind and ignorance.

g. Several pious laymen are recorded who bore this name at the same time. Thus Theodore the Studite writes both to Nicetas the patrician, P. G., vol. XCIX, pp. 994, 995, and to Nicetas the spatharius, P. G., vol. XCIX, pp. 1502, 1571. Cf. Hergenröther, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, p. 280, and the Life of St. Theodore the Studite, Nova Patrum Bibl., vol. VI, p. 333.

h. As is known, in the whole region of Olympus near Prusa springs of hot waters gushed forth. Near Prusa seven springs still leap forth, four in the plain at the root of Olympus and three on the slope of the mountain. Especially celebrated were the hot baths of the village of Pythia. Cf. Texier, L'Asie mineure, pp. 116, 123–126.

i. In Greek μέγας; which word, according to Du Cange and Sophocles (Greek Lexicon), when it is used of monks, designates either an abbot or an elder, or is also sometimes synonymous with the word κῦρις, lord. Therefore it is not permitted to conclude from this that Eustratius was already at this time hegumen of the Agauri, who succeeded father Gregory. For we shall see later, no. 36, that this happened only later.

k. This is again that very celebrated passage, adduced many times by the ecclesiastical writers, as many as there have been from Justin Martyr to Gennadius, both Greek and Latin, and taken either from some apocryphon or from Ezekiel VII, 3, 8; XVIII, 30; XXI, 30; XXIV, 14; XXIII, 20. On which text there is to be read the most learned dissertation of the distinguished Alfred Resch, Agrapha. Aussercanonische Evangelienfragmente. Leipzig, 1889, pp. 112–114, 227–29, 290–1.

l. Hence it is plain that the monastery of the Agauri was a head monastery, since metochia or communities depended on it.

m. The hegumen Leo of a certain monastery of the Cells subscribed in the year 787 the letter of St. Germanus: Λέων ἡγούμενος τοῦ ἁγίου Γεωργίου τῶν Κελλίων. P. G., vol. XCVIII, p. 215. But since the monk Hilarion subscribed the same letter, τῆς ἁγίας Θεοτόκου τῶν Κελλίων, P. G. vol. XCVIII, p. 219, it cannot be determined which community of the Cells is here in question, that of St. George or that of the blessed Mother of God. That we should decide for the first, the reason is that the community of St. George in the same tract is known, as may be seen in the Greek periodical Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἀλήθεια, no. 4 of October 1889, p. 390. In his letter 77 Michael Psellus records that monastery of the Cells. Cf. the Greek newspaper Σωτήρ, year 1889, p. 157.

n. Acts IV, 30, ἐν τῷ τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐκτείνειν σε εἰς ἴασιν, καὶ σημεῖα καὶ τερατα γίνεσθαι.

o. This double miracle of St. Ioannicius, namely the healing of the senator's daughter and the chastisement of his iconoclast kinsman by marriage, Baronius praised, Annales, at the year 821, nos. LI, LII.

a. Michael took up the empire as the year 820 was drawing to its end, and at the same time he presented with the augustal crown, in the great church, his son Theophilus, whom he had had by Euphrosyne, as Cedrenus reports, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 682: ἐπὶ τούτοις στέφει Μιχαὴλ Θεόφιλον τὸν ἐξ Εὐφροσύνης υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Therefore the fifth year of these emperors is the year of Christ 825.

b. The slaughter of the army of Nicephorus, defeated by the Bulgars, happened, as we saw above, p. 346, in the year of Christ 811. Therefore the fifth year of the reigning Michael of Amorium and the fourteenth year from the defeat of Nicephorus fall in the same year 825.

c. This brilliant deed of Ioannicius is recorded by Baronius, Annals, vol. IX, p. 905, at the year 825.

d. St. Ioannicius therefore set out into Thrace. Therefore there is question not only of the theme of the Thracesians, which was in Asia Minor, but of European Thrace, where already at that time the Bulgars had set foot.

f. Βιθυνίας κολπός is a very narrow gulf in the Propontis at Nicomedia; it is also called the Nicomedian gulf.

g. Who that recluse monk Eustathius was can be learned from no contemporary document. But we know from Michael, author of the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, that at this time in which Sabas was writing and in which Nicholas the Studite flourished, that is, about the year 858, there was indeed a καταγώγιον or μήτατον, namely a country house belonging to the monastery of Studios and in which monks were free for quiet. Cf. note 30 of Combefis to the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite in P. G., vol. CV, p. 907. A certain Isaiah the recluse is known, living at Nicomedia in these times, from the Historical Oration on the feast of the restoration of the images which Combefis edited, Auct. Bibl. Patr. vol. II, p. 743. Cf. above, p. 330. There has already been treatment in our work, July vol. I, pp. 289–90, of a certain other one of the captives of the Bulgars, namely Peter the patrician. Whom the menologion of Basil reports to have been snatched away by St. John the theologian, and afterwards to have been made a monk with St. Ioannicius on Mount Olympus. Whence a doubt can arise whether Peter the patrician and the monk Eustathius were not made sharers of the same miraculous liberation, which, on account of the similarity of the names, the menologion ascribed to St. John, but the monk Sabas to St. Ioannicius.

h. Πραινέτος, also Πρένετος, or Πρόνετος and in the Peutinger table Pronetios, indeed even Πρόνεκτος in Stephanus of Byzantium. The situation of this place is excellently defined by Socrates, Hist. ecclesiast., Book VI, chap. XVI, P. G., vol. LXVII, p. 714, when he calls it ἐμπόριον δὲ τοῦτο καταντικρὺ τῆς Νικομηδείας κείμενον, an emporium situated opposite Nicomedia. The place is celebrated because SS. John Chrysostom and Nicholas the Studite turned aside here. Cf. Sozomen, Hist. eccl., Book VIII, chap. XVIII, P. G., vol. LXVII, p. 1563, and Michael the Studite, P. G., vol. CV, p. 907. They say that Constantine Porphyrogenitus put in at the same place when about to visit the Olympian monks, whose journey the continuator of Theophanes so describes as to report that the emperor, having set out from the borders of the Bithynians, put in from there at Nicaea. P. G., vol. CIX, p. 482. Cf. Ramsay, The Hist. Geogr. of Asia Minor, p. 188. Tomaschek, Zur historischen Topographie von Kleinasien in Mittelalter, p. 9.

