History of the Monks in Egypt 18–28

In the region of Arsinoë too we saw a certain presbyter named Serapion, father of many monasteries, under whose care were several different monasteries, of about ten thousand monks. All of them, from their own labours, which they earned by the wages of their hands, chiefly at harvest time, brought the greatest part to the father mentioned above, and it was set aside for the use of the poor. For this was the custom not only of these but of almost all the monks of Egypt: at harvest time they hire out their labour for reaping, and from that wage each one gains about eighty measures of grain, more or less, and offers the greatest part of it for the use of the poor; so that not only are the needy of that region fed, but also ships laden with grain are sent to Alexandria, to be distributed to those shut up in prison or to other strangers and needy people. For within Egypt there are not enough poor people to be able to consume the fruits and bounty of their mercy.

We also saw in the regions of Memphis and Babylon countless multitudes of monks, among whom we also saw various graces of virtues and ornaments of character. They relate that there are places there in which Joseph is said to have stored grain, which they call the granaries of Joseph; others say these are the Pyramids, in which, as they think, the grain was then gathered.

The elders related, then, that among these there had been in the time of persecution a certain monk named Apollonius, who, having lived a magnificent life among the brothers, was also ordained deacon. In the time of persecution, then, his zeal was to go round to each of the brothers and exhort them to martyrdom. And when he himself too had been arrested and thrust into prison, very many of the Gentiles came to him as if to insult him, and assailed him with blasphemous and impious words. Among them was a certain Philemon, a very famous pipe player, beloved by all the people. When he wore him out with many insults, calling him impious and wicked and a seducer, a deceiver of many mortals, worthy to be hated by all, and when he said these and many other graver things against him, Apollonius answered him, saying: “May the Lord have mercy on you, my son, and reckon to you as sin nothing of what you have said.” When Philemon heard this, he was pricked in heart, and felt in his mind the force of his words beyond human measure, so much so that he suddenly confessed himself a Christian. And at once he flew from there to the judge’s tribunal, and crying out in the sight of all the people said: “You do unjust things, O judge of iniquity, punishing devout men beloved by God; for Christians neither do nor teach anything evil.” The judge, hearing this, at first thought that he, being a man of that place, was putting forward some joke. But when he saw him pursuing it earnestly and asserting it with all constancy, he said: “You are mad, Philemon, and suddenly out of your mind.” He said: “I am not mad; but you are a most unjust and most insane judge, who unjustly kill so many righteous men. For I am a Christian, which is the best race of men.” Then before the people the judge at first tried with many blandishments to call him back to what he had known; but when he saw him unmoved, he applied every kind of torment to him. And learning that this change had come about in him from the words of Apollonius, he seized Apollonius too and subjected him to heavier torments, and heaped up against him the charge of being a deceiver. But Apollonius said to him: “Would that you too, judge, and all who stand by and hear me, would follow this error and deception of mine, as you call it!” When he heard this, he ordered both him and Philemon to be handed over to the fire in the sight of the people. When they had entered the flames, blessed Apollonius cried out to the Lord in the hearing of all, saying: “Do not hand over to the beasts, Lord, the souls of those who confess you; but show us clearly your salvation.” When, then, Apollonius had spoken these words to the Lord in the hearing of the people and the judge, suddenly a cloud full of dew surrounded the men and extinguished the flames of the kindled fire. At which both the judge and the people, astounded, all began to cry with one voice: “Great and one is the God of the Christians; he alone is immortal.”

But when these things had been reported to the prefect of Alexandria, he became more savage than himself, and choosing some of the cruellest and fiercest of his staff, not so much men as beasts, he sent them to bring bound to Alexandria both the judge himself, who had believed the divine wonders, and those through whom the power of God had appeared. When, then, they were all being led in chains together, the grace of God was present in the word, and Apollonius began to teach the faith of God to those who were leading them bound. And when they had believed in God’s mercy and received the faith of God with all firmness of heart, they offered themselves bound to the judge together with those whom they had come to bring, and professed alike that they were Christians. When the prefect saw them stubborn and unmoved in the faith of the Lord, he ordered them all together to be plunged into the depth of the sea, not knowing, impious man, what he was doing. For this was to the saints not death but baptism. Their bodies too, without doubt by God’s providence, the sea’s wave carried back whole and unharmed to the shore; and received by those who had come with them to attend them, and brought back, they were laid in one tomb. From them, until the present time, many mighty works and wonderful signs are performed for all, and the vows and prayers of all are received by them and fulfilled with the fruit of the petition; and to this place the Lord deigned to bring us too, and to fulfil our vows and prayers.

