Rufinus Aquileiensis, Historia Monachorum Seu Liber De Vitis Patrum

Vidimus ergo supradictum virum, et in vicina eremo sub monte quodam habentem monasteria; erat enim paler monachorum circiter quingentorum, et famosissimus in omnibus Thebaidae finibus habe- batur. Opera enim magna erant ei, el virtutes mul- las signaque plurima et prodigia faciebat per eum Deus. A pueritia namque in abstinentia nutritus, ubi ad maturam pervenit aetatem, gratia Dei semper cum ipso crevit. Erat enim annorum fere octoginta cum eum vidissemus in monasteriorum congrega- tione florentem : sed et ipsi qui videbantur ejus esse discipuli, ita perfecti erant, et magnifici, ut omnes paene possent signa facere. Quindecim ergo annorum secessisse eum ad eremum, ferebant, atque ibi cum quadraginta annis fuisset in exercitiis spiri- tualibus conversatus, aiebant vocem Dei ad eum de- latam dixisse : Apolloni, per te perdam sapientiam sapientium in AEgypto, et intellectum prudentium re- probabo. 145 Perdes autem mihi et eos qui inter ipsos sunt sapientes Babylonis, et omnem culturam daemonum subrues. Perges ergo nunc ad loca habi- tabilia : generabis enim mihi populum substantia- lem, et perfectum aemulatorem operum bonorum. At ille respondens ait : Aufer a me, Domine, jactan- tiam, ne forte elatus super fratres meos, cadam ab omnibus bonis tuis. Respondit ad eum rursus divina vox : Mille manum tuam ad cervices tuas, et quod comprehenderis constringe, et sub arena obrue. At ille sine mora injecta mani : ad cervices suas, appre- hendit quasi parvulum quemdam AEthiopem, et con- tinuo submersit eum sub arena clamantem et dicen- tem : Ego sum superbiae daemon. Post haec vox ad cum facta est a Deo dicens : Perge nunc : omnia enim quaecumque a Deo poposceris, consequeris. Ille ergo post haec perrexit ad ea loca, in quibus homines ha- bitabant. Temporibus autem Juliani tyranni baec fie- bant.

We saw, then, the man spoken of above, who had monasteries in the nearby desert below a certain mountain; for he was the father of about five hundred monks, and was held to be most famous throughout all the bounds of the Thebaid. For he had great works to his name, and God did many mighty deeds and very many signs and wonders through him. For, reared in abstinence from boyhood, when he reached mature age the grace of God always grew along with him. He was about eighty years old when we saw him flourishing amid the community of his monasteries; and those too who were seen to be his disciples were so perfect and so excellent that almost all of them could work signs. They related, then, that he had withdrawn to the desert at fifteen years of age, and said that when he had lived there for forty years in spiritual exercises, the voice of God came to him and said: Apollonius, through you I will destroy the wisdom of the wise in Egypt, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent. And you will destroy for me those too who are the wise men of Babylon among them, and you will overthrow all the worship of demons. Go, then, now to the inhabited places; for you will beget for me a people of [my] own possession, perfect and zealous for good works. But he answered and said: Take boastfulness away from me, Lord, lest perhaps, puffed up over my brothers, I fall away from all your good gifts. The divine voice answered him again: Put your hand to the back of your neck, and whatever you catch hold of, squeeze it tight, and bury it under the sand. And without delay he put his hand to the back of his neck and caught hold of what seemed a little Ethiopian, and at once sank him under the sand as he shouted 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. So after this he went to the places where people lived. These things happened in the times of Julian the tyrant.

