When Abba Macarius was speaking openly to the brothers, he said: One time when I was in the wadi gathering palm branches, an antelope came up to me, tearing out its fur, weeping as though it were a he-goat, its tears flowing to the ground. It threw itself down on top of my feet and moistened them with its tears, and I sat down and stroked its face and anointed it with my hands, amazed at its tears, while it gazed back at me. After a while, it took hold of my tunic and pulled on me. I followed it through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and when it took me to where it lived, I found its three young lying there. When I sat down, it took hold of them one by one and placed them in my lap and when I touched them I found that they were deformed: their chins were on their backs. I took pity on them as their mother wept; I groaned over them, saying, ‘You who care for all of creation, our Lord Jesus Christ, who have numerous treasuries of mercy, take pity on the creature you made’.
After I said these words accompanied by tears before my Lord Jesus Christ, I stretched out my hand and made the saving sign of the cross over the antelope’s young, and they were healed. When I put them down, their mother immediately gave them her attention. They went underneath to her nipples and sucked her milk. She rejoiced over them, delighting in them, looking into my eyes with great joy. I marveled at the goodness of God and the love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ as shown by his tender mercies for me and for the other beasts that he cares about. I got up and walked, giving glory for the great goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ and the multitude of his mercies for every creature he has made.
