A ninety years. He went up [to the desert] at the age of thirty, and spent sixty years in the desert. He endured the labors of ascetic toil with such constancy that, after ten years, he was thought worthy of a kind of signal distinction, so that he was called a "boy-elder" because he had advanced in virtues more rapidly than his years. For when he had reached the age of forty, he received authority to expel demons, the grace of healing, the spirit of prophecy, and was deemed worthy of the honorable priesthood. Two disciples lived with him in the innermost desert, which is called Scete. One of them, for the sake of those who came to be healed, was always near him; B the other resided separately in his own cell. But time passing, the holy man, foreseeing with a perspicacious eye, said to the one who was serving him, by name John, who later became a presbyter in the place of the holy man: "Hearken, brother, to my admonition, since the spirit of avarice is tempting you. For I have indeed seen, and I know, that if you bear my exhortation with a calm mind, you will finish your course in the work of God in this place, and you will be glorified, and the scourge will not draw near to your tabernacle. But if you do not listen to me, the fate of Gehazi will come upon you, whose disease you are already suffering." These things were spoken five years before the holy man died. And fifteen years after the death of Macarius, when John had misappropriated the goods of the poor, he labored under elephantiasis to such a degree that there was not found in his body any whole spot where one could place a finger; and thus, in him who had not obeyed, the prophecy of the holy man was fulfilled. As for food and drink, C it is superfluous to speak, since not even among the more slothful monks of the monasteries that are outside can gluttony or any other deviation from the custom of those who dwell in these places be found, both because of the scarcity of necessary things and because of the zeal for God among those who live there, each one always striving to surpass his neighbor in the various disciplines of life. And as regards this man’s other exercise, he was said to be constantly in ecstasy, and to occupy himself for the greater part of the time with God rather than with earthly things. Nor are the miracles wrought by him few in number. D A certain lecherous man, Egyptian by race, was seized with love for a certain chaste woman who had married a husband. When he was frustrated in his desire, he met with a magician, saying: "Work by your art so that either she may love me, or that her husband may cast her out." The magician, having tried what he could, since he could not move her chaste mind, caused her to appear as a mare to those who looked upon her. Therefore, when her husband went out and saw
A her in the form of a mare, he lamented and wept over the calamity. He called the elders of the village and showed her to them, but even they did not understand what had happened. And since she had tasted nothing for three days, finally, so that God might glorify His saint, it came into the mind of the husband to take her into the desert to the saint. B And having haltered her like a horse, he thus led her to where the man of God dwelt. And when they drew near, the brothers said to him, "Why have you brought a mare here?" And he said to them, "So that she may obtain mercy through the prayer of the just man." But they said to him, "For what evil does she have?" He said to them, "This mare, which you see, was my poor wife, and I do not know what has happened to her now." But all the things that the woman was suffering had been revealed to the saint, and he was praying to God for her. When they had heard these things, they reported them to the servant of Christ, Macarius, saying that someone had brought a mare there. He said to them, "You are the horses, for you have the eyes of horses; but she is a woman, just as she was created, and she is only transformed in the eyes of those who are deceived, appearing in such a way." And when she was brought forward, he blessed water and poured it from the top of her head while she was naked, and having said a prayer over her head, C immediately she appeared to all who were watching as a woman, and he commanded that food be given to her. The man of God admonished her, saying, "Never absent yourself from the church of God and from the communion of the mysteries of Christ; for these things happened to you because you had not approached the immaculate mysteries of Christ for five weeks." Thus, having healed her in body and soul, he sent her away.
It was said that in the latter part of his life he had dug a subterranean tunnel of half a stadium in length and added a cave to it. If ever many people troubled him, he would secretly go out from his cell into the cave so that no one might find him. Going through the tunnel, he would say twenty-four prayers until he reached the cave, and returning, the same number.
Regarding him, a report went out that he had also raised a dead man to convince a heretic who did not acknowledge the resurrection of bodies; and this report remained constant regarding him in the desert.
D At another time, a mother brought to him a young man possessed by a demon, who was bound by two young men on either side. The demon exerted such power in him that he would eat loaves of three *modii* and drink an amphora of Cilician water; these foods he would then vomit back up as vapor, as if they were being consumed by fire. For there is a certain order of demons called fiery, who do not change in essence, but as... [original-script column: see facsimile]
it is found even in men, their disposition is rather what undergoes change. This young man, therefore, not being satisfied by his mother, would often eat his own excrement and drink his urine. When his mother wept and lamented, and earnestly besought the saint, the saint took him, and after praying for him and interceding with God for two days, the demon retreated from the terrible affliction. Then he said to his mother: "How much do you wish for him to eat?" And when she said ten pounds, he rebuked her for having said too much, and after praying again for the young man after a fast of seven days, he cast the demon of gluttony out of him and fixed his food at three pounds of bread, as he was expected to eat this while working. Thus, therefore, through the cooperation of divine grace, he healed him and restored him whole to his mother. B Such are the stupendous miracles God has performed through His genuine friend Macarius, whose immortal soul is now with the angels. I did not meet this holy man myself; for he had fallen asleep one year before my entry into the desert.
II. THE LIFE OF SAINT MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
[index: entries preserved]
Concerning Saint Macarius of Alexandria
I have met the holy Macarius of Alexandria, who was a priest of what are called the Cells, in which I lived for nine years; for three of these years this Macarius lived with me, dwelling in quietude. I saw for myself the works of his excellent way of life and his signs, and I learned certain other things from those who lived with him, and heard still others from many more. Now the ascetic practice of the great Macarius, as I and many others learned when with him, was this: if ever he heard that someone had performed some work of asceticism, he strove ardently to do the same. This holy man, therefore, when he heard that the Tabennesiotes ate nothing cooked by fire throughout the whole of Lent, decided that he himself would for seven years eat nothing that had passed through fire, and for seven years he tasted nothing else but raw herbs, and if by chance he happened upon moistened legumes, and for seven years he tasted nothing else. He heard of another who [would eat] a pound...
bread, and having broken the hard biscuits which he had, he put them into earthenware jars, deciding to eat only as much as his hand would bring up. This also was a great restraint. For he used to tell us, charmingly, "I would grasp many fragments, but I could not pull them out because of the narrowness of the opening. For the tax-collector," he said, "did not allow me to abstain from eating altogether." Thus, then, he did this for three years, eating four or five ounces and drinking an equal weight of water; he would consume a sextarius of oil for food for the whole year. He decided at one time to overcome sleep, as he told us himself: "For twenty days and nights I did not enter under a roof, being scorched by the heat by day, and shivering with the nocturnal fever; and had I not entered under a roof and used sleep sooner," he said, "my brain would have been so dried up that I would have been little short of falling into an ecstasy. And as far as was in me," he said, "I conquered sleep, yielding to nature only as much as was necessary."
C When this holy man was sitting in his cell in the morning, a gnat stung him on the foot, and feeling the pain, he crushed it with his hand, sated with blood. Afterwards, however, having condemned himself for having avenged himself, he sentenced himself to sit naked for six months in the marsh of Scetis, which is in a vast wilderness, where the gnats can pierce even the hides of wild boars, since they are as big as wasps. He was so stung by them over his entire body that the stings were visible all over him, and some believed that he was suffering from elephantiasis. But when he returned to his cell, they recognized him as Macarius by his voice alone.
