The elder, knowing this, fled secretly at night, in a rickety shuttle, and two days later, having found a merchant ship, he set off for Cyprus. And when, between Malea [67] and Cythera,68 the pirates met him in two not small vessels,69 leaving their ships, which were steered not by yards, but by poles, near the shore, and when there was a disturbance on both sides, all the oarsmen who were on board were frightened, and wept, and ran in different directions, and prepared their poles, and, as if the news alone were not enough, for a break they told the elder that pirates had arrived. He, looking at them from afar, smiled, and, turning to his disciples, said: "Why have those of little faith doubted? (Matt. XIV, 31). Are there more of these than Pharaoh's warriors? However, all, but by the will of God, drowned." He spoke to them, and yet the enemy ships approached, raising foam with their bows, and (defended) only half a stone. He stood on the bow of the ship and, stretching out his hand to those approaching, said: "It is enough to reach this place." Wonderful performance! the ships immediately jumped back, and despite the fact that (on them) they rowed in the opposite direction, the movement passed to the stern. The pirates were surprised, not wanting to go back, and trying with all their might to get to the ship, they were carried away to the shore sooner than they arrived. 42. I omit the rest so that it does not seem as if I am stretching the book with a story of miracles. I will only say that while sailing safely between the Cyclades, he heard the voices of unclean spirits crying out from everywhere from cities and villages and running to the shores. And so, having entered Paphos,70 a city of Cyprus, famous for the verses of poets, often destroyed by earthquakes, and now indicating the past only by traces of ruins, he settled on the second miliary of the city,71 unknown to anyone, and rejoicing that he could live quietly for a few days. However, not a full twenty days had passed, when all over the island those seized with unclean spirits began to shout that the servant of Christ Hilarion had arrived, and that they must hasten to him. Salamis [72], Curius [73], Lapetha [74] and the rest of the cities were announced by this, and many asserted that they knew Hilarion, and that he was truly a servant of God, but they did not know where he was. And so, after thirty or a little more days, about two hundred men and women gathered to him. When he saw them, grieving that he was not allowed to rest, and as if angry (and desirous) to punish them, he scourged them with a bit of the persistence of his prayers, that some were healed immediately, others in two or three days, and all in one week. 43. And so, remaining there for two years, and constantly dreaming of fleeing, he sent Hesychius to Palestine, so that he might greet the brethren and see the ashes of his monastery, and return to the time of spring. When he returned, he (the elder) wished to sail again to Egypt, to a place called Vukolia [75], because there was not a single Christian there, but only a barbarian and savage people; (but Hesychius) persuaded him to ascend higher, on the same island, to a more secluded place.

When he, having walked everywhere for a long time, found one, he brought (the elder) twelve miles [76] further from the sea, among lonely and steep mountains, where it was hardly possible to climb, crawling on his hands and knees. Going up there, he beheld a very terrible and remote place, surrounded on both sides by trees, with running water on the top of a hill, with a very pleasant garden and many vegetable gardens, the fruits of which he had never eaten; Near it were the ruins of a very ancient temple, from which, as he himself said and as his disciples testify, day and night the voices of such innumerable demons were heard that one might have thought that it was an army. He was especially happy about this, because he had adversaries nearby, and lived there for five years; Hesychius often visited him, and in this last time of his life he rested, because, because of the severity and difficulty of the place and the multitude of shadows — as the people thought — either no one or rarely anyone could or dared to climb up to him. One day, leaving the garden, he saw a man lying before the door, paralyzed all over, and asked Hesychius who he was, and how he had been brought. He answered, saying that this was the manager of the village, to whose jurisdiction belonged the garden in which they were. Then he, shedding tears and stretching out his hand to the lying man, said: "I tell you about the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, arise and walk." Amazing rapidity: the words still came from the mouth of the speaker, and the limbs already strengthened to stand supported the person.

