ON SS. EUSTOLIA AND SOPATRA, VIRGINS AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
6TH/7TH CENTURY
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Eustolia, virgin at Constantinople. (S.)
Sopatra, virgin at Constantinople. (S.)
H. D.
[1] Of SS. Eustolia and Sopatra Eustolia, a Roman, born of pious parents, had been devoted from a tender age to the exercise of all the virtues. Kindled with the desire of a holier life, she left the City and went off to Constantinople, where she began to visit the churches. One day, near the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae, she met a girl named Sopatra, daughter of the emperor Maurice (582 – 602), who asked her to become her spiritual mother and guardian. Sopatra therefore left the palace and took up the monastic life. Then she asked the emperor that a suitable place be given her, and she built an oratory with a monastery, where she lived with Eustolia and other virgins who were possessed by the desire of a like life. After many years Eustolia died, and into her place succeeded Sopatra, who herself too, adorned with the highest virtues, passed to heaven. These things are read in the synaxaria on the 9th day of November Synax. Eccl. CP., p. 207.; but in the menologia the longer Life of SS. Eustolia and Sopatra, of which we have the epitome, has not been found, with one exception however, which is the Vatican codex Greek 807, A fragment of the Life. of parchment, written in the tenth century Catal. graec. Vatic., p. 50.. On fol. 94 – 96v is contained the Life of St. Eustolia, or her μερικὴ διήγησις, no longer complete, for some leaves have perished, yet with slight loss, to confess the truth, to hagiographical matters. For the whole Life, of which we have the principal part, was empty of facts, stuffed with lengthy speeches, as is sufficiently shown from the epitome. If, therefore, the rest is found some day, very little will have to be added to what we gather about the holy virgins from the fragment. Would that it might befall us to find more certain information about both, and above all about Sopatra, whom no one besides the anonymous writer and his followers has numbered among the daughters of the emperor Maurice. The brief elogium of Eustolia and Sopatra inscribed on this day in the Roman Martyrology has been drawn from the same source.
[2] The monastery of St. Eustolia. That the monastery founded by St. Eustolia, where her feast was kept, still existed in the tenth century is attested by the synaxarion of cod. Paris. 1594: Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτῆς σύναξις ἐν τῇ μονῇ αὐτῆς τῇ οὔσῃ πλησίον τῆς μονῆς τοῦ
Παναγίου Synax. Eccl. Cp., p. 203. .
LIFE OF SS. EUSTOLIA AND SOPATRA
Greek text only in the Acta; the English here is translated from the Greek.
Eustolia, virgin at Constantinople. (S.)
Sopatra, virgin at Constantinople. (S.)
From the Vatican codex Greek 807. Compare Preliminary Commentary, no. 1.
Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τῆς ὁσίας καὶ μακαρίας Εὐστολίας ἤτοι μερικὴ τῆς αὐτῆς Εὐστολίας διήγησις.
The Life and conduct of the holy and blessed Eustolia, or a partial narrative of the same Eustolia.
[1] Prologue. Ὥσπερ ἡ ἀρτιγενὴς τῶν βρεφῶν καὶ ὑποτίτθιος ἁπλότης τὴν τῆς cod. ἐκ τῆς μητρικῆς θηλῆς ὑγρὰν τοῦ γάλακτος πόσιν ὅση ὡς ἡ cod. δύναμις δίδωσιν ἐκπιέζειν ἐκμοιέζειν cod. καὶ ἐφέλκεσθοι καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔξω τις τῆς τῶν ὀργάνων συμμίξεως συνμίξεως cod. ἀπαρύεται ἀπαρρύεται cod. — ὑπερβλύσαν γὰρ ἐξωσθήσεται καὶ βλάβην οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν τῷ βρέφει παρέξεται, — οὕτως ἡ ἀρτιπαγὴς καὶ ἄρρυθμος ἄρυθμος cod. τῆς ἐμῆς φρενὸς νηπιότης ταῖς τῆς ἀμαθίας θηλαῖς οἷα βρέφος ἕως τοῦ νῦν προσανέχουσα καὶ ἐπὶ τηλικούτων ἀφηγήσεων παρ᾽ ὑμῶν προσκεκλημένη προσβεβλημένη cod. τελείωσιν· δεῖται τῇ ἑαυτῆς δυνάμει παραμετρῆσαι τοῦ λόγου τὸ τρόφιμον καὶ τῇ τῆς σιγῆς αὐταρκειᾳ περιποιήσασθαι ἑαυτῇ τὸ ἀκίνδυνον καὶ μὴ ζημιωθῆναι τῇ τῆς προπετείας ὑπερεκβλύσει καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ περιὸν τῆς δυνάμεως· τὸ γὰρ ῥᾷστα πρὸς ἅπαντα τὴν ἐγχείρησιν κεκτῆσθαι λίαν ἀεὶ φιλοκίνδυνον καὶ θράσους ἐπέγνων συμμέτοχον.
