W701

PMB 01 BHG 1449

W701

de tribus mulieribus

«The three women who were discovered

in the time of the Emperor Constantine [VII.]»

A tax-collector followed birds bearing fruit and found three naked women in a remote spot. One told how, as a young widow, eleven years earlier, she had fled to escape the unwelcome attentions of a suitor, gaining time by pleading sickness. With two serving women, now her spiritual sisters, she had come to this place and been nourished by the birds. The three of them received communion and then died.

cf W059 W712 W870

W702

PMB 02 BHG 1449c

W702

de viro tribus ante mortem diebus in rationem vocato

«The man who was called to account three days before his death»

Peter or Pardos told Paul of Monembasia of his visit to a sick and dying man who made his confession, and then seemed to have a vision of one whose charges he sometimes accepted, sometimes refuted. There was mention of a document; and this, it transpires, was something he had stolen from his mother in order to free her slave, for which he was promised a piece of gold which he never received.

cf W869 W899

W703

PMB 03 BHG 1449f

W703

de monacho in monte Olympo

«The man who made his confession to a holy elder on Mount Olympos»

A secular person visited an elder (named Sophronios in Cod. London Harley. 5639, f.140v, s.xiv) and his disciples, to whom he confessed some very grave sins, aloud. The elder clothed him, which greatly surprised the disciples, but he had seen an angel crossing out the man's sins as he confessed them.

cf W893, W868

W704

PMB 04 BHG 1449m

W704

de muliere quae Noephytum monachum adiit confesionis causa

«The woman who came to confess to Abba Neophytos»

A woman wishing to confess to Neophytos could not bring herself to name her sin, not even in writing. But she found a sick monk and cared for him. On Maundy Thursday she annointed his feet when the Gospel spoke of Jesus at Bethany, wiping his feet with her hair. Then there was an earthquake and a voice which proclaimed that her sins were forgiven.

cf W795

note: On serving the sick in order to gain mercy, see Dorotheos of Gaza, Instructions c.153 [SC 92, pp. 428-430,] and the passage cited there in Evagrios Ponticos, Practicos 2.91, PG 49:1249B

W705

PMB 05 BHG 1075d

W705

miraculum de paupere qui in Chalcopratensi templo orabat

«The poor man who prayed at the church of

the all-holy Mother of God at Chalcoprateia»

An imperial secretary followed a poor man out of a vigil at Chalcoprateia and saw him open church doors by his prayers, then go home. The secretary later went to the home; first he talked with the wife, then with the man, who was a leather-worker. He learned that the man divided his earnings three ways: for the poor, for the business and for themselves. They fasted every day until evening and for twenty seven years they had been married without sleeping together (mariage blanc.)

cf W035 W638 W864

W706

PMB 06 BHG 1449g

W706

de sacerdote a divinis suspenso

«The priest suspended by his bishop»

A bishop suspended a priest and died without releasing him. The priest appealed to the Patriarch of Constantinople who was sympathetic. He had the monks of a community fast and pray with them for a week, at the end of which the dead bishop appeared amongst them and lifted the ban on the priest.

cf W005

W707

PMB 07 BHG 1449nb

W707

de sacerdote fornicato

«The priest who fell into fornication»

An elder refused absolution to a priest who exercised his priesthood after falling into πoρvεία. Then the priest confessed to Abba Peter, who stipulated that he must renounce his priesthood and become a monk. The new monk then chained himself up in Peter's cellar where he lived for three years in the stench of his own excrement, receiving a little bread every second or third day. Then Peter unchained him and brought him out to die; his sins were forgiven.

cf W235 W567 W618

W708

PMB 08 BHG 1449b

W708

de tribus monachis in Africam cum puero abductis

«The three monks taken prisoner in Africa»

Saracens come by ship to Calabria seized three monks and a child gone to bathe. The monk who was the patron of the child went in search of the missing persons with some money he had collected. He gained the ear of the "Prince of believers" in Africa by immobilising Saracens who would have struck him. The prince was so impressed with the monk's piety that he released the prisoners and sent them home with him. On board ship, the monk twice made sea-water drinkable, and this was reported back to the prince; he invited the monk to come to Africa again, but in vain.

