517. Abbâ Daniel used to say that a man of business once came to Abbâ Arsenius, and brought him a testament of a certain kinsman who had left him a very large inheritance, and having received the deed he wished to tear it to pieces. Then the man of business fell down at his feet, and said, “I beseech thee, do not tear it up, for if thou dost I shall die.” And Abbâ Arsenius said unto him, “I died before he did, though he hath only now died, but shall I live?” And he sent the man of affairs away without having taken anything.
518. A monk went to a nunnery to visit his sister, for she was sick; now she was a woman who was great with God, and a firm believer, and she never allowed herself to see the face of a man, not even that of her brother, lest through her he might go in among the women. And she sent him a message, saying, “Go, my brother, and pray for me, that Christ, by His grace, may make me worthy to see thee in that world of the kingdom of heaven.”
519. A brother asked an old man and said unto him, “What is the best thing for me to do, so that I may do it and live thereby?” And the old man said unto him, “God [alone] knoweth which is best; but listen. One of the old men said that the mind which rebuked a man was his [best] adversary, for it resisted a man who sought to carry out his desires in the flesh, and to rebel against God, and not to be obedient unto Him, and it would also deliver a man over to his enemies.”
520. An old man also said, “It is meet that the soul should be occupied in the service [of God] by day and night, even like Huldah, the prophetess, who used to sit in the house of the Lord with supplication and ministration; and also like Hannah, who never ceased in her ministrations during a period of eighty years.”
521. A brother asked an old man, saying, “What shall I do, father? For my belly vexeth me, and I am unable to restrain it, and therefore I am leading a life of luxury.” The old man said unto him, “If thou dost not throw on it the fear of fasting thou wilt never be able to straighten the path. Place before it the following parable. A certain man had an ass, and as he was sitting upon it and journeying along, the animal would not go straight, but went first to this side of the road and then to that; and he took a stick and smote it. And the ass said, ‘Beat me not, and henceforward I will go straight.’ Now when he had gone a little further on, the man alighted from the ass, and placed the stick in [his] cloak-bag which was on it, but the ass knew not that the stick was on his back. And when the ass saw that its master was not carrying the stick, he began to hold him in contempt, and he walked among the crops; thereupon his master ran after him, and took the stick and beat him with it until he went straight. Now the belly of the body is even like unto the ass.”
522. A brother said to Theodore of Pîrmê, “Speak a word to me, for behold, I am about to perish.” And with great labour the old man said unto him, “I stand in danger myself, and what have I to say to thee?”
523. Abbâ Kêrîôn used to say, “I have performed more bodily labours than my son Zechariah, but I have not reached his measure of humility and silence.”
524. Abbâ Macarius used to say, “Guard thyself against freedom of word and deed, for it is meet for a monk not to permit his thought to be his judge in anything whatsoever.”
525. Mother Sarah used to say to her brethren, “It is I who am a man, and ye who are women.”
526. A brother asked Abbâ Poemen, “How can it be right for me to take good heed to my ways when I am sitting in my cell?” The old man said unto him, “For a season I was a man who had fallen into the mire up to my shoulders, and a basketful of gall hung from my neck, and I was crying out to God, ‘Have mercy upon me.’”
527. They used to say of the men who were in the cells “that their rules were so strict that during the night they slept four hours, and assembled for service four hours, and worked for four hours; that during the day they worked with their hands until the ninth hour, and that after that they prepared the small quantity of food which they ate, and if any man had anything to do in his cell he then did it. In this way they filled up their day.”
528. A brother asked Abbâ Sisoes, saying, “Why do not the passions depart from me?” The old man said unto him, “Because their possessions are in thee; give them their pledge (or security), and they will depart.”
529. On one occasion the fathers were summoned by the Archbishop Theophilus, and they went to Alexandria to him so that he might make a prayer and cleanse a house of idols; and as they were eating with him, flesh of a calf was set before them, and they ate it in simplicity, doubting nothing. And the Archbishop took a piece of meat and gave it to an old man who was near him, saying, “Behold, this piece of meat is very good, father”; and they all answered and said unto him, “Behold, up to the present we have been eating herbs, but if it be flesh, we do not eat flesh,” and not one of them ate anything more.
530. They used to tell a story of a brother who was the neighbour of an old Rabbâ, and say that he would go into the cell of the old man, and steal whatsoever he found there, and though the old man saw him he never rebuked him, but worked with his hands and wearied himself the more, saying, “Perhaps that brother is in need”; and the old man suffered much tribulation at the thought, and ate his food in sadness. And when the old man was about to die, the brethren sat round about him, and when he saw in their midst the brother who used to steal from him, he said unto him, “My son, come near to me”; and when he had drawn nigh to him, he kissed his hands, saying, “My brother, I am grateful to these hands, for through them I shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now when that brother heard these things he was sorry, and he also repented, and he became a well-tried monk through the things which he had seen in that old man.
