巴蘭與約撒法 第 1 章 第 1/18 段

PROOEMIUM. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God," says the divine Apostle;

and to be deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit and to become sons of God is the utmost of things desirable, and for those who attain it there is rest from all contemplation, as it is written.

Of this supernatural and, of all things desired, most exalted blessedness the saints of old were accounted worthy to attain, through the practice of the virtues;

some contending as martyrs and resisting sin even unto blood, others striving ascetically and walking the narrow way, becoming martyrs in their resolve;

whose exploits and achievements—both of those made perfect through blood and of those who imitated the angelic way of life through asceticism—to commit to writing, and to hand down as an example of virtue to later generations, the Church of Christ has received from the God-speaking Apostles and blessed Fathers, who established this as law for the salvation of our race.

For the road leading to virtue is rough and steep, especially for those who have not yet wholly transferred themselves to the Lord, but are still warred upon by the tyranny of the passions.

For this reason we need many things to encourage us toward it—on the one hand exhortations, and on the other the narratives of the lives of those who have journeyed that road before us, which draws one toward it more painlessly and prepares one not to despair of the difficulty of the journey.

Since, indeed, one who merely exhorts and urges a man who is about to walk a difficult and rough road would persuade him less;

but by showing him that many have already traveled it, and in the end have made a good arrival, he would thus persuade him the more to undertake the journey himself.

Following this rule, then, and moreover being wary of the danger hanging over the servant who, having received the talent from his master, buried it in the ground and hid what had been given for trading unused, I shall in no way pass over in silence a narrative profitable to the soul that has come down to me;

which reverent men from the interior region of the Ethiopians—whom common report knows to call Indians—related to me, having translated it from truthful records; and it runs as follows:

1. The country called that of the Indians lies far from Egypt, being great and populous;

and it is surrounded by seas and navigable waters on the side facing Egypt;

while by land it borders on the confines of Persia; which land was of old darkened by the gloom of idol-madness, utterly barbarized and given over in its way of life to lawless deeds.

But when the only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, not enduring to see his own creation enslaved to sin, being moved by his own compassion in this regard, appeared like unto us, sin excepted, and, not forsaking the Father's throne, dwelt in a Virgin for our sake, that we might dwell in the heavens, and be recalled from the ancient fall, and be delivered from sin—

receiving back our former adoption as sons, and—having accomplished for us the whole dispensation through the flesh, having accepted the cross and death, and having wondrously united earthly things with heavenly, and having risen from the dead and been taken up with glory into the heavens and having sat down at the right hand of the Father's majesty—sent forth the Comforter Spirit to his eyewitnesses and initiates, according to the promise, in the form of tongues of fire, and sent them to all the nations, to enlighten those sitting in the darkness of ignorance, and to baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; so that from thence, some of them going about to the regions allotted to the East, others to those allotted to the West, running through the northern and southern climes, fulfilling the command laid upon them as a proclamation—then the most holy Thomas also, being one of the twelve-numbered company of the disciples of Christ, was sent forth to the land of the Indians, preaching to them the saving proclamation.

And the Lord working together with him and confirming the word through the signs that followed, the darkness of superstition was driven away, and, being freed from idolatrous libations and abominations, they were added to the unerring faith; and thus, having been remolded by the apostolic hands, they were made akin to Christ through baptism, and, increasing by successive additions, they advanced in the blameless faith, and built churches throughout all the regions.

And when in Egypt too monasteries began to be established and the multitudes of monks to be gathered, and the fame of their virtue and angel-imitating conduct spread through the ends of the inhabited world, and came also to the Indians, it stirred them up to the same zeal, so that many of them, forsaking all things, took to the deserts and, in a mortal body, took up the way of life of the bodiless ones.

While things were thus going well, and many were flying up to the heavens on golden wings, so to speak, there arose a certain king in that same land, Abenner by name, who had become great in wealth and power and in victory over his adversaries, valiant also in wars, and glorying in bodily stature and comeliness of countenance, and boasting in all the worldly advantages that so quickly wither;

but in soul he was oppressed by utmost poverty and stifled by many evils, belonging to the Hellenic portion, and greatly infatuated with the superstitious error of idols.

