Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

THE RETURN OF GERAsLvTAS. 583
the house, "If the blessed come to seek me, say
"unto them, 'Gerasimas is not here with me.'"
Now when that man heard this he went outside
the building and cried out, saying, "Come ye, and
"hearken, O my brethren, unto this man whom
"ye brought [p. 376] unto me; behold, he would
"lead me into the uttering of lies." And the
blessed came and said unto Gerasimas, "O father,
"thou canst not dwell with us, therefore depart.
"Go back to thine own country in the peace ofHe is dis-
"God Almighty, and recount [there] everything ^'g,^^^^^''J_
"which thou hast seen and heard with us;" so he
received their prayer and blessing, and returned
to his own country in peace.
And when he came to the shore of the sea he
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "I pray and
"beseech Thee, O God, to carry me over to my
"own country in peace, even as Thou didst bring
"me over to these saints." And it came to pass
that when he had finished his prayer God Al-He remms
mighty ordered one of the two trees and
"""'
it in- ^ ^
clined its top towards Gerasimas, who seized its
branches, and was lifted up thereby, and the other
tree bowed its top [to him, and he seized its
branches] and it carried him over to the opposite
shore. Thus Gerasimas came to his own country ^^"'y f
his travels.
in peace, and he wrote down [the account of] the
conflicts of the blessed, and placed it in the Church
of John the Baptist. Praise be unto the Father
Who chose those holy and blessed men; and
homage be to the Son Who revealed to them