When they heard of this, necessity overcame the difficulty of the place and the impassability of the path. All the surrounding villages paid no attention to anything else than that he should not go away in any way, because the rumor spread about him that he could not stay long in the same place. This he did not impelled by any frivolity or childish feeling, but avoiding honor and anxiety, for he always sought silence and a life in obscurity. 44. And so, in his eightieth year, in the absence of Hesychius, he wrote with his own hand, as if [42] instead of a will, a short letter, in which he left him all his riches, that is, the gospel, the woollen tunic, the kukul, and the tunic, since the servant had died in a few days. Many believers came to the sick man from Paphos, especially when they heard that he had said that he should already dwell with the Lord and be freed from the fetters of the body; (came) and a certain Constantia, a holy woman, whose son-in-law and daughter he delivered from death by anointing with oil. He adjured them all not to be left (unburied) even for an hour after death, but to be immediately covered with earth in the same garden, dressed as he was, in a hairy tunic, a kukul, and a country cloak. 45. Already there was only a slight warmth in his chest, and there was nothing peculiar to a living man except feeling, and yet he opened his eyes and said: "Come out, what are you afraid of? Come forth, my spirit, why do you hesitate? For almost seventy years you have worked for Christ and are afraid of death?" At these words he breathed his last. And in the city it became known earlier that he was covered with earth and buried than he died. 46. The holy man Hesychius, hearing this, went to Cyprus, and imagining that he wished to live in the same garden, in order to destroy the suspicion of the inhabitants and (to cease) the careful guard, after almost [43] ten months he stole his body at great risk to his life. Carrying him to Mayoma, accompanied by a great crowd of monks and townspeople, he buried him in an ancient monastery: his tunic, cucul, and cloak were intact, and his whole body was intact, as if it were still alive, and gave off such a fragrance that one might have thought that it was anointed with incense. 47. In my opinion, it is not necessary to be silent at the end of the book about the piety of this Constantia, a most virtuous woman. When the news reached her that Hilarion's body was in Palestine, she immediately died, confirming even by death her true love for the servant of God. She used to spend sleepless nights in his tomb and converse as if with a living person to help her prayers. And to this day one can observe a great competition between Palestinians and Cypriots, of whom the former boast of possessing the body of Hilarion, the latter of his spirit. And yet in both regions many miracles are performed daily, but more so in the garden in Cyprus, perhaps because he loved this place more.

Letters

Letter to Pavlinus. On the Study of the Holy Scriptures

Brother Ambrose, having delivered me your gifts, brought at the same time a most pleasant letter, which contained a confirmation of your time-tested faithfulness and confirmation of old friendship. This is true affection, cemented by the union of Christ, based not on economic benefit, not only on bodily co-presence, not on cunning and insinuating caresses, but on the fear of God and on zeal for the study of the Divine Scriptures. In ancient stories, we read that some went around the regions, traveled to unknown peoples, swam across rivers in order to personally see those whom they learned about from books. Thus, Pythagoras visited the priests of Memphis; Plato traveled with the greatest difficulty to Egypt, and to the Tarentine Archytas, and to that part of Italy which was once called Magna Graecia. The great Athenian teacher, whose teaching was announced in the Athenian gymnasiums, becomes a pilgrim and a student, wishing to listen modestly to the teachings of others rather than to preach his own with impudent self-confidence. Finally, chasing after knowledge, as it were, scattered all over the globe, Plato was captured by pirates and sold as a subject to the cruelest tyrant [Dionysius Siculus], was a prisoner, was a prisoner and a slave; But as a philosopher he did not know a rival. We read that Titus Livy, who emitted a milky spring of eloquence, was visited by certain nobles from the regions of Spain (from Hades; now Cadiz) and from the borders of Gaul; people who were not curious to see Rome were attracted by the fame of one man. There was then a miracle unheard of in all ages and glorious: people who came to such a city were looking for something else but the city. Apollonius (whether he was a magician, as popular rumor says, or a philosopher, as the Pythagoreans say), was with the Persians, passed through the Caucasus and the possessions of the Albanians, Scythians, and Massagetae, made his way through the richest kingdom of India, and finally, crossing the widest river Fison [Indus], reached the possessions of the Brahmins, in order to listen to Hyarcus, sitting on a golden throne, drinking from the Tantalic spring, and among the few disciples expounding the doctrine of the forces of nature and the motion of the planets. And from there, through the countries of the Elamites, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Assyrians, Persians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Arabs, and Palestinians, returning to Alexandria, Apollonius went on to Ethiopia, in order to see the gymnosophists and the notorious throne of the sun on the sand. The traveler we have mentioned everywhere found objects to study, and, constantly traveling, constantly perfected himself. Philostratus wrote as many as eight books about him.

