History of the Monks in Egypt 29–34

The other holy Macarius also accomplished magnificent mighty works, of which others too have written some things, enough to show the greatness of his virtues; and so we pass over them in brief. Yet they said that he was a lover of the desert above all others, so that he even explored the farthest and inaccessible places of the wilderness, until he found a certain place set in the farthest desert, planted with various fruit-bearing trees and filled with all good things. There he was said to have found two brothers; and when he asked them to allow monks to be brought there to live, since that place was both pleasant and abundant in all necessities, they answered that more could not be brought there, lest perhaps, coming through the desert, they be deceived by demons. For they said that there were many demons in the desert, and monsters, whose harassments and craftiness an unaccustomed multitude could not bear. Yet when he had returned to the brothers and told them of the advantage of the place, the minds of many were kindled to go there with him. But when the other fathers perceived that the young men’s minds were stirred, they restrained them with sounder counsel, saying: “If this place, as is boasted, was planted by Jannes and Jambres, nothing else is to be believed of it but that it was prepared by the devil’s work for our deception. For if, as they say, it is truly delightful and abundant, what shall we hope for in the age to come, if we enjoy delights here?” And saying these and other such things, they restrained the fervent minds of the young men.

The place where holy Macarius himself lived is called Scetis. It is set in a most vast desert, a journey of a day and a night from the monasteries of Nitria; and this by no path, nor is it gathered or shown by any marks on the ground, but one travels by the signs and courses of the stars. Water is rarely found, and wherever it is found it has a most dreadful smell, as if of bitumen, but a harmless taste. There are, then, very perfect men there (for so terrible a place does not tolerate inhabitants unless they are of perfect purpose and the utmost constancy); yet they have the greatest zeal for love among themselves and toward all, if any come to them. Indeed it is said that when someone once brought holy Macarius a bunch of grapes, he, who according to love thought not of his own things but of another’s, took it to another brother who seemed rather weak. Then that brother gave thanks to God for his brother’s kindness; but he too, nonetheless thinking devoutly of his neighbour rather than of himself, took it to another, and he likewise to another; and so the bunch of grapes was carried round through all the cells, which were scattered far from one another through the desert, without their knowing who had first sent it; at last it was brought to the very one who had sent it. Holy Macarius rejoiced that he had seen such continence and such love in the brothers, and stretched himself to sharper exercises of the spiritual life.

For it was confirmed to us for belief, by those who had heard it from his mouth, that once at night a demon knocked at the door of his cell, saying: “Rise, abba Macarius, and let us go to the assembly, where the brothers are gathered for the vigils.” But he, filled with the grace of God, could not be deceived; he understood that it was the devil’s deceit, and said: “O liar and enemy of the truth, what fellowship, what partnership have you with the assembly and congregation of the saints?” He said: “Is it hidden from you, then, Macarius, that no assembly is held without us, no congregation of monks? Come, then, and you will see our works.” Then he said: “The Lord rebuke you, unclean demon.” And turning to prayer, he asked the Lord to show him whether what the demon had boasted was true. He went, then, to the assembly where the vigils are celebrated by the brothers, and again prayed the Lord in prayer to show him the truth of this word. And behold, he saw throughout the whole church something like little black Ethiopian boys running about here and there, and carried along as if flying. It is the custom there that, while all sit, a psalm is said by one, the others either listening or responding. Those little Ethiopian boys, then, running about, played with each of those sitting; and if they pressed anyone’s eyes with two little fingers, he at once dozed; and if they put a finger into anyone’s mouth, they made him yawn. When, after the psalm, the brothers had thrown themselves down to pray, they nonetheless ran over each one; and before one lying in prayer they appeared in the likeness of women, before another as if building and carrying something, and doing various things. And whatever the demons formed as if in play, those praying turned over in the thought of their heart. But by some, when they had begun to do any of these things, they were driven back as if by a certain force and thrown headlong, so that they did not dare even to stand or to pass near them at all; but on others, weak brothers, they played on their necks and backs, because they were not intent on their prayer. When holy Macarius saw this, he groaned heavily and, pouring out tears to the Lord, said: “Look, Lord, and do not be silent nor be still, O God. Arise, that your enemies may be scattered and flee from your face; for our soul is filled with illusions.”

