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الرسالة: [QUOTE="karas karas, post: 3863418, member: 135263"] [LEFT] the text part two: Blessed be thou and blessed be thy soul.” Now when the horse had said these things, they led the horses and brought them down to the circus. But that horse remained apart from them; because by reason of its strength they were unable to bring it down with its companions; and because they were afraid that it might kill them, like the king. Now it had happened to the blessed Irene that they had bound her with ropes according to the commandment of the king, and all the horses came and knelt down and did obeisance before her. And all the people were amazed at this wonder. And suddenly her fetters were loosed from her ; and they saw it and glorified God. And in that hour the servants of the king came and said to her, “ A horse has bitten thy father and he is dead; and behold ! he is thrown on the ground, and his arm is taken off.” And she said: “ Fear not, he is not really dead, but is sleeping and this that has happened was for the glory of God. Ye also shall see [it,] and believe in God.” And when the great crowd heard that the king was dead, grief and sorrow overspread their mind ; and they came and fell down before the feet of the blessed one, and did obeisance to her; and they persuaded her saying, “ Lady, take pity on thy father who is dead ; and it is grievous to thee, for his hand, too, has been taken away, and thrown aside.” And the blessed Irene came and stood over the corpse of her father. And all the people wondered ; for they left off their mourning for the dead king, and were amazed at the speech of the horse and at the loosening of its bonds. The holy Irene said : “ Bring the hand that was cut off close to the place from which it was cut and make it touch the place.” And they did accordingly. Then Irene turned to the East, and lifted up her eyes and her hands to heaven. And she prayed, with weeping and sobs, to God, saying, “God the Father in heaven, who hast established the foundations of the earth; Thou Rock that never movest, and fortress that never dost capitulate, Sun of Righteousness and path of life, and Way of salvation, who sittest on the right hand of Him who sent thee, O Lord, my God and my betrothed, Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God, Thou who callest sinners to repentance, that they may turn to the knowledge of the truth and not perish, Merciful and Pitiful One, hearken to my voice, and look on the humble estate of Thy handmaiden. May Thy strong power come from heaven on this dead man and raise him up, that this crowd may see these things and believe and glorify Thy holy name; and know that Thou art the Lord of the heaven and of the earth, and the Redeemer of all men who believe in Thee.” And when she had finished her prayer, the soul of that dead man entered into him, and he lived, and arose, and sat up. And his daughter turned and saw him; and she went up to him and took him with her hands and set him up, saying to him: “ Rise, my father, by, the power of Jesus.” And he arose and walked to and fro, his hand that was cut off being quite whole, and not a blemish being on his body. And when all the people saw it, they cried saying, “Great is the God of Irene and there is none but Him.” And they believed, and turned to God : and three thousand people were baptized on that day. Then Licinius the king took his daughter by the hand, blessing God and saying, “Great is the triumph of thy victory, my daughter! and great thy promise in heaven. Thou art called the possession of Jesus, and the inheritance of the Christ ; O most fortunate of children ! consolation and faith of parents ! Children like thee, my daughter, are able to save their fathers from a painful death ! Behold ! I also am henceforth a Christian, and a servant of Jesus. And henceforth I renounce this kingdom of the world that passeth away, and I look for the kingdom of heaven that passeth not away ; and I leave this kingdom to him who wishes to inherit it. And . I will take thy mother, my daughter, and I will go to the castle that I have built for thee ; and I also will see Jesus as thou hast seen Him ; and I will know Him like thee; and I will be His own and will seek refuge in Him. For I am unable to be king inasmuch as I have confessed Jesus and have been called a Christian ; lest the neighbouring kings come upon me and destroy me from life. For I know and I believe that inasmuch as I have believed in Jesus, they will not be able to hurt me.” Then the king took the queen, and they went away to the castle, and were there confessing the Christ. Then the blessed one remained in the city doing miracles, and signs of cures. And she taught the word of truth and instructed many; and baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After these things Zedekia the king heard what had become of king Licinius, and of the deeds which his daughter had done: and he was astonished. And he took a great and countless army, and went to Magdu, the city of king Licinius : and when he entered it and alighted in it, he called the magnates of the city, and asked them, “Where is your king?” And they returned him an answer and said, “ He is dwelling in the castle which he had built for his daughter, he and his wife.” The king said, “And his daughter, is she with him?” The