Just as the newborn and nursling simplicity of infants draws from the mother's breast the liquid drink of milk as far as its strength allows it to press out and suck, and no one would draw it off outside the joining of the organs — for, overflowing, it will be forced out and will do the infant no ordinary harm — so the newly formed and unpractised infancy of my mind, which until now clings like an infant to the breasts of ignorance and has been called upon by you to the completion of such great narratives, needs to measure out the nourishment of speech by its own strength, and by the self-sufficiency of silence to secure safety for itself, and not to lose, through the overflowing of rashness, even the surplus of its strength; for I have learned that to have the readiest hand at undertaking everything is always too fond of danger and a partner of boldness.
Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ τὰ τῆς πρώτης παρακοῆς ἡ ὑμετέρα πρόσταξις ὑπεμίμνησκεν καὶ ὡς ταύτης καρπὸν τὸν θάνατον ὑπεδείκνυεν, ἣν ὁ πρῶτος τοῦ παραδείσου τρυφητὴς φυτεύσας τὴν τούτου βλάστην τῷ γένει παρέπεμψεν, καὶ ἐδεδίττετο τὴν ἀτελῆ τοῦ λόγου ἀπότεξιν, εἱλόμην τὴν ἐπαινουμένην δι᾽ ὑπακοῆς ἀσθένειαν τῆς δι᾽ ἀντιθέτου παρακοῆς ἐπιψόγου δυνάμεως· διὸ παρακαλῶ τὴν πρεσβύτιδα τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀκοῆς· δότε μοι τοῦ λόγου μαιεύτριαν, ὅπως τὰ κατὰ δύναμιν λεάνας ὀψώνια τὴν ἐπίδοσιν τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ λόγου ποιήσομαι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ὕμνους τῆς μεγαλοπρεποῦς ὁσίας τοῖς κεκληκόσιν βεβληκόσιν cod. ὑμῖν συμπαρέψομαι σὺν παρέψομαι cod. .
But since your command reminded me of the matters of the first disobedience and pointed out death as its fruit, which the first enjoyer of paradise planted and whose shoot he passed on to the race, and it frightened me with the imperfect miscarriage of the speech, I chose the weakness praised through obedience rather than the blameworthy power that comes through the opposite disobedience; wherefore I beseech your venerable hearing: give me a midwife of speech, so that, smoothing my provisions according to my power, I may bring the speech to the growth of its stature and may accompany you, who have called me, to the hymns of the magnificent holy woman.
[2] Eustolia, a Roman, Φέρε οὖν τῷ ταύτης ῥωστικῷ καὶ ἀνόσῳ φαρμάκῳ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τοῦ λόγου ἡμῶν ἐπιδήσαντες καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλεξητήριον τῶν ταύτης ἀρετῶν παρακύψαντες ἔπαυλιν, ἐκεῖθεν τὴν ἴασιν τῶν λεγομένων δέξασθαι ἐπελπίσωμεν, κἂν ἐξ ἀγράφου τυχὸν διηγήσεως τὰ περὶ αὐτῆς φιλολογηθέντα συνείλεκται· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλως πως εἰς τὸ τῆς διηγήσεως τῶν αὐχημάτων αὐτῆς χωρήσωμεν πέλαγος, μὴ οὐχὶ ταύτης ταῖς γαληναῖς αὔραις φερόμενοι οἰακιζόμεθά οἱ ἀκιζόμεθα cod. τε καὶ καλῶς ἐξ οὐρίας πλέοντες διατίθεμεν τὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀγώγιμα.
Come then, having bound up the weakness of our speech with her strengthening and healing remedy, and having stooped toward the protecting dwelling of her virtues, let us hope to receive from there the healing of what is said, even if what has been lovingly told of her has perhaps been gathered from unwritten narrative; for in no other way shall we advance into the sea of the narrative of her glories, unless, borne by her calm breezes, we are steered and, sailing well with a fair wind, dispose the cargo of our speech.