After the prayer, however, to examine the truth, he called aside each of the brothers before whose faces he had seen the demons playing in various dress and different images, and asked them whether in prayer they had had thoughts of building, or of travelling, or the various other things he had seen imagined for each by the demons; and each of them confessed that it had been so in his heart, as he charged. And then it was understood that all the vain and superfluous thoughts that anyone conceives at the time of psalms or prayers come from the illusion of demons, but that the black Ethiopians are driven back by those who keep their heart with all watchfulness. For a mind joined to God, and intent on him, especially at the time of prayer, receives nothing foreign, nothing superfluous.

He added something much more terrible, which he had seen at the time when the brothers approached the sacraments. When they stretched out their palms to receive, the Ethiopians, coming first, laid coals in the hands of some, and the Body, which seemed to be given by the priest’s hands, returned to the altar; but from others, whom the merits of better lives helped, as they stretched out their hands to the altar, the demons drew far back and fled with great fear. For he saw an angel of the Lord standing by the altar, who, with the priest’s hand, also laid his own hand on them in the distribution of the sacraments. From then on this grace remained to him from God: that in the brothers’ vigils, at the time of psalms and prayer, if anyone thought anything else in his heart according to the illusion of demons, he recognized it, and neither the unworthiness nor the merits of those approaching the altar were hidden from him.

Once the two Macarii, men of God, travelling to see a certain brother, boarded a boat by which the river is usually crossed. In that boat there were also some tribunes, rich and very powerful men, having many horses and servants and much equipment with them. One of them, when he saw the monks lying in the farthest part of the boat in cheap clothing and unencumbered for everything, said to them: “Blessed are you, who mock this world and require nothing of it but the cheapest clothing and the scantiest food.” Then one of the Macarii answered him: “Truly, as you say, those who follow God mock the world; but we pity you, because the world on the contrary mocks you.” Then he, pricked to the heart by this word, as soon as he reached his house, left all that he had, or sold it and gave it to the poor, and began himself to follow God and hastened to the exercises of monks.

As we have said, many other wonderful things are told of the works of holy Macarius of Alexandria, some of which have been inserted in the eleventh book of the Church History, where whoever looks for them will find them.

They related that the beginning of the habitation of the monasteries that are in Nitria was made by a certain Ammon, whose soul, when it had left the body, holy Antony saw being carried to heaven, as that writing relates which describes the Life of blessed Antony. This Ammon was born of rich and noble parents, by whom he was compelled against his will to marry. And when he could not escape his parents’ force, having taken the virgin, when they had come together within the bridal chamber and the secret silence of the bedroom had been given them, he spoke to the girl about chastity and began to exhort her to preserve virginity, saying: “Corruption without doubt finds corruption, but incorruption hopes for incorruption. It is much better, then, if each of us remains in virginity, than that one be corrupted by the other.” The virgin consented to him; in silence the treasure of incorruption was chosen. And when for a very long time, content with the witness of God alone, they were joined in spirit rather than in flesh and blood, after the death of both their parents he withdrew to a place near the desert, while the virgin, remaining in the house, herself also in a short time gathered multitudes of virgins, and he multitudes of monks.

When he was already sitting secluded in the desert, a certain young man who had been turned to madness by the bite of a rabid dog was brought to him bound with many chains, his parents following him and pleading for him. He said to them: “Why do you trouble me, men? What you ask is beyond my merits; but yet I can show you this, that his health is in your hands. Give back to the widow her ox that you stole, and your son will be restored to you sound.” They were very much afraid that what had been done in secret had not been hidden from the man of God; yet they rejoiced that he had shown them this way of salvation; and without delay, as soon as they gave back what they had stolen, at the prayer of the man of God health was restored to the young man too.

At another time, when some people had come to him, wishing to test their minds, he said that he needed a large jar in which to collect water for those who came. And when they had promised to bring it, one of them thought it a heavy thing, saying that his camel might be in danger if he put so heavy a load on it. And he said to the other: “You, if you wish or are able, bring it; I spare my camel, lest it die.” Then the other said: “I have no camel, as you know yourself, but an ass. Can an ass carry what a camel cannot?” He said: “Do as you wish; that is your affair; for I will not kill my camel.” Then he said: “I will put on my ass the weight that you say is too heavy for your camel, and the merits of the man of God will make what is impossible possible.” And so, having put the jar on his ass, he went all the way to the monastery of the man of God, so that the ass did not even feel that it was carrying any load. When Ammon saw him, he said: “You did well to bring the jar on your ass; for your companion’s camel is dead.” And going back he found it had happened as the servant of God had foretold.

The Lord showed many other signs through him too. For when he wished to cross the river Nile and was ashamed to undress, he is said to have been suddenly carried across to the other bank by the power of God. Blessed Antony is recorded to have held the righteousness of his life and the virtues of his soul in the highest admiration.

