The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

238
EVAGRIUS
34 Now in Emesa there lived Symeon, a man who had shed the robe of
vanity to such an extent that to those who did not know he even
appeared to be demented, although he was indeed ¢lled with all sacred
wisdom and grace. 106 This Symeon lived for the most part by himself,
[183] not allowing anyone at all an opportunity to know when and
how he propitiated the Divinity, nor when he held fasts or partook of
food by himself. But there were times indeed when, while frequenting
the main streets, 107 he appeared to have been estranged from normality,
and to be completely devoid of sense and intelligence; and sometimes
even, on entering a tavern, he would consume the available breads and
foods when he was hungry. But if anyone bowed his head to him in
reverence, he left the place in rage and haste, fearing that his special
virtue might be discovered by the multitude.
And such was Symeon’s public behaviour. But he had certain
acquaintances among whom he used to associate without any pretence
at all. Now one of his acquaintances had a servant-girl, who had been
debauched by someone and become pregnant. When she was compelled
by her masters to declare who had done this, she said that Symeon had
secretly had intercourse with her and that she was pregnant by him,
and would swear on oath that this was truly so should it be necessary
indeed to convict him. When Symeon heard this, he concurred, saying
that he bore that fallible phenomenon £esh. And when this had
become common knowledge and Symeon, so it seemed, incurred great
shame, he withdrew himself and pretended to be abashed. And so
when the appointed day came for the pregnant woman, and the usual
Emperor Maurice’s investigation of the miraculous e¡usion of S. Euphemia (Theophylact
viii.14.6^9). A sudden blaze of ¢re is a regular phenomenon when holy objects or people are
threatened by an unwelcome approach: Miracula of S. Demetrius i.51^3, Maurice is unable
to obtain a relic of the saint; Theodoret, EH iii.20.4^8, Jewish e¡orts to dig foundations for
the reconstruction of the Temple under Julian are stopped; Chronicle of Edessa p. 9, Anastasius
is prevented from removing the acta of Chalcedon from the tomb of Euphemia;
other references to holy ¢re in Festugie' re 396 n. 82.
106 Symeon is an exemplar of the category of Holy Fools, saloi, which Evagrius had
described in general terms in i.21 (probably using Symeon as his model); for discussion of
the phenomenon, see Ryde¤ n, ‘Fool’. There is an extended Life of Symeon by Leontius of
Neapolis, composed in the mid-seventh century, though Leontius has postdated Symeon’s
activities by about 40 years (on this, see Mango, ‘Leontius’ 26^30; Krueger, Symeon).
107 Festugie' re (396 with n. 83) translates as ‘in the public street while doing his shopping’,
but the sense is probably less precise.