i. Of the village of Tsullum there is no mention again elsewhere.

k. On the monastery of the Altars of Elias cf. the Prelim. Comm., p. 324. The situation of this monastery is clearly described by the title of the typikon which we said in the place cited is preserved in the library of Patmos. Τυπικὸν τῆς σεβασμίας μονῆς τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου τῶν Ἡλίου Βωμῶν, ἤτοι τῶν Ἐλεγμῶν, τῆς διακειμένης μὲν ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι τῆς Ἀνατολῆς, ἐν τῷ θέματι Ὀψικίου, ὑπὸ τὴν ἐνορίαν τοῦ Καταβολίου, κ. τ. λ. Sakkelion, Πατμιακὴ Βιβλιοθηκή, p. 136. Our author, as also Peter at no. 37, for τῶν Ἡλίου βωμῶν writes Ἐλαιοβωμῶν; but the Metaphrastic recension rightly writes τῶν τοῦ Ἠλίου βωμῶν, P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 69, no. XXXIV.

l. This metropolitan of Nicaea does not seem to be known from elsewhere; certainly Le Quien drew his notice of him from the Acts of St. Ioannicius alone. Cf. Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 645. He did not hold the see long, since we have seen Peter ruling this church in the year 824, and he is announced to have died about the year 827. Le Quien adds that he could not determine, nor did the author of the Life published in Surius signify it clearly, whether Inger at last laid aside the heresy. In fact the Metaphrastic writer narrates it a little more obscurely, but Sabas explicitly teaches that he did not obey the admonitions of St. Ioannicius.

m. In these days, moreover, that is, so far as may be conjectured from the chronology, in the year 826 or 827.

n. Sigriane is a mountainous region near Cyzicus in Asia Minor on the shores of the Propontis, divided from the Olympene by the river Rhyndacus. So our predecessors in Act. SS., March vol. II, p. 213. Cf. Ramsay, op. cit., p. 162; Tomaschek, op. cit., p. 14.

o. On St. Theophanes, the chronographer, who died about the year 820 and is venerated on the 12th day of March, cf. Act. SS., March vol. II, pp. 213 ff.

b. Among the letters of St. Theodore the Studite in Book II there occurs letter LXXVI inscribed Στεφάνῳ μαγίστρῳ, To Stephen the magister. P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1314.

c. The commander or patrician Olbianus is also known from a letter directed to him by Theodore the Studite. P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1626.

d. Who that monk Stephen was, notary of the patrician Olbianus, who seems, if the indications brought forward in this place are to be believed, to have obtained ecclesiastical cult among the Greeks, is not easy to find out. Theodore the Studite twice wrote to a certain Stephen, a secretis, which title suits well enough with the office of notary. Cf. P. G., vol. XCIX, pp. 924, 1310.

e. Theophilus, son of Michael II, held the Byzantine throne from the year 829 to 842. The persecution, which the author here sketches in a few words, raged again most bitterly, especially against monks, as against Lazarus the painter, St. Methodius, Theophanes and Theophilus, called the Graptoi on account of the verses inscribed on their foreheads with glowing irons, Joseph the hymnographer, Michael Syncellus, and many others. Cf. Hergenröther, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel, vol. I, p. 292, who has gathered all these things into a compendium, drawn most learnedly from the primary sources.

f. Of the same Antony, who thought ill of the sacred images and by whom that Theoctistus, of whom in the Preliminary Commentary no. 35, p. 327, seems to have been led astray, St. Theodore the Studite probably treats in letter CLXVI of Book II; P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 1527. That the leaders of the monastery of the Agauri were for some time infected with the heresy of the iconoclasts is witnessed also by the Life of St. Antony the Younger, which exists in the Vienna historical manuscript XXXI in Nessel's recension, part V, p. 57.

g. Perhaps Theodore the Studite; otherwise, however, if these miracles follow one another in right chronological order. For we are now in the reign of Theophilus (829–842), whereas Theodore died in the year 826.

i. That metochion of the head monastery of Antidius was not far from the monastery τῶν Κελλίων nor from the other τῶν Καθάρων, as may be conjectured from the journey of Theodore the Studite: αὗται δὲ αἱ καταμοναί· ἀπὸ τὰ Καθαρὰ εἰς Λιβιανά· ἔπειτα εἰς Λεύκας. Ep. 3, Book I; P. G., vol. XCIX, p. 916. The author of the Metaphrastic Life seems not to have understood these things rightly; for he says: εἰς τὴν τῶν Λευκάδων καταγωγὴν ὃ Μετόχιον καλεῖν σύνηθες. P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 81.

k. In the Greek text is read λάβρῳ πυρετῷ, in Metaphrastes (P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 81) πυρετὸς λαῦρος. Stephanus (under the word λάβρος) teaches that the form λάβρος is preferable, although with Eustathius he does not altogether disapprove the form λαῦρος, with the writing υ for β. But he says that this pleases τοῖς ἀκριβεστέροις, since λαῦρος seems to have taken its origin from the fault of copyists, unless, as he adds, we wish to except the most recent writers.

l. Ὀψίκιον is the fourth eastern theme of the Byzantine empire; on which see Constantine Porphyrogenitus. P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 83.