We also saw another venerable father in the Thebaid named Dioscorus, a presbyter, who had in his monastery about a hundred monks. At the time when they approach the sacraments, we saw him apply the greatest care and the greatest diligence, lest any of those approaching should bring a stain of conscience in anything; so much so that he warned them even about those dreams that usually happen to people, whether through fantasies of women appearing or through an abundance of natural fluid. He said, then, that if something of this kind happens without fantasies, it is not a sin; for the fluid born in the body, when it has filled its proper receptacles, must be discharged by its own passages, and therefore it is not drawn into sin. But where visions of women and the blandishments of the flesh occur, he affirmed that this already gives signs of a soul occupied with desires and with thoughts and allurements of that kind. Monks ought, then, he said, in every way to drive such images from their thoughts and not indulge their senses at all in these blandishments of the devil; otherwise there will seem to be no difference between them and those who live in the world. “But monks must labour to tame and overcome even the natural fluid by much abstinence of fasts and frequent prayers, and to restrain its flowing defilement by continuance in prayer and fasting.” Indeed, he said, even those who live in luxury, if perhaps the sickness of their body requires it, will abstain from everything the doctor has judged harmful; why should a monk, who must seek the health of soul and spirit, not do this much more?

We came also to the place of Nitria, the most famous among all the monasteries of Egypt, about forty miles from Alexandria. It takes the name Nitria from the adjoining village, in which nitre is collected; divine providence foreseeing even then, I believe, that in those places the sins of people were to be washed away and abolished like dirt. In this place, then, about fifty dwellings, or not many fewer, are seen near one another and placed under one father. In them some live several together, some few, some even alone; and though some are divided in dwelling, they remain joined and inseparable in spirit, faith and love. When, then, we were drawing near to this place and they perceived that foreign brothers were arriving, at once, like a swarm of bees, each one rushed out of his cell, and they hurried to meet us at a happy run and with eager speed, very many of them carrying with them jars of water and loaves, according to what the prophet says in rebuke of some: “Because you did not come out to meet the children of Israel with bread and water.” Then, having received us, they led us first with psalms to the church, washed our feet, and each one wiped them with the linen cloths they used, as if relieving the toil of the journey, but in truth washing away the hardships of human life by mystical traditions.

What shall I say now of their kindness, of their services, of their love, when all were eager each to bring us into his own cell, and not only to fulfil what is owed to hospitality, but also to teach us either about the humility in which they themselves excelled, or about gentleness and other such good things, which are learned among them, as men set apart from the world for this very purpose, by varied grace indeed, but by one and the same teaching? Nowhere have we seen love so flourish, nowhere have we seen the work of mercy so glow and the zeal of hospitality so fulfilled. As for meditation on and understanding of the divine Scriptures, and exercises of divine knowledge, nowhere have we seen them so great, so that you would think almost every one of them an orator in divine wisdom.

Beyond this there is another place in the inner desert, about ten miles distant from it, which, because of the multitude of cells scattered in the desert, they have named Cellia. To this place withdraw those who have first been trained there and wish now, having laid aside their first teachings, to lead a more secluded life. For the desert is vast, and the cells are separated by such distance from one another that they are placed neither within sight of each other nor within hearing of the voice. They live singly in their cells; there is great silence and great quiet among them. Only on the Sabbath and the Lord’s day do they come together to the church, and there they see one another as if restored to heaven. If perhaps anyone is missing from that assembly, they understand at once that he is held back by some unevenness of the body; and they go to visit him, not all at once, but all at different times, each one carrying with him anything he has that might seem pleasing to the sick man. For any other reason no one dares to disturb his neighbour’s silence, unless perhaps one can instruct him in the word and, as it were, anoint with the consolation of speech athletes set in the contest. Many of them come to the church from three and four miles away, so great is the distance by which their cells are separated from one another; but there is such love in them, and they are bound by such affection among themselves and toward all the brothers, that they are a wonder and an example to all. So if anyone perhaps wishes to live with them, as soon as they understand it, each one offers his own cell.

