History of the Monks in Egypt 7

We also saw another holy man named Apollonius in the Thebaid, in the territory of Hermopolis, to which city, they relate, the Saviour came with Mary and Joseph from the borders of Judea, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, who says: “Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and he will come into Egypt, and the things made by the hands of the Egyptians will be shaken before his face, and they will fall to the ground.” So we saw there also the very temple into which, when the Saviour entered, they recalled that all the idols fell to the ground and were broken in pieces.

We saw, then, the man mentioned above, who had monasteries in the nearby desert under a certain mountain. For he was father of about five hundred monks, and was regarded as most famous in all the borders of the Thebaid. For great were his works, and God did many mighty works and very many signs and wonders through him. Brought up in abstinence from boyhood, when he reached mature age the grace of God always grew with him. He was about eighty years old when we saw him flourishing in the congregation of his monasteries; and those who were reckoned his disciples were so perfect and magnificent that almost all could do signs. They said that he withdrew to the desert at fifteen years of age, and that when he had lived there forty years in spiritual exercises, a voice of God was brought to him, saying: “Apollonius, through you I will destroy the wisdom of the wise in Egypt, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent. You will also destroy for me those among them who are wise men of Babylon, and you will overthrow all worship of demons. Go now, then, to inhabited places; for you will bring forth for me a people of substance and a perfect zealot of good works.” He answered and said: “Take boasting away from me, Lord, lest perhaps, lifted up above my brothers, I fall from all your good things.” The divine voice answered him again: “Put your hand to your neck, and what you grasp, squeeze, and bury under the sand.” He without delay put his hand to his neck and seized something like a little Ethiopian, and at once buried him under the sand, as he cried out and said: “I am the demon of pride.” After this a voice came to him from God, saying: “Go now; for whatever you ask of God, you will obtain.” After this, then, he went to the places where people lived. These things happened in the times of the tyrant Julian.

There was in those places a certain cave near the desert, in which he began to live, devoting himself ceaselessly day and night to prayers; and he offered them to God, bending his knees a hundred times (as they said) by day and as many in the night. He used food heavenly rather than human. His garment was a sleeveless tunic of tow, which among them is called a lebiton, and a linen cloth to wrap his neck and head; and they said that these garments lasted him in the desert without ever growing old. He was, then, in a place near the desert, living in the power of the Spirit, working signs and wonderful healings which, because of their great number (as we learned from the elders who were with him), no voice will suffice to tell.

When a splendid report of him had spread abroad, and he had begun to be regarded with the admiration of all as some prophet or apostle, monks from the neighbouring regions gathered to him from various places, and each one offered him his own soul as great gifts to a devoted father. He received each of them with all devotion and stirred some to do well, others to understand well; but he himself first showed by examples what he wished to teach by words. On other days he allowed each to practise by himself as much abstinence as he could; but on the Lord’s day, for the sake of love, he urged all to take food with him, though he himself kept to his usual observances of abstinence, using only herbs or vegetables, and admitting neither cooking nor the service of fire.

When he heard that in the times of Julian (as we said above) a certain brother, seized for military service, was being held in prison, he came to him with the brothers to comfort him and to warn him to keep firm in his hardship and to despise and laugh at the dangers that threatened. “For the time of contest,” he said, “is here, in which the minds of the faithful are to be proved and known by temptations.” When he had strengthened the young man’s spirit with these and other words, the centurion arrived and was angry that he had dared to enter. He locked the prison from outside and shut up him and all who had come together, so that they too might be held in the same way for military service; and setting very many guards, he went away. But in the middle of the night an angel was seen to stand there, shining with great light, and while the guards were astonished and terrified he opened the bars of the prison. Then the guards themselves, falling at the feet of the saints, begged them to leave, saying that it was better for them to die for them than to resist the divine power that was caring for them. In the morning the centurion himself also came hastily to the prison with the leading men, asking that all who were being held should depart; for he said that his house had collapsed in a great earthquake and had killed the best of his servants. The saints, hearing this, sang a hymn and praises to God, and returning to the desert they lived together, having, after the example of the apostles, one soul and one heart.