m. As Codinus notes, the protonotary makes himself known by his very name; for he is the first of the notaries or scribes. P. G., vol. CLVII, pp. 59, 223.

n. Spatharius, from the word spatha, σπάθη, a sword, but of broader form. Whence a spatharius is an attendant, a sword-bearer, armed with a spatha or sword. That this word was thrust into the Byzantine idiom from a Germanic source, on account of frequent intercourse with the Goths, is insinuated by Gretser and Goar; P. G., vol. CLVII, p. 279. In fact in the Germanic languages we meet the words Spada, Spado, Spade, Spaten. But since spada is also found in Italian, Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutsche Sprache, p. 322, prefers that the original source of all these words is Greek. Whether rightly one may doubt.

o. This Peter is the author of the other Life of St. Ioannicius, which we shall now give. This is plain from Peter himself narrating this visit of his with the monk Plato to St. Ioannicius. Cf. no. 67 of the other Life.

a. On Peter of Atroa, hegumen of Saint Zachary, see the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 32–34, pp. 325–6.

b. The monastery of Saint Zachary was treated in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 34. From what was said there it is sufficiently established that it was situated near Prusa, between the monastery of the Agauri and the monastery of Antidium, beside the monastery of Telae, which was treated above at no. 8. The villages of Calucome and Atroa were also very near.

c. Not far off, too, was the monastery of Saint Nicholas, on which the distinguished Manuel John Gedeon lately discoursed in the Greek periodical Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἀλήθεια, published at Constantinople, under the date 4 October 1889, p. 389; compare the same author's work Ἔγγραφοι λίθοι καὶ κεράμια, pp. 27–8. The learned author judges that this monastery was situated between the monastery of Chenolacus, which was beside the city formerly called Myrlea, today Macedonia, and the monastery of the Fathers, which was at Pythia near Prusa. The monastery of Saint Nicholas is called royal, βασιλείον, a designation which occurs also in the Continuator of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 123, who calls the monastery at Chrysopolis βασιλικὸν μοναστήριον. Those monasteries were called imperial which were subject to the emperor alone. See Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae graecitatis, under μοναστήριον.

d. There is an allusion to the vision of St. Antony the Great, the Egyptian monk, who beheld the soul of the monk Ammon carried into heaven by angels. Compare the Lausiac History, in P. G., vol. XXXIV, p. 1024; Socrates's History, P. G., vol. LXVII, p. 57, note i; Sozomen's History, P. G., vol. LXVII, p. 902; Nicephorus Callistus's History, P. G., vol. CXLVI, p. 159. In our codices, the Paris and the Vienna, the name of the monk is written Ἀμοῦν; elsewhere, however, Ἀμμοῦν.

e. There existed, therefore, a Life of St. Peter of Atroa written by the monk Sabas. It has not been granted us to discover in the darkness of what library it lies hidden until now. This is indeed to be regretted, since from it one might also hope for abundant information on the affairs and persons of the ninth century. God grant that, if it has not perished amid the so many and so great misfortunes which the literary store of the Greeks has suffered, it may some day come to light.

f. This embassy of Theophilus agrees entirely with the curious bent of his mind, to which all the Byzantine writers bear witness. Especially at the end of his life he showed himself very eager to gather predictions from every quarter. Compare the Continuator of Theophanes, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 135, and Genesius, ibid., p. 1887.

g. The protovestiarius or protovestiarites, names which Goar, however, would have entirely distinguished, P. G., vol. CLVII, p. 205, is, on the testimony of George Codinus, On the Offices of Constantinople, P. G., vol. CLVII, p. 54, the minister of the circumstatio. "For before the emperor goes out of his chamber, he is already present in the triclinium. And after the emperor has come forth and taken his place in the triclinium, the protovestiarites goes out and summons to the circumstatio the more honourable of the nobles… and when the emperor on the throne is to wear his crown or some other ornament, the protovestiarius, having received it from the rucharius, offers it to the emperor by virtue of his office." Ibid., p. 67; compare also pp. 70, 75. For the time of Theophilus we know from Leo the Grammarian, P. G., vol. CVIII, pp. 1046, 1050, from Symeon Magister, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 694, and from George the Monk, ibid., p. 851, that Leo Chamaedracon was adorned with the dignity of protovestiarius.

h. On the office of the grand curator the learned are not of one opinion. For the word is applied to several, as Fabrot notes in his Glossary, P. G., vol. CXXII, p. 1378; it designates the curator of the imperial household, the curator of the prince, who was later also called Logothete, on the testimony of Constantine Harmenopulus, Breviary, book VI, on dignities, title I, § 5, and the curator of a minor youth. Here it seems to be a question of the curator of the prince. We have not, however, been able to find in contemporary documents who was grand curator under Theophilus.

i. This John is the heretical patriarch of Constantinople, on whom one may consult our Cuper, in the Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, p. *106, no. 618, in Acta SS., August vol. I, and Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 243. Compare Manuel Gedeon, Πατριαρχικαὶ πίνακες, p. 274.

k. That is, in the year of Christ 842.

m. Namely St. Methodius, patriarch of Constantinople, who was treated in our work, vol. II of June, p. 960 ff., and in Cuper's Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, p. *107 ff. Baronius cites this prediction of St. Ioannicius in the Annales ecclesiastici, vol. IX, p. 1022.

n. On this captivity of Methodius in a tomb with a robber, see his encomium in Acta SS., June vol. II, p. 963, no. 5. There too it is asserted that St. Methodius was shut up for nine years; but in his Annals Symeon Magister reduces this captivity to seven years; P. G., vol. CIX, p. 706. According to Texier, L'Asie mineure, p. 82, the ruins of this cistern or tomb in which St. Methodius was confined still exist in our own day.

