These few extracts from Evagrius we thought it would be appropriate to insert here. There was another excellent man among the monks, named Ammonius, who had so little interest in secular matters, that when he went to Rome with Athanasius, he chose to investigate none of the magnificent works of that city, contenting himself with examining the Cathedral of Peter and Paul only. This same Ammonius on being urged to enter upon the episcopal office, cut off his own right ear, that by mutilation of his person he might disqualify himself for ordination. But when long afterwards Evagrius, whom Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, wished to make a bishop, having effected his escape without maiming himself in any way, afterwards happened to meet Ammonius, and told him jocosely, that he had done wrong in cutting off his own ear, as he had by that means rendered himself criminal in the sight of God. To which Ammonius replied, And do you think, Evagrius, that you will not be punished, who from self-love have cut out your own tongue, to avoid the exercise of that gift of utterance which has been committed to you?' There were at the same time in the monasteries very many other admirable and devout characters whom it would be too tedious to enumerate in this place, and besides if we should attempt to describe the life of each, and the miracles they did by means of that sanctity with which they were endowed, we should necessarily digress too far from the object we have in view. Should any one desire to become acquainted with their history, in reference both to their deeds and experiences and discourses for the edification of their auditors, as well as how wild beasts became subject to their authority, there is a specific treatise [634] as on the subject, composed by the monk Palladius, who was a disciple of Evagrius, and gives all these particulars in minute detail. In that work he also mentions several women, who practiced the same kind of austerities as the men that have been referred to. Both Evagrius and Palladius flourished a short time after the death of Valens. We must now return to the point whence we diverged.
[617] On the growth of the monastic system, see Bingham, Eccl. Antiq. VII.; on its philosophy, briefly, Bennett, Christian Archæol. p. 468. Socrates uses Palladius' Historia Lausiaca copiously in this chapter.
[618] biblion apostolikon . The books of the New Testament came to be divided into the two classes of gospels' and apostolic epistles,' the first being called euangelion or euangelia and the second, apostolos, apostoloi or biblion apostolikon . Cf. Epiph. Hær. XLII. 10. Euthal. Diacon. (Ed. Migné, Vol. LXXXV. col. 720, c.
[619] 1 Cor. vii. 10 seq.
[620] Gal. iii. 28. What Socrates here says of Ammoun is attributed by Theodoret (H. E. IV. 12) to Pelagius, who afterwards became bishop of Laodicea.
[621] Athanas. Vit. Anton. 60.
[622] Cf. chap. 25.
[623] According to the LXX.
[624] Cf. Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca, chap. 86. But Palladius says that Evagrius was ordained by Gregory of Nyssa, not of Nazianzus. Cf. Sozomen, VI. 30.
[625] Palladius calls this work Iera Sacred [matter].' Hist. Lausiaca, 86.
[626] Cf. Coteler. Eccl. Gr. Mon. 3. 59, containing also other fragments of Evagrius.
[627] Acts ix. 15.
[628] Cf. Ezra iv. 10, 11.
[629] Matt. xix. 21.
[630] Parembole is a village near Alexandria, mentioned by Athanasius in his second Apol. against the Arians, who names Macarius as its presbyter.
[631] See above, III. 7.
[632] Matt. xiii. 24.
[633] Ex. xxvi. 35.
[634] Hist. Lausiaca(Vol. XXXIV. in Migné's Patrologia Græca).
Chapter XXIV.--Assault upon the Monks, and Banishment of their Superiors, who exhibit Miraculous Power.
The emperor Valens having issued an edict commanding that the orthodox should be persecuted both in Alexandria and in the rest of Egypt, depopulation and ruin to an immense extent immediately followed: some were dragged before the tribunals, others cast into prison, and many tortured in various ways, and in fact all sorts of punishments were inflicted upon persons who aimed only at peace and quiet. When these outrages had been perpetrated at Alexandria just as Lucius thought proper, Euzoïus returned to Antioch, and Lucian the Arian, attended by the commander-in-chief of the army with a considerable body of troops, immediately proceeded to the monasteries of Egypt, where the general in person assailed the assemblage of holy men with greater fury even than the ruthless soldiery. On reaching these solitudes they found the monks engaged in their customary exercises, praying, healing diseases, and casting out devils. Yet they, regardless of these extraordinary evidences of Divine power, suffered them not to continue their solemn devotions, but drove them out of the oratories by force. Rufinus declares that he was not only a witness of these cruelties, but also one of the sufferers. Thus in them were renewed those things which are spoken of by the apostle: [635] for they were mocked, and had trial of scourgings, were stripped naked, put in bonds, stoned, slain with the sword, went about in the wilderness clad in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.' In all these things they obtained a good report' for their faith and their works, and the cures which the grace of Christ wrought by their hands. But as it appears Divine Providence permitted them to endure these evils, having for them provided something better,' [636] that through their sufferings others might obtain the salvation of God, and this subsequent events seem to prove. When therefore these wonderful men proved superior to all the violence which was exercised toward them, Lucius in despair advised the military chief to send the fathers of the monks into exile: these were the Egyptian Macarius, and his namesake of Alexandria, both of whom were accordingly banished to an island where there was no Christian inhabitant, and in this island there was an idolatrous temple, and a priest whom the inhabitants worshiped as a god. On the arrival of these holy men at the island, the demons of that place were filled with fear and trepidation. Now it happened at the same time that the priest's daughter became suddenly possessed by a demon, and began to act with great fury, and to overturn everything that came in her way; nor was any force sufficient to restrain her, but she cried with a loud voice to these saints of God, saying:--Why are ye come here to cast us out from hence also?' [637] Then did the men there also display the peculiar power which they had received through Divine grace: for having cast out the demon from the maid, and presented her cured to her father, they led the priest himself, and also all the inhabitants of the island to the Christian faith. Whereupon they immediately brake their images in pieces, and changed the form of their temple into that of a church; and having been baptized, they joyfully received instruction in the doctrines of Christianity. Thus these marvelous individuals, after enduring persecution on account of the homoousian' faith, were themselves more approved, became the means of salvation to others, and confirmed the truth.
[635] Heb. xi. 36-38.
[636] Heb. xi. 40.
[637] Matt. viii. 29.