Life of St Macarius of Rome (continued), Book Ib

Chapter VIII
Next we came to a terrifying place of high, rugged cliffs and deep valleys. After spending seven days there it seemed to be impossible to go any further. But on the seventh day we saw a stag in front of us, roaring as it went, and we followed it. A pathway opened up for us, along many more even greater cliffs, and we did not manage to get out of that country without a great deal of labour and difficulty. But we emerged into a vast wide plain where there were a great number of elephants, but we passed through the midst of them unharmed.
There was no clear indication of which way we should go next, but we wandered on for nine days along various little pathways, without any food, calling with tears upon the clemency of the Lord, until at last we came out into another wide plain with abundant fruit.
And now the most dense fog descended upon the place. There was no light, just a thick cloud covering everything in darkness. Troubled and distressed, we fell to the ground in plaintive prayer poured out to God. We continued like this for seven days, neither eating nor drinking, without ever a glimpse of the light of heaven. After preserving in our troubled prayer for seven days, a dove appeared to us, circling round us, beating its wings strongly, as if to encourage us to keep on walking. Giving thanks to God we got to our feet and followed the dove through various pathways, until we found ourselves in front of an archway, with an inscription around it. We were delighted to see this inscription and gave thanks to God. This is what it said:
THIS ARCH WAS RAISED BY ALEXANDER, SON OF PHILIP OF MACEDON, WHEN PURSUING DARIUS KING OF THE PERSIANS. ANYONE WANTING TO ENTER THIS TERRITORY SHOULD TAKE THE LEFT HAND PATH. THE LAND ON THE RIGHT IS TRACKLESS AND FULL OF CLIFFS AND NARROW PASSES.

Chapter IX
So we kept to the left and journeyed on for many days. On the fortieth day we became aware of an unbearable smell which almost took the life out of us. We fell to the ground and prayed to the Lord that he would mercifully revive us. After a while we got up from the ground and noticed a great lake containing a multitude of fiery serpents. Voices floated up from this lake. We heard them moaning and complaining, a vast multitude of them, and a voice from heaven thundered out, saying:
"This is the lake of judgment and punishment, in which those who deny Christ are tormented."
The sound of this voice caused us to beat our breasts and weep copiously. We passed by the lake in fear and trembling into a place between two very high mountains, where an enormous man appeared, a hundred cubits high, bound in brass chains around the whole of his body. A long chain stretched out from each side of his body, one of them fixed to the mountain on the right, the other to the mountain on the left, and he was surrounded on all sides by a most intense flame. His voice could be heard from forty miles away. When he saw us he cried out, weeping and howling, and complaining how bitterly he was being tortured by the fire.

Chapter X
We were greatly frightened at this sight, but we covered our faces and crossed over into the mountains at some distance from him. We came out into another place of many cliffs of a very great height. Here we saw a woman with flowing hair, her whole body wrapped in the folds of a most horrible dragon. She opened her mouth as if about to speak to us, but the dragon moved his head towards her mouth and bit off her tongue. This woman's hair reached right to the ground. As we watched this in awe and terror, we suddenly heard plaintive voices coming up from the depths, crying, "Have mercy on us, have mercy on us, O Christ, son of God most high."
Consumed with terror, we fell to our knees in prayer and tears, saying, "O Lord who have created us, receive our souls, for our eyes have seen your judgment on the earth."

Chapter XI
We got up and carried on our way, however, in deep mourning and grief and fear, until we came to another place where we saw many great trees which looked like fig trees. In their branches were what looked like a flock of birds from heaven, crying with a human voice, "Spare us, O Lord who fashioned us, spare us, most merciful, for we have sinned over all the earth before your face."
We too prayed: "Show us, most merciful Lord, the meaning of these marvels that we have seen, for we do not understand what they are."
And a voice came, saying, "It is not given for you to understand the mysteries that you have seen. Just keep on your way."

Chapter XII
We moved on from there in great dread, and came to a place which was much more pleasant and beautiful. Here we saw four men of most venerable appearance. Their faces were of such marvellous beauty that it would be impossible to describe them in credible terms. They each wore golden crowns, studded with gems and precious stones. They carried golden palm leaves in their hands, there was a great and fearsome fire in front of them, and the stems of the palm leaves were sharpened to a point and held in front of them. The very sight of them filled us with great fear.
"O most high servants of the Lord our God," we cried, "have mercy on us, that the palms and the fire do us no harm!"
"Fear not," they replied. "Walk securely in the way that the Lord has shown you. For the Lord has put us in this place to guard and watch over this pathway until the day of judgment, when the whole world shall come to be judged."

