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 apologies to him, and said, “Father, tell us through what labour thou hast received this gift.” And he said unto them, “Forgive me, O my fathers, if ye possess purity of heart, every living thing will be subject unto you as it was unto Adam before he transgressed the commandment of God.”

618. On one occasion one of the old men of Thebes came to Mount Sinai, and having departed from there, one of the brethren met him on the way, and with a groan he said unto the old man, “We are distressed, O father, through the want of rain.” And the old man said unto him, “Why do ye not pray and ask God for some?” And the brother said unto him, “We have prayed and made earnest supplication, and the rain hath not come.” The old man said unto them, “Then ye did not pray with all your hearts; do ye wish to know that the matter is thus?” And after [this] the old man stood up in prayer, and he spread out his hands to heaven, and straightway, without any delay whatsoever, the rain came; and the brother saw, and feared, and he fell down and did homage to him. Now the old man took to flight, but the brother made known everything which had happened, and when [the brethren] heard [thereof] they all glorified God.

619. They used to say that, when on one occasion, Abbâ Moses of Scete was going into Patârâ, he grew weary through the length of the road, and he was afraid and said, “How can I bring water for myself into this place?” And a voice was heard by him, saying, “Go on, and fear not.” Now one day a large number of the fathers came to him, and he had there only one vessel of water, and having boiled some lentiles the water came to an end; at this the old man was troubled, and went out and in, and prayed to God, and afterwards a great cloud came and poured down upon them much rain, and it filled all the vessels which he had with water. Then afterwards the fathers said unto him, “Abbâ Moses, tell us why thou didst come in and out”; and he said unto them, “I entered into judgement with God, who brought me hither because there was want of water, and because I had no water for His servants to drink; therefore I came in and out.”

620. The old man Joseph used to say: “I went on one occasion to Abbâ Poemen and found many old men with him, and behold, a certain man had brought a youth who was a kinsman of Abbâ Poemen, and whose face had been turned backwards through the operation of the Evil One; and when his father saw the multitude of the old men who were coming to Abbâ Poemen, he took him and brought him outside the door of the monastery, and sat down there and wept. Now when one of the old men had ended his business, and was