The Monk Told to Sacrifice His Son

Why should I speak too of one whose name we would rather not mention, since he is still alive? For a long time he received a demon in the brightness of an angel’s form. He was often deceived by countless revelations from him, and believed he was a messenger of righteousness. For while these were being granted, every night he provided light in his cell without the need of any lamp. At last he was ordered by the demon to offer up to God his own son, who was living with him in the monastery, so that by this sacrifice his merits might be made equal to those of the patriarch Abraham. He was so far seduced by this persuasion that he would really have committed the murder, had his son not seen him getting the knife ready and sharpening it with unusual care, and looking for the chains with which he meant to tie him up for the sacrifice when he was going to offer him. With a foreboding of the crime that was coming, the son fled in terror. [a]