magnates said, “No, my lord.” The king said, “And where doth she dwell ? Is she in the city ? “ They said, “She dwells with Apellianus her teacher.” And then the king sent to seek Apellianus the teacher. And he came, and stood in his presence. “ Tell me, said the king, thou old man, is the maiden, the daughter of king Licinius, with thee ? “ “ Yes, my lord the king,” said Apellianus. “What is her mind?” said the king, “and what are her meditations ? dost thou not know ? “ “ Her thoughts and her meditations, said Apellianus, “are mine and those of all who fear God. For from evening till evening she partakes of an ounce of bread, and drinks a sixth part of a hemina of water. She knows not a table, nor is she acquainted with a bed, and neither by night nor by day does she cease from the praise of God, and her eye is never done with tears.” And when the king heard it, he was greatly astonished. And at the dawn of day he sent Euphorba with ten chief men to king Licinius, to that castle, and they said to him, “ O king, live forever ! Come to our city and receive us, as is thy good custom. What is this that thou hast done ? Art thou making a trial of us? Come to thine own palace.” But when the magnates had said these things to Licinius the king, he said to them, “ Go ye and say to the king who sent you, ‘O noble king, live for ever! My kingdom is given unto thee.’” Now when king Zedekia heard these things, he went into the palace of king Licinius; and he took his kingdom and inherited everything that he possessed. And on the following day king Zedekia sent his secretary and his great men for the maiden Irene, because of the honour [due to] her father. And the Hyparch and the magnates who were with him went to the house of Apellianus, to Irene ; and they said to her, “ daughter of a king! behold the king seeks thee.” And she arose with great joy, and went, and entered the king’s presence, and stood before him. And when the king saw her, he said, “ Peace be to thee ! “ But she did not answer him a word. And after a little while she said to him, “Why didst thou call for me?” The king said, “Let us sit and talk about the peace of the city.” Irene said, “I will not sit with iniquitous people, nor will I enter into the assembly of the sinners; nor will I sit upon the seat of the scorners.” “Am I then a sinner and an iniquitous man ? “ said the king. Irene said, “ Truly every one who is a pagan is wicked and iniquitous’ But when the king heard [it] he was exceedingly wroth, and was filled with threatenings : and he said, “Irene, sacrifice to the gods!” Irene said, “In vain art thou disturbed, O king! Satan, thy father, excites thee and inflames thee against me. But I do not fear thy threats ; because I have believed in Jesus. And He saves me from all thy wiles, and all thy hateful counsels concerning me are useless.” And the king commanded them to dig a pit thirty cubits wide and thirty cubits deep, and to throw wild beasts into it, and snakes, and scorpions, and asps, and serpents, and vipers, and all the stinging things of Satan. And the servants of wickedness did accordingly. And the king commanded them to bring the blessed Irene, and to carry her and throw her into that pit. And the servants of sin led her and carried her thither. And they said to her, weeping, “Why dost thou not sacrifice, O daughter of the king, and live ? but thou hast made this choice for thyself to die a grievous death.” But she said, “Be silent, for ye know not what ye are saying.” And that blessed one looked down into the pit and saw all the reptiles that were in it, and she said, “ How shall I go down?” And they said, “The king has commanded that thou shalt be thrown head downwards into it” Then Irene lifted up her hands and raised her eyes 1 upwards, weeping; and she prayed to Jesus, saying, “O Lord the Christ, behold, for Thy sake I bear these things. And I go down into this pit [leaning] on the power of Thy divinity. Show Thy favour to me, O Lord, and let the iniquitous people and their father, Satan, be ashamed.” And she made the sign of Jesus between her eyes, and on her breasts, and threw herself head downwards into the midst of the pit. And when she reached the bottom, all these reptiles ran away from before her, and stuck to the walls of the pit ; and had stuck [to them] and died. And the blessed Irene opened her mouth and prayed, saying, “ I confess to thee, O Lord, whose are the heaven and the earth, that Thou art from everlasting to everlasting. Thou hast created all men, O Lord, upon the earth. Thou didst send our Lord Jesus the Christ, Thy Son, and Thy Beloved, for the redemption of the world ; and He came and was born of Mary the Virgin ; and He conquered all the power of the enmity of Satan ; and frustrated all his wiles ; and He gave strength and power to those men who worship Him and believe in Him, that they should tread on the wild beasts, and the scorpions, and the serpents, and the vipers, and on all the stinging things of the enmity of Satan. And Thou hast today shown Thy grace towards the weakness of Thy handmaiden. And Thou hast slain all these evil reptiles by Thy strong power and Thy swift commandment. And Thou hast saved me by the help of Thy favour. I confess to Thee and I give Thee glory that Thou hast not overlooked my low estate. And Thy grace has come to my help. And Thou hast kept me as the apple of the eye.’ And she was in the pit for fourteen days, and she took no nourishment. But she was fed by the Holy Spirit. And it was told to the king that all these evil reptiles had died ; and had stuck to the walls in dying. And the king and his magnates were greatly astonished when they heard it And on the following day the king called her and said to her, “ Irene, sacrifice to the gods ! Behold, thou hast killed all the reptiles, and thou art alive.” Irene said, “O many headed Satan! is this thy question with me? But I ask thee, O son of deceit, tell me.” She said, “Has the weak power of thy gods done any enchantments like these? or is there any power like this that they have killed evil reptiles? except the power of Jesus ?” But when the king heard this, he was filled with rage and said, “ Bring me hither two carpenters and two saws.” And they brought [them] to him as he had said. And he commanded them to squeeze the lamb of the Christ in the press of the carpenters, and to saw her in twain. And the servants of sin did according to the commandment of the king; and they squeezed her in the press. And they placed a saw above her head; and the carpenters lifted them up to saw her; and the saw became blunted, and did not hurt the body of the maiden. When the judge saw that the saw did not touch her body, he commanded that there should be a tall engine, and that they should tie her there to stakes, and saw her in twain. And the engine came ; and they tied the blessed one to it, and they placed the saw above her head. And they let go the saw, and in that hour the saw was cleft in twain; and the carpenters fell from the engine; and they also were cleft and died. And the king saw that the two carpenters were dead, and that the saw was cleft And he turned towards all the people and said, “ They have made the engine idiotically, and they have let the saw go suddenly, and it was cleft, and the engine is fallen, and they are dead. It has befallen them well ; for it was not right for them to meddle with a matter that was too difficult for them, and that they knew nothing about, I am free from their mistake and from their blood.” And he commanded that there should be a saw double the size of the one which was cleft And they squeezed the blessed one again into the carpenter’s. press; and began again to saw her. And that saw was melted like wax. And the believing woman laughed at their tortures and [their] sawing; and her body was not hurt, and her colour was not changed : and she gave glory to God. And when the king saw that it profited nothing, he commanded them to bring a great saw, and to bring a huge stone of five hundred pounds [weight] and they put it on her breast; and that they should saw her feet off from her knees. And the servants of sin did accordingly; and they sawed off the feet of the blessed one. But she was singing praises to God with joy and with a loud voice. And she did not feel the pain. And when the king saw that the feet of the blessed one were cut off, he laughed, and said, “ Irene, where is thy God ? let Him come now and deliver thee from my hands, if He can.” Irene said, “ By the life of Jesus who has redeemed me and is redeeming me, for there is no grace for thee.” And the king was enraged and blasphemed God ; for the bystanders were afraid to weep openly in his presence but they wept in secret and murmured, saying, “Bitter are the punishments of the king and iniquitous are his commandments.” For they took pity on the beauty of the maiden and on her youth. And suddenly the air was aflame, and there were fearful thunderings and fierce lightnings ; and terrible noises and mighty voices, like none that had ever been before. And darkness overspread the earth, and the earth trembled ; and a voice of the trumpeting of angels came from the sky 1 . And when the king saw it, he feared greatly, and said, “ Let us flee to the city ! let every man flee to his house!” And the king fled and those who were with him to get into the city. And the blessed one remained with her feet cut off, and that stone lying on her breasts. The king said, “ Lift it away. Now we will see if the Christ will come to deliver her.” And when they had lifted it, and all the people had fled, one of the harlots remained beside her whose name was Curica. She said to the blessed one, “I will not leave thee, thou handmaid of the Christ! with thee I will die, and with thee I will live in life eternal” But as for the king and the great men who were with him who had fled, that they might go into the city, they imagined that he had gone before them ; justice was behind them bringing (him) to them. And they had come unwillingly, and stood beside the blessed one, and then they knew that God had come near on her behalf. And when the king saw that harlot beside her, he commanded, and they beheaded her with the sword. And when she was dying the handmaid of the Christ said, “Pray for me, that I may not be separated from thee.” And Irene sealed her in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And she stretched out her neck and received joyfully the crown of martyrdom by the sword. And suddenly God cast fear upon the king and upon his great men, and they arose affrighted and were silent in astonishment ; and were unable to walk hither or thither. Then two angels came down from heaven by the commandment of God, beside the virgin