against that widow who did these things, even as I have learned from the chosen ones of our Lord, and one of the holymen who heard [this] from her own mouth spake thus:—The blessed woman said as follows:—One day I went to the house of God, and Satan drew nigh, and said unto me, “Why dost thou pray like a man, and say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost?” And I said unto him, “How then shall I pray?” Then Satan said unto me, “Thou shouldst pray in this wise, and say, Glory be to thee, Mary, mother of Christ.” Then I answered and said unto him, “There is dust in thine eyes, Satan. Why should I forsake the Lord and worship a handmaiden?” And he disappeared from me.
576. And the blessed man said unto me also:—The same old woman said in my presence:—And again I went to the church according to [my] custom, and I entered in and prayed, and then the Enemy came and made blind my eyes, and I could not see, and I called one of the women, and she carried me to my house. And after three days he departed from before my eyes, and he began to go in front of me; then I said unto him, “There is a thing which thou must do for me. Go thou to where thou didst first seize upon me.” And we went to the church, I and he. And I left him where he had seized me, and went away a short distance, and turning round I looked for him, and I saw him standing like a shadow; then I went a little further, and I turned round again, and I [still] saw him. And I shut the door of the church and went out, and then I opened it again and went in, and I saw him still standing there, and he ceased to practise his wiles upon me. Such were the great things which happened to the blessed old woman. For the monk must not boast himself over the man who is in the world, for in it are mighty men; and if such things as these are to be found in Eve, how much more ought they to be found in the Adam which hath been redeemed by [the second] Adam?
577. One of the fathers said, “Whilst I was sleeping one night, the Enemy came and smote me, and said unto me, ‘Go to the world and work righteousness; why dost thou shut thyself up like a beast in a cave?’ And knowing the wickedness of the Enemy, who regarded me with an evil eye, I made the sign of the Cross, and he fled from me. Then, having waited a few days, he came and smote me on the neck in a bantering fashion, saying, ‘Now that thou hast become a righteous man, go to the world that I may not destroy thee’; and when I prayed and made the sign of the Cross over my face he departed from me. And after a short time he came again, and he took up a seat upon my neck, and then I bade