Ταύτην οὖν τὴν εὔστολον τῶν θείων ἀρετῶν στήλην, Εὐστολίαν — καλὸν γὰρ ἐκ πατρίδος ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος ῥίζης ἀπέρχεσθαι πρὸς ἐπαίνων ἀπόδειξιν — ἡ πρεσβυτέρα Ῥώμη τῶν πόλεων μέγα τε καὶ θαυμάσιον ἀνεβλάστησεν κύημα· καὶ ὥσπερ τι φυτὸν οὐράνιον διεδένδρωσεν καρποὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς προορῶσα μέλλοντας μέλλει cod. ἔσεσθαι, οὓς ὁ τῆς ἀπάτης ὄφις παραιτίους θανάτου ναρκήσει ποιήσασθαι, ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ προμνηστεύσεται θάνατον. Εὐστολίαν δὲ τὸ ταύτης οἱ γεννήτορες ἀνεκήρυξαν ὄνομα, ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ τῆς τελευτῆς καλῶς προσκεψάμενοι· εἰς γὰρ φερώνυμον ἡ κλῆσις ἀλήθειαν ἤλασεν· καὶ ἡ ἔκβασις οὐκ ἐψεύσθη τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα καλῶς ὁμοτέλευτον ὁμοκέλευστον cod. · καὶ γὰρ τὸ τῆς ἀκακίας ἐν ἑαυτῇ περιφέρουσα βαθύμαλλον πρόβαταν καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ δρεπομένη εὐκαίρως ὡς ἔριον τὴν πραότητα, δι᾽ ἐγκρατείας καλῶς ἐτολύπευσων, ἐξ ἧς τὴν ἠλακάτην στροφῶσα τῆς πίστεως τὸν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐνέπλησεν ἄτρακτον καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην λαβοῦσα συνέριθον ἐξύφηνεν ἐξ ὕφηνεν cod. ἐν ἑαυτῇ τῆς ἀρετῆς χιτῶνα πολύτευκτον.
This well-arrayed pillar of the divine virtues, then, Eustolia — for it is good to set out from the homeland as from a root toward the display of praises — Rome, the elder of cities, brought forth as a great and wonderful offspring; and like some heavenly plant she grew into a tree, foreseeing that fruits were to come from her, which the serpent of deceit will be too benumbed to make occasions of death, but from them will rather court its own death. Her parents proclaimed her name Eustolia, well foreseeing from the beginning the things of the end; for the appellation drove on to a truth that matched the name; and the outcome was not belied, having taken a beginning well matched with its end; for, carrying within herself the deep-fleeced sheep of guilelessness and plucking meekness from it in season as wool, she wound it well into balls through continence, from which, turning the distaff of faith, she filled the spindle of hope, and taking love as her fellow-spinner she wove within herself the many-wrought tunic of virtue.
Ἔτι δὲ τὸν ἁπαλὸν τοῦ σώματος προφέρουσα ὄνυχα καὶ μηδὲν ἐν ἑαυτῇ σκληρὸν ἀποτρέφουσα, ἐκλέγεται προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὴν ἡμερινὴν πλάσιν κατὰ τὸν μελῳδὸν καὶ θεῖον Δαβίδ, διαπλάττεται καὶ ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα ταῖς ἀρεταῖς περιφράξασα. Isa. 7, 15, 16. Καθῆκεν ἑαυτὴν εἰς παρθενικῆς παλαίστρας παράταξιν· ἐν ᾗ καθάπερ ἀριστεὺς ἀπροσμάχητος τῷ πυρσῷ τῆς, θείας ἀσκήσεως τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ὑφάψασα ὄργανα, τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς νίκης τὸ τρόπαιον ἵστησιν· καὶ δὴ προκόπτουσά τε καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω προβαίνουσα θείῳ τὸν νοῦν ἀνεπτέρωται ἔρωτι. seeks Constantinople; Καὶ μεταναστεύει ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων· ἔδει γὰρ τὴν ἀφ᾽ ἡλίου ἀφηλίου cod. ἀνατολῶν, φημὶ δὴ τῶν θείων ἀρετῶν, περιποιησαμένην ἑαυτῇ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν εὐγένειαν, θυγατέρα φωτὸς χρηματίσασαν μὴ ταῖς ἑσπερίαις σκιαῖς ὑποδύεσθαι καὶ τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς δυτικῆς ἀχλύος κατακαλύπτεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἑῴᾳ παραπεμφθῆναι καὶ ταύτην ἐπιφωτίσαι ὡς ἐξ ὕψους ἀνατολῆς καταυγάζουσαν. Job 1, 3, 1. Thess. 5, 5.
