ON ST. MARTYRIANUS OR MARI, OF BETH-SAHDE, MARTYR,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Martyrianus or Mari of Bethsahade, martyr. (S.)
BY P. P.
[1] The first transcript of the Life The Life of St. Mari of Beth-Sahde has come down to us in two copies. The first is presented by the Syriac codex 163 of the Bodleian Library, or Marshall 13 [R. Payne Smith, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecae Bodleianae, Pars sexta codices syriacos complectens (Oxford, 1864), pp. 541–44.]. This book is of parchment, of rather small size, now comprising 256 leaves in one column, in strongyle letters, written out in the year of the Lord 1177 by a certain Aaron, a monk of Tur Abdin [Who first intended his writing for Gabriel the priest, son of the brother of John the bishop, whom we mentioned above among those passed over, p. 314.]. Among other hagiographical documents, for the most part stuffed with fables, it contains at fols. 126v–197v: The History of St. Māri of Beth-Sāhde, which in the lemma either the writer or the copyist asserts to have been composed by St. John Chrysostom. And so that the Hellenic origin of the little book might appear more evidently, the name of St. John, the truer and native form being set aside, is written in the Greek fashion Iovanis. The text is mutilated in two places: between fols. 179 and 180; then again after fol. 197 where, the narrative being already concluded, the hagiographer's peroration is broken off. The Bodleian codex, which we follow in almost everything, is signified by the letter B. To it are to be considered as belonging the corrupted readings and all the glosses to which no indication is added. The transcript, if you leave out the points [Especially those which are called rukkāchā and quššāiā. These we have for the most part neglected in the edition.] which were sprinkled by no sufficiently certain rule, was copied by a diligent and not unskilled hand. In some places, however, the discourse seems to have been somewhat contracted. The narrative is preluded by a certain rather long preface (§1–2), in which the faithful are addressed who are present celebrating the solemn commemoration of the saint. But from there on the hagiographer forgets his hearers, and scarcely once (§39) remembers that he had begun a panegyrical laudation.
[2] and the second. Far inferior to the Bodleian copy, not so much in age as in carefulness of style, is the codex P, the Syriac 235 of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, of paper, consisting of 341 quarto leaves, written in pages divided in two, in Jacobite script of the thirteenth century [H. Zotenberg, Catalogue des manuscrits syriaques et sabéens (mandaïtes) de la bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1874), pp. 185–187. From the Paris transcript F. Nau set out in French the summary of the life of St. Mari of Beth-Sahde, Résumé de monographies syriaques, in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. V (1910), pp. 191–92.]. It contains Lives and Passions of saints, of which the twelfth, from fol. 73v to 80v, is the History of St. Māri of Beth-Sāhde. This transcript, if compared with that of Oxford, seems to have been contracted with the chisel and the pen at once. The name of John Chrysostom is not read in the lemma. Absent too is the prologue with which B detains its readers in vain. The narrative itself at first proceeds in one unbroken course in both copies. But soon, as if weary of the labour, this latter copyist began to cut away the discourse more and more widely. Some little stories he omitted altogether. Others perished in the lacuna which opens after folio 75, on which, across the lower margin, a more recent hand, in the Arabic language but in Syriac letters, wrote: a leaf is missing. Now wherever the narrative has been preserved entire, it presents the same things as the Bodleian codex, although the order of the words and the words themselves have been changed so licentiously that it would be far easier and more convenient to edit the whole little book separately than to note variant readings from it at almost every single word. Let him undertake so great a labour who, having read through the Bodleian transcript, has not been overcome by nausea! For our duty it will be enough to bring forward from the Paris codex the places from which that of Oxford can be completed or emended. The rest, about which it is not entirely useless to question the inferior copy, we have attached to the Latin translation.
[3] The sum and subject of the narrative; The History of St. Mari of Beth-Sahde is from beginning to end a lie, whose impudence only its fatuity excuses. The hagiographer wished to bring in a character in whom all the most celebrated kinds of sanctity should be joined. He bade the same man, therefore, be a stylite, an anchorite, a head of a monastery, a recluse, a pilgrim, a martyr; and from every side he stole palms with which to adorn him [Above all the Life of St. Symeon the Stylite was plundered. BHO. 1121, 1124. Cf. H. Lietzmann, Das Leben des heiligen Symeon Stylites, in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. XXXII, 4 (1908); H. Delehaye, Les Saints Stylites (Brussels, 1923), pp. I–XXXIV. We have numbered the chapters of the little book as Lietzmann did.]. From these thefts he wove a history of this kind. Mari of Beth-Sahde was born at an uncertain time and place of Christian parents (§4). At five years old he gave himself to pasturing flocks, until, twelve years of age, he fled secretly from his family into another region (§5), and settled unknown in a monastery with a stylite, whose disciple he became (§6). From then on he began to exercise himself both in other labours and most of all in fasts such as are narrated of St. Symeon, the prince of stylites (§7). Seven years later, his master having died, the youth (who is presented by the forgetful hagiographer as a tender boy) by earnest prayers prevails so as to be allowed to go up onto the column (§8). On it he spends thirty-nine years, inflicting torments on himself, working miracles, driving off the delusions of demons, of all of which the very few that are not read in the Life of one or the other Symeon will have to be restored to other saints (§9–29). He bids Romanus his disciple build him an enclosure (§17), to which a throng of suppliants and sick folk runs together from every side. At length, seized by the desire of solitude, he comes down from the column, and with his disciples migrates to a distant region (§30). In an arid waste he draws forth a spring, beside which he founds an ascetery (§31–32). He himself stands motionless on a low rock for 27 months (§33): by which labour Symeon ὁ πάνυ had subdued himself before he first went up the column. Again the fame of his prodigies procures him an unwelcome celebrity (§34–40). A persecution having arisen, he is sought for death in vain by a king who had a name truly fit for a tyrant, Domitian (§41). With his disciples he goes to Jerusalem to pray (§42–46). From the dangers of the journeys he defends himself and his own with prodigious power, and performs other remarkable deeds. While he is returning from there, by divine admonition he turns aside to a certain inaccessible cave, where he finds an anchorite who for 78 years had not seen a man, and at his arrival, as if released from life, in the presence of St. Martyrianus, in prayer, breathes out his soul, and is laid out by him, as Paul of Thebes was by Antony the Great, Onuphrius by Paphnutius, Mark the Athenian by Sarapion, not to gather here other less known examples (§47–49). Then, having gone off into Egypt, for seven years in the solitude of Scetis he emulates the deeds of the most illustrious solitaries (§50). Then, returned to Syria, on the bank of the Euphrates he establishes a monastery, in which he works his last miracles, which equally with the first have been drawn from the Life of Symeon the Great (§52–56). At length, ordered again to be arrested by Domitian, he is hurried to his tribunal (§57). The saint's trial, punishments, death, and the portentous end of the tyrant are painted in those colours than which nothing more counterfeit is read in the lying Passions of martyrs (§58–66).
[4] its trustworthiness is nil. In vain would there be sought in the world a place, or in the series of times an age, in which this most inept history was enacted. Nor, all traces having been effaced, can it now be tracked down whether this fable was concocted to celebrate some obscure saint, whose memory and cult flourished somewhere, or whether he too was created out of nothing. The martyrologies and calendars which record Mari of Beth-Sahde are later than the Passion now in question and seem to have derived the mention of him from it See below, no. 7.. In the ancient hagiographical sources his name is unusual. Of the origin of this name, indeed, these things are signified in the Life. The saint The saint's name was first called Sahda, that is "martyr" (§6). Then, in accordance with a prophecy of his master, he began to be called , of Beth-Sāhde, because of the variety of contests by which he made himself equal to several martyrs at once (§§4, 6). Word for word is to be understood: "of the house", or "of the church of the martyrs", as if in Greek you were to say from μαρτυρίῳ: Μαρτυριανός. In what way this word is nobler than Sāhdā, "martyr", Μαρτύριος, is certainly not perceived from the etymology. Therefore, since the interpretation of the name cannot be drawn from the usage of the Syrians, betrays an artificial origin. and the history itself, truly or falsely, wishes to have been written in Greek, you would not imprudently conjecture that the word was devised by a hagiographer to whom the derivative Μαρτυριανός seemed, as in form so also in notion, to sound something fuller than Μαρτύριος. But who was that Μαρτυριανός ever? Assuredly none whom we know from elsewhere. Yet, lest any even slender indication be neglected, it is to be noted that in the Greek synaxary 1690 of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, which was copied in the year 1063 near Jerusalem Synax. Eccl. CP., p. XXII., there is announced at 9 November a certain stray Μαρτύριον Ibid., p. 205., who perhaps could be taken for our Martyrianus. But what does so obscure a mention, even if it is not to be said to have flowed from our Passion, have in common with history?
[5] The notation of places is uncertain. The very few names of places which are read in the Life of St. Martyrianus contribute scarcely anything to exploring its sources. The saint is said to have spent the first part of his life in the monastery , that is "of Souls". Before the eleventh century no fewer than three monasteries of this name are known in Syriac documents. The first on the mountain of Edessa [John of Ephesus, De beatis orientalibus, ed. J. P. N. Land, Anecdota syriaca, vol. II (Leiden, 1868), p. 297. Michael the Syrian, at the year 818, in the index of bishops collected from his history, ed. J. B. Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, vol. III, 3 (Paris, 1910), p. 459.], which was also distinguished by the title of St. James [Codex of the British Museum Rich. 7160, Rosen and Forshall, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur, pars prima codices syriacos et carshunicos complectens (London, 1838), p. 24.]. The second, which was called by a fuller name: the Monastery
of the blessed Lord Sergius of Souls [Codices of the British Museum Add. 14 602 (6th/7th cent.), W. Wright, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 704; Add. 14 729 (12th/13th cent.), Wright, p. 873; Vatican codex Syr. 109 (7th cent.), Assemani, Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae codicum manuscriptorum catalogus, vol. III, p. 75; etc.], was situated in the region of Qennešre, to the west of the Euphrates [Codex of the British Museum Add. 14 663 (6th/7th cent.), Wright, place cited, pp. 691–92.]. The third, finally, seems to have been situated in the city of Beroea (Halab) [Michael the Syrian, place cited, at the year 818, Chabot, work cited, p. 454 (no. 55); at the year 836, ibid., p. 464, (no. 23).]. Of these three none is signified clearly enough in the pallid and yawning narrative of the hagiographer. Yet since no mention of Edessa is ever made, it is hardly probable that so near the celebrated metropolis of Osrhoene a fable was enacted into which no Edessene is introduced. Nor does the sequence of the things narrated fit aptly enough an urban monastery, such as that monastery "of Souls" at Beroea seems to have been. Therefore, unless this name too was thrown about rashly and emptily, it remains that we believe the monastery of St. Sergius near Qennesre to be designated. In its neighbourhood was situated a certain monastery of the Lord Abbot Romanā [Codex of the British Museum Add. 14 602, Wright, place cited, p. 704; cf. above, note 5.], whose name may be connected in one way or another with the "holy" Romanus (§17), disciple of Martyrianus. However the matter stands, ours is reported, or feigned, to have spent the first part of his life on this side of the Euphrates, in a place from which his fame spread through all Syria (§18), and which was thought to be far distant from Carrhae in Mesopotamia (§19). But the journeys of the saint himself are narrated so confusedly that it cannot be divined at all from where he set out and by what road.
