DLH X.24

English, p.583-4

In Antioch there lived a man who bad a wife and children, and who was much given to acts of charity. In all his life no day passed, from the time when he first had some property of his own that is, without his inviting a poor man in to eat at his table. One day he searched the whole city until nightfall without finding a single needy person whom he could invite to share his meal. As darkness began to fall he went outside the city gate, and there he saw a man in a white robe who was standing with two other men. As he looked at him he was filled with awe, just like Lot in the tale of long ago. 'My lord,' he said, 'you seem to be a stranger here. Would you cue to come to my humble home and have a meal with me and then retire to bed to rest? In the morning you can go on your way, wherever you wish.' The oldest of the three men, who held a cloth in his hand, gave him the following answer: 'Were you not able, then, O man of God, even with the help of Simeon, to save this city from destruction?' He raised his hand and waved the cloth which he was holding over one half of the town. Immediately all the buildings came crashing to the ground and nothing at all was left standing. Old men and young children were crushed to death, hundreds were killed with their wives, men and women together. When he saw this the man was so dazed by the presence of the stranger and by the din made by the houses as they collapsed that he fell to the ground as if he were dead. The stranger raised the hand in which he held the cloth and was about to wave it over the other half of the town, but he was stopped by the two companions who stood at his side. They begged him with terrible oaths to spare this second half from destruction. His fury abated and he stayed his hand. He picked up the man who had fallen to the ground and said to him: 'Go home. You have no reason to fear. Your sons are safe and so is your wife. None of them has perished, and your household, too, is unharmed. You have been saved by your habit of praying regularly and by your daily acts of charity to the poor.' As he said this, he and his companions disappeared from the man's sight and they were never seen again. The man went back into the town. Half of it he found completely destroyed and overthrown, together with the inhabitants and their flocks. Later on many of them were taken out of the ruins dead, those few who were still alive being badly hurt. The promises made by the Angel of the Lord, if I may call him that, were fulfilled. When the man reached his own home he found everybody there unharmed; but they were mourning the death of their neighbours, who had met their end in all the houses round about. The right hand of the Lord had protected him and all his household in the midst of the unrighteous, and be was saved from the peril of death, just as they tell of Lot in Sodom long ago.

Deutsch, S.383,385

Es lebte ein Mann in Antiochia, der fromm und mildtätig war; er hatte

eine Frau und mehrere Kinder, und es verging in seinem Leben kein Tag,

seitdem er etwas Eigenes besaß, an dem er nicht sein Mahl mit einem Armen geteilt hätte. Als er nun eines Tages bis zum Abend in der Stadt herumging und nirgends einen Armen fand, mit dem er sein Mahl hätte genießen können, ging er bei Einbruch der Nacht vor das Tor und fand dort einen Mann in einem weißen Kleide, bei dem zwei andere standen; als er jenen erblickte, überlief ihn ein Schauder, und er sprach, wie jener Lot, von dem die alten Geschichten berichten: ,,Vielleicht ist mein Herr ein Fremdling; kehret doch ein zum1 Hause eures Knechts1; nehmt das Mahl und bleibet über Nacht; morgen2 früh aber ziehet eure Straße2". Da sprach zu ihm der erste von ihnen, der ein Tuch in der Hand hielt: ,,Du, Mann Gottes, und euer Simeon3, ihr konntet diese Stadt nicht vom Untergang retten". Und er erhob die Hand und schwang das Tuch, das er hielt, über die halbe Stadt hin, und sogleich stürzten alle Häuser und alles, was dort gebaut war, zusammen; da wurden Greise und Kinder, Männer und Frauen verschüttet, und alle von beiderlei Geschlecht kamen um4. Als jener dies sah, sank er, betäubt durch den Anblick des Mannes und durch das Krachen der stürzenden Häuser, zu Boden und war wie tot. Jener Mann aber erhob abermals seine Hand mit dem Tuche über die andre Hälfte der Stadt, aber die beiden andren hielten ihn zurück und beschworen ihn unter fürchterlichen Beteuerungen, daß er der halben Stadt schonen möchte, daß sie nicht auch zusammenstürze; da legte sich sein Zorn, er hielt seine Hand zurück und

