To this the king replied: "We have not won, elder, but we have been completely defeated; It is probable that the gods, who had hitherto been on our side, suddenly retreated, and therefore our opponents found no resistance, and if they did, it was weak and senseless, in consequence of which we were utterly defeated. Tell me if you have the power and the ability to help our degraded faith and exalt it again."

Theudas answers: "You, O king, do not be afraid of the idle talk and opposition of the Galileans. What can they say against reasonable people? It seems to me that in a contest in words it is even easier for us to defeat them than it is for the wind to scatter the leaves. They will not even dare to stand face to face with me, let alone speak and enter into debate. And in order that the coming contest may have a result perfectly in accordance with our desire, then, as always, our feast will be almost: by this you will gain the favor of the gods, which will be an all-powerful weapon for you."

Instructing him all day long in iniquity and giving his neighbor a dirty drink, as St. Isaiah says, Theudas, with the help of evil spirits assisting him, managed to completely drown out in the king the salvific thoughts that were visible in him and to induce him to zealously adhere to his usual thoughts and actions. In consequence of this, royal letters were sent everywhere, commanding everyone to come to the upcoming impious feast. And so, crowds of people flocked from all sides, bringing with them bulls, sheep and other various animals. When the day of the vile celebration came, the king, accompanied by the sorcerer Theudas, went to the temple to sacrifice a hundred bulls and many other animals to the gods. And they celebrated their impious feasts, with the cry of sacrificial animals resounding throughout the city, with the stench of burning sacrifices, with which the very air was saturated.

When these festivities were over, and the evil spirits rejoiced at the victory of Theudas, and the priests thanked him, the king, returning with him to the palace, said to him: "In accordance with your commandment, I have done my best to make this festival as magnificent and abundant as possible with sacrifices. Now it is time that my son, who has apostatized from our gods, may be freed from the power of the errors of the Christians, and turn again to our merciful gods. For my part, I had already tried all the means, but none of them was suitable for distracting him from evil. If I tried to achieve my goal by meekness and caresses, he paid no attention to me. If he wanted to take him with severity and threats, then he became mad. Therefore, I fully leave the removal of my misfortune to your wisdom. If you achieve this, and I see my son serving the true gods with me and enjoying the pleasures of earthly life, then I will erect a golden pillar for you, I will give you divine honors, and throughout your life I will command everyone to pay them to you."

Theudas, having listened very favorably to this decision of the king, answered him: "If you want to put an end to the obstinacy of your son, then I have found a means against which he will not resist, but his harsh and unyielding temper will be softened, it will soften like wax used on the strongest fire."

Hearing such bold and self-confident words, the king was filled with joyful hope, and his face brightened. "What is this remedy?" he asked. "Remove all the attendants who are with your son," answered Theudas, "and in their place appoint the most beautiful women, seductively dressed to serve him, and one of them was constantly with him. For my part, I will send one of my subordinate spirits to fan the flames. If this method proves unsuitable, O king, let me be worthy, instead of the greatest honors, the most painful punishments, for nothing so captivates and seduces the thoughts of men as the sight of beautiful women. Therefore, I advise you to listen to my voice.

A certain king had no male heir and was very sad, considering this to be the greatest misfortune for himself. But suddenly a son was born to him, and the king was filled with unspeakable joy. But experienced doctors told him that if a newborn saw the brilliance of the sun or fire before the age of ten, he would completely lose his sight - this is shown by the condition of his eyes. Then the king ordered a stone dwelling to be carved for his son, consisting of dark caves, and placed him there with his uncles and servants, strictly ordering that all light should be removed from him until he was ten years old. At the end of the specified period, he released his son from his imprisonment. But since he had not yet seen anything, the king ordered to show him men and women placed in different places on purpose for this purpose, then also gold, silver, precious stones, chariots with horses harnessed to them in gilded harnesses, covered with purple carpets and squire riders sitting on them, herds of oxen and sheep.

In short, the prince was shown all kinds of things and animals. The royal servants who accompanied the prince told him afterwards, according to his wishes, the names of everything he had seen. When he asked about women, the king's bodyguard jokingly told him that they were called demons, who lead people astray. When the prince was then brought back to the king, his father asked him what he had seen that pleased him best. The prince answered him vividly: "Most of all I liked those demons that lead people astray; for my soul was aflame only at the sight of them from all that I saw." And the king was amazed at these words of his son. Look, O king, what love for women means. And only in this way will you make your son obey you."

