Eulogius and the Cripple
Cronius, a presbyter of Nitria, used to tell this of himself: in my early youth, out of faint-heartedness, I once fled from the monastery of my archimandrite, and after long wandering without road or path I came to the mountain of Saint Antony. The blessed father was struggling in the wide desert that lies between Babylon and Heraclea, thirty stades distant from the river Nile (and the desert itself stretched as far as the Red Sea). Having come to his monastery, which stands not far from the river, in the region called Pispir, and where the disciples of the venerable Antony — Macarius and Amatas — were living, I waited five days for an occasion to see Antony the Great. I learned that the blessed elder came to visit the monastery sometimes every ten days, sometimes every twenty, and sometimes every five — at such times as the Lord bade him, that he might help with spiritual counsel those in affliction who had come to the house for help. On this occasion a good number of us had gathered at the monastery on various needs. Among us was also a monk of Alexandria named Eulogius, who had brought with him a certain crippled man. The reason for their coming was this:
Eulogius knew excellently well all the learning taught in the schools of the city, but, moved by the love of the Lord, he desired to partake of immortality. He gave away all his substance to the poor and the needy, and kept for himself, since he was unable to work, only a small part of his money, and withdrew from the vain noise of the world.
Having become a monk, Eulogius fell into perplexity, for he did not wish to enter the common life (the hostel), yet did not count himself worthy of the solitary life. In such perplexity he was when, in the city market, he came by chance upon a cripple whose hands and feet had been cut off at the root. The poor man had nothing left but his tongue, with which he begged alms of the passers-by. Eulogius stopped. He looked upon the crippled man, offered a prayer, and made this vow to the Lord: O God! for the sake of Thy name I will take this palsied man and care for him until death, that through him I too may save my soul. Lord Jesus Christ, grant me patience, that I may be able to live together with him. After this Eulogius went up to the crippled man and said to him: friend, wilt thou that I take thee home with me? There I myself will tend thee and care for thee.
— O my lord, if thou wilt show me such honour! — answered the cripple. — But I am not worthy of it.
— I will go now, — said Eulogius, — and bring an ass, and we shall leave this place; is it well?
Rejoicing beyond measure, the poor man consented to the benefactor sent him from heaven. And indeed Eulogius set the palsied man upon the ass, brought him to his own dwelling, and with great diligence set about tending him.
Fifteen years the crippled man lived with Eulogius, and in all that time he wanted for nothing. By the kindness of his careful master he lacked no sustenance. Eulogius tended the crippled man with such love as one tends one's own father. He washed him carefully, anointed him with oil, carried him hither and thither in his own arms, and paid him far greater honour than he deserved; and in sickness he tended him as was fitting. But fifteen years passed, and an evil spirit entered into the crippled man, seeking to turn Eulogius aside from the vow he had made before God, and to break and bring to nothing the quiet and untroubled life of the cripple, for which he had been thanking the Lord.
The crippled man rose up against Eulogius and began to heap indecent abuse upon his saviour and benefactor: thou wretched runaway! thou hast surely stolen someone's money, or perhaps wast a slave and robbed thine own master, and now wouldst hide thyself behind me. Thou hast brought me home as if a benefactor — and by this wouldst save thyself?!
Astounded, Eulogius entreated the cripple, begged him to be calm, and said: no, my friend, say not so; rather tell me how I have wronged thee — I will ask thy pardon and will try never to do such a thing again... tell me, I beg thee. — But the crippled man answered yet more insolently: I have no need of thy fondling; carry me back to the market, where I lay so quiet and at peace.
— Do me the honour, friend, — said Eulogius, — be calm and tell me what troubles thee? But the cripple, seized with still greater fury, answered: I cannot bear thy crafty and hypocritical kindness! I am sick to the throat of this dull and hungry life... I want meat!
The magnanimous Eulogius went at once to the market and brought meat; but no sooner had he entered the house than the peevish cripple, seeing him, began again to cry out: I see no one but thee, I am weary of thee! I want to look upon many people!
— I will bring my many brethren this very moment, — answered Eulogius calmly; but the cripple wailed again in contempt: woe is me, wretched that I am! I can no longer bear even the sight of thee, and at such a time thou wouldst bring here yet more idle mouths like thyself?!. — and in some unnatural voice he shouted: I will not have it! take me back to the market! cast me there, whence thou didst take me!..
In a word, the evil spirit so enraged the crippled man that, had he had hands, he would surely have laid them upon himself.
Troubled, Eulogius went to those who were struggling nearby and asked their counsel: what am I to do? shall I leave him?.. but I made a vow to the Lord and fear to break it... and if I do not leave him, what then shall I do, for he gives me no rest by day or by night... I know not what to do?..
The fathers answered: the Great one (so they called Saint Antony) is yet alive. Go to him. Set the cripple in a boat, carry him to the monastery, and wait there until the great elder comes out of his cave and himself judges this matter. As he counsels thee, so do; and through his mouth the Lord Himself will declare to thee what thou shouldst do.
