And when it was evening they took him again to the prison, having bound his hands behind him, and left him till the morrow again. And the devil having taken with himself seven demons [2268] whom the blessed one had cast out of the countries round about, and having gone into the prison, they stood before him, wishing to kill him. And the demons answered and said to Andrew: Now hast thou fallen into our hands; where is thy glory and thy exultation, thou that raisest thyself up against us, and dishonourest us, and tellest our doings to the people in every place and country, and hast made our workshops and our temples to become desolate, in order that sacrifices may not be brought to them? Because of this, then, we shall also kill thee, like thy teacher called Jesus, and John whom Herod beheaded. [2269]
And they stood before Andrew, wishing to kill him; and having beheld the seal upon his forehead which the Lord gave him, they were afraid, and did not come near him, but fled. And the devil said to them: Why have you fled from him, my children, and not killed him? And the demons answered and said to the devil: We cannot kill him, but kill him if thou art able; for we knew him before he came into the distress of his humiliation. Then one of the demons answered and said: We cannot kill him, but come let us mock him in the distress of his humiliation. And the demons came and stood before him, and scoffed at him. And the blessed one hearing, wept; and there came to him a voice saying: Andrew, why weepest thou? And it was the voice of the devil changed. And Andrew answered and said: I am weeping because God commanded me, saying, Be patient toward them. And the devil said: If thou canst do anything, do it. And Andrew answered and said: Is it for this, then, that you do these things to me? But forbid it that I should disobey the commandment of my Lord; for if the Lord shall make for me a charge [2270] in this city, I shall chastise you as you deserve. And having heard this, they fled.
And when it was morning they brought him out again, and having fastened a rope about his neck, they dragged him; and again his flesh stuck to the ground, and his blood flowed to the ground like water. And the blessed one, as he was being dragged along, wept, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, be not displeased with me; for Thou knowest, Lord, what the fiend has inflicted upon me, along with his demons. These tortures are enough, my Lord; for, behold, I am dragged about for three days. But do Thou, Lord, remember that Thou wast three hours upon the cross, and didst cry out to the Father, My Father, why hast Thou forsaken me? [2271] Where are Thy words, Lord, which Thou spakest to us, confirming us, when we walked about with Thee, saying to us, Ye shall not lose one hair? [2272] Consider, then, Lord, what has become of my flesh, and the hairs of my head. Then Jesus said to Andrew: O our Andrew, the heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. [2273] Turn thyself then, Andrew, and behold thy flesh that has fallen, and thy hair, what has become of them. And Andrew turned, and saw great trees springing up, bearing fruit; and he glorified God.
And when it was evening they took him up again, and cast him into the prison, having bound his hands behind him; and he was exceedingly exhausted. And the men of the city said among themselves: Perhaps he dies in the night, and we do not find him alive on the following day; for he was languid, and his flesh was spent.
And the Lord appeared in the prison, and having stretched out His hand, said to Andrew: Give me thy hand, and rise up whole. And Andrew, having beheld the Lord Jesus, gave Him his hand, and rose up whole. And falling down, he worshipped Him, and said: I thank Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou hast speedily brought help to me. And Andrew, having looked into the middle of the prison, saw a pillar standing, and upon the pillar there stood an alabaster statue. And Andrew, having gone up to the statue, unfolded his hands seven times, and said to the pillar, and the statue upon it: Fear the sign of the cross, which the heaven and the earth dread; and let the statue set upon the pillar bring up much water through its mouth, until all who are in this city be punished. And say not, I am stone, and am not worthy to praise the Lord, for the Lord fashioned us from the earth; but you are pure, because that out of you He gave the tables of the law. [2274] When the blessed Andrew had said this, straightway the stone statue cast out of its mouth water in abundance, as if out of a canal. And the water stood high upon the earth; and it was exceedingly acrid, eating into the flesh of men.
And when it was morning, the men of the city saw it, and began to flee, saying in themselves: Woe to us! because we are now dying. And the water killed their cattle and their children; and they began to flee out of the city. Then Andrew prayed, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I have hoped that this miracle should come upon this city, forsake me not, but send Michael Thy archangel in a cloud of fire, and be a wall round the city, that no one may be able to escape out of the fire. And straightway a cloud of fire came down and encircled the city like a wall; and the water was as high as the neck of those men, and it was eating them up exceedingly. And they wept, saying: Woe to us! for all these things have come upon us because of the stranger who is in the prison. Let us go and release him, lest perchance we die.
And they went out, crying with a loud voice: God of the stranger, take away from us this water. And the apostle knew that they were in great affliction, and said to the alabaster statue: Stop the water, for they have repented. And I say to thee, that if the citizens of this city shall believe, I will build a church, and place thee in it, because thou hast done me this service. And the statue ceased flowing, and no longer brought forth water. And the men of the city, having come out to the doors of the prison, cried out, saying: Have pity upon us, God of the stranger, and do not according to our unbelief, and according to what we have done to this man, but take away from us this water. And Andrew came forth out of the prison; and the water ran this way and that from the feet of the blessed Andrew. Then all the multitude seeing him, all cried out: Have pity upon us.
