320. They used to say about Abbâ ’Ôr that whilst other monks would give a pledge for the palm leaves when they wished to buy, he would never give any pledge whatsoever, but whensoever he required leaves he would send the price of them, and take them. Now his disciple went on one occasion to buy leaves, and the gardener said unto him, “A man gave me a deposit, but he hath not taken away his leaves, and therefore thou mayest take them”; and having brought them he came to the old man and related unto him the matter as it had happened. And when the old man heard it, he wrung his hands, and said, “’Ôr will not work this year,” and he did not cease [to importune] his disciple until he had returned the palm leaves to their [proper] place.
321. They used to tell the story of a certain brother who never ate bread, but only unleavened cakes soaked in water; and whenever he visited the monks when they sat down to eat he would set before himself unleavened cakes and eat [them]. And it happened that one day he went to a certain great Sage, and there also visited him at the same time other strangers, and the old man boiled a few lentiles for them; and when they sat down to eat that brother also brought out his soaked cakes, and set them before himself, and ate them. Now when the old man saw this, he held his peace and did not rebuke him before the brethren who happened to be there, but when they rose up from the table, he took him aside privately, and said unto him, “O brother, if thou goest to visit a man do not reveal thy rule of life, but eat with the brethren that thou mayest not think within thyself that thou art better than they, and so condemn them. But if thou wishest to keep hold upon thy self-denial, sit in thy cell and do not go out of it.” Then the brother was persuaded by the old man, and he ate with the brethren what they ate so as to deceive them, according to what the old man had said.
322. A certain father whose name was Eulogius, having led a life of great austerity and labour in Constantinople, obtained great fame and reputation; and he came to Egypt in order that he might see something more excellent, and when he heard about Abbâ Joseph he came to him, expecting to see a very much more laborious form of life than his own. And the old man received him with gladness, and said unto his disciple, “Make some distinction in the food which ye have to prepare, and let it be suitable for strangers.” Now when they had sat down to eat, those who were with Abbâ Eulogius said, “Bring a little salt, for the father will not eat this”; but Abbâ Joseph ate, and drank, and held his peace. And Eulogius passed three days with him, but he never heard them singing the Psalms, and he never saw them praying, for every act of worship which they performed was in secret; and he went forth from them having profited in no wise. And by the Providence of God it happened that they lost their way, and they returned the same day, and they came and stood at the door of the old man’s cell; and before they could knock at the door, Eulogius heard them singing the Psalms inside, and having waited for a long time, they knocked, and immediately those of the company of Joseph who were singing inside stopped. Now when Eulogius and those who were with him had gone inside the old man received them again with gladness, and because of the heat which they had endured, Abbâ Joseph’s monks gave Eulogius [some] water to drink; and this water was a mixture, part being sea water and part being river water, and when Eulogius had tasted it he was unable to drink it. Then he repented within himself, and he went in to Abbâ Joseph and fell down at his feet, and entreated him to be allowed to learn his rule, for he wished so to do, and he said, “What doth this mean? When we were with you ye sang no Psalms, but as soon as we have left you ye perform services overmuch. And when I want to drink water I find it to be salt.” The old man said unto him, “It was brother Sylvanus who did this, and he mixed the water without knowing”; and Eulogius entreated him [to tell him about it], for he wished to learn the truth. Thereupon Abbâ Joseph said unto him, “That mixture of wine which we drink we drink for the sake of the love of Christ, but the brethren always drink this water.” And Abbâ Joseph taught him the difference [between their rules of life], and that he toiled in secret and not before the children of men; and he ate a meal at the same table with them, and he partook of whatsoever was set thereupon; and Eulogius learned that, even as the old man had said, Abbâ Joseph performed his ascetic labours in secret, and having profited greatly he departed with gladness, giving thanks unto God.
323. On one occasion there was a feast, and the brethren were eating in the church; and there was among them a brother who said unto him that ministered at the tables, “I do not eat boiled food, but bread and salt,” and the servant cried out to certain other brethren before the whole assembly, saying, “Such and such a brother doth not eat boiled food, therefore bring him salt.” Then one of the old men came to that brother, and said unto him, “It would have been better for thee this day to have eaten flesh in thy cell than that this word should have been heard before the whole assembly.”
324. On one occasion Ammon came to the brethren, and the brethren expressed contrition, saying, “Tell us a word [whereby we may live].” The old man said unto them, “It is this: we must travel along the path of God with due order.”