D He desired once, as he himself told us, to enter the tomb which is called the garden-tomb of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians who were in the time of Pharaoh, for the sake of history or to meet the demons who are there. For it was said that many fierce demons had been stationed there by them because of the excess of their magical art, by which they also held the primary roles at that time before Pharaoh. As they possessed power in Egypt, in their lifetime they built that work out of rectangular stones, having made a monument in it and deposited much gold, and they planted trees of every kind, and they dug a very large well of water, hoping, forsooth, that after their departure from here to there, they would enjoy delights in this paradise. Therefore, that servant of Christ Ma-
Macarius followed the stars by conjecture alone, just as mariners who cross the seas. In this way he traversed the entire wilderness. A Having a bundle of reeds, he placed one at every mile as a sign, by which he might return. In nine days he came near that garden, and being overcome by the night, he slept a little. But the wicked demon gathered those reeds and placed them at his head, 255 perhaps by God’s permission for the greater exercise of the saint, so that he might not place his hope in reeds as guides, but rather in the grace of God, who through a pillar of fire and cloud led the disobedient and refractory people of Israel for forty years in that wilderness. Rising, therefore, he found the reeds gathered together. B The saint said: "When I drew closer to the garden, there came out to meet me about seventy demons of various forms, some crying out, others leaping, others gnashing their teeth against me with a great roaring. Others, flying about like crows, dared to insult my face, saying: 'What do you want, Macarius, you temptation of the monks? Why have you come to us? Did we also plot against any of the monks? You have your own things there with your likes—the wilderness, I mean—from which you drove out our kin. We have nothing in common with you; why do you enter our places? As an anchorite, be content with the wilderness. Those who built this place assigned it to us. You cannot stay here. Why do you seek to enter a place which no one among men who have lived has entered, from the time when the brothers who founded it were buried here by us?'" The saint said: C "When the demons were greatly troubling and lamenting, I said: 'I will only enter, see, and depart from here.' The demons said: 'Promise us this in your conscience.' And when I had said, 'I will do this,' they immediately vanished. Having entered, therefore, I saw all things, where I found a bronze bucket hanging from the well by an iron chain, but consumed by time, and fruit of dry apples D which were empty inside." The saint, therefore, having withdrawn from there without disturbance, returned over twenty days. But with his provisions consumed, he traversed the wilderness, having tasted almost nothing at all, which the event also proved; and his endurance was tested. When he was now nearly on the point of collapsing, there appeared to him, about a stadium away, a maiden clothed in a clean linen garment, who was holding an urn dripping with water, and calling him on. For three days he traveled seeing her, but could not catch up to her; yet by the hope of drinking, he sustained his weakness. After which there appeared a multitude of buffaloes; for they are found in those regions.
Entering and sucking, I was satisfied. Or perhaps, being obedient to a divine command, she followed me as far as the cell, while I suckled her and did not accept her calf.
A Another time, again, this virtuous man, being near some rushes and brushwood, dug a well for the repose of the monks, and he was bitten by an asp; for this beast possesses deadly venom. The holy man, therefore, seizing the asp with his hands at the jaws, tore it asunder, saying, “Since my Lord did not send you, how did you dare to come to me?”
This great Macarius had various cells in the desert, in which he performed the struggles of virtue: one in Scete, which is a region in the interior of the vast wilderness; one in Libya in the so-called Cells; and another on the mountain of Nitria. B And some of these were without a door, in which it was said that Macarius was accustomed to sit in darkness during the forty days. Another cell was extremely narrow, in which it was not possible to stretch out one's feet. The third, however, was wider, in which he would also meet with those who visited him.
This lover of God healed such a multitude of those vexed by demons that one could not easily count them by number. When we were present with this holy man, a certain virgin from Thessalonica, noble by birth and rich in life, was brought in, having labored for many years under paralysis. And having been brought to him, C she was cast down near his cell. Moved by compassion, he prayed, and anointing her with holy oil with his own hands, and fervently praying for her frequently, on the twentieth day he sent her back to her own city healthy, having departed on her own feet, and she sent a large offering to the saints.
This great Macarius, having heard D that the Tabennesiotes possessed a great way of life, changed his clothes and took on the worldly habit of a laborer, and after fifteen days of journeying through the desert, he arrived in the Thebaid. And having come to the monastery of the Tabennesiotes, he sought after their archimandrite, Pachomius, a most approved man, who possessed a prophetic grace. Yet the fact that he was the great Macarius was hidden from him. Having therefore encountered him, Macarius says to him, “I beseech you, sir, receive me into your monastery, that I might become a monk.” Pachomius says to him, “You have already reached old age; how are you able to practice asceticism? The brothers are those who have practiced from their youth and have been reared in hardships, and they cannot bear the toil. You, in this age, cannot endure the temptations of the discipline; you will be offended, you will depart, and you will curse—
A us, and you will speak evil of us, and you will scandalize them. And he insisted, remaining fasting for seven days. Later, the great Macarius says to him, “Receive me, abba, and if I do not fast according to them B and labor at the things which they labor at, then command me to be cast out of the monastery.” The great Pachomius therefore persuades the brothers to receive him. The community of that monastery consists of one thousand four hundred men to this day. The great Macarius therefore entered into it. But a short time having passed, the Forty Days came, and the great Macarius, C seeing each of them taking up different modes of life—one indeed eating in the evening, another after two days, another after five, another again standing through the whole night, and by day sitting at work—having himself soaked a large amount of palm-fronds, stood in one corner, and, until the Forty Days were completed and the Pascha had arrived, he did not touch bread nor water, nor did he bend a knee, nor did he sit, nor did he lie down, nor did he taste anything else whatever, except raw cabbage leaves, which he took on the Lord’s day, so that he might appear to be eating, and not fall into conceit. And if at any time he went out for his own necessity, returning quickly he stood at his handiwork, not opening his mouth, having spoken neither little nor much, but standing he kept silent. Nor did he do anything at all besides prayer in his heart and the fronds which he had in his hands. But all the ascetics of that monastery, having seen this man, rose up against their superior, saying, “Whence did you bring this fleshless man to us, unto our condemnation? Either cast him out from here, or know that we all are departing from you today.” D The great Pachomius, having heard these things from the brothers, inquired about him, and having learned about his mode of life, he prayed to God that He might reveal to him who this man is. And it was revealed to him that this is Macarius the monk. Then the lord Pachomius took his hand and led him outside, and having led him into the house of the oratory, where the altar was, and embraced him, he says to him, “Are you this one, venerable elder! You are Macarius, and you hid yourself and did not reveal yourself to me. For many years I have longed to see you, hearing about you. I give thanks to you, because you have humbled my children, so that they might not think great things concerning their own asceticism. I beseech you, depart to your own place; for you have sufficiently built us up, and pray for us.” Then, having been entreated by him, and all the brothers begging him, he departed.
