Alexander the Sleepless XXIII

Over a half century of ascetic rigor, the Blessed One suffered unceasing oppression, nakedness, hunger, and thirst, and rejoiced in them. He taught the word of truth bluntly and outspokenly, gathering up multitudes and ferrying them to Christ, as his disciples do today. He was brilliant at it, and to the blessed and untroubled end of his labors, when a saintly sleep at last came over him, he was outpaced by no one. He was laid to rest in Bithynia, at a place called Gomōn [which Janin locates here, but van Esbroeck says was here].

Through the Blessed One's intercessions after taking leave of life, the order attracted still more disciples. I have already told of their renown, not just locally but all over creation, and of the monastery founded by the leaders of the brotherhood, the aforementioned Monastery of the Sleepless Ones, so named for their unceasing and unsleeping doxology. It is an institution worthy of his way of life. Here were his blessed, saintly remains translated, and in order that God, Who loves humankind, might demonstrate right there that that He honors those who honor Him, and that everything the Blessed One did was in accordance with His will, these holy relics work miracles every day. Meanwhile, those of unclean spirit cannot endure the mention of his name, and react as if burned by the sound of it.

As proof of our brotherly love and affection, and caring only for the truth, we have despite our incapacity for the task [set forth the Blessed One's virtues] as we saw them. By the Lord, our hope is that the Holy Spirit will inspire others with more knowledge than we to expound it more clearly, as an edifying boon to those who would follow this way of life. May it happen that we all become disciples worthy of him, and may his intercessions guide us to what he shares in now, by the good will and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

          

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.52-4            

Alexander the Sleepless XXII

Fifty years of struggle. Who is equal to narrating them down to the last detail? Who is graced with sufficient inspiration for the task? Faithless haters of the good will no doubt take me for a teller of impossible things, outlandish things, all out of proportion with human nature, because flesh is all they are. But the faithful, who believe as we in property as something held in common with our neighbors, will accept that we are telling the truth, for they also believe in our Lord who vowed: "The works I do, you will not only do yourselves, but greater works besides," when his disciples marveled at the withering of the fig tree. And again: "All things are possible for one who believes."

As for us, we recognize no higher proof than the correctness of the way of life perfected by our teacher. So let us finish our story here, where his life came to its close.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.52

Alexander the Sleepless XXI

They released Alexander, thinking that God's slave would be isolated, but he had Christ with him and was not alone. As if roused by one trumpet, all the brothers came together just as soon as he was free, and that same day the rule of their service to God was reinstated, and they carried it through as if as if nothing had happened—nay, exulting in it like finders of spiritual treasure, and still more brothers joined them in their progress in the Lord.

If you're ever of a mind to travel the whole world under heaven, you'll find disciples of this Blessed One blossoming in Roman and barbarian lands alike. For they founded the famous Monastery of the Sleepless Ones, and many great ones besides, each as conspicuous as the sun in heaven. And if I tried to number every single one of the noble athlete's virtues, "time would fail me," just as the blessed apostle Paul said.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.51

Alexander the Sleepless XX

Then the Enemy of Truth got in Alexander's face and bellowed: "Why do you bedevil me before my appointed time? Mine own Master and my Judge are unto me." Consequently, the judges took no just decision, and their judgment went against the greater judge. They took it in hopes he would be torn apart by the people [of Constantinople] and the Devil's shield-bearers. But Alexander took courage from God's protection, and made his way through their midst, for the mob were smitten by a terror of the Lord, and their mentality fell apart.

[....] When that battle was stopped by the power of Christ, Truth's Enemy did not keep silent, but schemed and did everything he could to arrest the incessant hymn-singing that was mobilized against him. Considering how often states and nations are betrayed by their own citizens, he hit upon the tactic of enlisting confederates of Alexander's own rank. And together with his holy brethren, the blessed one was seized, and clapped in chains and beaten. Their hymn-singing was arrested for several days, and the brethren and the holy powers were awash in grief, for all were hauled back [to their monasteries of origin] by their former shepherds on [episcopal] command.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.49-50

Alexander the Sleepless XIX

Alexander's service was carried out to perfection, with God's help, and his disciples were far advanced in their faith. They took so much joy in their psalms and hymns and peaceful way of life that the Enemy was outraged at the sight, and went against the noble athlete like an army going to war.