cf W349

[n.b. this is a much longer story than most]

W709

PMB 09 BHG 1449e

W709

de sacerdote indigno seu visio pueri baptizati

«The child who had a vision at his baptism»

A child slave, a Slav by race, was sent to be baptised by his master, but an angel baptised him whilst the priest of the chapel stood bound, outside, retained by two black-faced-ones. The priest (it transpires) was actually under suspension for falling into sin and was practicing improperly. He was sent to a monastery to repent for the rest of his life.

cf W007 W008

W710

PMB 10 BHG 1449h

W710

de monacho in spelunca

«The monk in the cave»

A new monk greatly wished to go alone into a cave in a precipice, in spite of the higoumen's attempts to dissuade him. Once installed, he was wildly deceived by demons disguised as angels, and was only rescued by the holy higoumen coming and praying with him, and being with him at the moment when the demons were supposedly going to carry him off to paradise. He was brought down and set to work with the brethren so he could profit from their prayers.

cf W201 W217 W485 W548 W552 W636

W711

PMB 11 BHG 873n

W711

miraculum de confessione

«The man who confessed to the icon of our Lord Jesus Christ»

A sick man who had great confidence in Saint John Chrysostom had himself laid in the church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, near Chrysostom's tomb. He confessed his sins to the great icon of Christ in the dome of the church. When all was told, a fearful voice proclaimed him forgiven; he rose, healed. An epilogue stresses the importance of confession.

W712

PMB 12 BHG 1449a

W712

de muliere reperta cum filio in insula

«The woman found on an island with her son»

A priest returning to Constantinople was becalmed off an island on which he discovered a naked woman. She had been an orphan-child in Larissa where some rich people took her up and later married her to their son. She could not stand the taunts of his friends that he had married beneath himself. She had fled to free him (unaware that she was pregnant) thirty years earlier. Now she presented her son for baptism. They then both received communion and, charging the priest not to reveal the whereabouts of the island, mother and son returned to the innermost island.

W713

PMB 13 BHG 1449k

W713

de mortua ad vitam revocata

«The woman who died and came back to life again»

Anna of Constantinople fell ill and (apparently) died -- and then revived again. She described her experiences to a visiting priest: how two awesome beings bore her off, and how she would have gone below -- but for the intercession of the Mother of God. Now she wanted to go to a convent to repent, but her husband would not hear of it. She fasted daily and died in earnest two months later.

cf W811

W714

PMB 14 BHG 1175

W714

«Blessed Martha the abbess. . .»

Martha was visited at the convent which she ruled in Monembasia by an elder who requested one of her two garments. When he received it, the issue of blood from which she suffered was quenched and the man disappeared. At the same time an elder appeared to some men of Monembasia in Thessalonica. He showed them her garment and sent a message with them for her: "Many things await you." Martha also once saw the Mother of God enthroned in the sanctuary, until the sisters sang too loudly, at which she disappeared.

cf W434

W715 = W509

W716

BHG 1449i

W716

de Sergio, demota Alexandrino

This is actually a conflation of four stories in the format A1, B1, C, D. B2, A2.

A: The Egyptian monk Elpidios, driven out into the desert by accidie, found a naked elder named Pyrrhus, who claimed to have been over seventy years in the desert without seeing a man. At the end, Elpidios finds this man dead and gives him burial, but meanwhile he has recounted his story:

B: Pyrrhus asked God with whom he had his portion, and was told: with Sergius the dêmotês of Alexandria, of whom he went in search. It transpired that Sergius was in charge of the prostitutes of

Alexandria. At the end of the story he follows Pyrrhus into the desert and lives with him there until his death, but meanwhile he recounts, under duress, two stories of some good he had done in this world:

C: Once he paid a beautiful woman toiling in a tavern one hundred pieces of gold to sleep with him. On discovering that she was doing it to pay off the debt which enslaved her husband and children, he let her go untouched, money in hand, to restore her family.

