ON ST. CHARITON, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR,
IN PALESTINE.
Cent. IV.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Chariton, abbot and conf., in Palestine. (S.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The commemoration of the Saint in the sacred Fasti, chiefly those of the Greeks; and his ecclesiastical cult.
[ ] The memory of St. Chariton, although most famous among the Greeks, The Saint is omitted in most of the Latin Fasti, has not yet been entered in the Roman Martyrology, and is banished from most of the other Latin ones. Molanus, however, commemorated him at this day in his Additions to Usuard in these words: On the twenty-eighth day, of the holy father and confessor Chariton. Ferrari followed in his general Catalogue in these words: In Palestine, of St. Chariton, abbot of Iconium. The Saint was of Iconium by birth, but an abbot in Palestine. Castellan mentions the same thus: In Palestine, St. Chariton, famous founder of lauras. Greven and Canisius mention a certain Chariton, an abbot, at the XXV of December; but what they add does not agree with today's. Several Martyrs of the same name have been mentioned in our Work: but today's Chariton is another, although some think that his Acts have been confused with the deeds of some martyr.
[2] The Greeks today announce Chariton with the greatest consent as a Saint he is mentioned today among the Greeks with the greatest consent, whose name is famous, and whose cult matches the fame of his name. For I find Chariton mentioned not only in both Menologies, in the Menaea, in the typicon of Sabas, and other printed books, but also in most of the manuscript ones, and in those in which only a few and the more famous Saints are announced. Such is the Greek Menology which we saw at Florence in the library of the Benedictine abbey of Cassino, and which the prefect of the same library, the Rev. Fr. Pietro Luigi Galletti, there rendered into Latin and transcribed for us, of his own accord devoting his labour with wonderful courtesy. In this Menology so few Saints are announced that more days through the year are found empty than filled: nor is it to be doubted that all are honoured who are mentioned in the said Menology or Calendar. Another Menology of the Greeks, like the aforesaid in the fewness of the chief Saints which it exhibits, our Predecessors once received from the library of Friedrich Lindenbrog, known by his writings. In both, at the XXVIII of September, St. Chariton is announced in almost the same words. In the former: Of our holy father Chariton the confessor. In the other: Of our holy father and confessor Chariton. I wished to observe these things, lest anyone should be able to doubt of his cult because we do not find St. Chariton in the Roman Martyrology.
[3] He is honoured by the Muscovites, the Arabs, and with an Office. For if to the greatest consent of the Greek Fasti we add also the Muscovites, who have followed the Greeks and who exhibit St. Chariton on the same day in their Ephemeris and in the Slavo-Russian Menology, no doubt can remain either of his cult or of the antiquity of his cult. An Office of St. Chariton is prescribed in the printed Menaea at this day, and out of it I shall below recite in Latin not a few notable elogia of the Saint. The Anthology of the Greeks, which was printed in the year 1738 for the use of the Greeks who have subjected themselves to the Roman Church, exhibits on the same day the Office of St. Chariton, abridged from the preceding. There is added the Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, which Grazia Simonio made Latin out of the Arabic, and which at the same day has it thus: The memory of our father Creton, master of monks. That he is here called Creton out of the Arabic will not surprise anyone who knows how much the names
are wont to be dislocated by translation from one language into another notably different. But the title Master of monks, which is attributed to the Saint, joined with the day on which he is announced, sufficiently shows that today's Chariton is designated. This is also confirmed presently on the following day out of the same Martyrology: for there St. Cyriacus the monk is announced, who is to be given by us at the same day, and he is called the disciple of St. Creton. St. Cyriacus was indeed the disciple of St. Chariton, at least in this sense, that he dwelt in the monasteries erected by him, and died in his cave.
[4] The things which the Greeks commemorate about St. Chariton in the Menologies and Menaea an elogium of the Saint abridged from the Life: agree with one another in most points, and are consonant with the Acts, so that all seem to have been drawn into a compendium out of the Acts. All exhibit Chariton as having suffered much for the faith under the emperor Aurelian, and afterwards as taken by robbers and wonderfully delivered from them, and at last as a monk and the leader of many monks. It will be enough if we transfer hither one elogium. The Sirletian Menology has it thus: The commemoration of our holy father Chariton, and confessor, leader of the desert. He lived under the emperor Aurelian, and was of the city of Iconium: but being arrested by the governor and having confessed the faith of Christ, he is beaten by four soldiers. Afterwards, cast into prison and brought out again, he was scourged. But when the emperor Aurelian was dead and the persecution had ceased, holy Chariton came to Jerusalem under the holy patriarch Macarius. But when on the journey he had fallen among robbers, and was shut up in a cave, he was delivered in this manner. For a serpent, creeping into that vessel in which the robbers kept their wine, vomited its venom into it: which when they had drunk, they expired: and that Blessed man distributed their goods to the poor, and made that cave a church: and when many monks had been gathered into it, he established a monastery, water being brought forth out of the rock which drove away every kind (all kinds) of diseases; and so in extreme old age he passed to the Lord. These things are set out more fully in the Acts, whose authority will be examined below. Meanwhile I observe that the Slavo-Russian Menology differs much as to the time in which the Saint is said to have contended for the faith, in which these words are read: Of our holy father and confessor Chariton, who lived and suffered in the year 362 under Julian. But the authority of this Menology in such matters cannot be great.
[5] In the Menaea the virtues of St. Chariton are celebrated in a prolix Office. some elogia from the odes of the Office, in which pious exercises, Wherefore for a specimen I shall transfer hither some strophes, rendered into Latin. The first, about pious labours, has it thus: Thou didst make the passions of the body to wither by continence and by fervent prayer, and didst choke the crafty serpent with showers of tears, Father: and thou didst please God excellently, holy Chariton. Therefore did Jesus, the lover of men and the saviour of our souls, adorn thee with heavenly graces. The second strophe celebrates also his contests for the faith, and runs thus: With the sweats of thy exercise thou didst quench the coals of the passions, most Holy one. Thou didst engage with the fire of injuries and of pains, having confessed before unjust judges the scrutiny of the Word which was made flesh, and thou wast named a martyr, dappled with the marks of manifold punishments, most Pious and most Blessed. The third celebrates the monastic life in these words: In solitudes and mountains didst thou hide thyself, fleeing, keeping thy soul unspotted, most Sacred one. And thou didst show thyself a habitation of the Holy Trinity: by whose power thou didst build sacred houses, Blessed one, and caves for the saving acquisition of the monks who honour thy holy memory, Venerable one.
[6] contests for the faith, and monastic labours are celebrated: The fourth strophe, which is by John the monk, as is there read, runs thus: Most pious Chariton, thou even after death dost live in the heavens in Christ, for whose sake thou didst crucify thyself to the world. For being made a stranger to the flesh and to the world, thou didst truly live greater than visible things: for thou didst not live to thyself. Rather did Christ, our God, live in thee. Pray to him, that our souls may obtain salvation. The fifth is a pious invocation of the Saint, which I pass by, as also the sixth and all the rest, although the Saint is celebrated with various and very many titles of honour. For all of them refer in general either to his contests for the faith, or to the labours and virtues of the solitary life, or to the lessons of living given to monks, or to the glory obtained in heaven. In the last strophe, however, the Saint's native place seems to be intimated, in that the author directs his speech to the faithful of Iconium.
[7] the verses in which he is praised in the Menaea. These things, then, being passed over for brevity's sake, I shall subjoin two Greek verses prefixed in the same place to the Saint's elogium, with a Latin rendering:
Τῆς γῆς πατήσας τὰς τρυφὰς, ὁ Χαρίτων Κατατρυφᾶ νῦν οὐρανοῦ τῶν χαρίτων.
The delights of the world being trodden under foot, Chariton now enjoys the delights of the heavenly graces.
There is added the following hexameter, but there faultily printed, which for that reason I recite from the Anthology, and render into Latin.
Εἰκάδι ὀγδοάτῃ Χαρίτων θάνε γήραῖ μακρῷ.
On the twenty-eighth Chariton died in advanced old age.
Nothing indeed is said in the verses alleged about the confession of the faith before a tyrant, and the torments endured by the Saint for that cause. Since nevertheless they are asserted not only in the Life and in all the Menologies, but also in the odes of the Office, and the Saint is everywhere strictly named confessor on their account, the Saint's contests for the faith seem probable enough, but to be passed over in the verses only for brevity's sake, because he did not die in them. That the emperor under whom the Saint contended for the faith seems doubtful, we shall see below.
§ II. The Life is not by a contemporary or nearly contemporary writer: nor yet does it seem to be Metaphrastes's, but of an older writer: an inquiry into the chronology and some of the deeds.
[ ] The Saint's Life written from tradition by a later writer. The Life of St. Chariton was written in Greek, and, rendered into Latin, was first printed in Lipomano, tom. 6, fol. 283, then in Surius at the XXVIII of September. The author himself declares at the end that he wrote long after the Saint, and that from tradition alone, writing thus: Whatsoever therefore, beloved, of his deeds and miracles could escape time and oblivion, these we have delivered to your studious ears. For no small interval comes between the reign of Aurelian and this time. For we have received nothing committed to writing by anyone, for this reason, that at that time there were few not only monks but also Christians at all, and such as were sealed with the light of knowledge. And those who were, were harassed by daily persecutions. But those things of which we have here made mention are what pious men and lovers of truth, the son receiving from the father — I mean the bodily and the spiritual father — have preserved even to our times. These things, which that writer sets out about his sources and his age, most certainly prove that the Life was not written in the same century in which St. Chariton lived and died. The same words make it most likely that the Life was not written in the following, the fifth, century either, since in the fifth century, almost up to its middle, there were living some old men who could have known St. Chariton; and after the middle of the fifth century there could at least have survived some who had seen a number of his disciples. Yet I do not yet see that it can legitimately be inferred from the words alleged that the Life was written after the sixth century. For the author could have written all those things even if he had composed the Life only two centuries after the death of St. Chariton.
[9] Nevertheless, if we believe Allacci, On the Writings of the Simeons, page 128, Allacci, others following him, attributes it to Metaphrastes: the Life of St. Chariton was written much later, and has Metaphrastes for its author. For he reckons it in that place among the Lives composed by Metaphrastes, yet on no other argument than that he judged it agreeable to the style of Metaphrastes. Everyone has generally followed Allacci, nor have I found anyone dissenting from him on this matter, for no other cause, I suppose, than that no one has studiously examined this Life with the intention of inquiring after Allacci into its age or its author. But Allacci himself, page 76, confesses that it can hardly be ascertained which of the anonymous Lives are Metaphrastes's and which are other men's, writing thus: But which Lives of the Saints did Metaphrastes write? This indeed is most difficult to discern. Nor will any other be able to do it, save one who shall have run through similar Lives in Greek, and shall have mastered thoroughly the diction and the ornaments of speech of Simeon. For to fish this out from the Latin would be most foolish: which will happen the more difficultly because (I do not yet grasp for what cause this was done), whereas in other Orations and Lives the names of the authors are for the most part prefixed, in those which Simeon wrote down it is never or rarely found noted beforehand. Hence men well deserving of ecclesiastical antiquity have, not without the mark of error and ignorance, claimed for Simeon all the Lives of the Saints which do not bear an author prescribed to them: which are truly not Simeon's.
[10] The difficulty of discerning the Lives whose author is Metaphrastes he again acknowledges to be very great, because he judged it agreeable to his style, page 80. I said above, he says, that this labour is arduous and thankless, and one which I would myself leave to wiser men. Yet I shall contribute something of study and pains, and shall open the way to others as best I can. And this he performs by weaving three catalogues of writers. In the first catalogue he reckons both Lives of the Saints and other writings, about four hundred and forty, to which he attributes their own authors, different from Metaphrastes. In the second catalogue he reckons about a hundred lesser Works, mostly about Saints, and ascribes these to Anonymous writers, and denies them to Metaphrastes. The third catalogue he wove out of about a hundred and twenty Lives of Saints, which he judges are to be adjudged to Metaphrastes. He does not deny, however, that several others are Metaphrastes's, but the labour of examining them he leaves, page 124, to those who have more leisure, and upon whom a like labour lies. But of those which he reckons in his catalogue he says: And take thou now even these few, as marked by their style for Metaphrastes's own. Now among these is enumerated the Life of St. Chariton. I confess I have often sought in the said little Work of Allacci by what indications he attributed the anonymous Lives to Metaphrastes, that I might myself learn the art of discerning them; but I could never find anything by which to profit, nothing beyond the judgment about style by which he distinguished them and determined that they were to be attributed to Metaphrastes, no arguments being added. But whether Allacci turned over as many Lives as he reckons in the later catalogues so diligently that he could pass a certain judgment about each from its style, seems to me to be doubted, since he confesses that he was distracted by other occupations as well.
[11] but various reasons are alleged, And so I shall not indeed deny that something is to be granted in these matters to Allacci's judgment, where no reasons to the contrary occur. But I by no means think that his judgment is to be held for a certain rule; rather it is to be examined, when reasons for doubting are not wanting. Now in the Life of St. Chariton many things offer themselves which do not seem to be Metaphrastes's. First, the author says that he writes from tradition, which pious men and lovers of truth, the son receiving from the father … bodily and spiritual, have preserved to our
times, he says. How could Metaphrastes speak thus? For he was living at Constantinople in the tenth century; but Chariton had lived in Palestine, according to the author, in the third and fourth. How had father transmitted to son at Constantinople, through six whole centuries, things that had been done in ancient times in Palestine? Somehow this could have happened in Palestine, chiefly among the monks who dwelt in the lauras or monasteries which Chariton had founded, at least through two or three centuries, since the elder monks are wont to relate to the younger the famous deeds of their forefathers, and to preserve the memory of the places in which those men dwelt. But it is not credible that a tradition of this kind about the chief deeds of St. Chariton flourished at Constantinople in the tenth century, if nothing about them had been written before that time, as the author affirms that he found nothing written.
