And when I fell asleep that night, I saw standing before me a shining |513 personage who said to me : Awake, O bishop, and arise to set in order the canons of this church and this sanctuary together; so that every one, whether priest or deacon, may guard himself in his conduct therein in perfect patience and virtuous tranquillity, because Christ our Lord and all his angels are here; and write these canons as a memorial for this holy church for ever. For there will come a crooked generation who will love the praise of men more than the glory of God, and they will trample down this holy place shamelessly and haughtily, and will barter for gold the grace of the Holy Ghost which he gave to his people, and will break the apostolic canons. For who can desire to have an inheritance in this holy place who is without fear of the Lord and whose soul is not tried at the beginning? And the glory of this holy and renowned and venerated place shall be changed by such, who shall occupy as it were stalls for cattle at their entrance into it; for those who are of this kind have hearts like the hearts of cattle, and neither read nor understand. All of them go out of the way and become abominable; and their care is for their bellies, and their glory is in shame; and they go upon their bellies like serpents, and swell, and bite men, and are insolent, haters of their brethren, occupied with eating and drinking, as cattle which have no understanding or their like; and the Apostolic Church separates them from herself.
CANONS FOR THE MONASTERY OF SAINT MACARIUS.
All of them go out of the way and become abominable; and their care is for their bellies, and their glory is in shame; and they go upon their bellies like serpents, and swell, and bite men, and are insolent, haters of their brethren, occupied with eating and drinking, as cattle which have no understanding or their like; and the Apostolic Church separates them from herself. CANONS FOR THE MONASTERY OF SAINT MACARIUS.
> [1]. No priest shall ascend to this sanctuary until he has put on his pallium first, before he carries the incense into the sanctuary. |514 > > [II]. No priest or deacon shall communicate therein until he has vested himself in the epomis or a pallium. > > [III]. No priest or deacon shall speak in this holy dome any idle words, nor sit therein to read any book. And he that shall break this canon shall be anathema. > > [IV]. If any priest or monk shall enter into this dome, unless he be appointed for the service of this sanctuary, let him be anathema. > > [V]. If any of the priests belonging to this place bring a strange priest from Misr or an official into this dome and holy tabernacle, for the sake of human glory, let him be anathema. > > [VI]. If any man shall persist in entering into this holy dome, the Lord Jesus Christ shall cast him out. > > [VII]. And if any man transgresses in order that he may have a lot in this holy place by means of money or bribe, then let him, and everyone who assists him to enter it for the sake of human glory, be degraded, especially if he be notorious for evil and pride. > > Know, my brethren, that not one of these shall receive the lot of Jacob; and the power which dwells in this place and in this holy sanctuaiy will not consent to any of these things. But let a monk be humble, pure, peaceable, perfect in all the approved qualities, as the Teacher Paul testified in what he |515 said about this degree; for he says what is certain in his glorious epistles.
Then this shining personage, by whom I am unworthy to be addressed, said to me : Thy departure, O Benjamin, from this world, which is the separation of thy soul from thy body, will correspond to the day of the consecration of this church. And thou shalt depart to the Lord Christ whom thou lovest, that thou mayest rest in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the predestined, together with all the elect. So I said to him : O my Lord, I trust that God may make me worthy of what thou sayest, and may receive me, his sinful servant; and that I may go to him on the said day. And blessed be my Lord Jesus Christ, the Lover of my soul and spirit, because his mercy is abundant towards me. Thereupon the seraph disappeared from me.
And the patriarch Benjamin said to us : Think not, my brethren, that I have written these anathemas for this generation. Nay, rather I have written them because there will come another generation in the last times which will deserve what I have written, according to that which the seraph announced to me, who talked with me. Therefore it behoves every believer to beware of following the praise of men; but let him do what is fitting for the glory of God, and love him with all his heart. And do thou my son Agathon, the priest, write down for thyself the date of this consecration; and remind me of it constantly and every day, that I may remember the words of the seraph on this day, that on the same day will take place my departure from this world, it being the 8th of Tubah, on which took place the consecration of the holy church in the name of the holy Macarius, our father. |516
Now we will record another miracle which took place on the same day. There was in the city of Niciu a great and eminent official, whose custom it was to enter at all times into the holy monasteries in Wadi Habib; and accordingly he was present on the day of the consecration of the church of Saint Macarius, accompanied by a son of his who was afflicted by disease, in whom was manifested another great and conspicuous wonder, worked by the blessed Father Macarius, who is the father of the holy mountain in Wadi Habib, and the comforter of all the patriarchs and bishops and monks and teachers in the whole world; for the odour of the incense of his works, and the beauty of his deeds have filled the land, and his lamp illumines all that come to him. And it was the custom of this official to come to the monastery always at the feasts of the Nativity and of the Baptism and of Easter; and thus he was present on the day of the consecration together with his son, whom he entrusted to the charge of a holy monk, with whom was a youth who served him. When the consecration and the liturgy were finished, and the people had communicated, the son of the official was sleeping in the holy church; and at that moment he cried out in his sleep so that he frightened the people who were present with his cries. But that monk took courage, and went up to the lad, and awoke him; and when he awoke, the congregation observed him, and behold, he was healed, and seemed like a new creature on that day. So they glorified God for this great miracle which had taken place. |517
The Father Benjamin, the patriarch, said : So when I had finished the communion, I called the official, the father of the lad, and inquired of him concerning the circumstances of his son, and he informed me of his sickness and all that had happened to him. Then I called the lad and said to him : O my son, explain to me what thou sawest in thy dream, and hide nothing of it from me. So the lad said : While I was sleeping, I saw a tall old man with a light beard descending over his breast, and he squeezed my body with his hands, so that I cried out with the pain. Then he grasped with his hand the edge of my garment and drew it up over my head, and I saw all my disease and sores adhering to my garment, and they were stripped off with it from my body. And he said to me : Be of good courage, my son, for behold, thou art cured. So when this father and monk had finished, I rose up healed. This is what happened to me, O my lord and father.
