concerning them, for it is written, “Thou wilt destroy those who speak falsehood” (Psalm 12:3). The Holy Spirit hath passed this sentence upon me, therefore, O beloved and faithful men, believe ye me. Now one of these two blessed men was an Egyptian by race, and the other was an Alexandrian who sold dried fruits. First of all I will tell the story of the ascetic excellences of Macarius the Egyptian, the whole of whose years were ninety; he was thirty years old when he went up to the desert, and [he] lived therein for sixty years. And he was given the gift of [performing] mighty deeds in such a remarkable manner that he was called by the fathers “the aged youth,” because straightway and quickly he ascended to the highest grade of ascetic excellence and gifts, and to the power of interpreting the Scriptures, and to spiritual foresight. And the gift of possessing power over devils was also given to him, and he was also esteemed worthy of the priesthood. With this blessed man there lived in the further (or inner) desert, which is called “Scete,” two disciples; one of these was his servant, for many folk were wont to come unto him to be healed, and the other remained always in a cell which was nigh unto Macarius. And when much time had passed by, Macarius looked and said unto him that ministered unto him (now his name was John, and he afterwards became the elder in the place of the blessed man), he answered, I say, and said unto him, “Hear me, O John, and receive the rebuke with which I rebuke thee. For thou art suffering temptation, and behold the spirit of the love of money (i.e., avarice) tempteth thee, for even so have I seen. And I know that if thou wilt listen unto me thy end in this place shall be praised, and no harm shall draw nigh unto thy habitation. But if thou wilt not hearken unto me, because of the love of money which moveth thee, the leprosy of Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27) shall come upon thee at the end.” And it came to pass some fifteen or twenty years after the death of the blessed man, John forgot his commandment, and because he used to steal from the poor, his body became so covered with leprosy that there was not in the whole of it one sound spot large enough for a man to lay his finger upon. Thus the prophecy of the blessed Macarius concerning John actually came to pass.
Now if we were to attempt to describe the food and drink of the holy man, we should do what is superfluous, because among the thoughtless monks who lived in that place there was not to be found any one thing which could lead to excess either in eating or drinking; first because of the poverty of the spot, and secondly because of the divine zeal which they display towards each other. But I may mention his sad and stern
