and terrified the women; saying that it was a thing neither lawful
nor in any way holy; for that the bodies of the patriarchs and
prophets are to this day preserved in sepulchres, and that the very
body of our Lord was laid in a sepulchre, and a stone placed over it
to hide it, till he rose the third day. And thus saying he showed
that those broke the law who did not bury the corpses of the dead,
even if they were holy; for what is greater or more holy than the
Lord's body? Many, then, when they heard him, buried thenceforth
underground; and blessed the Lord that they had been taught rightly.
Being then aware of this, and afraid lest they should do the same by
his body, he hurried himself, and bade farewell to the monks in the
outer mountain; and coming to the inner mountain, where he was wont
to abide, after a few months he grew sick, and calling those who
were by--and there were two of them who had remained there within
fifteen years, exercising themselves and ministering to him on
account of his old age--he said to them, "I indeed go the way of the
fathers, as it is written, for I perceive that I am called by the
Lord." . . .

[Then follows a general exhortation to the monk, almost identical
with much that has gone before, and ending by a command that his
body should be buried in the ground.]

"And let this word of mine be kept by you, so that no one shall know
the place, save you alone, for I shall receive it (my body)
incorruptible from my Saviour in the resurrection of the dead. And
distribute my garments thus. To Athanasius the bishop give one of
my sheepskins, and the cloak under me, which was new when he gave it
me, and has grown old by me; and to Serapion the bishop give the
other sheepskin; and do you have the hair-cloth garment. And for