And living amid great luxury and enjoyment of the pleasant and delightful things of life, and deprived of none of his wishes and desires, he had one thing that hindered his gladness and cast his soul into cares—the evil of childlessness.

For being bereft of children, he took much thought as to how, being loosed from such a bond, he might be called father of children, a thing most desired by most men.

Such, then, was the king, and such was the disposition of his mind.

But the most glorious race of Christians and the multitude of monks, holding the king's reverence as nothing and not fearing his threat at all, advanced by the grace of Christ, increasing to a multitude beyond telling, and making little account of the king, but holding fast, above all else, to the things that lead to the service of God.

And for this reason many of those who had taken up the monastic order alike spurned all the pleasant things of this world, and had passionate longing for this one thing alone—piety—and thirsted for death on behalf of Christ, and yearned for the blessedness that comes from thence.

They preached, then, not with any fear or timidity, but very boldly, the saving name of God, and there was nothing on their lips but Christ; and they plainly showed to all the fleeting and easily-withering nature of present things, and the stable and incorruptible nature of the life to come, and, as it were, offered occasions

and seeds toward becoming akin to God and being deemed worthy of the life hidden in Christ.

Whence many, enjoying that most sweet teaching, departed from the bitter darkness of deceit, and were added to the sweet light of truth;

so that even some of the illustrious men and of the senatorial council laid aside all the burdens of life and thenceforth became monks.

But the king, when he heard these things, being filled with the greatest wrath and boiling over with fury, immediately issued a decree, that every Christian should be compelled to forswear piety.

Wherefore he devised and practiced new kinds of tortures against them, and threatened new manners of death.

And letters were sent throughout every land subject to him, to rulers and governors, decreeing punishments against the pious and unjust slaughters.

And raging especially against the elect of the monastic habit, he raised against them a truceless and undeclared war.

Thereby many of the faithful were shaken in mind, while others, unable to endure the tortures, yielded to his unlawful command.

But the leaders and chiefs of the monastic order—some of them, reproving his lawlessness, endured the end that comes through martyrdom and attained unending blessedness;

while others hid themselves in deserts and mountains, not out of fear of the threatened tortures, but by a certain more divine dispensation.

2. Such a moonless darkness, then, having overtaken the land of the Indians, and the faithful being driven out from every quarter, while the shield-bearers of impiety grew strong, and the very air itself being polluted by the blood and reek of sacrifices, one of the king's men, an arch-satrap by rank, excelling all others in steadfastness of soul, in stature and in beauty, and in all else by which bodily comeliness and nobility of a courageous soul are naturally characterized, happened to surpass the rest.

He, then, having heard that impious decree, bidding farewell to this vain and earth-dragging glory and luxury, mingled himself among the elect of the monks, becoming an exile in desert places; and, having most excellently purified his senses by fasting and vigils and the careful study of the divine oracles, and having freed his soul from every passionate attachment, he made it radiant with the light of dispassion.

And the king, who greatly loved him and held him in honor, when he heard these things, was grieved in soul at the loss of his friend, and was kindled the more with wrath against the monks.

And indeed, having sent men everywhere in search of him, and having, as the saying goes, left no stone unturned in order to find him—after a considerable time, those sent to seek him, perceiving that he had his dwelling in the deserts, searched him out and, having seized him, brought him before the king's tribunal.

And seeing him—who had once been clothed in splendid garments—now in such poor and coarsest raiment, and him who had lived in great luxury now wasted by the hard discipline of asceticism, and plainly bearing about him the marks of the eremitic life, he was filled at once with grief and wrath, and, mingling his speech from both, said to him:

'O foolish and mad man, for the sake of what have you exchanged honor for shame, and the illustrious glory for this unseemly appearance? You, the president of my kingdom and commander-in-chief of my power, having made yourself a plaything for boys, have not only utterly forgotten our friendship and familiarity, but have even risen up against nature itself, and, taking no pity even on your own children, and accounting wealth and all the splendor of life as nothing, have preferred such great disgrace to conspicuous

glory, that you might gain what for yourself? And what will you gain thereby, that above all gods and men you have preferred the one called Jesus, and this hard and ill-clad discipline above the pleasant and enjoyable things of the sweetest life?' Having heard these things, that man of God answered graciously and calmly, alike:

'If you wish to hold a discourse with me, O king, remove your enemies from the midst of the tribunal, and then I will answer you concerning whatever you wish to learn;

for while they are present with you, I have nothing to say to you.

