Chapter 30

A certain king, having no male child, was greatly distressed in soul, weighed down with grief, and reckoned this no small misfortune. While he was in this condition, a son was born to him; and the king's heart was filled with joy at this. But those skilled in the art of medicine told him that, if within the first twelve years this child should look upon the sun or upon fire, he would be utterly deprived of his sight; for the very set of his eyes declared as much. On hearing this, the king is said to have hewn out of a certain rock a little cavern-like dwelling, and there to have shut the boy up together with those who nursed him, never, until the completion of the twelve years, to let so much as a gleam of light appear to him at all. After the twelve years were complete, he brought the boy out of the little dwelling, who had beheld nothing whatever of the world; and the king commanded his servants to set out everything kind by kind and show it to him: men in one place, women in another, and elsewhere gold and silver, and in yet another place pearls and precious stones, splendid and well-fashioned garments, very beautiful chariots with royal horses bridled in gold and decked with purple coverings, and mounted upon them armed riders, and herds of oxen and flocks of sheep. In a word, they showed the boy everything, set out in order. And when he asked what each of these things was called,

the king's shield-bearers and guards declared the name of each. But when he asked to learn the name of the women, the king's sword-bearer said, by way of jest, that they were called demons, who lead men astray. And the boy's heart was charmed with longing for these more than for all the rest. So when they had taken him round to everything and brought him back to the king, the king asked him which of the things he had seen had pleased him. "What," said the boy, "but those demons who lead men astray? For of all that I have seen today, my soul has been kindled with love for nothing so much as for them." And that king marvelled at the boy's words, and at what a tyrannous thing the love of women is. "You too, then, must think to subdue your son by no other means than this." The king received the counsel gladly. And there were brought to him chosen maidens, fair and very beautiful, whom he adorned with shining apparel and arrayed altogether for allurement; and he cast all his son's attendants and servants out of the palace, and set these women in their place. So they clung to him, embraced him, provoked him to that vile union, calling him to pleasure by every gesture and word. He had no one else to look upon, or to converse with, or to dine with; for they were everything to him.

This, then, the king did. But Theudas, again seizing upon that wicked cave of his, and poring over the books that have power to work such things, and summoning one of the wicked spirits, sent it out to do battle against the soldier of Christ's battle-line; not knowing, wretched man, what laughter he was about to undergo and how he would be filled with shame, together with all the demonic host beneath him. And the wicked spirit, taking with it other and more wicked spirits, came upon the chamber of the noble youth, and fell upon him, kindling most fiercely the furnace of the flesh. The evil one inflamed him within; while the maidens, fair of face but very foul of soul, supplied the wicked fuel from without.

But that pure soul, perceiving the assault of the evil one, and seeing the war of unseemly thoughts coming violently against it, was thrown into confusion; and it sought to find some release from so great an evil, to present itself pure to Christ, and not to defile with the mire of the passions that holy robe with which the grace of holy baptism had clothed him. At once, then, he set love against love, the divine against the unchaste, and called to mind that beauty and unspeakable glory of Christ, the immortal Bridegroom of the purest souls, and that bridal chamber and marriage feast, from which those who have stained their wedding garment are pitiably cast out, bound hand and foot, into the outer darkness. Pondering these things and bursting into tears, he beat his breast, driving out those wicked thoughts from there like evil drones. Then, rising up and lifting his hands to heaven, with hot tears and groans he called upon God for aid, and said: "Lord Almighty, who alone art mighty and compassionate, the hope of the hopeless, the help of the helpless, remember me, thy unworthy servant, in this hour, and look upon me with a merciful eye, and deliver my soul from the demonic sword, and my only one from the power of the dog; and let me not fall into the hands of my enemies, nor let those who hate me rejoice over me; and forsake me not, to be destroyed in iniquities,

and to do dishonour to my body, which I promised to present pure to thee. For it is thee I long for, and to thee I bow down, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages." And when he had said the Amen, he was aware of a divine consolation coming upon him from heaven, and the wicked thoughts withdrew; and he continued in prayer until morning. And, having understood the devices of the deceiver, he began to press his body still harder with want of food and with thirst and with other hardship, keeping vigil through whole nights, reminding himself of his vows to God, sketching out in his thoughts the brightness of the righteous in that place beyond, and most vividly recalling the Gehenna threatened to the wicked; so that the enemy, finding the soul idle and unguarded, might not easily sow wicked thoughts in it, and muddy the purity of the mind.