[12] on which grounds it seems to be denied to Metaphrastes, For we have received nothing committed to writing by anyone, he says. This very thing again is incredible of the time of Metaphrastes. For there can scarcely be any doubt that Chariton was already honoured before with an Office, since he is found in the most ancient Fasti of the Greeks, and so Metaphrastes would at least have found his Office. Moreover Metaphrastes could not say in his own time about the monasteries begun by St. Chariton the things which the author of the Life pronounces in various places. For of the first monastery he says at num. 7: Which is now called the Ancient church, and is situated near the most holy laura which is called Pharus, founded by this great Chariton. The author certainly speaks both of the church and of the laura, that is, of the dwellings of the monks, as existing in his own time and well known. But since Palestine, from the seventh century down to the times of Metaphrastes, and longer still, groaned under the yoke of the Saracens, who would believe that in the tenth century the monasteries founded by Chariton in the fourth remained in their own state? Nor does the biographer speak thus of the first only, but also of the second he says at num. XI: Which indeed Elpidius afterwards enlarged. These words again suggest that that monastery too was standing, but enlarged by Elpidius, while he was writing. More clearly, however, he pronounces the same of the third, writing thus at num. 12: For this reason this admirable Chariton builds there yet another laura: which some indeed name in the Syrian tongue Suca, but others call by a Greek word the Old laura.
[13] and to be attributed to some monk Of the cave in which St. Chariton dwelt as a solitary after the founding of the monasteries, the author presently says: Which even to this day is called Cremastos, that is, hanging; for none can approach it save by ladders. And a little after: For out of one side of the cave there straightway gushed water most cold and most limpid, which remains even to this day, etc. All these things suggest an author different from Metaphrastes, and one both older and writing in Palestine from the tradition of the monks. For neither is it credible that all those places survived in the time of Metaphrastes; nor could he in the tenth century acquire at Constantinople so accurate a knowledge of those places from tradition. Wherefore I rather judge that the Life was written in Palestine in the sixth or seventh century, before the Saracens had seized it. The seizure of Jerusalem by the Saracens is fixed by Baronius and Pagi in the year 636, and it was taken only in the second year of the siege, nor was it ever recovered by the Greek emperors. Wherefore I scarcely doubt that the Life of St. Chariton was written before that time. That it was also composed before the Persians stormed Jerusalem in the year 614 is certainly most likely; since at that time also the monasteries of Palestine suffered much.
[14] I know indeed that some monasteries remained in Palestine of the sixth or seventh century: while the Saracens were ruling there, as even in our times there are several in the East under the dominion of the Turks. But I by no means believe that the three built by the Saint, and the other places mentioned above, remained until the tenth century in that state in which the author suggests they were in his own time; nay, we can hardly believe that they remained thus even to the middle of the seventh century, and therefore I conjecture that the Life was written earlier. It is likely that, when Cyril of Scythopolis had written after the middle of the sixth century the Lives of some holy abbots, such as SS. Euthymius, Sabas, John the Silentiary, and perhaps others, someone was stirred by that example to bring out of the darkness the Life of St. Chariton, who had gone before all those; and that on that occasion the Life was written in the same sixth century by some monk of Palestine.
[15] If now we ask how much credit that Life seems to deserve, he could know from tradition some things about the monasteries. a distinction will have to be made among the facts which are reported in it. For since in the lauras or the monastery of St. Chariton there had been a continuous succession of monks, the tradition about the monasteries founded by the Saint could easily be propagated to posterity, since the monks went on dwelling in them. So too there could remain at least a confused memory of the Saint's chief virtues and admonitions, as also of the places in which he had lived and died. All these things, therefore, which the disciples of Chariton could know, are altogether probable, and can easily be admitted as true, especially since in reporting them the author has used a quite sober style. But not equally probable are the things reported about the Saint's contests for the faith. For these had not been seen by the monks of Palestine, but had been performed before, as also those things had happened before which are reported about the robbers, and all the rest before the founding of the first dwelling of the monks.
[16] But in the chronology that writer plainly slips, when he fixes the contests of St. Chariton under the emperor Aurelian, But in the chronology he plainly slips, who was killed in the year 275, and says that on Aurelian's death he was let out of prison and shortly after set out for Jerusalem, and, in its neighbourhood, after he had been detained for some time by robbers, makes him a monk; as though from the year 276, or at any rate, if we would expound his words more widely, before the year 280, he had devoted himself to the monastic life. Yet after a few lines he again writes things which compel us to fix the beginning of St. Chariton's monastic life, or rather the construction of the first laura, at least thirty-four years later; and we shall prove that it must be fixed easily fifty years later. And with the money that was left over (which the robbers, wretchedly dead, had left, if we believe the author) he builds the sacred laura of which we made mention before: and besides that, its most holy church also, which the divine Macarius dedicates, holding the helm of the Church of God which was then at Jerusalem, who also was one of the pious catalogue that assembled at Nicaea. These words connect the construction of St. Chariton's laura with the episcopate of St. Macarius I of Jerusalem. But the episcopate of Macarius our Papebroch, in his chronological History of the bishops of Jerusalem, fixes, with the Greek Chronicle of Eusebius, under the consulate of Volusianus and Annianus, that is, in the year 314, not 313, as, following Tillemont, tom. 7, in St. Helena, art. 9, Le Quien says, tom. 3 of the Oriens Christianus, col. 154.
[17] while he makes Chariton a confessor under Aurelian, and presently a monk. The said Tillemont indeed would in the same place have the episcopate of St. Macarius begin from the year 311 or 312, and against Eusebius, then living, he sets certain writers much younger, saying that the Chronicle of Eusebius is disturbed in that place. But neither do I sufficiently grasp that chronological criticism of his; nor does it further our purpose to examine scrupulously a difference of two or three years. Moreover Tillemont acknowledges with us, tom. 4, Note 4 on the Persecution of Aurelian, that the episcopate of Macarius is to be begun from the year 314, and proves that the Saint's confession under Aurelian and the beginning of his monastic life under Macarius do not stand together, since between the death of Aurelian and the episcopate of Macarius thirty-nine years, or, by Tillemont's earlier statements, at least thirty-six years intervened. But the author speaks of both in such a way, and so presently subjoins the Saint's detention by the robbers and the construction of the church, that he seems scarcely to have wished to interpose one year or two. Wherefore St. Chariton's confession cannot be fixed under Aurelian, but must necessarily be fixed later, if it be admitted as true: for the beginning of his monastic life, as we shall prove below, is on no ground to be fixed earlier. And so, since the credit of the Acts fails in this part, the confession itself is rendered somewhat doubtful, and more doubtful still the time in which it befell.
[18] The confession itself, however, remains probable. As regards the confession of the faith before a tyrant, and certain torments and the imprisonment endured for that cause, I do not see why we cannot admit these in general as quite probable. The monks could transmit the memory of it to posterity for two hundred years: and the author, who seems to have used good faith in writing, would not, as I judge, have asserted that confession unless he had learned it from the tradition of the monks. But the tradition of the monks could not so easily preserve all the circumstances of time and persons, namely under what emperor or prefect he had contended for the faith, how long afterwards he embraced the solitary life, and what he did in the intervening time. Hence the author perhaps passed on at once, after the Saint's coming out of prison, to his journey and his solitary life, because he did not know that other things had intervened, even though not a few years may have run between. From this observation it is gathered that the Saint could have suffered for the faith either under Galerius Maximian, or under Maximinus, or lastly under Licinius. If he suffered under Galerius, he will have been freed in the year 311, and so almost twenty years before the construction of the monastery; if under Maximinus, he will have left prison about the year 313; if finally under Licinius, likely in the year 324.
[19] which could have befallen under another, later emperor, Under one, I say, of the three persecutors mentioned, St. Chariton could confess the faith and suffer for the faith, and be at last let out of prison. For, when their persecutions were ended, many Christians were brought out of the prisons. But that was not done after Diocletian abdicated the empire, whose persecution in the East was continued under Galerius. Neither do we know whether Christians were let out of the prisons after the death of Aurelian; nor can we probably fix St. Chariton's confession under him, because thus the Saint would have been brought out of prison in the year 275, that is, almost fifty-five years before the construction of his first monastery, which we shall see must be fixed about the year 330. And so it seems altogether that the confession of St. Chariton must be fixed either under Galerius, or under Maximinus, or under Licinius, since the times of these in no way stand in the way.
[20] Indeed, even if the Saint had gone off to the desert straightway when he was freed from prison, and the Saint could then have dwelt alone in the cave. he would not at once have had disciples, nor in the first years of his solitary life would he have built a church and a laura, that is, many little cells for monks. St. Antony dwelt for almost twenty years in the solitude of Egypt before he
instructed disciples. St. Hilarion led the solitary life in Palestine for twenty-two years, and only then began to erect dwellings for monks. The same may be observed of others. Wherefore it is most likely that St. Chariton likewise dwelt alone for not a few years, even though the writer of the Life mentions nothing of them. That very thing which is mentioned in the Life about the Saint's being taken by robbers could have happened when he was living alone in some cave; just as in fact robbers came to St. Hilarion, as St. Jerome witnesses in his Life. But how many years he first dwelt alone we can divine by no indication. If he confessed the faith under Licinius, he could have dwelt alone only five or six years; for many more, if under Maximinus or Galerius.
[21] That the construction of the first dwelling of the anchorites, which the Greeks called a laura (now it is a place marked out with many little cells at distances from one another, The construction of the first laura is to be fixed and may rightly be called a monastery), is to be fixed about the year 330, I have already said. The reason is drawn partly from the time of St. Macarius, who dedicated the church, as the biographer witnesses; partly from St. Jerome, presently to be cited. For the death of St. Macarius is fixed by Henschen in our Acts at the X of March, where it was treated of, about the year 335. Papebroch, in the Bishops of Jerusalem, judges that Macarius did not survive beyond the year 333, save perhaps by a few months. Tillemont agrees well enough with these, when in tom. 7, in St. Helena, art. 9, he intimates that St. Macarius died between 331 and 335. I shall not investigate the very year of St. Macarius's death more certainly, since it is at least established that his successor Maximus was present in the year 335 at the conventicle gathered at Tyre against St. Athanasius, so that either Macarius died before the year 335 or in that same year before the council. And so, if the dedication of the church was performed by St. Macarius, as is asserted in the Life, it cannot have befallen many years after 330. Nor does it seem to be said here that the biographer's authority is slight: for the dedication of the first church of the monks in those parts is among those facts which could easily become known to the biographer by some inscription, or even by the tradition of the monks alone, certainly as long as the church itself was standing. And that it was standing while he was writing, the author clearly declares at num. 7.
[22] But now, that the construction of St. Chariton's laura and the dedication of the church cannot be fixed earlier either, between the years 328 and 335: but that the latter must necessarily be referred to the later years of St. Macarius's life, is most certainly proved from St. Jerome, who in the same century wrote in Palestine the Life of St. Hilarion the abbot, to be given by us at the XXI of October. For in this, tom. 2 of the Works of St. Jerome, Verona edition, col. 19, num. 14, Jerome speaks thus: For there were not yet monasteries then in Palestine, nor had anyone in Syria known a monk before holy Hilarion. He was the founder and instructor of this manner of life and of this pursuit in this province. The Lord Jesus had in Egypt the aged Antony, he had in Palestine the younger Hilarion. These things Jerome says of the time in which monks began to flock to St. Hilarion, when he, as he had said at num. 13, had already twenty-two years in the solitude, known to all by fame only. Tillemont, tom. 7, in St. Hilarion, draws out the chronology of his life, and fixes in the year 328 those things on the occasion of which St. Jerome put forth the words alleged, as also the construction of St. Hilarion's monastery. This chronology I do not undertake to examine before its time, since that ought to be done at the XXI of October: yet I do not hesitate to say that it at least is not far from the truth, which here suffices for our purpose. For if about the year 328 there were not yet monasteries in Palestine, neither had the monastery of St. Chariton been built in Palestine, and consequently the construction of it must be deferred to the last years of Macarius, and fixed about the year 330.
[23] but perhaps some were already inhabiting the solitude before. Yet from the words of St. Jerome it cannot, in my judgment at least, be inferred that St. Chariton did not live as a solitary in the desert some years earlier. Nay, I do not see why the words of the biographer cannot be true, at num. 8, as the Greek words have it, writing thus: But these were rare, and few in number, and they too, in the time of persecution, had preferred solitude to their native land, that they might avoid the persecutors, and they were living scattered in the caves of the reed-bed which is situated near the Dead Sea. For as St. Hilarion inhabited the solitude from about the year 306, that he might imitate St. Antony, who many years earlier had done the same in Egypt, so also certain others could dwell privately in solitary places about the Dead Sea in the time of the persecutions of Diocletian, Maximian Galerius, Maximinus and Licinius. The very fear of persecution could drive some to inhabit desert places, just as by that fear St. Paul the first hermit was first driven. Of these St. Jerome does not seem to speak when he makes St. Hilarion the first monk in Palestine and in Syria; but he says that he was the first who propagated the monastic life there, as in Egypt the first was St. Antony, even though St. Paul the Hermit lived in the desert before Antony. Yet it is at least uncertain whether those men also lived in the solitude before St. Hilarion.
