Page:ParadiseOfTheHolyFathersV2.djvu/247

 case, come after me and see.’ ” Then he took them in to his brother in the cell wherein he lay, and he said unto him, “Father, where is the axe which I gave thee yesterday?” And he began to seek for it. Then he said unto him, “See, O my brother, do an act of grace and seek for it with me,” and the sick brother took it upon himself to be asked for that which he had not taken. And having profited [by his example] the fathers departed from that place.

389. An old man used to say, “Flee from that love which subsisteth by means of the things which are corrupt, for with them a man also passeth away and is destroyed.”

390. Abbâ Elijah used to say, “The love which a man possesseth for his neighbour, and which is caused by some temporal matter is, in the process of time, turned into fierce enmity.”

391. And he also said, “Whatsoever hath its being for God’s sake endureth and abideth for ever with those who are true.”

392. On one occasion the priest of Pîlîsîôn heard that certain of the brethren were idle and lazy, and that they were constantly in the city, and that they swam in the baths, and neglected the works of excellence which belong to the life of the monk, and when they came to the congregation he took their monkish dress from them; and having done [this] he was sad at heart, and repented, and he went to Abbâ Poemen and informed him about them. And the old man said unto him, “Hast thou nothing of the old man about thee?” [And he said “Yea.” And the old man said unto him], “Therefore thou thyself art like unto them, and thou art nigh unto sin.” Then the priest went and expressed his sorrow to them, and he put on them the dress of monks [once more]. Now they were twelve in all.

393. On one occasion tribulation came upon the monks in a certain place where they were living, and they wished to forsake it and come to Abbâ Ammon; and behold, he was travelling in a boat, and he saw them going along by the side of the river, and he ordered the boatmen to bring [the boat] close to land. Then he called these brethren and said unto them, “I am Ammon to whom ye wish to go”; and he entreated them to go back to their place, and he comforted them, and told them to endure patiently, for there was in the matter no loss to the soul, but only human vexation.

394. On one occasion an old man went up from Scete to the brethren in the mountain, and when they saw that he was a man of great ascetic labours, and that he practised stern self-denial, they entreated him to let them make a meal for him, and they brought him a little wine to drink. Now the people