Глава XVII. О любви

1. Abba Anthony said: I no longer fear God, but I love Him, for perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). 2. He said again: from one’s neighbor comes life and death. For if we gain a brother, we gain God, and if we seduce a brother, we sin against Christ. 3. They said that one of the elders asked God to show the fathers and saw them all, except Abba Anthony. Then he says to the one who showed: where is Abba Anthony? He answered: in the place where God is, there he is. 4. Abba Agathon said: I never fell asleep, having anything on anyone, and according to my strength, I did not allow anyone to fall asleep, having anything on me. 5. He said: I never gave a supper of love, but giving and receiving advice was for me a supper of love, believing that gaining a brother was fruitfulness for me. 6. When the brethren were talking about love, Abba Joseph said: we have seen that there is love, and he told the following about Abba Agathon: he had a knife; the brother who came to him praised him, and he did not allow him to leave him except by taking a knife. 7. Abba Agathon said: if it were possible for me to find a leper and give him my body and take him, I would willingly do so. For this is perfect love. 8. They also said about him that once, having come to the city to sell his things, he found a sick wanderer abandoned in the square, with no one to look after him, and, having rented a room, stayed with him; He paid rent from his handicrafts, and used the rest for the needs of the sick person. So he lived there for four months until the sick man recovered, and then returned in peace to his cell. 9. They told about Abba Agathon that he carefully fulfilled every commandment: if he got into a boat, he was the first to take the oar; when the brethren came to him, immediately through prayer his hand supplied the meal, for he was filled with the love of God. 10. Abba Agathon once went to the city to sell things and on the way he found a leper. The leper says to him: where are you going? Abba Agathon answered: to the city to sell things. He said to him: do me a favor, take me there. He picked it up and brought it to the city. He says: where you sell things, put me there too. He did so. When he sold one thing, the leper asked: how much did you sell it for? He answered: for so much. He said: buy me some pie! He bought it. He's selling another item again. He asks: for how much? This one answers: for so much. He says: buy me this and that. And he bought it. When he had thus sold all his things and wanted to go, the leper said to him: Are you going? He answers him: I’m coming. He said: do me a favor, take me again to where you found me. He picked it up and brought it to its original place. He says to him: Blessed are you, Abba Agathon, from the Lord in heaven and on earth. But, raising his eyes, the elder saw no one, for it was the Angel of the Lord who came to test him. 11. Abba Ammun of Nitria came to Abba Anthony and said to him: I lift up your work greater than yours, why is your name exalted among people more than mine? Abba Anthony answered him: because I love God more than you. 12. There was one old man in Cellia named Apollo, who, when someone came to ask him for some work, walked with joy, saying: with Christ I will now work for the sake of my soul, for He is its reward. 13. Abba Isaiah said: love is sitting down to God with unceasing thanksgiving; God rejoices in thanksgiving, and it is a sign of repose. 14. Abba Theodore of Yennatsky said: when I was younger and lived in the desert, I went to a bakery to bake two loaves of bread for myself and found a brother there who also wanted to bake bread, but had no one to help him. I left what I had and helped him, but as soon as I was freed, another brother came, I helped him too and prepared bread for him; then the third one came, I did the same for him. I did this for everyone who came and prepared six loaves. Finally, when they stopped coming, I baked my two loaves. 15. Once Abba John was walking with other brethren from Skete, and the one accompanying them lost his way, for it was night. The brothers said to Abba John: What should we do, Abba? Brother has lost his way, shouldn’t we die getting lost? The elder tells them: if we tell him, he will be sad and ashamed, but I will pretend to be exhausted and say: I can’t go, I’ll stay here until the morning. And he did so. And the others said, “We will not go away, but we will sit with you.” They sat like that until the morning, without embarrassing their brother. 16. Abba John Kolov said: you cannot build houses from top to bottom, but from the foundation to the top. They say to him: what does this word mean? He answered: the foundation is the neighbor - you must first of all acquire it, because all the commandments of Christ hang on it (Matthew 22:39, 40). 