When, therefore, the enemy was at a loss on every side, and had altogether despaired of taking the noble youth, that dreadful one resorted to another, more intricate deceit—he who is forever wicked and never leaves off contriving and doing harm. For he made countless efforts to bring to effect the things commanded him by Theudas. And so once more he prepares his drugs. For, entering into one of those young women—the one who was fairest of all, being the daughter of a king, and a captive, estranged from her own homeland and brought as a most precious gift to King Abenner, whom the father, because she was exceedingly beautiful, had sent to be the slip and the tripping-up of his son—into her the deceiver entered, and put words into her that showed the great cleverness and shrewdness of her reasoning. For the evil one readily makes use of every device that tends to wickedness. Then, falling upon the king's son from the right hand, he instilled in him a fondness for the girl, on the pretext of her good sense and modesty, and because, being so nobly born and of royal lineage,

she had been deprived at once of her homeland and of her glory. Besides this, he sowed in him thoughts of freeing her from her madness for idols and making her a Christian. But all these things were the contrivances of the crafty serpent. For the king's son, being thus disposed in soul, and seeing in himself no foul thought or passionate love stirring toward the girl, but only compassion and pity for her misfortune and the ruin of her soul, did not know that the matter was a demonic device; for that one is indeed darkness, and counterfeits the light. So when the king's son began to converse with the girl and to speak to her the words of the knowledge of God, saying, "Understand, O woman, the God who lives unto the ages, and be not destroyed by this error of the idols, but acknowledge the Master and Maker of this universe, and you shall be blessed, wedded to the immortal Bridegroom"—and as he admonished her at length in this way, at once the wicked spirit prompted the woman to spread out the snares of its deceit, and

to drag down into the pit of passion that soul beloved of God, just as once it did to the first father by means of Eve, miserably driving him, alas, out of paradise and from God, and contriving that he should become liable to death instead of to the blessed and immortal life. For when the girl heard those words filled with all wisdom, being without understanding she did not understand them; but she gave such answers as one who had become a tongue and a mouth for the evil one, and said: "If, my lord, you are concerned for my salvation, and are eager to bring me to your God and to save my humble soul, do you also grant one request of mine, and at once, renouncing all my ancestral gods, I shall join myself to your God, serving him until my last breath; and you shall receive a reward for my salvation and my conversion to God."

And when he said, "What is the request, O woman?" she, composing her bearing and her glance and her voice and her whole self for enticement, said, "Join yourself to me in the fellowship of marriage, and I shall gladly follow your commands." And he said, "In vain, O woman, have you put before me so hard a request. For I care strongly for your salvation, and I long to draw you up from the deep of perdition; but to defile my body by a shameful union is grievous to me and altogether impossible." And she, smoothing the whole road for him and making it level, said, "Why do you speak in this way, you who are filled with all wisdom? Why have you called the thing a defilement and a shameful union? For I too am not uninitiated in the Christian books; rather, I have come upon many writings in my homeland, and have heard many Christians who conversed with me. Is it not written in one of the books that are yours, 'Marriage is honourable, and the bed undefiled'? And, 'It is better to marry than to burn'? And, 'What God has joined together, let no man put asunder'? Do not your Scriptures teach that all the righteous of old, the patriarchs and the prophets, were joined in marriage?

Is it not written that even Peter, whom you say became the chief of the apostles, had a wife? By whom, then, are you persuaded to call this a defilement? You seem to me, my lord, to have strayed far from the truth of your own teachings." And he said, "Yes, O woman; all these things are just as you have said. For it is permitted to those who wish to share in marriage—but not to those who have once promised to keep their virginity for Christ. For I, from the time I was cleansed in the bath of divine baptism from the offences of my youth and ignorance, agreed to present myself pure to Christ; and how shall I dare to dissolve what I have promised to God?" Then the woman said again: "Let this too be your will, as you wish. But fulfil another small and trifling desire of mine, if indeed you truly wish to save my soul. Lie with me this one night only, and grant that I may take delight in your beauty, and do you yourself take your fill of my comeliness. And I give you my word that at dawn I shall become a Christian and flee from all the worship of my gods. And there shall be for you not only pardon for this dispensation, but also a recompense of gifts from your God for the sake of my salvation. For joy,'

says your Scripture, 'is in heaven over one sinner who repents.' If, then, there is joy in heaven over the conversion of a sinner, is not a great reward owed to the one who brings about that conversion? Yes, it is so; do not doubt it. Did not even the apostles, the founders of your religion, do many things by way of dispensation, sometimes transgressing a commandment for the sake of a greater commandment? Is not Paul said to have circumcised Timothy for the sake of a better dispensation? And yet circumcision was reckoned unlawful for Christians; but nevertheless he did not refuse to do this. And you will find many such things in your Scriptures. If, then, in truth, as you say, you are seeking to save my soul, fulfil this small desire of mine. And whereas I sought to be joined to you in the perfect fellowship of marriage, since this is not to your liking, I no longer compel you, but do all that pleases you; only do not you, in your turn, utterly abhor me, but, by granting me this one thing, you shall save me, delivering me from my superstitious error, and for the rest you shall do what you have resolved for the whole of your life." So she spoke—for indeed she had the one who prompted her, to whom she secretly lent her ears; and the robber, the very maker and teacher of wickedness, was skilled in the Scriptures—saying such things, then, and fawning, weaving nets and snares for him on the right hand and on the left, she began to shake the tower of his soul, to slacken the tension of his resolve, and to make his judgment softer.