D: On another occasion he saved the sisters of a community from debauchment by a lascivious governor by hiding them and dressing up the prostitutes to look like them. But when it was over, the girls would not go back to the brothels: they stayed on as sisters.

n.b.: There is a Georgian translation of the Arabic text of this story in Cod. Georgian 9 Iviron, copied anno 977, an appendix to the Georgian Pratum Spirituale. sic Garitte, Byzantion 36 (1966) pp.396ff.

W717

BHG 1277a, olim 1449q

W717

de sacerdote ebrioso

A drunken priest unwittingly slept with the servant-girl the night before he was supposed to celebrate a liturgy for the governor. He went ahead, but an angel came to do the consecration, accusing him of being vile. Priest and angel mutually suspended each other. Then a dead man revived to accuse the priest of his baseness. The priest and his family moved elsewhere and he continued to celebrate, but his face turned black. He lived for three hundred and seventy years, then his bishop took him back to his original church (now in ruins.) The angel was still there; he and the priest mutually absolved each other (for nobody else could.) The angel flew back up into heaven, the priest turned to dust on the spot. The bishop was allowed to hear a little of the angels' singing.

cf W067

W718

BHG 999n Macarios the Egyptian, 1 PG 34:221-224

W718

de angelo custode

With his spiritual eyes, Macarios saw a guardian angel weeping outside a brothel at Constantinople for his charge who was defilling himself within. The man's freewill prevented the angel's intervention. The angel was praying that the man would repent of his own freewill and thus grant him a day of happiness. ". . . there is no more filthy sin than adultery, πoρvεία and the cursed sin of Sodom. A person guilty of such sin God will more warmly receive than any other sinners, because the condition arises from free will."

cf. W451

W719

BHG 999n Macarios the Egyptian 2 PG 34:224-229

W719

de angelo custode (bis)

[n.b.: this is a mainly about the virtues of almsgiving and confession to a priest]

A vision of angels descending and ascending with souls, which grimy beings endeavour to snatch down. At the control-post [τελώvιov] of sexual sin the angels are challenged for a soul they carry; they call the man's guardian angel to witness that, sinner though he was, he did make a full confession to a priest before death; hence he was allowed through. Then came a eunuch of whom the demons say: "He did many wicked things from his youth up, things which were unbecoming of him as a Christian and as a eunuch: fornication, adultery and defiling himself with those who work the sin of Sodom. . ," but by almsgiving and confesion he had gained admittance. A pious soul came next, who was joyfully received into heaven, and lastly a steward who had strangled himself was led off into hell

--------------

CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, LIVES

W720

Euthymios 48: The stolen money

W720

Theodotos the Galatian stole six hundred pieces of gold in three boxes from the safe of his monastery (Saint Euthymios') and buried them under a stone near Saint Martyrios' Monastery. He then went into Jerusalem for pack-animals. When he returned to the spot a terrible snake came from under the stone and drove him off. A bodiless power struck him down in the way. In hospital (at Saint Martyrios') he had a dream of one who said he would never recover until the money was given back. Some monks took Theodotos on a mount to the spot where the money lay and it was retrieved without incident; the culprit was allowed to go free.

W721

CS Euthymios 50: the Tale of Paul

W721

Paul the Cilician had been appropriating monastic property, getting drunk and having erotic dreams. At his own request, the fathers at Saint Martyrios' Monastery brought him and placed him next to the tomb of Saint Euthymios. He had a vision of an awesome place in which he was wearing a cross between a crown of thorns and a most uncomfortable coarse woolen hood. Saint Euthymios appeared to him and lectured him. He then tore the head-covering from Paul and it turned into a small black-faced-one with eyes darting fire, which the saint flung into a horrendous pit -- and told him to sin no more.

W722

CS Euthymios 51: The Saracen

W722

A Saracen who had broken the door to one of the cisterns at Saint Euthymios' Monastery was smitten by a demon. Brought to the monastery by a christian Saracen named Thalabas and laid by Euthymios' tomb, he was healed, instructed and later received baptism.

