OF THE BLESSED SOPHRONIUS, MONK OF THE MONASTERY OF ABBA THEODOSIUS, WHICH IS NEAR THE DESERT OF THE HOLY CITY OF CHRIST OUR GOD, WHO LATER BECAME BISHOP OF THE SAME CITY OF JERUSALEM: EULOGY OF THE HOLY MARTYRS CYRUS AND JOHN, AND A NARRATIVE OF A PORTION OF THE MIRACLES WROUGHT BY THEM.
PROTHEORIA
1. A Coming to the martyrs Cyrus and John on account of an infirmity of the eyes, we stayed at their basilica; and observing the overflowing abundance of their miracles, we wished to read writings that would instruct us in the conflict of the martyrs, or that would proclaim the miracles that had occurred beforehand; but finding nothing of what we have spoken of, except only two brief sermons by the great Cyril, who stood forth as a champion and herald of the truth, we were stirred to an intolerable zeal. If pagans, writing false things and saying nothing true—and not even free from myths—have written so many books about demons, B shall we, like beasts, according to the friends of the just Job, remain silent, seeing such great and wonderful works of the truth—which is Christ our God—wrought through his athletes and servants? Especially when we hear him audibly crying out: "Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light; and what you have heard in the ear…
A preach upon the housetops." And [we hear] the blessed apostles in the Acts, when saying to those who enjoined them to be silent: "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Therefore, we too, burning with a more fervent zeal, ran to the shrine of the saints, and falling piously upon our faces, we prayed with our whole soul that, if they would grant us the duty of beholding them, we might write more accurately of their struggle and collect the miracles performed by them, with their divine grace and power cooperating with us in our labor. It was only concerning these things that we wished to compose this writing, imitating Anna in her offering of the prophet Samuel, and faithfully emulating the mother-in-law of Peter; the former of whom offered her son, and the latter her very self, to God who saved her, to serve Him. Wherefore, rising up and afterwards recollecting ourselves, on the one hand we contemplated the exaltation of the martyrs and beheld the multitude of miracles that were being performed; on the other, realizing our own weakness, just as the great B Peter was afraid when he walked upon the streams of the sea, we were terrified, wavering in our thoughts, and we greatly rebuked our own presumption, because, not having first measured ourselves, we reached out toward that which is above us.
2. Moreover, the venerable Moses—or rather, the Lord who was speaking with Moses—added to our fear by requiring one and the same offering from the rich man and the poor man; neither allowing the rich man, desiring to redeem his soul, to give greater gifts, nor permitting the poor man to offer anything less than this. "For everyone," he says, "who passes on to the inspection, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to the Lord; the rich shall not increase, and the poor shall not diminish from the half C of a didrachma, when they give the offering to the Lord, to make atonement for your souls." Whence we, being truly poorer than even those who are very destitute in eloquence, wished to refuse this offering of redemption, which was promised by us in vows to the Lord and His martyrs; but another saying stopped us from doing this, which Solomon the preacher recorded, saying: "According to what you have vowed to the Lord your God, do not delay to pay it, for there is no will in fools. But whatsoever you shall vow, pay; it is good that you should not vow, and not pay." And David, who begot him, says in the Canticles: "I will pay my vows unto the Lord"; and inviting all to his own imitation, he says, "Vow and pay to D the Lord your God." And in consequence of these, the prophet Jonah also sang and spoke: "Whatever I have vowed, I will pay to the Lord my Savior." Now, indeed, even the law of Moses demanded that what is promised in vows be exacted; if
A you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you refrain from vowing, it shall be no sin for you. You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips, as you have vowed to the Lord your God, a free-will offering which you have promised with your mouth.
