again, he said unto me, ‘Behold, thou art healed. Serve thou Christ, thy Lord, as is meet for Him’; and I have been healed since that, and have lived here without any pain. Then I entreated him to permit me to live in the first cave, wherein I had seen the dead monk, and he said unto me, ‘Thou art not able to endure the attack of the devils’; and knowing that what he had said unto me was right, I entreated him to pray for me and to dismiss me.” I have narrated this story unto you, O my brethren, so that we may be zealous in the spiritual life and its works of excellence, and may attain to everlasting life; may our Lord in His grace and goodness make us worthy to receive it!
Chapter XVIII: Of Another Holy Man
ACERTAIN old man, who was held worthy to be the Bishop of a city in Egypt, told the following story (which he tried to make one think he had heard from another man, but he himself had actually done the things which he described), and he said:—Once there came to me the thought that I would go into the inner desert which is over against Usa (Οὔση), that I might see if I could find therein [any] holy men who worshipped Christ, and taking with me food and water for four days I set out on my journey; and after four days my food came to an end, and I wondered what I should do [for more], and I plucked up courage and committed myself to God. Then I went on for another four days, when I became so weak that I could not stand up any longer, because through hunger and exhaustion I had no strength in me; and I became sick in spirit and threw myself on the ground. And a certain man came and drew his finger across my lips, and forthwith I became so strong that I thought that neither fatigue nor hunger had ever drawn nigh me; and as soon as I perceived the strength which had come to me I rose up again and continued my journey for four days more. Then once more I became weary, and stretched out my hands to heaven, and behold, that man who had given me strength before, drew nigh to my lips and made me strong, and I continued my journey in the desert after this for seven days more, when I found a booth, with a palm tree and water by the side of it; and there was standing [there] a man, the hair of whose head was quite white, and he had made clothing for himself, and his face was awesome [to look upon]. Now on seeing me he stood up in prayer, and when he had prayed and I had answered “Amen,” he knew that I was a man. Then he took hold of my hands and questioned me, and said, “How didst thou come hither? Doth everything in the world still exist? Are the Christians being persecuted?” And I said unto him, “By the