Again at another time this dispassionate man related to us that every ascetic discipline which I desired and
attempted, I tried such as this: I came to another spiritual desire, and I wished, he says, to make my mind undivided from God for five days, and to think of nothing else at all, but to attend to Him alone. Having decided this within myself, I A closed my cell and the courtyard outside, so as not to give an answer to any person who came. And I stood, having begun from Monday, charging my mind and saying to it: "Watch that you do not descend from the heavens; you have there angels and archangels, the powers above, the cherubim and the seraphim, and God, the Maker of all these; stay there; do not descend beneath the heaven; do not fall into worldly thoughts." And having persisted, he says, for two days and nights, I so provoked the demon that he became a flame of fire, and burned up everything of mine that was in the cell, so that even the mat upon which I was standing was consumed, and I thought that I myself was completely burning up. Finally, struck with fear, I departed from this purpose on the third day, no longer being able to keep my mind undivided, but I came down to the contemplation of this world, so that this might not be reckoned to me as pride. B
Once, when I had come to the holy man, I found lying outside his cell a priest from a certain village, whose head had been eaten away by the disease called cancer, so that the bone itself was visible at the crown, and he did not even receive him into conversation. Therefore, having entreated him, I say: "Have pity, I beg you, on this wretched man, and give him at least an answer." And he says to me: "He is unworthy to be healed. For this discipline has been sent to him, but if you wish for him to be healed, persuade him to abstain from the ministry." And I said: "Why, I beg you?" He says to me: "He has performed the ministry while fornicating, and for this reason he is now being disciplined. If, therefore, he ceases out of fear, from those things which he C dared to do through contempt, God will heal him." And I spoke to the sufferer. He agreed, having sworn before God to no longer exercise the priesthood. And then he received him and says to him: "Do you believe that there is a God, from whom nothing is hidden?" And he answered: "Indeed, I beg you." Then he says to him: "Were you able to mock God?" He answers: "I could not, my lord." The great one says: "If you recognize your sin and the discipline of God, through which you have endured these things, correct yourself for the future." And he confessed the sin, and gave his word no longer to sin nor to minister at the altar, but to embrace the lot of the laity; and so then D the holy man laid his hands upon him, and in a few days he was healed; and the hair of his head grew again, and in
A returning to his home he glorified God and gave thanks to the saint.
I saw again 42 that a young boy was brought to him, vexed by an evil spirit. The saint placed his right hand upon his head and his left upon his heart, and the holy man 44 prayed for so long that he caused him to hang in the air 45. Being held there 46, therefore, the boy swelled up in his body like a huge wineskin 47, and suddenly crying out, he emitted water through all his senses; and when that had ceased, he returned to the state in which he had been at the beginning. And having anointed him with holy, blessed oil 49 and poured water 51 over him, he surrendered him to his father, having commanded him not to touch meat or wine for forty days. And having thus healed him, he sent them away 52.
B Vain thoughts of vainglory once vexed this great Macarius, and they tried to drive him from his cell, suggesting to him that, for the sake of dispensation, he should travel to Rome, alleging as a just cause the healing of those who are sick there. For the grace of the Lord was working in him against the spirits in an extreme degree. And because he did not obey them for a long time as they tempted him to depart, they harassed him more fiercely. The saint, therefore, prostrated himself on the threshold of his cell and thrust his feet outside, saying to the demons of vainglory: "Drag me, if you can, you demons, as you pull 57. For I will not leave of my own feet for any other place 58. If, therefore, you are able 59 to carry me away thus, I will go where you say," swearing to them, "that I shall lie here just like this until evening. Unless you move me, I will not obey you." And having remained immovable 60, he arose only when it was late in the evening.
C But when night came on again, they harassed him even more vehemently. The saint therefore arose, and 61 taking a basket of about two modii of sand 62, he filled it, and having placed it on his own shoulder 63, he began to walk through the desert. Theosebius the Cosmetor of Antioch 64 met him and said to him: "What are you carrying, Abba? Give the burden to me, and do not weary yourself!" But he said: "I weary him who wearies me. For since he is wanton, he suggests journeys to me." And when he had walked a great deal in this manner, he entered his cell with a crushed body.
Regarding 66 the great ascetic Mark, this admirable Macarius related this 67 incredible tale to us, saying: "When I was performing the sacred office, at the time of the distribution of the mysteries of Christ, I observed that I never gave 68 the oblation 69 to Mark the ascetic, but an angel gave it to him, taking it from the altar. I myself merely saw the splendor of the hand of him who was giving him the oblation 70."
This Mark, while he was A younger, learned the Old and New Testaments by heart, and was remarkably gentle and chaste, if anyone ever was.
One day, when I had some leisure-time in his extreme old age, I went to visit him. Since I was inexperienced, I considered him to be more than a man, as indeed he was; so I sat by the door of his cell and listened to see what he might be saying or doing. Being all alone inside, having now reached about a hundred years of age and having lost his teeth, he was struggling with himself and with the devil, saying: "What do you want now, you wicked old man? Behold, you have received wine and tasted oil. What more do you want me to do for you, you glutton in your gray hairs, you slave to your belly?" Thus he chastised himself with insults. And to the devil he said: "Depart from me, devil. You have grown old with me in sloth. You have inflicted bodily infirmity upon me. You have made me partake of wine and oil, making me a lover of pleasure. Do I still owe you anything? You find nothing in me that you wish to seize. Depart therefore from me, enemy of men." And as if playing the part of a robber he said to himself: "Come now, you trifler, you glutton in your old age; how long shall I be with you?"
C Paphnutius, the servant of Christ and disciple of this remarkable man, also narrated these things to us: One day, he said, when Macarius was sitting at home in his courtyard, keeping his mind fixed upon God, a hyena brought her own blind cub and, having knocked with her head at the door of the courtyard, she entered while he was still sitting there. She cast it down before his feet. Having taken the cub, the holy Macarius spat into its eyes and prayed, and immediately the cub saw. When she had suckled it, the hyena went away. On the following day, she brought the pelt of a large sheep to the holy Macarius, which pelt he himself later left to the holy bishop Athanasius. The blessed Melania told me that she had received from the holy Athanasius that pelt, which was called the gift of the hyena. The Lord did this to D glorify his servant, just as he did in the case of Elijah and Daniel.
It was said of this holy man, that from the time he was baptized, he did not spit on the ground for sixty years. For he was baptized when he was forty years old. At that age, his appearance was quite diminutive and sparse; he had hair only on his lip, and a few hairs on the tip of his chin; for because of the excessive labors of his asceticism, not even the hairs of his beard grew out.
A On one of the days, I approached this holy man and said to him, "Abba, I am in great distress; what shall I do? For thoughts are tormenting me, whispering to me: 'You are doing nothing; go away from here.'" The most holy Macarius replied to me, "Say to your thoughts, 'Because of Christ, I am guarding these walls.'" These things I have indicated, among many other great signs and struggles of the renowned and virtuous Macarius. B
OTHER LOCATIONS OF THE LAUSIAC HISTORY,
In which the holy Macarius the Egyptian and the Alexandrian, and also Macarius the minister of St. Anthony, are mentioned, edited according to the authority of two Viennese codices.Codex ms. hist. graec. LXXXIV, formerly XXIX, Imperial Library of Vienna, parchment, very old. Codex ms. hist. graec. IX, formerly XLII, Imperial Library of Vienna, paper, ancient.