o. This word is in the Greek text ἀναθρώξεως, which is indeed absent from all the lexicons. The distinguished Hermann Usener, professor of philology in the University of Bonn, when asked by us about the origin of this word, gave this answer: "It cannot be doubted that ἀνάθρωξις means 'ascent to the empire' (avènement), derived from ἀναθρώσκειν, from which the later Greeklings formed the aorist ἀνέθρωξα, forgetting the old form ἀνέθορον."

a. That Methodius did all these things at the inspiration of St. Ioannicius is attested by David Nicetas in the Life of St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, chap. II, no. 2, Acta SS., October vol. X, p. 173, and by Methodius in the little work On Avoiding Schism, which Cardinal Mai published, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, vol. III, vol. 256. On these matters one may also read the letter written by St. Methodius himself to the patriarch of Jerusalem, in which he sets out how he acted in deposing the apostate priests. P. G., vol. C, p. 1291. Compare also Cardinal Hergenröther, op. et loc. cit.

b. The passage is taken from Gregory Nazianzen. P. G., vol. XXXVI, p. 346.

c. A heresiarch whose disciples especially went off into various errors concerning the Incarnation. Compare the book On Heresies published by Cotelier in the Ecclesiae graecae monumenta, vol. I, p. 301; and especially the most learned dissertation which Petau wrote on the name, person and doctrine of this man in book I, chap. VI, On the Incarnation.

d. As Cotelier noted in the work just cited, p. 766, he is found called either Οὐαλεντῖνος or Οὐαλεντινιανὸς, Βαλεντῖνος, or Οὐαλέντιος and Οὐάλης. He held that Christ brought down flesh from heaven and passed through the body of Mary as through a pipe.

e. This empty fiction of Apelles is clearly set out by Petau, On the Incarnation, book I, no. XIV, from Tertullian's book On Prescription, chap. 51: namely that Christ, in coming down from the upper regions, wove for himself in the very descent a starry flesh and air; that in the resurrection he gave back in his ascent to each of the elements what he had borrowed in his descent, and that so, the several parts of his body being dispersed, he gave back to heaven only the spirit.

f. On the sufficiently well-known Nestorian heresy Petau, On the Incarnation, book I, chap. IX, may be consulted. He is called a man-worshipper because he denies that he who was formed in the Virgin's womb is God in himself, yet affirms that that man, because he is joined with God, is a partaker of the same honour with Him.

g. We have not been able to find to which passage of Isaiah Sabas alludes. But I strongly suspect that this sentence of Sabas derives from St. Nicephorus's second Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus, in the Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 83, who adduces entirely similar words of St. Gregory Nazianzen in Oration XXXVIII, P. G., vol. XXXVI, p. 314, namely: ὁ λόγος παχύνεται, ὁ ἀόρατος ὁρᾶται, ὁ ἀναφὴς ψηλαφᾶται, ὁ ἄναρχος ἄρχεται etc. And here Gregory is interpreting Isaiah IX, 6.

h. On the Phantasiasts or Docetae consult Petau, On the Incarnation, book I, chapter IV. That the iconomachs were paving the way for the Phantasiasts Nicephorus had already indicated in his first Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus. Compare the Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 32, and especially note 1.

i. The Ossaeans are cited by Pseudo-Clement of Rome, P. G., vol. I, p. 1457, and in the book On Heresies in Cotelier, Ecclesiae graecae monumenta, p. 284, where they are called Ὀσσήνοι. In both places they are marked with the same epithet: ἰταμώτατοι, most impudent. They are also called Ἐσσαῖοι, as Cotelier points out, op. cit., p. 762. Read their history and doctrine in Epiphanius, Against Heresies, P. G., vol. XLI, p. 259 ff.

k. The Sampsaeans, in their false dogmas very close and akin to the Ossaeans, who have just been treated, and to the Elcesaites, of whom next. For the rest, you will find everything that concerns them in Epiphanius, Against Heresies, loc. cit., pp. 848, 961.

l. The various names by which this Jewish sect is called are reviewed by Cotelier, Ecclesiae graecae monumenta, vol. I, p. 775. Their empty fictions, very similar to the trifles of the Ossaeans and Sampsaeans, are set out by Epiphanius, pp. 848, 960.

m. The Ophites or Serpentines are refuted at length by Epiphanius, pp. 642 ff.

n. As we are taught by Epiphanius, pp. 266, 961, that measured power of Christ according to the numbers adduced was one of the chief fictions of the Ossaeans and Sampsaeans.

o. Of the coins of Constantine we have already spoken above, namely chap. V, note t, p. 350. Here it is worth recalling that St. Nicephorus, just like Sabas, uses this argument against the iconomachs drawn from the coins of Constantine, namely in the third Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus, published in the Patrum nova Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 138. Again the likeness of that document to ours, already detected several times, is to be noted.

a. On this chronology we have discoursed at length in the Preliminary Commentary. Since the Preliminary Commentary left the press, the distinguished P. Rabbov, a student of philology in the University of Bonn, has deigned to communicate to me what he himself found most worthy of note concerning the chronology of the Life of St. Ioannicius while he was going through the Vienna codex, and from which it is possible to correct certain errors into which I fell. For I wrote at no. 16 of the Preliminary Commentary, p. 318, that one reads in Sabas that St. Ioannicius died in the ninety-third year of his whole life, whereas in the text one plainly reads: ἐνενηκοστῷ δὲ τετάρτῳ, the ninety-fourth. Accordingly, for St. Ioannicius to have died on the fourth day of November at the age of ninety-three, his birthday must have been between 3 November and 31 December of the year 752, or between 1 January and 3 November 753. But elsewhere we are told (Life, no. 4, p. 335) that Ioannicius was twenty-seven years old when Irene was already holding the empire for a second year. Now Irene reigned with her son Constantine from 8 September 780; therefore the second year of her reign runs from 8 September 781 to 8 September 782. Which interval of time

c. Compare rather 2 Pet. II, 2, 3.

