by the rough stones which were placed on both sides of the way; and his dwelling was under a rock in the cave. Now his appearance was terrible, for by reason of old age which had laid its hold upon him he trembled greatly; nevertheless he worked signs daily, and he never ceased to heal the sick. And the fathers told us concerning him that there was no man among them who could remember the time when he went up [to live] in the mountain. In his old age he used to eat three ounces of bread every evening, and three olives, but in his early manhood he partook of food only once a week, and subsisted thereon.
Here end the Triumphs of Abba Elijah
Chapter ix: The Triumph of the Blessed Apollo [and Ammon]
AND we saw also another priest, whose name was Apollo, who lived in the Thebaïd, on the borders of Hermopolis, whereunto our Redeemer went with Mary and Joseph, that there might be fulfilled the word of Isaiah (19:1), who said, “Behold the Lord is mounted upon swift clouds and shall go into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him, and shall fall upon the earth.” And we also saw there the house of idols wherein all the idols that were in it fell down upon their faces on the ground when our Redeemer went into that city. And we saw, moreover, that this man who dwelt in the desert was the Abbâ of five hundred monks who lived in the monasteries which stood around the base of the mountain, and that he was exceedingly well known throughout the land of Thebaïs; for he possessed the excellent virtues of the ascetic life, and God performed many great and mighty deeds through him, and very many signs took place by his hand. And this man Apollo, whose ascetic labours were so wonderful from his youth up, in the time of his old age was held to be worthy of an act of grace from God, for when he was eighty years of age he took possession of a great monastery containing five hundred marvellous men, who were also able to work miracles, and when he was fifteen years [older] (i.e., when he was ninety-five years of age), he departed from this world, having lived for forty years in the inner desert, where he led a perfectly spiritual life.
And towards the end he heard a voice like unto that of an angel, which said unto him, “Apollo, I am about to destroy the wisdom of the wise men of Egypt by thy hands, and I will remove the knowledge, which is not knowledge, of the fools of the nations; and thou shalt destroy for Me with them also the wise men of Babel (i.e., Babylon of Egypt), and thou shalt wipe out all the service of devils. And now,