And while she still put forth the tender nail of the body and nourished nothing hard within herself, she chooses the good, to speak with the prophet, and, according to the melodist and divine David, she is fashioned with the fashioning of the days, having fenced her whole body about with the virtues. She let herself down into the battle-line of the virginal wrestling-school; in which, like an unassailable champion, having set fire to the engines of the demons with the torch of divine asceticism, she sets up the trophy of victory over them; and indeed, advancing and going forward to better things, she was given wings in mind by divine love. And she migrates to the queen of cities; for it was fitting that she who had acquired for herself nobility of soul from the risings of the sun, I mean of the divine virtues, and had been named a daughter of light, should not slip under the western shadows and be covered over by the gloom of the western mist, but should be sent to the East and illuminate it, shining down upon it as from the dayspring on high.
[3] Sopatra, daughter of the emperor Maurice, Ὡς οὖν εἴρηται τῷ Βυζαντίῳ τὸν πόδα ἐρείσασα ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς σηκοὺς τῶν ἁγίων ἔρωτι τῆς εὐχῆς ἐπεπόλευεν. Μιᾷ οὖν τῶν εὐκτικῶν εἰκόνων ἡμερῶν ἐπὶ τὸν σεβάσμιον ναὸν τῆς παναγίας καὶ ἁγνῆς θεομήτορος τὸν τῶν cod. ἐν Βλαχέρναις τιμώμενον so cod.; one would expect τῆς ἐν Βλαχέρναις τιμωμένης. τὴν ὁδὸν διανύουσα, ἐκ θείας ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐπινεύσεως συνέτυχεν κόρῃ τινὶ Σωπάτρᾳ καλουμένῃ, θυγατρὶ τυγχανούσῃ τοῦ τηνικαῦτα τοὺς τῆς βασιλείας διέποντος οἴακας ὕακας cod. · Μαυρίκιος δὲ οὗτος ἦν ἥτις κόρη εἰς τὸ ἐφετικώτατον τῆς ὁσίας κάλλος προσβλέψασα καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς καταθελχθεῖσα τὸν ἔρωτα, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος θεἳκοῦ νυσσομένη νυσσομένου cod. κέντρου ἐξαπίνης τὴν ἑαυτῆς συμβουλευσαμένη προαίρεσιν, οἶκον πρὸς καταμονὴν τῇ ὁσίᾳ δεδώρηται, ἐφ᾽ ὃν νυνὶ τὸ ταύτης ἀξιέραστον σεβάζεται ὄνομα· “Ὢ φίλη μήτηρ, she meets. (λέγουσα) δέξαι τουτονὶ τὸν οἰκίσκον τῆς ξενιτείας τῆς σῆς, πληθύος τῶν ἀρετῶν καταγώγιον· δέξαι τουτονὶ τὸν οἰκίσκον, ἐμοῦ τε καὶ πολλῶν ἐσόμενον ἱλαστήριον· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ξένον περιβέβλησαι καὶ σχῆμα καὶ ὄνομα, ἀλλ᾽ οἶδας τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ψυχωφελῶς ὑποδέχεσθαι καὶ ἀμβροσίαις τροφαῖς δεξιοῦσθαι τοὺς τρέφοντας· καὶ ἣ παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν σκέπην κατὰ τὸν ἀθλοφόρον Ἰὼβ πέτραν ἐγκαλλωπίζῃ περίκλεισιν καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀκάματον κέκτησαι στέγαστρον, δέξαι τουτονὶ τὸν οἰκίσκον, τοῦ σοῦ τιμίου σώματος εἰ καὶ ἀνάξιον ἔλυτρον. Job 24, 8.
Having set her foot, then, as has been said, in Byzantium, she went the rounds of the sacred precincts of the saints out of love of prayer. On one of the days of supplication at the icons, then, as she was making her way to the venerable church of the all-holy and pure Mother of God honoured at Blachernae, by divine assent, so to speak, she met a certain girl called Sopatra, who happened to be the daughter of the man who at that time held the helm of the empire; and this was Maurice. This girl, having looked upon the most desirable beauty of the holy woman and having been enchanted in her soul with love, as though pricked by some divine goad, suddenly took counsel with her own resolve and gave the holy woman a house to dwell in, in which her lovable name is now venerated: "O dear mother, (she said), receive this little house for your sojourning abroad, a lodging for the multitude of the virtues; receive this little house, which will be a propitiation for me and for many; for even if you have put on both a foreign habit and a foreign name, yet you know how to receive the natives to the profit of their souls and to welcome with ambrosial foods those who feed you; and you who, for lack of shelter, like Job the prize-bearer, pride yourself on the enclosure of a rock and possess the heaven as an untiring roof, receive this little house, even if it is an unworthy case for your precious body.
