Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/11

 named Zosimus. This man  verily,  as  I  said  before,  lived  from  the beginning  in  a  minster  in  Palestine,  and  he  had  become  the  most approved in  works  of  self-denial,  and  in  all  the  monastic  rules. And he  blamelessly  observed  all  the  directions  of  the  rule,  and  the perfection  of  the   monastic   service,  and   added   similar  practices for himself  thereto,  because  he  desired  to  subject  his  flesh  to  the spirit. So truly  was  he  perfected  in  all  monastic  customs,  that very often  monks  came   to    him  from    distant    places,  and  from [other] minsters,  that  they  might  bind  themselves  to  his  example and to  his  lore,  and  subject  themselves  to  the  imitation  of  his  self-denial. He kept  all  these  customs  in  himself,  and  he  never  turned  away  his  mind  from  the  meditation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. And all the  goodnesses  which  he  practised,  he  practised  in  the  spirit, and one  work  he  kept  unceasingly  and  never  tired  of;  that  was psalm-singing, praise,  and  meditation  on   Holy  Scripture. Very often also,  according  to  what  they  said,  he  was  made  to  be  worthy     of  the  divine  illumination  through  a  revelation  from  God  of  the heavenly vision,  so  that  [it  is]  neither  a  wonder,  nor  eke  an  incredible   thing,  concerning  those  whom    the    Lord    Himself  said, 'Blessed are  the  pure  in  heart,  because  they  shall  see  God.'     So much  the  more  shall  those  behold  the  openness  of  the  divine  enlightenment, who  ever  cleanse  their  bodies  by  sober  habits,  and  by a  mind  ever  awake   to  receive  hereafter  the  future  meed  in  the eternal blessedness;   even  as  Zosimus  himself  said,  that  he  himself had been  committed  to  the  minster  from  his  mother's  womb;  and until his  three  and  fiftieth  year  he  was  dwelling  there  under  the rule, and  after  this  he  was  assaulted  by  certain  thoughts,  as  if  [supposing  that]  he  were  perfected  in  all  things,  and  needed  not  in  his mind the  example  of  any  more  teaching ;  and  he  was  thus  speaking — ' whether  there  can  be  any  monk  on  earth  who  can  teach  me anything  new,  or  advance  me  in  any  thing  of  which  I  myself  know nothing, or  that  I  have  not  myself  fulfilled  in  monastic  works;  or whether  there  be  any  of  those  who  love  the  desert,  who  can  be before  me  in  his  deeds."

Thinking these  [things],  and  others  like  to  these  within  himself, there stood  before  him  an  angel  and  said  to  him,  '  Oh,  thou  Zosi-