Spiritual Meadow of the Fathers, from the Supplement of Ducaeus and the Monuments of Cotelier

of Sophronius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, and repeats the same in lib. II, p. 344; and lib. III, p. 352. In the second Synod of Nicaea, celebrated in the year of Christ 787, in the fourth session, volume III of the Councils, edit. Binii, the same passage is cited: *from the Limonarion of our holy Father Sophronius*. And three others, in the fifth session, p. 614 seq., *from the Limonarion*. Since the same things are read in the same words in the Meadow of John Moschus, it sufficiently appears that Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, is the same as the Sophronius who was the disciple of John Moschus, to whom he inscribed his Meadow: furthermore, that history of the monks, which John Moschus had written, had been attributed by some to Sophronius [j] as author, not only because he existed as a companion of the journeys and work of his master John Moschus, but moreover, because Sophronius made this work public, as Michael le Quien noted in his annotations to Damascenus, vol. I, p. 323. [Add. supra, vol. VIII, p. 90, middle.]

NOTES. [j] Consult the censure of writers by Rob. Coc, p. 423 seq., and the preface of Aloysius Lipomanus to Moschus.

THE BOOK OF THE BLESSED JOHN THE EUCRATAS, CALLED THE MEADOW, FOR IT BEARS THE MULTIFLOWERED NARRATION OF THE LIVES OF THE HEAVEN-BOUND ROSE GARDEN.

THE BOOK OF BLESSED JOHN MOSCHUS WHICH IS ENTITLED THE MEADOW, WHICH BRINGS FORTH A FLOWERING NARRATION OF THE LIVES OF THE HEAVENLY ROSE GARDEN.

ALOYSIUS LIPOMANUS, BISHOP OF VERONA, TO THE SINCERE READER.

This book, which we set forth to be read in the third part of this seventh volume, is named the Spiritual Meadow, rendered from Greek into Latin by that learned man, Ambrose the Camaldolese monk, which until now we have had printed only in the vernacular, and in the Italian tongue at that. But it is so filled with the pleasantness of spiritual flowers that it might seem to have risen in the delights of Paradise. In it, indeed, the splendor of the life of the ancient monks and other Fathers serving God from the innermost depths of their hearts is redolent; the observance of regular discipline, the norm of purity and continence, parsimony in food and clothing, unconquerable constancy against heretics, assiduous perseverance in fasts, vigils, and prayers, and an excellent and inestimable love toward the Lord Jesus Christ: furthermore, certain admirable responses, full of the Holy Spirit, which suffuse the minds of those who read them with a certain spiritual sweetness: and finally, the unconquerable faith of holy women, their incomparable chastity, and their happy consummation in God. O if we could but find such soldiers serving Christ today, how illustrious, how splendid, how decorous the face of our Church would be, which we see so dejected and obsolete, and, alas, blackened more than the skins of Solomon and the Ethiopian woman of Moses. That entire faith may be placed in this book, and that it should not be reckoned among the apocrypha, is made certain by the testimony of two most illustrious Greek Fathers: one of whom is Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople; the other is John Damascenus, who, at the end of the first book which he wrote *On Images*, narrates a certain wonderful fact which is described in this book, having prefixed this note: *from the Limonarion of our holy Father Sophronius, Archbishop of Jeru-*

NOTES. [a] *John the Eucratas*. We are taught by this title, and by that which we have cited from another manuscript in the notes of vol. I, that John Moschus, a man famous among ecclesiastical writers, was also called Eucratas; just as in the Acts of St. Maximus, p. xxxv, Sergius the Eucratas, and by Maximus himself in his epistle to John the cubiculary, p. 260, they are remembered as monks named Eucratades, the monastery of the Eucratades, act 1 and 5 of the Synod of CP under Mennas. His work was published, both in Latin and in Greek, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. But the Greek texts are truncated in many chapters, which is why they stood in need of this Supplement.

Pratum Spirituale. Lipomanus Lectori.

^A *Leimonarion*, that is, from the small meadow of our holy Father Sophronius, Archbishop of Jerusalem. Furthermore, John the Deacon, later Roman Pontiff, in the fourth book which he wrote concerning the life of the blessed Gregory, chapter 63, made mention of this volume when he related a marvelous deed of that holy Pontiff, saying: "But that the humility of so great a prelate may not be thought to be inculcated by words alone, it remains that his humility be demonstrated by living deeds from the accounts of the Greeks, which I have recently translated, in which it is narrated thus: 'Abba John the Persian, a holy and venerable man, related to us (a)...'" and the rest which follows, as it is contained in this *Pratum Spirituale*, chapter 151.