[6] The monastery of Beth-Sadhe in the territory of Melitene. Martyrianus, having wandered through Syria, Palestine and Egypt, is said at length to have settled on the bank of the Euphrates (§52), in an uncertain place, but one which seems to have been situated not far from Armenia (ibid.). There, then, must be sought the monastery which was the proper seat of his cult. Now there was in the region of Melitene a certain monastery called Beth-Sāhde, that is Μαρτύριον Cf. above, no. 4., of which these things are read in Michael the Syrian, book XV, chapter 1 Chabot, work cited, Syriac text, pp. 573–74.: "In the year 1377 Of Christ 1066–1067. men of the nation of the Armenians who were called the sons of Bazrig [ likewise in the Arabic version. See Chabot on the place, work cited, vol. III, 2, p. 162, note 1. Barhebraeus in the Chronicle: (, the sons of Chazrig; P. Bedjan, Gregorii Barhebraei Chronicon syriacum (Paris, 1890), p. 243. The form of the name is uncertain, but without doubt there are to be understood the descendants of one of the Armenian dynasts to whom in the 10th/11th century the Greek emperors entrusted the garrisons of Mount Taurus. See J. Laurent, Byzance et les Turcs Seldjoucides, in Annales de l'Est (1914), fasc. 2, pp. 38, 43.] showed themselves robbers, and became rebels against the kings, using the occasion of the arrival of the Turks. When there had joined them three hundred men, all wicked, ravening wolves and accustomed to shed blood, who were called Christians in name only, they drove off plunder from many places. At length, making for the region of Melitene, having laid ambushes in the mountains, they laid waste the territory of Claudia Claudia Germanicia, which is now called Mar'as. and of Gubbi [That is, the monastery of Sergisieh, whose history Michael the Syrian relates from the Chronicle of the monk Lazarus, book XIII, ch. 3. Chabot, work cited, vol. III, 2, pp. 124–25.], they plundered the monastery of Mādiq Mādiq, a known monastery in the territory of Claudia., and that of the Lord Asia [St. Asiā, physician of Antioch, specimens of whose Life F. Nau edited, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. X (1915–1917), pp. 17–20. St. Asia is said to have lived long near Claudia; ibid., p. 20; cf. Anal. Boll., vol. XXXVIII, p. 408.], and Beth-Sādhe, and that of Mark, and the White Monastery of Sergius; they threw the sacred mysteries and the divine chrism on the ground; the bones of the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus and other relics of saints which were found in the monasteries and churches they broke up with little sticks and threw on the ground, and carried off the caskets γλωσσόκομον.. When they were reproached, they excused their ignorance: for they were liars and pagans in mind." Therefore in the eleventh century a monastery called Beth-Sahde existed in the territory of Melitene, where we read that our Mari of Beth-Sahde finally settled. A surer indication is assuredly not to be expected for prudently conjecturing that St. Martyrianus was the patron of this monastery. In it, therefore, his Life was written, not to say that his very name and character were invented from the name of the monastery. Nor indeed were domestic examples lacking to the Syrian hagiographer of that region, in which were devised the histories of Barsauma [Edited in extracts by F. Nau, Résumé de monographies syriaques, in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. VIII (1913), pp. 272–76, 379–89; vol. IX (1914), pp. 113–34, 278–89.], Aaron of Sarug [By Paul his disciple, ed. F. Nau, Patrologia orientalis, vol. V (1909), pp. 703–749.], Abraham of the High Mountain [Epitome of the Life, ed. Nau, ibid., pp. 768–73; another fuller Life edited in extracts by the same, work cited, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, vol. IX, pp. 414–19.], Symeon of Kaphar 'Abdin [Edited in extracts by Nau, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, vol. IX, pp. 420–31; cf. Anal. Boll., work cited, p. 407.], and others [Among these perhaps is to be reckoned the Life of St. Asia the physician, whom we have just mentioned, p. 434, note 16.]. In all these fables, as in the Life of Martyrianus, there betrays itself in one way here and another there the same almost childish eagerness with which the monasteries of these parts wished in rivalry to capture for themselves the glory of St. Symeon the Stylite [See, for example, the Life of Aaron of Sarug, §33, Nau, Patrologia orientalis, work cited, p. 732. In the British Museum codex Add. 12 174, which was written in the year of the Lord 1197, the same from which the Life of Barṣauma is known to us, St. Symeon the Stylite is called the cousin of Barṣauma and his colleague or fellow-servant. W. Wright, Catalogue, p. 1124; cf. Nau, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, vol. IX, p. 289. See also the Life of Barṣauma, Miracle XXV, ibid., vol. VIII, p. 382.].
[7] Traces of cult. Mari of Beth-Sahde is announced by Sliba Anal. Boll., vol. XXVII, pp. 139, 141, 163, 167. at the 1st day of the month of Tesrin the former (October) and again at the 10th of Tesrin the latter (November), which from the Passion it is established was held to be his day of death, and the one on which his solemnity was kept (§§2, 66). Yet the 1st of October alone is indicated by other Jacobite calendars [F. Nau, Un martyrologe et douze ménologes syriaques, in Patrologia orientalis, vol. X, 1 [1912], pp. 63, 93, 102, 107, 113.]. Of the mention of St. Martyrius, which may have crept into a certain copy of the Greek synaxary at 9 November, perhaps from the books of the Syrians, we made passing mention above No. 4, p. 434.. Besides these traces, rare indeed and obscure, no memory of St. Martyrianus has been preserved, who does not seem to have been celebrated anywhere with any cult outside his own monastery, and, when that was overthrown, he was sunk in a deep and not undeserved oblivion.
THE LIFE OF ST. MARTYRIANUS
Martyrianus or Mari of Bethsahade, martyr. (S.)
From the codex of the Bodleian Library Marsh. 13 (= B), collated with the codex of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris Syr. 235 (= P). Cf. Prelim. Comm., nos. 1–2.
The History of the Lord Martyrianus, composed by the Lord John Chrysostom, the doctor et doctore B. [Item historia sancti domni de Beth-Sahde (Martyriani). Oratio eius nobiscum sit. Amen. P.].
[1] The infinite variety of martyrs. Dearly beloved The whole prologue (§1–2): omits P., since histories full of divine sentences are wont to throw most people, those at least who are sons of God, into admiration, (therefore) the histories of the martyrs of Christ are proclaimed to us, that we the faithful may know the strait and narrow way, whence is that life which leads and carries up to the kingdom; and may learn how the martyrs, clothed with victory, stood bravely in their contests, and carried off victory and triumph; how they conquered their persecutors in the struggle and received the crowns of victory. For they had very many kinds of martyrdom. For there are among them some who were burned with fire, and patiently endured it and did not abjure (the faith). There are also some who were stoned; there are some who perished by the sword; there are some who, scorched with branding-irons, patiently bore it; there are also some who were sawn asunder, some who were thrown into pits with wild beasts, some who were choked in the waters. There are again some who were afflicted with diseases, and there are some who inflicted torments on themselves. There are some who like lambs were slain for the love of Christ. There are some who showed themselves remarkable in fasting; there are some who were armed with prayers; there are some who passed their vigils sleepless; there are some too who did not sleep through the nights. There are some who wandered in the mountains; there are some who placed their dwellings in caves. There are some whose eyes no one closed when they died; there are some for whom, when they had departed, no one was present to take care of their funeral. There are some who were buried in the snow; there are some who were scorched by the heat of the sun; there are some who perished of cold; there are some who stiffened with frost. There is one whose life hunger consumed; there is one too whose body thirst dried up. There is one for whom a cave served as a tomb; there is one too who died praying. There are some who wasted away on their fare; there are some who hungered for food. There is one whom thirst parched; there is one who longed to drink water. There is one who deserted his parents; there is one who forsook his family and his house. There is one who held his mother and brothers in hatred and carried out the command of his Creator. There is one who kept the commandments. There is one who took up the cross. There is one who, a fugitive from the inhabited earth, wandered among the mountains; there is one who lay hidden in a cavern and ended his life in a grotto.
[2] The praises of St. Martyrianus. O how many are their orders, and how illustrious their histories! How hard their struggles, and (how) renowned their rewards! Wherefore it is in my mind before you
to set out a few things out of many from a history which will fill its hearers with amazement, while it moves those who listen with orthodox faith towards Christ, and makes wiser those who meditate on it with the help of God. You must learn and hear the deeds of this divine man; where and how he gave himself to ascetic labour, and offered himself to God as a pleasing victim. I for my part will speak to you; and do you listen and hear, O dearest sons of the holy Church of God, to whom the honour of the martyrs is a care, who for the love of Christ delivered their bodies to every kind of evil torments. I ask you therefore, masters, my fathers and brothers, for the hearing of one hour, that I may bring forth to you the contest and the deeds of this divine man, to honour whom you have come together today from every side, about to celebrate his memorial day with joy and faith.
[3] From where his name was derived. His name (was) the Lord Martyrianus See Prelim. Comm., no. 4, above, pp. 433–34., for because of the multitude of his labours and contests he was called not by the name of one martyr but by the name of very many martyrs, on account of the divine power which grace had given him. He, in that spiritual vineyard, having begun at dawn, ministered to justice until evening; Matthew 20:1–8. nor through the single days of his life did he ever cease from fasting, prayer, vigils prolonged through whole nights, from standing on a rock, crucifying himself with joy so as to become like his Lord. He, having left the world and all things that are in it, ascended in mind into heaven and beheld in mind those good things which God has prepared for those who fear him; he wandered from region to region and fled from the world as from a snare of stumbling-blocks.
[4] The saint's birth and boyhood. He was of an honourable family and a noble stock. After he had reached five years, one day he went out with the hired shepherd whom they had, to pasture the sheep. His father went out to look for him. But he refused to return; and because of the love with which his parents regarded him, they could not bring themselves to use force on him [Cf. the Life of Aaron of Sarug, §2, Patrologia orientalis, work cited, pp. 703–704. St. Symeon the elder stylite too was a shepherd of sheep; cf. his Life by Theodoret, §2; Lietzmann, work cited, pp. 1–2; the Syriac Life, §2, Bedjan, work cited, p. 508.]. So day by day he clung to this flock; nor would he allow himself to be separated from it. And God, who in every way draws men to the kingdom of heaven, put his fear into his breast. When therefore he received the bread which was set before him by his parents, he used to give it to the poor. He had grown accustomed to fast, to pray, to weep; and if ever a priest or a monk or a God-fearing man was seen by him, deserting the sheep he ran to him and said to him: "Teach me what is profitable for me."
[5] Entering a monastery at twelve years old And when he had reached the age of twelve years, and knew how to distinguish good from evil, he went away and went up to a monastery [Without his parents' knowledge, as is evident from §6; cf. the Life of Aaron of Sarug, §5–6, Patrologia orientalis, work cited, pp. 705–706.], in which he was brought up. He learned the (sacred) books; he showed himself excellently obedient; he exercised himself in the works of monastic holiness, while meanwhile he did not cease from fasts and prayers by night and by day.
[6] he attaches himself to a stylite, Now there was in this monastery a column of stones set one upon another, on which was a certain excellent man, who had dwelt on it for a long space of years [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the younger stylite, §11, Delehaye, Les Saints stylites, p. 239.]. To him the Lord Martyrianus went, using these words and prayers with him: "Lord, allow me, I pray, to minister to you beneath this column: for you are holy, but I a sinner. Perhaps through your prayer God may give me pardon." And he wept with great weeping. He, looking at him, said: "What is your name?" He said to him: "Martyrius is my name Ex baptismo adds P.." The blessed man said to him: "Lord Martyrius, do you have the strength to endure this hard labour?" Martyrius said to him: "God, in whom my thought is laid up, he himself, I hope, will put this strength into me." The blessed man answered and said to him: "Where are you from?" Martyrius said to him: "From the earth from which I was fashioned, (I am) a stranger The same answer below, §57.." For the saint did not wish to indicate the place in which he had been born, lest his parents, hearing this, should come and snatch him back to themselves. The blessed man said to him: "Tell me: are your parents faithful or otherwise?" The saint said to him: "Assuredly, lord, they are faithful." The blessed man said to him: "And what are their names?" He said to him: "Servant and handmaid of Christ." Then the blessed man, looking at him with a keen gaze, knew what was to come of him. And he said to him: he attaches himself, "Blessed are you, boy, and blessed your parents in you, both because they begot (you) and on account of what is to come of you. For the time will come when they will call you not Martyrius but a multitude of martyrs See Prelim. Comm., no. 4, p. 434.. Settle with me. I trust indeed that Christ, who sent you to me, will give you fitting strength, by which you may exercise yourself in ascetic labour and receive the crown of martyrdom." So he settled with him, in a cell beneath this stylite, exercising himself in ascetic labour. He imposed on his body a fast of many days and night vigils from evening until dawn. He beat his body with stripes, and through the whole night he wept, while meanwhile he struck his breast with his hand. And the blessed man listened to him and heard his voice; who tries in vain to moderate and he was seized with great admiration that a little boy of twelve years had attained such chaste counsels as to undertake works so arduous. Turning his words to him he said: "Lord Martyrianus, receive a word which I am about to say to you." He said to him: "Speak, lord, for your servant hears. 1 Kings 3:9–10." He said to him: "Spare yourself a little, so that you do not persevere for a single hour [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the younger, §17, Delehaye, work cited, pp. 240–41.]." his excessive labours. The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "The Lord, to whom my soul is betrothed, I trust will put strength into his servant and will save the son of his handmaid." Psalm 85:16. And he used to pray and, on bended knees before God, to make supplication in these words: "Lord God, give me strength to endure the assaults of the body." His eyes too poured out streams of tears.
