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 Scete to partake of a meal; and when each of them had eaten two bread-cakes, they ceased eating. Then the brother, who knew their labours of abstinence, and that they did not usually eat, and never satisfied themselves, made excuses to them, saying, “Eat ye this day, for our Lord’s sake, until ye are satisfied”; and hearing this each ate ten cakes more. All this [sheweth] how much they afflicted themselves in not satisfying themselves with any kind of food.

72. On one occasion two old men were going up from Scete to Egypt, and because of the fatigue of the way they sat down on the bank of the river to eat some food, and one of them took his bread-cake in his hand and dipped it in the water; and he answered and said unto his companion, “Wilt thou not dip thy cake in water, O father?” And his companion answered and said unto him, “It is written, When a possession increaseth set not thy heart upon it” (Psalm 62:10).

73. They used to say about Abbâ Isaac, the priest of the Cells, that he ate the ashes of the censer which was before the altar with his bread.

74. On one occasion there was an offering [made] in the mountain of Abbâ Anthony, and a skin of wine was there, and one of the monks took some of it in a small vessel, and with a cup in his hand he went and carried it to Abbâ Sisoes. And he mixed him a cupful, and he drank it, and he mixed him a second cupful, and he took it and drank it, but when he mixed him a third cupful Abbâ Sisoes refused to drink it, saying, “Stay thy hand, brother, knowest thou not that [the third cup] is of Satan?”

75. Abbâ John said, “If a king wishes to subdue a city belonging to enemies, he first of all keepeth them without bread and water, and the enemy being in this wise harassed by hunger becometh subject unto him; and thus it is in respect of the hostile passions, for if a man endureth fasting and hunger regularly, his enemies become stricken with weakness in the soul.”

76. They used to say about Abbâ Dioscurus that his bread was made of barley and lentiles, and that at the beginning of each year he would set himself some [new] task of ascetic excellence, saying, “This year I will not hold converse with (or visit) any man,” or, “I will not speak at all,” or, “I will not eat food which hath been boiled,” or, “I will not eat fruit,” or, “I will not eat vegetables.” He began each year with resolutions of this kind and carried them out, and each year he set himself some new task.

77. On one occasion when certain brethren went to the church during the Easter Festival, they gave a brother a cup