325. They used to say that the face of Abbâ Panbô never smiled or laughed. Now one day when the devils wished to make him laugh, they hung a feather on a piece of wood, and they carried it along and danced about therewith in great haste, and they cried out, “Hâilâw, Hâilâw.” Now when Abbâ Panbô saw them, he laughed, and the devils began to run and jump about, saying, “Wâwâ, Abbâ Panbô hath laughed.” Then Abbâ Panbô answered and said unto them, “I did not laugh [for myself], but I laughed at your weakness, and because it needeth so many of you to carry a feather.”
326. On one occasion a certain brother committed an offence in the coenobium, and in the places which were therein a certain old man had his abode; now he had not gone out of his cell for many years. And when the Abbâ of the coenobium came to the old man he told concerning the folly (or offence) of that brother, and about his transgression. Then the old man answered and said, “Drive him out from you”; and when that brother was driven out, he departed and went into a reedy jungle, and as some brethren happened to pass by to go to Abbâ Poemen they heard the voice of the brother weeping; and they went in and found him in great labour, and they entreated him to let them take him with them to Abbâ Poemen, but he would not be persuaded [to go], and said, “I will die here.” And when they came to Abbâ Poemen they told him about him, and he entreated them, saying, “Go to that brother, and say ye unto him, Abbâ Poemen calleth thee”; now when the brother learned that Abbâ Poemen had sent the brethren to him, he rose up and went. And when Abbâ Poemen saw that he was sorrow-stricken, he rose up and gave him the salutation of peace, and smiling with him, gave him [food] to eat. Then he sent his brother to the old man, saying, “For many years past I have greatly longed to see thee, because I have heard about thee, but through negligence both of us have been prevented from seeing each other. Now therefore that God wisheth it, and the opportunity calleth, I beg thee to trouble thyself [to come] hither, and we will each welcome the other.” Now, as I have already said, the old man had up to that time never gone out of his cell. And when the old man heard the message, he said, “If God had not worked in him he would not have sent for me”; and he rose up and came to him; and having saluted each other, they sat down with gladness. And Abbâ Poemen said unto him, “There were two men living in one place, and both of them had dead, and one of them left weeping for his own dead and went and wept over that of his neighbour”; and when the old man heard these words he repented, and he remembered what he had done, and said, “Abbâ Poemen is above in heaven, but I am down, down, on the earth.”
327. An old man used to say, “It is right for a man to keep his work in all diligence so that he may lose nothing thereof; for if a man worketh even a very little, and keepeth it, his work remaineth and abideth.” And the old man used to narrate the following matter: An inheritance was left unto a certain brother, and whilst he was wishing to make therefrom a memorial to him that had died, a certain brother who was a stranger came to him, and he roused him up in the night saying, “Arise, and help me to sing the service.” Then the stranger entreated him, saying, “Leave me, O my brother, for I am away from labour, and I cannot [get up]”; and the brother who had welcomed him said, “If thou wilt not come, get up and depart from this place”; and the stranger rose up and departed. And at the turn of the night he saw in his dream him who had driven him out giving wheat to the baker, and that the baker did not give him [back] even one loaf of bread; and he rose up and went to an old man and related unto him the whole matter even as it had taken place, and the old man said unto him, “Thou hast performed a beautiful action, but the Enemy hath not allowed thee to receive the reward [thereof].” And after these things the old man said that [this] story was a proof according to which it is right for a man to be watchful and to guard his work with great care.
328. An old man said, “The Calumniator is the Enemy, and the Enemy will never cease to cast into thy house, if he possibly can, impurity of every kind, and it is thy duty neither to refuse nor to neglect to take that which is cast in and to throw it out; for if thou art negligent thy house will become filled with impurity, and thou wilt be unable to enter therein. Therefore whatsoever the Enemy casteth in little by little do thou throw out little by little, and thy house shall remain pure by the Grace of Christ.”
329. On one occasion Abbâ Poemen entreated Abbâ Macarius with frequent supplication, saying, “Tell me a word [whereby I may live]”; and the old man anwered and said unto him, “The matter which thou seekest hath this day passed from the monks.”