But the sower of wickedness and enemy of the righteous, seeing his heart shaken, became full of joy, and at once called the spirits of wickedness that had come with him, crying, "Do you see how this girl is hastening to accomplish what we ourselves were not able to accomplish? Come, then, let us now fall upon him with all our strength; for we shall find no other moment so well suited to fulfil the will of him who sent us." Having said this to his own dogs, the crafty-minded one, they set upon the soldier of Christ, throwing all the powers of his soul into confusion, putting in him a terrible love for the girl, and kindling in him a most violent fire of desire. And seeing himself strongly inflamed and led captive toward sin, and his very thoughts—about the girl's salvation and her conversion to God—set as a bait upon a hook about the deed laid before him, troubling him with the enemy's suggestion that it was no sin to lie once with a woman for the saving of a soul, he groaned in the perplexity of his soul a deep and melting groan, and at once braced himself to prayer, and pouring streams of tears abundantly from his eyes, he cried out to him who is able to save those who trust in him: "In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be put to shame, nor let my enemies laugh me to scorn—me who hold fast to thy right hand—but stand by me in this

hour, and according to thy will direct my ways, that thy name, glorious and terrible, may be glorified upon me thy servant; for blessed art thou unto the ages. Amen." And having prayed with tears for many hours and bowed the knee many times, he let himself sink down upon the ground. And falling briefly asleep, he saw himself snatched up by certain dreadful beings, and led through places he had never seen, and brought into a vast plain luxuriant with beautiful and exceedingly fragrant flowers, where he saw plants of every kind and sort, heavy with strange and wonderful fruits, most pleasant to see and delightful to touch. And the leaves of the trees made a clear sound in a very gentle breeze, sending forth, as they stirred, a most charming and unwearying fragrance. There were set up thrones fashioned of the purest gold and of precious stones, casting forth such a brilliant radiance; and couches adorned with marvellous coverings, surpassing all description in their beauty. And waters flowed by, very clear and gladdening the very sight. And after they had led him across this wondrous and great plain, those dreadful beings brought him into a city shining with an ineffable splendour, having its walls of translucent gold and its battlements raised up of stones such as no one has ever seen. Oh, who could tell the beauty of that city and its radiance?

A light from above, darting thickly with its rays, filled all its streets; and certain winged hosts, each one of them itself a light, dwelt there, singing a song never heard by mortal ear. And he heard a voice saying, "This is the rest of the righteous; this is the gladness of those who have pleased the Lord." Leading him out from there, those most awesome men said they would take him back. But he, wholly taken up with that delight and gladness, said, "Do not deprive me—do not, I beseech you—of this unspeakable joy; but grant that I too may dwell in some corner of this great city." But they said, "It is impossible now for you to be here. But with much toil and sweat you shall come here, if indeed you compel yourself." Thus they spoke; and, crossing the great plain again, they carried him away to dark places, full of all loathsomeness, possessing a misery equal in measure to the brightness that had been seen. For there was a lightless and utterly murky darkness, and the whole place was filled with affliction and tumult. There a furnace blazed, flaming up; and there was a kind of punishing worm creeping there. And there were avenging powers standing over the furnace,

and certain ones being pitiably consumed by the fire. And a voice was heard saying, "This is the place of sinners; this is the punishment of those who have defiled themselves with shameful deeds." Upon this, those who had brought him in led him out from there. And, coming at once to himself, he was wholly trembling, and his eyes shed tears like a river. And all the comeliness of that unchaste girl, and of the rest, was reckoned by him more foul-smelling than mire and rottenness. And turning over in his soul the memory of the things he had seen, with longing for those good things and with fear of those grievous ones, he lay upon his bed scarcely able to rise. And the king was told of his son's illness. And he, coming, asked what had happened. And the son recounted to him the things he had seen, and said, "Why have you prepared a snare for my feet, and bowed down my soul? For if the Lord had not helped me, my soul had well-nigh dwelt in Hades. But how good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart; who also delivered my lowliness from the midst of the lions' whelps. For I lay down in confusion. But my God and Saviour visited me from on high, and showed me of what good things they have deprived themselves who provoke him, and to what punishments they have made themselves liable. And now, O father, since you have stopped up your ears so as not to hear my voice, which chants good things to you,

do not at least hinder me from walking the straight road. For this I long for, this I desire: to be released from all things, and to reach those places where Barlaam, the servant of Christ, has his dwelling, and to spend the rest of my present life together with him. But if you should wish to hold me back by force, you shall soon see me dead of grief and anguish; and then neither shall you any longer be called father, nor shall you have me any longer for a son"