of the Christ, and they loosed her from her bonds, and rolled away the stone from her breasts; and took up her feet which had been cut off, and brought them close to the places from which they had been severed. And the blessed one was healed and arose sound in body. And they went up to heaven. And the handmaiden of the Christ sang praises to God without ceasing. And she ran and reached the city before the king. But a current of air followed the king and his magnates, it- was very cold by reason of the hail which had come; and it slew three thousand men of these pagans, but it did not hurt the king ; because he was kept for the wrath to come. And the people who were left cried out, saying, “ Truly great is the God of Irene, and there is none but He.” And they called on the Lord, saying, “ Have mercy upon us, O God ! according to Thy grace, and blot out our sins in Thy compassion. Forgive us our iniquity in Thy pity, because our hope is in Thee ; and in Thee we take refuge.” And on that day eight thousand souls believed. And the king called the damsel, and said to her, “ Lo ! thou hast killed three thousand people with thine enchantments, and thou hast snatched away eight thousand from the gods. When they saw that thy feet were healed they believed in thy God. Now approach and sacrifice, lest thy life vanish miserably from the world.” Irene said, “O furnace of falsehood of error, son of Satan ! art thou not ashamed and dost thou not fear God ? Thou hast not laid to heart the coldness of the air which occurred. And did not trembling dwell in thy heart at the death of thy wicked comrades? and didst thou not fear Him who saved thee from a death like theirs 1 ? For thou didst not escape from that death because of thy righteous- ness, but that the crown of my martyrdom might be plaited and adorned by thy hands.” And when the king had heard (this) he was filled with a great rage, and he called the Eparch, and said to him, “ Wilt thou not say by what kind of death I shall slay that [woman] of hateful name?” The Eparch said, “Let them carry herto where there is a mill ; and let them bind her against the spoke of the wheel ; and let them fix iron hooks on the ends of the spokes, and let the water on to the wheel. And when the force of the water shall strike on the wheel and it shall revolve, the hooks will take away from her sides, and thus the disappearance of her life from the world will be very grievous.” And the servants of sin did thus, and they fixed wood against the wheel, and bound the virgin of the Christ to it. And they let out the water at the wheel, and at once the water became hard as stone, and did not move. And the wheel did not tremble, and the body of the blessed one was unhurt. But the king and the magnates who were standing round him were amazed. And the blessed Irene laughed and said to them, mocking, “O mistaken people! Ye have made instruments of torture after your own pleasure by your commandment, and they do not obey you. And in vain do ye weary yourselves therefore do what is incumbent on you that... of fortitude, and my heroism may be made known to you and to many.” But the king and his magnates said to her, “ Irene, why dost thou not sacrifice to the gods ? “ And she said, “ Because of the hour of the trumpet which will bring you to life.” Then she said, “When I have truly seen dogs encompassing me, and the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, as David has said, ‘The wicked walk every side, like the vile exaltation of the sons of Edom, and their words are softer than oil, yet are they javelins; their tongue is as a sharp sword; and their poison is like that of cruel vipers. They have compassed me like hornets, they are quenched as the fire of stubble. Their sword shall enter into their heart, and their bows shall be broken/ O hypocrites! hearken and understand, that the prophecy has said these things against you.” The king said, “ Irene, come, go up the ascent of the mill-wheel, till my mind takes counsel and my intelligence devises tortures that are more bitter than these for thee.” And when she had gone up, he commanded that she should be bound in the prison-house. And the servants of sin carried her and shut her up in the prison-house. And suddenly God cast contentions into the minds of all the citizens, and excited them against the king. And they raised a persecution against him, and the patricians and the plebeians of the whole city were assembled, and they said to him, “ As for thee, what art thou doing in our city ? and why dost thou sit in a palace which is not thine own ? Get thee out of our city, for thou art not our king. Long live our king Licinius ! “ Then they stoned him and put him out of their city, and he went to his city. And in seven days he died, and Severon his son reigned after him. And twenty days after the death of his father, he assembled a great army, about a hundred thousand fighting men. And he purposed in his mind that he would go to the city of Magdo, and lay it waste, and avenge by its means the insult [done] to his father, and his death. For he went to that city filled with anger and rage, and he threatened concerning it that he would swallow it like a dragon. For when those citizens had heard [of it] fear fell upon them, and they said to Irene, “ My lady, perhaps it is for thy sake that our city is desolate and we are dying” ; and