W723

CS Euthymios 52: The niece of Thalabas

W723

Thalabas (see W722) brought his niece troubled with an impure spirit to Saint Euthymios' Monastery. After three days iof being annointed with oil from Euthymois' tomb she was cleansed.

W724

CS Euthymios 53: The son of Argôb

W724

Seized by a demon while keeping his flocks, the son of Argôb, his face terribly distorted, was paced by the tomb of Saint Euthymios and so cleansed and restored.

W725

CS Euthymios 54: The woman of Bêtaboudissae

W725

This woman, stricken by a demon at noonday and "moonstruck" for seven months, was brought to Saint Euthymios' Monastery by her husband. After three days' fasting and praying at the monastery gate (she could not go in) and use of the oil from Saint Euthymios' tomb (also oil from the inextinguishable lamp which was there - which she drank) she was restored.

W726

CS Euthymios 55: Procopios

W726

Procopios the Galatian was cured of a long-standing demonic possesssion (which left him tongue-tied) by Saint Euthymios, in whose monastery he is to this day.

W727

CS Euthymios 56: The Foreigner

W727

A stranger who arrived shouting protests was dragged to the tomb of Saint Euthymios where he was freed of demons, and had no recollection of how he came to be there afterwards.

W728

CS Euthymios 57: Romanos

W728

Romanos, secular brother of the monastery priest Abba Achthabios of Bêtakabea near Gaza, was the victim of one who wanted his land and hired magicians in Eleutheropolis to afflict him with paralysis and dropsy so that doctors despaired of his life. Euthymios appeared to him when he prayed, accusing neglect of religious exercises. He opened up Romanos with his fingers, extracted an inscribed tin tablet and healed him up. The patient rose, excreted everything and was made whole. He offers a public feast on the anniversary of his healing.

W729

CS Euthymios 58: The Villagers of Pharan

W729

Cyriacos of Paran village claimed to have returned all of his neighbour's animals when he had only given eight of the ten. He went and took an oath to this effect on Euthymios'tomb, but in the night Euthymios came with five young assistants and admiknstered a severe whipping - perjuring himself at the tomb. When he awoke, he was covered with the marks of the beating. He was too ill to lie by the tomb and died shortly afterwards. So the monks allow no oaths to be taken on the tomb any more.

W730

CS Euthymios 59: The man who stole the urn

W730

A stranger who stole an urn from the tomb of Euthymios by night was found immobilised next morning

W731

CS Euthymios 60: Cyril's dream

W731

When Cyril of Scythopolis was contemplating writing the Life of Euthymios, in a dream he saw Euthymios and Sabas. At Sabas' bidding, Euthymios took out a silver ointment-jar. He touched Cyril's mouth with the ointment three times (Ps 118:103) And when Cyril awoke, he was ready to write.

(for Euthymios, see also W745)

W732

CS Sabas 23: The disciple and the lion

W732

Sabas' disciple, Agapetos, once fainted from exhaustion in the utter desert. A great lion came by: Sabas prayed for it to leave, which it did, gently striking the disciple with its tail as it went and so awakening him.

W733

CS Sabas 24: Sabas and the anchorite

W733

On their way to the utter desert, Sabas and Agapetos found an ancient hermit in a cave who said he had been there thirty-eight years without seeing a human. On returning from their journey, they found the elder dead on his knees. They set the body to rest, immured in the cave.

W734

CS Sabas 27: Demons as crows

W734

Sabas was once assaulted by demons appearing as snakes, wild animals and crows, with a beating sound. When he drove them off around midnight, shepherds heard "a beating sound and confused tumult like a flock of crows" [_ς πλ_θoς κoράκωv φαιvόμεvoι μετ_ κτύπoυ τιv_ς κα_ θoρύβoυ _τάκτoυ.]

W735

CS Sabas 33: The lion's cave

W735

Sabas took up residence in a lion's cave. The creature tried to drag him out, but left when he told it either to cohabit or quit.

