CHAPTER LXI

OF THE BLESSED ELPIDIUS

IN those caves which, in ancient times, certain men had hewn out of the rock in the valley of the river near Jericho, wherein those who had fled from before Joshua, the son of Nun, had gone up and hidden themselves, there dwelt Elpidius; now he was a Cappadocian, who had been converted in the monastery of Timothy the Chorepiskopos, and he was a wonderful man and was also held to be worthy of consecration to the priesthood. And he came and dwelt in one of these caves, and he shewed such patient persistence in his self-abnegation, that he surpassed and eclipsed many [thereby]; for he followed for five and twenty years his rule of life, and during that time he only ate food on the Sabbath day, and on the First Day of the week, and he dwelt like the chief and the king of the bees among the cells of the whole brotherhood. And he used to rise up continually during the night and pray; and I myself also dwelt with him. And he made that mountain to be so peaceful and to contain so many inhabitants that it resembled a city, and during the night season a man might see the various works, and the labours of all kinds which appertain to the ascetic life, being performed there. One night, when this man Elpidius was reciting the service, now we were with him, a scorpion stung him, and he crushed the insect, without either leaving the place where he was or being in any way moved as a man usually is when he is suffering from the sting of a scorpion. And one day as he was holding in his hand a vine branch, a certain brother took it away from him; and as he was sitting by the side of the mountain, he dug a hole and pushed the vine branch into it, like a man who is planting [vines]; and although it was not the time for planting, the vine branch sprouted, and grew very large, and spread its branches abroad until it covered the whole church. Now the name of that brother was Ænesius, a wonderful man.