d. The name of these schismatics appears in the Greek text in the form Κεντουκλάδων. By this word I would conjecture that a certain group of Studites who renounced Methodius is designated. Of the sense and declension of the word this much only may be affirmed, since I do not know whether it recurs elsewhere among the writers of that age: that it is derived from κέντουκλον, or in the feminine gender κεντούκλα, in Latin centunculus, centunclum, and formed in the same way as γεννάδας and others. Hatzidakis has spoken of this kind of declension, very common among the modern Greeks, in his Einleitung in die neugriech. Grammatik, p. 385 ff. If this has been rightly established, the Κεντουκλάδες would be called, as it were, πιλοφόροι, that is, those furnished with a felt cap. Compare γαλατᾶς, κοιλαρᾶς, φωναλᾶς, and, as a proper name, Ζωναρᾶς.

e. The orthodox predecessors of St. Methodius on the throne of Constantinople.

f. See the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 18–21, p. 319 ff.

g. A biblical expression, Gen. XLIX, 32, by which lying down is signified.

h. Of Atroa, which is a place on Mount Olympus, we have discoursed above, p. 326.

a. Of this Peter the monk, the author of this Life, who was a contemporary of St. Ioannicius and indeed his disciple, we have spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 11, p. 315.

b. That this formula εὐλόγησον, πάτερ indicates that the history belongs to the genre of homilies is held by Lambeck, Commentarii de augustissima bibliotheca Caesarea Vindobonensi, book VIII, p. 467. Yet Montfaucon too noted, Palaeographia graeca, p. 304, that the same formula is commonly set down in place of our Iube, domne, benedicere.

a. On the province, ἐπαρχία, of the Bithynians, see note a, p. 335, of chapter I of the earlier Life.

b. The situation of this village having been noted above, here we attend only to the form of the Greek word. Peter and Sabas agree in writing τὰ Μαρυκάτου.

c. Of the proper office of the Excubitors it was said above, p. 336, note n of chap. I in the other Life. Whereas Sabas, or the scribes of the codices that were available to us, wrote ἐξσκουβίτωρ, Peter has ἐκσκουβίτος. For the form of writing is different. Besides these, one finds ἐξκουβίτος, for example in Nicetas the Paphlagonian, P. G., vol. CV, p. 493, and also ἐκκουβίτος in Symeon Magister, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 672.

d. In those times, namely in the year 795, as we showed in chap. II of the earlier Life, note h, p. 339.

e. The author explicitly asserts that the Huns are one and the same people as the Bulgars. Indeed Combefis points out, in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, P. G., vol. CV, p. 877, that at this time the name of the one is not rarely used for the other.

f. Constantine VI the younger, son of Leo the Khazar and Irene.

g. Of the place called Μαρκέλλαι we treated in chap. II, note h, of the other Life. In the codex it is written Μαρκέλαις, which, on the basis of the manner of writing received everywhere else, we thought should be corrected to Μαρκέλλαις.

h. Compare Ps. XVII, 35, 43; XCII, 1.

i. On Mount Olympus see the Preliminary Commentary, no. 27, p. 322.

k. We indicated above, p. 349, in note g of chapter V of the other Life, that the road from the Olympus mountain towards Constantinople is very easy.

l. See note c of chapter III in the preceding Life, p. 342.

m. Sabas teaches us that the hegumen of the Agauri at that time was Gregory, no. 10, p. 341.

n. In Sabas this place is called Ἀτρώα Καστούλῳ, no. 8, p. 340. Peter the monk defines the same situation for this place when he puts Atroa between the monastery of the Agauri and that of Antidium. There, it seems, was built the monastery of Saint Zachary, over which Peter of Atroa presided, of whom above in the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 32–35, p. 325.

o. Of the monastery of Antidium it was said in chapter III of the other Life, note h, p. 342.

a. As we read above, p. 361, no. 32, the monastery of the Agauri was dedicated to St. Cosmas.

b. St. Eustratius, on whom see the Life by Sabas, chapter IV, note t, p. 346.

c. Sabas made mention of this monk in chapter IV, no. 14.

d. Sabas reports that St. Ioannicius lay hidden for the same space of time, not near the coenobium of the Agauri, but in various places.

e. This Peter is perhaps St. Peter of Atroa.

f. One may conjecture Sabas, the other hagiographer of St. Ioannicius.

g. Whether this is the Antony of whom Sabas speaks in chapter IX, no. 36, p. 365, who afterwards adhered to the iconomachs and at length became penitent, we are not able to determine.

h. The parts of the Thracesians, that is, the third theme of the empire, comprising chiefly Lydia, Caria and Ionia. Compare P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 79.

i. This place sanctified by St. Ioannicius occurs rather often in the Acts written by Sabas. Compare nos. 10, 18, 24, 32 of the preceding Life.

l. Namely Gregory, hegumen of the Agauri.

m. St. Eustratius was afterwards hegumen of the Agauri. Compare above, nos. 32, 36, pp. 361, 365.

n. From this you will not unjustly gather that our author Peter lived among the monks of the Agaurine coenobium.

o. It is worth having noted this encomium of St. Eustratius, inasmuch as it happily completes the all too meagre notice of St. Eustratius given by Bolland in the Acta SS., January vol. I, p. 598.

a. Namely in the year 806.

b. We have said at note e of chapter IV of the other Life, p. 345, how this formula is to be understood, although applied to a most wicked emperor.

c. We have explained this ambiguous answer of St. Ioannicius, which Sabas also reports, in note e of chapter V, p. 349.

d. Perhaps of the city of Prusa.

e. In actual fact, Nicephorus having died in the year 811 in battle against the Bulgars, Stauracius abdicated the empire in the same year.