[24] Chariton, however, does not seem to have inhabited it alone Louis Bulteau, in his History of the monastic Order in the East, book 2, chap. 9, treats of the deeds and foundations of St. Chariton according to the Acts to be published, and confesses that between St. Chariton's liberation from prison and the foundation of the first laura there intervened, according to the Acts, at the least forty years, and perhaps, he says, nearly sixty. For in chap. 3 also he had acknowledged that St. Hilarion seems to be the first founder of the monastic Order in Palestine: and for that cause St. Chariton's first foundation must certainly be fixed after the year 328, as we have already seen. And so, according to those things, Chariton would first have lived alone for easily fifty-four years. But more probable to us is the opinion of our Papebroch and of Tillemont, who judge that two Charitons have been confounded into one by the biographer, of whom the one suffered much for the faith under Aurelian, either the emperor or some prefect of the same name; the other is the founder of anchorites in the parts near Jerusalem.
[25] More probable, I say, to us is this opinion than that one which makes the same Chariton suffer for the faith in the year 275, and then begin to found lauras about 330. For if Chariton was only twenty years old in the year 275, from the year 275, since the writer erred in his chronology; he will already have counted seventy-five years in the year 330. Yet he survived many years after the first foundation, as is clear from the two other lauras which he founded, and lastly from his solitary dwelling, which is described in the Life as long-lasting. Moreover the Saint is not exhibited in his contests as a young man, but as a man holding the first place in his own city. Wherefore, since the biographer certainly erred in joining things too far apart, his assertions as to chronology are not to be made so much of that it should seem we must say Chariton was of a decrepit age when he founded the first laura.
[26] Nevertheless neither is it necessary that the error crept upon the author from the confusion of two men. but perhaps not from a confusion of two men. He could refer to the emperor Aurelian what had been done later; whether on occasion of some proconsul or prefect whose name was Aurelian, or by some other occasion of error unknown to us. Perhaps out of mere ignorance of the times he believed that St. Chariton was not much younger than St. Antony, and that he was therefore to be referred to the times of Aurelian rather than to those of Diocletian and the tyrants who followed, who continued or renewed Diocletian's persecution. Whatever be the case, the author certainly leaps by a gross anachronism from the persecution of Aurelian to the episcopate of Macarius of Jerusalem, and therefore it is more credible that he erred in the time of St. Chariton's confession than that Chariton was as old in the year 330 as would follow from the corrupt chronology of the Life. From this anachronism too the Saint's confession becomes less certain; it is nevertheless probable, since the author, writing after two centuries at the least, could more easily go astray in the time than in the thing itself, about which there could be a constant tradition.
[27] His death is to be fixed in the fourth century, more probably after its middle. For the rest, I shall not further refute those who not only make St. Chariton a monk immediately after the times of Aurelian, but also attribute him to a more ancient monastic Order, as they will have it. But about the time of St. Chariton's death I can determine nothing more nearly than that his death is to be fixed in the fourth century, more probably after its middle. For he seems to have lived many years after the building of the first laura about 330, and he died in advanced old age. But we do not know how many years he was in the year 330. If he had then been only thirty or forty years old, he could have survived almost to the end of the fourth century; but perhaps he was much older, so that the time of his death cannot be nearly assigned. I now subjoin the Acts, intending to say in the Annotations whatever offers itself for their elucidation.
THE GREEK LIFE
By an anonymous author.
From a manuscript codex, published with a translation in Lipomano.
Chariton, abbot and conf., in Palestine. (S.)
aBy an Anonymous writer.
PREFACE
Πολλὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας τῶν εὖ καὶ ὡς Θεῷ φίλον βεβιωκότων τὰ ὑποδείγματα, ἐξ ὧν ἔνεστι τῷ βουλομένῳ τὰς μὲν ἐντολὰς πάσῃ δυνάμει τηρεῖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, διαφεύγειν δὲ, ἅπερ ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἐχόμενα τρίβου σκάνδαλα τίθησι· δεῖ γὰρ τὰς τῶν ἱερῶν γραφῶν ἀνελίττειν βίβλους, καὶ οἷον ἔκ τινων πηγῶν ἀεννάων τὸ σωτήριον ἐκεῖθεν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀρύεσθαι νᾶμα· ἑκατέρα τε γὰρ διαθήκη, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν θεοπνεύστων διδασκάλων τε καὶ ἀσκητῶν αἱ συγγραφαὶ, οἷον πίνακι τινὶ, τῷ λόγῳ τὰ ἑκάστου τῶν ἁγίων τοῖς ἐπαΐειν βουλομένοις ὑποδεικνύουσι κατορθώματα. ἀλλ᾽ εἰ καὶ τούτων πλήρη τὰ εἰρημένα, ὅμως ἐπείπερ αὐθενεῖς καὶ νωθεῖς οἱ πλείους, καὶ δεόμεθα, καθάπερ οἱ βραδεῖς τὰ ὦτα, μεγάλων καὶ συνεχῶν τῶν τοῦ λόγου ψόφων, ἵν᾽ οὕτω μόλις τὸ ἐνηχηθὲν ἡ ἀκοὴ παραδέξηται, δεῖν νενόμικα μὴ παντελεῖ παραδοῦναι σιωπῇ τὰ ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων κηρύττεσθαι ἄξια, τοῦ θείου, φημὶ, καὶ μεστοῦ χαρίτων Χαρίτωνος. εἰ γὰρ καὶ βαρυκάρδιοι ἡμεῖς διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰ γήἳνα τῆς καρδίας ῥοπὴν, ἀγαπῶντες ματαιότητα, καὶ ζητοῦντες ψεῦδος, ὡς ὁ θεῖος λέγει Δαβὶδ, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν, καθάπερ τις πέτρα, τὸν πυκνὸν καὶ ἀδιάπαυστον τοῦ λόγου σταλαγμὸν ἡ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δεχομένη ψυχὴ πλήττεται πάντων b πόθῳ τινὶ, καὶ τοῦ τὰ αὐτὰ γενναίως ὑπενεγκεῖν διανίσταται, ἅπερ οἱ ἅγιοι πρὸς τῶν ἀοράτων τε καὶ ὀρατῶν ὑπομεμενήκασι πολεμίων. ἄρξομαι γοῦν ἐντεῦθεν.
A preface on the usefulness of writing the Life. Many are the examples of the teaching of those who have led their life well and as pleases God: from which it is possible for him who so wills to keep Christ's precepts with all his strength, and to escape the stumbling-blocks which the enemy sets in the way. For it behoves us to unroll the books of the holy Scriptures, and, as from certain perennial springs, to draw thence the saving stream of the virtues. For both Testaments, and the writings of the divinely inspired teachers and ascetics, set forth in discourse, as on a kind of tablet, to those who are willing to hear, the deeds rightly and virtuously done by each several Saint. But although the things that have been said are full of these, yet, since the greater part are weak and dull, and we have need, as being slow of hearing, of great and continuous soundings of the word, that so the ear may at last scarcely receive what resounds, I have judged that I ought not to consign wholly to silence those things which are worthy to be proclaimed upon the housetops, concerning, I mean, the divine and grace-filled Chariton. For even though we are heavy of heart because of the inclination of the heart towards earthly things, loving vanity and seeking after a lie, as the divine David says: nevertheless, like a certain rock receiving the thick and constant drop of the word, the soul of man is touched altogether b with a certain longing, and is stirred up to bear with a lofty and strong mind those things which the Saints endured from their enemies, both those that fall under sight and those that do not: hence, therefore, shall I begin.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint's native place, his confession of the faith, the torments he endured, and other things preliminary to the monastic life.
Ἦν ὅτε οἷον τις σκοτόμαινα, ὁ τῆς ἀσεβείας ζόφος ἀπάσαις ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἁγίαις ἐπεσκότησεν ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ θυέλλης δεινοτάτης δίκην, ὁ τῶν διωκτῶν θόρυβος τὰς τῶν πιστῶν ἐτάραξε διανοίας καὶ καθάπερ τι κῦμα, ἡ αὐτων ἐπανάστασις οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν Χριστιανῶν τῷ τῆς ἀσεβείας βυθῷ κατεβάπτίσε. τῆς γὰρ Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας Αὐρηλιανὸς, ὁ τοῦ Σατανᾶ θεράπων κομιδῆ γνήσιος, τὰ σκῆπτρα πεπιστευμένος, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα, εἰ καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων λάτρης θερμότατος ἦν, ἀλλ᾽ οὖνγε Χριστιανοὺς οὐδὲν ἐκώλυε τὸν ἀληθῆ θεὸν προσκυνεῖν. εἶτα ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ θεραπευομένων δαιμόνων ὑποβληθεὶς ἅπαντας τοὺς τὸν Χριστὸν Θὲον ἀνομολογοῦντας, μετὰ τὸ πολλαῖς ὅτι μάλιστα καὶ πικραῖς αἰκίσαι ταῖς βασάνοις, χαλεπῶς καὶ τοῦ ξῆν ἀπήλλαττεν, ἤ ξίφει ἀναιρῶν, ἢ θηρίοις παραδιδούς, ἢ πυρὶ, ἤ καὶ βαρυτάτους λίθους αὐτῶν ἐξαρτῶν, καὶ οὕτω θαλασσίῳ παραπέμπων βυθῷ· ἐντεῦθεν καθ᾽ ἐκάστην πόλιν καὶ χώραν ὑποτελῆ τούτῳ τυγχάνουσαν τὸ ἀσεβὲς ἐπ᾽ ἀγορᾶς προτιθεὶς διάταγμα, σπουδῇ παρήνει τὰ κεκελευσμένα ποιεῖν. ἦν οὖν ἰδεῖν καθάπερ λύκων ἐσμοῦ μεγάλῳ ἐπεισελθόντος ποιμνίῳ, τὰ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ποιμένος τῇδε κἀκεῖσε διασπειρόμενα θρέμματα. ὅσοι μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἄθεον ἐκεῖνο δημωσίᾳ προτεθειμένον προανεγνώκεισαν πρόγραμμα, οἱ μὲν δρασμῷ χρησάμενοι ᾤχοντο, οἱ δὲ μυχοῖς τὸ πρότερον ἐγκλεισάμενοι, εἶθ᾽ ὑπὸ νύκτα διδράσκουσιν, οἱ δὲ ἀθρόως ἐξ αὐτῆς οἰκίας κατασχεθέντες ἐπὶ τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἤγοντο, ἕτεροι δὲ μηδὲ τὰς πρώτας ὑπομείναντες ἐρωτήσείς, φεῦ ψυχοφθόρου ἀπωλείας, ἑαυτοὺς ἐνεγκόντες τῇ πλάνῃ κατεδουλώσαντο, τὸν νῦν ἀγαπήσαντες κατὰ τὸν δημᾶν αἰῶνα καὶ χριστὸν ἄνευ κινδύνων ἐξομοσάμενοι, ἀλλοι τῷ τῆς ἀσεβείας ζήλῳ τὰς ψυχὰς ἐπιῤῥώσαντες ποσὶν αὐτομάτοις προσήρχοντο τῷ δικάζοντι ἕτιμοι λέγοντες εἶναι, πάσας τε βασάνους ὑπενεγκεῖν, καὶ οὕτω τοῦ ζῆν βιαίως ὑπεξελθεῖν, ἤ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἐκπεσεῖν.
[3] Τότε δὴ τότε καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἱκονιέων πόλιν τῆς λικαόνων ἐπαρχίας τοῦ τοιοῦδε διαγγελθέντος προστάγματος, ἤτις καὶ πατρὶς χαρίτωνος ἦν, ἐπειδὴ ταῖς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐντολαῖς ὁ μέγας οὗτος περιλαμπόμενος, περιβόητος ἅπασιν ἐτύγχανεν ὢν, ἀνάρπαστος εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς ἄρχοντος ἄγεται βῆμα. ἀλλὰ ἀκούσωμεν, οἷα ἐρωτώμενος ὁ ἅγιος, οἷα μετὰ παρρησίας ἐφθέγγετο. τί οὖν ὁ ἡγεμών; πρότερον, τί ὄνομα αὐτῷ, διηρώτα, καὶ τίς ἡ θρησκεία· ὡς δὲ Χριστιανὸν εἶναι, καὶ τὰ πρῶτα Φέρειν τῆς εἰρημένης ἐμάνθανε πόλεως, τί δήποτε, ὦ οὗτος, ἔφη, ταῖς τοῦ κρατίστου βασιλέως ἀντιφθεγγόμενος ψήφοις, τοῖς ἀθανάτοις θύειν ἥκιστα βούλει θεοῖς; ἐπειδὴ οὐ θεοὶ, ὦ ὑπατικὲ, οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν, ὁ γενναῖος μάρτυς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀπεκρίνατο, δαιμόνια δὲ πονηρὰ, ὡς καὶ τὰ θεῖα φησὶ λόγια· ὅτι πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια· ὁ δὲ κύριος τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐποίησε. καὶ ἑτέρωθι· θεοὶ, οἳ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἐποίησαν, ἀπολέσθωσαν. αὐτοὶ τοίνυν ὑμᾶς, τοὺς μὴ δοκιμάζοντας τὸν θεὸν, ᾗ φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, πείθουσι θεοὺς τούτους ἠγεῖσθαι δυοῖν χάριν, ἵν᾽ αὐτοὶ μὲν τῇ προσηγορίᾳ ταύτῃ δοξάζοιντο· ἥδονται γὰρ ἅτε πλήρεις ἀλαζονεῖας ὄντες, ὡς θεοὶ τιμώμένοι, ὑμᾶς δὲ, οὓς ἠπατήκασιν, εἰς τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον αὐτοῖς ἄσβεστον ἑλκύσωσι πῦρ. ὁ ἡγεμων ἔφη· ἀσχαλλᾶν μὲν ἔδει καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην εὐθὺς ἐπάγειν σοι τιμωρίαν, εἰς τοὺς παντοδυνάμους οὕτως ἐμπεπαροινηκότι θεους. πλὴν ἐπεὶ μειλίχιοι οὗτοι καὶ λίαν ἀόργητοι, τούτους ἐν τῷ παρόντι καὶ αὐτὸς μιμησάμενος, τό λυσιτελοῦν σοι ποιεῖν ὑποτίθημι· τὸ δέ ἐστι· τοὺς μακροὺς ἔασαντα λόγους, τοῖς θεοῖς θυσίαν προσενεγκεῖν· οὕτω γὰρ ἐξέσται σοι κερδῆσαι καὶ τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως φιλότιμον.
