15. And when God was pleased to show them, he arranged for some of the shepherds of Lazarus to lead their flocks to this stream; Those who dwelt in the cave, appearing on top, looked at them, so that they, frightened, fled. The fathers, seeing their fright, in a meek and gentle voice, turning to them, said: "Do not be afraid, brethren, we, like you, people, but for the sake of our sins we live in this place." Then the shepherds, being of good cheer, went up to them in the cave, and finding nothing of this world among them, they went to their own place, marveling and telling their people; and from that time the inhabitants of Lazarium served them, and the fathers of Pharan sought them, and when they knew where they were, they often came and visited them.

16. Among the first to separate to them were two brothers, named Marinus and Luke, and, having received a monastic education from the great Euthymius, they showed themselves to be ascetics of the hermit's life; after a few years they shone in places near the village of Metope and established monasteries; they brought to monastic perfection Abba Theodosius, who was the great cynoviarch of this hermitage and the archimandrite of the coenobii. When in a short time the fame of Euthymius spread, many flocked to him, and, hearing the words of God, desired to dwell with him. But the Slavon-hater and God-loving Euthymius. desiring to receive the first blessedness together with the others, and living in a place in the likeness of a wanderer, he handed over each of the renouncers to the blessed Theoctistus, fervently beseeching him to take care of him, who, not knowing disobedience, took care upon himself and did everything according to the thought of the great Euthymius. At first they did not want to make the place a dormitory, but a lavra, like that of Pharan, but when they saw that no one could come to church at night, since this place was, as mentioned above, difficult to pass, they made a coenobia at the entrance, and turned the cave into a church. Dwelling in this cave, the great Euthymius was a physician, caring for souls and comforting everyone, and none of the brothers avoided confessing his thoughts to him, and he, possessing great experience, taught each of them to resist extraneous thoughts, saying: "Brethren, what have you come out to asceticize? do not neglect your salvation, for you must be sober and watchful every hour (I Peter 5:8); watch, says the Lord, and pray, lest ye enter into misfortune (Matt. XXVI, 41): first of all, know that those who renounce life should not have their own will, but in the first place should have humility and obedience, wait and worry about the hour of judgment and death, tremble at the threat of eternal fire, desire the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven." And he also said that: "Monks, and especially young ones, should also work bodily for internal preservation, remembering the words of the Apostle: 'Night and day work, let us not burden a single one' (I Thess. 2, 9); To my demand, and to those who are with me, serve these hands of mine (Acts 1:11). XX, 34). For it is unseemly that the laity, in poverty and labor, should feed their children and wives from their needlework, bring the firstfruits to God, do good to the best of their ability, and, moreover, pay taxes, and we would not have from our needlework for the necessary bodily needs, but would remain without work and movement, reaping the labor of others, since the Apostle does not command him to eat, who will not do it (II Thessalonians 3:10)." Thus teaching his retinue, our father Euthymius enlightened them.

Enlightened and inspired by such and similar teachings, the brethren bore fruit worthy of their calling.

17. All the ancient fathers have told me about old Terevon in agreement, but the most accurate story was told by his grandson, the well-known chief of the Saracen tribe in this area. This old Terevon, the grandfather of the young man, being still very young, was struck by a demon, as a result of which his entire right side, from head to foot, withered; his father, named Aspevetus, having spent a lot of money, did not benefit him in any way. This Aspevetus, who was a Greek and tributary of the Persians, became an ally of the Romans in the following way.

18. At the beginning of the persecution that then arose in Persis, towards the end of the reign of the king of Persia Isdigerd, the Magi, wishing to catch all the Christians, placed everywhere along the roads the chiefs of the tribes of the Saracens subject to them, so that not a single Christian in Persis could flee to the Romans. Aspevetus, who was then the head of the tribe, and seeing the cruelty and inhumanity shown by the city magicians against the Christians, took pity on them and did not prevent any of the Christians from fleeing; on the contrary, being a pagan Greek from his ancestors, he, moved by compassion, contributed to the flight. He was slandered before King Isdigerd and, taking with him his half-dry son Terevon, all his relatives and property, fled to the Romans. Anatolius, who was then strategist of the East, accepted them, made them allies with the Romans, and entrusted to Aspevetus the command of the tribe over the Saracens of Arabia, allied with the Romans. When they encamped in Arabia, the youth, seeing a dream vision, told his father, who, without a moment's delay, took the lad and, with a crowd of barbarians and a multitude of armed men, moved by faith, came to the place told in a dream, where lived the monks Euthymius and Theoctistus. The brethren, seeing a multitude of barbarians, were frightened; Blessed Theoctistus, seeing the timidity of his disciples, went down to the barbarians and said to them: "What are you seeking?" and they answered: "We are looking for the servant of God Euthymius." Abba Theoctistus said to them: "Until the Sabbath he does not see anyone, because he is silent."