they closed the gates of the city, and none might go out and none might enter for fear of the king ; for there were a hundred thousand fighting men with him, besides many others who were allied with him, for they came because of the spoiling of the city. And when the blessed one saw that the citizens were disturbed and were weeping, she said to them, “ Peace be to you. Fear not I will go out and go on to meet him.” But they said to her, “ We implore of thee, lady, we shall die and our city will be laid waste ; but thou shalt not go out to any place; and thou shalt not go near him, lest he slay thee.” But a certain faithful man was there, whose name was Alexander. He said to the citizens, “You are making a mistake by too great haste. This is she who has slain all that bad vermin by the power of God ; and she has also raised up her father, and she has brought down an angel from above by her prayer; and she has done many signs. Does she fear the rustle of the wing of this locust? For are not his threats weak beside the strength of this valiant woman ? Fear not therefore.” But when they heard these words, they opened the gates of the city and allowed her to go out. And she went and reached the king’s presence. And she saw his numerous troops surrounding him. And she turned to the east and raised her hands and her eyes aloft. And she prayed and said, “O Lord God ! whose are the heaven and the earth, as Thou didst hear the voice of Elisha the prophet, and didst strike the people with a Kings phantom, show the wonder here also, and hearken to the voice of the prayer of Thy handmaid and show the power of Thy might this day, and strike this people with a phantom, and keep the light of day, from their eyes, because they are going to lay waste an innocent city; and they threaten to destroy the life of many persons.” And when she had finished her prayer, the Lord smote that people with a phantom. And as for the king, his limbs were loosened, and his chiefs beheld that their light was taken from them. He said to Irene, “Irene, now I know that the power of God accompanies thee. Pray for us to thy God, and we shall see the light.” And she bent the knee and prayed to God, and their eyes were opened, and they saw the light And their limbs also which had been loosened, were healed. And the king and his great men entered the city, and the great army that was with him ; and the blessed Irene. And in the morning he assembled the whole city and said to them persuasively, “ Peace be unto you. Fear not, there will be no trouble to any man in your city. There is quiet and peace between me and you.” And the next day the king said, “ Call Irene to me. And they called her and brought her. And they said, “ Lo ! she is standing before thy majesty.” The king said, “ Irene, I have forgiven the fault of the city, but I will not forgive thee, because thou wert the hateful cause of the stoning of my father; and he was stoned, and he died. Now if thou desirest that I should not requite at thy hands the contumely and the blood of my father, sacrifice to the gods.” Irene said, “Thou art cursed by God [thou] and thy counsel. But do not thou trifle, but turn to the counsel of thy father, Satan. And what he advises, do it to me quickly and without delay, that thou also mayest know the power of God that is in me.” And the king was wroth with a very great wrath. And he commanded concerning her that she should be kept in the prison-house. And they carried her to the prison house. And the king said to his great men, “ With what torture ought we to kill her?” And they said to him what Satan had sown in their hearts, “Let thy majesty command them to bring three hundred of the best nails, and let them be fixed under her feet. And let sand be dropped into a sack and let her carry it on her shoulders. And let them put a muzzle in her mouth and let one of the soldiers lead her and conduct her for five miles, and make her return [for] five. With this torture she will sacrifice or die.” And whilst she was in the prison, our Lord Jesus the Christ appeared to her, and a host of angels. And He said to her “ Irene, fear not, for I am with thee; and my Father, with the Holy Spirit, are helping with thy struggle. And all the armies of heaven are helping with thy conflict. And even the bones of the righteous fathers delight in thy victory.” And our Lord set His seal upon her, and ascended up to heaven with His holy angels. And Irene was in the prison-house for fourteen days. And at the end of fourteen days the king called her and said to her, “ Irene, sacrifice to the gods. Hearken to my voice, that thou die not very badly.” But she answered him not a word. And when the king saw that she gave him no answer, he was filled with a great anger. And the king commanded, [saying,] “Bring me three hundred nails, and fasten them under her feet, and load her with a sack of sand, and thrust a muzzle in her mouth ; and let a soldier lead her like a beast” And the servants of sin made her run five miles, and made her return five miles. But the blessed lamb of the Christ did not feel the pain in her feet, and the suffering did not reach her heart. And when they brought her into the city, many of the pagans were laughing at her and saying, “ Where is Jesus ? Is He not coming to save her now ? “ [/LEFT] [/QUOTE]

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