The Tsar was very pleased with this method. And so, by his order, the chosen, blooming beauties are brought to him. Having decorated them with appropriate clothes, he appointed them to the palace of his son in place of the former servants, whom he ordered to be removed. The women tried by all means to lure Joasaph to their company, embraced and caressed him, trying to cheer him up. He had no other company and did not see anyone else, in accordance with the order of the tsar. Theudas then returned to his cave and again took up his magical, as he called them, books, summoning the evil spirit against the soldier of Christ, not knowing himself how pitiful and worthy of ridicule he was with all his army of the devil. Summoning other evil spirits to help, the demon summoned by Theudas goes to the bedroom of a noble youth, whom he finds asleep. It inflamed in him various voluptuous feelings, from which the prince woke up. Then he sees beautiful in appearance, but ugly in soul, maidens who try to fan the flame that burns even more within him.

But the blameless youth sensed evil intent and, seeing the approaching struggle with impure feelings, he fell into confusion and began to seek deliverance from the threatening evil, wishing to appear before Christ with a pure soul, and not defiled by the filth of passions, wishing to preserve unsullied the holy garment in which he had been clothed with the gift of Holy Baptism. And immediately the thought came to him of the greatness of the inexpressible glory of Christ in the heavenly world, the eternal bliss of righteous souls, and at the same time of the parable of those who were expelled from the wedding feast because they did not appear in wedding clothes, and who were cast into fiery hell and extreme darkness. Remembering all this, he shed tears and beat his chest, as if banishing all evil thoughts and feelings from himself. Then he arose, stretched out his hands to heaven and, weeping and weeping fervently, called upon God for help, saying: "Almighty Lord God, the All-Merciful, the hope of all those who despair and the help of all the helpless, remember in this hour of me, Thy worthless servant, look upon me with Thy merciful eye, save my soul from the devil's sword, and pluck me out of the dog's tooth! Do not let me fall under the power of my enemies, lest those who hate me rejoice. Do not let me perish in iniquity and defile my body, which I promised Thee to keep pure! For my soul desires Thee only, and to Thee do I worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages."

As he said "Amen," he felt that divine consolation had come to him from heaven. All bad feelings disappeared, and he spent his time in prayer until dawn. Having come to know through this the intrigues of the devil, he began to constrain his flesh even more, forcing himself to endure hunger, thirst and other deprivations. He spent whole nights standing, constantly reminding himself of the covenant he had made with God; of the blessedness of the righteous in the world to come, and of the fiery Gehenna that threatens the wicked. He worked tirelessly on himself so that the enemy would not find his soul intemperate and pliable, and therefore would not easily instill bad feelings in it and not confuse his pure thoughts.

The evil spirit, thus failing, and despairing of taking possession of the noble youth, devised another, still more cunning stratagem. Being always evil, he never ceases to invent all kinds of evil and harm people. Therefore, with incomparably greater zeal, he tried to carry out what was entrusted to him by Theudas. For this purpose he enters into one of the beauties mentioned, namely, the most beautiful of them in appearance, the daughter of a certain king, who was brought from her homeland as the greatest gift to King Abner, and he, on account of her beauty, chose her among others to be sent to his son's palace. The evil spirit, having entered into it, inspires it with thoughts and desires that completely take possession of its reason, for it is always very resourceful for evil. Then the demon also managed to instill love for her in the prince, who drew attention to her both because of her intelligence and beauty, and because of her royal origin, the deprivation of her homeland, and at the same time of due honor and glory. In addition, he had a desire to turn her away from idolatry and make her a Christian. All these were the insidious intrigues of the devil. Meanwhile, Blessed Joasaph, not noticing in himself any passionate love, any impure feeling towards this maiden, explained his attraction to her by simple sympathy and compassion for her miserable fate and spiritual destruction, in no way assuming that these were the intrigues of an evil spirit.

He began to seek the company of the girl and, instilling in her the doctrine of the true God, said: "Turn, woman, to the living, eternal God, and do not err in this service to idols; believe in the Lord, the Creator of all things, and you will be happy, you will inherit eternal bliss." And many other similar things he said to her. The demon, the seducer, inspired her to set deceptive nets and push an innocent soul into the pit of passions, just as he did with the first man, who through Eve deprived of paradise of eternal bliss, tearing her away from God and making her a partaker of death.

When he asked what her desire was, she said: "I am fascinated by your appearance, look, and speech, and therefore unite with me in marriage, and then I will gladly fulfill your commands."