The Wonders of Narcissus

The citizens of that church recall many other wonders of Narcissus, from the tradition of the brothers who came after him. Among them they tell of this miracle done through him. They say that once, at the great all-night vigil of the Passover, the oil ran out on the deacons. The whole congregation fell into terrible dismay, and Narcissus ordered those who were preparing the lights to draw water and bring it to him. This was done at once. He prayed over the water and told them to pour it into the lamps with genuine faith in the Lord. When they had done so, beyond all expectation, by a marvelous and divine power, its nature changed from water into the quality of oil. And from that time on, for a very long time and down to our own day, a small sample of that miracle has been kept by a great many of the brothers there. [a]

They list a great many other things in this man’s life worth remembering, among them the following. Some worthless little men could not bear the vigor and firmness of his life. Conscious of countless evils of their own, and afraid that they would be caught and made to pay the penalty, they got in first with a plot, stitched it together, and poured out a terrible slander against him. Then, to convince those who heard them, they confirmed their charges with oaths. One swore and called down on himself death by fire; another, the wasting of his body by a foul disease; the third, the loss of his sight. But even so, though they swore, not one of the believers paid any attention to them, because the self-control and all-round virtue of Narcissus’ conduct shone out to everyone. He himself, however, could in no way endure the wickedness of these men. Having in any case long embraced the philosophic life, he fled from the whole body of the church and lived hidden in deserts and remote country places for a great many years. But the great eye of justice did not rest over what had been done. It very swiftly pursued the impious men with the curses by which they had bound themselves in their perjury. The first, for no reason at all, simply when a little spark fell on the house where he was living, was burned up together with his whole family, the house catching fire all at once in the night. The second was suddenly filled, from the tips of his feet to his head, with the disease he himself had named as his penalty. The third saw what had happened to the others, and trembling at the inescapable justice of God, who watches over all, he confessed to everyone what they had contrived together. He was so worn down with lamentations of remorse, and kept on weeping so long, that both his eyes were destroyed. Such were the punishments these men paid for their lies. [b]