All those present wept, and so did the one who refused. And what is there to say a lot?

The woman did not leave until he had promised to come to Gaza after sunset.

When he arrived there, he marked the bed of each one and the flaming limbs, and called Jesus. And — oh, a wondrous miracle! – at the same time, profuse sweat appeared as if from three sources; and at the same hour they partook of food and, calling upon their weeping mother and blessing God, they kissed the hands of the saint. When this was heard and spread far and wide, people began to flock to him from Syria and Egypt for a break, so that many believed in Christ and pronounced monastic vows. At that time there were no monasteries in Palestine, and before Saint Hilarion in Syria no one knew a monk. He was the founder and leader of this way of life and exploits in this field. The Lord Jesus had the elder Anthony in Egypt, and had the youngest Hilarion in Palestine. 15. Faqidia is a suburb of Rhinokorura [18], a city in Egypt. From this suburb they brought to Blessed Hilarion a woman who had already been blind for ten years; And when the brethren — for there were already many monks with him — brought her to him, she said that she had spent all her fortune on doctors. He answered her: "If you had given away to the poor what you had lost at the doctors, then the true physician Jesus would have healed you." When she began to cry out and beg for mercy, he spat on her eyes, and immediately the Savior's example was followed by the same miracle. 16. Likewise, a charioteer [19] in Gaza, struck down in a chariot by a demon, was completely numb, so that he could neither move his hand nor turn his neck. And so, being brought on his bed, and knowing only his tongue for prayer, he heard that he could not be healed until he believed in Jesus and promised that he would give up his former occupation.

He believed, promised, [13] was healed, and rejoiced more for the salvation of the soul than of the body. 17. Further, a very strong young man, named Marsitus, from the province of Jerusalem, boasted so much of his strength that he carried fifteen modi [20] of wheat for a long time and for a long distance, and considered it a reward for his strength if he overcame donkeys. He, being seized by the worst demon, broke chains, fetters, door locks; He bit off many noses and ears, broke the legs of some, and the shins of others. And he filled everyone with such terror against himself that, burdened with chains and (bound) with ropes that were pulled in different directions, he was dragged to the monastery like a raging bull. When the brethren saw him, and were frightened, for he was of marvellous stature, they told their father. The latter, as he was sitting, ordered him to be drawn to him and released. And when they untied him, he said: "Bow your head and come." He shook, bent his neck and, not daring to look straight ahead, putting aside all ferocity, began to lick the legs of the sitting man. The demon that took possession of the young man was cursed and tormented, and on the seventh day he went out. 18. Nor should it be passed over in silence that Orion, one of the first and richest men in Ail[21] adjacent to the Red Sea, seized by a legion of demons, was brought before him.

His arms, neck, sides, [14] legs were laden with iron, and his fierce eyes threatened with fury of rage. While the saint was walking with the brethren and explaining something of the Scriptures, he broke free from the hands of those who held him and, embracing the saint from behind, lifted him up.

