On Saint Susanna, Virgin and Martyr
[153] 1. In the time of Emperor Maximus Presumably the author means either Galerius Maximinus or his adopted son known as Maximianus, members of the Roman tetrarchy in the first decade of the fourth century and remembered as persecutors of Christians there was a certain priest of the idols in parts of Palestine named Artemios; he was very rich but sick in his ways and an ardent enemy of the Christians. He married a Jewish woman named Martha; she gave birth to his daughter and the mother called her by the name Susanna, saying: “She will have a name from the nation of our Fathers, and not from the pagans.” ἑλλήνων (hellēnōn) literally “Greeks” but increasingly used from the fourth century onward to mean worshipers of traditional Greek gods. Her mother reared her in the customs and teachings of the Jews. But it happened that the child’s parents died while she was still a child. νηπιαζούσης (nēpiazousēs), which probably indicates legal status rather than age: i.e., she is still legally a minor. Now her father, as he lay dying, appointed two guardians for her, commanding them in his will that, when she was grown and had entered into marriage, she would at that time become mistress of all that was contained in their estate.
Now there was a certain presbyter, named Silvanus, of the holy faith of the Christians; while the child’s parents were still alive he was acquainted with them, as their houses were next door. The imagined social context is fascinating: an ardent pagan priest who hates Christians, marries a Jewish woman, and lives next door to a Christian presbyter. Later, when Susanna had grown and was sensible, and having become very familiar with the aforementioned presbyter Silvanus, she was affirmed by him in the faith of the Christians. For she heard the Lord saying through his gospel: “Indeed I say to you, whoever gives up home, fields, parents, children, siblings, even his own life, and takes up his cross and follows after me, he will receive a hundredfold in the present age and he will inherit eternal life in the future.” This line is a mash-up of Matt 19:29 and 16:24; it is not clear in the narrative how or why Susanna hears this “gospel”; several saints’ lives (Antony, Simeon, Pelagios) portray the saint converted by the chance hearing of a gospel line.
2. So when she heard these venerable words, the second truly chaste σώφρων (sōphrōn), which classically means “prudent” or “self-controlled,” but in ascetic contexts comes to mean “chaste” Susanna, goaded by God, sent one of the enslaved servants who lived with her to the presbyter Silvanus so that he might see fit to come to her. When he arrived, upon meeting him she bowed down Throughout I translate versions of the verb προσκυνέω (proskuneō) as “bow down”; it is often translated as “worship” but specifically indicates a dramatic gesture of lying on the ground before the object of worship. to him. Then, when he had prayed, they both sat down and Susanna began to ask the presbyter to explain to her [154] the meaning of what she had read.
The saintly and venerable man then explained to her in succession about love for God, chastity, mercy, and poverty, and about the Kingdom of Heaven. The blessed one, having heard these things and roused to tears, asked to be appointed to the designation of the Christians. Delaying a bit, after the conclusion of the divine service, he brought her into the baptistery and having exorcized her as was customary he gave her the bath of the resurrection, baptizing her in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so then he shared with her the holy body and the venerable blood of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
3. Matters having proceeded thus in a propitious fashion, Susanna went away to her house, rejoicing and exulting at all the good things of which she was deemed worthy. Coming into the house, and having summoned her guardians, she said to them: “Behold the time of my maturity has drawn near: hand over to me finally the property left to me from my parents.”
But they said to her: “My lady, don’t be angry: for behold your property is safe. And behold also your household staff attends upon you, and we ourselves are also enslaved to you.” It is possible that the two guardians are, in fact, formerly enslaved members of Susanna’s parents’ household and thus bound to it and her by obligations of loyalty and patronage.
She said to them: “There is now no need for these words. But restore my property to me quickly.”
They said to her: “Listen, my lady, your father commanded that the contents of the property would come to you at the time when you were lawfully married.”
But she said: “Since the lawgiver Christ has liberated me from the constraint of my parents, it is reserved for me whether I am married or not. Look, hold off from this marriage: restore the property to me.” She was fifteen years old when she came to her senses and acted in this way. Now when her guardians heard this, and realized that she had become Christian, they restored to her all the property and the possessions which were left.