Chapter XIII
At these words we bowed before the men, and passed by them at a respectable distance. We walked on for forty days, taking no food and drinking only water. As we walked along we suddenly heard a multitude of voices singing psalms, and a most beautiful perfume as of the best and most precious balsam came to us, overwhelming our nostrils like the scent of sweetest honey. This most beautiful scent, like that of nectar, combined with the sound of an ancient and heavenly melody, induced a feeling of drowsiness in us, but when we awoke we could see a marvellously decorated church, most precious. It seemed to be made entirely of crystal, and in the middle of the church an imposing altar, and from under the altar flowed a stream of water the colour of whitest milk. In fact we assumed that that water really was milk. Standing around this stream were some holy and honourable men singing a heavenly song. It was the sound of the Cherubim. We were very much in awe of them as we gazed upon them.
The North side of this church looked like green jade, the South side was the colour of pure blood, the West was all white, like milk or shining snow. Stars above the church shone with a more than earthly light, the sun there was seven times as hot and strong as in our world, the hills and trees were taller. The leaves and fruits more abundant and sweeter than those on the trees of this world, and the birds of the air sounded altogether different from those on our earth. The earth itself was of two colours. Parts were as white as snow, parts the colour of scarlet. We were awestruck, and fell down there in worship. We bowed to those men, and fearfully went forth to take up our journey once more.

Chapter XIV
For the next hundred days, as God is our witness, we took no food, but refreshed ourselves frequently with water. Suddenly we were surrounded by a multitude of people, both men and women, who were no taller than a single cubit. We were very frightened at the sight of them.
"Let's let our hair down and charge at them," I, the miserable sinner Theophilus, said to my brothers Sergius and Hyginus. "Perhaps they will run away from us and the Lord will deliver us out of their hands."
This seemed like a good idea to them, so we untied our headbands letting our hair float free and suddenly rushed at them. Seeing this, they hastily picked up their children and fled, gnashing their teeth. And we praised the Lord who had delivered us.
We then crossed a river, and found ourselves in the midst of shining plants as white as milk, with a taste like honey. They were about a cubit high. We ate these delicious plants till we were sated, giving thanks to the Creator of all, who had preserved us in the midst of so many great dangers and freely nourished us with his grace. As we continued on our journey along wandering paths we suddenly saw a most beautiful woman, and we fell down in worship and praise of God who had shown her to us.

Chapter XV
For many days we kept on our journey till we came to an impressive-looking cave. We made the sign of the holy cross on all parts of our body and went inside this cave, but found no one there.
"But it is so clean in here," we said, "that it must belong to some human being. Let's stay here till evening, and we shall meet the person who lives here."
After sitting there for an hour, rather weary, we smelt a most delicious perfume which induced us to go to sleep. But we woke up after a short interval, went outside and looked towards the East. There we suddenly saw a man a long way off, hurrying towards us, whose hair, as white as snow, floated in the wind and covered his whole body. We could see him coming towards us, prostrating himself on the ground, and getting up again as he shouted, "If you are of God, make the sign of the holy Cross and come towards me. If you are from the devil, get away from me, the servant of God."
"Give us your blessing, holy father," we said in response, "and fear not, for we too are servants of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We too are monks who have renounced the vanity of the world."
Hearing this, he came right up to us, lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed for quite a long time. His prayer finished, he shook his hair back from his face and mouth and gave us a blessing. His hair and beard were milk-white, and his face was as the face of an Angel. He was like a tree planted by the waterside (Psalms 1.3), he was very old, and his eyes were not visible because of the way his eyebrows hung over them, his toenails and fingernails were exceedingly long, his beard and hair covered his whole body, his voice sounded thinly as if coming from some deep place, and the skin of his face was as hard as the shell of a tortoise.