The old father taught them to make progress in virtues every day, and to beat back at their very beginnings the snares of the devil which he brings on people through thoughts. “For so,” he said, “the head of the serpent is crushed, and his whole body will be rendered dead. For this reason God commands us to watch the head of the serpent, so that we may not at all, right from the beginning, receive evil and filthy thoughts into our heart. How much less, then, is it fitting that the phantoms of thoughts be spread in our senses, which he forbids to be received even at the beginning?” He also urged that one should outdo another in virtues, and that each should not allow himself to become inferior to his neighbour. “From this,” he said, “you will know that you are making progress in virtues, if you have no passion toward worldly desires. For this is the beginning of God’s gifts. And if any of you comes even to the point of doing signs and wonders, let him not be lifted up for this, nor exalt himself in his thought as if preferred to the others; he ought not even to show people that he has received the gift of this grace; otherwise he will lead himself astray, be deceived, and lose the grace.”

He had, then, this magnificent teaching of the word of God, as we ourselves in part enjoyed; but he had greater grace in works. For whatever he asked of God he obtained without delay; and very many revelations were shown him. For instance, he saw in sleep his elder brother, who had himself died in the desert and with whom he had lived the perfect life for a very long time, sitting on an apostolic throne, made one of the apostles, and leaving him the inheritance of his virtues and grace. And when he prayed for himself too, that the Lord would take him more quickly and grant him rest with him in heaven, he was answered by the Lord the Saviour that he must live a little time yet, until very many imitators of his life and way of life should arise; for very many peoples of monks, and a kind of army of the devout, were to be entrusted to him, so that through these things he might find with God a worthy reward for such merits. As he saw it, so it came to pass. For monks gathered from every place, invited by his fame and teaching, and very many, renouncing the world especially through his example, formed a magnificent community with him in the place on the mountain mentioned above, keeping with one mind the common life of one table.

We saw this, then, as truly a kind of heavenly and angelic army, adorned with all virtues. None of them used filthy clothing, but they shone with brightness of garments and of souls alike, so that, according to the Scripture, “the thirsty desert rejoiced” and “many were its children” seen in the wilderness. Though these words were spoken of the church, yet they were fulfilled in the deserts of Egypt even as a historical account. Such great multitudes do not come to salvation in cities as the deserts of Egypt have brought forth. As many people as are found in cities, almost so great are the multitudes of monks found in the deserts. Hence it seems to me that the Apostle’s saying too has been fulfilled in them: “Where sin abounded, there grace superabounded.” For the unclean worship of idols once abounded in Egypt as among no other nation ever. For they venerated dogs and monkeys and other monsters. They believed garlic and onions, and some vegetables, to be gods, as we learned from father Apollonius himself, who explained to us in this way the cause of their ancient superstition. “The Egyptians,” he said, “once believed the ox to be a god, because by cultivating the fields with it they got their living and food. They also venerated the water of the Nile, because it watered all the regions of Egypt. They worshipped the earth too, as more fertile than other lands. They also worshipped dogs, as we said above, and monkeys, and various kinds of herbs and vegetables, because they thought that through these the occasion of their safety had come to them in the times of Pharaoh. For each of them seemed to have had an occupation arise concerning these things when he, pursuing our fathers, was drowned; and each one reckoned as god for himself the thing by which he had been occupied so that he did not follow Pharaoh, saying: ‘Because this god did this for me today, that I did not follow Pharaoh and drown together with him.’” These, then, were the words of holy Apollonius.