[7] The abstinence of Martyrianus. From then on he began first to pass one week without food: and when it was finished and completed, he took a little food for the sustenance of the body [The Life of St. Symeon the elder by Theodoret, §20, Lietzmann, p. 15.]. Going further, he fasted two weeks, and then took a little food. In the same way he put off taking food into the third (week); at the last, finally, he was accustomed to refresh the strength of his body with a modest meal every fortieth day [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §§11, 112, Bedjan, work cited, pp. 517, 617–18; the Life of St. Symeon the younger by Nicephorus, §54; Acta SS., May vol. V, p. 327.]. And groaning before God he said: "Christ, forgive your servant the sins which he has committed." And he was in that cell beneath this stylite for seven years, undertaking huge labours.
[8] His master having died, Then, God willing, that blessed man departed from life. The inhabitants of the place came together to bury the saint. When they had seen that boy [Note that that boy had then already completed nineteen years (cf. §5 and §7).], most reverent towards God, they approached and received his blessing. And they questioned the monks in these words: "Where is he from?" They said: "We do not know." Those clerics said to him: "Where are you from?" He said to them: "I am a stranger from a distant land, which you indeed do not know." They said to him: "And what is your name?" He said to them: "Martyr is (my name), if I am worthy of it." The monks said to them: "It is not so, but his name is the Lord Martyrianus; as he was called, by way of grace, by that saint whom you have come to bury on this very day." But the saint, as one who was loath to exalt himself, bore himself most humbly before them and begged them to plead his cause with the monks, prevails by entreaty so that he himself might be raised onto that column. And weeping before them he asked pardon of them and of the monks for sins which he had not at all committed. They questioned the monks: "Of what kind has his obedience seemed to you in this monastery?" The head of the monastery answered with the rest of the monks, and they said: "Plainly admirable and comely to behold." His face shone like the sun; but he had the stature of a man of middling height [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the younger, §12, Delehaye, work cited, p. 239.]. And after the funeral of that saint had been accomplished, he began again to beseech them as before, falling at their feet. His tears flowed down like a stream of waters. All were astounded with great admiration because of the reverence for God that was in him, and because of the lowliness of his spirit. Accordingly they fulfilled his wish and raised him onto that column quasi mortuum deducerent adds P.. to be raised onto the column. He asked them to bless him. So they signed him with the cross and, carrying out his wish, fulfilled it.
[9] He hangs himself by a rope. From then on he began (his) labours, taking upon himself hardships to the bearing of which a human body would be unequal. For he enjoined on himself the law that on that column he would not sit ut humi non sederet P. but would stand before God by night and by day. He made himself a rope, and whenever he wished to rest, taking hold of this rope with his hands, he rested from the torment of standing: for this (rope) funis adds P. was tied to the roof of the column. This custom he held for a long time. Then, thinking to himself in his mind, he said: "There is in the body another power of putting itself to the test." He raised himself and hung himself from this rope, and remained hanging through the whole day [Something of this kind is narrated of Titus, disciple of St. Daniel the stylite, §62, Delehaye, work cited, p. 62.], so that scarcely a breath of life was left in him. And falling to the ground he would remain through the whole day as if dead
P contracts the rest into a few words.. Then he would rise up and faint away, suffering and wasting; yet his mind was preserved for him by God: for God is not accustomed to withdraw his hand from those who fear him. And what was supplied to him by God he gave wholly to the poor, nor did it stay overnight with him. Deuteronomy 24:12.
[10] The harshness of his clothing Then he devised for himself another kind of hardship: in summer he put on a robe thickly woven of hair and very hot; but in winter he was clothed with a robe of iron [Cf. the Life of Barsauma, §18, Nau, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. VIII (1913), p. 380.], so that in (the season of) winter and summer he killed his body with cold and heat. Nor at any time or on any day was he ever kept by weariness from vexing and afflicting his body with every kind of savage torment. Besides, he made himself a rope of boar's bristles, with which he wrapped round his whole body, so that beneath that rope his whole body swelled and rotted [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §19, Bedjan, work cited, p. 522; the Life of St. Symeon the younger, §26, Delehaye, work cited, p. 243.].
[11] Standing on one foot Again he undertook another contest and enjoined on himself this rule, that he would stand on one foot from dawn until evening, celebrating God at all times with a new song. And he used to say P partly contracts, partly omits the following speech.: "O lyre which God has equipped for (his) praise, celebrate the Lord with a new song, before death comes to dissolve you, and you become a useless instrument, no longer to serve the praise of him who created you." And to his soul he said: "Bride, who have been freed by the blood of Christ, have pity on yourself and procure oil for yourself, Matthew 25:1–12. with which your lamp may burn, before the dark day comes upon you, in which, your lamp having gone out, you will wish to buy oil and there will be none to sell it to you, and you will be tormented in Gehenna with the foolish virgins. You will wail and lament yourself, wretched one, and there will be none to use mercy towards you, since there in weeping there will be no salvation, nor any with whom tears will avail." Treating his body too with every kind of severity, he said: "Body, in which the vital sap is hidden and concealed, beware lest your creator be defrauded by you; rather tolerate and sustain hardships and torments, before death comes, which will cut your sinews for good things; and you will go off, handed over to devastation, with those who defrauded their creator. The door of mercy will be shut to you. You will call, and there will be none to answer you or to open to you. But seek protection in God. Bewail the sins which you have committed; since there will be no place of repentance there; and there tears will help nothing. The world passes away; its empires vanish and its joys slip away; its wealth has become as if it were not; its luxuries too fail. Blessed are the just and pious who have pleased God and done his will, since they will receive as an inheritance life, delights, a kingdom that will not perish. But sinners will receive as an inheritance Gehenna and a punishment to which there will be no end." By these words the Lord Martyrianus was strengthened and added courage to himself. He subdued his body, and his face glowed as if with angelic brightness.
[12] Healing a leprous Jew Further, knowledge of him began to be spread through the whole region, and his fame spread to all the cities and villages. And there came to him a certain man whose name was Barḥadbešabbā [That is, Dominicus. Note that a Jew is called by this Christian name (which is omitted in P). P omits a great part of the narrative.]. He was a leper. And he began to ask him in these words: "I beseech you, lord, I who am afflicted with these leprosies, which torment me greatly, that you supplicate God for me so that they may be cured through you." He said to him: "Are you a Christian?" He said: "I am not." The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "What then?" He said: "I am a Jew." The saint said to him: "Do you believe that by him whom you crucified, and through his passion, your leprosies (can) be healed?" The Jew said to him: "Assuredly, Lord Martyrianus, I believe." He said to him: "Go, enter that monastery, and say to the head of the monastery: 'That sinful man who stands there on the stone has sent me to you, that you should baptize me and I should become a Christian: for I am a Jew.' And after he has baptized you, return to me." He did what he had been ordered, he heals soul and body. was baptized, and returned to the saint. The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He said: "I believe, and I confess his nativity and passion, and put faith in them." The saint went into the column and, bending his knees, began to pour out tears before God, saying thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, receive this sheep which had strayed and has returned; and by your grace cleanse it from the trouble of the leprosies." He ordered oil to be brought, blessed it and gave it to him, saying to him thus: "Anoint your whole body with this (oil)." He anointed himself and immediately his leprosies were cleansed; his body recovered and his soul was enlightened. And, roused with joy, he went away praising and confessing God.
[13] A demoniac girl There was also in a certain city, very far distant from the station of this saint, about a twelve days' journey, a certain very rich girl; who, waking up in the middle of the night Here begins a lacuna in P., began to howl: "Woe is me on your account, Lord Martyrianus. Fiery darts sent by you beat upon my mouth." The girl's parents, roused from sleep by her outcry, questioned her in these words: "What is the cause why you cry out so?" But she raised still greater cries, in these words: "A fire sent out by the Lord Martyrianus beats upon my mouth." Her parents questioned her, saying: "Where is he?" The girl said to them: "In the monastery of Souls See Prelim. Comm., no. 5, p. 434. he dwells on a column, a twelve days' journey from here." And she did not cease from howling. Her parents, as those who loved her very much (for they had no other child), did not hesitate to commit themselves to the journey; brought from far away, and rising at once they inquired about that land and set out for his monastery, which is called (the monastery) of Souls. On the day before this day the saint had said to his disciple, the Lord Romanus, who ministered to him beneath the column and had become his first disciple: "Prepare what is necessary for travellers coming to us from a distant (land)." He had carried out his command. And when those people had come to them, they received them with a ready spirit. As soon as they had been blessed by the saint, the girl cried out in these words: "Lord Martyrianus, have mercy on me." He said to her: "What do you suffer, young girl?" She said to him: "Fiery darts sent out by you beat upon my face." And her parents, bathed in tears, began to say: "Lord of the Lord Martyrianus, through his prayer have mercy on us." The saint said to them: "Are you Christians?" They answered, saying: "By no means, lord; but we are Jews." He said to them: "Do you believe that he whom your fathers crucified is God; and your daughter will be healed?" They said to him: "Certainly, lord, we believe." And he sent them to the head of the monastery. They received the life-giving seal of baptism and returned to him. The saint went into the column and began to pray in these words: he frees her. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who in Sion were fixed to the stake; give health to this your handmaid, a little straying sheep, who now returns to you, (having left) the error of the demons in which she had been entangled, and, having entered (your) fold, has washed away her filth in the wave of baptism." Then, addressing her, the saint said to her: "Believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and live for ever." She at once ran up, fell down at the base of the column on which the saint dwelt, and answering (him) said: "I believe." John 13:5. He poured water into a basin and over it called upon the name of Christ in these words: "Our Lord Jesus Christ: by your coming to men, Lord, the offspring of Adam was released from the snares of sin and of the curse, by which the earth was caught from the time Adam refused obedience. You who were baptized in the water, that you might expiate and purge Adam from all sin; rebuke this demon, who tortures this your servant, and, gnashing his teeth, let him be driven out, put to flight and covered with shame at the sign which she has received, the divine chrism having been impressed." At once the demon by which she was tormented fled from her. And they rose up and returned to their own land, praising God for the miracle which they had seen.