We saw among them a venerable father named Ammonius, a man on whom God had conferred all the fullness of spiritual graces. When you saw the grace of love in him, you would say you had seen nothing like it anywhere. And if you considered his humility, you would reckon him far more powerful than the rest in this gift. And again, if you considered his patience, his gentleness, his kindness, you would judge that he so excelled in each of these virtues that you would not know which to put before which. The Lord had given him so great a gift of wisdom and knowledge that you would believe that hardly any of all the fathers had so penetrated the halls of all knowledge; and all who had seen him confessed that no one had been so received into the chamber of God’s wisdom. He had two brothers, Eusebius and Euthymius; for Dioscorus, who was the eldest among them, had been seized for the office of bishop. These, then, were his brothers not only in the flesh but also in life and training and in all virtue of soul; and all of them together comforted the brothers who lived in those places, instructing each one as a nurse cherishes her children, and teaching them, they strove to lead them to the highest perfection.

We saw, then, the man of God Ammonius mentioned above, who had among them a monastery surrounded by a wall, which in those places is usually easily built of baked bricks, spacious and furnished with all necessities, in which he himself had also dug a well. A certain brother came, wishing to be saved with him, and approached Ammonius, asking whether there was any empty cell where he could live. Then he said: “I will look; but until I find one, stay here in this monastery; for I will go out right now to look.” And leaving him everything together with the monastery, he himself found a very small cell far from that place and settled himself in it, and yielded the monastery entirely, with all that was in it, to the brother who had lately arrived, who did not understand. But if there were several who perhaps came wishing to be saved, the man mentioned above gathered all the brothers, who helped eagerly, and built a monastery in a single day. And when he had completed the number of dwellings for each, those who were to stay were invited to the church as if for a meal; and while they were occupied there, each of the brothers, bringing out from his own cell what was needed, furnished the new cells of each, so that through the contribution of love nothing at all was lacking, whether of utensils or of what is required for food; and yet each one’s offering was not made known. Returning in the evening to the cells that had been prepared, they found set there everything necessary for use, and their dwellings so furnished that they saw nothing at all lacking.

We saw among them one of the elders, a good man named Didymus, in whom there was much grace, which even his very face showed. He would tread underfoot scorpions and cerastes, that is, the beasts they call horned vipers, and snakes, which are found in those places because of the fierce heat of the sun, as if they were little worms of the earth, and so kill them that he suffered nothing at all from them.

We also saw among them another father of the greatest age, named Cronius, lasting on in a good old age and at a ripe time of life; for he was in his hundred and tenth year. He was still surviving from among the disciples of blessed Antony; and among the other virtues of his soul we saw the immense grace of his humility.

There was also yet another of Antony’s disciples, named Origen, a man magnificent in all things and of the greatest prudence, whose talk and account of the virtues of his excellent master, the man of God, built up all who heard and kindled them vehemently, so that you would think you saw with your eyes the things he told.

We saw there also a most wise man, wonderful in all things, named Evagrius, to whom among the other virtues of the soul was granted so great a grace of discerning spirits and of purifying thoughts (as the Apostle says), that no other of the brothers was thought to have reached so great a knowledge of subtle and spiritual things. Although great understanding had been given him by the things themselves and by experience, and (what is above all) by the grace of God, this too was added: that he was instructed for a long time by blessed Macarius, who, as everyone knows, was most famous in God’s grace and distinguished by signs and mighty works. This Evagrius, then, was of incredible abstinence; but above all he warned the brothers, if any of them happened to be eager either to humble the body or to drive from it the fantasies of demons, not to use a larger measure in drinking water. For he said: “If the body is soaked with much water, it generates greater fantasies and provides larger receptacles for the demons.” He also taught many other things about abstinence with the greatest deliberation. He himself not only used water very sparingly, but also abstained from bread entirely. The other brothers who stayed in those places were content with bread alone and salt, so that in all that multitude you would hardly find anyone who used even oil. Many of them took their sleep not lying down but sitting, and (so to speak) engaged in meditation on the divine words.