Reasoning thus, he said, I turned to prayer and with tears I prayed to God, saying: "O great and terrible God, Who created heaven and earth with all their beauty, if Thou wilt have mercy on me in my weakness and deliver me from this bitter and incurable disease, then I shall become a Christian, renouncing all iniquity and Hellenic service." And when I had put this in my mind, and was seized with sleep, I saw a certain monk with gray hair, and with a large beard; he said to me: "What are you suffering from?" and when I showed him the illness, he said to me: "Do what you promised God, and He will heal you." When I then replied that I would fulfill what I had promised God if I were delivered from this sickness, he said to me: "I am Euthymius, who dwells in the eastern wilderness of Jerusalem, ten miles away, in the brook south of the road to Jericho; and so, if you want to be healed, come to me without delay, and God will heal you through me." I got up, told this to my father, and so, putting everything aside, we came to him, and I ask you not to conceal the physician that God has revealed to me." Blessed Theoctistus, hearing this, told the great Euthymius, who was sitting in silence, and Euthymius, thinking that it was inappropriate to resist the divine visions, went down to them and prayed diligently, and having made the sign of the cross over Terebon, he restored his health. The barbarians, struck by such a sudden change and the most glorious miracle-working, believed in Christ, and all, falling to the ground, asked to receive the seal of Christ. The wonder-bearing Euthymius, realizing that they had believed in Christ from their hearts, gave orders to prepare a small font in the corner of the cave, which has been preserved to this day, and, having catechumenized them all, he baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He renamed Aspevet Peter, and baptized him first, and after him a certain Maris, the brother of Aspevet's wife; Both of them were distinguished by intelligence and possessed outstanding wealth. Then he baptized Terevon and the rest, and having kept them with him for forty days, having enlightened and strengthened them by the word of God, he sent them away, no longer as Hagarites and Ishmaelites, but as descendants of Sarah and heirs of the promise, who through baptism had been transferred from slavery to freedom.

19. But Maris, Terevon's uncle, did not depart from the monastery, but having renounced, he remained in it all the time of his life, and pleased God a lot; he gave all his estate, which was significant, to the construction and expansion of the monastery. After this miracle had taken place and the fame of it had spread everywhere, many, possessed by various ailments, flocked to the great Euthymius and all were healed. And in a short time he shone so brightly in this place that his name was heard throughout all Palestine and in the surrounding regions. Our father Euthymius, seeing that many were disturbing him for the sake of healing, and remembering the former silence when he twisted himself alone, grieved greatly and strained, because many troubled and glorified him. And being overwhelmed with great sorrow, the namesake of consolation, he began to seek to flee to Ruva. Blessed Theoctistus, learning of this, gathered the brethren and inspired them to fall at his feet, so that they would not be abandoned by him; And he, wishing to do them what was pleasing to them, agreed not to depart for the time being.

20. After a few days, taking with him a young man named Dometiana, a native of Melitene, a virtuous life, he left the coenobia and descended to Ruva; Passing through the southern desert near the Dead Sea, he came to a high mountain, separated from the other mountains, called Marda, and finding on it a well of water and the ruins of dwellings, he remained there, feeding on the herbs and malo (hoes) found there. And having built there a church in the first place, which exists to this day, and having erected an altar in it, he went out from there and came into the wilderness of Ziph, at least to see the caves into which David fled from the presence of Saul: and in these places he founded a monastery.

21. The reason for the creation of the monastery was, as they say, the following: the son of an elder of the village of Aristobulias, was possessed by an evil spirit and with a cry called on the name of Saint Euthymius. The child's father, hearing about Euthymius, who lived between these places, and Kaparvaric, and finding him, came to him; As soon as the youth saw the saint, as if he had fallen, he recovered, because the demon went out of him. When the news of the miracle spread, many from Aristobulias and the surrounding villages came to him and built him a monastery. And having gathered together certain pious brethren, they remained with him, and God governed their bodily needs. And some of the inhabitants of Ziph, who had formerly held to the heresy of the namesake of mania (Manichaeism), by the teaching of this divinely inspired one, rejected the impure heresy and cursed its progenitor Manentes (Mani), and having been taught the catholic faith, they were enlightened. Among the other grateful gifts which this divine Euthymius acquired, he received from God that when he met with carnivorous and poisonous animals, he remained unharmed. And let everyone who is initiated into the Divine Scriptures believe this, knowing for sure that if God dwells and rests in any man, he subjects everything to him, as to Adam, before he transgressed the commandment of God, and subordinates to him not only the beasts, but also the elements themselves. And they bear witness to the word who divided the sea, and bridled the Jordan, and stopped the sun, and turned fire into dew, and wrought a multitude of other Divine miracles. God, Who worked miracles of such signs through His saints, subjected to the God-bearing Euthymius not only sensual beasts, but also intelligent, that is, evil spirits: such are God's gifts.