[14] Strengthened by prayer and fasting, Further, the Lord Martyrianus was greatly strengthened by divine power, and boldly entered upon every arduous contest. The daily prayer he reckoned as nothing; but he continued prayer through a day or two days with their nights. Nor did he take to himself any arrogance from the prodigies which God worked through him, but on the contrary he wept and afflicted his body with every kind of torment and variety of tortures, nor did he ever cease from fasting and prayer. he puts to flight demons rushing upon him in the shape of wild beasts. And when the enemy saw those very many miracles which were performed through the saint, he began to tempt him and to come to him repeatedly bearing foul shapes; now like a raging and wild lion Cf. below, §25. he sent forth roars at him threatening him with destruction, gnashed his teeth, lashed the column with his tail; now (he put on the shape) of a leopard, or of she-wolves, or of raging she-bears; now of serpents and scorpions, which, creeping, climbed up to him [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §21, Bedjan, work cited, p. 523.]. All these he used to rebuke in these words: "Away, Satan." And he signed himself with the cross and prayed in these words: "Free me, O God, for the waters have come in even to (my) soul: help me according to the multitude of your grace. Let the enemy of our race be visited with ignominy and shame. Strengthen your servant in this contest to which he has been exposed; (and let him) be scattered like dust driven by the wind. Psalm 68:2." And the enemy fled from him howling and saying: "Woe is me on your account, Lord Martyrianus." Psalm 34:5.
[15] A woman Then there came to him a certain noble and great man, who asked him that by his leave his wife too might be allowed to come to him, because she was most desirous of seeing him; piously desirous of seeing him, for she was on the point of going to Jerusalem to pray, and desired first to go up to him to visit him, and, having received his prayer and blessing, then to be dismissed by him. The blessed man, when these consecrated
days were days of fasting and the sight of women was forbidden to him, felt himself prevented by this matter, and said: "Now indeed what is asked cannot be done. Go in peace and return to your house." The man returned to his house and reported to his wife what the blessed man had answered him That is, to the woman.. But the woman kept saying to her husband by night and by day: "I shall have nothing in common with you, nor shall I live any longer in your house, unless you go back to the blessed man and persuade him to admit us to his sight and prayer." Further, the blessed man was admonished thus in a vision: by divine admonition, "With a frank eye of faith this woman desires to see you." So when the man came back to him, he began to ask him in these words: "Christ himself permitted a sinful woman to approach him and receive pardon from him. It is enough for the servant to be as his lord and for the disciple as his master." Matthew 10:25. And he told the blessed man what had been said by the woman. The blessed man looked at him and said: "The Lord God Here the lacuna in P ends. will free me from the snares of Satan." he allows her to approach. And he granted him that satisfaction should be given to the petitioner (his wife). He went away and reported the words of the saint to his wife. On the day after this, rising up, they committed themselves to the journey and came to him. The saint, addressing the woman, said to her: "Why have you longed to see me, who am a sinful man? But since (you have been moved) by faith to ask these things, go (you) in peace: be it done to you as you have believed." Matthew 8:13. When he had said these things to them, they departed from him.
[16] The spectre of an infernal dragon One day [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §29, Bedjan, work cited, pp. 529–30. P omits the whole narrative.], while he stood in prayer at night, the devil appeared to him bearing the shape of a huge dragon, terrible in aspect, monstrous, strong, terrible, and shifty in aspect: who breathed hard, gnashed his teeth furiously, and, dragging his tail on the ground, struck it; at his roaring the hills were shaken; his eyes sent forth burning coals and his nostrils breathed out as it were smoke; and in length he was not moderate. But the blessed man, when he had beheld all these things, he dispels it by prayer, was neither terrified nor lost heart, but with his eyes raised to God began to pray, weeping and saying: "Lord God, who snatched our race from the yoke of demons, by your power drive this spectre far from my eyes." And he blew upon it and said to it: "Our Lord Jesus Christ rebukes you." And at once it was dispelled and was as if it were not.
[17] He builds an enclosure. He said to his disciple St. Romanus, his spiritual son B, by a manifest error: dixit ei discipulus eius…: "Rise up with courage, and make an enclosure That is, μάνδρα: on which word Delehaye, work cited, p. CLXIV. around this cell, so that if anyone comes to me he may be conveniently received in it. For your cell is very narrow, whence there is no small trouble to me when someone turns aside to you. (Let it be so) until God bids us move from here; for I see well indeed that from the coming of men a danger will be created for us, lest, taken by delight, we be entangled in the snares of the devil and he ensnare us with vainglory." He carried out his wish and built the enclosure.
[18] A girl crippled in her limbs And there came to (the saint) a certain very great man, born of a renowned family, from a distant land: for his fame had spread widely through all Syria The words e terra–Syriam omits P.. He had a daughter who had been paralytic from the fifth year of her age, and was then in her thirty-first year; nor could she turn in any direction. Carrying her, then, they brought her to him and set her down at the doors of that enclosure. And her father went in and admonished and besought the blessed man to pray over her. The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "Take some of this dust, he heals. in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; go out, and rub her whole body with this (dust)." Her father carried out on her what he had been ordered by the saint. And when the dust touched her, at once she leapt up and rose completely healed; and all who had seen these things gave praises to God, who works such prodigies through the hands of men P completes the rest in a few words.. Further, the saint said to her father: "Rise, take your daughter; go home, and take care not to tell these things to any man." Matthew 8:4. But he went away and began to proclaim (the matter) everywhere. And whoever heard these things longed to see (him), and coming to him were blessed by him. And he gave freely, to those who came together to him, whatever God had given into his hands, nor did he accept anything from them, whether of gold or of silver. Matthew 10:8.
[19] A succubus demon They also brought to him [The subject of this Miracle is taken from the Syriac Life of St. Symeon the elder, §34, whose very words are reported here. Cf. Bedjan, work cited, p. 532. P omits the narrative.] a man who was distressed by an unclean spirit, which slept with him in his bed in the manner of a woman and grievously tormented and distressed him. And those who had brought him cried out, saying: "Lord Martyrianus, call upon God to have mercy on us: for our spirit is grievously afflicted by reproach." He said to them: from a stranger of Carrhae "Where are you from?" They said to him: "We are of Carrhae See Prelim. Comm., no. 5, p. 434.." He said to them: "And from where have (you), his parents, heard of this monastery of sinners?" They said to him: "That unclean spirit itself spoke through him and indicated it to us." He said to them: "The Lord God, in whom you have hope, and trusting in whom you have come here, 〈I trust So, or otherwise, the sentence is to be completed.〉 will not dismiss you destitute." And he stood in prayer, saying: "Lord God, who by the command and authority of your dominion drove out a legion of demons from that (man) who dwelt in the tombs, rebuke this unclean spirit, that it may go out from this man, and no longer make wanton sport of him." Mark 5:9. he drives it away. And looking out from (his) column he said to them: "Take some of this grace [That is: of the surrounding dust. Cf. the Life of St. Symeon, place cited, and the Miracles which presently follow.], and draw three crosses for him between the eyes, and he will no longer see that (woman)." They did what he had ordered, and the evil spectre was no longer seen (by the man) until the day of his death.
[20] Of a raging possessed man Again there came to him from a distant land a certain man oppressed by a malignant spirit, who was clothed with no garments at all [Cf. Luke 8:27–39; Mark 5:2–20, and the Syriac Life of St. Symeon the elder, §35, Bedjan, pp. 532–533; likewise the Life of St. Abraham of the High Mountain, in Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. IX (1914), p. 416.], and was accustomed to attack his parents with stones, bit his limbs and tore his body. They had bound him with chains, nor was there anyone who could stand near him. His parents, therefore, bathed in tears, brought him to (the saint), threw him down before the column, and said: "We beseech you, servant of the living God, beseech your Lord to help us." And the saint said to them: "For how long has he been tormented thus?" They said to him: "For ten years now." he calms his mind. And he said to them: "Ho, you who are so evilly tormented, raise yourself onto your feet." And at once he rose. He said to him: "Take some of the dust which is around this column, and rub your whole body with it." He did what he had been ordered; and at once his mind was completely healed. And running up he kissed the column with tears. The blessed man said to him: "Go to your land and tell this to no one." The man went away to his land, praising P omits the rest. and celebrating God, and proclaiming through the Decapolis Cf. Mark 5:20. that the Lord Martyrianus was truly a genuine physician sent by God, who cured diseases and infirmities. And those who heard these things praised God, saying: "We have not seen prodigies such as are performed by this saint."
[21] He remains enclosed and fettered for three years. Then he resolved to shut himself in for three years and not to be seen by anyone [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §39, Bedjan, p. 535.]. So he made himself a great chain of iron, which he fastened to his foot, and tied it to the top of the column In the Life of St. Symeon, place cited: to a great stone., and shut the door before him.
[22] The demons cast before him the phantoms of gladiators, And when he was (alone) with himself, the enemy attacked him from the inside of the column [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §40, Bedjan, pp. 535–36.], and began to assail him openly. He cast before him the appearance of soldiers, who drew swords, bent bows, rode on beasts of burden. Then, getting down from the horses, they climbed up the wall (of the column) and hurled stones with darts at him, so that he should flee from the place in which he stood.
[23] of a maddened camel, Likewise (the demons) showed themselves to him like a frisky camel Ibid., §41, Bedjan, p. 536., which, sending out foam, came to him P contracts the rest into a few words. and lay upon his back. And immediately there appeared to him a certain man, who, standing (before him), said to him: "Lord Martyrianus, wake up; put on power and fortitude. Behold, your Lord is present with you. Do not fear nor be dismayed; but trusting in the Lord, contend well with the enemy." He took some of the dust which was around the column, and threw it in the face of that camel; which was at once scattered as if it were not. Again (that man) said to the blessed man: "Be of keen and brave spirit; for the Lord is with you."
[24] of torch-bearers, Again Satan showed himself to him and with him his army, carrying lighted torches whose brightness went up even to heaven [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §42, Bedjan, work cited, pp. 536–37.]. They, coming, stood above him in the place where he was, to compel the blessed man to desist from his contest. He was neither terrified by their voice nor made to tremble by their appearance. Again he seemed to himself to see (demons) rolling forward rocks, and to hear the crash of formidable thunder, or the voice of one mourning, or the voices of men fighting among themselves with swords and spears; and sometimes (there was heard) the complaint of one crying out: "I am slain."
[25] of a lion. Again there was cast before him the appearance of a lion [Ibid., §43, Bedjan, p. 537. P omits this little narrative.], which came at him with gaping mouth, (as if) it wished to devour him, roaring and growling with its voice; which dug the earth with its claws and lashed its tail, terrible in aspect. And when it drew out a longer delay, the blessed man, signing himself with the cross, rebuked it; and it was seen no more.
[26] The phantom of a harlot Again (the demon) showed himself to him like a beautiful and adorned woman, who, coming, provoked him with laughter [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §44, Bedjan, place cited.]. When he saw her, he signed himself with the form of the cross, and opening his mouth said to her: "Get you gone, O daughter of Eve; how long will you pursue our race with evil counsel? he dissolves it by a curse. By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I adjure you to become a pillar of salt Cf. Genesis 19:26., dark, black and stinking." And there appeared certain beasts, which cut off her hands and feet Of the wild beasts P is silent.. And she, crippled in her limbs, wailed, just as if very many were pursuing her. And, dispelled, she vanished like smoke, or like dust which is snatched up by the wind.