4. Once she received these things, the blessed one sold off the real estate and having collected sufficient gold and silver she went around at night and gave it to the needy. The moveable property, that is, the men and women enslaved to her, she set free and explained to them: “I set you free, my children, from this temporary enslavement; if you wish also to be found worthy of true freedom, go forth to the one who truly frees the souls of humanity: he will also enlist you—redeemed from sin, legitimate and free—in his own army.”
Likewise then, once she had spent all of what was left of her property on the poor, she sent for a barber and had the hair on her head removed. Having clothed herself in a man’s outfit, ἀμφιασαμένη σχῆμα ἀνδρικὸν (amphisamenē schēma andrikon); below I translate σχῆμα (schēma) as “habit” but we should note it is the same word she took herself to Jerusalem. Then, having arrived at the monastery of blessed Philip she struck at the monastery’s gate. When the porter came out and looked at her he supposed she was a man and brought her inside. Then he asked her what she wanted and where she came from. Two things to note: 1. There is no explanation for why Susanna dresses as man until much later (and it is an odd and perhaps unsatisfactory answer). 2. The narrator never ceases to refer to her with feminine nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives whereas other lives of male monks born as women will switch to male gender. I follow the gendered language of the narrator in my translation which does not, of course, mean we can’t analyze John during this period as a male character.
She said: “I had a great desire to pray here and to be blessed by you.”
When the porter returned he reported all this to the blessed Philip, saying: “A handsome young man is here, saying he came for the sake of prayer and to be blessed by you.”
That one said: “Bring him to the oratory and then to me.” That is, first the stranger is allowed to pray in the oratory and then brought before Philip. He did as he was ordered, and then he brought her to him. When she came in she bowed down on the ground before the blessed Philip, then to all those present. The blessed Philip said: “You are welcome, brother. From where and for what reason have you come to our humble selves?”
She said: “I beseech you, Father: I am from Caesarea of Palestine, and having lost ἀποβεβληκώς (apobeblēkōs) is a masculine perfect participle, which we would expect if Susanna is speaking of herself as a man those who bore me I came here now with God as my guide, so that you might make me one of the brothers who are with you and my soul may be saved.”
The blessed Philip said to her: “What is your name?”
She said: “I am called John.”
[155] The brothers present said: “You have a nice name if you would make it your choice.”
5. Then the blessed Philip began to advise her from the holy Scriptures about humility, obedience, abstinence, vigils, and generally instructing her as he saw fit. When the time called for it he gave her the holy monastic habit. Once she received the habit, she was earnestly devoting herself to asceticism, displaying complete humility and abstinence, vigils, and weeping, and persisting doggedly in prayers without hesitation, such that all rejoiced in her and praised the Lord. It happened that she passed a considerable time in this most noble way of life, around about twenty years. And no one was able to recognize for so much time that she was a woman.
Now there was a certain woman ascetic in form, or habit; again σχῆμα (schēma) although not in fact, who came from Eleutheropolis; it was her custom to enter the monastery on account of reverence for the blessed Philip. So as she went in and out of the monastery, she happened on one of those days to encounter this holy Susanna and there she was blessed by her as though by a man. As often as she came into the monastery to the blessed Philip, she had more extensive contact and acquaintance with her, thinking that she was a man, such that from this the pretend ascetic woman became shameful in her desire. Planning this for a long time, and inflamed within her soul, but not finding a convenient opportunity to accomplish the destruction of her soul, she fabricated a tale of slander against the chaste and upright Susanna, as though she pursued her from the monastery, attacking and sexually violating her. Notably missing from this version of the Joseph-style narrative is any incident where the woman offers herself to Susanna and is rebuffed; the slander seems not to come from a sense of revenge but an act of cruelty in response to her own inward shame and anger.
6. And so on one of those days, she left the monastery and proceeded fearfully sobbing and beating her breast and crying out; by chance (or rather by God’s arrangement) a bishop from Eleutheropolis, sainted Cleopas, encountered her and seeing her beating her chest in this way and wailing, he said to her: “What is going on with you, woman, and what have you suffered that you moan so keenly and cry out?”
She said, lamenting, “I beseech you, master, listen to me in my distress! Although often going up into the monastery of master Philip for the sake of prayer, I have at no time suffered anything fearsome or untoward. But now, from I know not where, they took in a handsome young man named John, who pursued me under some pretext, attacked me, and took away my virginity: and on account of this I am wailing.”