^B But what is greater than all these is that in the second Council of Nicaea, which was celebrated against the Iconoclasts for the veneration of holy images, it is read in the fourth session: "Eustachius, a venerable monk, presbyter and superior of the dwelling of Maximus, said: 'And I, Fathers, bring the book of the holy Father Sophronius, containing the lives of many saints; and if it pleases, let it be brought forward.' The holy synod said: 'Let it be read.' Stephen, therefore, the monk, took the book and read: 'Of the same, our Father Sophronius, from the *Limonarion*...' Theodore the Abbot, an Eliote, who was a certain recluse (b), said: '...'" and the rest. Where the whole of chapter 45, which is held in this book, is rendered word for word. There is, therefore, nothing regarding the authenticity of the book that you could doubt.

However, I know you will be moved immediately and will say: "The things you have brought forth for the commendation of the book cast a great scruple upon my mind. For as much as Damascenus as well as the synod inscribe the book to Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, you however publish it under the name of a certain John the *Eviratus* writing to that Sophronius the sophist. How, therefore, can these things agree with each other?" ^C Truly a doubt not to be scorned, and one that moved me myself greatly at first sight. But to one thinking more deeply later, the fog of every doubt was very easily removed. The writer of the book was indeed John the anchorite. That this will be able to be clear to you from chapter 77 of the volume itself. Photius also asserts that this very John, the author of the book, was Moschos (perhaps by nation), whose surname the Latin translator perhaps rendered as *Eviratus*.

But it is attributed to Sophronius for these reasons: either because it is inscribed to him through his dearest companion—just as the *Rhetorica ad Herennium* of Cicero, and the epistles of the same to Atticus, are and were called books *to Atticus*—so this book is called Sophronius’s, because it is directed to Sophronius, and most of all because it was written primarily for his use. For the author himself in the epistle which he precedes to the book confesses that he had woven a crown for Sophronius from this *Pratum*, and through him offered it to others thereafter; or because the sayings and deeds of Sophronius himself are contained in this book for the most part. For he was the inseparable companion of the author of this book throughout the whole journey, and whatever befell them during their travels, or happened to be answered to them inquirers, was most diligently described. Wherefore you will also see these words very often repeated: "I and my master, Sophronius the sophist, came to such-and-such an abbot, etc." And because of this, he also always uses plural speech, saying: "We went on, we arrived, we saw. The elder, leader of the monastery, related to us." Through all of which it is given to see that the writer was never alone in investigating those things which he narrates. ^D Just as the *Phaedrus*, *Timaeus*, *Gorgias*, and *Parmenides* of Plato, and the book of Tully *De Senectute* (*Cato Maior*), are inscribed to the persons who are introduced there as speaking and disputing, what will prevent it from being called Sophronius’s book, when he is asserted everywhere in it as walking, visiting, acting, questioning, and answering? Or, finally, it is ascribed to Sophronius for that reason, because he was perhaps a co-writer (if I may say so) of the same book together with the aforementioned John. Read chapter 77 of this volume, and at its beginning you will find it written thus: "I and my master Sophronius went to the house of Stephen the philosopher for the sake of learning, etc." Then at the end of the same chapter it is read written in this manner: "When we heard these things, my master Sophronius gestured to me, and we left, and he said to me: 'Truly, Abba John, let us study nothing more today: for we have been sufficiently edified.' These things, therefore, we have written, that you too may be equally edified."

One of these reasons, therefore, or rather all of them coming together, this book seems rightly and deservedly inscribed with the name of Sophronius. Nor let it move you that in this book this Sophronius is not called Patriarch of Jerusalem, but a sophist. For this name was not taken in a bad sense in ancient times, as it is done everywhere now, but in a good one: and it denoted nothing other than a wise and prudent man: such as was also that Libanius, to whom many epistles of Basil the Great were directed, extolling him with the greatest praises. This man could, therefore, first be both a monk and be called a sophist, and indeed later be assumed to the holy see of Jerusalem, from which, as from a more worthy place, he later received the designation.

At what time these men who wrote the book flourished, it is not held for certain. But since they narrate the deed of the Great Gregory, Roman Pontiff of this name, and make mention of the synchronous Caesars, namely Anastasius, Tiberius, Maurice, and Zeno, and this book is brought forward at the sixth synod, we can conclude by conjecture that it was written around the year of the Lord six hundred. Read, therefore, with a willing mind and certain faith this work, candid reader, an example of which we have received from the apostolic library: and so conform your morals and your life to its reading, that you may be a worthy emulator of such men and of so great a value as you will find described here: afterwards, may you be happily joined to their company in eternal beatitude. Which may the Lord deign to grant to you and to me, and to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. Farewell.

NOTES. (a) The same miracle, in other books, is read as corrupted by the deceit of heretics. (b) Of the same synod, act 5, in which are also cited consequently the 81st and 180th chapters of this book.