st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

138 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
tabernacle gives, as is meet, the supremacy
to the
soul. And so, resorting to the mountains hard by,
he was led to an old man, of Syrian speech but of no
mean knowledge, who had reached the heights of
philosophic self-control. For four years he took the
pattern of austerity from him and after
;
easily gam
ing the mastery over every kind of indulgence, since
he had reason for his companion in the strife, he
longed for seclusion, and became a dweller in a
remote spot, delighting to have a cave for his resort,
the gymnasium and arena of his virtue. What
struggles did he here undergo, receiving the comfort
of the Spirit in proportion to the multitude of his
!
pains
and prepare in his heart, as he went forward from
strength to strength, and by means of work and con
What steps of ascent to the Spirit did he lay
templation both, exterminated from his soul and body
every device of 1
Egypt."
It is not our object here to follow the events of
Chrysostom s life, even in the shadowy outline pre
sented to us in this encomium. How extremely
shadowy the outline is, may be inferred from the
following passage, in which it will be observed that a
brief allusion, in one single line, is all that is
given to
1
A good deal of this is taken, with but little alteration, from
"
the contemporary account of Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis.
The English reader may verify this by comparing with the
above passage the extracts from Palladius quoted in the account
of St. Chrysostom in the Dictionary of Christian Biography,"
vol. i., pp. 519-20. The original will be found in Gallandius :
"Biblioth. Vet. Patr." viii., p. 271. That there should be no
hint of this in Lequien s edition, is one proof how much is still
wanting to supplement that edition, meritorious as it
is.