17. They told about Abba John: one girl’s parents died and she was left an orphan. Her name is Paisia. She decided to make her house a hospice for the monastery fathers, spending quite a long time like this, welcoming strangers and putting the fathers to rest. But her property was exhausted, and she began to become poor. Depraved people clung to her and turned her away from her good goal, so that she began to live badly, reaching the point of fornication. The fathers, having heard about this, were very sad and, calling Abba John Kolov, said to him: we heard about her sister that she lives badly, but when she could, she showed us her love, and now we must show our love for her and help her. So, take the trouble to go to her and, according to the wisdom given to you by God, arrange her affairs. Abba John came to her and said to the old lady-gatekeeper: tell your mistress about me. But she sent him away, saying: first you ate her up, and now she is poor. Abba John says: tell her that I can help her a lot. Everyone who was here, grinning, asked: what can you give her, trying to see her like that? He answered them: How do you know what I can deliver to her? The old woman went and spoke about him. The girl tells her: these monks always walk near the Red Sea and find pearls. Then, having left, he says: bring him here. When he entered, she forestalled him and sat down on the bed; Abba John approached, sat down next to her and, looking into her face, said: Why did you despise Jesus that you came to this? Hearing this, she seemed to be completely covered in frost, and Abba John, bowing his head, began to cry heavily. She asked him: Abba! Why are you crying? He raised his head, but again lowered it crying and answered: I see that Satan is playing with your face, and how can I not cry? Hearing this, she says to him: is there any repentance for me, Abba? He said: yes. Then she says to him: take me wherever you want. He said: let's go. She stood up and followed him. Abba John noticed that she did not give any orders or say anything about her house, and he was surprised. When they arrived in the desert, it was already late. He made a small head out of sand for her, and at a short distance for himself, crossed it and said: sleep here. Then he fulfilled his prayers and bowed down. Waking up around midnight, he saw a bright path stretching from heaven to her, and the Angels of God lifting up her soul. He stood up, walked up to her, kicked her and, seeing that she had died, he threw himself on his face, praying to God, and heard that one hour of her repentance was accepted more than the repentance of many who repented for a long time, but did not show such ardor in repentance. 18. Abba John said that our father Anthony said: I never preferred what was good for me to what was good for my brother. 19. Abba Hilarion came from Palestine to the mountain to Abba Anthony. Abba Anthony says to him: you have come well, morning star! And Abba Hilarion said: peace be with you, pillar of light illuminating the universe! 20. One of the elders came to Abba Lot to the small lake of Arsenoites, asked him for a cell, and he gave it to him. The elder was unwell, and Abba Lot laid him to rest. If anyone came to Abba Lot, he would send them to visit the sick old man. But the elder offered them the teaching of Origen, and Abba Lot grieved that the fathers would not think that they were the same, and he was afraid to send him out of that place for the sake of the commandment. One day Abba Lot went to Abba Arseny and told him about the elder. Abba Arseny tells him: do not expel him, but tell him: this is what God has given, eat, drink as much as you want, just don’t say such words. If he wants to, he will correct himself, but if he does not want to correct himself, then he will naturally ask to leave there, and it will no longer be from you that there will be a reason for this. Abba Lot, returning, did this. The elder, having listened to him, did not want to correct himself, but began to ask: for God’s sake, get me out of here, because I can no longer endure the desert. So, he left, and Abba Lot saw him off with love. 21. Abba Peter said about Abba Macarius that, having once come to a certain hermit and finding him sick, he found out what he wanted to eat, because he had nothing in his cell. When he said - pastila (fragrant flatbread), the good husband was not too lazy to go to Alexandria and bring it to the sick man. And no one knew this wonderful thing. 