The elder said to him: As yet you have not found a ship, and you have not put

your baggage aboard,

and you have not started to cross the sea: can you talk as if you had already arrived in that city to
which you planned to go? When you have put into practice the thing you are talking about, then
speak from knowledge of the thing itself! XXXI ONCE a certain provincial judge heard of Abbot Moses
and went off to Scete to see him. Someone told the elder that the visitor was coming and he rose up
to fly into the marshes. But on the way he ran into the judge with his companions. The judge asked
him, saying: Tell us, elder, where is the cell of Abbot Moses? The elder replied: What do you want
with him? The man is a fool and a heretic! The judge went on and came to the church of Scete and
said to the clerics: I heard about this Abbot Moses and came out here to meet him. And an old man
heading for Egypt ran into us, and we asked him where was the cell of Abbot Moses, and he said to
us: What do you want with him? The man is a fool and a heretic! But the clerics, hearing this, were
saddened and said: What kind of old man was this, who said such things to you about the holy man?
They said: He was a very old elder with a long black robe. Then the clerics said: Why, that was Abbot
Moses himself. And because he did not want to be seen by you, therefore he said those things about
himself. Greatly edified, the judge returned home. XXXII ABBOT POEMEN said: Unless Nabuzardan
the prince of the cooks had come to Jerusalem the temple of the Lord would not have been burnt
with fire (IV Kings 25). So too, unless the desire of gluttony had come into the soul, the mind of man
would not have been enkindled by the temptations of the devil. XXXIII A CERTAIN brother came to
Abbot Silvanus at Mount Sinai, and seeing the hermits at work he exclaimed: Why do you work for
the bread that perisheth? Mary has chosen the best part, namely to sit at the feet of the Lord
without working. Then the Abbot said to his disciple Zachary: Give the brother a book and let him
read, and put him in an empty cell. At the ninth hour the brother who was reading began to look out
to see if the Abbot was not going to call him to dinner, and sometime after the ninth hour he went
himself to the Abbot and said: Did the brethren not eat today, Father? Oh yes, certainly, said the
Abbot, they just had dinner. Well, said the brother, why did you not call me? You are a spiritual man,
said the elder, you don’t need this food that perisheth. We have to work, but you have chosen the
best part. You read all day, and can get along without food. Hearing this the brother said: Forgive me,
Father. And the elder said: Martha is necessary to Mary, for it was because Martha worked that Mary
was able to be praised. XXXIV ONE of the monks, called Serapion, sold his book of the Gospels and
gave the money to those who were hungry, saying: I have sold the book which told me to sell all that
I had and give to the poor. XXXV ONE of the brethren had been insulted by another and he wanted to
take revenge. He came to Abbot Sisois and told him what had taken place, saying: I am going to get
even, Father. But the elder besought him to leave the affair in the hands of God. No, said the brother,
I will not give up until I have made that fellow pay for what he said. Then the elder stood up and
began to pray in these terms: O God, Thou art no longer necessary to us, and we no longer need
Thee to take care of us since, as this brother says, we both can and will avenge ourselves. At this the
brother promised to give up his idea of revenge. XXXVI ONE of the brothers asked Abbot Sisois:
Supposing some robbers or savages attack me and try to kill me: if I can overcome them should I kill
them myself? The elder replied: Not at all. But commit yourself entirely to God. Any evil that comes
to you, confess that it has happened to you because of your sins, for you must learn to attribute
everything to the dispensation of God’s wisdom. XXXVII THERE was once a great hermit in the
mountains and he was attacked by robbers. But his cries aroused the other hermits in the
neighbourhood, and they ran together and captured the robbers. These they sent under guard to the
town and the judge put them in jail. But then the brothers were very ashamed and sad because, on
their account, the robbers had been turned over to the judge. They went to Abbot Poemen and told
him all about it. And the elder wrote to the hermit saying: Remember who carried out the first
betrayal, and you will learn the reason for the second. Unless you had first been betrayed by your
own inward thoughts, you would never have ended by turning those men over to the judge. The
hermit, touched by these words, got up at once and went into the city and broke open the jail, letting
out the robbers and freeing them from torture. XXXVIII ONCE there was a disciple of a Greek
philosopher who was commanded by his Master for three years to give money to everyone who
insulted him. When this period of trial was over, the Master said to him: Now you can go to Athens
and learn wisdom. When the disciple was entering Athens he met a certain wise man who sat at the
gate insulting everybody who came and went. He also insulted the disciple who immediately burst
out laughing. Why do you laugh when I insult you? said the wise man. Because, said the disciple, for
three years I have been paying for this kind of thing and now you give it to me for nothing. Enter the
city, said the wise man, it is all yours. Abbot John used to tell the above story, saying: This is the door
of God by which our fathers rejoicing in many tribulations enter into the City of Heaven. XXXIX ONCE
in the Valley of the Cells, a feast being celebrated, the brethren were eating together in the place of
assembly. And there was a certain brother present, who said to the one waiting on table: I do not eat
any cooked food, just a little salt.1 And the one waiting on table called another brother in the
presence of the whole assembly, saying: That brother does not eat cooked food. Just bring him some
salt. One of the elders got up and said to the brother who wanted salt: It would have been better had
you eaten meat alone in your cell today, than to let this thing be heard in the presence of so many
brethren. XL ONE of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community. So
then Abbot Bessarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner! XLI A BROTHER in
Scete happened to commit a fault, and the elders assembled, and sent for Abbot Moses to join them.
He, however, did not want to come. The priest sent him a message, saying: Come, the community of
the brethren is waiting for you. So he arose and started off. And taking with him a very old basket full
of holes, he filled it with sand, and carried it behind him. The elders came out to meet him, and said:
What is this, Father? The elder replied: My sins are running out behind me, and I do not see them,
and today I come to judge the sins of another! They, hearing this, said nothing to the brother but
pardoned him. XLII A CERTAIN brother inquired of Abbot Pastor, saying: What shall I do? I lose my
nerve when I am sitting alone at prayer in my cell? The elder said to him: Despise no one, condemn
no one, rebuke no one, God will give you peace and your meditation will be undisturbed. XLIII AN
ELDER said: Do not judge a fornicator if you are chaste, for if you do, you too are violating the law as
much as he is. For He who said thou shalt not fornicate also said thou shalt not judge. XLIV ONE of
the Fathers told a story of a certain elder who was in his cell busily at work and wearing a hairshirt
when Abbot Ammonas came to him.