[4] Εἰ μὲν θεοὶ ταυτὶ τὰ κωφάτε καὶ ἄψυχα, ὁ θεράπων ἀπεκρίνατο τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὔκ εὐγε ποιεῖς ὑπατικὲ, μακρόθυμῶν ἐφ᾽ αἷσπερ αὐτοῖς ἐπάγομεν ὕβρισιν· εἴ δὲ μὴ θεοὶ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ταῖς ἀληθείαις θεοὶ, μάτην ἀπειλεῖς ἄρα, διακενής ἀνομεῖς. ἐμὲ γὰρ οὐχ αἱρήσει κίνδυνος οὐδεὶς, οὐδὲ πείσει τι τῶν ἁπάντων, θεὸν μὲν ἐγκαταλιπεὶν ζῶντα, δαίμοσι δὲ προσέχειν ἐναγέσι καὶ φθονεροῖς. ἐπεὶ μαθητής εἰμὶ καὶ αὐτὸς θέκλης, ἥτις φωστῆρος δίκην κατὰ τήνδε τὴν ἱκονιέων ταῖς τοῦ μαρτυρίου λάμπει μαρμαρυγαῖς, Παύλου τε τοῦ μεγάλου τῆς εὐσεβείας κήρυκος, ὃς καὶ αὐτὴν πρὸς τοὺς δὶα Χριστὸν ἤλειψεν ἀγῶνας. καὶ δὶα τοῦτο κἀγώ φημι μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ συμερον· τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ, θλίψις, ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ κίνδυνος, ἢ μάχαιρα, ἢ ἄλλό τι τῶν ἁπάντων; ὁ ἄρχων ἔφη· καὶ εἰμὴ ὄντως θεοὶ, ὡς φὴς, οὓς εὐσεβοῦντες προσκυνοῦσιν οἱ βασιλεῖς, πῶς ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτοὺς πεπιστευκότες, τὰς τοῦ ξῆν ἐκεῖθεν ἔχομεν ἀφορμάς; πλανᾶσθε, ἡγεμὼν, ὁ μέγας ἔφη χαρίτων, θεοὺς εἶναι λέγοντες, τὰ ὑπὸ χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων δεδημιουργημένα, καὶ λόγου παντὸς καὶ φρενῶν ὄντα καὶ αἰσθήσεως ἔρημα, περὶ ὧν καὶ ἡ θεία ἠμῶν ἔφη γραφή· ὅτι στόμα ἔχουσι, καὶ οὐ λαλήσουσιν, ὀφθαλμοὺς ἒχουσι καὶ οὐκ ὄψονται, ὦτα ἔχουσι καὶ οὐκ ἐνωτισθήσονται· οὐ δὲ γάρ ἐστι πνεῦμα ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν· ὅμοιοι αὐτοῖς γένοιντο οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ, καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς. ἢ οὐκ ἀληθεύει ταῦτα οὕτω λέγουσα ἡ γραφή; πρόσθες γὰρ πῦρ ταῖς αὐτῶν, εἰ βούλει, πλευραῖς, ἢ ξίνῃ τὰ αὐτῶν κατευαγῆναι πρόσταξον σκέλη, καὶ εἴσῃ πάντως, εἰ μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχεις ὁμοίως, ὡς ἀναίσθητά εισι, καὶ οὐδὲ κινεῖσθαι ἢ φθέγγεσθαι τὸ παράπαν δυνάμενα.
[5] Τούτοις ὁ παράνομος ὑπατικὸς εἰς ὀργὴν κινηθεὶς, γυμνοῦσθαι τῆς ἐσθῆτος κελεύει τὸν ἅγιον, καὶ τετραχόθεν τεινόμενον, νευροῖς ἀφειδῶς τύπτεσθαι. εἶτα, ἔργῳ τούτου προβάντος, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ δικάζων· θύεις, ὦ Χαρίτων, τοῖς ἀθανάτοις θεοῖς, ἢ πλείονας ἐπενεχθῆναι βούλει τῷ σώματί σου πληγάς; οὔ, φησιν ὁ μάρτυς, οὐ θύσω τούτοις ἐγώ· εἰ γὰρ καὶ μυριάκις δυνατὸν ἦν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐμοῦ σωτῆρος ἀποθανεῖν, εἱλόμην ἂν προθύμως, ἢ τὴν αὐτοῦ θεότητα διαρνήσασθαι, καὶ δαίμοσιν ὀλεθρίοις θυσίαν προσενεγκεῖν. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον οὖν αὐτὸν τύπτεσθαι πάλιν τοῖς βουνεύροις ἐκέλευσεν, ὡς μικροῦ καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων ἅψασθαι τοὺς αἰκίζοντας. ἄφωνος τοίνυν ἐπὶ πολλὰς ὁ ἅγιος τὰς ὥρας μεμενηκὼς, καὶ τῶν δημίων ἀνενδότως ἐπαγόντων αὐτῷ τὰς πληγὰς, παύσασθαι τούτους ὁ μιαρὸς προσέταττεν ἄρχων, οὐ φειδοῦς τινὸς αὐτὸν ἀξιῶν· ποθεν; ἀλλ᾽ ὥστε μὴ θᾶττον ἀποθανόντα, τὰς μακροτέρας ἐκφυγεῖν τιμωρίας· καὶ δὴ τοῦτον οἱ ὑπηρετοῦντες ἐπωμισάμενοι, οὐδὲ γάρ οἷός τε ἦν οἰκείοις βαδίζειν πόσὶ, καὶ τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ ἐναποθέμενοι, δευτέρᾳ ταμιεύουσιν ἐξιτάσει. καὶ ἵνα συντόμως εἴπω, χρὴ γάρ συνελεῖν, πάλιν κατὰ τὸ δικαστήριον μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἑλκῶν ἄγεται θεραπείαν· καὶ κολακείαις πρότερον, εἶτα καὶ τιμῶν ὑποσχέσεσιν, ὥστε θῦσαι τοῖς εἰδώλοις, ὁ δεινότατος ἡγεμὼν ἐπείρα τούτου τὸ εὔτονον ὑπεκλύειν. ἐπεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς ἰσχυρότερος καὶ βασάνων καὶ θωπειῶν καταφαίνετο, καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ μυκτηρίζων λόγους, μειζόνων ἤ πρήτερον καὶ αὖθις κολάσεων πειραθεὶς, τῇ εἱρκτῇ σιδηρόδετος παραδίδοται.
[6] Οὐ πολὺ τὸ μέσον, καὶ ἀξίας, ὧν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ὁ θεομάχος ἐτόλμησε βασιλεὺς, δίκας εἰσπραχθεὶς, τὸν ἀνθρωπίνον ὁ κακὸς κακῶς ὑπέξεισι βίον. τί οὖν τὸ ἐντενθεν; ὁ τὰ σκῆπτρα τῆς Αὐριλιανοῦ τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς διαδεξάμενος βασιλείας, τῷ τοῦ προβεβασιλευκότος ὑποδείγματι σωφρονίζει, καὶ δείσας μήποτε τὰ αὐτὰ κατὰ Χριστιανῶν δρῶν, καὶ ταῖς αὐταῖς ὑπόδικος γένηται τιμωρίαις, τὸν κατὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν παύσασθαι διωγμὸν, κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐκέλευσεν ἐπαρχίαν. ἵνα δὲ μὴ, τέλει μαρτυρίου τοῦ θείου τούτου τελειωθέντος ἀνδρὸς, ζημιωθῶσι πολλοὶ τὴν μεγίστην. ζημίαν, διαμαρτόντες, ἧς ἀπολαύειν ἔμελλον, ὠφελείας, καὶ βίῳ τυπούμενοι παῤ αὐτοῦ, καὶ λόγοις εἰς ἀρετὴν προτρεπόμενοι, οἰκονομεῖταί τι παρὰ τῆς καλῶς πάντα διοικούσης προνοίας κοινωφελέστερον· καὶ τῶν μὲν δεσμῶν καὶ τῆς φρουρᾶς ὁ μάρτυς ἀνεῖται, βασιλικοῦ τοῦτο συγχωρήσαντος ἐπιτάγματος. ὥσπερ δὲ ἤδη νεκρωθεὶς τῷ βίῳ, καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ ζῆν ἐθέλων, εἰκαὶ τοῦ θανεῖν ἀφείθη διὰ Χριστὸν, τὰ ἐκείνου στίγματα ἐν τῷ σώματι τῷ ἑαυτοῦ περιφέρων, τὴν πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν ὁδεύειν ἄρχεται. καὶ τῆς μὲν στενῆς εὐθέως ἐπιλαμβάνεται, πειρασμοῖς δὲ κατὰ σκοπὸν περιβάλλεται· τοιγάρτοι καὶ πλησίον αὐτῆς γενόμενος, ἑτέροις περιπίπτει διώκταις, τῶν προλαβόντων εἰς κακίαν ἐνδέουσι παντελῶς οὐδέν· ἄνδρες γὰρ πονηροὶ καὶ ἀτίθασσοι, καὶ παιδιᾶς μέρος, τὸ σφαγίαζειν ἀνθρώπους τιθέμενοι, κἀυταῖς ὁδοῖς τοὺς παριόντας λωποδυτοῦντες, ἐπεὶ τὸν ἅγιον μόνον ἴοντα κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐθεάσαντο, εἴ τι μὲν ἐφοδίων χάριν ἐπήγετο, τὸ τάχος ἀφείλοντο· ἄμφω δὲ τὰ χεῖρε εἰς τ᾽οπίσω δεσμήσαντες, καὶ κλοιῷ σιδηρῷ τὸν ἐκείνου περιβαλόντες τράχηλον,
ὥστπερ τι θήραμα θῆρες ἄγριοι εἰς τὸ ἑαυτῶν ἀπήγαγον ἄντρον. πάλαι μὲν οὖν ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατηγορεῖτο πληθὺς, ὡς ληστῶν σπήλαιον τὀν ἱερὸν ἐκεῖνον πεποιηκυῖα ναὸν, τὸ δὲ νῦν ἔμπαλιν πεπραγμένον ἐστὶ· τὸ γὰρ τῶν ληστῶν τουτὶ σπήλαιον ἐκκλησίαν Θεοῦ παῤ αὐτοῦ γενόμενον ὄψει· ὅπως δὲ καὶ τίνα τὸν τρόπον, τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ λόγου δηλώσει σαφῶς.