22. Before Abba Pimen and his brothers came to Egypt, there was one elder there who had fame and great honor, but when Abba Pimen came there from Skete, people left him and began to go to Abba Pimen, so that he was offended. Abba Pimen said to his brethren: what should we do with this great old man, for people have drawn us into an insult, leaving the old man and turning to us, who know nothing? How can we calm the old man down? Then he says to them: prepare some food, take a vessel of wine and let’s go to him to eat together. Maybe this way we can calm him down. So, they took the food and went. When they knocked on the door, his disciple answered and asked: who are you? They replied: tell the Abba that Pimen wishes to receive a blessing from him. When the student said this, he replied: go, I don’t have time. They, standing in the heat, said: we will not leave until we are worthy to see the elder. The elder, touched by their humility and patience, opened the door for them. They entered and, when they had eaten, he said to them: Truly, not only what I heard about you, but I have now seen a hundredfold more in your deed. And he became their friend from that day on. 23. Abba Pimen said that if a brother came to Abba John Kolov, he taught him the love that the Apostle speaks of: love is long-suffering and merciful (1 Cor. 13:4). 24. Again he said: no one can find greater love than this, but whoever lays down his life for his neighbor (John 15:13), for if someone hears an insulting word and, having himself said something similar, struggles not to say it, or if, being lustful, he endures it and does not repay it in kind, then he lays down his life for his neighbor. 25. The brother asked Abba Pimen: I have found a place in which there is all consolation for the brethren. Do you want me to live there? The elder answered: stay where you will not be harmful to your brother. 26. The brother asked Abba Pimen: if my brother has some of my money, do you want me to ask him? The elder replied: ask him one day. The brother said: what should I do, for I will not overcome my thoughts? The elder tells him: stop worrying, just don’t offend your brother. 27. They talked about Abba Pimen: when he lived in Skete with his two brothers and the younger one upset them, he said to the other brother: the younger brother upsets us; let's leave here. And they went out and left him. He, noticing that they had been gone for a long time, went out and, seeing them already at a distant distance, began to run after them screaming. Abba Pimen said: Let's wait for our brother, for he will get tired. Having caught up with them, the brother stopped throwing, saying: where are you going and leaving me alone? The elder said to him: you confuse us, that’s why we are leaving. He replied: true, true, but wherever you want, let's go together! The elder, seeing his kindness, says to the other brother: let us return, brother, for he does this unintentionally, but the devil does it to him. And, having returned, they came to their place. 28. It once happened that Abba Pambo went with his brothers within the borders of Egypt. Seeing the laymen sitting, he said to them: stand up, greet the monks to be blessed, for they often talk to God and their lips are holy. 29. They said about Abba Paphnutius that he did not drink wine. Once, while walking along the way, he found a gang of robbers. They drank wine. Their chieftain knew him and knew that he did not drink wine, but seeing that he was very tired, he filled the cup with wine and with a sword in his hand said to him: if you don’t drink, I will kill you. The elder, seeing that he wanted to fulfill the commandment of God, and wanting to acquire it, took it and drank it. Then the ataman bowed to him and said: forgive me, Abba, that I insulted you. The elder answered: I believe in God, that for this cup He will show mercy to you both in the present age and in the future. The chieftain said: and I believe in God that from now on I will not do harm to anyone. Thus, the elder acquired the entire gang, abandoning his will for the sake of the Lord. 30. The Saracens once came and robbed Abba Sisoes and his brother. They went out into the desert to look for something to eat. The elder attacked the remains of camel food and, having dug it up, found two bean grains. He ate one and held the other in his hand. The brother, coming at that time, found him eating and said: is this love? Did you find food and eat alone without calling me?! Abba Sisoes tells him: I did not deprive you, brother! Behold, I have kept a part of you in my hand. 31. They said about Abba Silouan that he sat in a secret cell, where he worked a hundred sieves, having some peas and eating them. One day a man came from Egypt with a donkey laden with loaves of bread, and knocking on his cell, he placed them in front of it. The elder took the sieves, put them on the donkey and released him. 32. Abba Iperekhiy said: absolve your brother from his sins without severe reproach, for God does not reject those who convert. Let not the word of malice and deceit enter into your heart against your brother, so that you may be able to say: forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12). 