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On the Theophania

Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. Lee, 1843

Such therefore were the Disciples of our Saviour, and such was the entire power of the …

Such therefore were the Disciples of our Saviour, and such was the entire power of the word, which they put forth in their discourses with (their) hearers, that it became fixed in the depths of their souls;—were so struck and inclined, that every one took up the resolution no more to suffer those things to remain hidden, by which the many had formerly been implicated in error, but that these secret things should be brought out into the light, and that they should become witnesses against themselves, of their own former wickedness. Such also were those who became their Disciples, so pure, noble in soul, and abundant in love, that they allowed nothing impure to remain concealed within them, but, on the contrary, they gloried and exulted in their change from vice to virtue. Since therefore, the Disciples of our Saviour were seen to be such, Must not their Master have first been much more excellent? But, if you wish to know from those who are Disciples, of what sort their Master was, you have tens of thousands of the Disciples of the precepts of our Saviour even to this time; of whom there are multitudes of congregations of men, who have armed themselves against the lusts of the nature of the body, and have accustomed themselves to preserve their minds uninjured by any of the evil passions: those (I say), who have passed their whole lives, (and) grown old in purity; and have put forth, from the provisions of His word, the most brilliant examples (to others).