f. Namely when, in the year 813, overthrown by Leo the Armenian, he fled with Procopia and his children into the oratory which is by the forum, and, his hair shorn, put on the monastic habit together with his family. So Theophanes in the Chronographia, P. G., vol. CVIII, p. 1007.

h. This is Leo the Armenian.

i. Peter does not affirm explicitly, he only seems to insinuate, that Leo the Armenian deserted the side of Nicephorus in the war against the Bulgars. Compare above, p. 349.

k. So Symeon Magister in the Annals, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 664, explains this name Χαμαιλέων: ἦν δὲ τὴν ἡλικίαν κοντὸς (διὸ καὶ χαμαιλέων προσηγόρευται), "a man small of stature (for which reason he was also called by the name Chameleon)."

m. The apologists rather often hint at the likeness of doctrine between the Manichaeans and the iconomachs, for example Nicephorus in the first Antirrheticus against Constantine Copronymus, Nova Patrum Bibliotheca, vol. V, p. 61 of the Latin version, and also the Historical Oration on the feast of the restoration of the images, published by Combefis, Auctarium Bibliothecae Patrum, vol. II, p. 717. On which passage Combefis notes, p. 743, that the author of that oration not unfittingly traces the heresy of the iconoclasts back to that of the Manichaeans, since, no differently from the latter, they deny the truth of Christ's dispensation and accordingly assert that it cannot be expressed in true images.

n. Namely St. Nicephorus.

o. Compare the colloquy of St. Nicephorus with Leo the Armenian in his Life published in the Acta SS., March vol. II, p. 304 ff.

a. Sabas calls the same place, at no. 18, τὸ πρὸς Λυδίαν ἄλσος.

b. These things are narrated in the preceding Life, no. 18, p. 35.

g. It is worth noting the Greek expression τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας. It occurs also in the Life of St. Theognius, Analecta Bollandiana, vol. X, p. 82, where we had thought it should be corrected to τὰ πνεύματα τὰ τῆς πονηρίας.

m. Peter does not, however, indicate by what particular reason St. Ioannicius was moved to build the church for SS. Peter and Paul. For the rest, Sabas too passed over this in silence.

a. Sabas narrates the same prodigy, no. 20, p. 352.

b. Namely of Leo the Armenian.

c. Sabas reports these things, no. 21, p. 352.

d. Read the same prodigy narrated in Sabas, no. 22, pp. 352–3.

e. I Tim. II, 4. — Ezech. XXIII, 11.

f. Sabas records this healing, no. 22, p. 353.

g. In Greek κακόγηρος, a word opposite in sense to καλόγηρος, by which monks are usually designated. Compare the word κακόγηρος used by Palladius, Lausiac History, P. G., vol. XXXV, p. 1065, in the Apophthegmata Patrum, P. G., vol. LXV, p. 164, and by John Moschus, P. G., vol. LXXXVII, p. 2900.

h. This manifestation of the demon in the form of a bear is not unusual, as is clear from the Lives of other saints.

k. Let the narration of this prodigy be compared with no. 24, pp. 354–5, of the preceding Life.

a. On the use of the verb καταλαμβάνω see what the distinguished Krumbacher lately discussed with learning, Studien zu den Legenden des hl. Theodosios, pp. 366–69.

b. As is well known, Leo the Armenian was slain in the year 820 in the church of the Pharos, where he had come to celebrate the Nativity of Christ.

d. On Nicetas compare Sabas, no. 25, p. 355, and note g, p. 358. If Zonaras in his lexicon is to be heeded (compare Stephanus, Thesaurus linguae graecae), Λυγδηνός is so called from Λύγδη, which is ὄνομα τόπου. But who the person so designated was we have not found.

e. See the same prediction recorded in the Life written by Sabas, no. 24, p. 355.

f. On the Olympian hot baths, see note h of chapter VII, p. 358, in the earlier Acts.

g. The same miracle is narrated by Sabas, no. 25, pp. 355–6.

h. Compare in the preceding Life, no. 26, p. 356.

k. See the same deed in the other Acts, no. 26, p. 356.

l. Fabrot in his Glossary, P. G., vol. CXXII, p. 1374, says that the candidati were a kind of soldiers whom strength of body and of mind recommended and who were among the bodyguards of the prince. In Sabas the daughter of Theodotus the candidatus is the daughter of a certain senator; compare no. 27, p. 356.

m. Compare the preceding Acts, no. 27, p. 357.

a. In his work Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 605, Le Quien adduced this passage, but very inaccurately. For he gives this: Ἐγγύετο τότε τοῖς ἐκκρίτοις τῶνδε πατέρων συμφωνεύσαι εἰς τὴν σκέψιν τοῦ ἁγίου ἀπελθεῖν· ὑπῆρχον δὲ ἐκ τῶν μητροπολίτων ὁ παναγιώτατος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χαλχηδόνος κ. τ. λ. Had Le Quien not affirmed that he found these words in Coislin codex 303, you would believe that he had copied what he presents from another book.

b. The other holy men cited here have been treated in notes r, s, t, u of chapter VII of the earlier Life, p. 359.

c. The metochion of Saint Elias is also mentioned by Sabas. Compare the Acts written by him, chap. VII, note q, p. 359.

d. The great Isaac, that is, St. Theophanes the chronographer, hegumen of Sigriane, on whom see Acta SS., March vol. II, pp. 213 ff. On the very name of Isaac see what has been said at p. 213, nos. 3, 4. The tomb of St. Theophanes was twelve stadia distant from the monastery of Sigriane, which was itself about twenty-two miles from Cyzicus.

e. Of the monastery of Ager it was said in the preceding Acts, chap. VIII, notes n, p, p. 364.

f. Sabas, as we have seen, defines the situation of this island as in the northern part of the lake of Apollonias. Compare above, no. 31, p. 360.