Before armies charge at each other in unison with swords drawn, and victory goes to the stronger force, they fire missiles from far away, and that is how the Enemy began. For fifty years he had battled Alexander, and always the battle went against him, and the man remained unbroken. Now, for one last time, the Enemy joined all his demonic forces to a population he had recruited from humanity and, hurling his bolt against the slave of God, made his advance.

And so word went to the eparchs that Alexander the monk was a heretic, out to defile the church of God. But with his prayers to see him through, the blessed one's enemies couldn't even stand up to his shadow, so to speak. For it is in the nature of falsehood to be ruined by the truth. To state the truth opaquely, righteousness made it through the storm.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.48

Alexander the Sleepless XVIII

I will narrate another miracle, supernatural and superhuman, about a medicinal brew the foresightful blessed one prepared for some brothers who were sick. For this purpose, they took ramekins of clay and set them in the ground [near the hearth] to be heated there, and he tapped four brothers to oversee the preparation in day-long shifts. Then there came a day when it slipped their minds—or rather, the Lord allowed it to slip their minds, in order that His servant stand revealed to all. 

It was a day when no one paid attention. All they did with the ramekins that morning was to wash them, fill them with cold water and leave them sitting there. But when the hour drew nigh, and they were reminded of their duty, they were ashamed to look at any of their brothers, and did not dare to go to their abbot and let him know. Finally, one of them got up the courage, and went to him and said, "We had no wood, and heated no water." The blessed one, when he heard this, said, "And why were you not mindful of it this morning? Not that it matters: I know you're trying to test me. You can go back now, your water's hot." Doubtful as they were, they went back and found the ramekins bubbling, though it was obvious no fire had gone beneath them that whole day. And once again, the brothers marveled at the man's faith.

These few miracles have been chosen in order that we may believe in the many I could set forth, and that all things were possible for him through his perfect faith.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.47

Alexander the Sleepless XVII

Certain faithless men took it in hand to test his grace. Day and night, they shadowed the brothers to find out where their food was coming from, for every day they saw it ready, and that after taking what sufficed them, these slaves of God took no thought for the morrow, but gave it in abundance to the poor. Through the Holy Spirit, the blessed one knew of their investigation, and at a time when none had knocked upon their door, said to one of his followers, "Go, and let in what the Lord has sent us." And before the brother got there, a man in white came knocking. The brother opened it to find a basket full of fresh-baked bread, still warm—but the angel of God who had knocked so urgently was nowhere to be seen, leaving a man standing there with the bread. "Who sent you?" the brother asked when he came in. The man responded, "I was taking my loaves out of the oven when a man of giant size appeared beside me, robed in white, and fiercely pressured me to 'Take all that bread to the slaves of the Most High!' He made me follow him to this place, knocked on the door, and then he vanished. I don't even know where I am."

Hearing all this, the brother reported it to his blessed abbot. The holy Alexander received the bread and served it warm to the brothers, who were already at their tables. With gratitude, they took their share and gave the rest to their brothers, the indigent poor. And [those formerly faithless men] marveled when they saw the unrestrained liberality of him who, in accordance with Scripture, gave no thought to the morrow.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.45

Alexander the Sleepless XVI

The blessed one reflected on the zeal and faith he observed in the brothers and the magnitude of their devotion. What could this mean? Through the Holy Spirit, it dawned on him that even in these quarters he was being called to wage the struggle. Energized by this conclusion, he made himself ready, and prayed for Christ's will to be done swiftly. And God, Who loves humanity, was swift to answer his prayer. 

Alexander took up residence near the shrine of the sainted martyr Menas, and within a few days there flocked to him noble athletes of Christ out of every monastery in the area—three hundred of them, all sound of mind, belonging to three races: Romans, Greeks, and Syrians. To fulfill his mission of hymn-singing without pause, Alexander separated them into six groups, and schooled them in monastic poverty, molding everything after the pattern of his old rule. Within a matter of days, the hierarchy he laid out was ordered as to every virtue, and the basis for their struggle was made plain to all. For he grouped them in tens and fifties, ordaining decarchs and penetecontarchs to lead them, and hourly they poured their strength into singing the praises of God.

