"SIMON OF THE DESERT" "Since 6 years, 6 weeks, 6 days, Simon  you have been on this column for the edification of all." "Go now on this other one ...offered by the rich Praxed?" "... ...according to your wish." "From here, you'll continue... to revive your brothers' fervour... by following our father's way, Simeon Stylit." "It's the tribute paid by a family... to which you have brought back happiness... in curing me from the accursed evil." "Wait !" "Here is your mother, Simon." "She wants to live by your side until she dies." "Let her kiss you for the last time." "You should rather have come back to your place, Woman..." "Obey." "Receive her in joy." "Stay, if it is your wish." "By this kiss, I bid you farewell." "Nothing must interfere between God and his servant." "Farewell." "In His Presence, we will meet again." "Your benediction, Father." "I'll give you more." "From my hand, you will receive... .. the priestly ordination." "Prepare yourself, my son." "No!" "I don't deserve this!" "I'm a sinner unworthy of this grace." "Follow your ordeal..." "Go in peace for the moment." "Brother Simon." "Pray, Brothers, pray !" "Our father who art in heaven..." "Hallowed be thy name... thy kingdom come... thy will be done..." "On earth as it is in heaven." "Blessed one..." "Those stumps were hands..." "Our poverty is great, our daughters are starving," "How did this occur?" "They cut them!" "Why ?" "Because he has stolen." "Yes, it's true  but I redeemed." "Father, relieve my misery." "Help us!" "Have mercy of those children." "I can only pray." "Pray with me, ... silently." "God will maybe let us see a miracle from Simon." "Thus it is." "Now..." "Thank God." "Go back to your occupations." "Let's go back home, we have to dig up the vegetable garden." "We have to buy a new spade, ours is worn." "Show your hands, father!" "Are they the same?" "Shut up, stupid!" "Let me!" "Did you see?" "What?" "The trick of the hands?" "Yes." "Do you have some bread?" "Yes." "Give me a piece." "With all those stories..." "we are late." "Are you leaving, Brother?" "We should keep Simon company, and pray." "Where does this one-eyed woman come from?" "One-eyed?" "You are mistaken." "I tell you she is one-eyed." "She has her two eyes, indeed..." "How do you know it?" "Because I stared at her." "You forgot the commandments:" ""Don't stare at any woman"..." ""and don't let yourself be seduced by the look of a female."" "And, before all..." ""do not burn at the fire of a vain contemplation."" "Brother." "...I prefer that you don't come and see me anymore  as far as your look won't have the desired modesty." "Hello, Brother Mathias." "Why didn't you bring some milk to the monastery?" "A witch gave her the evil eye." "At dawn, I will bring you some fresh milk." "You want to see the blessed Simon?" "Yesterday I brought him dairy products... and some bread fresh of three days." "Damned be my soul, he didn't even look at me." "Don't blaspheme, he was probably praying." "What has it got, this one?" "A bad leg." "Do you like her, rascal?" "She is the new one:" "Domitila." "She is well done!" "you swipe her, she practically swoons." "Devil she is!" "May God protect you, Brother." "Amen." "You love your beasts too much." "The Devil prowls in the desert." "I hear him during the night" "I forgot the end." "Simon!" "Father Simon!" "It's me!" "I bring you food!" "Blessed one, look!" "May the Peace of the Lord be with you and with you, Brother." "With the lettuce, I brought some oil and some bread." "My body doesn't need so much." "Few lettuce leaves are enough." "I eat fast too." "But, the less I eat the fatter I get." "The priest wants you to eat more." "I'm grateful to him  but, may he forgive me I know that those fats are necessary for me." "Forgive me, you too." "At the monastery, they don't give us wine anymore... we drink water with cumin and pepper." "The Priest says that it fortifies." "You have eaten nearly nothing for five days." "You have hardly touched water." "It's foul." "Do you need anything?" "No." "Go in peace, let me fight my war." "Your war?" "Innocent is the one who still ignores it !" "Son ..." "You are very clean." "Thank you, Father." "cleanness of the body and the clothes   fits to men of the world..." "It's a sin for the religious." "As you say it, I will remember." "He is a presomptuous ignorant!" "Man is the most despicable of your creatures, Lord!" "His only presence takes me away from Thou." "No walk today?" "Sometimes, I'm hungry and thirsty." "I forgot my body... this miserable recalled it to me." "I