Venerable and sainted Cleopas, convinced by her persuasive words (or rather deceitful ones!), said to her: “Come back with me to the monastery, for I am going there for a meeting.” And he brought her into the monastery. Going into the monastery toward the blessed Philip he greeted him, and as they sat together the bishop began to bring a charge against the blessed Philip, saying: “Behold by the grace of Christ you have spent fifty years and more in this monastery, This is an extraordinary amount of time to imagine that a monastery had existed in Jerusalem in the early 300s, but hagiography does not necessarily dwell in historical realism. and no one has ever heard anything evil concerning you or those who dwell here with you; and we ourselves, and those coming one after another, come as though to men devoted to God.
7. “But who is this person whom you have in your monastery, a corrupter of a soul dedicated to God, named John, who attacked the virgin coming here as usual for the sake of prayer, and sexually assaulted her? When I encountered her crying out and beating her chest I brought her back here.”
The bishop ordered that the ascetic woman be brought in. When she came in she also said these things before Abbot Philip, that “your monk did these things to me.”
The blessed Philip said to the bishop: “I beseech your holy angel! For I take it to be the case, as I was tranquil, [156] that God guards the brothers from all evil: but the brother about whom you say these things I consider to be among those men of perfect compunction, and in the eyes of the brothers he is among those living a greatly upright life. For it has been twenty years since from his sainted prayers I bestowed upon him the monastic habit. Who has seen him be negligent in anything, or idly chattering, but rather in full humility and compunction and weeping, persisting I correct here προσκατερεῖ (proskaterei) in the published version to προσκαρτερεῖ (proskarterei) from the Greek ms. in the recitation of psalms and eager in obedience, such that all of us rejoice over him. But if this is what happened, I am summoning him now before you: and as he stands before us and we interrogate him, learn what is accurate from him. And if he is perceived to be guilty, I shall remove from him the habit which I bestowed upon him, and you will have authority over him to do whatever you wish against him.”
The bishop said to him: “Listen, lord abbot: God is capable of protecting his flock in all the holy churches, and in the martyria; but we who are ordained to rule over them—negligent, lazy, and of troublesome affectionsἀκαίρου συμπαθείας (akairou sumpatheias), which seems to have the sense of either sinful attachments or lack of impartiality —have judgment demanded of us by God. But we have not closely followed, with extreme care and trouble, the rules κανόσιν (kanosin), or “canons” handed down to us by the holy fathers. So tell me, I entreat you: what use, or what edification of the soul, or what spiritual rule allows a woman of this sort to customarily enter at any time the house I supply the word οἰκὸν (oikon) from ms., lacking from the printed text. of those who have dedicated themselves to God, and have been estranged from the world, who have pledged to live their lives in tranquility? According to what is evident, is this wicked custom not the cause of the scandals that have now been set in motion? For if we are commanded to leave behind our parents, nay even to hate them (cf. Matt 19:29 and Luke 14:26), so we do not love them more than Christ, by how much more on account of harm to our souls [should we forbid] a strange woman to gain entry into a monastery of men and become friendly and be destroyed together?
8. “So let the sought after brother be called forth, so that we might know for sure.”
When she was called forth, the blessed Susanna bowed down to the ground before the bishop, then to Abbot Philip, and to all of the brothers present, and stood. That undignified and shameless false ascetic woman, ψευδασκήτερια (pseudaskēteria); before she was referred to simply as ασκήτερια (askēteria) upon seeing the blessed Susanna, ran like a wild lioness, shamelessly held her by her cloak, and cried out to everyone: “This is the deceiver, the one who corrupted my virginity, he is the one who defiled my soul!”
Now the truly blessed and chaste Susanna, having God in her, was standing there with an undisturbed conscience. The bishop said to her, as if to a man: “What a pretty thing you have done, brother, clothed in the garment of humility and piety, according to the apostle (1 Pet 5:5), while you attacked and corrupted this virgin.” She remained silent. Again the bishop said to her: “You have no answer? Why does she testify against you?”
Then the blessed Susanna answered and said to the bishop: “I beseech you, master: I am not aware that I did anything evil against this woman. But if I have done as she says, I beg for forgiveness: for God is the God of those who repent.” When she said these things, she fell before the bishop’s feet, begging for forgiveness.
