place of midwife, and he abhorred not the shame which attacheth unto those who give birth to children; for the great act of lovingkindness which he was about to perform did not grant unto him the perception of such things.
Now of this blessed man the garments (or possessions) were so utterly poor that they were worth nothing at all, for by reason of the great lovingkindness which dwelt in him he took no pains at all to acquire any possession whatsoever. For if anyone gave him a book he straightway went and sold it, and unto those who enquired of him concerning it, saying, “Why didst thou sell [the book]?” he said, “How am I to persuade the Master (or Teacher) that I have in truth learned His handicraft, unless I make use of His testimony as to the true [meaning] of His handicraft?” And this holy man thereupon persisteth in this course of action until this day, and he hath left behind him unto all those who dwell in that country a never-fading remembrance. And he is happy in the expectation of the good things which are for ever, and he waiteth to receive the reward of the labours of his triumphs in the kingdom from Him Who said, “I was an hungered and ye gave Me to eat. I was naked and ye clothed Me” (St. Matthew 25:35, 36).
Chapter xlix: Of John of Lycus, a City of the Thebaid
JOHN, who lived in the city of Lycus, and who had learned in his youth the craft of the carpenter, and whose brother was a dyer, afterwards, when he was about five and twenty years old, took upon himself the garb of monkhood; and having lived in divers monasteries for five years, he finally departed by himself to the mountain which is in Lycus, to the lofty eminence which is on the top of the mountain, and made three cells for himself there. Now he built and prepared these for himself in the first year after he went to the mountain and went up into it. The first cell was for the needs of the body, in the second he laboured at the work of his hands and took his food, and in the third he said his prayers, and during the three (or thirty) years in which he was in seclusion there he was wont to receive whatsoever was necessary for him through the window from him that ministered unto him.
Now this blessed man was worthy [to receive] from God the gift of being able to declare things before they came to pass, and on several occasions he made known things before they happened unto the blessed Emperor Theodosius, I mean he foretold that he would conquer Maximus the rebel and would return from Gallia, and he also announced to him beforehand concerning the defeat of Eugenius the rebel, and thus the fame of this holy man went forth greatly, and he was held to be a