These are the same manuscripts as noted above, in which those passages are read in chapters XVIII, XIX, XXX, XXXI [cf. Ed. Meurs. capp. XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXXII, XXXIII]. Indeed, no mention of the Macarii is made in the chapter "On Heron," which we have placed under §4; but we do not wish to omit it, because Heraclides of Heraclea testifies in certain Latin copies of the Lausiac History that Heron had heaped insults upon the blessed Macarius, a thing which is shown to be false by the text of these codices; concerning the observation of Rosweyde, we have argued briefly on p. 109.
1. On the Saints in Pherme. On Paul.
There is a mountain in Egypt leading into the vast solitude of Scetis, which is called Pherme; in which approximately five hundred men dwell who practice the ascetic life. Among them is an excellent monk named Paul, who throughout his whole time led this life. He never touched any labor, nor did he undertake any business, nor did he ever accept anything from anyone, except what he was to eat on that very day. His work of asceticism was to pray perpetually. And he had established three hundred prayers for himself, which he measured in this way: he kept a collection of pebbles in his lap, and after each prayer he cast away one of them. This man of God, for the sake of profit and spiritual conversation, visited holy Macarius the Politikos, and says to him, "Abba Macarius, I am greatly distressed." And he compelled him to say for what reason he was saddened. He says to him, "In a certain village there lives a virgin who has already been practicing the ascetic life for thirty years, about whom many have told me that she never eats food except on Saturday and Sunday, but for the whole time she draws out the weeks, and after five days she eats, C and performs seven hundred prayers. When I learned this, I reproved myself, reflecting that I, a man, am compared to greater things than her,
could not perform more than three hundred prayers. A Saint Macarius answers him, saying, "I am in my sixtieth year since I began the established custom of performing a hundred prayers; and I earn what is necessary for my sustenance with my own hands, and I afford the brothers the opportunity to visit me which is due to them, and my conscience does not judge me to have been negligent. But you, while performing three hundred prayers, are judged by your conscience; you show either that you do not perform them sincerely, or that you are able to perform more and do not do so."
2. Concerning Eulogius, the maimed one, and the discernment B of Saint Anthony.
The mountain of Saint Anthony lies between Babylon and Heraclea in the vast wilderness leading to the Red Sea, about thirty miles from the river. When I had come to the monastery situated near the river, called Pispir, where his disciples Macarius and Amatas—who also buried Saint Anthony after he fell asleep—were sitting, I waited C for five days in order to meet Saint Anthony. It was said that he would visit this monastery sometimes after ten, sometimes after twenty, and sometimes after fifty days, just as God led him to bring aid to those who had arrived there. We had gathered, various brothers with various needs, among whom was a certain Eulogius, etc.
It happened on another day that the great Anthony came late in the evening D, as Cronius said, wearing a leather cloak. He entered his monastery, and had this custom when questioning his disciple Macarius about those who had arrived: he would call the monks "Hierosolymitans," and the seculars "Egyptians." So the great man asked, "Brother Macarius, have any brothers come here?" And he replied, "They have come." He says, "Are they Egyptians or Hierosolymitans?" For he had given him a sign that he should call those who had less business "Egyptians," and he spoke to him concerning the Egyptians to "prepare lentils and give them to eat," and then he would perform prayer for them and dismiss them. But at that time Macarius answered concerning us, because of the maimed one, that they were a mixed group. If, however, he said they were Hierosolymitans, he would sit for the whole night and discourse to them on things pertaining to salvation. On that evening, therefore, having sat down, he calls everyone, the great one says, etc.
3. Concerning Valens.
A A certain Valens, by birth a Palestinian, having gone into the desert, lived with us for a very long time. Because he had undertaken a most ascetic life with the greatest severity of living, he was mocked by a demon through a vain opinion of himself and pride, and in a short time he was deceived by such a pernicious calamity of soul that he boasted that angels conversed with him and served him in every kind of ministry. Once, as his companions related, while he was stitching a basket in the evening, when there was great darkness, he lost the needle with which he was stitching. When it was not found, the demon created a lamp for him, by which he found the needle, so that the wretched man was puffed up even more by vain conceit. But by the providence of God, his calamity was quickly made manifest to the brotherhood. For it happened that some guests brought summer fruits to the brothers. Lord Macarius the priest sent a bundle to everyone in their cells, and likewise to this wretched Valens. He struck and heaped insults upon the one who had brought it, saying: Tell Macarius, I am not inferior to you, that you should send me gifts. When, therefore, holy Macarius learned that he had been deceived, he went to him to exhort him, and said: Brother Valens, you have been deluded; cease and beseech God! But he did not listen to his admonition, but being disobedient, he spoke against him. The devil, therefore, when he discovered that he had the greatest faith in him, assumed the figure of the Savior, and at night came to him in a phantasm with a thousand lamp-bearing demons, and showed him a fiery wheel, in the middle of which he simulated the figure of the Savior. One of them, having summoned him, said: Christ loved you because of the integrity of your life and your conduct, and has come to see you; go out of your cell, and when you see him standing at a distance, fall down and worship. B Having gone out of his cell, he saw the retinue of lamp-bearers and, at the distance of about a stadium, the Antichrist, whom he fell down and worshipped. The wretched man, however, was so far subdued and of a deceived mind, that on the following day he came into the church and said before everyone: I have no need of communion; for I have seen Christ today. C Then the fathers, having apprehended him, bound him with iron for a period of time. Then, by constant prayers made on his behalf, and by multifaceted humiliation and a more austere life, they removed his vain opinion, so that he was healed. For opposite remedies befit opposite things. I have therefore deemed it necessary to insert these lives of the deceived into this book for the safety of those who read, because even virtues become an occasion of falling for those who pursue them without discernment. D
Concerning Hero
A There was a certain Hero, an Alexandrian, a neighbor of mine, city-bred, in the flower of his youth, gifted in mind, pure in life, and exceedingly austere in his virtuous conduct, so much so that many of his acquaintances would say that he often ate only once in three months, contenting himself solely with Communion and whatever wild greens happened to appear. I myself had proof of this when I went with the blessed Albinus to Scetis, which was about forty miles away from us. On this journey we ate twice and drank three times; but he, though he had tasted absolutely nothing, kept reciting from memory while walking the great psalm and fifteen others, the Epistle to the Hebrews, Isaiah, and a part of the prophet Jeremiah, then Luke the Evangelist, and the Proverbs, and we could not even catch up with him as he walked. B Yet he, too, after great labors and noble sweats, was lifted up to a dizzying height by the pride of arrogance, and from there fell into a miserable end for all to see. In his vain conceit, he grew haughty against the holy fathers, insulting everyone and saying, "Those of you who obey their teaching are being deceived; for it is not right to use other teachers besides Christ alone, because the Savior himself said, 'Call no man master upon the earth.'" He himself was so blinded in his mind by the empty glory of his own opinion, having been cast down from on high, that he did not even wish to approach the divine mysteries.