Chapter XVI
"My beloved brothers," he said, "where are you from, where have you come from? Tell me how the human race is getting on, how the Christian faith is doing, and whether the Saracens or any other peoples still wage war against the people of Christ."
We replied to his questions one by one, telling him of the dangers and difficulties we had encountered along every step of our journey, and of our desire and intention to find the place where the curve of the sky met the earth.
"My beloved little children," he said in reply, "listen to me. It is not possible to travel from this place to paradise while still clothed in human flesh. For I, a great sinner, also laboured under this desire to go forth to where I would be able to see where the earth joined the sky, until one night an Angel of the Lord appeared to me in a vision, saying, 'Go no further, lest you presume to tempt the Lord your God.'
"'Why may I not go any further, my lord?' I asked.
"'It is twenty miles from this place,' he replied, 'to the paradise which Adam and Eve delighted in. And the Lord placed a Cherub with a whirling fiery sword in front of the garden to guard the tree of life. From his feet to his navel he was shaped like a man, his breast was as the breast of a lion, and the hand that held the sword guarding paradise was like crystal, preventing any approach.'
"When the Angel told me this, I asked no more questions, nor did I try to go on any further."
So I, Theophilus, and my brothers, companions on our journey, took in what the holy man had told us, prostrated ourselves before him, and praised the Lord as we saluted him.

Chapter XVII
When evening came he said to us, "My beloved brothers, come outside the cell and wait for a while. I have two lions who roam about during the day and come back to me in the evening. I would not want you to suffer any harm from them if you were to come upon them unawares."
Somewhat alarmed, we nevertheless went outside with him. Almost immediately two lions came roaring up to the holy man and bowed down before him. He put his hands on their heads, and stroked their necks.
"My little children," he said to them, "These are three brothers who have come to visit us from the outside world. Pray do not do them any harm." Then, adding to us, "Come closer. Don't be afraid."
We were too frightened. We made our apologies and went back inside!
We celebrated the evening office together, after which we dined in silence on nuts and roots and water. In the morning we said to the holy man, "Holy father and master, may we ask your blessedness to tell us the story of your life, where you came from, and what you are called?"
"My name is Macarius, my most beloved sons and brothers," he replied. "I was the son of a Roman citizen, born and bred in the imperial city, and I occupied a prominent and flourishing position in the city's affairs. As soon as I had left boyhood behind me, my father married me to a wife, much against my will and in spite of all my protests. On the day of my wedding, when the bridal chamber had been prepared, and the bride was ready, and many invited guests were present, and my father was in celebratory mood urging all the guests to enjoy the feasting, which they had begun to do with much dancing and general hilarity, I quietly left, and fled to the house of a widow who was a family friend. I remained hidden there for the next seven days, during which she daily visited my parents' home, listening to everything that was said about my wickedness, and telling me all about it when she came back.
"My father searched everywhere for me without any success, and wept greatly, as did my mother and all the family. On the eighth day, Sunday night, I said goodbye to that widow and went out onto the public highway, where I found a venerable white-haired gentleman, dressed as if ready for a walk.
"'What direction are you going in, senior sancte?' I asked, after greeting him.
"Wherever you like,' he replied, turning to look at me. 'I am quite happy to go with you. Everyone in town knows about my journeyings.'
"Reassured by this, I gladly went with him. From then on we stayed in whatever house was close at hand, and we gladly accepted what bread we could beg. After walking for many days we came to the place of torment and narrow pathways through which you say that you have likewise travelled. When we had gone thirty miles from that place, my companion suddenly disappeared as we were sitting down, in the middle of a conversation we were having. I was thrown into a turmoil, not knowing where to turn next, and flung myself on the ground, weeping bitterly. And suddenly he reappeared in a flash of light!
"'Don't be worried, my beloved friend,' he said. 'I am the angel Raphael, and I have been sent to help you and bring you to this place, on the orders of the Most High. The Lord has been watching over your journey. You have passed through the place of darkness, the place of torments and the place of punishment, and you have now come out into the light. So fear not, rise up and continue your journey.'
"And again, he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared."