But apart from discourse, punish, slay, do what you will;

for 'the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world,' says my divine teacher.

And when the king said, 'And who are these enemies whom you bid me remove from the midst?' the divine man said:

'For these were from the beginning brought forth by the Creator as co-workers of nature, and even now they remain such likewise to those who live not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit;

but in you, who are wholly flesh, having nothing of the spirit, they have become adversaries, and do the deeds of enemies and foes.

For desire in you, when active, arouses pleasure, but when thwarted, arouses anger.

Let these, then, be absent from you today, and let prudence and justice sit presiding to hear what is said and to judge.

For if you put away anger and desire, and bring in instead prudence and justice, I will tell you everything with love of truth.

To this the king said:

'Behold, yielding to your request, I will cast desire and anger out of the council, and I will make prudence and justice preside in the midst.'

'Now then, tell me without fear whence came to you so great a delusion, and this preferring of things in empty hopes above the things seen at hand.'

And the hermit answered and said:

'If you seek the beginning, O king, of how it came about that I disdained things temporal and gave myself wholly to eternal hopes, listen.'

'In days of old, while I was yet quite young, I heard a certain good and saving saying, and its power utterly seized me; and, like some divine seed, the memory of it, being planted in my heart, was kept forever inseparable, so that it also took root, and sprouted, and bore in me the fruit which you see.'

'And the power of the saying was something like this:'

'It has seemed good,' it says, 'to the foolish, to despise the things that are as though they were not, and to cling to and be held fast by the things that are not, as though they were;'

'he, then, who has not tasted the sweetness of the things that are, will not be able to learn thoroughly the nature of the things that are not;'

'and not having learned it, how shall he look down upon them? Now the saying called "the things that are" the eternal and unshaken things, and "the things that are not" this present life, and its luxury, and its lying prosperity;'

'to which, O king, alas, your heart is evilly fastened.'

'And I too once clung to these things;'

'but the power of the saying, pricking my soul unceasingly, aroused my governing mind to the choice of the better;'

'but the law of sin, warring against the law of my mind, and binding me as it were with iron fetters, held me captive by attachment to present things.'

'But when the kindness and goodness of God our Savior was well pleased to deliver me from that grievous captivity, he strengthened my mind to prevail over the law of sin, and opened my eyes to distinguish the base from the better.'

'Then, then indeed I understood and saw, and behold, all present things are vanity and vexation of spirit, even as the most wise Solomon also said somewhere in his writings;'

'Then the veil of sin was removed from my heart, and the darkening that lay upon my soul from bodily grossness was dispersed, and I knew that for which I had been made, and that I must ascend to the Creator through the commandments...'

Wherefore, having forsaken all things, I have followed him, and I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, that he delivered me from the clay and the brickwork, and from the harsh and destructive ruler of the darkness of this age, and showed me a short and easy way, by which, in this earthen body, I shall be able to embrace the angelic way of life; and seeking to attain this, I chose to walk the narrow and afflicted way, having utterly condemned the vanity of present things and their unstable flux and circling, and being persuaded to call nothing else good before the true good — from which you, O king, have been pitiably torn and separated.

Wherefore we also have been separated and divided from you, because you are falling into manifest and acknowledged ruin, and are forcing us likewise to be brought down into equal danger.

For as long as we were tested only in matters of worldly military service, we failed in none of the things required;

you yourself will bear me witness that we were never once charged with any slackness or negligence

But since you have contended to strip from us the very sum of good things, namely piety, and to inflict upon God this ultimate loss, and for this reason remind us of honors and preferments — how could I not justly say that you are ignorant of the good, seeing that you altogether set these things side by side with one another, I mean piety toward God, and human friendship, and glory that flows away just like water? And how shall we become your partners in this, and not rather, on the contrary, renounce friendship, and honor, and affection for children, and whatever else was greater — seeing you, O king, being ungrateful toward God, who grants you your very existence and your very breath, who is Christ Jesus, the Lord of all, who, being without beginning and co-eternal with the Father, and having established the heavens and the earth by his word, also fashioned man with his own hands and honored him with immortality, and appointed him king over the things upon earth, having assigned to him, as a kind of royal domain, the fairest of all things, paradise?