But much more ought those things to be written which he had in works and mighty deeds. Once there were around him about ten villages of Gentiles, among whom the demonic superstition was practised with the greatest zeal. For there was a very large temple there, and in it an image which it was the custom for the priests to carry around in the manner of bacchants, with the rest of the multitude going around with them, performing their profane mysteries as if for rainwater. It happened at the time when such orgies were being performed by them that blessed Apollonius was travelling through those places with some brothers. And when he saw the crowds of unhappy people driven as if by a demon and raving through the fields, pitying their error, he knelt down and called on our Lord and Saviour, and made all those who were being driven by the demonic ceremonies, together with their image, stand motionless, so that they could not go forward anywhere at all. And so they remained the whole day, scorched by the fiercest heat, not knowing why it had befallen them to stick motionless in one place. Then their priests said that there was a certain Christian living in the regions of the nearby desert, named Apollonius, and that these were his works; unless he were entreated, the danger would remain for them. When those who had heard gathered from all sides at the wonder of so great a thing, and asked what was the cause of so great a portent, they confessed that they did not know at all; yet they said that they had a suspicion of the man mentioned above, and they asked that he be entreated on their behalf. Then some of them said that they were right in their opinion, for they asserted that they had seen him passing by on that road; and yet they did not delay to apply what aids they thought would help. They brought oxen, by whose strength the image might seem able to be moved. But when even so they had achieved nothing, frustrated of every aid, they sent envoys to the man of God, promising that if he released them from these bonds, he would at the same time loosen the bonds of error in them as well. When this was reported to him, he came down to them without delay, and by a prayer alone poured out to God released them all. And they without delay all with one accord fled to him, believing in God our Saviour and giving thanks. The image, which was wooden, they at once gave to the fire. They themselves followed the man of God and, taught by him the faith of the Lord, were joined to the church of God. Very many of them remained with him, and even now live in the monasteries. The fame of this wonderful deed spread everywhere, and many were converted to the faith of the Lord because of it, so that in all those regions now hardly any of the Gentiles remained.

Some time later there was a dispute over boundaries between two villages. When this was reported to the man of God, he went down to them in haste for the sake of peace. But they, inflamed by the fury of strife, could in no way be turned to the counsel of peace, especially because the people of one side put very great confidence in the strength of a certain robber, who seemed to be the standard-bearer of the conflict. When Apollonius saw him resisting peace, he said to him: “If you will consent to me for peace, my friend, I will ask my God, and he will forgive you your sins.” When he heard this, he did not delay at all, but fell at his knees and begged him. Then, turning to the crowds that had followed him, he made them all depart in peace. When they had withdrawn, he himself remained with the man of God, asking of him what had been promised. Then Apollonius took him, and travelling with him to the monasteries, taught him that he must change the order of his life, and patiently seek mercy from God, and await the promise in faith; for he said that all things are possible to one who believes. And when they had rested together in the monastery at night, both saw in a vision that they were in heaven and standing before the judgment seat of Christ; they also saw the angels of God and all the saints worshipping the Lord. And when, seeing these things, they too had worshipped God, the voice of God came to them, saying: “Although there is no fellowship of light with darkness, nor any share for the believer with the unbeliever, yet the salvation of this man for whom you have pleaded is granted to you, Apollonius.” And when they had heard many other things, placed in the heavenly vision, which neither speech can suffice to tell nor ear to hear, they rose from sleep and told the brothers what they had seen. Great astonishment arose when each told one and the same dream. That robber, now holy, remained with the brothers, changing his life and character to all innocence and godliness, as if turned from a wolf into a lamb, so that in him the prophecy of Isaiah seemed to be fulfilled most fully, who says: “Wolves will feed with lambs, and the lion and the ox will feed together on straw.”

We saw there also some men of the people of the Ethiopians living with the monks, and surpassing many of the other monks in the observance of religion and in strength of soul, so that in them too the Scripture seems to be fulfilled which says: “Ethiopia will stretch out her hands first to God.”

This too was told among the deeds of holy Apollonius. At one time, it was said, a quarrel arose between two villages, of which one was Christian, the other of Gentiles. Very great crowds of armed men came out from each side. It happened that holy Apollonius arrived. And when he urged them to peace, one of them, who was as it were the head among the Gentiles and the cause of that war, a savage and fierce man, resisted him vehemently, saying that he would not allow peace to be made, to the point of his death. Then he said: “Let it be as you wish; for no one else besides you will be killed. But a tomb fitting your honour will be made for you: not the earth, but the bellies of beasts and vultures.” And at once his word came true; for no one else on either side fell except him alone. When they had buried him under the sand, returning in the morning they found him dug up and torn by beasts and devoured by vultures. And when all were amazed that the word of the man of God had been so fulfilled, they were all converted to the faith of the Lord the Saviour, and proclaimed Apollonius a prophet of God.