330. Abbâ Nicetas used to tell about two brethren who had met together, and who wished to dwell together; and one of them thought, saying, “Whatsoever my brother wisheth that will I do,” and similarly the other meditated, saying, “Whatsoever will gratify my brother that will I do.” Now when the Enemy saw this, he went to them and wished to separate each from the other, and as he was standing before the door, he appeared unto one of them in the form of a dove, and to the other in the form of a raven. Then one of them said unto his companion, “Seest thou this dove?” and the other replied, “It is a raven.” And they began to quarrel with each other, neither of them yielding to his companion, and they stood up and fought with each other, even unto blood, and at length, to the joy of the Calumniator, they separated. And after three days they came to themselves and were sorry for what had happened, and they went back and lived together in peace as they did formerly, and each expressed his sorrow unto the other. And each of them devoted himself to performing the will of his companion, and they lived together until the end.
331. One of the old men used to say, “If thou seest a man who hath fallen into the water, and thou canst help him, stretch out thy staff to him, and draw him out, lest, if thou stretch out thy hand to him, and thou art not able to bring him up, he drag thee down and both of you perish.” Now he spake this for the sake of those who thrust themselves forward to help other people who are being tempted, and who, through wishing to help [others] beyond their power, [themselves] fall. It is right for a man to help his brother according to the power that he hath, for God demandeth not from a man that which is beyond his strength.
332. A brother asked an old man, and said unto him, “Supposing that I find sufficient for my daily wants in any place, dost thou wish me not to take care for the work of my hands?” The old man said unto him, “However much thou mayest have, do not neglect the work of thy hands; work as much as thou canst, only do not work with an agitated mind.”
333. An old man used to say, “When the soldier goeth into battle he careth for himself only, and so also doth the watchman; let us then imitate these men, for riches, and family, and wisdom, without a correct life and works, are dung.”
334. An old man used to say “I await death evening, and morning, and every day.”
335. The same old man used to say also, “As he who is a stranger is not able to take another stranger into the house of one by whom he hath not been entreated to enter, so also is it in the case of the Enemy, for he will not enter in where he is not welcomed.”
336. Abbâ Epiphanius said, “He who revealeth and discovereth his good work is like unto the man who soweth [seed] on the surface of the ground, and doth not cover it up, and the fowl of the heavens cometh and devoureth it; but he who hideth his good works is like unto the man who soweth his seed in the furrows of the earth, and he shall reap the same at harvest.”
337. Abbâ Epiphanius used to say, “Whensoever a thought cometh and filleth thy breast, that is to say, thy heart, with vainglory or pride, say thou unto it, ‘Old man, behold thy fornication.’”
338. And he also said, “O monk, take thou the greatest possible care that thou sin not, lest thou disgrace God Who dwelleth in thee, and thou drive Him out of thy soul.”
339. The old men said, “Let no monk do anything whatsoever without first of all trying his heart [to see] that what he is about to do will be [done] for God’s sake.”
340. One of the fathers asked a youthful brother, saying, “Tell us, O brother, is it good to hold one’s peace or to speak?” then that young brother spake unto him, saying, “If the words [to be said] be useless, leave them [unsaid], but if they be good, give place to good things, and speak [them]. Yet, even though the words be good, prolong not thy speech, but cut it short, for silence is best of all.”
341. Rabbâ Paul the Great, the Galatian, used to say, “The monk who living in his cell hath some small need, and who goeth out to provide therefor, is laughed at by the devils.”
342. The blessed woman Eugenia said, “It is helpful to us to go about begging, only we must be with Jesus, for he who is with Jesus is rich, even though we be poor in the flesh. For he who holdeth the things of earth in greater honour than the things of the Spirit falleth away both from the things which are first and the things which are last. For he who coveteth heavenly things must, of necessity, receive the good things which are on the earth. Therefore it belongeth unto the wise to await not the things which now exist [here], but the things which are about to be, and the happiness which is indescribable, and in this short and troublesome life they should prepare themselves therefor.”