On beholding their systemized struggle, their ceaseless hymn-singing, their immaculate poverty, and the incredible mysteries made no less wondrous by the evident truth of their accomplishment, the commonfolk of the city came devoutly to Alexander as a benefactor and teacher, and inhaled his teachings about hope and the life to come. Before long, he had become the harbor of salvation and educator of justice for all. When he was silent, his life gave continual voice, crying its admonishments aloud against the adulterators of God's commandments, while his free and unrestrained speech excoriated the unrepentant. Above all, though, it was seeing the extremities of poverty the brothers took on, and the severity of their discipline, and the fact that their possessions were limited to parchments containing the holy scriptures, and their capacity for singing hymns without pause, and the bodiless way they inhabited their bodies—it was seeing all these things that roused the people's astonishment and praise of God, Who had revealed His incredible mysteries even in those quarters.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.43-4

Alexander the Sleepless XV

The clergy, seeing every day how things were going, professed their admiration but were privately consumed by envy. [....] Taking counsel together, they went and entreated the military commander, asking him one favor: that he banish the holy one and his brothers to the city of Chalcis in Syria. But God, Who loves humankind, made their knavery a benefit, since the blessed one's Syrian retreat would expedite his reunion with spiritual children he had not laid eyes on after twenty years.

The faith of everyone [in Chalcis] was strengthened upon Alexander's entry into the city. The rulers' fear of him was such that he spent some time as a ward of the public guards, only for the citizens to take over his protection, such was their desire to be with him. And he marveled at God's forbearance, and how He had frustrated the subterfuge of [Antioch's] wicked people, of which Alexander was well aware.

After some time, he resolved to withdraw and move on someplace else, as he had done six times in the past. He could not take leave openly, due to the military commander's orders, so he changed clothes with a beggar, and in this dress made his departure by night. 

Many days on the road later, he came to a place where he discovered a monastery called "Barleycorn," whose men were distinguished for their piety. He went in and greeted them all, and was struck by the order and consistency of the holy brothers' life, and the greatness of the love they shared. "I recognize this way of life," he said to himself, "as if it bore the stamp of my old precepts. I wonder how they were spread into this region, for their leaders are new to me. Never on all the roads I've traveled have I seen anything like it." Then, on learning who had instituted the monastery and its principles, he discovered that it was founded by one of his own flock! And he gave glory to God, Who showed him that his labors had borne fruit, even in that [unknown, but seemingly westward-lying] place. 

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.40-2

Alexander the Sleepless XIV

Theodotus, bishop of Antioch, was in thrall to a party of wretched hypocrites (called periodeutae). On learning that the blessed Alexander had entered the city with a mob of monks singing psalms without pause, he gave orders for their abuse and expulsion with blows, and this warrant to injure the servants of God was carried out unsparingly as they were driven away. But the holy one saw through the Devil's trappings and, in the middle of the night, together with his brethren, he re-entered the city unseen, and found an old bathhouse in which to resume their continuous singing of hymns. [The acoustics were probably amazing.] Their audacity sparked the bishop's wrath, which he dared not take out on them again for fear of the people of his city. For the Antiochenes, having heard of Alexander's incredible feats and seen them for themselves, revered the blessed one as a prophet, wherefore they abandoned the church to attend to him and his wondrous teachings.

Finding that honor, glory, and the license to speak universally without restraint were now his, and that his preaching was enjoyed by all, and that they were ready to do anything he called them to, he saw it was time for action, and turned straightaway to caring for the city's poor. Here too, the holy one's majesty of soul is cause for wonder. Hounded from place to place, this man without possessions focused his zeal on the construction of a hospice. He gathered the city's wealthy before him, and lectured them as the divine presence dictated, and that is how the necessities of the hospice were furnished. Even with the bishop and the military commander, he was conspicuously unrestrained in his complaints about many things they had left undone. In short, he made himself the teacher and the trainer of all and sundry.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.38-9

Alexander the Sleepless XIII

At the end of four days' travel, they arrived at the place where a large monastic community had for its chief Alexander's own brother, their archimandrite. Did his way of life accord with the Gospel of the Lord? It was Alexander's intention to find out. 

