19. It was said about a certain brother that when he had already made baskets and attached handles, he heard his neighbor, a monk, say, "What should I do, the trading day is coming soon, and I have no handles to attach to my baskets?" And when the brother went, he untied the handles from his baskets and took them to this brother to his neighbor, saying, "These are the extra ones I have, take them and attach them to your baskets." And he gave his brother the opportunity to finish his work, but left his own.

20. It was said about a certain elder in the Skete that he fell ill and wanted to eat some fresh bread. Hearing of this, one of the brethren of the ascetics took his mantle, put dry bread in it and went to Egypt and, exchanging them for fresh bread, brought it to the elder. When the brethren saw that they were still warm, they were amazed, but the elder did not want to eat, saying, "This is my brother's blood." And the elders exhorted, saying, "For God's sake, you will eat, so that your brother's sacrifice may not be in vain." And being supplied, he ate.

21. The brother asked the elder, saying, "There are two brothers, one is silent in his cell, continuing the fast until six days a week and imposing much labor on himself, while the other serves the sick. Whose work is more pleasing to God? The elder said to him: "At least the brother who keeps the fast for six days hangs himself by the nostrils, and then he cannot compare with the one who serves the sick."

22. A certain man asked the elder, saying, "How is it that some work in cities and do not receive grace like the ancients?" The elder said to him: "Then there was love, and each one carried away his neighbor's grief; but now, when love has grown cold, each one draws his neighbor to his lot, and therefore we do not receive grace.

23. Once upon a time, three brothers went out to harvest, and took sixty fields for themselves. One of them fell ill on the very first day and returned to his cell. And one of the two said to his comrade, "You see that our brother is sick and cannot work with us." Compel thy thought a little, and I will force mine a little, and let us believe God that for his prayers we will reap his place. And when the matter was finished, and they had received their wages, then they came and called the brother, saying, "Go, get your wages, brother." And he said, What shall I receive, when I have not reaped with you? And they said unto him, By thy prayers the harvest has come. He did not want to accept payment. When a great dispute arose between them, he said, "I will not take wages, because I have not worked; And these did not want to rest until he took it, and went to the elder who was close to them. The brother said to him, "Three of us went to reap the field for a fee." When they came to the place where it was necessary to reap, on the very first day I fell ill and returned to my cell, not having reaped with them even one day. And now they are forcing me, saying, 'Go, brother, get your wages, where you have not worked.' And these brethren also said, "True, we went to reap, and undertook to reap sixty fields, and if all three had done so, even with great difficulty, we could scarcely have done it; And through the prayers of this brother, the two of us, rather than the three, harvested the field, and said to him, "Go and receive your wages, but he will not." Hearing this, the elder was amazed and said to his brother: "Strike the beater, so that all the brethren may gather." When they came, he said to them, "Come, brethren, and hear righteous judgment this day." And the elder told them everything, and sentenced his brother to take his wages and make of it what he wanted. And the brother went away weeping and sorrowful.

24. The elder said, "Our fathers used to go to the cells of the novice brothers who wanted to live as hermits, and they visited them, so that one of them, tempted by demons, would not be damaged in mind. And if any of them were found injured, they brought him to the church, and a tub of water was brought, and there was a prayer for the sufferer, and the brethren washed, poured water on him, and immediately the brother was healed.

25. Two elders lived together and never had a quarrel between them. And one said to the other, Let us do it and we will quarrel like other men. Answering, he said to his brother, "I do not know what kind of strife there is." And he said to him, "Behold, I put a brick in the middle and say, 'It is mine,' and you say, 'No, it is mine.' This will be the beginning. And they did so. And one of them said, "This is mine." The other said, "No, this is mine." And the first said, "Yes, yes, it is yours, take it and go." And they dispersed, and could not enter into strife among themselves.

26. The brother asked the elder, saying, "If I see a brother about whom I have heard of any fall, I cannot persuade myself to bring him into my cell; but if I see a good brother, I gladly receive him. The elder said to him: "If you do a little good to a good brother, then you must do twice as much to another brother, for he is weak."

27. The elder said, "I have never desired a work that is profitable for me, but unprofitable for my brother, having the hope that my brother's work is the work of my fruitfulness."

28. (doubtful fragment – ed.) A brother served one of the fathers who was sick. It happened that the body began to decompose, and spewed phlegm with a stinking smell. And he said to his brother the thought, "Run, for you cannot bear the smell of foul things." The brother, taking a clay vessel, collected the patient's phlegm in it, and when he felt thirsty, he drank from it. And the thought began to say to him: "If you do not want to flee, at least do not drink this stench." The brother took courage and worked, drank slop and served the elder. And God, seeing the work of his brother, turned the slop into clean water, and healed the elder.

29. The brother asked the elder, saying, "How can a man receive the gift of loving God?" And he, answering, said, "If a man sees his brother in sin, and cries out to God for him, then he shall receive an understanding of how to love God."

30. The elder said, "Let us acquire the most important of blessings, love." Fasting is nothing, vigilance is nothing, labor in the absence of love is nothing, for it is written: "God is love" (1 John 4:8).

31. And he said, "The fathers said that the devil can imitate everything; fasting – he never ate, vigil – he never slept, and he cannot imitate humility and love. And so, let us have love in us and hate pride, through which the devil descended from heaven.

32. Abba Nicetas said of certain two brethren that they came together with each other, desiring to live together. And one of them thought, Whatever my brother wills, I will do. Another reasoned in a similar way: I will fulfill my brother's desire. And for a long time they lived in this way with great love. Seeing their great love, and not tolerating it, the devil came, and wishing to separate them, stood before the doors, and appeared to one like a dove, and to another a crow. And one of them said to the other, "Do you see this dove?" And he said, "This is a crow." And they began to argue with one another, each saying his own, and getting up, they fought until they bled, and to the complete joy of the enemy they dispersed. Three days later, having come to their senses, they returned to their former way of life and imposed repentance on themselves; each confessed that he had thought in his heart to fulfill the desire of the other. And having understood the warfare of the enemy, they remained together in every world unto death.