But the bishop said to her: “Why do you fall before me? Don’t you know that your sin is not merely ordinary? For this is a disturbance concerning a soul which you humiliated: for not only will what happened convey suffering and oppression upon you, but upon all those who dwell in the monastery.” Then the blessed Philip, with great indignation and exceeding grief, got up and sought to remove from her the monastic habit, as she was found guilty.
9. She said to him: “Hold off for me a little bit, Father, [157] and you will see God’s glory.” Getting up from the ground she said to the bishop: “I implore you because of the Lord, master, command quickly that two deaconesses διακονίσσας (diakonissas); by the Byzantine period, this official role was held by women attending to other women in sacramental settings, like baptism be at hand, and two virgins. For I have something to be imparted to them which will also assuage you.” ὑμᾶς θεραπεύσαι (humas therapeusai), literally “be of service to you”
Right away the bishop sent to Eleutheropolis to quickly bring two
deaconesses and two virgins. When they were at hand, and the blessed
Susanna had received them, she went off after them into the vestry
ἐν τῷ διακονικῷ (en tōi diakonikōi), literally something like
“the service room” of the monastery and, undressing in front
of them she showed them that she was female by birth
θηλία ἐστὶ τῇ φύσει(thēlia esti tēi phusei); also translatable
as “female by nature” and that she was their fellow virgin,
just as she was born, and for the sake of her soul being saved she
changed to that angelic habit and changed her name to John,
Those venerable women, seeing and hearing these things, were astounded and cried out in a loud voice, saying: “God is great who gave you such grace and endurance!” When they heard the cry, the bishop, the monks, and the lay-people present were all disturbed and came running to find out what the cry was. For they wondered if he had not also at this time undertaken something shameful against those women.
Then the deaconesses and the virgins came forth to the bishop and said: “Truly now we have seen a new Susanna! Another comparison to the biblical Susanna, here appropriately in the context of a just woman being falsely accused of sexual impropriety. So then the matter is slander; the wickedness that completely wretched one did, as if against a man, accomplished nothing, for she perpetrated a deceit against this chaste and just woman, ἡ αὕτη ἄνθρωπος (hē autē anthrōpos), using the general anthrōpos to mean “person” with a female particle and pronoun because that false ascetic was inflamed with lust. For this venerable person is female by birth, she is our fellow virgin, and she is called by the name Susanna; but she changed her name to John because of her good hope in God and in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
So everyone, upon hearing these things from the venerable deaconesses and virgins, and marveling at the great faith, chastity, and sanctity of the blessed Susanna, were singing hymns to the holy God in triumphant voices, because no wicked blemish I correct the published text’s μῶλος (mōlos) to μῶμος (mōmos) following the Greek ms. was found in her.
10. Then all the brothers were moved to cast stones and desired to destroy the false ascetic woman. But the blessed Susanna, restraining and imploring them greatly, and throwing herself to the ground, stopped them from such a desire and undertaking. Susanna here takes on the role of Jesus saving the woman caught in adultery in John 8. The sainted bishop Cleopas made her reputation known and cast her out of that territory.
After all these things happened, the thrice-sainted bishop took the blessed Susanna and brought her to Eleutheropolis, and appointed her to lead the ascetic establishment ἀσκητηρίου (askētēriou); although the text doesn’t specify readers might reasonably infer this was the establishment from which Susanna’s accuser originated. of the virgins of the most holy church, making her also a deacon While before the author used a feminine pronoun and nominal form for deaconesses, here they use a masculine (or, better, gender flexible) term without a pronoun: ποίησας αὐτὴν και διάκονον (poiēsas autēn kai diakonon) of the same holy church, as she was a venerable and most pious virgin.
This became known in that whole land and she was glorified and honored by all: many of those having various diseases and sicknesses the Lord healed through her venerable prayers: likewise many people troubled by unclean and wicked spirits were cleansed through prayer. She paid careful attention to the poor, and in general she shined forth like the clearest radiance, sent out by God to that place.