33. Someone said that one magister agent, young and handsome in appearance, served on royal economic affairs. In one city he had a friend - one of the nobles, who had a young wife, and when the magister happened to be in that city, the friend received him, placed him in his house and ate with him in the presence of his wife out of friendly love for him. Since the magistrate began to approach him more often, his friend’s wife began to have thoughts towards him, while he did not know it. She, out of chastity, did not reveal this to him, but endured, suffering, and when the magister happened to go on a journey for a long time, she fell ill from her thoughts and fell ill. Her husband called the doctors, and after examining her, they told him: does she have any mental suffering, because there is no physical illness of any kind! Her husband, constantly sitting nearby, begged, saying: tell me, what’s wrong with you? Out of fear and shame, she did not open up at first, but then she opened up, saying: Do you know what, my lord? Out of love or simplicity, you bring here youthful faces, and I, as a woman, became addicted to the Master. Hearing this, her husband calmed down and, when a few days later the magistrate came, he came out to meet him and said: Do you know, my brother, how I love you, I received you out of love and you were at the table with my wife? And so the wife began to think about you. Hearing this, the magistrate not only did not accept thoughts of her, but was greatly grieved by his love for her husband and said to him: do not grieve! There is God - Helper! Then he went, took off his good clothes and, taking a candle, burned his head and face, thereby destroying all his former beauty, becoming like an ancient leper. Then he put on simple clothes and went to his friend’s house. His wife was lying down, and his friend was sitting next to her. The Magistrian opened his head and face and, showing them, said: This is what the Lord did for me! She, seeing him after such beauty in such ugliness, was surprised, and God, for the sake of doing it, took abuse from her. She immediately stood up, rejecting all those thoughts. And the magistrian took her husband to a special place and said: behold, with God’s help, your wife has no evil and from now on she will no longer see my face. This is what it means to lay down your soul for love and return good for good! 34. Two brothers were taken to torture and after the first torment they were thrown into prison. They had displeasure among themselves, and one of them, putting down the throwing, said to his brother: tomorrow we must end our lives; So, let us reject our enmity and restore love. But the brother did not agree to peace. When the next day they were brought to the torment, the one who did not accept reconciliation immediately rejected Christ, and the archon asked him: why didn’t you reject yesterday, in such torment? He answered: I bear a grudge against my brother and did not want to reconcile with him, therefore I lost God’s help. 35. There was a coin changer in one city. One of the residents brought him a ticket for five hundred gold coins and said: take this ticket and, if I have a need, give it to me in parts. When he gave him the ticket, there was no one there, but one of the nobles, passing by the money changer, heard and saw how the ticket was given to the money changer, while he himself remained unnoticed. A few days later, the one who gave the ticket comes and says to the money changer: give me some of the money, for I have a need. He, hoping that there was no witness, denied, saying: “You didn’t give me anything,” and he went out in great confusion. That noble man meets him and asks: what’s the matter with you? And he finds out about what happened. He says to him: Are you sure you gave it to him? He answers: exactly. Then the noble man says to him: tell the money changer: go and verify me before Saint Andrew and that’s enough for you. (And there was a church on the site of the martyrdom of St. Andrew). When the money changer was supposed to come to swear, that noble man takes his youth, saying to him: do not be embarrassed by what I will do now, but be patient, - he goes to the church, throws off his clothes and begins to imagine himself possessed, shouting and making ridiculous sounds. When they also entered, he spoke: this madman took five hundred pieces of gold from this man and now wants to swear that he did not take it. Then he grabbed him and began to choke him, shouting: Saint Andrew tells you: give five hundred gold pieces to this man. He was frightened and confessed in fear, promising: I will bring them. He says to him: bring them now. He went and immediately brought it. Then the one who pretended to be possessed said to the owner of the gold coins: says Saint Andrew: put six gold coins on the table. He put them down with joy. When they left, he dressed decently and went out, heading to the money changer, who, seeing him, began to examine him from top to bottom. He said to him: Why are you looking at me like that? Believe me, by the grace of Christ, I do not have a demon, but when that man gave you a ticket, as I passed by, I heard and saw it clearly. If I simply told you, you would say: one witness is not strong. That’s why I presented this drama, so that you don’t destroy your soul and that man doesn’t lose his money. 