Οἶδα ὅτι ἐξ ἁμαρτίας τὸ ἀνίκανον ἑαυτῇ προεξένησα κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν σοφὸν ἑκατόνταρχον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν σκέπην τὴν σὴν παρουσίαν οὐ βούλομαι· ἀλλὰ μὴ πρὸς τὸ ἐμὸν ὑπεύθυνον ἀποβλέψασα, πρὸς ἄλλον τὸ ἴχνος ἐρείσειας· ἔξελθε ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ κατὰ τὸν κορυφαῖον Πέτρον διὰ τὸ ἁμαρτίαις με συζῆν εἰπεῖν ἐκβεβίασμαι, καὶ ἀνθέλκομαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν σοὶ τοῦ πνεύματος χάριτος· ἐν σοὶ γὰρ τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας ὁρῶ τὰ προαύλια, εἰ καὶ μὴ μένουσιν μένουσαν cod. ὧδε κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον. Matt. 8, 8, Luke 5, 8, Heb. 13, 14. Οἶδά σε πάλιν κεκτῆσθαι τῆς μελλούσης αἰωνίου ζωῆς τὴν οἴκησιν ἐπελπίζουσαν· ἀλλὰ γε ἀναγκαίως τῇ σαρκὶ ἐπιμένουσα, ταῖς μενούσαις μεμάθηκας ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι πόλεσιν, μίαν οἶδα ὅτι πατρίδα τὴν ἄνω ἀποκεκλήρωσαι· μεθ᾽ ἣν οὐκ ἔστιν γενεαλογουμένης συμβίωσις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ τὸ γεννᾶσθαι καὶ τὸ γεννᾶν ἀποπαύεται· ἀλλ᾽ ἔστω σοι ταῦτα καλῶς προασκησάσῃ καὶ κάτω τῆς τοῦ σκήνους κατάλυσις· ἄνω γὰρ τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς ἐστιν ἡ ἀνάλυσις.”
I know that through sin I have procured my unworthiness for myself, like that wise centurion, and for this reason I do not wish your presence under my roof; but do not, looking at my guilt, set your footstep toward another; I have been driven to say, like Peter the chief, 'Depart from me', because I live together with sins, and I am drawn back by the grace of the Spirit in you; for in you I see the forecourts of my salvation, even if they do not abide here, according to the divine apostle. I know again that you possess, in hope, the dwelling of the eternal life to come; but remaining of necessity in the flesh, you have learned to shelter in the cities that abide; I know that you have been allotted one homeland, the one above; with which there is no shared life of one reckoned by genealogy, but in it both being born and begetting cease; but let there be for you, who have practised these things well beforehand, here below also a lodging for your tent; for above is the departure of your soul."
[4] Sopatra Ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν οὐράνιον ἄνθρωπον ἡ κόρη προσηνῶς ἐξυφαίνουσα καὶ οἷα θυγατρικοῖς τε καὶ μειλιχίοις λόγοις τὸν νοῦν τῆς ὁσίας κατακινήσασα, ἔδοξεν τῇ ὁσίᾳ θείας ἐπινεύσεως ἔργον εἶναι τὸ ταύτης προσλάλημα καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐξ ἀμοιβῆς ἀνθυπέφερεν λέγουσα· “Ὦ τέκνον καὶ θύγατερ, ἥττημαι τῆς σῆς φιλοφροσύνης, ἥττημαι τὸ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους ἐνορᾶν σου φιλόστοργον ἀληθῶς τὴν παλαιτάτην καὶ Ἀβραμιαίαν ἐκείνην δεξίωσιν ἐν σοὶ κατοπτρίζομαι· ἔστιν ἐν σοὶ τὰ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ὡς τοπάζω αὐχήματα, τὸ μὴ τοῖς σοῖς προθύροις τὸν ξένον αὐλίζεσθαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνεῷχθαι παντὶ καὶ πᾶσιν ὁσημέραι· ἔδειξας ἐν σοὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν ῥῆσιν ὀρθῶς ἀληθεύουσαν, ὅτι τὴν ξένην ἐμὲ συνεισήγαγες. Gen. 18, 2, Job 31, 32. Οὐκ ἔστιν σοι τὸ τῆς στολῆς περιπόρφυρον τῇ τοῦ ἀπηνοῦς ἐκείνου πλουσίου στολῇ παραπλήσιον, ὃς τὸν ἡλκωμένον κακῶς ὑπέτρεχε Λάζαρον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῇ φλογὶ παρεπέμπετο, ἀλλ᾽ οἶδας ἀπαθῶς καὶ ταῦτα στολίζεσθαι καὶ τὰ παντὸς Λαζάρου καλῶς διατίθεσθαι.” Matt. 25, 35, Luke 16, 20.