And the old man having come who gave up his children that they should slay them instead of him, prayed at the feet of the blessed Andrew, saying: Have pity upon me. And the holy Andrew answered and said to the old man: I wonder how thou sayest, Have pity upon me; for thou hadst no pity upon thy children, but gavest them up to be slain instead of thee. Therefore I say unto thee, At what hour this water goes away, into the abyss shalt thou go, with the fourteen [2275] executioners who slay the men every day. And he came to the place of the trough, where they used to slay the men. And the blessed one, having looked up to heaven, prayed before all the multitude; and the earth was opened, and swallowed up the water, along with the old man. He was carried down into the abyss, with the executioners. And the men, having seen what had happened, were exceedingly afraid, and began to say: Woe unto us because this man is from God; and now he will kill us because of the afflictions which we have caused him. For, behold, what he said to the executioners and the old man has befallen them. Now, therefore, he will command the fire, and it will burn us. And Andrew, having heard, said to them: Fear not, children; for I shall not send these also to Hades; but those have gone, that you may believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then the holy Andrew ordered to be brought up all who had died in the water. And they were not able to bring them; for there had died a great multitude both of men, and women, and children, and cattle.
Then Andrew prayed, and they all came to life. And after these things he drew a plan of a church, and he caused the church to be built. And he baptized them, and gave them the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, saying to them: Stand by these, in order that you may know the mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they all prayed him: We pray thee, stay with us a few days, that we may be filled with thy fountain, because we are newly planted. [2276] And he did not comply with their request, but said to them: I shall go first to my disciples. And the children followed after, weeping and praying, with the men; and they cast ashes [2277] upon their heads. And he did not comply with them, but said: I shall go to my disciples, and after that I shall come again to you. And he went his way.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came down, being like a comely little child, and met Andrew, and said: Andrew, why hast thou come out and left them without fruit, and hast not had compassion upon the children that followed after thee, and the men entreating thee, Stay with us a few days? For the cry of them and the weeping has come up to heaven. Now therefore return, and go into the city, and remain there seven days, until I shall confirm their souls in the faith; and then thou shalt go away into the country of the barbarians, thou and thy disciples. And after going into this city, thou shalt proclaim my Gospel, and bring up the men who are in the abyss. And thou shalt do what I command thee.
Then Andrew turned and went into the city, saying: I thank Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, who wishest to save every soul, that Thou hast not allowed me to go forth out of this city in mine anger. And when he had come into the city, they, seeing him, rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And he stayed there seven days, teaching and confirming them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the seven days having been fulfilled, it came to pass, while the blessed Andrew was going out, all came together to him, from the child even to the elder, and sent him on his way, saying: There is one God, the God of Andrew, and one Lord Jesus Christ, who alone doeth wonders; to whom [2278] be glory and strength for ever. Amen.
[2239] The oldestms. has Matthias; the four or five others have Matthew.
[2240] Lit., oeconomy.
[2241] One ms. inserts: having given thanks to God.
[2242] The winds from the four quarters of the heavens.
[2243] One ms. has: and the Lord prepared a small boat, and put angels in it for sailors; and Jesus was, as it were, the master of the boat.
[2244] Matt. x. 10; Mark vi. 9.
[2245] One ms. omits the negative.
[2246] Comp. Matt. viii. 26.
[2247] One ms. inserts, besides women and children.
[2248] Mark vi. 37-44.
[2249] Mark vi. 3.
[2250] There seems to be something wrong here. One ms. has, the structure of the temple, and omits the following clause.
[2251] One ms. has: Do not say that I am a carved stone, and that you alone have a name, and are called high priests.
[2252] Gen. xxiii. 9, 17, following the version of the LXX. and the older interpreters.
[2253] Not one of the twelve patriarchs was buried in Machpelah.
[2254] One ms. inserts: And he saw the gate of that city.
[2255] Matt. x. 16.
[2256] Anotherms. has: make men eat their like.
[2257] Gen. ix. 11.
[2258] Two mss. have: two hundred and forty-nine men.
[2259] Another reading is, praying.
[2260] i.e., to be eaten by them.
[2261] Comp. Acts v. 20-25.
[2262] One ms. adds: like wax before fire.
[2263] Or, do not know.
[2264] One ms. has: Thou art always warring against the race of the Christians.
[2265] One of themss. has Samael.
[2266] One ms. adds: And Andrew answered and said: O Belial! foe of the whole creation, thou hast always been a robber, warring against the race of men: thou in the beginning didst cause Adam to be cast out of paradise; thou didst cause the loaves upon the table to be turned into stones; and again thou hast appeared in this city, to cause the people here to eat up men.