36. One very Christ-loving and pious monk had a beloved hermit. When the hermit died, the brother, entering his cell, found fifty pieces of gold, was amazed and began to cry, fearing that the hermit had offended God with these coins. After a long prayer for him, he saw an Angel of God, who said to him: Why are you grieving so much about the hermit? Leave what you ask to God’s love for mankind, for if everyone were perfect, where would God’s love for mankind be manifested? The brother, making sure that the hermit was forgiven, became complacent and glorified God with all his heart. 37. One elder sent his disciple to Egypt for a kamil 23 to take baskets there. When the student was leading the kamil to the Skete, another elder met him and said: if I had known that you were going to Egypt, I would have asked you to bring the kamil for me too. The brother went and told his father about it. The elder says to him: take the kamil and give it to the elder, saying: we are not ready yet; take the kamil and fulfill your need. Go with him to Egypt and bring Kamil again to carry our baskets. The brother went to that old man and said as his Abba commanded. The elder took the kamil and loaded it. Having reached Egypt, they took down the baskets and the brother, taking the kamil, said to the elder: pray for me. He asked: where are you going? The brother answered: to the Skete, to bring our baskets. The elder was moved and, putting down the throwing, said with tears: forgive me, your great love took my fruit. 38. The elder said: if someone asks you for something and you immediately give it to him, let your thoughts also favor giving, as it is written: if anyone understands you by strength in one race, go with him two (Matthew 5:41). This means: if anyone asks you for something, give him from soul and body. 39. There were two brothers in Kellia, and the elder of them asked the younger: let us live together, brother. This one says to him: I am a sinner and cannot live with you, Abba! But he told him: no, you can. The elder was so pure and chaste that he did not even want to hear that the monk had lustful thoughts. Brother says: leave me for this week, and then we’ll talk again. A week later the elder came to him, and the youngest, wanting to test him, said: I fell into a great temptation this week: I went to the village to serve and fell with my wife. The elder asked: is there repentance? The brother answered: yes. The elder said: I will bear half the sin for you. The brother tells him: now we can live together. And he stayed with him until his death. 40. They said about one brother that, having finished the baskets and attached ears to them, he heard a neighbor say: what should I do? The auction is close, but I don’t have ears for the baskets. Then the brother, having untied the ears from his baskets, brought them to his brother and said: I have extra ones, take them for your baskets, and so his brother’s baskets were dispersed, but his own remained. 41. They told about a certain old man in Skete that he was sick and he wanted to eat fresh bread. Hearing about this, one of the ascetic brothers took his mantle, put dry bread in it, went to Egypt and, changing it for fresh ones, brought it to the elder. The brothers, seeing that they were still warm, were surprised, but the elder did not want to taste them, saying: this is the blood of my brother. But the elders begged him: for the sake of the Lord, eat, so that your brother’s sacrifice would not be in vain. Then he bowed to the request and ate. 42. The brother asked the elder: why do many people still work in exploits and do not receive such grace as the ancients? The elder answered him: then there was love and everyone pulled his neighbor upward, but now there is a cooling of love and everyone pulls his neighbor down. That is why we do not receive grace. 43. Once upon a time three brothers went to the harvest and took for themselves sixty aroors (a measure of land). One of them fell ill on the first day and returned to his cell. After this, one of those who remained said to the other: You see, our brother is sick; Let us force our thoughts a little and believe that with our prayers we can compress part of it too. At the end of the work, going to receive their wages, they called their brother, saying: go and take your wages, brother! But he said: what kind of payment will I receive without reaping? They said: Your part of the harvest is finished with your prayers, so go and take your wages. After a long argument among themselves, when one said: I won’t take it, and the others did not agree to let him not take it, everyone went to the great elder for a reasoning. The brother said to him: Father! The three of us went to reap. When they came to the field, on the very first day I fell ill and returned to my cell without having eaten a single day, and the brethren forced me to take payment, which I did not pay at all. The other two said: Father! We took the three of us to reap sixty aruras. Even if we worked all of them, we would hardly finish them, but with prayers for the sake of our brother, we very soon finished the harvest. That’s why we tell him to take his payment, but he doesn’t want to. Hearing this, the elder was surprised and said to his brother: hit the beater so that all the brothers can gather. When everyone had arrived, he said to them: Come, brothers, hear now the righteous judgment! And the old man told them everything. Everyone ordered the brother to take the payment and do whatever he wanted with it. The brother took it and went crying and sadness. 