Some of the fathers who were there told us that in those places two Macarii had shone like two lights of heaven. One of them was Egyptian by race and a disciple of blessed Antony; the other was an Alexandrian. As their names agreed, so did the virtues of their souls and the magnificence of their heavenly graces. For each was Macarius, each equally strong in exercises of abstinence and virtues of the soul; one excelled only in this, that he possessed, as it were, the inheritance of the graces and virtues of blessed Antony.

Hence, they say, once when a murder had been committed in the neighbouring places, and the crime was being laid on an innocent man, the one who was suffering the false accusation fled to his cell; and those who were pressing the charge were there too, alleging and saying that they themselves were in danger unless they seized the murderer and handed him over to the laws. The one on whom the crime was being laid affirmed with oaths that he was not guilty of that blood. And when the contest had gone on long on both sides, holy Macarius asked where the man who was said to have been killed was buried. When they had pointed out the place, he went to the tomb with all who had come to press the charge against the man, and there, kneeling and calling on the name of Christ, he said to those standing by: “Now the Lord will show whether this man whom you are pressing is truly guilty.” And raising his voice he called the dead man by name. And when, called from the tomb, he had answered him, he said to him: “By faith in Christ I adjure you to say whether you were killed by this man who is suffering a false accusation.” Then he answered from the tomb in a clear voice, saying that he had not been killed by him. And when all, astounded, had fallen to the ground and were rolling at his feet, they began to beg him to ask him by whom he had been killed. Then he said: “This I will not ask; for it is enough for me that the innocent be freed; it is not mine to betray the guilty.”

Another kind of miracle of his was also reported. The virgin daughter of a certain householder in a neighbouring town, through magical fantasies, appeared to people to have been changed into a horse, so that she was thought to be a mare and not a girl. They brought her to him. When he asked what they wanted, her parents said: “This mare that your eyes see was a virgin girl and our daughter; but very wicked men changed her by magic arts into this animal that you see. We ask you, then, to pray the Lord to change her back into what she was.” He said: “I see this girl you show me having nothing of a beast in her. What you say is not in her body but in the eyes of those who look. For these are fantasies of demons, not the truth of things.” And when he had brought her with her parents into his cell, he knelt and began to pray the Lord, and at the same time asked her parents to pray to the Lord with him; and after this, anointing her with oil in the name of the Lord, he drove out all the deceit of sight and made her seem a virgin to all, as she also seemed to herself.

Another, younger girl was also brought to him, whose private parts had so rotted on every side that, the flesh being consumed, the inner and secret parts of nature were laid bare, and a countless multitude of worms swarmed from them, so that no one could even approach her for the horror of the stench. When she had been brought by her parents and laid before his door, he pitied the virgin’s torments and said: “Be of good courage, daughter; the Lord gave you this for salvation, not for destruction. So care must be taken rather that your health brings you no danger.” And when he had persisted in prayers for seven continuous days, and blessing oil anointed her limbs in the name of the Lord, he made her so sound that no form, no appearance of womanly nature appeared in her, but she could live among men without the obstacle of feminine suspicion.

They said besides that once a certain heretic, a Hieracite, came to him; this kind of heresy is found in Egypt. When by much skill in speaking he was troubling very many of the brothers who lived in the desert, he dared to assert the perversity of his faith even before Macarius himself. When the old man resisted him and he contradicted, he evaded simple words with clever arguments. But when the saint saw the faith of the brothers endangered, he said: “What need is there for us to contend with words to the subversion of the hearers? Let us go out to the tombs of the brothers who have gone before us in the Lord; and whichever of us the Lord grants to raise a dead man from the tomb, let all know that his faith is approved by God.” This proposal pleased all the brothers who were present. They went out to the tombs, and Macarius urged the Hieracite to call up a dead man in the name of the Lord. He said: “You, lord, who proposed it, call first.” And Macarius, prostrating himself in prayer before the Lord, when he had prayed sufficiently, raised his eyes upward and said to the Lord: “You, Lord, show which of us two holds the right faith by raising this dead man.” And when he had said this, he called out the name of a certain brother who had lately been buried. When he had answered from the grave, the brothers at once came up and removed what had been laid over him, brought him out of the tomb, loosed the bands with which he was bound, and showed him alive. The Hieracite, when he saw this, was astounded and turned to flight; and all the brothers, pursuing him, drove him out beyond the borders of that land. Many other things too were reported of him which are too long to write; but from these few his other works also are known.