Hinc denique ferunt, aliquando cum homicidium in locis vicinis fuisset admissum, et innocenti cui- dam impingeretur crimen admissi, confugisse ad ejus cellulam eum, qui calumniam patiebatur (Deest hoc Palladio); affuisse etiam eos, qui perurgebant, allegantes el dicentes periclitari seipsos, nisi com- prehensum legibus traderent homicidam. Is vero cui crimen impingebatur, cum sacramentis 194 affir- mabat, conscium se non esse sanguinis illius. Et cum diu ab utraque parte certamen haberetur, interroga- bat sanctus Macarius ubi sepultus esset, qui diceba- tur occisus. Cumque designassent locum, cum omni- bus qui ad perurgendum hominem venerant, pergit ad sepulcrum, atque ibi fixis genibus invocatio Chri- sti nomine, ait ad eos qui astabant : Nunc Dominus ostendet, si vere reus est hic, qui perurgetur a vobis. Et elevata voce, ex nomine clamat defunctum. Cum- que ei de sepulcro vocatus respondisset, ait ad eum. Per fidem Christi le obtestor, ut dicas si ab hoc Immine, qui calumniam patitur, occisus es. Tunc ille de sepulcro clara voce respondit, dicens, non se esse ab eo Interfectum. Et cum stupefacti omnes de- cidissent ad terram, ac pedibus ejus advolverentur rogare caeperunt, ut interrogaret eum a quo esset oc- cisus. Tunc ille : Hoc, inquit, non interrogabo : suf- ficit enim mihi, ut innocens liberetur, non est autem meum, ut reus prodatur.

Hence, then, they relate that once, when a murder had been committed in the neighbouring parts and the charge for the deed was being fastened on an innocent man, the man who was suffering the false accusation fled for refuge to his cell (this is missing in Palladius); and that those who were pressing the charge were there too, alleging and saying that they themselves were in danger unless they seized the murderer and handed him over to the law. But the man on whom the crime was being fastened affirmed with oaths that he had no part in that blood. And when the dispute had gone on long on both sides, holy Macarius asked where the man who was said to have been killed was buried. And when they had pointed out the place, he goes to the tomb with all who had come to press the charge against the man, and there, kneeling and calling on the name of Christ, he said to those standing by: Now the Lord will show whether this man whom you are pressing is truly guilty. And raising his voice, he calls the dead man by name. And when the man who was called had answered him from the tomb, he said to him: By the faith of Christ I adjure you to say whether you were killed by this man who is suffering the false charge. Then he answered from the tomb in a clear voice, saying that he had not been killed by him. And when all had fallen to the ground in amazement and were throwing themselves at his feet, they began to ask him to question the man about who had killed him. Then he said: This I will not ask; for it is enough for me that the innocent man be freed, but it is not my business that the guilty one be betrayed.

Aliud quoque (Pallad. cap. 19.) ejus genus mira- culi ferebatur. Cujusdam in vicino oppido patris fa- milias virgo filia per phantasias magicas videbatur hominibus in equinum animal versa, ut putaretur equa esse, et non puella. Hanc adduxerunt ad eum. Tunc ille perconctatus, quid vellent? aiunt parentes ejus : Equa haec quam vident oculi tui, puella virgo et filia nostri fuit, sed homines pessimi, magicis ar- tibus in animal hoc quod vides mutaverunt eam. Rogamus ergo, ut ores Dominum, ut commutet eam in hoc quod fuit. At ille ait : Ego hanc quam osten- ditis mihi puellam video, nihil in se pecudis haben- tem : hoc autem quod dicitis, non est in ejus cor- pore, sed in oculis intuentium. Phantasiae enim daemonum sunt istae, non veritas rerum. Et cum in- troduxisset eam, cum parentibus suis intra cellulam, fixis genibus orare Dominum caepit, simulque el pa- rentes rogat secum Domino supplicare; et post hoc perungens eam oleo in nomine Domini, 195 omni fallacia visus exp(??)lsa, virginem videri omnibas, ut etiam sibi videbatur, effecit.

Another kind of miracle of his was also told (Palladius, ch. 19). The virgin daughter of a certain householder in a neighbouring town seemed to people, through magical illusions, to have been turned into a horse, so that she was thought to be a mare and not a girl. They brought her to him. When he asked what they wanted, her parents say: This mare which your eyes see was a virgin girl and our daughter, but very wicked men changed her by magic arts into this animal you see. So we ask you to pray the Lord to change her back into what she was. But he said: I see this one you show me as a girl, having nothing of a beast in her; what you speak of is not in her body but in the eyes of those who look at her. For these are illusions of demons, not the truth of things. And when he had brought her, with her parents, into his cell, he knelt and began to pray to the Lord, and at the same time asks the parents too to make supplication to the Lord with him; and after this, anointing her with oil in the name of the Lord, he drove out all the deception of sight and made her appear a virgin to everyone, as she also appeared to him.