As the girl gently wove these words toward the heavenly person and moved the mind of the holy woman with daughterly and gentle words, it seemed to the holy woman that her address was the work of divine assent, and in return she answered her, saying: "O child and daughter, I am overcome by your kindliness, I am overcome at seeing your loving-kindness toward strangers; truly I see mirrored in you that most ancient Abrahamic hospitality; there are in you, as I conjecture, the boasts of Job, that the stranger did not lodge outside your doors, but they were opened to each and to all every day; you have shown in yourself the Gospel saying rightly come true, in that you took me in, the stranger. The purple border of your robe is not like the robe of that harsh rich man, who basely passed by the ulcerated Lazarus and for this was sent off to the flame; but you know how to wear even these things without passion and to dispose well the things of every Lazarus."
Οὕτω πρὸς τὴν νεᾶνιν τὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἐπιτροχάδην ἐκλέγουσα, τὴν μὲν ταύτης ψυχὴν εἰς τὴν ἐπουράνιον ἀνεπτέρου κατοίκησιν, ἑαυτὴν δὲ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ οἰκίσκου ἐπεδίδου εἰσοίκησιν· καὶ δὴ τῇ ταύτης εἰσόδῳ πολὺς ὅμιλος γυναικῶν τῶν ἐναρέτων ἐπέρρεεν, τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ τοῖς έν κόσμῳ τὸ χαῖρε φθεγξάμενος καὶ τὴν τῆς ὑψηλῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ ἐπισπασάμενος στένωσιν, with other women bids farewell to the world. ὥστε καὶ αὐτὴ Σωπάτρα τὸ πατρικὸν λιποῦσα ἀνάκτορον καὶ τὸν ὄγκον τῆς σοφίας, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀξίας, σοφῶς ἐκφοιτήσασα καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐσθῆτος πολύχρυσον ὕφασμα ὡς ἀραχνίων συμβάλλουσα νήματα καὶ τὰς μαργαριτῶν καὶ λίθων διαυγείας ὡς τραχείας ἀποσεισαμένη κάχλικας, ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς Εὐστολίας ἐπῆρε τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ στολὴν καὶ οἶκον καὶ ταπείνωσιν· καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οὐσίαν ὡς ὁ ἀποστολικὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐσμὸς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας τῆς ἀποστολικῆς Εὐστολίας παρέθηκεν, οὐδὲν ὑπολειπομένη τῷ κόσμῳ ὡς ἡ Σαπφείρα κλεπτίστατον λείψανον, δι᾽ οὗ τὴν ἄωρον δίκην τοῦ θανάτου ἑαυτῇ κατεψήφισεν·
Thus, culling the sayings of divine Scripture rapidly for the young woman, she gave wings to her soul toward the heavenly dwelling, and gave herself over to dwelling in the little house; and indeed upon her entrance a great throng of virtuous women flowed in, which bade farewell to the world and to those in the world and drew to itself the narrowness of the lofty and afflicted way, so that Sopatra herself too, leaving her father's palace and wisely departing from the pomp of wisdom, or rather of rank, and reckoning the gold-woven fabric of her garment as spiders' threads, and shaking off the brilliance of pearls and stones as rough pebbles, took on the countenance and the habit and the house and the humility of Eustolia; and she laid all her substance, like that apostolic swarm, at the feet of the apostolic Eustolia, leaving to the world no most thievish remnant, as Sapphira did, through which she condemned herself to the untimely penalty of death;