But why speak of the people of this age? The Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel and teacher of the Gentiles, who was aware of the presence of a great visitor in himself and spoke of it thus: "You seek proof of what Christ says in me" (2 Corinthians 13:3) — this same Paul, having traveled around Damascus and Arabia, came to Jerusalem to see the Apostle Peter, and stayed with him for fifteen days. In the course of this mysterious week and the Osmeritsa of days, the future teacher of the pagans was to receive a preaching education. Fourteen years later, the Apostle Paul, taking Barnabas and Titus with him, again gave an account to the apostles of his gospel, that it should not flow or flow in vain. A living voice has some hidden energy in it and sounds stronger, transmitted from the mouth of the mentor directly to the ears of the student. When Demosthenes' speech against Aeschines was read in Rhodes, and everyone was amazed and praised, Aeschines himself, who was then already an exile from Rhodes, said with a sigh: "And what would happen if you listened to the beast himself, uttering his own words?"

All the above I have said, not because I myself can and am able to teach you anything, but because your diligence and diligence in learning, apart from any attitude towards me, is in itself worthy of approval. The ability to learn deserves praise regardless of the merit of the teacher. We pay attention not to what you have acquired, but to what you are looking for. Soft wax is suitable for stucco work, and even if it has not been touched by the hands of the artist and sculptor, it still contains in itself all that can be made of it. The Apostle Paul, according to his own testimony, learned the law of Moses and the prophets at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), so that, armed with these spiritual arrows, he could confidently say the following: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty of God to destroy strongholds: with them we overthrow schemes and every arrogance that rises up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ, and they are ready to punish every disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled" (2 Corinthians 10:4-6). In his Epistle to Timothy, who had studied the Holy Scriptures from an early age, the Apostle exhorted him to read them diligently, so that he would not neglect the grace that had been given to him through holy ordination. In the Epistle to Titus, having briefly depicted the episcopal virtues, the Apostle mentions among other things the knowledge of the Scriptures, saying that the bishop must be "holding fast to the faithful word, in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be strong both to instruct in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who resist" (Titus 1:9). Holy ignorance is useful only for itself, and to the extent that it creates the Church by a virtuous life, it harms the Church in the same way if it does not resist those who destroy it. Haggai was a prophet, and through him the Lord says: "Ask the priests about the law" (Haggai 2:11).

Thus, among the duties of the priest is the duty to answer those who ask about the law. And in Deuteronomy we read: "Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will tell you" (32:7). Likewise in Psalm 118: "Thy statutes were my songs in the place of my wanderings" (54). Also, in the description of the righteous man, whom David compares to the paradise tree of life, the following is mentioned among other virtues: "In the law of the Lord is his will, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). Daniel, at the conclusion of the most sacred vision, says that the righteous shine like stars, and those who understand, that is, the scientists, like the heavens. Do you see the difference between righteous ignorance and learned righteousness? Some are compared to the stars, while others are compared to the sky. However, according to the Hebrew original, both sayings can be attributed to scholars; for in the Hebrew text we read thus: "And the prudent shall shine like the lights in the firmament, and those who have turned many to righteousness shall be like the stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). Why is the Apostle Paul called the vessel of election? Without a doubt, because it serves as the repository of the law and the Holy Scriptures. The Pharisees are amazed at the Lord's learning and wonder how the Apostles Peter and Paul know the law without studying. For what others had to acquire by labor and daily instruction in the law, the same was revealed to the apostles by the Holy Spirit, and they were, according to the words of the Holy Scriptures, θεοδίδακτοι [taught by God]. The Saviour was twelve years old when, in the temple, He asked the elders about the law, admonished them with His wise questions.