g. On Daniel in Thasios, compare chap. VIII of the earlier Life, no. 31, pp. 360–1.

h. On the practice of striking the wood compare Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XI, p. 28, and Krumbacher, Studien zu den Legenden des hl. Theodosios, pp. 355–61.

b. On Inger, bishop of Nicaea, see the preceding Life, chap. VIII, no. 30.

c. Lissus, which Sabas calls Lisus, is part of Mount Olympus.

e. As may be conjectured from Sabas's little book, chap. IV, no. 13, this venerable old man was the abbot Stephen, who adorned St. Ioannicius with the monastic tonsure.

f. The same is narrated in the earlier Life, chap. VI, no. 20.

g. Compare ibid., no. 12. There, however, he does not give the name of the workman who was healed.

h. As was said explicitly in the preceding Acts, chap. IV, no. 12, it is a question of the church of Saint John at Ephesus, which city was in fact in the theme of the Thracesians, as Constantine Porphyrogenitus teaches, P. G., vol. CXIII, p. 82.

i. Namely the month of August, since the Byzantine year takes its beginning from the first of September.

k. Which river is meant here cannot be said; perhaps the Caÿster, which lies below Ephesus. Now Texier reports in his work L'Asie Mineure, p. 324, that there is no ford in this river by which it can be crossed, and also that, since it flows past mountains, one can only with difficulty get from the bank to the cliffs which rise on the other side.

l. Sabas reports the same prodigy, chap. IV, no. 12; he does not, however, assert that it was accomplished through the intercession of St. John the apostle.

m. We know the name of this monastery only from this passage; and in Sabas no mention is found of the miracle performed here.

n. Is. XXXV, 7. The Greek text is to be consulted, for the Latin differs: "and the thirsty land into fountains of waters."

o. Sabas narrates the same miracle of water given to the workmen, but relates that it came about by rain fallen from heaven. Compare chap. VI, no. 20, p. 351.

a. These same things may be read in Sabas, chap. VI, no. 12, p. 342.

b. That St. Ioannicius twice made himself invisible to passers-by is reported also by the preceding Life, chaps. IX, XI, nos. 38, 52, pp. 366, 380. The monk who is here called Peter is called John by Sabas.

c. See the same in the earlier Acts, chap. IX, no. 39, p. 366.

d. Compare the preceding Life, chap. IX, no. 40, p. 367.

e. See the Acts written by Sabas, chap. VIII, no. 32, p. 361. This deed will be especially noteworthy for anyone who wishes to compose the history, hitherto entirely unknown, of St. Daniel in Thasios.

f. We have indicated in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 14, p. 317, various passages from which it is clear that Peter the monk received not a little from St. Eustratius from which to weave his Acts. Compare above, p. 390, no. 12.

g. Compare in what manner Sabas also reported that Eustratius was healed by St. Ioannicius, above, p. 367.

a. As we have already pointed out above, p. 417, the author of the following profession of faith, which is placed in the mouth of St. Ioannicius, is by no means Peter the monk, but St. Nicephorus. For, only the number of the subject having been changed from plural to singular, the whole passage has been taken from the latter's Apologetic Sermon for the holy images, published by Cardinal Mai in the Nova Patrum bibliotheca, vol. V. You will find the passage in question in Greek at pp. 22–27, and its Latin version at pp. 167–171. For the most part we have kept Cardinal Mai's Latin rendering.

b. Namely Gregory Nazianzen. The words adduced here are read in P. G., vol. XXXVI, p. 346. Compare also ibid., p. 1070, and elsewhere.

c. How the words ὑπερτελὴς and προτέλειος differ is clearly shown by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Divine Names, II, 10; compare the scholia of St. Maximus on the same passage.

d. Here the whole of paragraph 20, p. 169, of Cardinal Mai's edition has been omitted.

e. Cardinal Mai notes at this passage that St. Nicephorus seems to play on the word Acephali, as if to say "without brains," although there was another reason for this appellation. Compare P. G., vol. XXXV, p. 432, note 99.

f. You will find the same already stated by Gregory Nazianzen, P. G., vol. XXXVI, p. 348: Καὶ ἡ Σαβελλίου συναίρεσις, καὶ ἡ Ἀρείου διαίρεσις, τὰ ἐκ διαμέτρου κακὰ καὶ ὁμότιμα τὴν ἀσέβειαν. On the words οἰκονομία, θεολογία in Christ Petau discourses, On the Incarnation, book I, chap. I, and notes that whatever is disputed concerning Christ the Greek theologians were accustomed to divide in two, into θεολογίαν and οἰκονομίαν, of which the former comprehends what pertains to the divinity, the latter what pertains to the human nature.

g. Much here may be compared with the formula of faith of Sophronius of Jerusalem addressed to the patriarch Sergius, which is read in P. G., vol. LXXXVII, part III, pp. 3147–99.

h. Sergius and Pyrrhus, monothelite patriarchs of Constantinople. Cardinal Mai rightly writes that the patriarch Nicephorus, although he execrated his predecessors Sergius and Pyrrhus as monothelites, is entirely silent about Honorius; which he would not have done had he not judged Honorius free from that stain. The same scholar points out, Spicilegium romanum, vol. X, p. IX, that neither Sophronius of Jerusalem, nor Nicholas of Constantinople, nor the Libellus Synodicus numbers Honorius among the Monothelites together with Sergius and Pyrrhus.

i. Read the same in Sabas, chap. VII, no. 32, above, p. 361.

k. That monastery, it seems, was situated in a certain suburban district of the city of Constantinople.

l. Athanasius and Naucratius, both celebrated monks of the Studite monastery, afterwards also its superiors. Mention is often made of them, for example in the letters of Theodore the Studite, and in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, P. G., vol. CV, p. 878. Naucratius is named as a saint in the Menaea of the Greeks, and he has been treated in our work, June, vol. II, p. 135.