531. On one occasion, when Abbâ Agathon was travelling, and some young men were with him, one of them found a small bag on the road, and he said to him, “Father, dost thou wish me to take this little bag?” and the old man looked at him in wonder, saying, “My son, didst thou place it there?” And the young man said, “No.” Then the old man said unto him, “If thou didst not place it there, how canst thou desire to take it?”
532. Abbâ Joseph, the priest of Ascalon, told us the following story, saying: There was a certain merchant in Ascalon who borrowed from other people much money, and he hired a ship for himself and put out to sea; and a fierce storm rose up against him, and he lost everything which he had with him; but he himself was saved. And when he returned to the city those to whom he owed money seized him, and they took everything which he had in his house, and sold it, and shut him up in prison; but they left him his wife as an act of charity, so that she might beg for him and feed him. And the woman went about from door to door, and she herself begged for bread for her husband; and one day as she was sitting and eating bread with her husband, one of the chief men of the city went in to give alms to the prisoners who were there, and he saw the woman and lusted for her, for she was beautiful. And he sent his servant to call her, and she came thinking that he wished to give her alms; but he took her aside, and said to her, “Why hast thou come here?” And she related unto him the whole matter. Then he said unto her, “If I pay one-third of thy husband’s debt wilt thou lie with me this night?” And that chaste, free woman said unto him, “I have heard that the holy Apostle said, ‘A woman hath no power over her body, but her husband.’ I will first ask my husband, and whatsoever he commandeth me that will I do.” And having come she told her husband, and he was grieved; and he wept, and said unto her, “Go, and say unto him, ‘I have told my husband, and it hath not pleased him, and I have hope in God that He will not forsake us.’” Now there was in the prison-house a certain thief who had been a highway robber, and he was shut up [in a room] inside beyond them, and at that moment he happened to be sitting at a window which faced them, and he heard everything which they were saying; and with tears he said unto himself, “Woe is me! For although these people are in such great trouble, they are not willing to deliver over their freedom, and accept money, and go forth from this place, but they hold their chastity to be more valuable than riches. What then shall I, the wretched one, do? For the thought that there is a God hath never entered my mind, and I never remember that my evil deeds will be judged, and I have committed many wickednesses, and many awful murders. And I know that when the judge cometh here he will kill me without asking a question, as is just.” And he answered and said unto the woman and her husband, “Because I see that ye preserve the purity of your bodies for Christ’s sake, and that ye have chosen to remain in great tribulation and not to destroy your chastity, God hath put it into my heart to do unto you an act of grace which ye deserve, and perhaps God will shew me mercy through you on the day of judgement. Go ye to the northern side of the city wall, and dig there in a certain place, and behold, ye shall find there a large earthen pot, beneath which is a vessel full of gold. Take it, and pay your debt, and may a great blessing abide with you so that you may live upon it; but I beseech you to pray for me continually, that I may find mercy before God in the day of judgement.”
And after three days the judge came to the city, and he ordered them to cut off the head of that thief without [asking any] questions, and after he had been slain, that noble woman said unto her husband, “Wilt thou command me to go and see if that which the thief said is true?” And he said unto her, “Go.” And she went at the time of evening, and by the indications which the thief had given her, she found the place, and having dug a little she found the money, even as he had told her, and she took it and went to her house, giving thanks unto God. And she brought it out little by little, and she gave it to the creditors, who thought that she brought it to them as the result of her begging, a little from here and a little from there; then when she had paid her husband’s debt, he came forth from prison, thanking and glorifying God.
Then Abbâ Joseph said unto us, “Behold these men, O my brethren! Because they chose to live in affliction, and refused to despise the command of God, God multiplied His grace unto them without delay. For even if the woman had hearkened unto that lascivious man he might not, perhaps, have given her what he promised her; but because they preserved their chastity which is pleasing to God, God rewarded her with the whole amount of their debts, and brought them to a greater state of prosperity than [that which they enjoyed] at first. And, my beloved, I think thus concerning Adam when he was in Paradise. Had he kept that little command, honour greater than that which he had at first would have come to him; but when he transgressed the command of his Lord, he fell from and was driven out of the delight and pleasure wherein he lived. May our Lord make us worthy to keep His commandments! Amen.”