But can we call Peter or John uneducated, each of whom could say of himself: "Though I am ignorant of word, yet not of knowledge" (2 Corinthians 11:6)? John is uneducated, a fisherman, unlearned. But tell me, please, where does this saying come from: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)? The Greek word λόγος has many meanings: it means a word, and reason, and calculation, and the cause of some thing through which something happens. All this we truly see in Christ. The learned Plato did not know this, the eloquent Demosthenes did not understand this. "I will destroy," says the Scriptures, "the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject" (1 Corinthians 1:19). True wisdom will destroy false wisdom. And although in the teaching about the cross there is a riot of preaching, the Apostle Paul says: "We preach the wisdom of the eye among the perfect, but the wisdom not of this world, nor of the powers of this world that pass away, but we preach the wisdom of God, which is secret, hidden, which God ordained before all ages for our glory" (1 Corinthians 2:6-7). And the wisdom of God is Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). This wisdom was hidden in mystery, which is why the inscription of the ninth Psalm says: "On the mysteries of the Son," in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and understanding are hidden, and Who Himself was hidden in the Mystery, foreordained before the world. He was foreshadowed and foreshadowed by the Law and the Prophets. Wherefore the prophets are also called seers, for they have seen Him whom others have not seen. "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day: and he saw, and rejoiced" (John 7:56). The heavens are opened for Ezekiel, which were closed for a sinful people. "Open my eyes," says David, "and I will see the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18). For the law is spiritual, and revelation is needed so that we may understand it and behold the glory of God with an open face.

In the Apocalypse, a book is shown sealed with seven seals (5:1); and if you give it to any of the people who know the writings to read, he will answer: "I cannot, because this book is sealed." How many people at the present time imagine themselves to know the writings, and yet hold a sealed book and cannot read it, unless he who opens it "has the key of David, which openeth and no one shuts, shuts and no one opens" (Rev. 3:7). In the Acts of the Apostles, the holy eunuch or man (for he is called by both names in the Scriptures), when reading Isaiah, to Philip's question: "Do you understand what you read?" answered: "How can I understand, if someone does not instruct me?" (Acts 8:30-31). I, I will say of myself, am not holier or more diligent than this eunuch, because he left the king's court, from Ethiopia, that is, from the ends of the world, came to the temple, and so loved the law and divine knowledge, that even in the carriage he read the Holy Scriptures, and yet, holding the book, meditating on the words of the Lord, speaking them with his tongue and lips, yet he did not understand Him Whom, unconsciously himself, he revered in the book. Philip came and showed him Jesus, who was hiding in a book. Oh, the amazing power of the teacher! At the same hour the eunuch believes, is baptized, becomes holy and faithful, is transformed from a disciple into a teacher, and finds more for himself in the solitary spring of the church than in the gilded temple of the synagogue.