He brought a single member of his brotherhood up to the gates with him and knocked. "Patience," responded the gatekeeper in the ordinary fashion. "Let me notify the abbot, and then you may enter." But Alexander refused to wait, and followed him inside, to find out if the archimandrite would be roused against his gatekeeper. 

When his saintly brother, whose name was Peter, beheld him after thirty years, he recognized his sibling at once, for even in darkness it is natural to recognize one's own. And he fell at his feet, and hugged them, and begged Alexander to forgive what had taken place. But the blessed one spoke harshly and accusingly. "Our father Abraham received his guests personally and attended to them, and our lord Jesus Christ made it the law." And he shook the dust from his clothes and went back on the road. The most reverend Peter and all the brothers of his community were in tears as they begged him to stay, even if just one day, but Alexander declined. And with this lesson in true monastic poverty and divine love he left them, and set off for Antioch.

The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.37

Alexander the Sleepless XII

In the company of his brethren, whose hymn-singing continued without interruption, the blessed Alexander went all the way across the desert to arrive at Solomon's city—the city he built "in the wilderness," as it says in the Book of Kings, now called Palmyra. But when, from far away, the people of the city caught sight of the brethren drawing nearer in their numbers [....], they closed the gates. "Who could possibly feed all those men?" they said to one another. "If they come into our city, then all of us will starve."

At this, the holy man gave praise to God. "Trust in the Lord is better than trust in men," he said. "Take courage, brothers, for the Lord watches over us in unsuspected ways." And [sure enough,] the barbarians of those parts showed a humanitarian concern that was unparalleled. The brethren had abided in the desert for three days when, from a distance of four days' travel, there arrived a group of camel-riders sent to them by the Lord with supplies, in accordance with what the holy one had said. To God the brethren gave praise and thanks, and let others share in the bounty. It was so much more than they needed that they found themselves distributing the goods sent to them among the poor of that city.

Some eager members of the brethren formed a plan. As consolation for their recent sufferings, they wished to bring refreshment to the brethren in their great numbers, and so they disobeyed the holy one by preparing a mixed grill for the brethren's gustatory delight. But Alexander decided to give them a lesson in sublimating their woes. As soon as the feast was all prepared, he took up the parchments of the Holy Gospel as was his custom, saying "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will toward men," which was his habitual way of taking leave. With that, he gave word that the feast be left untouched, and went back on the road. And the brethren held back from all that was laid out for them, and got back on the road. 

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.35-6

Alexander the Sleepless XI

All along the the Roman frontier, the blessed Alexander went strengthening everybody in their faith. He fed the poor as if they were his children, and taught the rich to do good works. His words struck them with such compunction that they brought forth the documents of their claims against their debtors, and burned them up before him. But some pestilent types, whose wealth was their plumage, rose up with their minds full of darkness and said to him, "Have you come to us to make us poor?" On these men who were so ungrateful for the gifts of God, the blessed one pronounced a curse, and at that fortified camp there was no rain for three years. 

When the cause for Alexander's anger became known to all, they went in a single-minded body to extirpate the guilty from the camp. In terror these men took refuge in the church, and tearfully begged forgiveness for their wrongs. At this, the rest of the mob were struck with fear of winding up in the same position. It was said that the blessed Alexander had shown up in Antioch, and they agonized over this, conjecturing that he had gone there to denounce them to military high command. So they went to the bishops of the Romans, that they might intervene with the blessed Alexander through letters on their behalf. And the bishops sped their letters to the blessed one, entreating him to take pity on the residents of the camp, and to plead with God on their behalf. 

The holy one cried aloud when he received their letters and learned of the community's anguish, and he spoke sorrowfully to the Lord. "Who am I, my Lord, that at my word You have visited evil on guiltless people? I shall always be grateful to You, Master, for listening to me who am a sinner. And now I beg for your compassion. Take pity on the poor, and restore their lost fruits of the past three years, that I may know Whose servant I am." [....] And it happened that in the fourth year, that camp took in a harvest like none before, just as Alexander had enjoined.