hob jenen Mann auf, der auf die Erde gesunken war, und sprach: ,,Geh'5 hinab in dein Haus5 und sei6 ohne Furcht6; denn deine Kinder, dein Weib und dein ganzes Haus ist gerettet, und keiner von ihnen ist umgekommen; denn dein unablässiges Gebet hat dich gerettet, und deine Almosen, die du täglich den Armen gibst." Und bei diesen Worten entschwanden sie seinen Augen und wurden nicht mehr gesehen. Jener aber ging in die Stadt zurück und fand sie zur Hälfte eingestürzt und die Menschen und Tiere verschüttet; von ihnen wurden manche tot aus dem Schutt hervorgezogen, einige wenige fand man, wenn auch verstümmelt, noch am Leben. Aber auch das blieb nicht unerfüllt, was ihm der Engel des Herrn selbst (wenn ich ihn so nennen darf) verkündet hatte. Denn als er zurückkam, fand er sein ganzes Haus unversehrt, und er hatte nur den Tod von Angehörigen zu beklagen, die in andren Häusern umgekommen waren; so beschützte ihn mit seinem Hause inmitten der Ungerechten die7 Rechte des Herrn7, und er wurde errettet von der Gefahr des Todes, gleichwie einst Lot, dessen wir gedachten, in Sodom.

Latin, p.382, 384 (516,517)

Homo erat in Anthiocia valde devotus in elymosinis, coniugem ac liberos habens, nec umquam ei in omni vita sua dies praeteriit, postquam quiddam proprium habere coepit, quod sine paupere aepulum praelibasset. Hie una die, cum circuisset urbem usque ad vesperum et repperire non potuisset egenum, cum quo cybum capere possit, egressus foris portam, cum nox inrueret, repperit virum in veste alba cum duobus aliis stantem, quem aspiciens, quasi Loth ille antiqua memoratus historia, terrore suffusus, ait: ,Et forsitan peregrinus est dominus meus, dignetur accedere ad domum servi1 sui, et sumpto aepulo, quiescite in strato; mane autem proficiscimini viam2, quam volueritis'. Cui ille, qui erat senior, tenens sudarium in manu sua, ait: ,Non poteras, o homo Dei, cum Simeone vestro3 harre urbem salvare, ne subverteretur ?' Et elevans manum, excussit sudarium quod tenebat super medietatem urbis, et statim conruerunt omnia aedificia vel quodcumque ibi structurn fuit; ibique obpressi surrt senes cum infantibus, viri cum mulieribus, atque uterque sexus interiit4. Quod ille cernens, tarn de persona viri quam de sonito ruinae hebes effectus, ruit in terram et / factus est velut mortuus. Elevansque iterum vir ille manum cum sudarium quasi super aliam medietatem urbis, adpraehensus est a duobus sociis, qui cum eo erant, atque obsecratus terribilibus sacramentis, ut indulgeret medietatem urbis, ne rueret; mitigatusque a furore, sustenuit manum suam, atque elevans hominem, qui corruerat in terram, ait: , Vade ad domum tuam5. Ne timeas6! Filii enim tui cum uxore et omni domo tua salvi sunt, nec quisquam ex eis periit; costodivit enim te oratio assidua et elymosinae, quas cotidiae exercis in pauperes'. Et haec dicens, discesserunt ab oculis eius nec ei apparuerunt ultra. Ille autem regressus in urbe, repperit urbis medietatem dirutam atque subversam cum hominibus pecoribusque, ex quibus nonnulli a ruinis deinceps extracti sunt mortui, pauci debilitate reperti surrt vivi. Verumtamen nec illa cassata surrt, quae viro huic ab ipso, ut ita dicam, angelo Domini sunt effata. Nam veniens, omnem domum suam incolomem repperit, tantum funera propinquorum, quae in aliis domibus effecta fuerant, lamentabat,' protexitque eum in medium iniquorum dextera Domini7 cum domo sua, salvatusque est a periculis mortis ac velut memoratus Loth quondam in Sodomis.

1. 1 Buch Mos 19, 2.

2. 1 Buch Mos 19, 2.

3. Vgl. oben S. 181, Anm. 6.

4. 
   

5. 2 Sam 11, 8

6. Jes 41, 10

7. Psalm 118, 16.

8. Vgl. Ev. Matth. 24, 8

9. Ev. Matth. 24, 7.

10. Marc. 13, 22

Notes:

- sodom a family saved