Everyone shouted for fear that he would crush the members that were exhausted from fasting. But the saint, smiling, said: "Be silent and let me go of my wrestler." And then, throwing his hand over his shoulder, he touched his head and, seizing him by the hair, drew him to (his) feet; then, squeezing his hands and trampling on his soles with both feet, and repeating together, he said: "Suffer, suffer, crowd of demons." And when he cried out, he said, "Lord Jesus, set the wretched man free, set the captive free. It behooves you to conquer both one and many." I say an unheard-of thing: from the lips of one man were heard various voices and as it were a mixed cry of the people. This one also received healing, and not long after, together with his wife and children, he came to the monastery, bringing very many gifts, as if in the form of gratitude. The saint said to him: "Have you not read what Gehazi endured (II Kings, 5), what Simon endured (Acts 2:10). 8), of which one received silver, another brought, one to sell the grace of the Holy Spirit, the other to buy?" And when Orion said with tears: "Take and distribute to the poor," (the Saint) answered: "You are better able to distribute what is yours, since you go about the cities and [15] know the poor. I, who have forsaken what is mine, why should I covet what is not mine? For many, the name of the poor is a reason for greed; and mercy has no art. No one spends better than he who keeps nothing for himself." When he was grieved and lay on the ground, he said: "Do not grieve, child; What I do for myself, I do for you. For if I accept this, I will offend God, and a legion (of demons) will return to you." 19. Who could pass in silence that a certain resident of Gaza Mayoma, not far from his monastery, while cutting stones from the seashore for a building, was completely paralyzed, and, being brought by his fellow workers to the saint, immediately returned to work in good health. The shore that stretches along Palestine and Egypt is soft by nature, becoming hard, due to the fact that the sands grow stronger into stones, and the gravel, consolidating little by little, loses its touch without losing its appearance. 20. A certain Italic [22], a citizen of the same municipality[23], a Christian, fed horses for a circus against a certain duumvir of Gaza [24], devoted to the idol of the Marne. In the Roman cities, even from the time of Romulus, it was the custom that, for the sake of the successful abduction of the Sabine women, in honor of Consus,25 as if [16] the deity of the council, they should run seven times around the chariot; whoever tears the horses of the opposite side wins. And so, this (Italik), in view of the fact that his rival had a certain sorcerer, who by some demonic incantations both slowed down the horses (of the enemy) and stirred up the horses of the owner to run, came to Blessed Hilarion and besought that his opponent not so much suffer as he himself would be protected. It seemed absurd to the venerable elder to waste prayers on such trifles. He smiled and said: "Why don't you rather distribute the price of your horses to the poor for the salvation of your soul?" He replied that it was a social duty,[26] that he did not so much desire it as he was forced to do it, and that a Christian could not use magic charms; but he prefers to ask for help from the servant of God, especially against the inhabitants of Gaza, who oppose God and insult not so much him as the Church of Christ. And so, at the request of the brethren present, he gave orders to fill with water the earthen vessel from which he usually drank, and to give it to him.

Italicus, having received it, sprinkled the stalls, his horses and drivers, the chariot and the locks of the punishment cells [27]. The expectation of the crowd was surprising, because the enemy, laughing at this, [17] recounted, and those who stood for Italic rejoiced, promising themselves a certain victory.

And so, at a given sign, some arrive, others get confused; under the chariot of some the wheels heat up, others can barely see the backs of those flying by. A great cry arose, so that even the pagans themselves exclaimed: "Marne has been conquered by Christ."

Then, the opponents in a rage demanded the execution of Hilarion, the Christian, the sorcerer. And so, the undoubted victory in these and many previous games was for many a reason to believe (in Christ). 21. A nearby young man fell in love with a girl from the same city of Gaza, dedicated to God.

And when he had not succeeded in touching, joking, nodding, whistling, and the like (actions) that serve as the beginning of dying virginity, he went to Memphis, in order to confess his wound and return to the maiden, armed with magical charms. And so, having been taught for a year by the priests of Aesculapius, who does not heal souls, but destroys them, he returned, passionately desiring the adultery conceived in his soul, and buried under the threshold of the maiden's house some wonderful words and wonderful images carved on a tablet of Cypriot copper.

Immediately the maiden fell into madness, and, throwing off her head covering, began to twist her hair, [18] gnashing her teeth, calling on the name of the young man, since strong love turned into fury. And so, her parents brought her to the monastery and handed her over to the elder, whereupon the demon immediately screamed and confessed: "I endured violence, I was taken away against my will; how well in Memphis I deceived people with dreams! O crosses! Oh, the torments I experience! You compel me to go out, and I, bound, remain at the threshold. I will not go out unless the young man who holds me lets go." Then the elder said: "Great is your strength if you are held tied with thread and a board. Tell me, how did you dare to enter into a virgin consecrated to God?" – "In order to preserve her virginity," he answered. "Shall you preserve, traitor to chastity?