[7] Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ ἔφημεν, οἱ ἀλλάστορες δέσμιον ἐν τῷ δηλωθέντι ἤδη σπηλαίῳ καταλιπόντες τὸν ἅγιον, ὦδε καὶ ὦδε περὶ τὰς λεωφόρους, ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς, περιήεσαν, εἴπου καὶ ἀλλοις τῶν ὁδοιπόρων τὸ σύνηθες αὐτοῖς κακὸν ἔσονται. ὁ δὲ πρῶτα μὲν εὐχὰς ἀπεδίδου, καὶ ὡμολόγει θεῷ χάριτας, ἡδέως ὐπομένων τὰ λυπηρὰ δὶα τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐλπιζομένων ἀντίδοσιν. ἔπειτα καὶ τῷ τοιαῦτα τεχνασαμένῳ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ πονηρῷ δαίμονι οὑτωσί πως ἀνδρικώτατα διελέγετο· ὡς δειλιῶντά με τὴν τοῦ θανάτου πεῖραν τοῖς ἀνδροφόνοις τούτοις φέρων παρέδοκας, ὦ μιαρὲ, ἢ ὡς τὴν ἐμὴν κωλύσων εἰς ἔργον προσελθεῖν πρόθεσιν; εἰ μὲν οὖν τὸ πρῶτον, αὐτά σε πείθει τὰ πράγματα, ὡς ἐγὼ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ Χάριν ἀγαθὴν ἔχων φρουρὸν, παντὸς θανάτου καταφρονῶ· εἰ δὲ τὸ κωλύσαι με τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ ζῆσαι κατὰ Χριστὸν, ἀνύσεις τὸ παράπαν οὐδὲν, αὐτοῦ βουλομένου. βούλεται δὲ πάντως, ἐπεὶ καὶ χαίρει βίου καὶ ψυχῆς ὀρῶν κάθαρσιν, ἵν᾽ ἔχοι πρόφασιν, ἀγαθὸς ὢν, ἀγαθὰ παρέχειν τοῖς φιλαρέτοις. ἀλλὰ τούτων ὦδε παῤ αὐτοῦ λεγομένων, ἕχις τῶν σκευῶν τινι προσερπύσασα, ὅπερ οἴνου μεστὸν ἦν, καὶ εἰς κόρον ἐμφορηθεῖσα, εἶτα κατὰ τοὺς πονηροὐς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κακῷ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ἀμειβομένη, καὶ ἰὸν ἀντιδοῦσα τῆς πόσεως, ἀπηλλάττετο. οἱ λησταὶ δὲ οἴκοι καταλαβόντες, ἅτε δίψει κατειλεμμένοι, σπῶσι μὲν εὐθέως τοῦ ἀκράτου, θνήσκουσι δὲ ὁμοῦ, καὶ οὗτως οἱ κακοὶ τῷ κακῷ τιμωροῦνται· καὶ πολλῶν ἠδικημένων ἐκδίκησιν ἡ θεία δίκη ποιεῖ. ἐντεῦθεν τὸ τῶν μιαρῶν ἐκείνων ληστῶν καταγώγιον, ὅπερ ἐπηγγειλάμην εἰπεῖν, ναὸς Θεοῦ ἅγιος γίνεται, ὅς ἡ παλαιὰ νῦν ἐκκλησία κατονομάζεται, καὶ πρὸς τῇ εὐαγεστάτῃ λάυρᾳ, τῇ λεγομένῃ φάρος, διάκειται, ἣ ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου Χαρίτωνος τὴν σύστασιν ἔσχεν. ὅρα δὲ καὶ ταῦτα, πῶς καλὴν εὗρε καὶ θαυμαστὴν τὴν οἰκονομίαν. τί γὰρ γίνεται, καὶ ὅποι τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν πρόεισιν;
A grave persecution of the Christians under Aurelian: There was a time when impiety, like a kind of whirling darkness, poured out its shadows over all the holy churches of God, and, after the manner of a most grievous storm, the tumult of the persecutors confounded the minds of the faithful, and, no otherwise than a wave, their uprising overwhelmed not a few Christians in the deep of impiety. For when Aurelian, a minister most truly akin to Satan, had taken up the sceptres of the Roman empire, at first indeed, although he was a most ardent worshipper of images, he yet in no way forbade the Christians a to adore the true God. Afterwards, when the demons who were worshipped by him had suggested it to him, all who confessed Christ as God, after he had afflicted them with very many and most bitter punishments, he also grievously deprived of life, either killing them with the sword, or handing them over to beasts, or to fire, or even hanging most heavy stones upon them and so sending them into the deep of the sea. Then in every city and region that obeyed his rule, setting up the impious edict in the market-place, he exhorted men diligently to carry out what had been commanded. It was possible, therefore, to see, just as if a pack of wolves had rushed upon a great flock, the sheep of the true Shepherd scattered hither and thither. For whosoever had first read that impious edict publicly set forth b, some indeed consulted their safety by flight; others, first shutting themselves up in their inner chambers, then fled under cover of night; others, suddenly seized in their very house, were led to prison; others, when they had not even endured the first interrogations (O destruction that ruins the soul!), enslaved themselves to error, loving, like Demas, the world that now is, and abjuring Christ without any peril; others, having strengthened their souls with a zeal for godliness, came of their own accord to the judge, saying that they were prepared to bear all torments, and so to depart from life by violence rather than to fall away from faith in Christ.
[3] The Saint is arrested at Iconium and interrogated. Then, then also, when this edict had been announced in the city of Iconium in the province of Lycaonia c — which indeed was the native place of Chariton — since this great Man, enlightened by the commandments of the Saviour, was famous among all, he is at once seized and led to the tribunal of the governor of the empire. But let us hear with how great confidence the Saint spoke when he was interrogated d. What then does the governor do? First he asked what was his name, and what his religion. But after he understood that he was a Christian, and held the first place in the city: Why is it, he said, O thou, that, opposing the sentence and decree of the emperor, thou art wholly unwilling to sacrifice to the immortal gods? Because they are not gods, O consular, answered the noble Martyr of Christ, your gods, but evil demons, as the divine oracles say: All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens. And elsewhere: Let the gods that have not made heaven and earth perish. They therefore persuade you, who do not approve, as the Apostle says, to have God in your knowledge, to esteem them gods for two causes: namely, that they themselves may be glorified by this appellation (for, being full of arrogance, they delight to be honoured as gods), and that they may draw you, whom they have deceived, into the fire prepared for themselves, which is not extinguished e. The governor said: I ought indeed to be indignant, and forthwith to inflict on thee the last punishment, who hast so insulted the all-powerful gods: but since they are mild and not prone to anger, I too, imitating them for the present, suggest that thou do what is to thy profit. And that is, that, leaving long speeches aside, thou offer sacrifice to the gods. For so it will be permitted thee to win praise from the emperor.
[4] If indeed these deaf and lifeless things are gods, answered the Servant of Christ, he freely professes the faith, thou dost not well, O consular, in bearing lightly the insults with which we affect them. But if they are not gods, as in truth they are not, thou threatenest rashly, and thou actest unjustly in vain. For no peril shall overcome me, nor shall anything at all persuade me to forsake the living God and to venerate wicked and envious demons. For I too am a disciple of Thecla, who, like a light in this city of the Iconians, shines with the splendours of martyrdom: and of Paul f, the great herald of truth, who instructed her also, and equipped her for undertaking the contests for Christ's sake. And therefore I too say with him this day: Who shall separate me from the charity of God? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or peril, or the sword, or any other of all these things? The governor said: If they are not gods, as thou sayest, whom the pious emperors adore, how do we, who believe in them, have thence the occasion of our life? You err, O governor, says the great Chariton, in calling those things gods which have been fabricated by the hands of men, and which lack all reason, sense and wisdom. Of which our divine Scripture also says: They have a mouth, and shall not speak: they have eyes, and shall not see. They have ears, and shall not hear: neither is there any breath in their mouth. Let them that make them become like unto them, and all that trust in them. Does not the Scripture speak truly when it puts forth these things? Bring fire, if thou wilt, to their sides, or bid their legs be broken with an axe, and thou shalt know altogether — unless thou too art in like case — that they are endowed with no sense, and cannot move or speak at all.*
[5] Moved to anger by these things, the unjust consular orders the Saint to be stripped of his garment, and endures various torments for it; and, stretched out in four directions, to be cruelly beaten with sinews. Then, when this had been carried into effect, the judge says to him: Wilt thou sacrifice, O Chariton, to the immortal gods, or dost thou wish more stripes to be inflicted on thy body? No, says the Martyr, I will not sacrifice to them. For if it were possible that I should die a thousand times for my Saviour, I would gladly undertake it with a ready and eager mind, rather than deny his Divinity and offer sacrifice to deadly demons. So long, therefore, did he order him to be beaten again with ox-sinews, that those who tortured him almost touched his entrails. When therefore the Saint had remained speechless for many hours, the lictors in no way slackening in inflicting the stripes, the wicked governor bids them cease, not because he judged that he should be spared (for how so?), but lest by a swifter death he should escape longer punishments. And when those who served had lifted him upon their shoulders (for it was not possible for him to walk on his own feet) and had laid him in prison, they reserve him for a second examination: and, to say it in few words (for the matter must be brought into a small compass), he is again brought down to worship the gods after the manner of the heathen g. And first by flatteries, then also by promises of honours, that he might sacrifice to the images, the most crafty governor tried to break down his constancy. But after the Martyr of Christ was seen to be superior both to torments and to flatteries, and to deride what he said, when he had been afflicted with greater punishments than before h, and his breast had been burned with torches, he is again bound with iron and delivered to custody.
[6] but at length let out of prison, he thereafter falls among robbers, No long time intervened, and, paying the deserved penalties for what he had dared against the Christians, the wicked emperor departed from human life. What follows next? He who took up the sceptres of the impious Aurelian i is chastened by the example of him who had reigned before: and fearing lest, doing the same things against the Christians, he too should become liable to the same punishments, he ordered the persecution against the Christians to cease throughout all the provinces. But lest, this divine Man being consummated by the end of martyrdom, many should receive the greatest loss, being deprived of the profit they were to obtain, being formed by his life and stirred to virtue by his words, something more useful is provided by that providence which rightly disposes all things. And the Martyr indeed is loosed from his chains and his custody, the emperor's command granting this. But as though he had already been put to death, and willing to live to Christ alone, even though he was released from undergoing death for Christ, and bearing about his stigmata in his own body, he begins to enter upon the journey to the holy city. And he straightway enters the narrow way: but he falls into temptations which hindered his purpose. For when he was not far distant from it, he fell among other persecutors, who yielded nothing at all to the former in wickedness. For they were men evil and savage, who either despoiled on the road those who came near, or counted it sport to kill men k; and when they had seen the Saint going alone along the way, whatever provision for the journey he was carrying, that they quickly took away: then
having bound him by both hands, and cast an iron collar about his neck, those savage beasts carried him off into their cave as a kind of prey. And of old indeed the people of the Jews were accused of having made that sacred temple a den of robbers: but in the present case the matter stands the other way. For thou shalt see that this den of robbers was made by him a church of God. And in what manner, we shall show hereafter.
[7] and being led into the cave, he is wonderfully delivered from them. But those wicked men, when they had left the Saint bound in the said cave, went about the public roads hither and thither, as was their custom, if perchance they might bring their accustomed destruction upon travellers. But he first poured out prayers and gave thanks to God, gladly taking up his troubles for the sake of that reward which is hoped for thence: then he addresses also, most bravely, the malignant demon who had contrived these things against him, thus: Hast thou delivered me to these murderers, O wicked one, as though I feared the peril of death? Or in order to hinder my purpose from coming to effect? If the first, then, having the good grace of God for my keeper, I altogether despise death; but if it be to hinder me from my desire of living according to Christ, thou shalt effect nothing at all, if he wills it: and he wholly wills it, since he rejoices to see the purging of life and soul, and that he may have occasion, being good, to bestow good things on those who are zealous for virtue. But while these things were being so said by him, a viper, creeping into a certain vessel which was full of wine, was filled to satiety: then, no otherwise than evil men, returning evil for a benefit and repaying the draught with venom, it withdrew. But the robbers, when they had returned home, being oppressed with thirst, straightway drink the unmixed wine, and die together: and so the evil are punished by evil, and for the many who had been wronged the divine justice takes deserved penalties upon them. Thereupon the dwelling of those execrable robbers, as I promised to tell, becomes a holy temple of God, which is now called the Ancient church, and is situated near the most holy Laura which is called Pharus l, founded by this great Chariton. But see how beautiful and admirable a dispensation these things too have found. For what happens, and whither do his affairs proceed?
ANNOTATIONS.
In Greek, us*.
CHAPTER II
The Saint's anchoretic life: the construction of three lauras: an entirely solitary dwelling in a cave: admonitions given to his disciples: his devout death.
Ἤλω ταῖς ἀνόμοις τῶν κακούργων χερσὶν, ὡς ἤδη φθάσαντες ἐδηλώσαμεν, τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα φερούσης λυσιτελῶς εἴργεται, αἰχμαλώτου δίκην ἐπὶ τὸ σπήλαιον ἄγεται, παρατάσσεται τοῖς μιαιφόνοις, οὐκ αἰσχμὴν, οὐκ ἀσπίδα, οὐ βέλος, οὐκ ἕτερόν τι τῶν ἀμυντηρίων ἐπαγόμενος ὅπλων, εὐχαῖς δὲ ἁγίαις, καθάπερ κατὰ τῶν ἀμαληκιτῶν Μωυσῆς, εἰκαὶ μὴ ἐκτάσει χειρῶν, οὗτος ἐδέδετο γὰρ, ἰσοδυνάμον δὲ καὶ τὸ εὐήκοον ἐπ᾽ ἴσης ἐχούσαις βάλλει τοὺς παλαμναίους, οἷόν τισι βέλεσι, τῷ τῆς ἐχίδνης ἰῷ. εἴτα τί; τῶν, οἷς μὲν ἐκρατεῖτο, δεσμῶν αὐτομάτως λύεται· διάδοχος δὲ τῶν κακῶς συνειλεγμένων χρημάτων γίνεται· οἰκονομεῖ ταῦτα καλῶς, καὶ ὑπουργος θείας ἐντολῆς δείκνυται· ἔνια μέν πτωχοῖς, καὶ τοῖς ἐπ᾽ ἐρημίας πατράσι· σπάνιοι δὲ οὗτοι καὶ ἀριθμῷ βραχεῖς καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ κατὰ τὰς τοῦ διωγμοῦ ἡμέρας τὴν ἔρημον τῆς ἐνεγκαμένης φειδοῖ τῶν διωκόντων ἑλόμενοι, οἵ καὶ σποράδην ἐν τοῖς τοῦ καλαμῶνος δίετριβον σπηλαίοις, ἐγγύς που τῆς νεκρᾶς θαλάσσης διακειμένου· τοῖς δέγε λοιποῖς τῶν χρημάτων τὴν ἤδη μνημονευθεῖσαν ἱεράν λαύραν οἰκοδομεῖ, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν ἁγιωτάτην αὐτῆς ἐκκλησίαν, ἥν ὁ θεῖος ἐγκαινίζει Μακάριος, τῆς ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις τότε θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας διἳθύνων τοὺς οἴακας, ὅς καὶ τοῦ ἐν νικαίᾳ συνελθόντος εὐσεβοῦς ἐτύγχανε καταλόγου.