Finally, as if driven by a most violent fire by a demon, he went down to Alexandria by the providence of divine dispensation, so that he might drive out one nail with another. C For he fell into a life of indifference, and spent his time in theatrical chariot races and taverns. Finally, having been seized by the desire for women, and as he was considering committing sin, he was constantly talking with a certain mime and revealing his wound to her. And as he was engaging in such habits, by a certain divine providence a carbuncle grew on his glans, and he was so ill for six months that his private parts rotted and fell off of their own accord. D Afterward, however, when he had recovered and had returned to a better frame of mind, he came back without those members, and having called to memory his heavenly conduct, so that he might perceive the things that are of God, and having confessed to the holy fathers all that had happened to him, he did not live long enough to resume his life of asceticism, but fell asleep a few days later.
IV. HISTORY OF SAINT MARK THE ABBOT
*Edited from the Vienna Codex.*[Codex manuscript of theology, Greek CCLXXIV, formerly CCXXXVII, Imperial Library of Vienna, paper, quarto.]
In this codex, this account of Saint Mark the Abbot, taken from Palladius’s *Lausiac History* and written carelessly by a recent hand, is prefixed as a preface to the *Chapters* of a certain Mark, inscribed thus: *Of Abbot Mark on the Spiritual Law*, which were published in the *Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum* [Great Library of the Old Fathers], Paris, Vol. XI, pp. 888 ff. The codex was described by Lambecius, Vol. V, p. 194, and by Nessel, Vol. I, p. 379. Regarding this history of Saint Mark, cf. above, p. 16, note 2, and p. 76 ff.
This immortal and blessed Mark, when he was young, learned the Old and New Testaments by heart, and was remarkably gentle and sober. Of him Macarius the Alexandrian, who was a presbyter, says: "I never gave an offering to Mark the ascetic; rather, an angel gave it to him, taking it from the altar—though I saw only the brightness of the hand of him who was giving it." Such was the great and immortal Mark. Once, while he was sitting in the courtyard of his cell and had his mind intent upon God, a hyena brought its blind cub and cast it at the feet of the saint, and the saint healed A it. On the following day, the hyena brought the pelt of a large sheep to the saint; Saint Mark left this to Saint Macarius the Great, and he gave it to the blessed Melania; it was called the "hyena's gift." This true servant of Christ was baptized at the age of forty.
HISTORIES OF SAINT MACARIUS
*Edited from the Vienna Codex.*[Codex manuscript of history, Greek IX, formerly XLII, Imperial Library of Vienna, paper, ancient, folio.]
In this codex [cf. Lambecius, Vol. VIII, p. 840; de Nessel, Vol. V, p. 34] is contained an appendix to the *Apophthegmata* edited by Cotelier, which their compiler mentions at the end of the preface, as we have taught above on p. 36. From this appendix, therefore—the leaves 80, 1–145 of which deal with anonymous elders, and then up to leaf 163 with elders whose names are added—we produce these three histories concerning Macarius, one of which is read on leaf 148 of the codex, another on leaf 161, 1, and the third at the very end of the appendix.
1. Abbot Macarius said: Why do you judge murderers, adulterers, grave-robbers, and anyone else who is a violator of the law in such matters? They have their own judge. Rather, do not examine C affairs one-sidedly, but also your own many previous slips, and you will find yourself, many times over,
many premeditated sins of your own, and you will find your own to be often worse than theirs. For you too have often looked on with lascivious eyes; and this, as you yourself know, is already finished adultery. You have also often reviled your brother, and you are not ignorant that the Lord has pronounced upon this matter, saying that anyone who says "thou fool" to his brother is liable to the hell of fire. B But that which is most terrifying of all, perhaps you approach His holy and immaculate mysteries unworthily, and become guilty of the body and blood of Christ. For he whom you judge is found to have killed a mere man, but you are found to be killing Christ Himself, and you are answerable for His slaughter, as one who partakes unworthily of the immaculate body and blood. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, he says, is guilty of the body and blood of Christ, and eats and drinks judgment unto himself. This means: just as those Jews killed Him, so too do those who partake of His body and blood unworthily do the same. And with good reason, because he who rends the royal purple and he who stains it suffer the same death. Therefore, both those who pierced His body at that time, and those who now defile it by partaking of it with an impure soul, will undergo the same judgment as those who crucified Him, according to the verdict of the apostle.
2. Abba Macarius used to say: When I was younger, and weary in my cell, I went out into the desert, C saying to my thought, "Whomever you meet, ask him for the sake of edification." And I found a young boy herding oxen and said to him, "What shall I do, child, for I am hungry?" He says to me, "Eat again." I said again, "I have eaten, and I am hungry again." He says to me again, "Eat again." And I said again, "I have eaten many times, and I am hungry again." Then he says to me, "Perhaps you are an ass, abba, since you wish to eat all the time." And having been edified, I departed. D He responded: You are not far from being an ass, abba, since you wish to eat always. So, having gained profit, I departed.
3. An elder delivered an account concerning Abba Macarius, that in the land of Arsinoe a certain monk sat for many years, having practiced the life of the saints. But because he was covetous of glory, on account of a proud elation and rashness, a spirit of python settled upon him, which first drove him from the true faith, and then brought him to the teaching of those who are called Hieracites, who say that the Savior did not assume a human body, nor will our body that we are clothed in be resurrected, and that there are three principles: God, matter, and evil, from which it is constructed; and that the Word of God did not become human nor assume a perfect human being, nor at all that the cause of all things is saved. Thus, having been perverted, he led astray five hundred souls. And he prevailed by speaking many things to many, and the destruction of...
