Page:Theparadiseoftheholyfathers.djvu/334

 that is to say, because thou didst command the brother who went with us that we should not see all the fathers.” Then the priest called the brother who had gone with them, and said in their presence, “Did I not tell thee to take the brethren to all the cells?” And the brother said, “Yea, father, thou didst tell me to do so, and I took them to all the cells, and they have seen all the brethren.” Then the honourable men said to the priest, “Forgive us, father, but there are some of the fathers whom we have not seen, and we are greatly grieved thereat; but say a prayer on our behalf so that we may depart.”

And after the priest had prayed over them, and they had departed from him, he called the brother who had gone with them, and said unto him, “How did these men know what I ordered thee [to do]? Didst thou, perchance, reveal it unto them?” And the brother made repentance, and said, “Forgive me, father, but I did not reveal [thy orders] unto them.” Then the priest knew that the matter was from God, and he rose up straightway and went to that old man whom he thought to be out of his mind, and he fell down on his face before him, and laid hold upon his feet, and besought him to reveal unto him his ascetic works and labours; and he swore to the old man that he would not rise up from the ground, and would not let go his hold upon him until he had done so, saying to the old man likewise, “That I should come to thee and that thou shouldst reveal thy labours unto me, are matters from God.” Now the old man was unwilling to reveal his works, because he did not wish to be held in honour because of them, nevertheless he was compelled to do so because the priest had told him that the matter was from God, and he promised the priest to reveal unto him one thing; and when the priest heard the promise of the old man, he rose up from the ground, and seeing the old man in a gentle and tranquil frame of mind, he marvelled, because he had never before seen him as he was at that moment. Then the old man said unto the priest, “Depart, O father, I did not know that I did even one good thing, but of such things which I have the following is one:—I have by my side two baskets, one on my right hand, and one on my left; for every good thought which springeth up in my mind I take a pebble and throw it into the basket which is on my right hand; and for every hateful thought which riseth in me, I also take a pebble and throw it into the basket which is on my left hand, and this I do every day. And when the time for the evening meal hath arrived, I take out the pebbles, and count them, and if the number of those which are in the basket of good thoughts