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AT this period, Origen, one of the disciples of Antony the
Great, was still living at a great age, in the monasteries of
Scetis. Also, Didymus, and Cronion, who was about one hundred
and ten years of age, Arsisius the Great, Putubatus, Arsion, and
Serapion, all of whom had been contemporary with Antony the Great.
They had grown old in the exercise of philosophy, and were at this
period presiding over the monasteries. There were some holy men among
them who were young and middle aged, but who were celebrated for their
excellent and good qualities. Among these were Ammonius, Eusebias,
and Dioscorus. They were brothers, but on account of their height of
stature were called the "Long Brothers." It is said that Ammon
attained the summit of philosophy, and consequently overcame the love
of ease and pleasure. He was very studious, and had read the works of
Origen, of Didymus, and of other ecclesiastical writers. From his
youth to the day of his death he never tasted anything, with the
exception of bread, that had been prepared by means of fire. He was
once chosen to be ordained bishop; and after urging every argument that
could be devised in rejection of the honor, but in vain, he cut off
one of his ears, and said to those who had come for him, "Go away.
Hence, forward the priestly law forbids my ordination, for the person
of a priest should be perfect." Those who had been sent for him
accordingly departed; but, on ascertaining that the Church does not
observe the Jewish law in requiring a priest to be perfect in all his
members, but merely requires him to be irreprehensible in point of
morals, they returned to Ammon, and endeavored to take him by force.
He protested to them that, if they attempted any violence against
him, he would cut out his tongue; and, terrified at this menace,
they immediately took their departure. Ammon was ever after surnamed
Parotes. Some time afterwards, during the ensuing reign, the wise
Evagrius formed an intimacy with him. Evagrius was a wise man,
powerful in thought and in word, and skillful in discerning the
arguments which led to virtue and to vice, and capable in urging others
to imitate the one, and to eschew the other. His eloquence is fully
attested by the works he has left behind him. With respect to his
moral character, it is said that he was totally free from all pride or
superciliousness, so that he was not elated when just commendations
were awarded him, nor displeased when unjust reproaches were brought
against him. He was a citizen of Iberia, near the Euxine. He had
philosophized and studied the Sacred Scriptures under Gregory,
bishop of Nazianzen, and had filled the office of archdeacon when
Gregory administered the church in Constantinople. He was handsome m
person, and careful in his mode of attire; and hence an
acquaintanceship he had formed with a certain lady excited the jealousy
of her husband, who plotted his death. While the plot was about being
carried forward into deed, God sent him while sleeping, a fearful and
saving vision in a dream. It appeared to him that he had been arrested
in the act of committing some crime, and that he was bound hand and
foot in irons. As he was being led before the magistrates to receive
the sentence of condemnation, a man who held in his hand the book of
the Holy Gospels addressed him, and promised to deliver him from his
bonds, and confirmed this with an oath, provided he would quit the
city. Evagrius touched the book, and made oath that he would do so.
Immediately his chains appeared to fall off, and he awoke. He was
convinced by this divine dream, and fled the danger. He resolved upon
devoting himself to a life of asceticism, and proceeded from
Constantinople to Jerusalem. Some time after he went to visit the
philosophers of Scetis, and gladly determined to live there.
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