Page:ParadiseOfTheHolyFathersV2.djvu/41

 and said unto them, “Because the devils are striving with me, and because I do not know but that they may carry me off during [my] sleep, toil ye here with me this night, and keep vigil, and watch me and see if I sleep during [my] vigil.” So they sat down, one on his right hand, and the other on his left, from the evening even until the morning. And they said, “We slept and we woke up, and we did not observe that he slept at all; but when it began to be light there came unto us three times the sound of breathing in his nostrils, but whether he did this purposely so that we might think he slept or whether slumber had really fallen upon him we know not.” And he stood up and said unto us, “Have I been asleep?” And we answered and said unto him, “We do not know, O father, for we ourselves went to sleep.”

114. A brother asked Abbâ Poemen, saying, “How, and in what manner is it right for a man to walk in the path of righteousness?” Abbâ Poemen said unto him, “We have seen Daniel, and also that his enemies were unable to bring any accusation whatsoever against him except in respect of his service of God.”

115. On one occasion Abbâ Sisoes was sitting in his cell, and when his disciple knocked at the door [meaning to] go in, the old man cried out, saying, “Flee, Abraham, and do not come in now, for this place is not empty.”

116. They say concerning Abbâ Sisoes of Babylon that, wishing to vanquish sleep, he stood upright upon a mountain crag, and that the angel of the Lord came and rescued him from that place, and commanded him never to do such a thing again, and not even to hand on this tradition to another.

117. An old man said, “I knew a brother who used to sit with the brethren at the meal which is made for the coming of the brethren, and although the brethren ate and drank, he never made himself to be remote from converse with God in his prayer, and he did not drink even a cup of wine. Now this man’s manner of life was marvellous, and a certain man used to say about him, ‘I once wished to count the prayers which he made, and I saw that he did not cease to pray either by day or by night.’ ”

118. On one occasion a Bishop was sent secretly to Abbâ Epiphanius by the head of a certain monastery in Palestine, saying, “We have not treated lightly thy services of prayer since thy departure from us, but we perform most carefully the services for the third, and sixth, and ninth hours, and also vespers.” Then Abbâ Epiphanius blamed those who sent him, and wrote a message, which he sent to them, saying, “Ye must know that ye are indeed neglectful of the services and prayers