W736

CS Sabas 38: Sabas' vision

W736

Sabas saw himself in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Eucharist: staff-bearing officers were throwing out some monks while Sabas begged for them to be allowed to communicate. A voice announced they were Nestorians. So Sabas continue visiting his Nestorian neighbours and eventually converted them.

W737

CS Sabas 41: The monks who castrated himself

W737

James was so afflicted by πoρvεία that he castrated himself. For this virtual suicide Sabas expelled him from the lavra and condemned him to a solitary existence with nobody to see but the one who served him. James complied "for a long time," then Sabas had a vision: a man radiant with light who showed him James, standing in prayer, with a corpse lying before him. "Stretch out your hand and raise him up," said the voice -- which James did. Whereupon Sabas allowed him to be reconciled with the community: he died seven days later.

W738

CS Sabas 43: Miraculous singing

W738

When Anthimos died, Sabas heard the singing of many voices before the accustomed time, but the church was locked. Again he hear a multituide sweetly singing Ps 42:/41:5. They went with incense and candles to the cell of Anthimios (known to be dying) and found him dead.

W739

CS Sabas 46: Vinnegar made wine

W739

Once at Jericho Sabas turned a gourd of vinnegar into excellent wine --which served for much longer than expected. Water from the empty gourd was used long afterward to sprinkle over sick people.

W740

CS Sabas 47: On disciplining the eyes

W740

Sabas and his disciple passed a pretty girl and Sabas remarked that she was one-eyed. The disciple objected she had two fine eyes -- and admitted that he had taken a good look when challenged by the elder. Sabas now reproved him, quoting Pr 9:18a (LXX) 6:25 and "fiery is the passion thatg arises freom inquisitive looks" [φλέγov τ_ πάθoς _κ περιέργoυ θέας.]

W741

CS Sabas 49: The lion, Flavian and the ass

W741

Once when Sabas was travelling from Rouba to Calamon he met a huge lion -- whic he relieved of a thorn in the foot. It folowed him faithfully. Sabas had Syrianm disciple, Flavian, who owned an ass. The lion would look after the ass when Falvian was on a mission. One day Flavian fell into πoρvεία while on a mission: and the lion ate the ass, which Flavian interpreted to be on account of his sin. So he fled: but the elder found him and brought him back to live a godly monastic life.

W742

CS Sabas 60: Elias forsees death of Anastasios

W742

Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, knew the hour of death of Anastasios and his own; and indeed, on that 10 July 518, thunder and lightening struck the Palace. Anastasios rushed from toom to room in panic but the wrath of God overtook him and killed him in one of the chambers.

W743

CS Sabas 62: A woman with an issue of blood

W743

Sabas once healed a woman with an issue of blood so well established that she stank. He did so by having her apply his hand to the spot.

W744

CS Sabas 78: Romulus the Silversmith

W744

At the time of the death of Sabas, Romulus of Damascus, silversmith at Jerusalem was robbed of almost 100lbs of silver. He gave illumination to Saint Theodore's church for five days and stayed there in prayer and lamentation. Theodore the martyr appeared to him and learned of the theft. "I was away, meeting the soul of Sabas to conduct it to rest," he said, " but your goods and the thief's are in such-and-such a location," which indeed they were.

W745

CS Euthymios 28: Fire at the Eucharist

W745

Terebôn the Saracen standing leaning on the sanctuary rails when Euthymios was celebrating the eucharist (Domitian standing to the right with the fan) saw fire suddenly come down from heaven and enfold the altar; celebrant, deacon and all, from the Trisagion to the completion of the mystery. Very few other persons (including Gabriel, eucnuch frolm birth) were aware of this

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

W791

BHG 248 PAVB c.33

W791

de hebraeo

When Basil the Great was celebrating the eucharist, a Jew insinuated himself and saw as it were a divided child [βρέφoς μελιζόμεvov] in the celebrant's hands. At the communion, the Jew received real flesh in his hands; there was also blood in the cup. Saving a relic (i.e. some fragments, λείψαvα) he showed it to his wife. They were both converted and baptised, Basil giving thanks to the God "who wills that all be saved" [τ_ θέλovτι πάvτας σωθ_vαι 1 Tim 2.4.]