[9] Ἐν τῷδε τοιγαροῦν τῷ σπηλαίῳ ἡσυχάζειν ἑλόμενος ὁ μακάριος, δῆλός τε πᾶσι διὰ τῆς θαυμάτων γινόμενος, πλῆθος ἀριθμοῦ κρεῖττον Ελλήνων τε καὶ Ἰουδαίων τὸ σωτήριον δέξασθαι βάπτισμα ποιεῖ· καὶ οὐ μέχρι τούτου στῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τόν μονήρη βίον ἑλέσθαι παρασκεύαζει. οὐ θαύμασι δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ βίῳ πολλοὺς ἐφείλκετο· θαῦμα γὰρ ἦν ἐκεῖνον ὁρᾶν, τοσαύτῃ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ θεὸν πολιτείαν χρώμενον τῇ σπουδῇ, καὶ τρυφὴν μὲν ἡγούμενον τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, πλοῦτον δὲ τὸ μηδὲν κεκτῆσθαι· χαμευνίαν δὲ καὶ τὸ πάννυχον οὕτω στέρξαντα, ὡς μηδὲν πλέον ἔχειν ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς φιλοζώους. οἵ παῤ ὅλην νύκτα στρωμναῖς ἁπαλαῖς ἐπὶ κλινῶν καθεύδουσι τῶν ἐλεφαντίνων, τῷ τρυχίνῳ δὲ ἐνδύματι τῷ τοὺς ἱεροὺς αὐτοῦ πιέζοντι μώλωπας ἠδόμενον μᾶλλον, ἢ οἱ τὰς μαλακάς ἐσθῆτας ἐνδεδυμένοι. ἡ γὰρ τῆς αἰωνίου μακαριότητος ἐλπὶς ἅπαντα πόνον ρἇον φέρειν αὐτὸν ἀνέπειθεν. ἐλεήμων ἦν, συμπαθὴς, φιλόξενος, ἥπιος, ἥσυχος, εὐπρόσιτος πᾶσι, διδασκαλικὸς, λόγον ἔχων πολλῷ πλέον οἴνου τὰς τῶν ἀκροατῶν εὐφράινοντα καρδίας. ὅθεν ποταμοῦ δίκην τοῦ λαοῦ παντὸς ὡς * αὐτὸν ρἕοντος, καὶ πόλιν ὥσπερ τῇ πολυοχλίᾳ τῆν ἔρημον ἐπίδειξαμένων, ἑωρακὼς ἑαυτὸν ὁ μακάριος ἐκ τοῦ ἐντεῦθεν γινομένου θορύβου τῆς φίλης ἀπαγόμενον ἡσυχίας, ἄλλως τε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων δόξαν φεύγειν ἐσπουδακὼς, ἤδει γὰρ ὅτι χαλεπὴ αὕτη συγχέαι κόσμον ψυχῆς, ἐπισκήπτει μὲν περὶ πάντων τοῖς φοιτηταῖς, ὅσα δὴ καταστάσει προσήκει μοναχικῇ, καιρόν τε τροφῆς διατάξας, ὅσπερ ἐστὶ ληγούσης ἡμέρας, καὶ τὸ μὴ πρὸς κόρον ἐσθίειν, ἀλλὰ ζητούσης ἔτι γαστρὸς πάυασθαι, εἶναι δὲ τὴν τροφὴν ἄρτον μόνον, καὶ τοὺς ἅλας ἡδύσματος χώραν, ἀποπληροῦντας, τὸ δὲ ποτὸν ὕδωρ, καὶ αὐτὸ, μετρῳ καὶ φειδοῖ λαμβανόμενον.
[10] Εἶτα καὶ περὶ ψαλμωδίας καὶ προσευχῆς ἐντειλάμενος, ἡμερινῆς ἅμα καὶ τῆς ἐν νυκτὶ γινομένης, μισεῖν τε ἀργίαν ὡς πολλῶν αἰτίαν κακῶν, ἔργον δὲ ταῖς χερσὶ διδόναι, τοῖς ἱεροῖς ψαλμοῖς καταδόμενον. εἰ δέ τις λογισμὸς φαῦλος, οἷόν τι ζιζάνιον, παρὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ πάντων ἐχθροῦ ἐν τῇ τῆς καρδίας ἐνσπαρῆ γῇ, νηστείᾳ τοῦτο καὶ προσευχῆς ἐπιμόνου ξίφει ταύτης ἐκτέμνειν, ἵνα μὴ χώραν σχοίῃ τὸν πικρὸν τῆς ἡδυπαθείας γεωργῆσαι καρπόν. ᾦδε γὰρ ἂν μᾶλλον ἁρμόσει τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι τουτὶ τὸ γένος οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ νηστεία ἐξώσει καὶ προσευχή. πρὸς τούτοις ἐδίδασκε μὴ δεῖν τὰς προόδους συνεχεῖς ποιεῖσθαι, ἡσυχίᾳ δὲ χαίρειν, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ μητρὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν οὔσῃ, καὶ ὀφθαλμῶν ψυχῆς λήμην ἐπιτηδείως καταίρειν ἐχούση. οὐδὲ τοὺς περὶ φιλανθρωπίας λόγους ἀφῆκεν ἀμνημονεύτους· ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς ἐπιμελὲς ἔσχεν,
ἅ προσῆκεν, εἰπεῖν. ἔφη γὰρ· εἰ δυνατὸν, μηδένα τῶν τῇ θύρᾳ προσιόντων κεναῖς ἀποπέμπειν χερσὶ, μήποτε καὶ λάθοιτε Χριστὸν παραδόντες, ἐνὸς τῶν ἐνδεῶν ὄψιν ὑποκριθέντα.
[11] Οὕτως εἰπὼν, καὶ ἕνα τῶν μαθητῶν ἐκλεξάμενος, βίῳ τε τῶν ἄλλων διενεγκόντα καὶ ἱκανὸν ὄντα προστασίαν ἀδελφῶν πιστευθῆναι, τούτῳ μετὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων φοιτητῶν γνώμης τὴν ἄρχην ἐγχειρίζει. Αὐτὸς δὲ τῆς λαύρας ἐξήει, πολλὰ μὲν δάκρυα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀφιέντων τῶν μοναχῶν, καὶ μένειν αὐτὸν ἀξίουντων, αὐτοῦ δὲ εἴκοντος οὐδενὶ, ἅτε πρὸς μόνον τὸ λυσιτελὲς βλέποντος. Εἰ γὰρ ἐνθένδε, φησὶν, ὦ τέκνα, μεταναστεύσω, μηδενὸς ἐνταῦθα φοιτῶντος, καὶ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἐπιταράττοντος, ἀμφοτέροις ἕξει καλῶς. ρἇον γὰρ ἐγώ τε, ὁ ὑμέτερος κατὰ πνεῦμα πατὴρ, καὶ ὑμεῖς, οὕς ἐν Χριστῷ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐγέννησα, οἷόν τισι σίμβλοις, ταῖς κέλλαις γαληνίως ἐναυλιζόμενοι, μελιττῶν δίκην, τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς μέλι καρποφορήσομεν. Ἅπαντάς οὖν ἐν φιλήματι περιελθὼν ἁγίῳ εὐλογήσας τε, καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ παραθέμενος, ὁδοῦ εἴχετο. Καὶ μιᾶς διανύσας ἡμέρας ὁδὸν, ἑτέρῳ προσβάλλει σπηλαίῳ, κατὰ μὲν τὰ ἐριχούντια μέρη διακειμένῳ, ἐρήμῳ δὲ ὄντι, καὶ ἡσυχίαν ὡς μάλιστα παρέχειν ἐπιτηδείῳ. Χρόνον τοίνυν ἐκεῖσε διατρίψας συχνὸν, καὶ βοτανῶν ταῖς ἐπιτυχούσαις εἰς τροφὴν χρώμενος, θεῷ μόνῳ, καθὼς θεῷ φίλον, ζῶν διετέλει. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ Θεὸς αὐτὸν φανεροῖ, καὶ δῆλον τὸν κεκρυμμένον αὖθις καθίστησι. Φανεροῖ δὲ δι᾽ ὧν ἐτέλει θαυμάτων. νόσοι γὰρ ἀπηλαύνοντο δι᾽ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάθη σωμάτων ἅμα καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν, καὶ τούτων δὲ μᾶλλον, ὅσω δὴ καὶ πολλάκις τῶν σωματικῶν αὐτὰ καθέστανται πρόξενα. Τοιγαροῦν πολλῶν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ θεραπείας ἐξιωθέντων, καὶ τὸν ἐκείνου βίον ζηλῶσαι προῃρημένων, ἕτερον οἰκοδομεῖ καὶ ὦδε τῶν ἀρετῶν οἰκητήριον. Ὅπερ ἐλπίδιος μὲν ἐπλάτυνεν ὕστερον, ἀνὴρ τοῖς ἀσκητικοῖς μάλα κατορθώμασι διαπρέψας. Δοῦκα δὲ αὐτὸν προσηγόρευον τῷ δοῦκα τινὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς τῆσδε λαύρας προίστασθαι, καὶ τὰς ἐπηρείας εἴργειν, τὰς κατ᾽ αὐτῆς, ἅς Ἑβραῖοι τότε οἱ τὸν νοερὸν, οὕτω καλούμενον, οἰκοῦντες χωρίον, πολὸν ὠδινοντες τὸν φθόνον, ἐπῆγον.
[12] Ἐπεὶ οὖν κἀνταῦθα πολλῶν προσιόντων, τὰ τῆς ἡσυχίας αὐτῷ διεκόπτετο, διαταξάμενος καὶ αὐτοῖς, καὶ εἰπὼν ὡς προσῆκε ζῆν τοὺς ψυχῆς ἐπιμελομένους, γνωρίσας δὲ καὶ τὸν προσησόμενον, αὐτόθεν πάλιν ἀναχωρᾶ, καὶ εἰς ἕτερον τῆς ἐρήμου μέρος ἐπιφοιτᾶ τέσσαρσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς δέκα σταδίοις, καὶ μικρῷ πλέον ἤ ἔλαττον, τοῦ θεκώων, οὕτω λεγομένου, διεστηκὼς κτήματος οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν τὰς οἰκήσεις ὁ τοῦ κόσμου σωτὴρ ἀμείβειν ἐποίει, τί βουλόμενος, καὶ τί ἅρα θεῖον ὀνκονομῶν; ἐκεῖνον μὲν γνώριμόν τε καὶ καταφανῆ πᾶσι ποιῶν, τοὺς δέγε πρὸς αὐτὸν φοιτῶντας, ἕλληνες δὲ τούτων οἱ πλείους ἐτύγχανον, τοῦτο μὲν εἰς ψυχῆς κάθαρσιν ἐνάγων, τοῦτο δὲ, καὶ μᾶλλον, πρὸς τὴν εἶς αὐτὸν πίστιν δι᾽ ἐκείνου χειραγωγῶν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ αὖθις ἀδελφῶν συναγειρομένων, οἵ τῇ τοῦ κόσμου μὲν, ὡς ἄν εἴποι τις, ἀπετάττοντο ἀκοσμίᾳ, θεῷ δὲ καὶ τοῖς κατὰ θεὸν ζῶσιν εὐλαβῶς συνετάττοντο· ἤκουσαν γὰρ τοῦ Θείου τουτου καὶ ἱεροῦ ρἥματος· ἀγαθὸν ἀνδρι ὅταν ἄρῃ ζυγὸν ἐκ νεότητος αὐτοῦ, καθίσῃ τε καταμόνας, εἰς ἔργον αὐτοῖς τὸ κατὰ νοῦν ἐξέμαινε. Διὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἑτέραν ὁ θαυμαστὸς οὗτος χαρίτων, ἥνπερ ἔνιοι μὲν τῇ Σύρᾳ γλώττῃ σουκὰν ὀνομάζουσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν παλαίαν λαύραν ἀποκαλοῦσιν.
[13] Αλλ᾽ ἧκεν ἡμῖν κατὰ βραχύ βαδίζων ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τὸ τελευταῖον μὲν τῇ τάξει, πρῶτον δὲ τῇ δυνάμει, καὶ τῷ μεγαλείῳ τοῦ θαύματος. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ, ὡς οὐδενὸς ἄλλου, ἐφρόντιζεν ἡσυχίας, μὴ ἀγνοῶν ὅσα πρὸς ἀρετὴν αὕτη δύναται συντελεῖν, σπήλαιόν τι καταμαθὼν ἐπί τινος ὄρους κρημνώδους καὶ ἀποτόμου κείμενον, οὐ πόῤῥω δὲ τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης λαύρας ἀφεστηκὸς, ὃ τὸ κρεμαστὸν εἰς δεῦρο καλεῖται, βάσιμον γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλως, εἰ μὴ κλίμακι τῷ βουλομένῳ γίνεται, τοῦτο ὁ γενναῖος οἰκεῖ. χρόνου δὲ διελθόντος συχνοῦ, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν γήρα, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τοῖς μακροῖς τῆς ἀσκήσεως πόνοις ἐνδεδωκότος αὐτῷ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ οὐχ οἵου τε ὄντος ἑαυτῷ λειτουργεῖν, καὶ ὕδωρ μετακομίζειν, αὐτὸς μὴ βουλόμενος πάλιν ἑτέρῳ ἐπιτρέψαι τὴν λειτουργίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ φορτικὸς δοκεῖν διαφεύγων, τί ποιεῖ; Θεοῦ δεῖται τοῦ τὰ ἀδύνατα δινατὰ ποιεῖν δυναμένου, καὶ πέτρα πάλιν, οὐχὶ ρἅβδῳ, ἀλλ᾽ εὐχῇ παταχθεῖσα, ὕδωρ ἀφίησιν, οὐκ ἀπειθεῖ λαῷ καὶ ἀνόμῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐπειθεῖ λίαν καὶ Θεοῦ νόμοις εἴκοντι· ἐκ μιᾶς γὰρ τοῦ ἄντρου πλευρᾶς ὕδωρ εὐθὺς ἔβλυσε ψιχρότατόν τε καὶ διειδέστατον, ὅ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο μένει, οὐ δίψαν ἁπλῶς ἰώμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μαρτύριον ἀκριβὲς γινόμενον, ἧς εἶχε χαρίτων πρὸς θεὸν οἰκειώσεως.
