XXIII B.
DEATH OF ST. MARY OF EGYPT (April 2.)
The most praiseworthy conversion, both in deeds and in morals, and the great repentance, and the very valiant conflict of the venerable Mary of Egypt, and how she fulfilled her life-time in the desert, all this did Paul, the venerable deacon of the church of holy Neapolis, translate from the Greek language into Latin.
Verily it is read, that Raphael the archangel was speaking to Tobit, after the loss of his eyes, and again after their glorious enlightenment, and after the past dangers from which he was delivered, thus saying: 'Truly it is very harmful that the secrets of mankind be revealed; and again it is a great disgrace for the soul that one should conceal the glorious works of God.[1]
For these reasons I will in no wise be silent concerning the holy records. He hath made known to me that I may fall into the disgraceful sentence of the slothful servant, who hid the talent received from his Lord, without increase, in the earth; but let no man be too unbelieving in me, when writing about those things, which I have heard and learnt by enquiry in this wise ; may it never be that I should falsify the holy narratives or keep silence from speech.
ACCOUNT OF THE ABOVE-NAMED SAINT.
There was a certain man in a minster in the country of Palestine; he was greatly graced by his conduct in life, and was from childhood highly instructed and learned in monastic customs, and was
- ↑ [Tobit, xii. 6.]