I have written briefly about this (for the narrow limits of the letter do not permit any further extension), so that you may understand that in the discourse on the Holy Scriptures it is impossible to proceed without a predecessor and a guide. I am silent about grammarians, rhetoricians, philosophers, geometers, dialecticians, musicians, astronomers, astrologers and physicians, whose knowledge is useful to mortals and is divided into three parts: dogma, method and practice. I turn to the lesser arts, which are produced not so much by the ear as by the hand. Farmers, masons, craftsmen, sawyers, woodcutters, wool breakers, felters, cloth felters and other manufacturers of household utensils and various cheap things cannot do without a teacher. "Treatment is the business of doctors; and the arts of creation are created only by the artist" (Horace, Epistles II 1, 115-116, translated by N.S. Gunzburg). Only the knowledge of the Scriptures is appropriated by everyone everywhere. "But we, learned or unlearned, do not care, we all write poems" (Ibid., 117). The chattering old woman, the extravagant old man, and the verbose sophist, in a word, all ascribe to themselves the knowledge of the Scriptures, torment them, and teach others before they learn themselves. Some, assuming an important appearance and thundering with choice words, are inquisitive among women about the Holy Scriptures. Others, oh shame! learn from women what they pass on to men; Moreover, thanks to the ease of language and their courage, they teach others what they themselves do not understand. I am silent about those like me, who, after studying secular literature, turning to the Holy Scriptures and captivating the ears of the people with artificial speech, consider everything they say to be the law of God and are not vouchsafed to know the thoughts of the prophets and apostles, but look for inappropriate texts to their own thoughts, as if it were a good deed, and not the most vicious kind of doctrine – to distort the thoughts of the Scriptures and subject them to their own arbitrariness, despite obvious contradictions. As if we had not read the verses of Virgil and Homer, and we could not [following arbitrary interpretations] call even Maron, who did not believe in Christ, a Christian, who wrote: "The Virgin is coming to us again, the kingdom of Saturn is coming. Again a new tribe is sent from the high heavens" (Virgil, Bucolics IV, 6-7; translated by S. Sherwinsky), or to explain in the sense of the Father's words to the Son the following verse: "O thou, my birth, my strength, my only great might!", or to compare the words of the Saviour on the cross with the following verse: "So much did he endure in his memory and remained steadfast."

It is characteristic of children and charlatans to try to teach what they do not know, and even, submitting to their personal whims and tastes, not to know about their own ignorance.

The book of Genesis is written most clearly, which speaks of the nature of the world, the origin of the human race, the division of the earth, the confusion of languages and the migration of the Jewish tribe to Egypt. Next is the book of Exodus with ten plagues, with the Decalogue, with mysterious and divine commandments. Then comes Leviticus, in which every sacrifice, almost every syllable, both Aaron's garments and the entire order of the Levites, breathe heavenly mysteries. And does not the Book of Numbers contain the secret of all arithmetic and the prophecy of Balaam, and the forty-two camps in the wilderness? And does not Deuteronomy, the second law and the foreshadowing of the Gospel law, contain in itself that which has already been written before, but in such a way that from one old everything becomes new? Here are the Pentateuch, the five words that the Apostle wanted to "speak in the church" (1 Corinthians 14:19). Job is a model of patience – what mysteries does he not encompass in his speech? He begins with prose, continues with verse, ends with simple speech; fulfills all the laws of dialectics in the introduction, sentence, confirmation and conclusion. Every word in his speech is meaningful. I will mention one, the resurrection of the body. Job prophesies as clearly and at the same time restrained as no other. "I know," says Job, "my Redeemer lives, and he will raise up from the dust at the last day this decaying skin of mine. And I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself; my eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him. My heart faints in my bosom!" (Job 19:25-27). I come to Joshua, who was a type of the Lord, not only in works, but also in name; he crossed the Jordan, overthrew the kingdoms of his enemies, divided the land to a victorious people, and under the name of various cities, villages, mountains, rivers, springs, and borders, he describes the spiritual kingdoms of the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem. In the book of Judges there are as many leaders of the people as there are types. Ruth the Moabite fulfills Isaiah's prophecy: "Send lambs to the ruler of the land from Sela in the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion" (Isaiah 16:1). Samuel, in the death of Elijah and in the murder of Saul, depicts the end of the Old Testament. And in the person of Zadok and David, he indicates the sacraments of the new priesthood and the new kingdom. Malachim, that is, the third and second books of Kings, describe the kingdom of Judah from Solomon to Jeconiah, and the kingdom of Israel from Jeroboam the son of Nebat to Uzziah, who was taken captive by the Assyrians. If we pay attention to history, the words are simple, but if we delve into the meaning hidden in the writings, we will read the legend about the small size of the church and about the attacks on it by heretics. The twelve prophets, enclosed within the narrow confines of one volume, pretend much more than the literal meaning gives. Hosea often mentions Ephraim, Samaria, Joseph, Israel, the harlot wife and the children of fornication, and the adulteress imprisoned on her husband's bed, who sits like a widow for a long time and waits for her husband's return in miserable clothes.