death, that is to say, found a contempt for death. And it was said that he also cast out demons, according to that which was spoken in the Gospels, that they shall give signs and wonders, so as, if possible, to lead astray even the elect; for the ruling demons are very powerful in these matters, A supposedly in order to bring to nothing precisely those things. For they agree perfectly upon the destruction of souls. The bishop of that place, therefore, arrives with his clergy to the man of God, Abba Macarius, entreating him: "Come, as you wish, and help us. For if we do not cleanse our neighborhood while you are alive, all will cling to him, and they will very easily be led away, being subjected to the deception regarding the things that appear." And he said to him: "And behold, I am but a private man, what shall I do to him?" But the bishop persisted in entreating, saying: "I believe thus, that if you come, God will bring peace to His church; for often, intending to come, I was hindered by the clergy, lest I be mocked by the worldly. Now, therefore, no longer bearing the destruction of the people, and moreover fearing the charge of God who says: 'His blood I will require at your hand,' I have come to you, being sent by God." B And he arose and followed him. And they come to that deceiver. And he sees him and says to the bishop: "This one has a ruling spirit, and that you may know that this is not my work. For I have not yet campaigned at all against such spirits. For the holy ones say that there are two ranks of demons, one of those casting lusts into the body, and one of those breathing in mental deceptions, which is also very difficult to subdue. For these Satan distributes to sorcerers and deceivers and heresiarchs and poison-diviners, and to anyone of such a kind." The bishop says: "What then shall we do?" The elder says: "There is need of prayers; for argument does not prevail." They therefore command him to come out; and he comes out to them. C And the bishop immediately receives him with his lips and says to him: "How is it that for so long a time you did not associate with us?" And he said: "Because you do not think aright." Saint Macarius says to him: "Do you then think aright?" And he says: "Yes, indeed." "What is it," he says, "that you think?" "We think aright, that flesh and bones have been taken up." Saint Macarius says: "If we speak from ourselves, we do well; but if the truth has willed it so, what do you argue against? But that we may not waste many words, I will tell you what we think; and if you agree with this, you do well, but if not, you oppose God, whose dogmas you reject." D And he said: "I will first state my faith." Then the holy one says: "Let an evil faith not even be named, but let us speak the catholic faith of the Church." And he says to the bishop to speak. And when the people stood by, he begins to set forth the faith thus: "I believe in one God the Father Almighty, and in His consubstantial Word, through whom He made the ages, who upon the consummation of the ages, for the abolition of sin, took on flesh, which from the holy virgin
A Mary He prepared for Himself, who was crucified, and died, and was buried, and rose again on the third day, and is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and who is coming again in the coming age to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit, coessential with the Father and His Word. Let us believe also in the resurrection of soul and body, as the apostle says: “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” And again: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption.” Do you see how he says this? To him he answered: “Do not bring me faith from words, but let us go to the tombs, and raise for me one of those who lie there, and I know that you think rightly; since I account the soul to be without the body.” Turning round, the holy Macarius says to the bishop: “It is a great evil that we should tempt God, nor do I have the boldness to ask God that such a great sign should happen for the sake of one possessed by a demon.” The bishop says: “Not so, father, but for the sake of a whole parish.” Then they go off to the tombs, and the Hieracite begins B to call upon the demon. For he could not at all evoke a soul bare and naked. And as he accomplished nothing, but the Holy Spirit truly withstood him, he says to them: “Because of your unbelief I cannot evoke [him].” But immediately Macarius, having been indignant, bent his knees, promising nothing, and having persisted for one hour in prayer, he arose with all the people. And having struck the tomb with a palm branch—for the staves of the monks there are of palm—he raises a man, not one recently deceased and buried in the earth, but one of the ancients. And he calls the Hieracite and says to him: “Examine this one, if a body is raised.” But he, having become lifeless, the demon having departed from him because of such a sign, falls at the feet of the saint with all the people. And while they were seeking to kill him, he did not permit it, but led him away into the desert. He says also, that when the risen man was asked if he knew Christ, he said C that he had not even heard of Him [in his life]. For he said he had died in the time of king Pharaoh. [He was before the coming of Christ.] Having baptized him, then, he had him with him for three years, after which he slept the true sleep, so that the word of the Lord was fitting for him: “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the glory of God might be revealed.” The bishop then asked the holy Macarius whether the glory of so many falling down before him at such a great sign had entered his heart. And he answered him: “He whose heart has leisure to consider the glory of men, this man has not yet known God. But what he does, he does for men. But he who has been deemed worthy of the inspiration of God is in a great contest, D as if standing on a razor’s edge, fearing lest he fall. Such a one has one single desire: to depart from the body. For concerning glory, not even one—
thought of it enters his mind. A And he gives him an example of this, and says: Imagine someone walking upon the sea and looking up into heaven, sustained by the rays of the sun; if someone should propose to such a person, "If you look at the place where you are walking, you will sink into the sea," what would happen if he were to disobey? Thus, he who gazes upon the glory of God treads upon the glory that comes from men. But if he turns himself toward the latter, he falls from the former. And once he has fallen from it, he is tossed about by many other passions. As for the rest of this saint—that he was merciful and brotherly, and how great a discernment he had concerning matters—I shall keep silent about what is known. B
VI. SPECIMEN OF AN ANCIENT GERMAN INTERPRETATION OF THE HISTORIES OF THE HOLY MACARIUS OF EGYPT AND MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
*Derived from a codex in the library of the Cologne Jesuits.* *The manuscript, from the library of the Jesuits of Cologne, is on paper, dating to the 14th or 15th century, and is written with fair legibility in quarto.*It is a manuscript codex of 300 folios. On its cover one reads the inscription: *Bibl. de Croisiers*; whence it appears to have once belonged to the library of the Brothers of the Cross of Cologne. It contains most beautiful histories concerning Barlaam and Josaphat and other holy elders, crafted in the German idiom, and among them are many concerning the Macarii, of which we set forth here four, transcribed most accurately according to the faith of the codex.
1. A SIGN. After this, they told us of another strange sign. There was a rich man who had a beautiful daughter. And a young man sought to have her. And when she and her father and mother would not follow his evil will, he did it through sorcery, so that her father and her mother and many other people saw nothing else than a wild horse. And when her father and her mother and her other friends were in great suffering, they took her, bound, before the holy father Saint Macarius. And they fell before his feet with great weeping and said to him, "Alas, holy father, this maiden whom you see here was our daughter. And evil people have traveled to her and have transformed her with sorcery, so that she has become as you now see. We pray you, through the Creator of heaven and earth, who has created all creatures, that you pray to God that she may become again as He created her at first." Then the holy father laughed very kindly and said, "I see B nothing strange in her, other than the nature of a human being; neither is there anything strange in her body. But it is in the eyes of the people who look upon her that it seems to be the work of the devil." And when he had said this, he led her into his cell. And after much prayer that he performed over her, he anointed her with oil in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for she had lost all her strength from great labor. Then he gave her to eat and led her out to her friends. Then they looked upon her as a young woman, as she was in truth. And when her father and her friends thanked Macarius the holy father greatly and praised God, he said to the young woman, "The power of the devil has been made manifest in this regard, for you have been five weeks without the holy body of God." And so they led the daughter home with joy.
2. After that, the holy father desired that he should come into the garden, Jannes and Mambres. Those were the two sorcerers who by King Pharaoh were...
sent as a sign before him. Then the two sorcerers did the same sign with the devil, so that they deceived Pharaoh, that he would not believe Moses and his signs. And the same two sorcerers, Mambres and Jannes, made for themselves a very precious place in a garden A and dug there a spring and planted therein many trees of various fruits, so that the garden is just as a paradise. There is also great treasure of silver and of gold hidden therein. Now there were so many devils therein that no man for many years dared to come therein. And when the holy man Macarius wanted to see this garden, he made a small bunch B of reeds. And when he went towards it, for a mile of the way he laid a stalk on the path, so that he would not lose his way when he was to go back. For he had to go for nine days 280 before he could arrive there. And when he was a mile from the garden, he sat down and wanted to rest. Then the devil came and had gathered all the reeds and laid them at his head. And when he awoke, he found them. And he understood immediately and discerned the devil's deceit. And he thought that he should flee nowhere else but to God. And when he came to the garden, the devils came out to him with a great cry and said to Macarius, "What do you want, monk, here in our house? Away quickly, you have nothing to do here. This place belongs to us; no one is allowed in here; you cannot stay here." Then Macarius said, "I must go in and see how it is made." And when he went in, the devil came out against him with a naked sword and did as if he would slay him in death, C and said, "Go back into your cell. Does it not seem quite inconvenient to you when we go about your house? And do you think then that you can go by force into our house?" Then he answered the devil and said, "You come against me with a sword, and I go against you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And thus the devil had to give way to him. And when he came into the garden, there he found a spring, and there was a bucket attached with an iron chain. But it was filled and broken. He also found there many golden idols and much great treasure; he found also the most beautiful trees of pomegranates and of figs, and of all kinds of fruit. And when he had seen all that, he went out again and let the silver and gold lie, for he did not touch it. And immediately as he went out, the devils went back in again and scratched the air behind him just as ravens. Now he had brought with him water and bread, but he ran out of them. And as he went back through the desert, he became so thirsty that he was about to perish. And when he was in great D distress, he stood immediately still. And when he saw a beautiful young woman who had a very white garment on, and she had on her head a bucket 281 with water that hovered over the earth. Now she was as far from him as one could shoot with a bow. And as he went near to her, she went before him for three days. And on the fourth day, many wild beasts came along, and among them was a hind, and its fawn followed it. And the hind’s milk flowed onto the earth. And when he saw the young woman going before him with the bucket of water, he gained strength from her sight. And when he had seen the hind, a voice from heaven spoke to him, "Macarius, go to the hind and drink." Now his heart was always directed to the fact that he preferred to provide for the need of his fellow Christian than for his own. So he thought also hereupon, and sent the grapes on to another. And he thought that he was more in need than he himself. And that same brother was sick. And the brother had also the same virtue, sick as he was; yet he thought that another was more in need than he, and he sent the grapes on to another. And in short words, so the grapes came to all the cells that were in the desert, whether they were near or far. And each one thought that another was more in need of them than he. And to the last, the grapes were sent back to Macarius. Then he lifted up his hands and praised God.