[27] Waters corrupted And after the years of his enclosure which he had prescribed for himself by vow had been completed, with the appointed term, the devil attacked him [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the elder, §45, Bedjan, pp. 537–38.] in every variety of guise; he showed himself to him changed into all shapes. But he did not cease from his work, nor lose heart. So (the devil) went away, and having called together his whole band, said: "Come, join your forces and fight against this obstinate man, lest, overcome by him, we seem to have incurred reproach in the world." Accordingly all the followers of the devil came together to contend, and went to the saint, casting before him in turn all the foulest spectres. And they brought and gathered unclean creeping things with serpents, vipers, scorpions, crickets, by the devil's tricks frogs and every filth of reptiles; which, throwing them in, they suffocated in the water which was at hand for him and in everything which he used; so that the little dwelling of the column itself and the cell which was beneath it were infected with rottenness [P completes the narrative thus: et in omnes partes prospexerunt, neque potuerunt aquam cernere. Itaque angebatur animus eorum. Sanctus autem cum eorum angustiam videret, in oratione constitit, genua flexit, terram calce feriit et continuo exsiliit aqua. Et cum accessissent discipuli eius biberunt atque Deum laudarunt. P omits the rest up to §33.]. And the Lord Martyrianus was distressed by the stench of this rottenness. So, addressing the Lord Romanus his disciple, he said to him: "Do you see how we are tempted by the assault of Satan?" And he prayed, saying: "Lord God, by the saint's prayers who by your word changed water into wine in Cana of Galilee; and in the days of your prophet sweetened the water; graciously renew this place too and whatever in it is rotten. John 2:8–10; Exodus 15:25." He persevered in prayer three days and three nights. And God hearing him, the place and whatever was in it was cleansed from the rottenness of this filth, are made clear. as if no corruption had happened in it. And he gave thanks and praises to God, saying: "Proclaim the Lord with a new proclamation, for he has worked a prodigy for us. Psalm 32:3." Again, spreading his hands to heaven, he prayed in these words: "Mighty God, in the way which your kindness knows, help us. Provide for your servant." And when he had drawn out his prayer, turning to the right he saw an angel standing [In the Life of St. Symeon, place cited: a spring (or cistern) of waters; cf. P, above, note 1.]; who, addressing him, said: "Lord Martyrianus, be strong, and let courage be added to you by the Lord, who has sent me to you." And he said to him: "Let not the snares of the devil terrify you at all." But the saint, thinking this vision deceitful, signed himself with the cross, and turning again seemed to himself to see the same things and heard those same words. And answering he said: "The Lord is near to those who call upon him in truth. He will do the will of those who fear him; and he will hear their supplication and will save them." Psalm 144:18–19.
[28] Against his will Again there appeared to the blessed man a certain other man, magnificently clothed and splendid in aspect, who, addressing him, said: "If you wish, monks will be gathered with you, whom you may instruct." He answered and said: "This disciple is enough for me for things within and without." he is enlarged with many disciples. But from that day they began to come together to him from every side. These he taught (various) doctrines by which they might be moved nearer to God, and he instructed them in the Scriptures.
[29] After thirty-nine years, He had now spent about thirty-nine years So, two years more than Symeon the elder. Delehaye, work cited, p. CXLIV. on that column, wearing down his body and afflicting himself with pains. His tongue had become a pure instrument, which modulated the praises (of God); there was no ceasing for him from perpetual prayer, nor did he fail in fasting. His face glowed beautifully and was more splendid than the sun. His soul shone and his beauty flashed. of his merits Sweet was his aspect and sweet his wisdom. His hands were spread out to his Lord; he prayed for mercy for the world, and called men to repentance. His words were much sweeter than honey. He (kept) his gaze fixed on heaven, awaiting his reward from God. And his mind was inebriated with the love of Christ, and like (the river) Gihon, which waters arid lands, he helped all who came to him. Genesis 2:13.
[30] fearing celebrity, And when the number of those who came together to him had increased, he began to be distressed in mind, and having thought the matter over with himself, said to the disciples who had attached themselves to him: "Sons, I fear not a little lest Satan entice us with vain glorying and shut us out from the reward, and so we give the devil cause for rejoicing, if ever he holds us liable to vain glorying. Psalm 40:12. But I for my part wish you to let me down from this column. We will migrate to another land, where there is no one who knows us, and, freed from the gaze of men, we will be at rest. There we shall have leisure for ourselves and shall end our life where the mercy of our Lord wills." So, complying with his wish, they set him down from his column [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the younger by Nicephorus, §69. Acta SS., May vol. V, p. 333.]. he comes down from the column, When those monks had heard this, they went to the saint to be blessed by him, and begged him to live with them. He refused, but having called them together asked them to pray for him. And opening his mouth he blessed them, and from there migrated to a distant land, difficult of access.
[31] and in an arid waste, And while he and his disciples were making the journey, the heat of the day overwhelmed them, (by which), exhausted, they were consumed with thirst, so that they could not answer him, and they looked round about whether perhaps they might find water, and they did not find it. But the saint stood in prayer, and bending his knee before God, where by a prodigy he draws forth a spring, struck the earth with his heel; and on the spot there gushed forth an abundant spring of sweet water, in a place where not even a breath of moisture was present. And he said to his disciples: "Come near." And they, bending the knee, drank and gave thanks to him who hears those who call upon him in truth. Psalm 144:18. And they settled in that place where this water had leapt up for them.
[32] he emulates the lights of the solitary life. And he entered the illustrious and arduous way of the solitaries, exercising himself in great works of ascetic labour. Luke 2:40. And the grace of the Lord was in him; and divine power strengthened him. And the saint, since he was entirely a stranger to proud thoughts, meditated within himself on the sublime manner of life of the perfect men who had existed before him and had been most excellent; he emulates the lights. for he fed eagerly on considerations of this kind so as to equal their eminence too. And in his mind he used to say to himself: "My rule of life, compared with the rules of the fathers who were before me, is to be reckoned as nothing." And while he spends forty days in these modest thoughts, tasting no food nor drinking water, but raising his mind upwards and lifting up his considerations, he beheld in spirit the good things which God has promised to his saints. Nor was there any time of rest for him in which he did not inflict on himself some new hardships.
[33] On a stone for more than two years Further [P continues this little narrative with §27. Cf. above, p. 450, note 1.], there he saw a certain stone, which stood one cubit above the ground [The Life of St. Symeon the elder, §50, Bedjan, p. 541.]. He went up onto it and stood on it two years and three months; nor did he come down from it in the season of summer or winter; but with joined hands he praised God. And until those (years and months) were completed, he stands motionless. he neither bent his knees nor sat down, so that his legs grew stiff like stakes, his whole body drying up. And his disciples, approaching, said to him: "Father, spare yourself, lest your strength fail you and you have to desist from your work." And he came down to the ground, and lay for seven days as if dead, before he recovered the use of his limbs.
[34] Further, the fame of the saint began to be spread in that region; His fame breaks out anew. and men began to come to him frequently from all places and cities. His deeds began to be celebrated among men; and a desire to see him seized them, so that even men who were affected by no disease or infirmity came to him, to see the miracles which God worked through him P omits what follows, up to §39..
[35] By the saint's power a woman with a flow of blood is healed, There came to him a woman possessed by an unclean spirit, who suffered a grave flow of blood [Cf. Matthew 9:20, and the Life of St. Symeon the elder, §63, Bedjan, p. 551.]. When she arrived at the place where the saint was, she began to clap her hands. And the saint himself, approaching her, said to her: "Get you gone, unclean spirit: in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to go out of this (woman) and not to attack her again." And approaching, he signed her face three times with the cross; and at once the devil which had sat in her went out of her
crying out with a loud voice and saying: "Woe to me and to our whole race on your account, Lord Martyrianus." And the woman remained for two hours as if dead. Then she rose with a sound and sober mind, and having veiled her face, she proclaimed God. And she went away rejoicing, in complete health.
[36] a man suffering in his head, There came to him a certain man from a distant region, about three months' journey, who for many years had been afflicted with a dire disease of the head, and was so oppressed by the violence of the pain that, leaning against a wall, he sometimes dashed himself against it [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon, §66, Bedjan, pp. 555–56.]. He, when he had come to the place where the saint was, went in to him, and, falling at his feet, told him his disease, and for how many years he had borne these torments. He ordered water to be brought to him, which he blessed, and said (to the man): "Smear your whole body with this, and pour some of it also on your head." And at the very instant at which this water touched him, the disease fled from him, which he felt Properly: saw. no more. And completely healed he praised God, and, turning back on his journey, returned to his house.
[37] a crippled Jew, Again there came to him a certain man crippled in his limbs for twelve years; who, unless he was moved by another man, could not turn his body [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the elder, §67 (on the son of a petty king of the Persians), Bedjan, pp. 556–57.]. Him, then, they threw down before the saint, saying: "Have mercy on us, saint of God; and beseech God that, as he is accustomed, he may grant through you the health (of this man) to us, who are grievously exhausted with the fatigue of the journey; for we have come from abroad." And the Lord Martyrianus, answering, said to them: "Where are you from?" They said to him: "From the village which is called Argel A place quite unknown to us.." He said to them: "Are you Christians?" They answered him, saying: "We are Jews." He said to them: "Do you believe that Jesus Christ can heal this badly maltreated man?" who is baptized with his own, They said to him: "Certainly, lord, we believe." So he led them away and baptized them. And he began a prayer to God, saying with tears: "Lord Jesus Christ, who, having put down the power of your dominion, were made man, and to free our race took the likeness of a servant, grant that through you that lost soul be freed, which now returns to you and has become a pure pearl. Philippians 2:7. Let it obtain from you the cure of this dire disease in which it is entangled; that the impious seeing these things may be put to shame; and that we may be directed and enlarged by the mercy of him who raised us up." And turning to (the man) he addressed him in these words: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, rise (and) walk. Acts 3:6–9." And taking his hand he raised him up. He leapt up, rose and walked. And all who had seen these things gave praises to God.
[38] a boy deformed in body There came to him a boy whose face an unclean spirit had struck; and his shoulder was twisted [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon, §37: on a boy who suffered from strangury, Bedjan, p. 535. Except in the nature of the disease, the two Miracles agree in almost everything.]. He had very many (and) great possessions; and he had given a great part of his fortune to physicians, nor had he been helped in anything (by them). Luke 8:43. He therefore set out to the saint in what condition he was. The saint ordered water to be brought to him; which, rising, he blessed. Then he said to him: "Rise and smear yourself (with this water), in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." He did what he had been ordered: he smeared his face; and he was made sound as if he had suffered no harm. So he gave thanks and praises to God.
[39] Robbers rushing upon him, One night, while he and his disciples were standing in prayer, there came upon them twelve robbers clad in armour [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the elder, §48, Bedjan, pp. 539–40. See also the Life by Antony, §20 Ἀντίοχος ἀρχιλῃστής, Lietzmann, pp. 48–55. P completes the whole narrative in a few short lines.]. When they were approaching the place in which the blessed man (with his disciples) was making prayer, and were just about to attack them, the light of their eyes was taken from them, and they remained hindered until the dawn shone. The saint came to them and said to them: "Who are you and where are you going?" And they, answering, said to him: "We sincerely confess that we are robbers." tamed by a prodigy, He said to them: "What has happened to you? And who is it who has done these things with you?" They said to him: "When we approached you, it was our plan to kill you and carry off whatever is with you. But when we came here, you attacked us, you and the companions who are with you; you struck our mouths and bound us with heavy chains. The light too has been taken from us. But we beseech you, O saint of God, that you do not repay us such things as we have deserved." And he looked at them, and having pity on them began to weep, and spreading his hands to heaven said: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who opened the eyes of the blind and on the cross cried out with your voice, saying: 'Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do,' Luke 23:34. in your mercy spare these your servants, and forgive them this sin." At once they were released from the weakness of their limbs; and light was restored to their eyes. And the saint, addressing them, said to them: "Why do you not forsake this most evil custom and the servitude of sin, so that, turning to Christ, you may put on the arms of the cross, and, made monks, earn your pay with the Lord Christ, who will render to all men the reward fitting to each one's works, on that day when he appears to judge the world in justice. Psalm 97:9." And they, obeying his words, renounced their former purpose and craft, they settle with Martyrianus. were converted to the Lord, and said: "Lord, teach us the way which may lead us to you and to God. Make us understand the chaste manners of the monastic life." The saint, carrying out their wish, taught them the rites, the laws and the right way of the faith; he showed them chaste fasting, prayer and every service of justice. And converted with their whole heart to the Lord, they remained there with (the saint) for a long time; they showed themselves most observant of the monastic rites; they displayed a seemly obedience to him; they were expiated before God by ample penance, by weeping, perpetual vigils, arduous works, so that the saint himself marvelled and was astounded (seeing) how they carried out his precepts. And for this reason he gave thanks to God. Indeed this I tell you truly: they turned out perfect and became martyrs; they delivered their bodies to tortures and torments; like little lambs they were slain for our Lord; baptized in the blood of their necks, they received the crown of martyrdom from Christ. Through whose intercession may the Lord God, on that great day, render to us an equal reward with them.