Chapter XIX
"With renewed strength I rose and began to walk on. I saw a wild ass some way off and I cried out to him.
"'Greetings, in the name of Christ who created you! Show me the way in which I should go.'
"He ran quickly up to me and turned off in front of me into a small and narrow pathway. I followed him and walked along with him for two days. On the third day I saw in the distance a stag of astonishing size. When the wild ass saw it he was frightened and ran back away from me, leaving me alone in a confined place, with no clear way ahead. I shouted out to the stag.
"'If you have been sent to help me, I conjure you in the name of God to show me the pathway.'
"He came up to me as gently as any domestic animal, and turned off into a narrow mountain pass, turning round to look at me from time to time. We went for three days like this. Then on the fourth day we came up against an immense and terrifying dragon, spread out in the middle of the way ahead. The stag suddenly fled as soon as he saw it. I felt very frightened, and fell to the ground. Then, strengthened in the Lord, I arose, protected myself with the sign of the holy Cross, and spoke to the dragon.
"'In the fear of God Almighty, harm me not!'
"It raised itself up to its full terrifying height and spoke to me in a human voice.
"'Come, blessed man, for you are Macarius, the servant of God most high. The holy angel Raphael has described your face and figure to me, and given me strict orders to meet you and lead you to the place that God has prepared for you. It is now the fourth day that I have been waiting here for you without eating anything. But this very night I had a vision of you sitting in the midst of a shining cloud, and I heard a voice coming from above, saying, "Hurry, meet up with Macarius, the servant of God, who is almost here, as I foretold." So arise, follow me, nothing doubting; come, and I will show you the place in which you may pour out your praises to God.'
"Having said this he then changed into the appearance of a young man, and led me to this cave where we now are. We had no sooner entered it than he disappeared.

Chapter XX
"At the back of the cave this miserable sinner then saw two lion cubs, with their mother lying dead beside them. I dragged her outside and buried her, and gave thanks to God and glorified him for doing so many marvels in my sight, and freed me from so many tight corners. I picked branches from the trees to make a bed for the two little lions to stretch out on, and cared for them as if they were my own sons. And so we lived in peace together for two years.
"And then the devil, who never rests in his envy of the human race, attacked me with his snares. For one day at about the seventh hour, as it was getting really warm, I went outside the cave and saw a most beautifully worked headscarf lying on the ground. It was a real delight to the eyes. I thought to myself, 'How does this headscarf come to be here in this wilderness?' Thinking that it really was a headscarf, I forgot to protect myself with the sign of the Cross, miserable wretch that I am, for the sacrosanct sign of the Cross is proof against all the phantasms of the enemy. I reached out my hand, picked it up and took it back into the cave.
"Next day as I went out I found a pair of women's shoes lying on the ground, and even then I did not begin to suspect that this might be the work of the devil. I did not protect myself under the banner of the Cross, but picked up the shoes and took them into the cave, where I laid them down next to the headscarf.
"When I went out on the third day, I found the devil standing there in the shape of a woman, wearing the most beautiful clothes, and I miserably still did not recognise the snares of the devil, nor did I sign myself, but spoke to her, in the belief that it really was a woman.
"'Where have you come from?' I asked her. 'And who could have guided you to this wilderness?'
"She just kept on weeping bitterly, and I like an idiot began to weep with her out of sympathy.
"'Most holy father,' she at last managed to say. 'I am the most wretched daughter of a Roman citizen who decided to marry me against my wishes and will to a certain noble young Roman, and the wedding day came, and the bridal couch was prepared and the feasting begun, when the bridegroom suddenly disappeared in the midst of it all. There was great consternation all round, they searched for him in this place and that place in a terrible state of turmoil. Meanwhile, I was glad, and secretly left home, began my journey that same night, and without any guide travelled through those same narrow mountains and valleys until I arrived here.'
"I believed everything I had heard. I believed she was my intended bride, and I took her by the hand and led her into the cave, during which time she never ceased weeping. I was sorry for her misery and tears and grieved deeply for her. I made her sit down beside me and offered her some nuts to eat. I had no suspicion as yet that this was all the work of the devil, and of course I had not protected myself with the sign of the Cross. We had a long conversation as we sat side by side. Then I began to feel as tired as if I had been working hard, and she began to caress me all over with her hands, and I felt even more overcome by sleep. To cut a long story short, wretch that I am, I who had never before agreed to sin with a woman, came to the realisation that I had committed sin with her in my sleep. For suddenly waking from sleep, I found myself lying on the ground, unclothed as if I had been with a woman, although by now she was nowhere to be seen.

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