Eulogius heeded the counsel of the ascetics. He coaxed the cripple, laid him in a shepherds' boat, set out from the city by night, and with the crippled man hastened to the monastery of Antony the Great.
As Cronius told me, it came to pass that the venerable Antony, clothed in a mantle of skin, came to the house on the following day, late at night. It was his custom, on coming to the monastery, at once to call Macarius to him and ask: brother Macarius, have any brethren come hither?
Macarius answered: they have come.
— Egyptians or men of Jerusalem? — the blessed father would ask further. (It must be known that Antony the Great had charged Macarius beforehand: if thou seest that people not greatly zealous have come to the monastery, then answer me — they are Egyptians; but if people sufficiently pious and understanding visit us, answer — they are men of Jerusalem.) So Antony the Great asked his disciple Macarius after his custom: are these brethren Egyptians or men of Jerusalem? Macarius answered: both the one and the other.
When Macarius said that Egyptians had come, then Saint Antony bade the guests be fed, and afterwards offered one prayer for them and sent them home in peace. But when Macarius answered — men of Jerusalem — then the venerable ascetic spent the whole night with them in discourse on the salvation of the soul.
That evening, — said Cronius, — the blessed Antony sat down and called all the guests to him. It was already very late when he began to call: Eulogius, Eulogius, Eulogius! — though no one had told him the name of the Alexandrian scholar who had come to him with the cripple. The elder spoke the name three times, but Eulogius did not answer, thinking that the blessed Antony was calling another and not himself. Then Antony called again: to thee I speak, Eulogius, who hast come from Alexandria.
Then Eulogius gave voice and answered the venerable father: what wouldst thou, abba?
The holy ascetic asked: why hast thou come hither?
Eulogius answered: He who revealed to thee my name will declare also for what cause I have come hither, to this house.
— I know why thou hast come, — said the great Antony, — but tell it before the whole brotherhood, that they also may hear.
Obeying the blessing of the venerable father, the servant of God Eulogius began to tell his matter in the hearing of all: this crippled man I found in the market. He lay there without any complaint or murmuring. I had pity on him, and asked of the Lord that He grant me patience and strength to serve the cripple. I took the palsied man to myself and vowed to God never to forsake him, that through him I might save my soul, and that he might receive from me quiet and rest. Behold, it is now fifteen years that we have lived together; to thee, venerable father, all is of course known, but after so many years, I know not for what fault of mine, he insults me in the extreme, and therefore I have resolved to leave him, since he himself compels me to it. For this cause I have come to thy holiness, that thou mightest pray for me and counsel me how to act, for he reviles me with terrible words.
Antony the Great addressed Eulogius in an uncommonly stern and unbending voice: Eulogius, so thou wouldst leave the crippled man? But He who created him will never forsake him. Thou wilt leave the cripple, and God will raise up another, far better than thou, and will again grant him help.
Hearing this, Eulogius was seized with trembling and fell silent.
Then Antony the Great turned to the cripple and said to him aloud: and thou, foul cripple, unworthy of earth and heaven, wilt thou not cease to rise up against the Lord and to provoke thy brother? Or knowest thou not that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself serves thee? How darest thou speak so to the Saviour? Was it not for the name of Christ that he gave himself to serve thee?.. With such stern reproof the holy father silenced and quieted the crippled man also.
The venerable Antony listened attentively, to each apart, to the needs of the other brethren as well, and then turned again to Eulogius and his cripple: cease your enmity, children, and let us go in peace. Be not parted from one another. Cast away every grievance which the evil spirit has sown between you, and, being filled with holy love, return to your cell, where you have lived together so long a time. In a short while the Lord will call you both. This temptation has come upon you by the power of Satan, for he knows that the way of your life will soon be ended, and that you will receive incorruptible crowns from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself — crowns for one another's sake. Therefore think upon nothing else. But if the angel sent you from the Lord does not find you both together, in one and the same place, know that you will be deprived of the heavenly crowns.
Eulogius and the crippled man set out, and, filled with love for one another, returned again to their cell.
Not forty days had passed when the blessed Eulogius reposed and stood before the Kingdom of Heaven. And three days after his repose the man, crippled in body but strengthened in spirit, shared the lot of Eulogius.
Cronius, who had spent some time in the Thebaid, was also in the monastery of Alexandria, and was there at the time when the brethren were keeping the fortieth day for the blessed Eulogius, and a memorial service for the cripple. Cronius at once remembered Eulogius and his cripple, whom he had seen with the blessed Antony, and marvelled greatly. He asked the elders to bring the Gospel, that the brethren might not doubt the truth of his words, and told them in detail how Antony the Great had foretold the departed their future, and how soon his word had been fulfilled. And before the brethren Cronius confirmed with an oath: I myself was the interpreter of their discourse, for the blessed Antony knew no Greek, while I have both tongues (Greek and Egyptian), and therefore in Greek I translated to Eulogius and the cripple — now blessed by the will of the Lord — the words of Antony the Great, and to the holy, blessed and great Antony, in Egyptian, the discourse of those two.