11. A long time passed and a prefect or “governor”: ἡγεμὼν (hēgemōn) named Alexander came to reside in Eleutheropolis, fearsome and rough and sick in his ways. This is the same phrase used of Susanna’s father, the pagan priest, in chapter 1. He summoned the first citizens of the city and commanded them to announce in the city that everyone should assemble eagerly at the temple of Jupiter to offer sacrifices and bow down to the gods. In the 360s the last pagan emperor Julian oversaw a dramatic increase in public sacrifice at temples and that may be the historical-religious context the author is invoking here; Julian’s revived sacrifices are the context for other martyr stories written long after the emperor’s death.
When everyone had assembled eagerly according to the prefect’s command, and bowed down and offered sacrifices to the empty idols, the blessed Susanna heard of these things and ran to the temple; when she saw living people bowing down to lifeless stones, she suffered in her soul. Then going off on her own and stretching her hands [158] to the heavens, she prayed to God and said: “Lord God of miracles, Given the context δυνάμεων (dunameōn), which literally means “powers,” probably means “miracles” as it does in the Gospels who made all things through your Word, both seen and unseen, listen to me, a useless one enslaved to you; in this hour and right away command all of these unclean and lifeless idols to fall down and be broken, because you alone are God and glory is fitting for you for eternity. Amen!” The destruction of a pagan temple and its idols is also found in the apocryphal Acts of John; a temple is also destroyed by the titular apostle in the Acts of Titus.
And when she finished her prayer there was thunder and a great booming sound, causing everyone to be terrified. Immediately all the idols fell down before the eyes of the entire people, and they became like bits of dust. While this great commotion and disturbance was going on, a certain man named Aquila said: “Why are you disturbed in vain? For I myself saw the Christian Susanna present here. She’s the one who called upon her God and brought this terror upon you.”
12. And immediately running off he reported it to Alexander the prefect, saying: “I beseech you, lord, there is a certain Christian girl It is odd that Susanna is in this final act described as a “girl” (κόρη, korē) since she was at least 35 years old when she came to Eleutheropolis from Philip’s monastery and “a long time passed” before the events unfolding here. living here named Susanna, who is a virgin. She’s the one who came into the temple of the gods and saw the sacrifices being offered blamelessly to them by the people; seized by fervor she called upon the God whom she worships and destroyed all of our gods, turning them to ash.”
When the prefect heard these things he became frenzied and commanded that she be arrested and produced quickly. The ones sent out brought her and produced her to the prefect. As he gazed upon her he said: “Virgin, I have heard about you, that you have done some mighty works unworthy of praise; so tell me, what kind of God do you worship that when you summoned him (as they say) you destroyed our gods and turned all of them into ash?”
The blessed Susanna said: “Listen, prefect: I am enslaved to God, maker of the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. So now you tell me: what sorts of gods are yours that they have been destroyed by the greater and true God, as you say, and are unable to help themselves but have become dust and ash? If they are gods, let them rise up and help themselves! In truth the things you worship are worthy of ridicule and reproach.”
Then the prefect, enraged at these words, said to his attendants: “Take her out of the palace πραιτωρίου (praitōriou), a Greek loan-word from the Latin praetorium and, once her breasts have been cut off, cast her out to be food for the birds of the air, for it is not possible for me to look upon her punished with my own eyes.”
13. The public executioners, having taken the sainted one out of the palace, cut off her two breasts and cast her out as food for the birds of the air. Just as this happened, behold! An angel of the Lord snatched up the sainted one’s two breasts and restored them to their place, making her physically sound as before. Saint Agatha, ostensibly martyred during the reign of Decius, also had her breasts cut off as part of her premortem tortures. “Agatha buns” traditionally served on her feast days are shaped like breasts. The forcible reassertion of Susanna’s embodied sex here mirrors her regendering in the first act of the story.
The public executioners, seeing this impossible wonder, and being terrified, said: “Didn’t we cut off her two breasts? Look the blood is still on our hands! Truly if she were not enslaved to the great God, such attention would not have been immediately paid to her.”
But the prefect said to his attendants: “You most wicked attendants, why are you whispering amongst yourselves?”
They said: “Go away from us, enemy of truth! For from this time are we no longer persuaded by false and empty idols, nor do we bow down to them, but we shall be enslaved to the true and living God, who rescued this venerable virgin from such punishment! Look at our hands, as you see, dripping with the blood from her breasts, and yet she is physically sound just as before!” They brought her before his eyes.
