ory; and greatly
wondering, he raised to his Lord a song of thanksgiving.

And he continued to the end, verily leading on earth the life of an
angel, and after the death of his aged friend using himself to severer
austerity. Twenty and five years old was he when he left his earthly
kingdom, and adopted the monastic life; and thirty and five years in
this vast desert did he, like one dis-fleshed, endure rigours above the
endurance of man, but not before he had delivered the souls of many men
from the soul-devouring dragon, and presented them to God, saved for
aye; winning herewith the Apostolic grace. In will he had proved a
martyr, and had with boldness confessed Christ before kings and
tyrants, and had proved himself the mighty-voiced preacher of his
greatness, and had overthrown many spirits of wickedness in the desert,
and had overcome all in the strength of Christ. Partaking richly of
the gift of grace from above, he kept his mind's eye purified from
every earth-born cloud, and looked forward to the things that are to
come, as though they were already come. Christ was his recompense for
all: Christ was his desire: Christ he ever saw as present with him:
Christ and his fair beauty everywhere met his sight, according to the
saying of the prophet, "I have set God always before me; for he is on
my right hand, therefore I shall not fall." And again, "My soul
cleaveth to thee; thy right hand hath upholden me." For verily
Ioasaph's soul clave to Christ, being knit to him in indissoluble
union. From this marvellous work he never swerved, never altered the
rule of his ascetic life, from beginning to end, but maintained his
zeal from his youth even until old age; or rather, he daily advanced
higher in virtue, and daily gained purer power of vision.

Thus did Ioasaph spend his days, and render unto him that called him
labour worthy of his calling, having crucified the world to himself,
and himself unto the world, and, at the last, departed in peace unto
the God of peace, and passed to that Master whom he had alway longed
for. There he appeared in the immediate presence of the Lord, and was
crowned with the crown of glory already prepared for him: there it is
granted to him to behold Christ, to be with Christ, to rejoice for ever
in the fair beauty of Christ, into whose hands he commended his spirit,
when he departed to walk in the land of the living, where is the song
of them that feast, the dwelling-place of them that