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.And the young man kept silence and attended, havingrepented of his former sins, that he should obtain pardon from the goodness of God: and he didnot separate from John.55 When, then, these things had been done by him in the city of the Ephesians, they of Smyrnasent unto him saying: We hear that the God whom thou preachest is not envious, and hathcharged thee not to show partiality by abiding in one place.Since, then, thou art a preacher ofsuch a God, come unto Smyrna and unto the other cities, that we may come to know thy God,and having known him may have our hope in him.[Q has the above story also, and continues with an incident which is also quoted in a differentform (and not as from these Acts) by John Cassian.Q has it thus:Now one day as John was seated, a partridge flew by and came and played in the dust beforehim; and John looked on it and wondered.And a certain priest came, who was one of his hearers,and came to John and saw the partridge playing in the dust before him, and was offended inhimself and said: Can such and so great a man take pleasure in a partridge playing in the dust?But John perceiving in the spirit the thought of him, said to him: It were better for thee also, mychild, to look at a partridge playing in the dust and not to defile thyself with shameful andprofane practices: for he who awaiteth the conversion and repentance of all men hath broughtthee here on this account: for I have no need of a partridge playing in the dust.For the partridgeis thine own soul.Then the elder, hearing this and seeing that he was not bidden, but that the apostle of Christ hadtold him all that was in his heart, fell on his face on the earth and cried aloud, saying: Now knowI that God dwelleth in thee, O blessed John! for he that tempteth thee tempteth him that cannotbe tempted.And he entreated him to pray for him.And he instructed him and delivered him therules (canons) and let him go to his house, glorifying God that is over all.Cassian, Collation XXIV.21, has it thus:It is told that the most blessed Evangelist John, when he was gently stroking a partridge with hishands, suddenly saw one in the habit of a hunter coming to him.He wondered that a man of such47 48repute and fame should demean himself to such small and humble amusements, and said: Artthou that John whose eminent and widespread fame hath enticed me also with great desire toknow thee? Why then art thou taken up with such mean amusements? The blessed John said tohim: What is that which thou carriest in thy hands? A bow, said he.And why, said he, dost thounot bear it about always stretched? He answered him: I must not, lest by constant bending thestrength of its vigour be wrung and grow soft and perish, and when there is need that the arrowsbe shot with much strength at some beast, the strength being lost by excess of continual tension,a forcible blow cannot be dealt.Just so, said the blessed John, let not this little and briefrelaxation of my mind offend thee, young man, for unless it doth sometimes ease and relax bysome remission the force of its tension, it will grow slack through unbroken rigour and will notbe able to obey the power of the Spirit.The only common point of the two stories is that St.John amuses himself with a partridge, and aspectator thinks it unworthy of him.The two morals differ wholly.The amount of text lost hereis of quite uncertain length.It must have told of the doings at Smyrna, and also, it appears, atLaodicca (see the title of the next section).One of the episodes must have been the conversion ofa woman of evil life (see below, 'the harlot that was chaste ')-]Our best manuscript prefixes a title to the next section:From Laodicca to Ephesus the second time.58 Now when some long time had passed, and none of the brethren had been at any time grievedby John, they were then grieved because he had said: Brethren, it is now time for me to go toEphesus (for so have I agreed with them that dwell there) lest they become slack, now for a longtime having no man to confirm them.But all of you must have your minds steadfast towardsGod, who never forsaketh us.But when they heard this from him, the brethren lamented because they were to be parted fromhim
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