3. Thus, being pressed by these thoughts, and at times fearing to write because of the former things, and at other times trembling to refrain from writing because of the latter, and not knowing what to do, we took refuge with the martyrs themselves, from whose holiness we sought to know what should be done. They, receiving the intent of our affection, and not condemning us for our rashness, commanded us to write, promising to contribute their own aid. B And so, many times they appeared to us as we were writing, fulfilling what they had promised; at one time providing ink and pen, at another taking up the notebook and correcting our mistakes; and at times, by the cheerfulness of their countenances, they showed that they were passing through these things with love—which we also often experience when we come with joyful eyes to places that possess the grace of such a narrative. A thousand times, indeed, while we were occupied with other things, they complained and rebuked us as if we were negligent, saying: "How long until you complete the truth?"—meaning this present writing, and attributing the praise to themselves. If we wished to write down everything, we would overburden those who are to read it: it suffices for us now, by means of these, to demonstrate the aid frequently bestowed upon us by them while we were writing, having God and them as witnesses of the truth that is in these things. First, therefore, we recorded their martyrial struggle, and that they were deposited in the temple of the venerable Mark, and how finally from there they were transferred to the house of the evangelists; gathering the occasions and seeds of these things from the words of Saint Cyril. After these things, C we recorded seven decades of miracles, having thousands of other decades to describe, if indeed we were able to speak and those who are to read these things had the strength to hear. For truly, even in this, the preacher of wisdom spoke, saying: "All words are laborious; the mouth will not be able to speak; nor will the eye be satisfied with seeing, nor will the ear be filled with hearing."
4. For this reason, therefore, we proposed to write only seven decades of miracles, D observing that the number seven is mystical in Holy Scripture, and the number ten is perfect; and that by them we might show both things concerning the performing of signs, both the mystical and the perfect; for the mystical signifies the secret reason of the healings, and the perfect signifies the infinite. And of the seven, that it is mystical and precious, we are taught by these things from Scripture: for the God of all things rested on the seventh day from the creation, and He hallowed it; for seven days
of the paschal feast He decreed the eating of unleavened bread, and to make a lamp of seven lamps; and of seven A spouts. And for this reason Enoch was the seventh from Adam, and Moses came as the seventh from Abraham. We also learn that the eyes of the Lord see seven times over the inhabited world; and we hear Isaiah speaking of so many spirits; and Solomon numbered seven pillars of wisdom; and the apostles lawfully appointed seven deacons. Concerning the ten, the perfection of it is sung even by the philosophers from without, who have even considered this to be God, as the Pythagorean tetractys intends, because it stands as a limit of units, and the unit is recognized as the limit of tens; and it is the base for the numbers that follow it, since it is always multiplied by itself. The Mosaic law also sings of it more clearly; for Noah is revealed as the tenth after Adam, and he stands as the second root of the race, imitating the decad. Abraham, indeed, as a victor, brought tithes to Melchizedek; hence the Jews are commanded to offer tithes of their possessions to God; and the law ordained that ten obols be offered as a ransom for the soul. But the lamb is taken on the tenth of the first month; and on the tenth of the seventh month the atonement is recorded. Ten commandments, written by God, shone upon the tablets of the covenant; and the Lord delivered ten words of prayer; and David played the Psalms on a ten-stringed psaltery; and Abraham brought the lovingkindness of God down to the level of ten righteous men, and delayed the condemnation of the Sodomites. B
5. The oracles similarly provide a declaration of the multiplication of these two numbers, I mean the seven and the ten. For Moses together with the people found seventy date palms in the desert; and after him he brought forward seventy elders; and the Lord also showed seventy other disciples after the twelve. And seventy weeks are computed from the flood of Noah C to the destruction of the temple and the burning of Jerusalem until Christ the leader, according to Daniel the blessed; and there were seventy years until Israel was recalled from Babylon; but Isaiah also says that Tyre will be left by the Lord for seventy years, and again after such a number of years it will be visited, and in this it will be restored to what it was in the beginning. And the Lord Himself, as the seventy-seventh from the old Adam, the new Adam, arrived for the life which is among us; and He commanded to forgive the sins of those brothers who repent seventy times seven. And it would be a long task D for the present discourse to gather testimonies from Scripture concerning these things; for it is all filled with them, and clearly proclaims the mystical and perfect nature of these numbers.
6. Whence we also, of the holy ones, have written seventy miracles, which must be spoken of; it is the same to say seven tens, or seventy...