m. We have already noted that Peter the monk has little favour for the Studites. Yet the reproaches he makes against them seem excessive. Truly they often showed themselves the strictest and keenest defenders of the faith, and from that, perhaps, carried away by too great ardour, they inveighed no less against persons than against error.

n. Sabas narrates this same story, chap. VIII, no. 33, pp. 361–2.

o. The Constantinopolitan suburb of the Mandrae is, if you attend to the force of the word, the suburb of the monasteries. For this is the sense of the word μανδρά.

a. Sabas calls the same village Elaeus, no. 50, p. 379.

b. On Leo, patrician and sacellarius, compare the preceding Acts, no. 50, p. 379.

c. Besides this Agapetus, Symeon Magister in the Annals, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 746, reports that a certain Ignatius was chamberlain of the emperor Michael.

d. Of the protovestiarius we have spoken in the earlier Acts, chap. X, note g, p. 374, where we pointed out that in the time of Theophilus this office was held by Leo Chamaedracon. In the reign of Michael, a certain protovestiarius Procopius is also mentioned by George the Monk, P. G., vol. CIX, p. 891.

e. The city of Amorium in Phrygia was stormed by the Saracens under the leadership of Almutazim Billehi in the year of Christ 838, on 23 September. Compare Acta SS., March vol. I, p. 458, and Weil, Geschichte der Chalifer, vol. II, pp. 313–15. If you compare these things with the circumstances of the same narrative which Sabas records, above, p. 368, no. 43, you will admit that Peter related them more accurately. From this too is confirmed what we said in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 15, p. 317, on the difference which lies between the two writers.

f. On the same miracle compare chap. XI of the earlier Life, no. 50, pp. 378–9.

g. Compare in Sabas, chap. IX, no. 35, p. 364.

h. Sabas has the same, ibid.

i. Compare this prediction in the preceding Acts, chap. IX, no. 35, p. 365.

k. On the penitent Antony see ibid., no. 36, p. 365.

l. Sabas records the same about the spatharius Drosus, ibid., no. 42, p. 368.

m. The opening of this narrative is altogether similar to the beginning of the Passion of the Sinaites at Raithu, by Ammonius, which Combefis published, Illustrium Christi martyrum lecti triumphi, p. 88.

o. A paxamatium, on the testimony of Du Cange, is a loaf baked under the ashes. It is elsewhere called paximatium, paxamidium and paxamas. Compare the note of our Janning on the Life of Andrew the Fool, chap. III, no. 25, Acta SS., May vol. VI, p. 17*, and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XI, pp. 37, 38.

a. Namely under the emperor Theophilus.

b. The Studite monks are designated. Athanasius and Naucratius, as was said above, p. 424, note l, were their superiors.

c. The heretical patriarch of Constantinople, put in the place of St. Nicephorus by Theophilus.

d. Peter the monk here brings in St. Ioannicius thoroughly confusing the order of times. For the Studites, who reproached St. Methodius after his election with excessive severity towards the iconomach priests, nevertheless do not seem to have been opposed to his election, and much less to have favoured the impious John Cacosambas.

e. The author alludes to the accusation of debauchery which was raised against St. Methodius just as against Athanasius, but turned to the shame of those who accused falsely. In the Greek text we have corrected σχηματικῶν to σχισματικῶν, the word by which the Meletians are usually designated, as is read at p. 432: σχισματικῶν (corrected from σχηματικῶν) Μελετιανῶν, and in the passage from the Life of St. Antony cited below, note h.

f. Compare in the earlier Acts the very long letter which Sabas inserted, chap. X, no. 47, pp. 372–3.

g. The history of the detected fraud was related by our predecessors in Acta SS., June vol. II, p. 969.

h. For we read in the Life of St. Antony by St. Athanasius (Benedictine edition, vol. I, p. 847): "With the Meletian schismatics indeed he never communicated… So too he execrated the heresy of the Arians, and urged all neither to approach them nor to follow their depraved faith."

i. Who he was who was cast down from the episcopate of Nicomedia we have not been able to determine. For at this time only Theophylact, who thought rightly, is found praised in Le Quien. Unless St. Ioannicius means that former John of Nicomedia, against whom anathema was pronounced at the second synod of Nicaea.

k. On this eunuch of the church of Cyzicus, compare Le Quien, Oriens christianus, vol. I, p. 756.

o. We have spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 16, p. 318, of this reckoning of Peter's, which is perhaps to be ascribed to an error of the scribes. But since no other copy is at hand, we must abide by the reading of the Paris codex, in which πδ᾽ is written very clearly.

ON ST. IOANNICIUS, MONK IN BITHYNIA,

IN THE YEAR 846.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

BY J. V. D. G.

COMMEMORATION OF OUR HOLY FATHER IOANNICIUS THE WONDERWORKER.

METAPHRASTES (P. G., vol. CXVI, p. 73).

LIFE BY SABAS (chap. IX, no. 43).

LIFE BY PETER (chap. XIV, no. 67).

LIFE OF ST. IOANNICIUS BY THE MONK SABAS

PROLOGUE.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER ONE.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER TWO.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER THREE.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER FOUR.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER FIVE.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER SIX.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER NINE.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER TEN.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

b. Ps. LXIII, 4.

ANOTHER LIFE OF ST. IOANNICIUS BY PETER THE MONK

PROLOGUE.

ANNOTATA.

e. Ps. XLIV, 3.

f. Ps. CXVIII, 85.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

h. Ps. XXXV, 1, 3.

i. Ps. XXVI, 2.

k. Ps. XXXVI, 14.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

i. Ps. LXVII, 2.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

ANNOTATA.

EPILOGUE.

Notes

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