DLH II.3c

English, pp.110-112

Saint Eugenius was then led before the King and there he disputed with this bishop of the Arians in defence of the Catholic faith. He was successful in refuting Cyrola completely on the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and, what is more, Christ wrought many miracles through his agency, with the result that the Arian bishop became more and more incensed. With the holy Eugenius at this time were two wise and saintly men, the Bishops Vindimialis and Longinus, his equals in rank and no way inferior to him in their miraculous power; for the holy Vindimialis was said to have raised the dead at that time and Longinus had restored to health many who were afflicted. For his part Eugenius not only cured the blindness of the seeing eye but also that of the spirit.

When the infamous bishop of the Arians saw this, he summoned to his presence a man who shared the same heresy which marred his own life. 'I cannot bear,' said Cyrola, 'that these Bishops should perform so many miracles among the people and that everyone should follow them but neglect me. Do what I tell you. Here are fifty pieces of gold. Go and sit in the square. As I walk by, shut your eyes and press your hand over them. As I come near with the others, shout out at the top of your voice: "Blessed Cyrola, high-priest of our religion, look at me, I beg you, and give proof of your glory and miraculous power by opening my eyes so that I may be held worthy to see the light which I have lost." ‘ The man did as he was told and sat down in the square. As the heretic Cyrola passed by with the holy men of God, he who thought to make a mockery of the Almighty shouted out as loud as he was able: ‘Cyrola the blessed, listen to me! Hear me, holy priest of God! Behold me in my blindness! Let me, too, have evidence of your healing power, from which other blind men have profited, which lepers have experienced and the effects of which the very dead have felt. I beg you, by the miraculous power which you have, to restore to me the sight for which I long, for I am stricken with complete blindness.' Without realizing it, he was speaking the truth, for avarice had made him blind, and for the sake of money he thought to make a mockery of the power of God Almighty. The bishop of the heretics then turned aside, as if about to cure the man's blindness by his miraculous power. Beside himself with vanity and pride, he placed his hand on the man's eyes and proclaimed: 'By virtue of our faith, through whose tenets we so rightly believe in God, may your eyes be opened.' He had hardly uttered this blasphemy when joy was changed to grief and the trickery of the bishop was made plain to all. The eyes of this miserable creature began to hurt so much that he was forced to press them in with his fingers to stop them bursting out of their sockets. Then in his anguish he began to shout: ‘A terrible thing has happened! I have been led astray by an enemy of God's law. The catastrophe has befallen me because I thought to make a mockery of God for money. I have been bribed with fifty pieces of gold to commit this outrage.' Then he said to the bishop: 'Take your gold! Give me back my sight which I have lost through your trickery! And you, glorious followers of Christ, do not despise me in my misery, but help me, for I am on the point of death. This at least I have learnt, that God is not mocked.'

The two saintly men were moved with compassion. 'If thou canst believe,' they said, ‘all things are possible to him that believeth. The man answered at the top of his voice: 'Anyone who will not believe that Christ the Son of God and the Holy Ghost are of equal substance and deity with the Father ought to suffer what I am now enduring. I believe in God the Father Almighty,' he went on. 'I believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God is equal to the Father, I believe that the Holy Ghost is consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son. When they heard this, a pious debate began between them as to which should mark the sign of the Holy Cross upon his eyes, and each in turn was willing to yield the honour to the others. Vindimialis and Longinus begged Eugenius to lay his hands upon the blind man, but he asked them to do it. It was they who laid their hands upon his head and Saint Eugenius who marked the Cross of Christ on the blind man's eyes. 'In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,' said he, ‘very Godhead, which we hold to be three Persons, omnipotent and equal, may your eyes be opened.' The pain immediately stopped and the man recovered his former health. By the blinding of this man it was made quite clear how the bishop of the heretics was covering the eyes of men's hearts with the miserable veil of his doctrine, so that none could see the true light with the eyes of faith. Wretched creature, who entered not by the gate, that is, by Christ, the true gate, who became a wolf rather than the shepherd of his flock, who, in the depravity of his own heart, strove to put out the torch of faith which he ought rather to be kindling in the hearts of believers! The holy men of God performed other miracles among the people, who all proclaimed with one voice: ‘The Father is true God, the Son is true God, the Holy Ghost is true God, each to be worshipped in one faith, each to be feared with one fear, each to be honoured with a single honour! It is quite clear to us that Cyrola's doctrine is false.'

Deutsch, p.69, 71

Und sogleich wurde der Schmerz von ihm genommen, und er wurde so gesund, wie zuvor. Das aber wurde durch seine Blindheit höchst augenscheinlich dargetan, wie der Bischof der Irrgläubigen die Augen des Geistes durch die armselige Decke seiner Lehre verhüllte, daß niemand das wahre Licht mit den Augen des Glaubens erblicken sollte. O des Elenden, der nicht durch die Tür eingetreten, - denn Christus ist die richtige Tür - ein Wolf, nicht ein Wächter der Herde war, und die Leuchte des Glaubens, die er in den Herzen der Gläubigen hätte anzünden sollen, in der Bosheit seines Herzens auslöschen wollte!

Latin, p.68, 70 (42/43)

Et statim ablata dolore, ad pristinam rediit sanitatem. Manefestissime autem patuit per huius caecitatem, qualiter hereticorum episcopus oculos cordium misero adsertiones suae velabat amictu, ne veram lucem ulli liceret fidei oculis contemplare. O miserum, qui non ingressus per ianuam, id est per Christo,/qui est ianua vera, lupus magis gregi quam custus effectus est et facem fidei, quam in credentium cordibus debuerat accendere, in pravitate cordis sui conabatur extinguere !

Notes:

commentary/interweaving of scripture yet no footnote here.

- enter by the gate (John 10:1-10)

Jesus and John are the only two recorded to have healed the blind.

• Luke 18:35-43 / Mark 10:46-52 / Matthew 20:29-34