343. On one occasion when Abbâ Arsenius was living in the lower lands, and was troubled, he determined to leave his cell without taking anything from it, and he departed to his disciples in the body, that is to say, to Alexander and Zoilus. Then he said to Alexander, “Arise, and go back to the place where I was living”; and Alexander did so; and he said to Zoilus, “Arise; and come with me to the river, and seek out for me a ship which is going to Alexandria, and then come back, and go to thy brother.” Now Zoilus marvelled at this speech, but he held his peace; and thus they parted from each other, and the old man Arsenius then went down to the country of Alexandria, where he fell ill of a serious sickness. And his disciples went back and came to the place where they had been formerly, and they said to each other, “Perhaps one of us hath offended the old man, and it is for this reason that he hath separated from us”; but they could not find in themselves anything with which they had ever offended him. Now the old man became well again, and he said, “I will arise and go to the fathers,” and he journeyed on and came to Patârâ where his disciples were. Now when the old man was nigh unto the river-side a young Ethiopian woman saw him, and she came behind him, and drew near him, and plucked his raiment; and the old man rebuked her. Then the maiden said unto him, “If thou art a monk, depart to the mountain.” Now the old man being somewhat sad at this remark, said within himself, “Arsenius, if thou art a monk, depart to the mountain”; and afterwards his disciples Alexander and Zoilus met him, and they fell down at his feet, and the old man threw himself down [on the ground] also, and he wept himself, and his disciples wept before him. And the old man said unto them, “Did ye not hear that I have been sick?” And they said unto him, “Yes.” And the old man said, “Why did ye not seek to come and see me?” And Abbâ Alexander said, “Because the way in which thou didst leave us was not right, and because of it many were offended, and they said, ‘If they had not wearied (or pressed) the old man in some way he would never have separated from them.’” The old man saith unto them, “I know that myself, but men will also say, ‘The dove could not find rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to Noah in the ark’”; thus the disciples were healed, and they took up their abode with him again.
344. Abbâ Daniel used to tell concerning Arsenius that he never wished to speak about any investigation into the Scriptures, although he was well able to speak [on the subject] if he had been so disposed, but he could not write even a letter quickly.
345. A certain old man used to say, “Vaunt not thyself over thy brother in thy mind, saying, ‘I possess a greater measure of self-denial than he doth, and I can endure more than he,’ but be subject unto the Grace of Christ, with a humble spirit, and love which is not hypocritical, lest through thy haughty spirit thou destroy thy labours. For it is written, ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’ (1 Corinthians x, 12); and, ‘A man must be seasoned with Christ as with salt.’”
346. An old man used to say, “Let there be not unto thee free converse with the governor or with the judge, and be not with either of them continually; for from such freedom of speech (or boldness) thou wilt acquire [the habit of thinking], and from merely thinking thou wilt covet.”
347. Abbâ Agathon used to say, “I have never lain down to sleep and kept anger in my heart, or even a thought of enmity against any man; and I have never allowed any man to lie down to sleep keeping any anger against me.”
348. The old man Hyparchus used to say, “Do not abuse thy neighbour, and drive not away a man who turneth towards thee, so that thou mayest be able to say to our Lord, ‘Forgive us our sins, even as we also forgive those who trespass against us.’”
349. One of the fathers used to say, “If a man ask thee for anything, and thou givest it to him grudgingly, thou wilt not receive a reward for that which thou hast given, as it is written, ‘If a man ask thee to go with him a mile, go with him two’; and the meaning of this is, ‘If a man asketh anything of thee give [it] unto him with all thy soul and spirit.’”
350. One of the fathers related that there were three things which were especially honoured in monks: that is to say, with fear and trembling, and spiritual gladness they thought it meet to draw nigh, I mean to the participation in the Holy Mysteries, and the table of the brethren, and the washing of one another, according to the example which their true Rabbâ Christ shewed unto them, before the great day of His Resurrection was fulfilled. And the old man himself produced an illustration [of this], saying, “There was a certain great old man who was a seer of visions, and he happened to be sitting at meat with the brethren, and whilst they were eating, the old man saw in the Spirit as he was sitting at the table that some of the brethren were eating honey, whilst others were eating bread, and others dung; and he wondered at these within himself. And he made supplication and entreaty unto God, saying, ‘O Lord, reveal unto me this mystery, and tell me why when the food is all the same, and when the various things which are laid upon the table are only different forms thereof, the brethren appear to be eating different kinds of food, for some seem to be eating honey, and others bread, and others dung.’ Then a voice came unto him from above, saying, ‘Those who are eating honey are those who eat with fear, and with trembling, and with spiritual love when they sit at the table, and who pray without ceasing, and whose praise goeth up to God like sweet incense; for this reason they eat honey. And those who eat bread are those who confess and receive the Grace of God, which is given unto them by Him for these things. And those who eat dung are those who complain, and say, This is sweet and pleasant, and that is not seemly and prospereth not.’ Now it is not right to think about these at all, but we should glorify and praise God the more, and receive (or welcome) His abundant provisions which come to us without labour, so that there may be fulfilled in us that which was said by the blessed Apostle, ‘Whether ye eat, or whether ye drink, or whether ye do anything else, do all things unto the glory of God’” (1 Corinthians x, 31).