But the Lord's wrath against those pestilential men was unabated. In a matter of days, their children all died, and their herds and homes were raided by barbarians and thieves, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that it was on account of the grief they had caused the holy man.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.33-4

Alexander the Sleepless X

The blessed Alexander brought his picked disciples across the Euphrates River, and off they went into the Persian Desert. With no garments to change into, nor any provision but the parchments of the holy Scriptures, they kept up their rule of singing hymns night and day without pause, and their stay in the desert went on and on.

At this time began a trial of the disciples' fleshly needs, that the worthiest among them might be revealed. They went for many days with nothing to eat but tree-nuts, and did not break ranks until some thirty of them began to mutter against the blessed one. Just as happened to Moses, they said to Alexander, "Have you led us into this desert to die of hunger?" This was premeditated, for their secret desire was to return to the monastery—as the blessed one well knew. Thanks to the intervention of the Holy Spirit, their desire could not be dissimulated from him, who was in truth a second Moses, faithful to God in all His house. Calling them to account, and addressing them like the faithless reprobates they were, he gave them leave to return to the monastery he had left behind, saying in a great voice: "Trust me, brothers, that the Lord watches over us, and will refute your lack of faith this very day."

They had gone but a short way when the holy man's words were fulfilled by God. For it was then that He caused a detachment of Roman tribunes and soldiers to come forth, loaded with goods on God's behalf, to summon the brothers to bless their fortifications. (Between the Roman and Persian terrirories there are fortifications set to hold off the barbarians, at a distance of ten or twenty mile-markers apart from each other.) Seeing them from afar, the deserting brothers realized that it was just as the divine father had spoken, and their faith was reinforced. Some of them fell on their faces in repentance, and rejoined the brothers. The rest went away to the inner desert, where they dwelled until the end of their lives.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.32-3

Alexander the Sleepless IX

Alexander made another search for what to request of God, and found in Gospel that the disciples appointed to proclaim the kingdom of our lord Jesus Christ had numbered seventy. And he asked of God that this same number of faithful zealots, capable of broadcasting the word of God to the heathen Gentiles, be appointed from his own disciples. And this too God gave him, appointing out of Alexander's disciples seventy who were powerful in faith just as the holy man had asked. 

I will tell the true story of how this came about. When his eight squadrons, arrayed in perfect faith, had with joy and gladness in their hearts been sending prayers and hymns up to God for quite some time, Alexander thought to himself and said, "Let no complacency infect this mighty suspension of earthly cares." And he returned to imposing harsh asperities upon his person, as was his way. And he convened a hundred and fifty noble soldiers of Christ who were truly armored with the breastplate of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Holy Spirit. He called each of them by name and said, "Brothers, let us test ourselves and the perfection of our faith. Let us cross that fearsome desert of the faithless, and show through our works that we believe in God with all our hearts, and not just in His word." 

The original plan was to go to Egypt, and school the faithless of that place whose trust was in [the idols of] their own handwork. And his true disciples committed wholeheartedly to following him as soon as they heard the plan. But the Holy Spirit prevented this venture, and the blessed Alexander resolved to quit the monastery without telling anyone. "I am going to look in on our brothers in the desert," he told them instead, and assigned one Trophimus, a calm and gentle holy man of God, to be their abbot. And with his usual exhortations and a prayer, he bid them all farewell and left. And then he took back off across the Euphrates River.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.31-2

Alexander the Sleepless VIII

Things went on this way for seven years. Then Alexander made another inquiry into what else to ask from God, and found the prophetic words: "On the law of the Lord he will meditate day and night." He thought to himself and said, "How is that even possible?" Reason furnished the reply: "The Holy Spirit would not send us an impossible command through the oracle by any means." [....] And he devoted three years to preyer and fasting day and night, and beseeching God that this command, albeit a job for heavenly powers, might yet be fulfilled through him upon the earth. 

God was well aware of His servant's reverence and goodwill, and the burning heat of his zeal, and in His complaisance and philanthropy granted Alexander's wish, disclosing Himself visibly and saying to him: "Be the founder of what you wish for, and at your word it will stand on earth until this age comes to its end." (Alexander conveyed this to us as if it had happened to someone else, and in this he was a disciple of the blessed apostle Paul, who narrated his visionary rapture as something that befell another person.)