[40] His Lenten observance. And the saint, from the time he had consecrated himself to God, allowed himself no respite; neither did he fail in fasting nor interrupt prayer. Every (year) through the Lenten fast he was accustomed to forbid himself the sight of men [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon, §59, Bedjan, pp. 59–60.] and did not even ever meet his disciples; but, leaving them, he wandered through the mountains, and wherever he found some grotto or cave or cavern, he dwelt there until the great Sunday of the Resurrection [Cf. the Life of Barsauma, §15, Nau, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, vol. XVIII, p. 380.]. Then, returning to them, he exhorted and cherished them, and instructed his disciples in all life-giving doctrines.
[41] By a tyrant Meanwhile, while he follows this way and leads his life in those illustrious observances, a persecutor came forth against the Church of God [Hoc ipso tempore instigavit Satanas regem paganum nomine Domitianum, qui persecutionem commovit adversus christianos P; cf. below, §§57, 59.]. And wherever a Christian was found, he either, having repudiated his faith, professed that he worshipped the sacred rites of the persecutors [Word for word: of the persecutor, where the number does not agree with what follows.] and assented to their superstition and religion, or was put to death by a manifold kind and variety of torments, so that there did not remain in the land one Christian out of a thousand, and the earth was wet with human blood more than with water. Men died of every variety of age; nor were sucking infants spared, who were not safe from death in their mother's lap, when their parents refused to betray the faith which they professed. Martyrdom befell very many men; and very many martyrs rendered martyrdom to God in that tempest. While these things are being carried out in the region, one day when the persecutor was making supplication and sacrifice to his gods, the fame of this saint was brought to him, in these words: "There is on this mountain a certain man, one most brave and exceedingly illustrious in faith, with whom there is no small band of disciples. He is a herald of Christ and professes the faith of the cross." That impious man, when he had heard of the Lord Martyrianus, gnashed his teeth, and roared like a lion. He found out the place where (the saint) dwelt, guards sent against him and sent runners to him; to whom he gravely commanded and enjoined that they should not even reveal themselves to him. They, setting out at once by great stages, came to the place where the saint was. And when they had come to his dwelling, they deliberated how they might kill him. Meanwhile the saint, on bended knees making prayer before the Lord, was invoking the mercy of God on himself and on the world. They were already rushing on to approach him, when by a remarkable and terrible portent they seemed to themselves to see a man who was all of fire and spread fiery rays in every direction, and (other) most brave warrior men who strengthened him, and, stretching out a hand to him, gave him courage, saying: "Be strong in your contest and rise with great spirit to your struggle; and do not be troubled by your adversary. For behold, your strengthener and preserver is present with you; but do not fear that king with his nobles and the rulers of this world." And they seemed to themselves to hear Text: and (the saint) heard as it were. a great and strong voice, saying: "Be strong, Lord Martyrianus; be strong and do not fear." And they, having beheld this vision and prodigy, are kept off by a miracle. fell prone on their faces, and could not look in that direction where the saint was; and for about one hour they lay on the ground, their faces
to the ground. Then, as if woken from sleep, they could not utter even a word to (the saint) [Adds P: accessit ad eos sanctus, eos erexit et interrogavit: "Quid vultis?" Dixerunt ei: "Te salutatum venimus." Quibus cum benedixisset, eos dimisit. (Illi autem abierunt et…).]. And turning back on their way they went off to the persecutor, to whom they reported everything that had happened. He, seized with great dread, began to tremble and to quake, having heard what had come about. So, desisting from his undertaking, he neglected (the saint) and turned his mind to him no more. But the martyr himself, strengthened by God, stood in the contest with the greatest fortitude, nor was he affected by any fear or anguish; but his face beamed, his mind rejoiced and his spirit exulted. Psalm 56:2; 26:9. And he praised God in these words: "Hear, Lord, the prayers of your servant, although I am a sinner, for my soul has hoped in you, and turn not away your face from me."
[42] Having set out for Jerusalem, Then there arose in his mind the plan of going to Jerusalem to pray (there) [Cf. the Life of Aaron of Sarug, §8, ed. F. Nau, Patrologia orientalis, vol. V, p. 707; the Life of Barsauma, §§2, 25, 51–61, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 2, vol. VIII, pp. 273, 382; vol. IX, pp. 113–20.]. And he said to his disciples: "Sons, rise up; let us go to pray at Jerusalem P omits the rest of the saint's speech., where we may associate ourselves with the sufferings of Christ, may see the place of (his) nativity, of his baptism and of his whole dispensation; likewise may see the place in which he was buried whom the heavens do not contain nor the bounds of the world enclose." His disciples said to him: "Father, your will be done. Matthew 6:14." So three days later, rising up, they committed themselves to the journey. And at the first setting out, on bended knees, he began a prayer, and thereafter did not cease from praising God for a single day or interval of time. Towards evening they came to a certain steep mountain, where they wished to spend the night. While they were heavy with sleep quia somno gravati erant P, which breaks off the narrative here., a certain deadly wild beast came at them in hostility. But the Lord Martyrianus was standing in prayer before God. And this beast was a leopard; which, when it had approached to attack them, the saint looked at it and rebuked it, saying: "O deadly beast, which wishes to destroy the servants of God, may the Lord make you a sign in the world, and may the ages to come, even to the last, tell your history one to another." He changes the leopard into a rock. And at once that (beast) hardened into a rock, which stands even today [Among the monasteries of the province of Arabia there already existed in the 7th or 6th century British Museum cod. Add. 14 602, Wright, Catalogue, Add. p. 710; cf. Prelim. Comm. above, p. 434, note 5. With that mention Nöldeke compared the names of no fewer than four places from the same region, which in Arabic are called "the leopardess", or have drawn their present-day name from the Syriac nemrā, "leopard". Zur Topographie und Geschichte des Damascenischen Gebietes und der Haurangegend, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. XXIX (1875), p. 437. Especially known from the Onomasticon of Eusebius (under the word Νιμρά) is Ναμαρὰ κώμη μεγίστη ἐν τῇ Βαταναίᾳ; ed. Erich Klostermann, Eusebius Werke, vol. III, 1 (Leipzig, 1904), p. 138; cf. Jerome on the place: … a large village Namara in the region of Batanaea, Klostermann, ibid., p. 139. In this village, which today is called Nimra, besides other inscriptions, there has been found a title in which the gentilic Ναμαρήσιοι is read. Lebas-Waddington, No. 2176. There was also, on the border of Batanaea and Auranitis, another village by the name of Ναμάρα, today Namāra, in which a decuria of the legion which was stationed at Bostra once had its post. Waddington, Nos. 2264–2285. But Nöldeke opportunely records that from the same root not a few names of places were derived in other regions also (place cited, note 3). In what mountains, then, the stone which seems to be signified here by the hagiographer is to be sought is entirely uncertain.]. When the day dawned, the disciples, rising, beheld it; and they said (to the saint): "Father, in the evening when we fell asleep, this rock was not here." And the blessed Lord Martyrianus related to them what had happened, and said to them: "Sons, do not fear the evil one; for I trust that God will not abandon his servants. Rise; let us go." Matthew 26:46.
[43] On the journey he does not interrupt his fast. The saint had laid down this rule for himself, that throughout the whole course of the journey he would taste nothing at all except the little herbs An ambiguous gloss; P: radices. which he gathered from the fields and roads; unless he drew out long fasts besides. And there was a time when from the tenth Text: a day and ten. day he had already tasted nothing except a little water, which he took for the sustenance of his body. And his disciples said to him: "Master, spare yourself. For the journey is so long, the hardship of going on foot all day so great, the continuance of fasting so immoderate, so great this never-interrupted assiduity in praying: we fear lest your strength fail you and you have to desist from your undertaking." He said to them: "The Lord, in whom our soul and mind are laid up, I trust will give us strength." And they gazed at him, marvelling at the aspect of his face, which shone like the sun. In the labour of this journey he showed himself brave. He rejoiced, exulted, exhorted them; and whenever any of them, exhausted by the journey, gave out, he carried him placed on his own back and cherished him until he was refreshed from his fatigue.
[44] A troop of brigands One day while they are making the journey, at the place which is called the Cave of the Egyptians [A place unknown to us, which could not have been very far from Jerusalem. Perhaps for should be read: the cave of the Nazarenes. Near Engedi, between north and west, beside the ancient road, caves are shown even today, one of which has the name maḡārat naṣrānije (an-naṣrānije?), the Nazarene cave (or the cave of the Nazarenes). F. Buhl, Geographie des alten Palästina (Freiburg i. B., 1896), p. 97. In Moabitis, near the town of Petra, there is also a sepulchre cut in the rock, which they call maḡārat an-naṣārā, "the cave of the Nazarenes," that is of the Christians. R. E. Brünnow and A. V. Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia (Strassburg, 1904), p. 369.], robbers fell upon them, about thirty-eight in number, riding beasts lighter in their onset Text: lighter than renowned ones. than the birds of the sky, and armed with long spears. When, unexpectedly [Word for word: if it could be done; which, unless it must be corrected, seems said by a kind of syllepsis of a thing which was not believed possible.], the clatter of their hooves, their neighing and roaring Text: wailing. had sounded behind (the saints), they all turned and beheld them, and broke out into this cry: "Master, death has come." And the saint answered and said to them: "We have hope that we shall not be abandoned by Christ." And looking at them the saint spread his hands to heaven, and bathed in tears besought the Lord in these words: "Save me, O God, for the waters have come in even to it is dissolved by lightning. (my) soul. Psalm 68:2." And a fiery lightning flashed upon them, which burned up about twenty-one viginti quinque P. men of them with their beasts. And they were reduced to fine ash. But those of them who had escaped without … [Here a leaf is missing in B; P continues thus: reliqui humi corruerunt quasi mortui. Sanctus autem eorum misertus ad eos accessit, eos erexit et ad discipulos suos revertens bono animo hos esse iussit. Sic igitur iter faciebat, tanta per eum gloria nomini domini nostri Iesu Christi accedente, ut ipsi daemones ab eius conspectu aufugerent eiulantes. Ut autem Hierosolyma pervenerunt… See below, no. 46.].
[45] Martyrianus from a demoniac girl … did not look at all at the face of a man. And his disciples begged him and said to him: "Father, if it pleases you, pray our Lord for this wretched soul [From what follows it is understood that the talk here is of a certain demoniac girl. P omits the narrative.], who has been badly maltreated, that God may grant her salvation and liberation from the vexation of the devil, who torments her so." He said to them: "Rise, let us pray God for her, who will help her Wrongly B: et (sanctus) iuvit eum (sic; word for word: gave him a hand).." And he stood to pray. (He himself with his disciples) spent the whole night in beseeching God. The next day in the morning they brought her before them and set her down, while meanwhile she vociferated and wailed: "Woe to me, woe to me on your account, Lord Martyrianus, devourer of your own old age, disciple of the son of Mary!" And the martyr, approaching her, said to her: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and son of Mary, I forbid you to torment this precious soul any longer; leaving it, (I command you) to withdraw into arid lands lacking moisture, where you will be tormented until the end (of the world)." he expels the demon. And at once the girl began to vociferate and wail and with her hands to signify her pain to him. And the demon which vexed her went out of her. She, looking at the saint, hid her face, and rose in possession of her mind and seized with a seemly modesty. And those who had seen her gave glory to God. Further, her father brought a great quantity of silver, to give it to the saint. But he would accept nothing at all from him, not even a morsel of bread.