But he, robbed through envy and — alas for me — enticed by pleasure, wretchedly fell away from all these things;

and he who before was enviable was now seen as pitiable, and worthy of tears because of that calamity

He, then, who formed and fashioned us, again looking with eyes full of love for mankind upon the work of his own hands, without changing his being God, which he was from the beginning, became for our sake, sinlessly, what we are; and having willingly endured the cross and death, he cast down that enemy who from of old had envied our race, and, having rescued us from that bitter captivity, in his love of good restored to us our former freedom, and led us back again, through his love for mankind, to that place from which we had fallen through disobedience, deeming us worthy of even greater honor than before

Him, then, who suffered such things for our sake, and again deemed us worthy of such things — do you yourself reject, and mock at his cross? Wholly nailed to the delight of the body and to destructive passions, do you proclaim as gods those idols of dishonor and shame? You have not only made yourself a stranger to fellowship with the good things of heaven, but you have also already torn away from it all those who obey your commands, and handed them over to peril of soul

Know, then, that I for my part will not be persuaded by you, nor indeed will I share with you in such ingratitude toward God, nor will I deny my benefactor and Savior, even if you consume me with wild beasts, if you deliver me to sword and fire — things which lie within your power

For I neither fear death, nor do I long for present things, having condemned their great weakness and vanity

For what in them is useful, or lasting, or enduring? And not only this, but even in their very existence much misery coexists with them, much grief, much and inseparable care

For to their gladness and enjoyment there is yoked every kind of dejection and pain;

their wealth is poverty, and their loftiness is the utmost lowliness

And who could enumerate their evils? which my theologian showed me in a few words

The whole world lies in the evil one;

and, Do not love the world, nor the things in the world; for everything in the world is the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life;

and, the world is passing away, and its desire with it;

but he who does the will of God abides forever

Seeking this good will of God, I forsook all things, and joined myself to those who possess the same longing and seek after the same God;

among whom there is no strife or envy, no griefs or cares, but all run the same race, that they may attain the eternal dwellings which the Father of lights has prepared for those who love him

These I have acquired as my parents, these as my brothers, these as my friends and acquaintances;

but from my former friends and brothers I fled far away, and lodged in the wilderness, awaiting God, who saves me from faintheartedness and from the tempest

These things having thus been fittingly and pleasingly declared by the man of God, the king was moved with anger, and wished bitterly to torment the saint, yet again he hesitated and delayed, out of reverence for his venerable and illustrious bearing

And taking up the discourse, he said to him:

'In every way, wretched man, having practiced your own destruction, and driven to it, it seems, by fortune, you have sharpened your mind together with your tongue;

whence you have run through some obscure and vain babbling'

'And had I not, at the beginning of this discourse, promised you, before the whole council, to restrain my anger, I would now have delivered your flesh to the fire

But since you forestalled me and secured yourself beforehand with such words, I bear with your boldness, for the sake of my former friendship toward you

Rise up, then, and henceforth flee from my sight; let me see you no more, lest I destroy you in wrath'

And the man of God went out and withdrew into the wilderness, grieving indeed that he had not borne martyr's witness, yet testifying daily in his conscience and wrestling against the principalities and powers, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness, as the blessed Paul says

Now when he had thus departed, the king, being angered all the more, devised a still more vehement persecution against the monastic order, and held the ministers and temple-keepers of the idols worthy of yet greater honor

While the king was in such dreadful error and delusion, a child was born to him, exceedingly beautiful, and from the very radiance of beauty that shone upon him, foreshadowing what was to come

for it was said that nowhere in that land had so graceful and beautiful a child ever before appeared

And the king, filled with the greatest joy at the birth of the child, called him Ioasaph; and he himself went foolishly to the idol temples, to sacrifice to their still more foolish gods, and to render hymns of thanksgiving, not knowing who is truly the cause of all good things, to whom he ought to have offered the spiritual sacrifice