won't eat anything before the sunset." "I am so far to be worthy of Thou!" "What a temptation!" "..." "Be able to go down  and feel the soil under my feet to run !" "Be careful, don't fall!" "Do you think about me, sometimes, my son?" "Not often, mother, I have no time." "Why are you so proud, son?" "Proud of my freedom!" "... or of my slavedom, mother!" "Here I am,..." "Simon!" "You're going to see!" "Give up your turpitude" "Know that what is lost is lost." "And for you especially big-bearded man!" "King of this land of rabbits" "You measure your merit  at your beard... .. and at your teeth cleaned with the urine of Syriac..." "What are you doing here?" "Play!" "Where do you come from?" "From there." "And.. where do you go?" "There!" "Who are you?" "An innocent child, Simon." "See my so innocent legs." "Under my reign, Simon... .. those who are here shouldn't be there... those who should be are not there." "You owe you merit to your beard  and to your teeth washed with Syriac urine." "Simon," "See as my tongue is long!" "I don't scare you, Satan!" "Christ!" "Christ!" "Christ!" "I will come back, beard, I will come back." "Heavenly Father," "And Jesus, may he be blessed..." "I come, at the sunset, to praise ...the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." "What is more fair that Thou art glorified by the holy voices of the Son of God..." "Because he says... anyone leaves father, mother, brothers wives, children for my cause, will receive hundred times over he will inherit eternal life." "I was slave of the world." "I'm here to be Thy Slave." "It's written:" "God helps anyone practises good." "Let's do not give up asceticism let's stretch it like an arrow, and, forgetting what we'll leave behind us  let's pursue our flight to reach the Eternal The heavenly way." "Give your bread and your clothes to the poors..." "They will open the gates of Heaven for you." "Short is the time of our life." "Look..." "Brothers!" "Look..." "The Saint has a well- furnished bag." "Some cheese.... ... some bread.... ...and some wine..." "He says he is the champion of the penitence..." "He is on this column to be above men." "Is he a "Samaritan"?" "He is an arrogant led by Satan." "Here are the pieces of evidence." ""Let's stretch our asceticism like an arrow..."" "I trust you, Simon..." "I know that those foods  are traps of the Devil." "You don't have to convince me but tell your disciples, if you know it  why those foods were found here." "Better worth the calomnys for the believer's soul than the praises which flatter the pride." "The sweet one, the humble one calls me a slanderer, Brothers!" "I swear I didn't put this food down here!" "Blessed one, speak and we'll believe you!" "Speak!" "Lord, I'm your slave!" "Thy will be done..." "He refuses to speak." "He is guilty." "Noone can doubt any more." "Let's pray , Brothers, let's pray for him." "A servant of Gord accuses another one." "We came to look for edification, we find the scandal." "Let's pray the Holy Spirit to reveal us who's really guilty." "Let's kneel down to pray." "In the name of the Father, of the son, and the Holy Spirit..." "What has he got?" "Sign yourself, Brother Tifon." "Castrated pig!" "I did put this grub in your bag..." "I'll torment you again...!" "... Son of a B... until it comes out of your mouth  maledictions against the blessed Sacrament and his putative mother!" "In the belly of this daughter of dog..." "Down with the Holy trinity!" "Long live the Holy trinity!" "Viva!" "Down with Christ's resurrection!" "Viva!" "Viva apocastasy!" "Death to it!" "What is "apocastasy"?" "Death to Jesus Christ!" "Death to him!" "..." "Sorry, Viva!" "I implore you, in the name of Christ..." "Leave the body of this man out!" "Flee, Satan, in face of the sign of the cross !" "Catch him, take him away..." "I'll finish to exorcize him my own way." "May the peace be with you, Simon" "Z?" "on!" "Z?" "on..." "Listen to me!" "Move away from this beardless boy." "Me?" "May he not live in the monastery for fear of the evil one." "May he come back when his beard will be grown." "Brother, thank you for your advises and your carefulness." "Don't come back into the monastery." "When you'll have a beard, you can come back." "Beware of those bearded men." "The devil prowls in the desert." "I hear him at night." "Lord, my thoughts wander away from Thou." "Here is the most humble of Thy Servants" "You are my preferred son." "You asceticism is sublime." "I love you, you speak by my mouth." "Since 8 years, 8 months, 8 days." "your soul has burnt