After this mystery was revealed to him, he sought some standard for fulfilling the command, but on seeing the weakness of human nature, he was disappointed. For he ransacked both Testaments, and scanned the greatest men of every era for someone to emulate, in order that he might fulfill his good intentions and save many souls—and found that no one on earth had ever accomplished this prodigious feat. So Alexander took the universe's Maker as his guru.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.29-30

Alexander the Sleepless VII

To stand revealed as a second Jacob! He prayed to God that this would be allowed him, and God in His love for humanity allowed it. 

Adding up the parallels between them, the blessed Alexander said to himself: "Jacob was the shepherd of unreasoning flocks, and my goal is to be the shepherd of reasoning ones. He demanded to receive a just wage from Laban at the end of seven years, and when my seven years are up I will win my Master's grace. At the end of twenty years of service, he had four wives and was the father of assemblies, and in twenty years of service to my Master I will dedicate four choruses to Him, each one singing in a different language. Jacob, in fear for his life, appeased his brother with eight herds of livestock, but I will win salvation with eight choruses singing hymns to God. And whereas he had twelve sons of flesh and blood, I have twelve readings from divine Scripture." For twenty years these thoughts were his occupation, and the jar was his second home. 

During this time, there formed around him a group of four hundred aspirants who, believing that through Alexander the Kingdom of Heaven could be earned, adopted his excellent and blameless way of life, so that they too might be intimates of Christ. Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Copts—altogether these men were speakers of four languages, and he organized them into eight choruses, singing and psalmodizing to God with articulate fervor. And this is how his monastery was founded. [....] In fulfillment of holy Gospel, he gave no thought to any provision for the brothers' needs beyond the day at hand. All else went to the poor. They kept no change of clothes. And they were content in the words of God through all these austerities, and thrived on the hope of things to come.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless III.26-7

Alexander the Sleepless VI

For two days, he journeyed off into the desert until he reached a bandits' refuge, where thirty pernicious characters came under the authority of an arch-bandit, and not one city or country district was left unspattered by iniquity at their hands. The blessed Alexander had heard this from many people, and called on God's aid in presenting Him with the souls of these villainous men as tribute.

God knew how good Alexander's intentions were, and granted his request. For when he got together with the arch-bandit, and made known to him the word of faith, the bandit was moved to astonishment and sincere belief, and he accepted and was honored with the grace of holy baptism.
       After had risen from the sacred font, the blessed Alexander said to him, "Did you ask for anything, as you went before the sacred font?"
     "Yes," he said.
     "What did you ask for?" responded Alexander.
      To which the bandit: "I asked the Lord to take my life quickly." And he lived for one week longer, repenting of the deeds he had committed, and on the eighth day his Lord took him.

The bandit's thirty men were witness to this incredible marvel, and begged the blessed Alexander that they too might be honored with the gift of Christ. So they went through holy baptism, believing sincerely in our lord Jesus Christ. They were so hot to enter the faith that they converted their robbers' den into a monastery, wherein to stay and serve the Lord with all their hearts. It was not long before God deemed them worthy men, and the blessed Alexander saw their potential in the faith, and their power to build it up in others. He appointed one to serve as abbot (having made sure of the man's amplitude of faith), and bid them farewell, rejoicing and praying for them as he went back on the road. 

For two days he journeyed, up to the Euphrates River and across it, a Jacob in spirit. And he found a large storage jar sunk in the earth, and spent his days praying in the wilderness, and by night he would stay in this jar.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless (III.24-6)

Alexander the Sleepless V

Rabbula spent a whole week with the blessed Alexander after witnessing this miracle, receiving instruction in the word of truth in strictest terms. Being convinced of all these matters, he begged for enlightenment about everything else. [....] The men of the city were also witnesses to the miracle, and on seeing the totality of Rabbula's conversion, they came with their wives and children to believe in our lord Jesus Christ—so hot to enter upon the faith that before they had even heard the word of God, they raced to receive the seal of holy baptism.

But the blessed Alexander, desirous of ascertaining the rigor of their belief, told them, "To receive the seal of baptism, first you must demonstrate your faith through works. Therefore if idols are being kept in anyone's house, let them be brought into the open and liquidated by their keepers' hands." Hearing this, everyone hastened to be the first to demonstrate their zeal by pulverizing their own idols. The mysterious ways of God were evident on that day, in that no one wishing to hide their idols under a false show of faith was able to do so, for everyone in the city knew each others' secrets, and so they raced to bring them out under threat of denunciation. In this way, the people were purified together with their homes, and in short order their faith was reinforced, and they proved themselves worthy of the grace of holy baptism.