[46] Having venerated the holy places, And rising up they came to Jerusalem. Having entered (the city) they adored the Lord in it. They visited all the places which the feet of Christ had touched; Bethlehem, the Jordan and the place where he was crucified, and the sepulchre. And wherever (the saint) came, he prayed on bended knee, and taking some of the dust of the place he drew it over his eyes. Going out from there he went on to Mount Sinai P omits the journey to Mount Sinai.; where he remained for many days, relaxing nothing at all from his labours nor ceasing from prayer or fasting. Nor did he pass any day or hour in which he did not show some example of piety, regarding the service of God and rejoicing in it. And he adored, confessed and praised God. Then he came down from the mountain and returned to Jerusalem, where he kept the feast of the Hosannas and of the Passion of the Saviour. There too he partook of the pasch of the saints. And on the day of the Resurrection he took food and drink and broke his fast. Further, he remained at Jerusalem until Pentecost had passed. Then he rose, returned home, and made the journey of his return fasting.
[47] while he is returning, And when he was passing over a certain hill, he was enlightened by (divine) grace, and raising his eyes he looked at the wall of a rock which stood far off,
and in it he saw a cave. So he turned aside from the road. Those who accompanied him said to him: "Father, where are you going?" He said to them: "Grace has called us to accomplish a work by which we may procure a reward for ourselves. Come, by an arduous road, let us go." They followed him through trackless places Illi autem conticuerunt eumque secuti sunt P.. And the saint himself went barefoot, without shoes, he stumbled frequently, and all the toes of his feet were affected with sores, from which blood and pus flowed down P omits the rest up to §48.. He spared them not at all, but looking at them he used to say: "O beautiful branches, set by Christ into this tree which he has planted; on your account we shall earn no reward from God if care is taken that you be torn away from those members in which you have been set. You will put on everlasting comeliness on that great day, when all bodies which have been consumed in the earth will be renewed." And he poured out a flood of tears from the pain which he inflicted on himself; yet in no way did he allow himself to be touched by slackening of spirit. But he strengthened himself by the remuneration which he hoped to receive from Christ. And in this way the day of his life ran its course.
[48] he comes to the cave And when they came to the rock, they beheld a cave in it whose entrance lay open [With the following little narrative (§48–49), besides the very well-known Life of Paul of Thebes by Jerome (BHL. 6596; cf. BHG. 1466–1470, BHO. 909–915), there can be compared the Life of St. Onuphrius BHG. 1378–1381, BHO. 818–822, and of St. Mark the Athenian BHG. 1039–1041, or Mark of Tarmaka BHO. 605–606. A similar invention is read also in the Life of St. Abraham of Kaskar, ed. F. Nau, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, series 3, vol. I (1918–1919), pp. 161–66. Assuredly those wonderful discoveries of hidden men are a hackneyed refrain in the true or invented journeys of Eastern pilgrims. P has reworked the whole narrative in a briefer style.]. (The saint) climbed up and stood at its door, which was like a fragment of a great stone. He knocked on it, then, with a stone, but no answer was given him. Again he called out; and there was no one who answered him. A third time, therefore, the Lord Martyrianus spoke, and said: "If you who are within are a man of God, I adjure you by the passion of Christ to show me your face." Then he, answering him, came out to open to him. And they looked at each other, he from inside (the cave), the other from outside. And the Lord Martyrianus, when he saw him, prostrated himself before him. And he went in to him Text: they went in., and they blessed one another. Greetings having been exchanged, the Lord Martyrianus looked round the cave, seeking something in it with his eyes; and he saw nothing there except a strip of leather; which affected him with no moderate admiration. And he observed that he was a comely old man, of a holy anchorite, who wore no other clothing except the hairs of his head, his beard and the shaggy hair with which his body was covered. The holy man began in these words: "Father, who after a short conversation, who brought you here? And how did you know that I was here?" The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "We have come from Jerusalem, and divine grace has led us to you, that we might be sharers in your prayers." The saint said to him: "Nay rather, your own manner of life seems to me sublime and your works lofty: for you are a saint of the Lord. To a sinful man such as I am, how did Christ lead you? Father, does Jerusalem really stand?" The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "Assuredly, lord." He said to him: "Does the world also stand?" He said to him: "Certainly, lord." The saint said to him: "Do the churches and altars stand?" He said to him: "Certainly, lord." The saint said to him: "Are there faithful in the world today?" He said to him: "Certainly, lord." The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "Father, to what end do you ask about things of this kind, when you are a saint of God? How long is it now since you left the world?" And that saint, weeping, said: "Woe is me, since men call me a saint of God, who am a sinner." Again the Lord Martyrianus questioned him: "How much time is it for you since you bade the world farewell?" The saint answered and said: "Behold, for seventy-eight years now I have not looked upon a human face." And weeping the saint said to the Lord Martyrianus: "Pray the Lord with me that he receive the soul of his servant in peace." And rising they both began to pray and bent their knees.
[49] breathes out his soul in prayer, Further, the Lord Martyrianus raised himself from the ground (onto his feet). He saw the saint lingering long on bended knees. So approaching him he said to him: "Father, rise up from there." But there was no longer any spirit in him nor breath of life. Again, after a delay, he called him and received no answer from him. Then the Lord Martyrianus understood that he had in truth fallen asleep in the slumber of death, and called his companions; who, coming, took hold of him and composed the face of the dead man. The blessed man considered him weeping, and kissing him embraced him most lovingly, and said: "The Lord who called us to bury you, the same will make us your companions on the day on which he will render you your reward." and is laid out by Martyrianus. Further, they had no iron (instrument) with which to dig a grave for him. So rising up they reverently buried him. The Lord Martyrianus, taking off the cloak which he wore, wrapped the body of the saint; which, carried out, they laid down in the cave and closed its entrance with that stone. Further, they remained there three days; and the three days having passed, they went to the entrance of the cave; they received a blessing from him, and came down from there proclaiming the praise of God.
[50] the anchorites of Scetis Departing from there they went off to the waste of Scetis [Here the hagiographer seems to have had before his eyes the Life of St. Eugenius, BHO. 120–121, or one of the many fables into which wandering monks are introduced.]; where (the saint) spent seven years, associating with the solitaries who dwelt in it P omits the rest., and emulating their labours, and he strove to steal the excellence of their life. So he made himself there of silence a cell which was very narrow; and he put in his mouth a light little stone, so that he should not Text: as if not. speak with a man; and he performed his prayer silently in his mind, since he had entirely taken from himself the faculty of turning his tongue in his mouth. So with this stone he kept his tongue bound in his mouth for five hundred and seventy-five days; while meanwhile he neither spoke at all with any man he gives a wonderful example. nor gave anyone the possibility of speaking to him; so that the perfect men who were there marvelled at his works.
[51] Fasting, Then afterwards, rising up, he moved from there, and took no provisions with him; but on the contrary enjoined a fast on himself. And when he was passing over a certain hill, he beheld a cave in it, to which he turned aside. In this cave there was a certain solitary; so (the saint) went in to be blessed by him. And the solitary, who was then taking food, rose up to meet him. And they blessed one another. Then sitting down together they took delight [Thus far P, some sentences having been cut away; the rest it omits altogether. An insipid little narrative such as is read here is either mutilated, or rather was unskilfully composed to introduce the oracle which Martyrianus utters in the narrative immediately following.]. And rising (the saint with his own) departed from there. While they are making the journey they came upon a certain spring of water. One of them approached and knelt down to drink; but the saint would not allow him this, and drawing him back said to him: "Son, it is wrong to break the fast which we have enjoined on ourselves freely and of our own accord." He answered and said to them: "Father, was not the fast of all of us (already) broken an hour ago?" He said to him: by an arduous road, "It was not, son, but we ate for the sake of charity." Nor through the whole time of this fast which he had enjoined on himself did he wish to remain in the same place, but moving daily into another region, he did not allow himself rest even for one moment.
[52] he comes to the Euphrates. And when he had completed the days of his fast, he came (with his own) to a certain hill on the bank of the river Euphrates See Prelim. Comm., no. 6, above, pp. 434–35., where he dwelt for a long time. And since men lived in the neighbourhood, his fame began to be spread among them. So they began to come to him frequently, as to one from whom they might receive relief from their diseases and sicknesses. Further, the saint denied none of them A noble Armenian what God had placed in his power. There came to him, then, a certain man of the Armenians [Cf. the Life of St. Symeon the elder, §68, Bedjan, vol. IV, pp. 557–59. P relates the same things in fewer words.], having with him a most ample retinue. He enjoyed singular dignity and favour among the Armenians, since he was an envoy of the king of Armenia. Suddenly he was struck by the malevolence of the devil. His right side withered, apoplectic his mouth was distorted and (one) of his eyes was closed up. He had spent nine years in these torments, since he could not turn onto the other side or take any food at all. Further, he had with him a great crowd and a most ample retinue; who carried him out and laid him down before the Lord Martyrianus. Acts 8:20. The blessed man, turning his words to them, said: "Is it fitting that the gift of God be sold by us for a price? Have you not heard what Christ taught us: Freely you have received, freely give?" Matthew 10:8. And the Lord Martyrianus approached him. Then the saint, with his eyes raised to heaven, began to pray to the Lord in these words: "Lord, who came to restore our race from its sicknesses and the harms of the enemy, come, by your great mercy make safe and unharmed this soul labouring grievously from the violence of the evil one." And they brought him water; on which he traced the venerable cross three times. he heals him. (This) he took in his hands and anointed his whole body. Then the saint addressed him in these words: "Rise by the power of God." And immediately he rose, confessing and proclaiming God. And the whole crowd which had seen the prodigy performed by the living God through the Lord Martyrianus cried out, saying: "Glory to God, who is so wonderful in his saints." Psalm 67:36. They remained with (the saint) for two months, during which that (man) stood in prayer with him, praising and confessing him by whom, freed from the infirmities of his body,
he had been. Then, turning back on his way, he went off to his own country, (he) and all who were with him. And everywhere they kept saying: "Such a man has not been seen in our age."
[53] The royal envoy from a disease of the head Again there came to him a certain servant of a royal prefect [The Life of St. Symeon, §64, Bedjan, work cited, pp. 552–53. P omits the narrative. November volume IV.], who was crippled in all his limbs. Nor, because of the violence of this disease, could anyone touch him or come near him. Carrying him, they brought him and laid him down before him. He addressed him in these words: "Saint of the Lord, call upon God for me, that he may help me; for assuredly I shall not depart from you until your Lord has applied his mercy to me." The Lord Martyrianus, answering, said to him: "I call God to witness that he will apply his mercy to you. he frees. Come now, I will at once roll your disease back on him who afflicted you with it: for he can cure you." And rising, the saint began to pray. And when he had drawn out his prayer for about three hours, he said: "May our Lord Jesus Christ cure you of the disease by which you are oppressed." And at once the sick man rose, confessing and proclaiming God, who had set his limbs right.
[54] In a calamitous drought, At another time in that whole region there was such a scarcity of rains that almost everything was about to perish [The Life of St. Symeon, §65, Bedjan, pp. 554–55 (cf. §109, ibid., pp. 611–14).]. So the inhabitants of the region went to him and asked him to make supplication to God for them and to entreat him for the region and its inhabitants; for they had been reduced almost to despair. He answered and said to them: "If with a sincere mind you are willing to offer penance to God The text is corrupted in this place; see the Syriac., I for my part will be the sponsor and patron of your penance, and will see to it that your prayers are heard." They said: "Yes, Lord; we are ready for this." He said to them: "Go; vow a fast to God; keep vigils and offer sacrifices." They went away, and carried out what they had been ordered by him. And the Lord poured out his mercy upon the land. he pours down rain. Clouds flowed together from all sides. The land was sated, and the hills, the palms and the cattle of the region too. The gladdened land gave fruit thirtyfold for one; and all the inhabitants of the world rejoiced and were glad. Psalm 21:27. All the poor ate and were filled; they dwelt in the greatest peace and gave praises to God.