22. The great Euthymius, seeing again that he was troubled by many – the place was near the villages – said to his disciple Dometian: "Come, child, let us visit the Monk Theoktistus with the brethren," and leaving the monastery of Kaparvaric, he came to the holy place, where now stands his holy monastery with God, which is about three miles away from the treblessed Theoktistus. He was very fond of this place, because it was level, and at the same time solitary and beautiful, and then it was especially desolate and impassable, before so many monasteries were established in the southern desert; and now there is a passage, for the whole wilderness is inhabited by its seeding. In this place he sat down in much silence with his disciple, in a small cave, in which is now the position of his venerable body.

23. Blessed Theoctistus, having learned of the coming of the great Euthymius, ascended with great diligence to kiss him and begged him to descend to his place, but he, desiring silence, did not consent, except to serve them together on Sundays. And Aspevet, who was also Peter, hearing that the great Euthymius had arrived at that time, came to him with a multitude of Saracens, husbands, wives and children, and asked him to tell them the word of salvation; The holy elder, having catechetized them all, took them to the lower monastery and, having baptized, stayed with them for seven days, and then departed, accompanied by them, to his own place.

24. Peter, having brought the workers, made a large two-mouthed reservoir, which still exists in the garden, built a bakery near and made three cells for the holy elder, and among the cells a chapel or church, and who had formerly been Arabian wolves, and then became members of the verbal flock of Christ, asked to remain near him. But the wilderness-lover Euthymius did not accept this for the sake of anxiety, because he loved silence completely, and taking them to a convenient place, he said: "If you want to be very close to me, stay here." This place lies between two monasteries. And having marked the church with them and cells all around, he gave orders to build a church and remain there. He often visited them until he appointed them a presbyter and deacons. And those who had been baptized earlier came and settled there: and others, coming to him on the ascent, were baptized. When they had thus greatly multiplied and spread throughout the tents, our great father Euthymius sent to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Juvenal asking for the consecration of a bishop.

25. And when he agreed, he sent to him Peter, the father of Terevon, who was very capable of guiding souls to the path of salvation. Thus, for the first time in Palestine the bishop of tents Peter was ordained, and one could see how a multitude of barbarian Saracens came to the great Euthymius, were baptized by him and learned to worship the God of all things. And this is about the Sarakins.

26. The great Euthymius himself did not want to make his place either a coenobia or a lavra. But when some came to him, wishing to be tonsured, they were sent by him to the lower monastery to Blessed Theoktistus; so also those who wanted to bring something. When God pleased to inhabit this place, he first of all sent three brothers in the flesh, originally from the country of the Cappadocias, brought up in Syria and adorned with every spiritual mind, Cosmas, Chrysippus, and Gabriel; they begged him to stay, but he did not accept them: three things hindered him: the love of silence, their young age, and the fact that Gabriel was a eunuch from birth. And that night he saw someone saying to him: "Receive these brethren, for God has sent them, and no longer turn away anyone who wants to be saved." And then the saint, having received them, said to the eldest of them Cosmas: "Behold, I have done as God commanded me: but take heed that you do not allow the younger brother to leave the cell, because it is not fitting for a woman's face to live in the Lavra, for the sake of the enemy's battle. You, I think, will not stay here long, but after a while you will shepherd the church in Scythopolis." After them he received a certain Domnus, a native of Antioch, the nephew of John, archbishop of Antioch; in the same days he received three other brothers, the Melitenes, nephews of that Synodius who, together with Acacius, had brought up the great Euthymius, Stephen, Andrew, and Gaianus, and also received three others from Raitha, John the presbyter, Thalassius, and Anatolius; he also received a certain Kyrion, a native of Tiberias, a presbyter of the honorable house of the holy Martyr Basil at Scythopolis. Having received these eleven, he commissioned Bishop Peter to build them small cells and to adorn the church with all kinds of beauty. And so he arranged this place, as a lavra, on the model of the Pharan. And Archbishop Yuvenaly descended to the Lavra, having with him among the saints Passarion, who was then a chorbishop and archimandrite of the monks, and the consecrated Hesychius, a presbyter and teacher of the Church.