3. A SIGN.
A 4. Abbot Macarius stood at a certain time in his cell late in the evening. And he looked out through a window. Then the devil drew near, going along very clearly. And he was wearing a cloak, on which there were many holes. And on each patch he had a small vessel, just as apothecaries have their herbs and their salves. Then Macarius said, "You great one, where are you going?" The devil answered and said, "I want to go into the wilderness to seek out the brothers." Then Macarius said, "What does it mean that you are carrying so many evil things?" The devil said, "I am bringing the brothers my drink to tempt them. And I am bringing for that purpose such manifold B gifts, so that if they do not fall into one, I may offer another. And it can hardly happen that they do not eventually fall into some of them." And when he had said that, he went on his way. Now Macarius’s cell was on a mountain. 283 And there were many cells below it in the wilderness where many good brothers resided. And when Macarius heard this from the devil, he stood and waited until the devil came back again. And when he came back, Macarius said to him, "Welcome." The devil answered him very unworthily and said, "What is your greeting to me? All those whom I have seen have become very rebellious against me." Then Macarius said, "And do you have no friends there?" He wanted to lie to him. But he asked him again. And then the devil had to tell him the truth. The devil said, "I have one there who begins to conduct himself well according to my will; whatever I suggest to him, he receives a great deal of it." Then Macarius asked him what he was called. The devil said, "He is called Theopenticus." And with these words, he went on his way. As soon C as he went away, Macarius took his staff in his hand and went up the mountain to the brothers in the wilderness. And when it was told that he had come, they all went out to meet him. And each one thought that he had turned into his cell and gone in. Then he asked where Theopenticus’s cell was. And he went to him. He then became very joyful and received him very affectionately. And when the two were alone and all the brothers had gone away, Macarius said to Theopenticus, "Dear brother, how are you holding up?" He said, "Well, dear father, through your prayer." Then Macarius said again, "Do evil thoughts also afflict you?" He said, "Yes, holy father, from time to time." And he was ashamed to tell him with what his heart was troubled. Macarius noticed this at once and wished to win the truth from him with subtle skill. And he said to him thus, "Many years as I have spent in the wilderness, and all the brothers hold me for a holy father, and I am also nearly a hundred years old; yet I cannot overcome those thoughts in me." Then Theopenticus said, "Believe me, holy father, they afflict me very sorely." And when Macarius heard 284 that he began to speak, he laughed at such speech with understanding, just as if he himself were troubled by the many evil thoughts. And with such skill he enticed from him that he went through all the thoughts with which the devil had also tempted him. Then Macarius said to him, "Dear brother, how long do you fast?" The brother said, "Until the hour of nones." Then Macarius said, "Dear brother, fast until the hour of vespers. And take something from the Gospel and from the Holy Scripture, and meditate upon it. And when any evil thoughts afflict you, do not look around you, but upward to God, and He will come to your aid, and He will not forsake you." And when he had talked much with him and taught him how he should conduct himself against the devil's snares, he went back home to his cell. And thereafter, one day, the devil came with the same wares as he had had before. Macarius greeted him again and said, "Where are you going, great one?" The devil said, "I will again visit the brothers." Now Macarius waited again for a while until he came back. And when he came back, he asked him again, "How are the brothers doing now?" The devil said with a very hard voice, "Alas, they have all become contrary to me. Even the one whom I had brought well into my friendship, he has set himself most against me. And he has become so mortally against me that I dared not even think of his cell. And I have sworn that I will never again come into it in a long time." And when he had said that, he went his way.
VII. VISIONS OF A CERTAIN ABBOT MACARIUS CONCERNING THE HOLY ANGELS
First published from the Vienna Codex.
AA narrative horrible and astonishing to the mind.
Abbas Macarius said: When I had come to Constantinople—for a desire had seized me to visit it—and was walking in a certain portico, with truth testifying to me regarding these things that are recounted by me, I saw with the mental eyes given to me by the Lord for the understanding of His wonders, a man standing like a eunuch outside a house of ill repute. He was greatly downcast, hiding his face with the palms of his hands, and he was lamenting in such a manner that one might think even heaven was lamenting with him. I drew near and said to him, "What is the reason for your lamentation and downcast look? Why do you not depart from this place, since it is a house of harlots and lascivious women? Tell me, I beseech you, for your lamentation has much compassion."
And he answered and said to me: "By nature, O glorious servant of God, I am an angel, just as every Christian in the hour of baptism receives an angel from God for the protection and guardianship of the man who lives here. And I am greatly troubled, seeing him here abandoned to lusts and filthiness, as he is now inside this house B of ill repute, lying down for the sake of lust, as you see, with this harlot. And how should I not lament the image of God cast into such darkness?"
I said to him: "And why do you not admonish him to flee the gloom of this sin?" And the angel said to me: "Because I have no place to draw near to him. From the moment he began to commit sin, he has been a servant of demons, and I have no power over him." C [And I said to him:] "Whence is it evident that you have no power over him, when God has entrusted him to you?" And the angel replied to me again: "Our God, being good and loving to mankind, created man with free will and allowed him to walk in the way of his own choosing, having shown him the two ways, the narrow and the broad, and having told him the end of both. The way of the narrow and beaten path, indeed, has a small amount of labor in the present, but in
the ages of ages it has rest, while the broad way has eternal punishment, the fire of Gehenna, and all other torments. What admonition remains for me to make thereafter to my man, whom God entrusted to me to protect? For the Lord and God himself, our Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, admonishes and encourages and teaches all A to abstain from rotten deeds, and yet hardly ever do some accurately consider his divine words. I say, therefore, to him: "Why did you stretch out your hands, groaning toward heaven?" And the angel says to me: "I see the demons around him clapping, and others acting as tragedians, and others mocking him indecently, and for this reason I was gnashing my teeth over those insolent acts, and I was praying to God that his creature might be rescued from the demons, and that he might grant B me one day to rejoice in him for his repentance and his turning back from his deeds and for his confession, and that I might be found worthy to have his soul delivered in confession and repentance, spotless and pure through the Lord, blameless in the goodness of God." And having said these things, the angel disappeared from my eyes. I say to you, my brethren, that I know for a certainty that there is no other sin more foul, except for adultery and fornication and the accursed sin of the Sodomites. But if a man, while living in these sins, is about to return to a better state of life, God receives him more kindly than all other sinners, because the passion arises from free choice, but the devil encourages it for him through prurience. But if anyone should strive to mortify these passions through vigilance and continence, God extinguishes C them.
