Traduction Masquer
Defence of his flight

19. The Saints courageous in their flight, and divinely favoured.

These things both prove that their previous flight was not the effect of cowardice; and testify that their after conduct also was of no ordinary character: and they loudly proclaim that they possessed in a high degree the virtue of fortitude. For neither did they withdraw themselves on account of a slothful timidity, on the contrary, they were at such times under the practice of a severer discipline than at others; nor were they con P. 262 demned for their flight, or charged with cowardice, by such as are now so fond of criminating others. Nay they were blessed through that declaration of our Lord, ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. ¹’ Nor yet were these their sufferings without profit to themselves; for having tried them as ‘gold in the furnace,’ as Wisdom has said, God found them worthy of Himself ². And then they shone the more ‘like sparks,’ being saved from them that persecuted them, and delivered from the designs of their enemies, and preserved to the end that they might teach the people; so that their flight and escape from the rage of them that sought after them, was according to the dispensation of the Lord. And so they became dear in the sight of God, and had the most glorious testimony to their fortitude.

Traduction Masquer
Apologie de Saint Athanase sur sa fuite

19.

Cette conduite montre que, s’ils avaient fui d’abord, ce n’était point par lâcheté; elle témoigne que leurs derniers actes n’étaient pas d’âmes vulgaires; elle proclame la force de leur courage. Ils ne se retiraient pas par indolence, et, même alors, ils s’exerçaient avec une plus énergique tension. Ils ne se voyaient ni reprocher leur fuite, ni accuser de lâcheté par des hommes tels que ces chercheurs de griefs; mais plutôt ils étaient proclamés heureux par le Seigneur: Heureux, leur disait-il, ceux qui souffrent persécution pour la justice. Un tel travail n’était pas sans fruit pour eux; éprouvés comme l’or dans le creuset, selon l’expression de la Sagesse, Dieu les trouvait dignes de lui; et alors, comme des étincelles, ils brillaient d’un plus vif éclat, sauvés des persécuteurs, délivrés des embûches et conservés pour l’enseignement des peuples. En fuyant, en échappant à la fureur de ceux qui les recherchaient, ils étaient entrés dans l’économie du Seigneur, plus chers à Dieu et honorés du plus beau témoignage de vertu.