44. The elder said: our fathers had the custom of coming to the new brethren who had decided to struggle in solitude, and inspecting them to see if anyone had been harmed in thought by temptation from demons, and if one of them turned out to be damaged, they brought him to church, set up a laver, and after praying for the sick person, all the brethren washed themselves, and then poured that water on him. And he immediately cleared himself. 45. The two elders lived together for many years and never had any quarrel with each other. Then one of them said to the other: we too will make one quarrel, like people. He answered: I don’t know how a quarrel happens. The first one said to him: I’ll put a brick in the middle and say that it’s mine, and you say: no, it’s mine, and that will be the beginning. They put a brick in the middle and one said: this is mine, and the other said: no, this is mine. Then the first one said: if it’s yours, then take it and go. So they parted ways, unable to quarrel with each other. 46. ​​The elder said: I never wanted a deed that was useful to me, but caused harm to my brother, having the hope that the benefit of my brother is also a deed that bears fruit for me. 47. One ascetic, having found a demon-possessed person who could not fast, for the love of God, as it is written: look not to your own, but to your neighbor (Phil. 2:4), he prayed that the demon would pass into him, and that he would be freed from it. God heard his prayer, and the ascetic, burdened by the demon, endured, remaining in fasting, prayer and feat. For this, and especially for his love, in a few days God delivered him from the demon. 48. The brother asked the elder: there are two brothers: one of them is silent, fasting for six days and doing great work, and the other serves the afflicted. Whose cause would God accept better? The elder tells him: if a brother who fasts for six days even hangs himself by the rib, then even then he cannot be equal to the one who serves the afflicted. 49. A brother served a sick father, whose body began to rot and emit foul-smelling pus. Then the thought said to his brother: run away from here, for you cannot bear the stench of this. The brother took the shard and collected the purulent slops from the sick person into it. The thought again began to tell him: run away, but he said to the thought: if I want to leave, then I will drink this. Then the thought said to him: do not run away and do not drink such a stench. So the brother worked and endured, serving the elder, and God, seeing his brother’s work, healed him. 50. One of the fathers went to the city to sell his handicrafts and, seeing a naked beggar, took pity on him and gave him his leviton. The beggar went and sold it. The elder, having learned what he had done, was saddened and regretted that he had given him the clothes. That night, Christ appears to the old man in a dream in his Leviton and says: Do not be sad, for behold, I carry what you have given Me. 51. The elders said: everyone should appropriate everything that concerns his neighbor and sympathize with him in everything: rejoice and grieve with him, and in general be so disposed as if he were carrying his body, and as if grieving for himself when sorrow happens to him, about which it is written: for we are one body in Christ (Rom. 12:5) and the people who believed were one in heart and soul (Acts. 4:32). 52. The elder said: listen to what our Lord Jesus Christ says: about this all understand, as you are My disciples, - and, showing: about what? – I didn’t talk about miracles, but about what? - if you have love for each other (John 13:35). And again he said to his Father: by this they will know that you have sent me, if they are all one (John 17:21). And he said to the disciples: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another (John 13:34). Such a one is more honest and brighter than the one who raises the dead, for this is the work of God’s grace, and this is also your labor and diligence; this is a strictly Christian matter; this shows the disciples of Christ crucified; Without this, even torment itself cannot bring any benefit. 