things of time for those which were everlasting, and she offered herself wholly to God and devoted herself unto the things which belonged unto the life which is to come; and thus she lived a life in the great chastity of the fear of God, and even the Bishops were put to shame by the sight of her. Now the rest of the building (i.e., the edifice of her spiritual excellences,) she made perfect in the furnace of the love of voluntary poverty, and whatsoever there remained unto her she gave, as it is written, gladly unto the churches, and monasteries and houses for receiving poor strangers, and unto the orphans and widows; and she abode continually in the church and served God, and awaited the hope which was to come.
Chapter xlviij: Of the Monk [Misericors] who lived in Ancyra
AND moreover, we found in this city a certain monk, and we met him at the time when he had [just] received the laying on of hands as an elder; formerly he had been a husbandman, but he had laboured in the life of a solitary recluse (or monk) for twenty years, and he had lived in close intercourse with the Bishop of the city, who was a holy man. He was such a benevolent man that even in the night time he would go roundabout and visit those who were poor and needy, and he was so indefatigable in his work that he neglected neither the prison-house, nor the house of the sick (i.e., hospital), nor the houses of the rich and poor, but he helped every one. He urged the rich with words which were full of mercy, and exhorted them to fair deeds, and he toiled with anxious care on behalf of the poor and needy, in respect of those things which were meet for them. Those who were struggling in contention he brought nigh unto peace, and those who were naked he clothed with raiment, and he laboured for the sick and brought them the bindings up which conduced to [their] healing. Now there existed in this city of Ancyra that which existeth rightly in large cities, that is to say, in the porch of the church thereof there lay a great number of poor folk, who were in the habit of going about begging for their daily bread, and among them were certain men who had wives; and it fell out on the night of a certain day that one of these women was about to give birth to a child. And by reason of the pain which was darting through her, and the severe anguish of the birth-pangs, she cried out loudly, and the blessed man heard her outcries from the church as he was praying; and the blessed man ceased praying, and went forth to see [what was happening], although it was winter. And seeing that there was no man nigh unto her in her necessity, he himself filled the