Nor let this escape us, which we learned was done by him in his very first days, when he had begun to live in the cave with a few brothers. The holy day of Easter had come; and when the solemnity of the vigils and of the sacraments had been completed within the cave, and a meal was being prepared from what they had (they had only a few dry loaves, and vegetables of the kind they usually store sprinkled with salt), then Apollonius began to speak thus to the brothers who were with him: “If there is faith in us, and we are truly faithful servants of Christ, let each of us ask of God whatever he would gladly take as on a feast day.” But they left it to him rather (since he surpassed them in age and merits) to ask these things of God, declaring themselves inferior for this grace. Then he poured out a prayer to God with all eagerness; and when it was completed and all had answered “Amen,” behold, suddenly they saw standing before the doors of the cave some men wholly unknown to them, who brought such abundance of all things that belong to the use of food that no one has ever easily seen so many or so various. Among them were certain kinds of fruit never seen at all in the regions of Egypt, and grapes of incredible size, nuts, figs, pomegranates too, and all out of season, honeycombs, and abundance of honey and milk; huge dates too, and hot and very clean loaves, which seemed to be from a foreign province. The men who had brought these things, as soon as they had handed them over, departed at once, as though eager to return in haste to him by whom they had been sent. Then the monks, giving thanks to the Lord, began to eat of what had been brought to them; and there was so much that, served out every day, it lasted until the day of Pentecost; and they were certain that these things had been sent to them by God for the sake of the feast.

We also learned this: that one of the brothers, who lacked the grace of humility and gentleness, asked him to ask the Lord that this gift might be given to him as well; and when he prayed, so great a grace of gentleness and humility came upon him that all the brothers were amazed at the tranquillity and modesty of his soul, in whom before they had seen nothing of these things.

Once a famine arose in the Thebaid. The inhabitants of that land, knowing that the monks who served the Lord with Apollonius were often fed by the Lord’s grace even without food, all went to him together with their wives and children, asking for food and a blessing alike. He, not hesitating at all, began to bring out of what was stored for the brothers’ use and to give abundantly to each. But when only three baskets of bread remained, and the famine was pressing the people hard, he ordered the baskets that alone were left, which would provide one day’s food for the monks, to be brought into the midst, and in the hearing of all the people who had flocked together through the need of famine, he raised his hands to God and said: “Is the hand of the Lord not able to multiply these? Thus says the Holy Spirit: the bread will not fail in these baskets until we are all satisfied with the new harvest.” And as very many of those who were present then affirmed, for four continuous months bread never ceased to be given out from the baskets, nor could it ever run short. They said that at another time too he did the same with grain and oil. Moved by these mighty deeds, the devil is said to have said to him: “Are you Elijah, or some other of the prophets or apostles, that you have dared to do these things?” He answered him and said: “What then? Were not the prophets and apostles men, who handed on to us both their faith and their grace? Or was God present then, but is now absent? Far from it! God is almighty, and what he can do, he can always do. If, then, God is good, why are you, devil, so evil?”

These things, as we have already said above, we learned by trustworthy account from elders, devout and holy men, as done through him. And although their report must be held trustworthy, yet the Lord also gave us belief in greater matters by what we ourselves saw with our own eyes. For we saw baskets full of bread brought to empty tables; and when the tables were filled with bread and it was eaten to full satisfaction, the baskets were nonetheless gathered up full.

I will not be silent about another wonderful thing that we saw with him. We were three brothers when we came to him; and behold, while we were still far from his monastery, brothers came to meet us who had heard from him three days before of our coming; and they met us with psalms. For this is their custom at the arrival of all monks. And bowing on their faces to the ground, they kissed us, and pointing us out, they said to one another: “These are the brothers of whose coming father Apollonius foretold to us three days ago, saying that after three days three brothers would arrive coming from Jerusalem.” So some of the brothers went before us, others followed; but each company sang psalms. When we had begun to draw near, at the sound of the psalm holy Apollonius himself also came out to meet us. And when he saw us, at once he was the first to bow to the ground, and rising received us with a kiss. When we had entered the monastery, prayer having first been given (as is the custom), he washed our feet with his own hands and fulfilled the other things that belong to the rest of the body. It was his custom to do this for all who arrived.