When the prefect saw the sainted virgin was physically sound, he was embarrassed and he commanded the attendants to be beheaded, saying: “If they live, they will draw many more away from the gods.”
As they were led off to be killed, they said: “Lord God of Susanna who is enslaved to you, count us also among those who believe in you. For we, good and merciful master, come to you with unwavering faith.” [159] Even as they said this they were put to death by the sword.
14. Afterward Alexander called for the blessed Susanna and said to her: “Truly your spells αἱ μαγείαι σου (hai mageiai sou) are great, my girl, and you have amazed us.”
The venerable Susanna said: “My ‘spell,’ prefect, is Jesus the Lord, the Son of the living God, present everywhere: the one who helps me, strengthens me, and the one who renders powerless your designs and your demons.”
Infuriated he said: “I’ll see right now if your God, in whom you have put your faith, will rescue you from my hands!” And he ordered a bronze cauldron to be brought it and lead melted in it and then for a funnel to be placed in her mouth, the molten lead to be brought in and poured down her throat. Punishment with molten lead is also found in the Latin martyrdom of Primus, which similarly notes the hot lead was changed into “cool water.” Some versions of the martyrdom of Saint George also contain a reference to ingestion of melted lead. The Theodosian Code (9.24.1, promulgated under Constantine) also orders that nursemaids who help in the “raptus” (marriage by abduction) of their girl charges should have their mouths closed “by swallowing molten lead” (liquentis plumbi ingestione). Unlike other legendary stories of tyrants killed by ingesting gold—a comment on the uselessnes of wealth—ingestion of lead seems intended to underscore an inferior’s disobedient speech. My thanks to Julia Hillner for directing my attention to the Constantinian law and to Gregory Hayes for pointing me to the other martyr stories. When this was done, by the grace and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, just like the coldest water in the summertime, so became also the boiling lead in the holy virgin’s viscera. Then all of those present, just like the attendants, cried out in a loud voice: “Truly the God of Susanna is great!”
Alexander summoned the victorious martyr of Christ and said to her: “Tell me, my girl, of what sort is your God who works with you in these spells?”
And the sainted one said: “My God, prefect, does not enjoy demonic fat-offerings or polluted libations, but enters into blameless and pure hearts, as if over faultless sacrifices. But you, who profess and worship wicked and unclean demons as if they are gods, you cannot really recognize the truthful Here and in the next sentence “truthful” is literally “not false,” ἀψευδῆ (apseudē), continuing the contrast in the previous act between true and false ascetics God who illuminates our souls. For he alone is the true God and he provides, for those who know him, perfect and truthful gifts.” Then, growing angry, the prefect commanded that she be stretched out and beaten mercilessly with rods, which he found to be sufficient, and ordered her hauled off into prison until he could look in on her.
15. When she came into the prison—the truly sacred martyr, the one perfectly enslaved to Christ, the ewe, the virgin Susanna—she bent down on her holy knees and begged merciful God for her spirit to be received. And while she was still praying, and her prayer was in her mouth, she handed over her venerable and holy soul to God: for the souls of the righteous, as Wisdom says, are in the hand of God and death may not touch them (Wisd. 3:1). Actually Wisd 3:1 says “torture” (βάσανος, basanos) will not touch them, but both seem apropos here For in the eyes of the foolish they seem to be dead; but they are in eternity. Because of this in that moment of visitation they will shine forth like the sun. And so it is for such a one.
Now those who believed through her in God came to the prison and saw her glorious sleep; they brought news of the victorious one’s consummation to the bishop of the city, and so immediately the bishop had it announced in the city, the sleep of the sainted and victorious one. Presumably this is not Cleopas but a successor. So everyone ran together to the prison: the bishop of the city with his most pious clergy, and the most faithful and orthodox laity.
It was heard about in the monastery of holy Philip, in which that famous and blessed Susanna had received the monastic habit, that she had fallen asleep in Christ: and all the monks went out, bringing with them palm fronds and candles, and they came to Eleutheropolis, to the prison, and so all of them, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, brought her up to the church, handing her over to a perfect and fitting tomb.
So it is finished: the honorable and glorious memorial of the sainted
martyr, the wondrous virgin Susanna, on September 19, in Christ Jesus
our Lord, with whom is the glory with the Father and the all-holy and
live-giving Spirit, now and always and for all eternity: Amen.
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