[55] For a boy, his bound limbs Again they brought to him a boy, who had been crippled in his limbs from his mother's womb This miracle, whose proper model escapes us, is missing in P., whom they carried out and laid down before him. He, with eyes raised to heaven, said: "Lord God, heal this your servant." And when he had completed his prayer, he said to him: "Rise, by the help of the divine power." And at once he rose, following with praises Text: following (plural). the heavenly physician, who gave freely and took no reward; he looses. and his companions, when they had seen him healed, proclaimed the praises of him who had restored his body. And turning back on their way they went off to their own land.
[56] By divine admonition Then, when he had collected his mind, he understood that the day on which he was to be crowned was near [Cum autem in eo multifariam inclaruisset efficacitas prodigiorum et vis curationum eius, nec opinato cognovit diem finis sui P.]. So he called together his disciples, to whom he began this discourse: "Sons, I shall not remain with you for a long time before I set out to him whom my soul awaits: for he calls me to refresh me from this contest which I endure. he speaks his last words to his disciples. Come then, stand bravely in your contests, lest Satan mock you or entice you by any of his frauds. Persevere in mutual love; you are soon to receive the crown of martyrdom. John 7:33. Possess nothing on earth, as Christ commanded me and you. Be constant in fasting, prayer and night vigils. Let your trust be placed in Christ, to whom you are presently to go." And looking at them he wept; and all began to weep. He said to them: "Sons, do not weep; nay rather, rejoice in the Lord. Not for this world are we eager to procure the viaticum of salvation, but for that world which will neither pass away nor perish." Philippians 4:4.
[57] By the tyrant At this very time a persecutor came forth who harried the churches of God, so that not even one Christian remained who conducted himself according to (the law) of Christ or professed him. And wherever he heard that there was one who confessed Christ, he drank of his blood, and was accustomed to kill the saints with various torments. He learned, then, that in that place there was a man to whom in our age no one was equal, and that he was a Christian. So he sent his runners to seek him out, about fifty in number, bloodthirsty men, whom he commanded not to harm him, but to guard him carefully until he should reach him. For the devil had put it into the tyrant's mind that it could happen that (the saint) would abjure Christ and so obtain honour from him in his kingdom. he is arrested, Those then who had been sent [Eodem porro tempore concitavit Satanas persecutionem opera Domitiani regis infidelis qui sanctum prius iam impetiverat. Hic igitur cum de sancto inaudiisset, rursus ad eum insectandum cursores misit quinquaginta numero. Qui, ut missi fuerant… P. Cf. above, §41, pp. 456–57.] went off and found the saint standing with his disciples and praying. And looking ahead P omits what follows up to the next-to-last sentence. they saw a great crowd of men, about two hundred in number, at (the sight) of whom they were gravely disturbed and terrified. But for fear of the king they could not but carry out his orders. So they approached them peaceably, and having begun a conversation with them asked them: "Where is your master?" And they, suspecting nothing, supposed that these had come to him as others were accustomed to, and as if for the sake of honour they showed him to them. They, snatching the saint away from them, went off.
[58] as his disciples mourn, And all began to weep and wail and lament, like innocent doves. Very many animals too, which were near them or dwelt in their neighbourhood, lions, bears, deer, leopards and others of other kinds, which lived with the saint [Cf. the Passion of St. Mamas, in Syriac, BHO. 589, Bedjan, Acta martyrum et sanctorum, vol. VI, pp. 446–47. P omits this lamentation of the wild beasts.] and never departed from him, began to howl, so that the rocks were split by the shrillness of their cries. And the disciples (of the saint) addressed the Lord Romanus in these words: "You must follow him, father, so as to find out what they are going to do with him." He therefore complied with their wish The rest is missing in P.. And his disciples, weeping, (said): "Master, master, where are you setting out? And where shall we find you? O father of all of us, who gathered us when we were lost. O staff of our old age (and) prop of our infirmity." And while they are burning with grief, and from the sorrow of their complaints the very animals which accompanied them uttered lamentation, the land and the hills through which (the saint) went were covered with mourning. They said one to another: "What are we to do? To whom shall we flee, and who will gather us? Would that they had hurried us off to death with him; for, he being taken away, life is nothing to us. Where are we to go off to, and where to live?" And they kept saying many things signifying sorrow and grief.
[59] The judge's questionings, When therefore the saint came to Domitian [Cf. above, §41, p. 436, note 3, and Prelim. Comm., no. 3, p. 433.] the king, he was brought forward before him. And the king, addressing him, said: "Where are you from?" The saint signed himself with the cross, and said to him: "I for my part am a stranger." He said to him: "From where?" The Lord Martyrianus answered and boldly met him: "From that earth from which the human race was fashioned Above, §6, p. 436. P: e terra matre communi.." He said to him: "And what is your name?" He said to him: "Martyr, and servant of Christ." And he said to him: "Whose do you profess yourself, and what is your confession?" And the Lord Martyrianus answered him: "I am a Christian; I confess Christ and rejoice greatly in his passion." Domitian said to him: "Rise, offer victims to the gods; abjure that Nazarene, and I will see to it that in the kingdom no one shall be more honoured or greater than you." The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "Let the impious man be visited with shame, and all his sect. But I will not desert the faith which I have professed to God." And the judge said to him: "Unless you rise and sacrifice, and so, carrying out our will, acknowledge our gods, threats, today all who have known you will be astounded on your account. Spare yourself, lest you die in various torments." And the saint answered him in these words: "Our Lord said: Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul at all." Matthew 10:28. The persecutor said to him: "Spare yourself, lest you die." And the saint answered him: "For this my soul is ready. Ill be it to you and to your handmade gods, which neither see with their eyes nor hear with their ears." Psalm 113:4–6. And the impious man, looking at him with angry eyes, rebuked him furiously; and ordered his attendants to bring every kind of tortures with which to kill him.
[60] savageries, So they brought him knives, with which he ordered them to cut up his body What follows is narrated more contractedly in P.. So they did what he had ordered. But the saint did not spare his body; nor did he fail in the contest. At the command (of the king) they brought iron claws, with which he ordered them to lacerate his body. Which also they did. And the impious man said (to the saint): "Martyr, spare yourself and abjure Christ." The Lord Martyrianus answered him: "To Christ our Lord my soul is betrothed; him I confess and your gods I detest. And I do not spare this perishable body, which is on the point of putting on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:53. At the command (of the king) they brought bronze columns [Write back with P: rutabula, vera. Assuredly ὀβελίσκοι are to be understood, as in the Passion of St. Orestes by Metaphrastes, §9, above, p. 398.], which they threw into the fire until they became like burning coals; and with these they began to beat confodere P. him, and in whatever place each was pressed, his whole flesh, melting away, was set ablaze P omits what follows.. But the saint, raising
his eyes to heaven, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, for whom I die, give me strength to endure these things." The impious man said to him: "Martyr, spare yourself, and sacrifice to our gods." But he answered him: "The pitcher is near the well, the ship (is approaching) the harbour, the time has come in which the glory of the Lord is to break forth. But you, bring forth your judgment, and do not spare."
[61] At his command, then, they brought iron pegs, which they fixed into his hands and arms, and likewise into his feet, and they tore out his nails. The judge said to him: "Martyr, rise; sacrifice to our gods. promises, Spare yourself, and we will hold a great feast, and will see to it that you recline on the first throne of our kingdom. Otherwise I am going to take away your life with various torments." The Lord Martyrianus answered and said to him P presents the martyr's answer otherwise.: "My hope is placed in him for whose sake I die; who will scrape away with fire you and your handmade gods, which do not see with their eyes nor hear with their ears. Psalm 113:5–6. And when they are tested by that fire, all who offer them adoration will understand that they will be tormented with them by fire. But I by no means render adoration to handmade works; and I make nothing of the life of this world and its goods; for my life is Christ, who by himself freed us from sin." Philippians 1:21.
[62] manifold cruelty, When the judge had heard these things P omits this paragraph., blazing up gravely with anger, he ordered pincers to be brought, with which they tore out his molar and front teeth. And he said to him: "Let Christ, who is your glory, come now and snatch you from my hands." The saint said to him: "He who spared those who had fixed the nails in his hands and feet, and put off their judgment and the vengeance of his blood until the day of the resurrection, the same will exact from you the penalty of the pains with which you now afflict me, an innocent man." When (the judge) heard him speaking these things, he said to him: "Abjure Christ, lest you destroy yourself by various torments." The Lord Martyrianus said to him: "This death which I await, would that it be quickly accomplished by your hands."
[63] blazing up more and more grievously, The judge said to him: "Since Christ is your glory and torments make you prouder, I will show you how I shall kill you." And he ordered two beams to be brought, which he fixed in the ground, both facing each other. They brought the saint and stretched out his hands to each of them; they pulled off from him the covering of his body, and set two men near him, who beat his body with thongs harder than iron columns, until his whole flesh, wasted away, flowed down [(duos homines) qui eum nervis tauri crudis flagellabant; et ceciderunt eum donec costarum eius radices apparuerunt P; the rest more briefly.]. And whenever those (men) were tired, he substituted others for them. Further, the Lord Martyrianus did not cease from the confession of Christ, but on the contrary cried out, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, who behold am dying for your sake. Receive my soul in peace; and on that supreme day on which you are to judge the whole earth, in your justice free me from the fire which (is destined) for this impious man." Acts 7:59.
[64] despised to the very end, Further, Domitian interrupted him in these words P omits the judge's interruption and the martyr's answer.: "Martyr, have pity on your body. For you see your flesh wasted and flowing down. Abjure Christ; whom, though invoked by you, I see, look, unequal to snatching you from my hands." And the Lord Martyrianus, whose life, almost extinguished, was on the point of leaving him, answered him and said: "This same body, which will presently be dead, is nevertheless going to put on incorruption." 1 Corinthians 15:53. To whom he: "By my gods I swear to you that you will not depart from this place in which you are judged. Either you will abjure Christ, or I shall order your neck to be cut through with the sword." But he could not give him an answer; for his body was succumbing to the tortures, and life was little short of leaving him. he is at last struck with the sword. And he signed himself with the cross. When therefore that impious man saw that he could no longer live, he ordered the executioner to come, whom he commanded to cut off his head with the sword. He came carrying the sword, and cut off the head of the Lord Martyrianus. Who, thrown to the ground, was baptized with holy baptism, and that a second, in the blood of his neck.
[65] The prodigious end of the tyrant. Further, that impious man ordered fire to be brought with which his body might be burned. As he was saying this, at the first (movement) of his tongue, God ordered fire to fall from heaven, which so burned up this impious man Impios cod. and all his attendants that not even ash was found of them, such as is snatched up by the wind. And all who had seen (these things) believed in Christ. And the Lord Martyrianus received the crown of martyrdom and passed to Christ [Deinde corpus eius igne cremarunt. Et factus est (sanctus) spectaculum (θέατρον) angelis et hominibus. Et migravit… P.], for whose sake he had died. The heavenly angels received him and carried him to the bridal chambers of the martyrs of Christ; where he now exults with all the just and upright.
[66] The triumph of Martyrianus And the Lord Romanus The rest, in fewer words, the same in P. and the company which had gathered with him, when they had seen a crown brought down from heaven and placed on his head, praised God, who had given him victory and the crown. They carried out his body and laid it to rest with the greatest reverence. And behold, now it brings protection to all who flee to it with sincere faith. His crowning took place on the tenth day (of the month) of Tesrin the latter [P perorates thus: Memoria eius in benedictione, atque eius oratio munimentum sit et verba facienti et scribenti et legenti et auscultanti. Amen et amen. Absoluta est historia triumphorum invicti domni Martyriani.]; and having suffered much he passed from this world bearing the crown of his victories, and posthumous glory. to the splendid mansion of heaven. Through the prayer of the Lord Martyrianus may mercy embrace the earth and those who have come together in numbers to honour the day of his commemoration. May the Lord hold them worthy to obtain remedies for their troubles; may God heal their sores, strengthen their bodies, bestow provisions on their dwellings, and abundant blessings | …