[14] Τί ἔτι; τὴν τῆς ἐκδημίας τοῦ σώματος ἡμέραν, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸς θεὸν ἐκδημίαν, οὕτω γὰρ εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, ἐκ θείας ἀποκαλίψεως ἐπὶ θύραις εἶναι διεγνωκὼς, ἅπαντας μὲν ὡς αὐτὸν καλεῖ τοὺς τῶν εἰρημένων τριῶν σεμνείων ποιμένας ἅμα καὶ ποίμνια, καὶ ἅπασιν ὁμοῦ τούτοις εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν παραγίνεται λαύραν φαρὰν, ἵνα δή τὸ πρῶτον ἀσκητικῶν ἀγώνων ἱδρῶτας ἔσταξεν· ὥσπερ δέ τινα κλῆρον αὐτοῖς ἀφιεὶς τὰς ἱερὰς αὐτοῦ ἐντολὰς, οὐ χρήματα καὶ πλοῦτον ἐπίκηρον προξενούσας, ἀλλ᾽ ὧν αὐτὸς ἧρα καλῶν τοῖς τῶν ὁμοίων ἐρῶσιν, οὐδέποτε φθείρεσθαι δυνατὸν, λόγων οὕτως ἐχόντων πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀρχεται· ἐγὼ μὲν, τέκνα, ἤδη πρὸς θεὸν ἐπείγομαι, καὶ ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἐμῆς ἐφέστηκεν ἀναλύσεως. Χρὴ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν οἰκείων θέσθαι ψυχῶν, ἔως ἐστι καιρὸς, εἰδότας ὅτι μετανοίας μετὰ θάνατον ἰσχὺς οὐδεμία· ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεὶ μὲν τῶν ἀντιδόσεων ὁ καιρὸς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τῶν πόνων καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων· καὶ ὅτι τῶν παρόντων κἂν τερπνὸν ᾖ τι, καὶ ὀφθαλμὸν εὐφραῖνον, ἢ φάρυγα· ἀλλὰ ταχέως ῥεῖ καὶ εἶς τὸ μὴ ὃν περιΐσταται· κἄν τι λυπηρὸν καὶ ἐπίπονον, καὶ αὐτὸ ταχὺ λυομένην ἔχει καὶ πρόσκαιρον τὴν ὀδύνην· τῶν μελλόντων δὲ καὶ τὸ εὐφραῖνον αἰώνιον, καὶ τὸ ἀλγῦνον ἀεί ποτε διαμένον.
[15] Πρῶτα μὲν οὖν ὑμῖν τὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑγιῶς ἐχέτωσαν καὶ βεβαίως, κινδύνῳ μηδενὶ σαλευόμενα· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ὁ βίος καθαρὸς ἔστω ἢ καθαιρέσθω· καὶ πρόγε πάντων ὁ τοῦ σώματος ἀγιασμὸς σπουδαζέσθω, ὥστε ναοῖς ἀμολύντοις οὖσιν ἐπιφοιτῆσαι τὸ καθαρὸν ὑμῖν πνεῦμα καὶ ἐνοικῆσαι, και τοῦ ἀγιασμοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς εὐωδίας τὴν ψυχὴν πληρῶσαι. Πονηρὸν ὀργὴ, καὶ θυμὸς, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο βλάπτειν τὸ φιλάδελφον δύναται. Ὑμῖν δὲ ἀλλὰ παντὶ τρόπῳ περιποιείσθω τὸ εἰρηνικόν τε καὶ ἥμερον. Εἰ δὲ καὶ συμβαίη ποτὲ ἀλλήλων μεταξὺ σκάνδαλον, μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ὑμῖν ὁ ἥλιος, οὕτως ἀφεγγῶς ἔχουσιν ἐκ τοῦ μίσους· ἀλλ᾽ ἀνακλητέον ὡς οἷόντε σπουδαίως τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης καλὸν, ὡς μὴ ἐξὸν τούτου χωρὶς τὸν νοητὸν ἰδεῖν ἥλιον· φαύλου δὲ λογισμοῦ ὑμετέραις ἐνσπάρεντος ψυχαῖς, ἐπιμελὲς ὑμῖν γινέσθω τάχιον αὐτὸν ἐξωθεῖν· οὕτω γὰρ εὐχερεστέρῳ πρὸς τὴν ἐκβαλὴν χρήσεσθε· καὶ γὰρ ὅσῳπερ ἄν πλέον παραμένειν ἐῶτο, τοσούτῳ καὶ πλείονα παρέξει τὰ πράγματα, καὶ δυσμαχώτερος ἔσται τῷ καταγωνίσασθαι βουλομένῳ. ὅπλα δὲ ὑμῖν ἔστω πρὸς τὸν αὐτοῦ πόλεμον, νηστεία, προσευχὴ, δάκρυα, μνήμη τε θανάτου καὶ γεέννης· καὶ τὸ πάντων ἰσχυρότατόν τε καὶ φοβερώτατον τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, ἡ μακαρία ταπείνωσις· ασφάλεια δὲ πρὸς τὸ μηδόλως τοῖς τοιούτοις ἁλίσκεσθαι λογισμοῖς, αἰσθήσεων φυλακὴ, καὶ πρόγε τῶν ἄλλων, ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ὤτων· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἐκείνοις ἡ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν εἴσοδος, καὶ ὁ διὰ τῶν θυρίδων εἰσιὼν ἡμῖν θάνατος.
[16] Κτῆμα πάντων τιμιώτατον οἷδα τὴν ἀσκησίαν, καὶ τοῦτο πλοῦτος τῷ εὐγενεῖ ὄντως καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐλευθέρῳ τὸ μηδεμιᾷ δεδέσθαι τῶν παρόντων ἐπιθυμίᾳ. Ἐπιμετρεῖ μέντοι τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τῷ σώματι χρείαν ὁ θεῖος Απόστολος. ἔχοντες, λέγων, διατροφὰς καὶ σκεπάσματα, τούτοις ἀρκεσθησόμεθα. δεινὸν ὑψηλοφροσύνη, καὶ, ὡς οὐδὲν ἄλλο, καθαιρεῖν δυνάμενον· ἣ πέφυκε μὲν, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ, πλούτῳ κατορθωμάτων ἕπεσθαι, εἶτα γίνεσθαι τούτου χαλεπὸν ἐκείνη ναυάγιον, ἀλλ᾽ ἕστηκε δεξιὰν ἡμῖν ὑποτείνων ὁ θεῖος πάλιν Απόστολος· καὶ τῷ ῥήματι, πολλὴν παρέχων τοῖς ὦτα ἔχουσι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν· ὁ γὰρ δοκῶν ἑστάναι, φησὶ, βλεπέτω μὴ πέσῃ. τὸ κρίνειν τὸν ἀδελφὸν εὐλαβητέον ὁπόση δύναμις· γέννημα γὰρ τοῦτο ψυχῆς ὑπεροπτικῶς ἐχούσης, καὶ, φαρισαικῶς, καὶ δικαιοῦν ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῆς τοῦ πλησίον κατακρίσεως βουλομένου. Αλλὰ σὺ τούτου ἀποστὰς, εἴ σοι φίλον χρίνειν, ἐγγύτατα σεαυτὸν ἔχων, μὴ διαλίποις ὅσαι ἡμέραι κρίνων τε καὶ ἀνακρίνων, καὶ ὡς ἄριστα διορθούμενος. Πρόχειρον εἰς ὑβριν θεραπευομένη γαστὴρ, καὶ τὸν θεραπευτὴν ἀθλίως ἀμειβομένη· πόνοις δὲ κάμτεται, καὶ νηστείᾳ δαμάζεται· καὶ ὡς θρασὺς ὕππος, τῶν ἀτάκτων εἴργεται σκιρτημάτων.
[17] Τῆς φιλοξενίας ὑμῖν οὐκ ἐπιληστέον· ξενίζοντες δὲ, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μετριοπαθῶς νίπτετε· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐντολὴ χριστοῦ, καὶ πρῶτος αὐτὸς δράσας, ἡμῖν ἔχεσται τοῦ ὁμοίου παρεκελεύσατο· ἔστι γὰρ οὐ θεραπευτικὸν τοῦ πλησίον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ χαλεπὸν νόσημα τῆς ψυχῆς, τὴν οἴησιν, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλό τι, θεραπεύειν δυνάμενον. πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἀλλὰ τοῦ ῥύπου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καθάρσια ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ σωτὴρ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐξεῦρε ψυχῶν, οἷον δάκρυα, στεναγμοὺς, συντριβὴν καρδίας, νηστείαν, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο φάρμακον τῆς φιλανθρώπου δέδεικται μετανοίας. ἀλλ᾽ ἐπίπονα καὶ καματηρὰ ταῦτα, κ᾽ὰν πολλὴν παρέχωσι τὴν ὠφέλειαν. ἕν δὲ οἶδα πάνυ μὲν ἄπονον, πάνυ δὲ καθάραι ῥύπον ψυχῆς ἰσχυρότατον. Τί τοῦτό ἐστι; τὸ ἀφιέναι τοῖς πταίσασι τὸ ἁμάρτημα· ὅπερ οὐ τῷ Θεῷ μόνον φίλον ἐστὶ, καὶ λύσιν ἀπ᾽ εἰκείνου τῶν ἡμετέρων πρεσβεύει κακῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμωρίας πολλάκις σφοδρότερον ἅπτεται τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος, καὶ δοῦλον ἀντ᾽ ἐλευθέρου τῷ συνεγνωκότι ποιεῖ· ᾗ δοκεῖ καὶ τοῖς θύραθεν, συγγώμη λέγουσι τιμωρίας κρείττων.
[18] Ταῦτα καὶ πολλὰ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα τοῖς φοιτηταῖς εἰρηκὼς, ἐπευξάμενός τε ψυχῆς σωτερίαν, καὶ εὐλογήσας αὐτους, ουδεμίαν νόσου λαβὼν αἴσθησιν, οὐδὲ ἀλγήσας τῶν μορίων τοῦ σώματος, ἀναπεσὼν ἔν τινι τῶν σκιμπόδων, ἀνῆκε μὲν τοὺς πόδας, ἀφῆκε δὲ τὴν μακαρίαν ψυχὴν, χαίρουσι χαίρουσαν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς αὐτὴν παραδοὺς ἀγγέλοις. Χερσί τε ἁγίαις, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν, τῷ τάφῳ παραπεμφθεὶς, εἰς τὴν ἄληκτον μεταβάινει ζωὴν. ἔνθα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη, λύπη καὶ στεναγμὸς, ἔνθα προσώπου πρὸ προσώπου τοῖς καθαροῖς τὴν καρδίαν ἡ τῆς θείας τριάδος ἐμφάνεια γίνεται· ἔνθα χαρά τε καὶ ἀγαλλίασις ἄρρητος. ἔνθα παράκλησις καὶ ἀνάπαισις τοῖς τῷ καλῷ προσιδρώσασιν ἀμπελῶνι, καὶ τὴν ἐπίπονον καὶ τραχεῖαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁδεύσασι. ἀλλὰ τοιοῦτον μὲν ἔσχε χαρίτων τὸ τῆς ζωῆς τέλος, οὐκ ἄδηλον δὲ, οὐδὲ πρὸ τοῦ θανάτου μηδὲν περὶ τούτου προγνούς τε καὶ προφθεγξάμενος,
ὥσπερ ἤδη καὶ φθάσαντες ἐγνωρίσαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐκταράττειν σάλου τάς ἐκκλησίας προμυηθεὶς ἀκριβέστατα.
[19] Ὅσα τοίνυν, ἀγαπητοὶ, τῶν ἐκείνου πράξεων καὶ θαυμάτων χρόνον τε καὶ λήθην ἠδυνήθη διαφυγεῖν, ταῦτα φιλοκάλοις ὑμῶν ἀκοαῖς παραδώκαμεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὀλίγον τὸ μεταξὺ τῆς Αὐρηλιανοῦ βασιλείας, καὶ μέχρι τήμερον τοῦ χρόνου διάστημα, ἐπεὶ καὶ παρ᾽ οὐδενὸς οὐδὲν ἐγγράφως καταλειφθὲν ἡμεῖς παρελάβομεν· ἐκ τοῦ σπανίζειν τὸν τότε χρόνον, οὐ μοναχῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ χριστιανῶν ἁπλῶς, καὶ τῷ φωτὶ σημειωθέντων τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως· πρὸς δὲ, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ὄντων κλονουμένων καθεκάστην τοῖς διωγμοῖς. εἴνα δέ εἰσιν, ὦν ἡμεῖς ἐνταῦθα τὴν μνήμην ἐποιησάμεθα, ἃ θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρες, καὶ φιλαλήθεις, παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς παραλαμβάνων, σωματικοῦ τέ, φημι, καὶ πνευματικοῦ, μέχρι καὶ ἡμῶν διεσώσαντο· εἰς δόξαν πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος, τῆς μιᾶς καὶ ὁμοουσίου θεότητος, ᾗ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα τιμή τε καὶ προσκύνησις, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Αμήν.