2. Other Narrations of the Same.
The same holy Macarius said again: one day I was praying to the Lord God. Then I looked up into heaven, and behold, it was open, and the angels of God were some ascending and others descending, bearing souls. But some black and dark ones in the air were having a great struggle to seize and drag down the souls of men. The angels, on the other hand, were resisting strongly and firmly, as they were beating them severely and saving the souls. I looked again, and behold, two angels were carrying a man's soul up into heaven. When, therefore, they approached the toll-house of fornication and of lechery and of andromania — for these are the most shameful of all toll-houses; for in the way leading to the heights, the angels of God who were holding the soul were approaching — the ruler of the toll-house began to be perturbed D
and to change countenance, and he said to the angels of God: "By what manner do you drag this soul, which belongs to us?" The angels said to him: "Tell us, what sophistry do you have regarding her?" He says then to them: "Because until the end of his life he practiced fornication, and he frequently committed the sin of Sodom by his own choice. And not only this, but he also judged his neighbor in a reviling way. What is more grievous than these crimes that you have to find in him?" The angels say: "Even if this soul was enslaved to such passions, yet he cut them away from himself before his end arrived." But the devil says: "No, it is not as you say, but he died unrepentant until his last breath, never pausing at all from his iniquities. Nowhere was he found having made a confession of all his sins, or having made an abstinence from evil deeds, but he died thus, a slave of sin and my co-worker." Then one of the angels of God says: "Truly we do not believe you, adversary. For you are entirely a lie, O unclean one. But let the angel who was given to him from baptism for his safe-keeping be called, and he shall tell the truth as it is." And when he was called thither — for he was occupied with the burial of his body — the angels said to him: "Tell us, friend, did this soul repent of his sins, or did he die in them?" And the angel, answering them, said: "From the hour in which he fell into the sickness, before he became heavy, he came into the remembrance of death; he began to mourn and weep, and he ordered the presbyter of the church to be called, and privately he began to mourn and weep and confess all his sins to God before the priest, extending his hands to heaven, bitterly sighing and lamenting. If therefore God has remitted this sin by His own authority, and this is most fitting, is not the glory then to His righteous judgment?" Hearing these things, the angels of light mocked the devil, leaving him behind. And truly that soul passed out of the snare of the hunters. B And again I look, and another soul appeared; he was by nature a eunuch, and the demons were accusing him copiously, reproaching him for each one of his sins specifically, both the manner and the place, recounting his improprieties and filthy deeds. And the angels of God contradicted them, saying that he had some works of righteousness; for in his life he frequently gave something to the poor, and if he did something evil, he would immediately turn back in repentance, and he would upbraid himself and blame himself and sigh weeping. And saying these things, the angels of God maintained their position and mocked the demons, resisting them and persuading them, [as] this was a soul belonging to us. C Again, however, the demons said, complaining: "From his youth," they say, "he did many evils, such as were unbecoming to him, who was a Christian and a eunuch, fornicating, committing adultery, and defiling himself with those who committed the sin of Sodom,>
A insulting all, flaring up with anger, and beating them mercilessly, he committed many murders. If, therefore, salvation is due to this man, take the whole world and save all the sinners of the earth for nothing! For we labor in vain." Then the angels respond to them: "Observe, you wretches, that he cut off and departed from all those things in which he sinned from his youth, and God has forgiven these; and he made alms and offerings through the priests to the Lord God for the salvation of his soul. What then seems good to you, you rotting beasts? Is it fitting for this soul to attain salvation or not? For the compassionate Lord judges those things which do not come into the light through confession. For everything that is revealed is light. For all things, whatever men shall confess through the priests in great humility and sighing from their whole heart, and shall cease from evil deeds, the merciful God does not hold to their account; but those who hide their sins so that they may shine neither to God nor man, God judges all these, and convicts and puts them to shame, and hands them over to fire for infinite ages." B When the angels had said these things, they repelled the evil spirits, and thus they departed from there, and they entered into the gate of heaven. And this soul also was delivered from the evil spirits of wickedness and was found to be a partaker of salvation with God, who saves His creature. And behold, again another soul was being carried upward, which was very pious and fearing C God, as one who had distributed alms abundantly in her life. She also had love toward all men, and chastity and holiness. But the demons were snarling at her, gnashing their teeth against her. But the soul trembled, seeing their ferocity, and took refuge in the arms of the angels of God. And the angels who were descending for other souls met her and greeted her. And it came to pass, when the angels were entering the gate of heaven, holding that holy soul, all the powers of the heavens came to meet her, and were greeting her, rejoicing and saying: "Glory to you, O God, because this soul has been redeemed from the lowest depth and from the dreadful dragon." And as much as they went up on high, so much the more did all the orders of the spirits congratulate her, rejoicing with joy. For this is proper to the holy powers, to rejoice and exult over every soul that is saved. And when they arrived at that radiant D throne of the glory of God, and proclaimed her blessed before His Father, and the grace of God and the Father was poured out, and she herself was fully filled with immortal light and perfumes and sweetness. And she was handed over to Michael, the prince of the covenant, to lead her into eternal rest. And behold, another soul was being led by the demons harshly to the infernal regions. Now, the work [is...]
was that of a certain servant, who at that very hour had strangled himself with a rope; his angel followed behind, lamenting his destruction, and said in his grief: "Woe to the wicked demons who have wrought these terrible things."
SECOND APPENDIX
CONTAINING THEAPOPHTHEGMS OF SS. MACARIUS OF EGYPT AND MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
With a version edited and corrected by the Editor.INDEX.
I. The histories of Saint Macarius by Evagrius. II. Apophthegms of St. Macarius the Great (of Egypt) edited by Peter Possinus. III. Apophthegms of St. Macarius of Egypt edited by John Bapt. Cotelerius. IV. Other Apophthegms of St. Macarius edited by John Bapt. Cotelerius. V. Apophthegms of St. Macarius of Alexandria edited by John Bapt. Cotelerius.
I
EVAGRIUS' HISTORIES OF SAINT MACARIUS.
(Evagrius, *Capita practica ad Anatolium*, chapters LXVI, XCIII, XCIV. Cotelerius, *Eccl. Graec. Mon.*, Vol. III, pg. 88 seqq., 99, 100.)
1. There are some unclean demons who always sit by those who are reading and attempt to snatch away their minds, frequently taking opportunity from the very divine Scriptures themselves to lead them into evil thoughts. Sometimes they also force them to yawn contrary to custom, and inflict a most heavy sleep, greatly different from what is normal; this, as some of the brethren have imagined, is due to an ineffable natural opposition. But I, having observed this many times, have learned differently: they lay hold of the eyelids and the whole head, and cool them with their own body—for the bodies of demons are very cold, and similar to crystal, and thus we feel the head [to be] like the cupping glass of physicians.