Why did you not quickly enter into the one who sent you?" — "Why should I enter into him, when my companion, the demon of love, was already in him?" that demons are deceitful and cunning in inventions. Having restored his health, he reprimanded the maiden why she had done such things, through which the demon had access to it. 22. Word of him spread not only in Palestine and in the neighboring cities of Egypt and Syria, but also in the outlying provinces. Thus [19] the candidate [29] of the emperor Constantius [30], red-haired and white in body, who indicated his region (his tribe, not so numerous as strong, between the Saxons and the Alemanni, is called by historians Germany, and now France) had long been possessed, that is, from childhood possessed by a demon, which made him howl, moan, gnash his teeth at night. He secretly asked the emperor for a travel allowance, simply stating the reason (of the request), and having also received a letter to the consul of Palestine, he was escorted to Gaza with great honor and retinue.

When he asked the local decurions [33] where the monk Hilarion dwelt, the inhabitants of Gaza were greatly frightened and, believing that he had been sent by the emperor, brought him to the monastery in order both to show honor to the person recommended and to atone with a new service those insults of Hilarion that might remain from previous offenses. At that time the elder walked on the soft sand and whispered to himself something from the Psalms; Seeing that a small crowd was approaching, he stopped and greeted them from his side, and blessing them with his hand, after a while he ordered the others to leave, and the latter to remain with his servants and servants: he knew from his face and eyes what he had come for. And immediately [20] the man, heeding the question of the servant of God, began to barely touch the ground with his feet, and with a strong roar answered in the Syriac language in which he was questioned.

From the barbarous lips of a man who knew only Frankish and Latin, it was possible to see how purely Syriac words sounded, so that there was no lack of hissing, breathing, or other peculiarities of the Palestinian dialect. And so, he (i.e., the devil) confessed how he had entered into him. And in order that the translators, who knew only Latin and Greek, might understand him, (the saint) asked him in Greek. And when he answered in the same words, and presented many cases of slander and the inevitability of the magical arts, (the saint) said: "I do not care how you enter, but I command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you go out." And when he was healed, then, in the simplicity of the village, offering ten pounds of gold, he received barley bread from him, and heard that those who eat such food consider gold to be dirt. 23. It is not enough to talk about people; mad dumb animals were also drawn to him every day, among which was a Bactrian camel of enormous size, which had already crushed many; thirty too many men, having tied him up with the strongest ropes, brought him in with a cry: his eyes were bloodshot, foam was foaming from his mouth, his fast-moving tongue was swollen, and, to complete all the horror, a terrible roar was heard. The elder ordered [21] to let him go. Immediately, both those who brought and those who were with the elder fled. Then he went to meet him alone and said in Syriac: "You, O devil, do not frighten me with such a huge body: both in the fox and in the camel you are one and the same." And meanwhile he stood with his hand outstretched. And when the beast, mad and as if intending to devour him, came to him, he immediately fell down and, lowering his head, leveled it to the ground, so that all those present were amazed at a little meekness after a little rage. The Elder taught that for the sake of people, the devil sometimes takes possession of beasts of burden; he burns with hatred for people to such an extent that he desires the destruction not only of themselves, but also of what belongs to them. As an example of this, he cited that before (the devil) was allowed to tempt the blessed Job, he destroyed all his possessions. And no one should be surprised that, at the command of the Lord, two thousand pigs were destroyed by demons (Matt. VIII, Mrk. V), since those who saw it could not otherwise believe that a great multitude of demons came out of a man, if at the same time a large number of pigs were not overthrown, and as it were persecuted by many. 24. I will not have time if I want to relate all the miracles he performed, for he was exalted by the Lord to such a degree of glory that even Blessed Anthony, hearing about his life, wrote to him [22] and received messages from him with pleasure. And if when the sick from the countries of Syria came to him, he would say to them: "Why did you wish to trouble so much from afar, when you have my son Hilarion there?" Seeing this, he praised the grace of the Lord and exhorted everyone to spiritual success, saying that the darkness of this world was passing by, and that the true life was that which was acquired by deprivation in the present life. 25. Wishing to give them an example of humility and duty, on certain days, before the harvest of grapes, he went around the cells of the monks. When this became known to the brethren, they all began to flock to him and, accompanied by such a leader, went around the monasteries, having food with them, because sometimes up to two thousand people gathered.