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 I do not let [my foot go] until God guideth me, and leadeth me on the path to the place which pleaseth Him.”

458. An old man used to say, “God giveth a man the opportunity to repent as long as he wisheth to do, and in proportion as he wisheth, for it is written, ‘Speak first thy sins, and thou shalt be justified.’ ”

459. An old man used to say, “Silence is filled with all life, but in the speech which is abundant death is hidden.”

460. And the old man also said, “Lying and sin are wont to lie in ambush in the words which are long and broad.”

461. An old man used to say, “Humility never becometh angry, and never provoketh a man to wrath.”

462. Abbâ Joseph said unto Abbâ Lôt, “Thou art unable to become a monk, but thou mayest become wholly like a flame which burneth and blazeth fiercely.”

463. An old man was asked, “What is humility?” And he said unto him that asked the question, “If thy brother offend thee, and thou forgive him before he can repent and entreat thee [that is humility].”

464. An old man also said, “Keep thy conscience with thy brother, and thou shalt find rest.”

465. Abbâ Paphnutius used to say, “He who esteemeth himself as nothing, whithersoever he goeth, or wheresoever he dwelleth, he shall find rest.”

466. The same old man said, “During all the days of the life of the old men I used to go and visit them twice each month, and my cell was distant from them twelve miles, and in respect of every thought about which I asked them, they never said to me anything except, ‘Wheresoever thou goest esteem thyself as nothing, and thou shalt find rest.’ ”

467. One of the old men used to say, “Love knoweth not how to keep a storehouse [full] of possessions.”

468. The same old man also said, “I do not know the actual thing whereby, on two occasions, the enemies led me into error, and into the committing of sin, and into the transgression [of the Law].”

469. Certain old men asked John the Less, saying, “When thou wast in Crete with the fathers, how didst thou see them conducting themselves?” And he said unto them, “By night and by day they were performing with all their might the work of God, that is to say, [they were reciting] the service, and they prayed, and read, and were anxious with divine solicitude, and instead of being idle they worked with their hands.”

470. On one occasion Abbâ Ammon came to the brethren, and they, whilst expressing regret [for troubling him, asked