The Saint builds the laura of Pharan, Taken by the hands of wicked men, as we have already shown, he is profitably held back from the road which led to Jerusalem: he is led like a captive into the cave; he draws up his battle-line against those murderers, bringing no sword, no shield, no dart, nor any other arms with which he might avenge himself: but with holy prayers, as of old Moses against the Amalekites, though not with hands stretched out (for he was bound), yet with prayers that had the same force and could equally be heard, he strikes the wicked men, as with certain darts, by the venom of a viper. What then? Of his own accord he is loosed from the bonds by which he was held: and he becomes the heir of the money that had been ill gathered. But it is rightly distributed, and he himself becomes the minister of the divine precept, in that he distributed part to the poor and to the fathers who were living in the solitude. Now these were then rare and not very great in number a: they too in the time of persecution preferred solitude to their native land, and were living scattered in the caves of the reed-bed which is situated near the Dead Sea. And with the money that remained he builds the sacred laura b of which we made mention before. And besides this, its most holy church also, which the divine Macarius dedicates c, holding the helm of the Church of God which was then at Jerusalem, who also was one of the pious catalogue that assembled at Nicaea.
[9] which, fleeing the multitude, he commits to a superior after instructing them When therefore Chariton had determined to keep silence and quiet in this cave, and had become manifest to all through his miracles, he brings it to pass that an innumerable multitude of heathens and Jews receive holy baptism: and that they do not stop there, but choose also the monastic life. And not by miracles only, but also by his life, did he draw many. For it was a thing to marvel at, to see him give such zeal to leading a life according to Christ, and count continence for delights, and the possession of nothing for riches; and so to love sleeping on the ground and passing the night in psalmody, that he judged it no better with those who are lovers of life if they sleep the whole night on soft coverlets upon beds of ivory; and to take more delight in the hair-shirt that pressed upon his sacred weals than those who are clothed in soft garments. For the hope of eternal blessedness easily persuaded him to bear every labour. He was clement, merciful, hospitable, gentle, quiet, one to whom access lay easily open to all, having a speech which gladdened the hearts of his hearers more than wine. Wherefore, when all the people flowed to him like a river, and the multitude of the crowd in a manner made the solitude a city, the Blessed man, seeing himself drawn away by the tumult that arose thence from the solitude that was dear to him, and especially since he was zealous to flee the glory of men (for he knew that it has great force to confound the beauty of the soul), gives commands to all his disciples about the things that befit the monastic state, appointing the time for taking food, which indeed is at the close of the day: and that they should not eat to satiety, but should stop while the stomach still asks: and that the nourishment should be bread alone and salt, which should fill the place of seasoning; and the drink water, and that itself taken moderately and sparingly.
[10] Then, when he had given commands about psalmody and prayer, both by day and such as should be made by night, he bids them hate idleness with the monastic discipline, as the cause of many evils, and to give work to the hands, which is to be watered by the sacred psalms. But if any evil thought, like a kind of tare, has been sown by the common enemy of all in the ground of the heart, it must be cut out by fasting and by the sword of assiduous prayer, lest it take a place to bring forth the bitter fruit of pleasure. For thus will that word of Christ be fulfilled: This kind of demons nothing else shall expel but fasting and prayer. Moreover he taught that one ought not to go abroad assiduously d, but for the most part to rejoice in silence and quiet, which is the mother of the virtues, and fitly cleanses away e the rheum from the eyes of the soul. Nor indeed did he omit to make mention of kindliness: but of that too he was zealous to say what was fitting. For he said that no one, if it could be done, ought to be sent away empty-handed of those who come to the door, lest perchance they should unknowingly despise Christ, who takes upon himself f the person of the poor.
[11] When he had spoken thus, and had chosen one of his disciples who both excelled the others in life and was fit to be entrusted with the charge of the brethren, [he entrusts it to a superior. Where he had lived alone, he builds a second laura,] he commits the rule to him, with the consent of the other disciples also. But he himself goes out of the laura, the monks pouring many tears from their eyes and begging that he would stay, but he yielding to none, as one who looked to that alone which is profitable. For if, he says, O sons, I depart hence, no one coming hither and disturbing the quiet, it will be well for both. For more easily shall both I, your father in spirit, and you, whom I have begotten in Christ through the Gospel, dwelling tranquilly in your cells as in the cells of a hive, bring forth, after the manner of bees, the honey of virtue. When therefore he had given all a holy kiss, and had blessed them and commended them to Christ, he entered upon his journey. And when he had accomplished a journey of one day, he comes to another cave, which was situated in the parts of Jericho, and was deserted, and most fit for affording silence and quiet. And when he had spent a long time there, and used for nourishment such herbs as offered themselves, he lived continually to God alone, as was pleasing to him. But thus does God again disclose him, and make manifest anew the man who was hidden. And he makes him manifest by the miracles which he wrought. For diseases were driven out by him, and the ailments both of bodies and of souls together. And of these latter the more, since they often procure the ailments of the body. When therefore many had obtained healing from him, and had determined to imitate his life, here too he builds another dwelling of the virtues, which Elpidius g afterwards enlarged, a man renowned for his right deeds in the ascetic exercise. And they called him Duke, because he presided like a kind of duke over that sacred laura, and warded off the assaults that were made upon it, which indeed the Hebrews brought, who inhabited the estate called Noëron, being in travail with a great birth of envy.
[12] Since therefore here too, as many came to him, his quiet and silence was interrupted, then a third also near Thecoa, which was called Suca. when he had given constitutions to these monks as well, and had taught how they ought to live who have care of the soul, and had designated the man who was to preside, he withdraws hence again, and comes to another part of the solitude, which is distant fourteen stades, a little more or less, from the region h of the Thecoans. For so does the Saviour of the world make him change his dwellings: with what intent, and using what counsel? Making him indeed known and famous to all; and those who came to him (and of these many were heathen), leading them partly to purge their souls by baptism, partly leading them through him to the monastic life i. And when many brethren again were gathered, who renounced the world's uncleanness, so to speak (for they had heard this divine and sacred word: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth, and has sat apart), he proceeded to the work which was according to their mind. Therefore this admirable Chariton builds there yet another laura k: which some indeed in the Syrian tongue name Suca l, but others call by a Greek word the Old Laura.
[13] He dwells in a steep cave, and obtains a spring by his prayers: But our discourse, proceeding little by little, has come to that which is last indeed in order, but first in power and in the greatness of the miracle. For since he had a care for quiet and silence beyond any other thing, not being ignorant how much it could contribute to virtue, when he had learned that there was a certain cave m, situated indeed on a steep and precipitous mountain, but not far distant from this sacred laura, which even to this day is called Cremastos, that is, hanging (for none can approach it save by ladders), that excellent Man inhabits it. But when much time had passed, and his body had given way, partly through old age, partly through the long labours of his ascetic exercise, and he could neither serve himself nor fetch water, being himself unwilling to lay this service again upon another n, what does he do? He asks God, who can make what cannot be done to be done: and the rock again, struck not with a rod but with prayer, sends forth water — not to a disobedient and stubborn and wicked people, but to one very obedient and yielding to the laws of God. For out of one side of the cave there straightway gushed water most cold and most limpid, which remains even to this day, not merely allaying thirst, but being also a perfect testimony of the familiarity which Chariton had with God.
[14] foreknowing his death, he calls his disciples together and gives them excellent What more? When he had learned by divine revelation that his departure from the body, or rather his coming to God (for so it is more fitting to speak), was at the doors, he summons to himself all the pastors together with the flocks of the said three monasteries, and together with all these comes to the sacred laura called Pharus, where he first distilled the sweats of the contests of his ascetic exercise. And leaving them as a kind of inheritance his most sacred precepts, which procured not money and momentary wealth, but those good things which he himself loved, never to perish for those who love the like, he begins to speak thus: I indeed, O sons, am now hastening to God, and the time of my dissolution is come. It behoves you therefore, of your own
souls, to take care while there is time, knowing that after death there is no force in repentance, but that there is the time of rewards, and here the time of labours and contests: and that of things present, whether there be anything pleasant which delights the eyes or the throat, that flows away quickly and is reduced to nothing; or whether it be troublesome and laborious, that too has a pain which is dissolved and is only for a time: but of things to come, both that which delights is eternal, and that which afflicts remains always.
[15] about ordering their life rightly And first of all let your faith be right and firm, tottering by no peril: then let your life also be pure, or be purified. And before all things let the sanctification of the body be your care, that he who is pure may come to you as to undefiled temples and dwell in them, and fill the soul with his sanctification and with a good odour. Anger is an evil thing, and whatever else can hurt the love of the brethren. But let peace and gentleness be altogether retained and cherished by you. And if at any time an offence befall among you, let not the sun go down upon you who are so far removed from light by hatred. But the good of charity must be recalled as diligently as may be, inasmuch as without it one may not see the sun that is perceived by the understanding. But if an evil thought has been sown in your souls, let it be your care quickly to drive it out. For so shall you the more easily cast it forth. For the more it is suffered to remain, the more trouble will it give, and the harder will it be to storm for him who shall wish to contend against it. And let your arms for the war be fasting, prayer, tears, the memory of death and of hell, and that which is strongest of all and most terrible to the enemies, blessed humility: and, as a safeguard lest evil thoughts ever seize you, the guarding of the senses, and before the rest, of the eyes and the ears. For hence is their entrance against us, and death, which comes in to us through the windows.
[16] I know that the most precious possession of all is to possess nothing o, he gives admonitions and these are true riches for him who is truly noble and wholly free, to be bound by no desire of the things that are at hand. But the divine Apostle measures out the use necessary for the body: Having food, he says, and wherewith to be covered, let us be content with these. A grievous thing it is to think highly of oneself: nor is there anything else that can more overturn a man. And this is wont for the most part to follow upon the wealth of right deeds: and then is shipwreck of them to be feared. But the divine Apostle again stands stretching out his right hand to us, and by his word affording great security to those who have ears. For he that seemeth to stand, he says, let him take heed lest he fall. To judge one's brother must be guarded against with all one's strength. For this is the offspring of a soul that despises others after the Pharisees' manner, and of one who wishes to justify himself by the condemnation of others. But do thou, letting him go, if thou art held by the desire of judging, since thou hast thyself nearest at hand, cease not daily to judge and examine and correct thyself as best thou canst. A thing prone to wantonness and insolence is the belly, which is cared for and which wretchedly repays him who cares for it. But by labours it is bent, and by fasting tamed, and, like a bold horse, is kept back from unruly prancings.
[17] Hospitality is not to be consigned by you to oblivion. And when you receive guests, wash also their feet humbly: for this is the precept of Christ, and what he first did himself he bade us do in like manner. For by it not only is care shown for one's neighbour, but a grievous disease of the soul can also be cured [p], and lessons. namely too great a persuasion of oneself. And many other expiations also for the filth of sin has the Creator and Saviour of our souls found out, such as tears, groans, contrition of heart, fasting, prayer, sleeping on the ground [q], and whatever other medicine there is of kindly penitence. But these are difficult and laborious, even though they afford much profit. But I know one thing which is quite free of labour, and yet most powerful for cleansing the filth of the soul. What is this? To forgive their sins to those who offend. Which indeed is not only pleasing to God, and obtains from him the loosing of our own evils, but often also touches him who has sinned more sharply than punishment does, and makes him a slave instead of a free man to him who has pardoned: as it seems also to those without, who say: Pardon is more powerful than punishment.
[18] When he had said these things and many others of the like kind to his disciples, and had prayed for the salvation of their souls, The Saint's blessed death. and had blessed them, having felt no sense of sickness, nor perceived any pain in the parts of his body, lying down upon a certain couch [r], he stretched out his feet, and sent forth also his blessed soul, delivering it, joyful, to joyful Angels: and, being consigned to burial by holy hands, as was fitting, he passes to the life which never ends. In which place pain, trouble and groaning have fled away. In which place the divine Trinity is beheld face to face by those who are clean of heart. In which place is gladness and unspeakable exultation. In which place is consolation and rest for those who have sweated in the fair vineyard, and have entered upon the laborious and rough way of virtue. Such, then, was the end of life that Chariton had — not one who had foreknown or foretold nothing before his death, as we said before: but he had most accurately signified both of it and of the storm which was to vex the churches [s].
[19] the conclusion of the author, who writes from tradition. Whatsoever therefore, O beloved, of his deeds and miracles could escape time and oblivion, these we have delivered to your studious ears. For no small interval comes between the reign of Aurelian and this time. For we have received nothing committed to writing by anyone, for this reason, that at that time there were few not only monks, but also Christians at all, and such as were sealed with the light of knowledge: and those who were, were harassed by daily persecutions. But those things of which we have here made mention are what pious men and lovers of truth, the son receiving from the father — I mean the bodily and the spiritual father — have preserved even to our times: to the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one and the same essence of Godhead: to whom belongs all glory, honour and adoration now, and for ever and ever, Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
Some things indeed to the poor, and to the fathers in the desert: but these were rare, and few in number: and they too in the time of persecution had preferred solitude to their native land, that they might avoid the persecutors, and were living scattered in the caves of the reed-bed which is situated near the Dead Sea.
of Jericho, the time (since in both places he is set down as younger than Chariton and nearly his contemporary), and lastly the enlargement of the laura: for in Palladius too it is said: He (Elpidius) makes that mountain as thronged as a city.
p. In Greek, as nothing else, is added.
q. The words prayer, sleeping on the ground are not in the Greek transcript.
r. The Greek word signifies a low little bed, or pallet.
s. Since the time at which the Saint died is not established, we cannot say with certainty of what disturbances of the churches the author speaks. If he died about the middle of the fourth century, he could have foretold the persecutions of the Arians, by which the Arian emperor Constantius afflicted the churches most grievously. If some years later, the persecution of the emperor Julian the apostate. If he survived almost to the year 370, he could have foretold the most grievous vexations which the Arian Valens brought upon the churches in the East, and upon the monks by name.
* i.e. πρὸς