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 smote him, and said, “Thou hast brought a wandering dog!” and he untied the animal and let him depart.

239. Abbâ Joseph used to say, “There are three things which are held in honour before God: first, when a man is sick, and he addeth to his toil, and receiveth it with thanksgiving; secondly, when a man maketh all his works to be pure before God, and when he hath in them no human consideration; thirdly, when a man submitteth himself to authority, and obeyeth his father, and setteth aside his own will. Such a man hath one crown the more, but I personally would choose the sickness.”

240. They used to say that Abbâ Sylvanus had in Scete a disciple whose name was Mark, and that he possessed to a great degree the faculty of obedience; he was a scribe, and the old man loved him greatly for his obedience. Now Sylvanus had eleven other disciples, and they were vexed because they saw that the old man loved Mark more than them, and when the old men who were in Scete heard [of this] they were afflicted about it. And one day when they came to him to reprove him about this, Sylvanus took them, and went forth, and passing by the cells of the brethren, he knocked at the door of each cell, and said, “O brother, come forth, for I have need of thee”; and he passed by all their cells, and not one of them obeyed him quickly. But when they went to the cell of Mark, he knocked at the door and said, “Brother Mark,” and as soon as Mark heard the voice of the old man, he jumped up straightway, and came out, and Sylvanus sent him off on some business. Then Sylvanus said unto the old men, “My fathers, where are the other brethren?” And they went into Mark’s cell, and looked at the quire of the book which he was writing, and they saw that he had begun to write [one side of] the Greek letter o (or ω), and that as soon as he heard the voice of his master, [he ran out] and did not stay to complete the other side of the letter. Now when the old men perceived these things, they answered and said unto Sylvanus, “Verily, O old man, we also love the brother whom thou lovest, for God also loveth him.”

241. On another occasion the mother of Mark came to see him, and she had with her an abundant company of members of her household; and an old man went forth to her, and she said unto him, “Abbâ, tell my son to come forth and see me”; and the old man went in, and said to him, “Go forth and see thy mother.” Then Mark wrapped himself up in rags, and blackened his face by standing up in the sooty chimney, and he went forth thus fulfilling the behest of his master, and shutting his eyes, he said unto those [who were with his