which the blessed Paul clothed himself for many years. This
simple tunic he cherished above a11 others, and would not
bring it out to wear except on the solemn feasts of
Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Some of his disciples
wondered why this tunic was so dear to him. So one day,
before their eyes, Antoni, without saying anything, silently
laid the ancient tunic on a very sick man, and the man was
immediately healed.l0
- But here we must leave St. Antoni with his followers
in the desert, to fight the battle of the Alexandrian Church
through their constant prayers, their fasts, their vigils and
their very example, and go back to Alexandria itself, to
watch the struggle there, set up by the Fathers in the world.
The Decian persecutions having subsided, Abba
Dionysius went back to Alexandria. Once in the city, the
successor of St. Mark sent an; epistle to Gaius, the new
Emperor, describing to him, in the most touching of terms,
the tortures that had been inflicted on the Copts by his father
the late Emperor Decius. The epistle had a soothing effect
on Gaius, and so he declared that he would leave the
Christians in peace. This was for a very brief period,
however, for an epidemic of diptheria broke out. The pagan
priests, together with the soothsayers, convinced the
Emperor that the gods were wroth because of the truce he
had made with the Christians. Thus provoked, Gaius
renewed the persecutions against them, taking a greater toll
of them than the epidemic did. - Fortunately for the believers the reign of Emperor
Gaius was short, lasting for only two years. When his
successor Valerian took on the purple, he made a more
lasting peace with the Christians. Taking advantage of this,
Abba Dionysius country in order to strengthen and confirm