There was among the disciples of holy Antony a certain man named Paul, surnamed the Simple. The beginning of his conversion was of this kind. When he had seen with his own eyes his wife lying with an adulterer, saying nothing to anyone he went out of the house and, touched with sorrow of soul, gave himself to the desert. While he wandered there anxious, he came to the monastery of Antony, and there, from the prompting and opportunity of the place, he formed a plan. When he had approached Antony to ask of him the way of salvation, Antony, seeing that the man was of a simple nature, answered him that he could be saved only if he obeyed the things that were said to him by him. Then he answered that he would do everything whatever he commanded him. To test his promise, then, Antony said to him, as he stood before the doors of his cell: “Wait for me here praying until I come out.” And Antony, going in, stayed inside the whole day and the whole night; but looking out often in secret through the window, he saw him praying unceasingly and not moving at all, but standing in the heat of the day and the dew of the night, and so mindful of the command that he did not move from the spot even a little. Coming out the next day, Antony began to train him and teach him about each thing: how he should comfort his solitude with the work of his hands, and work the bodily task with the fingers of the body, but with the knowledge of the mind and the attention of the soul work the things that are God’s. He also commanded him to take food in the evening, but to take care never to come to the point of being full, and especially in drink; affirming that fantasies of the soul arise no less through abundance of water than the heat of the body grows through wine. And when he had instructed him fully how he ought to act in each thing, he set up a cell for him nearby, that is, three miles from himself, and ordered him to practise there what he had learned. He himself visited him often and rejoiced, finding him persevering with all attention and care in what had been handed to him.

One day, when brothers had come to holy Antony, great and perfect men, it happened that Paul too was present with them. And when talk was being held about deep and mystical things, and very much was being discussed about the prophets and the Saviour, Paul, out of simplicity of mind, asked whether Christ came first or the prophets. Blessed Antony, as if he blushed because he had asked so absurdly, with a gentle nod, as he used to do toward the simpler ones, told him to be silent and go away. And he, because he had resolved to keep whatever was said by Antony as a command of God, went away to his cell as if he had received a command, and resolved to keep silence and not speak anything at all. When Antony learned this, he began to wonder how this observance had pleased him, which he knew he had not commanded. And when he had ordered him to speak and to show why he was silent, Paul said to him: “You, father, told me to go and be silent.” And Antony, astonished that a word he had spoken carelessly had been so observed by him, said: “This man condemns us all. For while we do not listen to him who speaks to us from heaven, by him any word that has fallen from our mouth is observed.”

But holy Antony, wishing to teach him much about obedience, was accustomed to command him even things that neither reason nor cause required, in which his mind toward obedience might be tested. For he once ordered him to draw water from the well and pour it on the ground all day; and to undo woven baskets and weave them again; and to unstitch a garment and stitch it again, and undo it again; and he is recorded to have been trained by him in very many exercises of this kind, so that he learned not to contradict in anything at all, even of the things that were commanded against reason; and thus formed through all these things, he soon came to perfection. From his example blessed Antony taught that if anyone wishes to come quickly to perfection, he should not become his own master, nor obey his own wishes, even if what he wishes seems right; but that according to the Saviour’s command it must be observed that before all things each one deny himself and renounce his own wishes; for the Saviour himself also said: “I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” And surely Christ’s will was not contrary to the will of the Father; but he who had come to teach obedience would not be found obedient if he did his own will. How much more, then, shall we be judged disobedient if we do our own wills?

Indeed the Paul mentioned above is an example to us, who by the merit of obedience and simplicity rose to such a height of spiritual graces that the Lord did many more and mightier works through him than through Antony. And since, because of the abundance of graces, many flocked to him from all parts of the earth to be cured by him, blessed Antony, fearing that he would be driven away by the trouble of the multitude, made him live in the inner desert, where he could not easily be approached by anyone, so that Antony himself might rather receive those who came. And if there were any whom he could not cure, he sent them to Paul as one having a more abundant grace of healings, and they were cured by him. They relate that the confidence of his simplicity with the Lord was so great that once, when a man suffering madness was tearing like a dog everyone who dared to approach him, and had been brought to him, he persisted in prayer that the demon driving him might be put to flight. And when there was delay and the effect did not follow quickly, he is said, indignant like a child, to have said to the Lord: “Truly I will not eat today if you do not cure him.” And at once God satisfied him as if he were an indulged master; and immediately the madman was cured.