on this column like the flame of a candle." "Blessed are those who suffer." "I want to die in Thou, Lord." "Receive my soul." "Why are you crying, Lord?" "I cry on you, beloved son..." "Your penitences and your sacrifices afflict me." "Stop it!" "They displease to my heart." "Change!" "To change, Lord?" "Come down." "Go in the world, revel in pleasure up to nausea." "Like this, your reveled flesh will release your mind." "And you'll be by my side." "Satan!" "I don't fear you!" "The Lord foils your plots." "Do you only search perdition for the mankind?" "You   who, before the fall, enjoyed the Divine Presence." "If I repent..." "Will God give me back my original glory?" "By no means, Satan." "Repent, if you can..., ...but you'll stay like this for eternity." "He comes out with some good ones, this idiot." "May your father's pant repent!" "I am fine as I am, big pig !" "...On the host !" "..." "By the belly of this daughter of B...!" "In the name of the Christ let the just pray in peace!" "I'll come back, O beard man, I'll come back!" "If I don't release myself from the Evil one, today  it will be tomorrow." "...or in 5 years, or in 10 years..." "Continence, prayer... charity, humility will be my arms." "Blinded as I am  I took the wolf for a lamb." "I deserve eternal penitence." "Until you call me to you  I'll stand on one foot." "Thank you, Lord, to provide for my subsistence." "So that you fertilize the earth, save us from the hail." "I bless you, innocent creature." "Sing the Lord's glory." "Who can I bless now?" "It's a holy exercise, it keeps me busy  and it offends noone." "What am I saying?" "Sometimes, I don't know any longer what I'm saying." "What I am saying?" "What do I say?" "Father." "Bless Pelagie, she is yearning for children." "We will see if this sweety gives birth properly." "I bless you too, beloved Brother  you are poor of wealth and spirit." "Don't bless me like a goat!" "I estimate you, I love you." "Tomorrow I 'll bring you very fresh milk." "Thank you... but you know it's useless." "For me, is a bit nuts... by filling himself up with air!" "Believe me, I drink and eat according to my needs." "I'm not a pure spirit, but a man to whom hangs heavy his carnal envelope." "About the other needs..." "My excrements are like goat's ones  because of my thinness." "Of all your sermon, I only understood "thinness"." "What are you looking for?" "Your forgiveness and your benediction." "Who are you?" "What have I to forgive you?" "I'm the one who had looked a woman." "Go in peace if God forgives you." "I have some bad news for God's servants." "The hordes of the Antichrist advance on Rome." "They'll be here very soon." "Blessed be the wounds which bring us the glory of God!" "Men will always fight in fratricidal battles." "Because of this malediction "yours", "mine"." "What are you speaking about?" "Of man who kill to defend what he thinks to be "his"." "What is "yours"?" "What is "mine"?" "You'll understand." "This bag is yours, isn't it?" "Bu if I say the opposite, we will quarrel." "Do you want to try?" "Simon, this bag is MINE!" "Say that it's yours." "It's mine..." "I tell you it's mine!" "Well.. so, take it." "Your selflessness is good for your soul." "But... as your penitence  can it be useful to man?" "We don't speak the same language." "Go in peace, Brother." "Protect me, Lord." "I promised you I would come back." "It is the last time." "Vade retro, Satana!" "No more "Vade" than "Retro"." "If the Lord allows that you tempt me," "I'll endure it." "But you 'll succeed in nothing." "The stink of your breathe comes up to me." "You don't smell good, either." "Prepair yourself, we'll do a long travel!" "Very long." "In the name of the Christ..." "Stop with those gestures, this time, it won't help in anything." "Simon of the desert!" "It will surprise you but between you and me, there are only few differences." "As you, I believe in Almighty God." "Because I enjoyed his Presence," "About his unique son, there is a lot to say." "Prepair yourself to leave." "Do you know where I bring you?" "To the Sabbath." "There, you 'll see shooting out the flash of the tongues ...and opening the wet flower of the flesh." "Enough!" "Let's go!" "Do you hear me?" "One is coming to take us." "What are you thinking about?" "About nothing." "What is the name of this dance?" ""Radioactive flesh"." "It's the last dance." "It's the final." "Enjoy yourself!" "I have to leave." "You should better stay here." "Why?" "Where could you go?" "You have to stay here." "You have to stay until the end."