άλλ᾽ ὅλην ἑαυτὴν δοῦσα τῷ καλέσαντι καὶ ὅλα τὰ κτήματα, With her resources ὅλον εἰσποιεῖται πρὸς ἑαυτὴν τὸν κλήτορα καὶ τὸν κτήτορα· καὶ τὸν τούτου σταυρὸν ἐπ᾽ ὤμων ἄρασα καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀζύγου πολιτείας ζεύγλην ἐπαυχένιον φέρουσα, ἀνεπιστρόφως τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐργασίας τὸ ἄροτρον ἐπείληπτο· διὸ καὶ εἰς ἑκατὸν καρποφορεῖ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ γεώργιον· ταῖς γὰρ τῆς κρατίστης Εὐστολίας σοφαῖς ὑποθήκαις ἐγκαρτεροῦσα ὁσημέραι, καθάπερ ἡ εὐαγγελικὴ Μαριὰμ τοῖς τοῦ κυρίου ποσίν, ἐτρύγα τοῦ μελικράτου τῶν λόγων αὐτῆς νέκταρος τὸ προπότισμα· πάσης γὰρ θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς τὸ ὠφέλιμον ὡς ἡ φιλεργὸς ἐκείνη τῆς σοφίας μέλισσα ἡ Εὐστολία ἐν αὑτῇ ἀπανθήσασα σιμβλοποιὸν ἀνεδείκνυτο τέμενος· ἐξ οὗ τοὺς προσιόντας δεξιουμένη καὶ γλυκερὸν ἐπιλάλημα φέρουσα ἀνεπίμπλα τῆς ἐπωφελοῦς ἐξηγήσεως τὰ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων προπύλαια. [Matt. 7, 14, Acts 4, 35, Acts 5, 1, Matt. 16, 24, Luke 9, 62; Matt. 13, 8, Luke 10, 39.]
but giving her whole self to the one who called her, and all her possessions, she makes wholly her own the one who called her and the one who possesses her; and taking his cross upon her shoulders and bearing on her neck the yoke of the unyoked life, she laid hold of the plough of spiritual labour without turning back; wherefore the field of her soul bears fruit a hundredfold; for, persevering daily in the wise counsels of the most excellent Eustolia, like the Gospel Mary at the feet of the Lord, she gathered the first draught of the honeyed nectar of her words; for Eustolia, like that industrious bee of wisdom, having culled within herself the profit of all divinely inspired Scripture, showed herself a hive-making sanctuary; from which, welcoming those who approached and bringing them sweet converse, she filled the forecourts of their senses with profitable exposition.
[5] a monastery is built and the poor are relieved. Λαβοῦσα τοίνυν τὴν κοσμικὴν τῆς Σωπάτρας περιουσίαν, ὡς κυβερνήτης καὶ διαιτητὴς ἀρρεπέστατος ταύτην ἀκλινῶς ἐταλάντευσεν· καὶ τὰ μὲν δέοντα καὶ ἐπικερδέστατα εἰς ἀνέγερσιν τῆς μονῆς προσαπένειμεν, τὰ δὲ τὴν ἑαυτῆς δικαιοσύνην αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν ἐπεκτείνοντα ἐσκόρπισεν καὶ τοῖς πένησι δέδωκεν, ὥστε λοιπὸν καὶ πάντων
Taking, then, the worldly wealth of Sopatra, as a steersman and a most impartial arbiter she weighed it out unswervingly; and what was needful and most profitable she assigned to the building of the monastery, while what extends her righteousness of eternal goods she scattered and gave to the poor, so that thenceforth also of all
ἐν γλώσσαις ἐφέρετο καὶ τὸ ταύτης θεοκαλλώπιστον ὄνομα πᾶσιν ἦν ἐμμελέτημα ἐν μελέτημα cod. . Psalm 111, 9. Οὕτως οὖν τῶν θείων ἀρετῶν ἐν ἑαυτῇ συλλεξαμένη τὰ καίρια, οἷον τὸ προσηνές, τὸ ἱκέσιον, τὸ ἀόργητον, τὸ νηφαλέον, τὸ πρᾶον, τὸ ἥσυχον, τὸ ἀνεπίφθονον, τὸ ἀτάραχον, τὸ θεοφιλὲς καὶ φιλάδελφον, τὸ συμπαθές τε καὶ κόσμιον, πᾶσιν κόσμος ἀληθῶς ὑπῆρξεν, ὡς τιμίοις λίθοις τοῖς ἀρίστοις πλεονεκτήμασιν καταλάμπουσα. Τὴν ἐν τούτοις καὶ οὕτω προκόπτουσαν οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ἀπονενευκέναι ποτὲ πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων αἰσχίονα παίγνια, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν τῶν μὲν ὄπισθεν ἐπιλέληστο, πρὸς δὲ τὴν κατ᾽ ὄψιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀκρώρειαν ἐπετείνετο· καὶ γὰρ ἦν τῆς τῶν δυσμενῶν δαιμόνων πείρας πολυμαθὴς καὶ πολύτροπος, ὡς ἐκ βρέφους πρὸς τὴν τούτων πάλην ἀποδυσαμένη καλῶς καὶ νικήσασα. Phil. 3, 13.