cf W014 W015

W792

BHG 250 PAVB cc.36, 37

W792

de Iuliano praevaricatore

When Julian ["the Apostate," 361-363] was going to Persia, Basil offended him and he threatened to destroy Caesarea in Cappadocia on his return. When his return was due, Basil summoned everybody to three nights of prayer and fasting before the Mother of God. Basil saw her on her throne, sending Saint Mercury to annihilate Julian; Basil was given a mysterious book. [Libanius, a quaestor with Julian in Persia, had the same dream. He later came announcing the news of Julian's death; he joined forces with Basil at that time.] Basil went and wakened Eubolos (only) and they found that Mercury's weapons were missing from his temple. They then announced that the wicked emperor was dead.

n.b.: longer version, ed. Delehaye, in AB 55 (1937) 71-72.

W793

BHG 251 PAVB cc.38, 39

W793

de diacono ventilante

Basil was presiding at a eucharist to celebrate the death of the Emperor Julian [361-363.] When he elevated the holy gifts, the customary sign of the movement of the golden dove did not take place. Basil perceived that one of the deacons working a fan was eyeing a woman looking down from above. When the deacon was sent out, the customary "overshadowing" took place [_ τo_ _γίoυ πvεύματoς _πιφoίτησις.] The deacon was given a program of repentence; a curtain was erected around the place of the hearers and pains were prescribed for any woman found outside it at the time of the liturgy.

cf W338 W539

W794

BHG 253 PAVB c.43

W794

de iuvene qui Christum negaverat

Helladios, Basil's successor at Caesarea, said that a youth denied Christ in writing, before the devil to whom he had received an introduction in writing from the local magician. He saught the devil's aid to win the hand of his master's daughter, which he did. But then it was noticed that he never went to church any more. Basil was approached for help; he learnt all from the lad, whom he shut up, first for three days, then for "a few" days, then for forty days, and all was forgiven. A great vigil was held in which Basil carried on a dialogue with the devil. Finally the youth's written denunciation floated down into the hands of the waiting people.

W795

BHG 254 PAVB pp.197-202

W795

de Anastasio presbytero

Helladios also said that Basil went to visit Anastasios the priest who had been married for forty years with Theognia in mariage blanc. At the eucharist of this priest, some saw fire descending at the elevation. The couple spent half their income on guests and half on taxes. Basil demanded access to the room "where their treasure lay." In there, he found a severely ulcerated (leprous ?) man [_vδρα λωβ_v, _πoρρυέvτα τ_ πλε_στα τo_ σώματoς μέρη] whom the couple cared for. Basil stayed with him that night and he was healed, without a scar.

cf W704

W796

BHG 258 PAVB cc.59-61

W796

de muliere peccatrice

A most sinful woman, coming to her senses and wishing to repent, wrote all her sins on a paper and sealed it with a lead seal. Then she threw both it and herself at the saint's feet, requesting forgiveness. Basil prayed at great length with the unopened roll; then when it was opened, all its contents were found to have been expunged, except the one great sin at the end. Basil sent her to Ephraim in the desert. He sent her back to Caesarea, where she arrived as Basil's funeral was being celebrated. She threw the paper on the bier and it was found to be blank.

cf almost identical story in Vit. S. Ioh. Eleemos. c. xlvi, ed Gelzer. or c.51, Pl 73:380-382. John and two attendant bishops come forth from the tomb in this version, to hand her the blank document.

PLEROPHORIA

of John Rufus, Bishop of Maïouma

W799

Pl.14 A vision of Christ in a furnace

W799

An Egyptian prophet names Andrew, who was opposed to the decision of Chalcedon, had a vision of many bishops heating up a hot furnace in which they tightly enclosed a child, splendid like gold, for three days. The child then emerged safe and sound: it was Christ. "The bishops have crucified me again" he said. Which was true, for the Nestorians were sick with the sickness of the Jews; i.e. they said it was a man, not God, whom they crucified.

cf W486 W487 W488