By Gregory the Cellarer
While Lazaros was sitting in the narthex after the completion of the early morning service, he saw a monk going into the church to pray. When he came out, Lazaros went up to him and asked him where he was from and where he was going. Then, since he heard from the <monk> that he came from Paphlagonia and was traveling to the Holy Land, he fell at his feet and begged him to take him along. The monk encouraged Lazaros to follow him readily, since he had nothing to fear from him, and so he left that place and went on his way with him. But the monk was perverse and did not want to travel straight <there>, or rather he was unable to because of the wicked habit which he had. He would thus turn aside from the direct route and go round on a detour to the villages where he would beg and collect bread and whatever else anyone offered him; he would put these things into a bag and give them to the youth [Lazaros] to carry. Then, wherever they were when evening fell, they would go in, whether it was to a village or a local market, and he would sell these things and pocket the price <he got> for them.
When, however, the youth saw such greed on the part of the monk, he could not keep quiet but began to admonish him, as he had done earlier with the notary, saying to him with humble modesty such words as, “Why do we greedily collect things that we don’t need, Father? And, when we collect them, why don’t we distribute them among those who are as poor as ourselves instead of wandering around carrying them all day? Isn’t the journey hard enough work for us <already>?” Lazaros, however, derived no benefit from addressing such admonitions to the <monk> but instead made him angry <so that> he attacked him with insults and blows; therefore Lazaros stopped speaking and turned to action. When the <monk> went off to beg, Lazaros would give everything away if he happened to meet anyone; <then>, when the <monk> came back and found the bag empty, he would demand furiously and angrily, “Where are the loaves of bread that I collected by begging all day? Surely you didn’t sell them while I was away?” He was thus assuming from his own wicked motivation that Lazaros was the same <as him>; for it is true that we judge others by our own standards. So, when Lazaros heard these things from the monk, he would smile and keep quiet, but the <monk>, seething with anger, would subject him to insults and blows. Lazaros, however, who really was as hard as steel and a skillful boxer, would bear everything nobly, and would not stop virtuously giving <these things> away, just as that other man <would> not <stop> greedily collecting them.
Traveling like this they reached Attaleia. There, however, that treacherous man who did not act like a real monk, that imitator of Judas, went to one of the shipowners and, speaking in the language of the Armenians, made an agreement to sell the boy to him. But, by the providence of God, one of the sailors overheard this and, while the monk was still talking to the shipowner, went and informed the youth about these things, for he was not <there> with the monk. As soon as he heard this, Lazaros took off and fled, just as he was. He turned off the main road and quickly started to climb the mountain that lay nearby but, while he was still on the lower slopes, night fell. He began his ascent but, because of the darkness of the night and the great steepness of the mountain, he spent the whole night, as he said, struggling <along> by hand and foot; only when the day had dawned was he able with difficulty to climb up on top. When, however, he did reach the top of the mountain, he found a worn path and went along it. While he was walking along by himself like this, an old monk met him and, when <this monk> had stopped and questioned him and found out all about him, he dissuaded him from his journey to Jerusalem because of his youth. Instead he recommended that he should follow his advice and go with him to his monastery (for the old man was superior of a small flock) and persevere there until such time as there might be no concern over his age. So, persuaded by the old man’s words, Lazaros prostrated himself and followed him. After he had spent some time in the monastery he received from that venerable old man the first habit of a monk, and similarly was given the name Lazaros, for previously he was called Leo. And so, as he was well educated in the divinely taught injunctions and precepts by that venerable old man, he became, in a short time, a model and example of every virtue to the brothers there, for he was obedient to all the words of the old man and did nothing whatsoever without his approval.
- Translation from the book The Life of Lazaros of Mt. Galesion: An Eleventh-Century Pillar Saint by Richard P. H. Greenfield.
When, however, the youth saw such greed on the part of the monk, he could not keep quiet but began to admonish him, as he had done earlier with the notary, saying to him with humble modesty such words as, “Why do we greedily collect things that we don’t need, Father? And, when we collect them, why don’t we distribute them among those who are as poor as ourselves instead of wandering around carrying them all day? Isn’t the journey hard enough work for us <already>?” Lazaros, however, derived no benefit from addressing such admonitions to the <monk> but instead made him angry <so that> he attacked him with insults and blows; therefore Lazaros stopped speaking and turned to action. When the <monk> went off to beg, Lazaros would give everything away if he happened to meet anyone; <then>, when the <monk> came back and found the bag empty, he would demand furiously and angrily, “Where are the loaves of bread that I collected by begging all day? Surely you didn’t sell them while I was away?” He was thus assuming from his own wicked motivation that Lazaros was the same <as him>; for it is true that we judge others by our own standards. So, when Lazaros heard these things from the monk, he would smile and keep quiet, but the <monk>, seething with anger, would subject him to insults and blows. Lazaros, however, who really was as hard as steel and a skillful boxer, would bear everything nobly, and would not stop virtuously giving <these things> away, just as that other man <would> not <stop> greedily collecting them.
Traveling like this they reached Attaleia. There, however, that treacherous man who did not act like a real monk, that imitator of Judas, went to one of the shipowners and, speaking in the language of the Armenians, made an agreement to sell the boy to him. But, by the providence of God, one of the sailors overheard this and, while the monk was still talking to the shipowner, went and informed the youth about these things, for he was not <there> with the monk. As soon as he heard this, Lazaros took off and fled, just as he was. He turned off the main road and quickly started to climb the mountain that lay nearby but, while he was still on the lower slopes, night fell. He began his ascent but, because of the darkness of the night and the great steepness of the mountain, he spent the whole night, as he said, struggling <along> by hand and foot; only when the day had dawned was he able with difficulty to climb up on top. When, however, he did reach the top of the mountain, he found a worn path and went along it. While he was walking along by himself like this, an old monk met him and, when <this monk> had stopped and questioned him and found out all about him, he dissuaded him from his journey to Jerusalem because of his youth. Instead he recommended that he should follow his advice and go with him to his monastery (for the old man was superior of a small flock) and persevere there until such time as there might be no concern over his age. So, persuaded by the old man’s words, Lazaros prostrated himself and followed him. After he had spent some time in the monastery he received from that venerable old man the first habit of a monk, and similarly was given the name Lazaros, for previously he was called Leo. And so, as he was well educated in the divinely taught injunctions and precepts by that venerable old man, he became, in a short time, a model and example of every virtue to the brothers there, for he was obedient to all the words of the old man and did nothing whatsoever without his approval.
- Translation from the book The Life of Lazaros of Mt. Galesion: An Eleventh-Century Pillar Saint by Richard P. H. Greenfield.