she was borne on the tongues, and her God-adorned name was the constant study of all. Thus, then, having gathered within herself the chief of the divine virtues, such as gentleness, suppliance, freedom from anger, sobriety, mildness, quietness, freedom from envy, imperturbability, love of God and love of the brethren, compassion and decorum, she was truly an ornament to all, shining out with her excellent advantages as with precious stones. Of her who was advancing in these things and in this way it cannot be said that she ever inclined toward the more shameful sports of the adversaries; rather, to speak with the Apostle, she had forgotten the things behind and was stretching forward toward the summit of good things before her eyes; for she was much-learned and many-sided in the experience of the hostile demons, as one who from infancy had stripped well for the wrestling against them and had conquered.
Καθ᾽ ἑκάστην γὰρ τὴν τούτων προσβολὴν καὶ ἐπήρειαν, τὰ παρ᾽ ἑαυτῆς προβάλλουσα διὰ προσευχῆς ἀγωνίσματα, ἀνέτρεπεν τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ τὴν διακενῆς ματαιότητα· ὅτε γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἡδονῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑπετίθεντο οἱ κακοὶ τῶν κακῶν δημιουργοὶ καὶ προμνήστορες δαίμονες καὶ τῶν ἐπ᾽ ὀμφαλοῦ γαστρὸς παθῶς ὑφῆπτον τὸν κλίβανον, αὕτη τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἐπιδαψιλευομένη τὴν ἔνδειαν καὶ τὰ ταύτης κατεντρυφῶσα ὀψώνια καὶ τῷ κόρῳ τῆς προσευχῆς ἐκμαθοῦσα καὶ τῇ ἀγρύπνῳ μελέτῃ τῶν θείων λογίων τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπαλείφουσα, τὸ παχὺ καὶ ὑλῶδες τῆς σαρκὸς ὑπέσπα καὶ ὑφεῖλεν· ᾔδει γὰρ καλῶς ἀντιπαλαίειν τοῖς τῆς κακίας εὑρήμασιν καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὴν σάρκα τούτων μηχανὰς ἀποκρούεσθαι.
For at each of their assaults and abuses, putting forward the contests of prayer from her own store, she overturned their plotting and their empty vanity; for when the evil demons, the craftsmen and matchmakers of evils, suggested the pleasures of the flesh and kindled the furnace of the passions at the navel of the belly, she, lavishing on herself the want that belongs to continence and luxuriating in its provisions, and having learned the fullness of prayer, and anointing her soul with the wakeful meditation of the divine oracles, drew off and took away the thick and material part of the flesh; for she knew well how to wrestle against the inventions of wickedness and to beat back their engines against the flesh.
Ὅτε δὲ τὸ τῆς λιχνείας ἁβροδίαιτον αὐτῇ ὑπεδείκνυον, προτιθέντες τὴν ἐνθένδε τρυφὴν τῆς ἐκεῖ ἀπολαύσεως καὶ διὰ ταύτης τὸν τόνον τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑποχαλᾶν κατηπείγοντο, αὕτη τοῦ πρώτου Ἀδὰμ τὸ περὶ τὴν τρυφὴν προπετές, δι᾽ οὗ τοῦ παραδείσου καὶ τῆς ἀκαμάτου ζωῆς ἀπεξένωται, προορῶσα καὶ βλέπουσα, εἶτα καὶ τὴν Ἠσαῦ τῶν πρωτοτοκίων διὰ τρυφῆς ἀπεμπόλησιν ἐννοοῦσα, ὧν τὴν κτῆσιν ὁ ἁπλούστατος Ἰακὼβ ἐκπριάμενος τὸ διορατικὸν Θεοῦ κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα, ἀποφέρουσα the rest is missing. Gen. 27 …
And when they showed her the soft living of gluttony, setting the luxury here before the enjoyment there, and through it were pressing on to slacken the tension of virtue, she, foreseeing and seeing the rashness of the first Adam concerning luxury, through which he was estranged from paradise and the untiring life, and then also considering Esau's selling away of his birthright through luxury, the possession of which the most simple Jacob bought and inherited the clear-sighted name of God, bearing off the rest is missing. …