It does not seem right to me to pass over in silence the inhabitants of the desert that lies next to the Parthenian sea and is near the town called Diolcos. There we saw a certain admirable presbyter named Piammon, a man of all humility and kindness, who also had the grace of revelations. Indeed, once when he was offering the sacrifice to the Lord, he saw an angel of the Lord standing by the altar and writing in a book he held in his hands the names of each of the monks who came to the altar; but the names of some he did not write. When the old man had carefully observed who those were whose names he had not written, after the mysteries were completed he called each of them aside and asked what sin they had committed in secret; and he found from their confession that each of them was guilty of a mortal sin. Then he urged them to do penance, and prostrating himself with them before the Lord, he wept day and night as if he himself were guilty of their sins; and he remained with them in penance and tears until he saw the same angel standing again and writing the names of those approaching. And after he had written the names of all, he saw him also calling those men by name and inviting them to reconciliation at the altar. When the old man saw this, he understood that their penance had been accepted; and so with all rejoicing he restored them to the altar.

They also said that once he was so beaten by demons that he could not stand or move from the place at all. And when the Lord’s day came and the occasion required the sacrifice to be offered, he ordered himself to be carried to the altar by the brothers’ hands. When he had lain there in prayer, he at once saw the angel of the Lord who used to stand by the altar standing by, stretching out his hand to him and raising him from the ground; and at once all the pain left him, so that he was made healthier than usual.

There was in those same places a holy man, filled with the gift of all grace, named John, in whom there was so great a grace of consolation that, by whatever sadness, by whatever weariness a soul had been oppressed, at a few words of his it was filled with eagerness and joy. Very great grace of healings too was given him by the Lord.

In very many other places of Egypt too we saw, here and there, saints of God doing many mighty works and wonders and full of all God’s grace; but we have recorded few out of many. To set them all out is beyond our strength. For of those who are said to live in the upper Thebaid, that is, around Syene itself, we learned by hearing alone that they were regarded as loftier and more magnificent than almost all of those we saw. But we could not go to them because of the danger of the journey; for although all places of those parts are raided by robbers, those beyond the city of Lycus also suffer barbarians. And therefore we had no access to them, since in truth we did not see even those whom we recorded above without danger.

For seven times on this journey we were in danger, but in the eighth, as it is written, “evil did not hold us,” God protecting us in everything. For once, travelling through the desert for five days and nights, we were in danger from thirst and exhaustion. At another time we came upon a place where there is a valley that produces from itself a salty moisture, which the heat of the sun at once binds into salt as winter frost binds it into ice, and from the salt itself makes something like sharp stakes; and so all those places are made so rough that it pierces and cuts not only bare feet, as ours were, but even feet protected with shoes. Caught in these, then, we barely escaped with great danger. A third time, when we were likewise going through the desert, we came upon a valley that likewise produced moisture from itself, but kept it within itself; wishing to cross its ground, full of rocks and foul mud, we sank down to our sides. And when we were almost being drowned there in it, crying out to the Lord we uttered the words of the psalm, saying: “Save me, O God, for the waters have come in up to my soul. I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no foothold.” We endured a fourth danger in certain waters that had remained from the flooding of the Nile, in which we were afflicted for three continuous days and could barely escape. The fifth danger came to us from robbers, when we were travelling beside the sea: they pursued us for ten miles, and though they could not kill us with the sword, they left us almost lifeless from the flight. The sixth peril came to us on the river Nile itself, on which, while sailing, we were almost drowned. The seventh: on the lake called by the name of Mareotis, with the wind raging, we were cast onto an island, with a very severe winter storm and tempest raging over us; for it was the time when the day of Epiphany is celebrated.

The eighth was this: when we were coming to the monasteries of Nitria, we came upon a place in which the water of the receding Nile, lingering, had made a kind of lake, in which there were many beasts, and especially very many crocodiles. These, having come out at the time of sun, were lying loosened round the edge of the lake, so that, as we did not know, they seemed dead to us. And when we went up to see and wonder at the size of the beasts, which we thought lifeless, as soon as they heard the sound of our feet they were roused and began to rush at us and pursue us vehemently. But we called on the name of Christ the Lord with great shouting and groaning; and his mercy was present, and the beasts that had risen against us were at once thrown back into the lake as if by an angel driving them back. And we hurried at full speed to the monasteries, giving thanks to our God, who delivered us from such great dangers and showed us such great wonders. To him be glory and honour for ever and ever. Amen.