And turning away from here <Shechem, now called Neapolis> she saw the tombs of the twelve patriarchs, and Sebaste, that is, Samaria, which was named Augusta in the Greek language by Herod in honour of Augustus. Here lie buried Elisha and Obadiah the prophets, and John the Baptist, ‘greater than all the sons of women’ <Matt. 11:11; Luke. 7:28>. Here she trembled at the sight of many extraordinary scenes. For in front of the saints’ tombs she saw demons roaring in every kind of torment, and men howling with the voices of wolves, barking like dogs, growling like lions, hissing like snakes, bellowing like bulls. Some rolled their heads around and leaned back to touch the ground behind them with the crowns of their heads, and women were hanging by one foot, but their clothes did not fall down over their faces. On all of them she had compassion, and she shed tears over each one and prayed Christ to show mercy. And, weak as she was, she climbed up the mountain on foot, where the prophet Obadiah fed the hundred prophets with bread and water in two caves, in a time of persecution and famine <I Kings 18:4>.
(transl. Di Segni)
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