It was his practice that the brothers who were with him did not take food before they received the Lord’s communion, around the ninth hour of the day; and after this they sometimes remained so until evening, while, hearing the word of God, they were taught without ceasing about fulfilling the Lord’s commandments. After this, food having now been taken, some of them withdrew to the desert, going over the divine Scriptures from memory through the whole night; others remained in the same place to which they had assembled and continued wakeful until dawn in hymns and praises of God, as I myself saw when present. Some of them, around the ninth hour, when they had come down from the mountain and received the grace of the Lord, departed at once, content with this spiritual food alone; and they did this for very many days. Joy and gladness were in them beyond measure, and such exultation as no one on earth could have. None of them was found sad at all; and if anyone seemed a little sadder, father Apollonius at once inquired into the cause of the sadness. Often, even if someone wished to hide it, he himself declared what lay hidden in the heart, so that the one who was suffering recognized it. He admonished them, then, saying that there ought to be no sadness at all in those whose salvation is in God and whose hope is in the kingdom of heaven. “Let the Gentiles be sad,” he said, “and let the Jews mourn, let sinners lament without ceasing; but let the righteous rejoice. For if those who love earthly things rejoice over frail and perishable things, why should not we, who have the hope of so great a glory and the expectation of eternity, rejoice with all exultation? Or does not the Apostle also admonish us thus, saying: ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things’?”

But who could set out adequately his teaching and the grace of his words? So I judge it better to be silent about these things than to speak of them unworthily. For blessed Apollonius discoursed to us much in private about the principle of abstinence and integrity of life, much also about zeal for hospitality, and enjoined attentively that we receive arriving brothers as if receiving the coming of the Lord. “For this is why the tradition is held,” he said, “of bowing before arriving brothers: that it may be certain that in their arrival the arrival of the Lord Jesus is held, who says: ‘I was a stranger, and you took me in.’ For so Abraham too received those who seemed to be men, but the Lord was understood in them.” And sometimes he set forth the example of holy Lot for compelling brothers even against their will to bodily rest: he brought the angels, compelled by force, to the hospitality of his house. He also urged that, if it were possible, monks should communicate in the mysteries of Christ every day; for perhaps one who makes himself far from them becomes far from God; but one who receives them more often may be seen to receive the Saviour himself more often, since the Saviour himself also says: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” “And the very commemoration of the Lord’s passion, when it is made continually by monks, brings them very much profit as an example of patience. A warning is also given through these things, that each should strive always to be found so prepared that he is not held unworthy of the Lord’s mysteries.” He added to these things that forgiveness of sins too is given to believers through them. [He admonished that the lawful fasts, that is, on the fourth and sixth day of the week, were not to be broken unless some grave necessity arose; because on the fourth day of the week Judas had planned the betrayal of the Lord, and on the sixth day the Saviour was crucified. So one who without any necessity breaks the appointed fasts on these days will seem either to betray the Saviour with the betrayer, or to crucify him with those who crucified him.] He said, then, that if perhaps one of the brothers arrived on the days mentioned above and wished to eat before the ninth hour because of his journey, a table should be set for him alone; but if he did not wish to, he was not to be compelled; for the tradition of this observance is common.

He strongly blamed those who either let the hair of their head grow, or carry iron round their neck, or wear anything of the kind that seems to be done to win people’s approval. “For it is certain,” he said, “that these seek praise from people and do these things for the sake of display, when it is commanded that even fasts themselves be kept in secret, so that they may be known to God alone, who sees what is done in secret and repays openly. But, as it seems, these are not content with the testimony and reward of him who sees in secret, but want to be shown off before people. For the whole principle of abstinence is to be kept in secret: that the body be wearied by fasts, and yet not boasting before people but the Lord’s repayment be sought.”

Discoursing to us on these and many other things about the way of life of monks through a whole week of days, and confirming the trustworthiness of his teaching by the authority of his deeds, when we began to set out from him he escorted us a little way and admonished us, saying: “Above all, dearly beloved, have peace among yourselves; do not be separated from one another.” Then, turning to the brothers who were present escorting us with him, he said: “Which of you, brothers, is ready to lead them to the nearby monasteries of the fathers?” When almost all had most readily offered themselves and wished to go with us, holy father Apollonius himself chose three out of all, who knew both the Greek and the Egyptian language well, so that they might interpret for us wherever it was necessary, and who could also build us up in their conversations. Sending them with us, then, he commanded that they should not leave us before we had seen all the fathers and all the monasteries we wished, although no one is able to go round them all. So he blessed us and dismissed us, and gave the blessing in these words: “May the Lord bless you from Zion, and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.”