[....] Alexander was himself the father of a rational flock, and seeing Rabbula well established in his post, and knowing him to be capable of leading others to God, such that all would come to follow him in due time, he exulted in his heart, fully satisfied by these accomplishments that "for one who believeth, all things are possible," and that Master God is disposed to give the right things to those who ask Him. And he considered what else he might request of the complaisant Christ.
     The people of the city loved Alexander so exceedingly, desiring him to be their pastor, that they set in motion every tactic of keeping him with them. Knowing this, he made plans to leave the city in secret. But the people found this out, and so as not to lose their true father, they surveilled him night and day and posted guards at the city gate. So the blessed one, being unable to talk his way out of the city, had his disciples lower him from the wall in a wicker basket, just like the blessed Paul who exited the city [of Damascus] in the same way. 

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless (II.14, 16-7, 23)

Alexander the Sleepless IV

Then he heard of a city ruled by activity of the Evil One, where adoration of idols was a non-stop festival and the people rejoiced in sacrilege. Alexander braced his loins with the preparation of the Gospel, charged up to their celebrated temple and set fire to it, and pulled it down with godlike power. The prize was his, nor did he decamp from it, but made his seat there in the temple.

The people of the place were apoplectic, and they raced up to put him to death, but at a blast of discourse from the man their tempers withered, and they retreated. The protecting grace of God was at work, as Alexander let out the apostolic cry: "I am a man who suffers as you do, and have wasted time like you on useless things. Flee eternal damnation. I recommend to you the kingdom of heaven." And things went on like this, and from all harms that they attempted the noble athlete was safe.

Then citizen Rabbula—a city father, thanks to his powers of wealth and rhetoric, who went on to become a denouncer of idols and a herald of the truth, but was then a raving idolater and a henchman of the Devil—addressed the mob in a loud voice: "Brothers! Fathers! Abandon we not the gods of our fathers, but let us complete our sacrifices according to tradition. The gods remain aloof from this Galilean who damages them. If they do not defend themselves, it is due to humanitarian reasons, or to the greatness of the Christians' god."

Encouraged by his mastery of the mob, and benighted by the Devil's every wile, Rabbula told them, "I shall go up to him by myself, and purge our temple of his magic and deceit, and right the wrongs he has done to our gods and to all of us." And he went up full of bluster, and engaged Alexander in dialogue. [....] He said, "I am eager to learn the full extent of your mania. What impels you to keep up this abuse of our gods? It has us dumbfounded."

The blessed Alexander heard his words, and said, "Listen to the power of our God and the mystery of our faith."  He went on to speak of God's good will toward men, and the power of the holy scriptures, beginning from the creation of the universe up until the investiture of the cross. All that day and all that night, the dialogue went back and forth between them, and they kept themselves from food, and did not give themselves to sleep....

Rabbula chortled and said to the blessed Alexander, "If these things are true, and your God is, as you describe him, so attentive to his servants, then pray to him for fire to come down right in front of us. If that happens, I will declare that there is no god but the god of the Christians—since, as you say, you are his servant. But your scriptures are in truth falsehoods."

The blessed Alexander had no doubt that God would assent to his request, since it is written that "All things are possible to one who believes." He said to Rabbula, "Call on your gods, since there are so many of them, for fire to come down. I too will call on my god for fire to come down, and set alight the woven mats that lie before us."
   "I lack the authority to do so," said Rabbula. "You go ahead."
    At this, the holy Alexander arose, boiling over with the spirit, and said, "Let us pray." Facing east, with his hands outstretched, his prayer was such that Creation was set in motion, and fire came down and ignited the mats placed round the temple, just as the noble athlete had said. The men were unharmed, but Rabbula was overcome with wonder, and, thinking he would be ignited also, fell to the blessed Alexander's feet and did not let go until the fire had subsided, saying then in a loud voice: "Great is the god of the Christians!"

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless (II.9-11, 12, 13)