53. One monk had another monk above him, who lived in a cell ten miles away from him. The thought said to him: call your brother to come and take the bread. Then I thought again: for the sake of bread, I want to work my brother ten miles. I’d rather bring him half the bread myself. He took it and went to his brother’s cell. While walking, he stumbled, injured his toe, blood flowed and he began to cry in pain. Then the Angel of the Lord came and asked him: Why are you crying? He answers: I hurt my finger and it hurts. The angel said to him: Is this why you cry? Do not cry, for the steps that you have taken for the Lord are numbered and are valuable in the face of God. And don't doubt it. Here, before you, I will take part of your blood and lift it up before God. Then with thanksgiving he went to that monk and, giving him the bread, spoke about God’s love for mankind and returned to his cell. One day later, he took the other half of the bread and again went to the monk, but the monk himself came to him, and they met on the road. The one who did good began to say to him: I found a treasure, and you want to steal it. He said to him: Can the narrow gate contain you alone? Leave it to us to enter with you. While they were still speaking, an Angel of the Lord appeared to them and said: Your dispute has ascended to God like fragrant incense. 54. Two brothers lived together. It happened that one of them who corrected the needs began to bring less than usual. The one who remained in the cell began to think that he was either using it for evil or was deceiving him. So, wanting to know the reason, he followed him and saw him enter an indecent place. Then he imagined to himself that he himself had gone to an indecent place, and, falling to his brother, asked for repentance. After the brother, by frequently asking the sinner for prayers for himself as a sinner, turned him to repentance, the hour of his calling came, and he, approaching his death, confessed to his brother: I am clean from this sin, but for your sake I took it upon myself, so that you would repent. When the brother died, the sinner increased the feat of repentance even more. 55. Someone else, having learned about a similar sin of his brother with the young woman, did not denounce him, but sighed in silence and multiplied his prayers, also asking the brother who lived with him to pray for himself, saying that he had sinned a lot and wanted to repent before death. The surprised sinner, amazed at his brother’s repentance, repented himself and began to do the same. When the brother who had not sinned was called, at the hour of his death he revealed this to his brother. 56. Someone else, when his brother, having left monasticism, returned to the world, imagined that he had the same intention, and began to repent. Through this, finally, he repented and returned, and they began to struggle even more strictly. 57. Some brothers came to Mount Diokia and learned to make paper. They worked for hire, but since they were unskilled, no one ordered them. One elder came to them and asked: why don’t you work? They, being conscientious, answered: because we work poorly. The elder, knowing one worker of God, said to them: go to such and such an elder, and he will give you work. They came to him, and the elder happily agreed to provide them with work. The brothers say to him: we are not working well, father. The elder answered them: I believe in God that with your diligence you will succeed to the best. Thus, the old man, rich in love, aroused in them jealousy for work, and soon things went well. Truly, those in need delight the kingdom of God (Matthew 11:12). 58. The brother asked the elder: why, while performing my small service, do I see that sometimes I do not have warmth in my heart, and sometimes zeal? The elder tells him: how else would it turn out that a person loves God!? And he also said: as for me, my body could never bear to fully fulfill my heart’s desire. 59. A certain brother went to buy flax from a widow. Having sold it to him, she sighed. The brother asked her: what is the matter with you? The widow answered: God has sent you today to build up your brothers and my orphans. The brother, hearing this, was grieved and, taking the flax, threw it into the widow’s bosom, and thereby showed her mercy. 60. The elder said: do not demand love from your neighbor and, when loving someone, do not be embarrassed if you do not meet a match, but it is better to show love to your neighbor yourself and be calm, for by doing so you will bring your neighbor to love. 61. He also said: the fact that you are weak in love for your brothers happens to you because you accept thoughts of suspicion, believe in your own heart and do not want to endure anything that is not according to your will. Therefore, with God’s help, you must, first of all, not believe your own suspicions at all, with all your diligence and all your strength, humble yourself before your brothers and cut off your own will for their sake. 62. Again he said that love according to God is stronger than natural love. 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