533. On one occasion when Abbâ John and the brethren who were with him were going up from Scete, he who was guiding them lost the way, and the brethren said unto Abbâ John, “What shall we do, father? For this brother hath lost the way, and peradventure we shall die in wandering about.” Abbâ John said unto them, “If ye tell him he will be grieved and feel ashamed. But behold I will feign to be sick, and will say that I am not able to go on any further”; and the brethren said, “Father, thou hast well said.” And they acted thus, and decided that they would stay where they were until the morning, rather than rebuke the brother who was guiding them.
534. Abbâ Serenus used to say, “I have passed the whole period of my life in cutting and twisting and sewing palm leaves, and in spite of it all, had not the hand of the Lord fed me I should not have had enough to eat.”
Demonstrations which are suitable to Lazy Men and Sluggards, and to all those who take no care for their Souls
535. Those who are in despair, and who have delivered themselves over to the filthy work of their abominable lusts, and who make loose their ways at all times, and who love the lusts which harm them, are like unto the sterile land, and the arid desert, and a house laid waste, and a vineyard without grapes, and an empty vessel, and a body without a soul, and eyes without light, and a dead body without a voice, and hands which are cut off, and knees which are bowed, and a paralytic lying on a bed, and a vessel filled with stinkingness.
536. AGAINST THOSE WHO LOVE VAINGLORY, AND THOSE WHO BOAST OF THEIR ALMS. Those who love vainglory, and those who boast of their fair works and life, are like unto a broken cistern, and a bag with a hole in it, and a tree without fruit, and a naked man, and a moth-eaten garment, and a worm-eaten beam of wood, and unto other things which are consumed by their [false] glory.
537. AGAINST HIM THAT IS NOT CAREFUL (or WATCHFUL) IN RESPECT OF HIS TONGUE. He who is not watchful in respect of his tongue is like unto him whose house door is open, and whose riches are plundered by every man, and he is like unto an uncovered vessel (or unrolled garment), and like that which is unsealed.
538. AGAINST THOSE OVER WHOM EVIL THOUGHTS HAVE DOMINION, AND IN WHOSE MIND WICKED COGITATIONS RISE UP. Those who through their sluggishness give a hand to the thoughts which make a mock of them, and by their negligence help filthy devils to have dominion over them, are like unto an abode which is full of snakes, and a house which is full of evil-smelling things, and a ship which is tossed by the waves, and a poor piece of land which is full of briars and brambles, and unto the thorns that choke it, the end of which is burning.
539. AGAINST HIM WHO DOTH NOT SUPPRESS IN HIMSELF WRATH AND ANGER, AND WHO KEEPETH HIS HATRED AGAINST HIS BROTHER. He who doth not suppress in himself wrath and anger, and who keepeth his hatred against his neighbour, is like unto a savage animal which cannot be tamed, and which goeth along every road, and wandereth about in an erring manner, and unto the man who burieth fire in chopped straw, and like the man who putteth in his bosom the spawn of serpents, and like a den which is full of enraged serpents, and like a cleft in the rock which is full of reptiles which shoot out venom, and a mad dog that barketh at every man, and a wild boar that gnasheth his teeth as soon as he seeth a man, and like the evening wolf which goeth about with his mouth wide open to destroy the simple lambs, and the panther which leapeth upon the gazelle in the desert, and the ship which saileth on the sea with an evil spirit for her steersman, and the savage beast which cannot be subdued, and which walketh on every road and wandereth about in error without discernment. These [words] are [directed] to those who are not humble, so that they may correct themselves and their savage habits, and to those who are lifted up against their brethren in their pride, and who do not wish to travel in the path of the humility of Christ.
540. AGAINST THE CHANGE OF THE EVIL WILL OF THOSE MEN WHO DENY THE GRACE WHICH IS PERFORMED TOWARDS THEM. One of the teachers said, “If thou hast made thyself humble, they despise thee without discernment. If thou hast made thyself angry, they hate thee without understanding. If thou hast made thyself pleasant, they swallow thee, and thou disappearest. If thou hast made thyself bitter (or cruel), they reject thee, and thou art reviled. And if thou hast mingled with folk they hold thee to be a liar fair[-spoken], and wandering. If they have fallen ill, they command thee, and if they are despised, they judge thee; if they be visited, they abuse thee; and if thou art whole, they leave thee; and if they are reclining, they drive thee away; and if aught be required from them, they curse thee; and if mercy be shown unto them, they oppress thee. Neither grace (or goodness), nor justice will ever please those who belong to every evil of every kind.”