So I, Benjamin, beheld him with my eyes on that day, and he was healed; and I glorified the Lord Jesus Christ, who showed to me his power and wonders by the hand of the holy Saint Macarius, who heals souls and bodies by his intercession with God, and who is become a harbour for the salvation of the world. Blessed therefore is the Mountain of Nitria, which was worthy to be inhabited by Saint Macarius, the intercessor for us and for all who visit him. O mountain in which is the mystery of God! O mountain on which are assembled those elect ones who shine therein more |518 brightly than the light of the sun by day, and whose prayers ascend like a flaming fire! O mountain in which the spiritual fruit bears thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold! O mountain which salts souls, and restores them from sin, and purifies them by repentance, so that they are white like snow! Thou art the true mountain on which are assembled the kings and the rich men and the poor, to serve God there. Thou art the mountain of salt in truth, which salts souls that stank with sin and iniquity. It is thou that hast made robbers into teachers and martyrs and saints. Therefore may they pray now without weariness before our Lord Jesus Christ, that he may strengthen us in the orthodox faith, in his illuminating Church, that all of us who are baptized may exult at all times therein. And we pray him to deliver us from the persecutions of those who rule over us, and from the wiles of the hunter and enemy of the truth, Satan, the evil prince.
Glory and power and majesty be to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.»
With the help of God is finished the first half of the first part of the book of the Histories of the Patriarchs in the great city of Alexandria, successors of Saint Mark the Evangelist. May God grant us the blessing of his prayers and of their prayers! And their number is thirty-eight patriarchs.
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[Footnotes moved to the end and renumbered]
1. 1. Eus., H. E., VII, 32; VIII, 13; IX, 6. ---- The seven mss. collated for the preceding fasciculus have been consulted also for the present one, the Paris ms. 4772 being here designated by the letter G. C. like E. contains an abridged text.
2. 1. See the three versions of the Acts of St. Peter, published by Baronius and afterwards Mai. Spicil. Rom., III, p. 673. Rome, 1840; Surius (25 Nov.); and Combefis, Illustrium Christi Martyrum lecti Triumphi, etc. p. 189, Paris, 1660. The last alone is in the original Greek, the others being Latin translations. Cf. Viteau (Greek text), Passions des saints Ecaterine, Pierre d'Alex., etc., Paris, 1897; Bedjan (Syriac version). Acta mart. et sanct., t. V, Paris. 1895, pp. 543-561; Hyvernat, Actes des Martyrs, tirés des Mss. coptes, etc.. Paris, 1886.
3. 1. S. John, xi, 50; xviii. 14.
4. 1. Ps, lxviii, 1 (Sept. lxvii).
5. 1. Psalm cxix, 131 (Sept. cxviii).
6. 1. S. Matth., vii, 7; S. Luke, xi, 9.
7. 1. S. Matth., xxiv, 2; S. Mark, xiii. 2; S. Luke, xix, 44; xxi, 6.
8. 1. Job, vi, 21 (Sept.).
9. 1. S. John, i, 18.
10. 2. S. Matth., i, 23.
11. 3. Is., vii, 14.
12. 4. S. Mark, xiv, 61, 62.
13. 5. I Tim., vi, 13.
14. 6. S. Luke, i, 32-35.
15. 1. Phil., ii, 6, 7.
16. 2. I Thess., i, 10; Hebr., i, 4-6, 13; ii, 5. 8, 9.
17. 1. S. Matth., xvii, 4; S. Mark, ix, 4: S. Luke, ix, 33.
18. 1. III Kings, xii, 16.
19. 2. The Acephali.
20. 1. Acts, viii, 20, 23.
21. 1. S. Matth., iv, 8-10. S. Luke, iv, 5-8.
22. 1. Ps. lviii, 4, 5 (Sept. lvii).
23. 1. Ps. lxxxv, 10 (Sept. lxxxiv, 11).
24. 1. Mukaukas seems to be the Coptic [Coptic], «Colchian» or «Caucasian», and to denote Cyrus, bishop of Phasis. appointed by the emperor Heraclius to be patriarch of Alexandria, and prefect of Egypt. See Dr. A. J. Butler, On the identity of Al-Mukaukis of Egypt in Trans. of Soc. of Bib. Arch. 1901.
25. 1. Ps. civ, 27, 28; cxlv. 15. 18 (Sept. ciii. cxliv.)
26. 1. Ps. xxxiv, 8 (Sept. xxxiii. 9).
27. 1. Ps. i. 1.
28. 1. Gen., xxviii, 17.
29. 2. Ps. lxxxiv, 1. 2. 3 (Sept. lxxxiii).
30. 3. II Cor., xii, 4.
See Dr. A. J. Butler, On the identity of Al-Mukaukis of Egypt in Trans. of Soc. of Bib. Arch. 1901. 25. 1. Ps. civ, 27, 28; cxlv. 15. 18 (Sept. ciii. cxliv. )
26. 1. Ps. xxxiv, 8 (Sept. xxxiii. 9). 27. 1. Ps. i. 1. 28. 1. Gen. , xxviii, 17. 29. 2. Ps. lxxxiv, 1. 2. 3 (Sept. lxxxiii). 30. 3. II Cor. , xii, 4.
31. 1. Isaias, xix, 19. 18.
32. 1. Daniel, iii. 52 (Greek).
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