He, then, ascribing to those lifeless and mute things the cause of the child's birth, sent word everywhere to gather the multitudes to his birthday festival;

and one could see everyone streaming together out of fear of the king, bringing with them what had been made ready for the sacrifice, according as each man's hand could provide and his goodwill toward the king allowed

But most of all, he himself spurred them on to munificence, bringing as many huge bulls as possible to sacrifice; and having thus celebrated a festival for the whole people, he honored with gifts all who belonged to the council and those in office, all who were of the military, and all who were lowly and undistinguished

Now at that very festival of the child's birthday there came to the king, by special selection, about fifty-five men, who had devoted their leisure to the star-gazing wisdom of the Chaldeans

And the king, having set them very close beside him, asked each one to declare what would become of the child born to him

And they, having deliberated much, said that he would be great both in wealth and in power, and would surpass all who had reigned before him

But one of the astrologers, the most distinguished of all those with him, said: 'From what the courses of the stars teach me, O king, the advancement of the child now born to you shall not be within your kingdom, but in another, better and incomparably surpassing it;

and I think that he will also lay hold of the religion of the Christians which is persecuted by you, and I do not think that he will be deceived in his aim and his hope'

These things the astrologer said, like Balaam of old — not that astrology speaks truly, but that God, through the very things opposed to him, was pointing out the truth, so that every pretext might be taken away from the impious

But the king, when he heard these things, received the report with heaviness, and grief cut short his joy

Nevertheless, having built in a secluded city a most beautiful palace, and skillfully fashioned splendid dwellings, he set the child there to reside, after the completion of his earliest age, and charged that he should never go outside, appointing for him tutors and attendants — young in age and most comely in appearance — commanding them to make known to him nothing of the painful things of life: neither death, nor old age, nor sickness, nor poverty, nor anything else grievous and capable of interrupting his gladness, but to set before him all things pleasant and enjoyable, so that his mind, delighting and reveling in these, might have no power at all to reason about the things to come, nor might he hear even so much as a bare word concerning Christ and his teachings

for this above all he was determined to conceal from him, being wary of the astrologer's prediction

And if it happened that any of those attending him fell ill, he ordered that this one be swiftly cast out from there, and gave another in his place, vigorous and in good health, so that the child's eyes might behold nothing at all amiss

The king, then, thus intended and did these things;

for seeing, he did not see, and hearing, he did not understand

But learning that some of the monks still survived — of whom it had seemed that not even a trace remained — he was filled with wrath, and was stirred most sharply against them, and ordered heralds to run throughout the whole city and country, proclaiming aloud that nowhere at all, after three days, should any of the monastic order be found

and if any were found after the appointed days, let them be delivered to destruction by fire and sword;

'For these men' (he says) 'persuade the people to give heed, as to God, to the crucified one'

And in the meantime something else of this kind also happened, over which the king grew still more embittered and enraged against the monks

For there was a certain man, holding the foremost place among those in office, who dwelt in the palace — reasonable in his manner of life, and pious in his faith;

and, trading in his own salvation as far as was possible, he remained hidden, out of fear of the king

Whence certain men, envying him his boldness of speech before the king, plotted to slander him, and this became their constant preoccupation

And once, when the king had gone out hunting with his usual company of bodyguards, that good man was one of his fellow-huntsmen

And as he was walking alone — by divine providence, as I think, this having come to pass — he finds a man

cast down upon the ground in a certain thicket, his foot terribly crushed by a wild beast; and this man, seeing him passing by, besought him not to pass on, but to have pity on him in his misfortune, and to take him away to his own house, adding also this: 'I would not, he said, be found by you altogether useless and unprofitable'

And that illustrious man says to him:

'I, for my part, will take you in for the very sake of goodness itself, and will deem you worthy of care, so far as it lies within my power;'

'but what is the benefit which you said would come to me from you?' And that poor and feeble man said, 'I am a man skilled in healing words;'

'for if ever, in words or in conversations, some wound or hurt should be found, I shall heal these with fitting remedies, so that the evil may not spread any further'