33. Once Abba Serapion was passing through a certain village in Egypt and saw that a certain prostitute was standing at her upper room. And the elder said to her, "Wait for me until evening, for I want to come and commit sin with you this night." Answering, she said to him, "Very well, Abba," and she prepared herself and made her bed, and waited for the elder with a gift. When evening came, the elder came to her, bringing nothing, and entering her upper room, said, "Have you prepared the bed?" She said, "Yes, Abba." And they shut the door, being left alone, and the elder said to her, "Wait a little, for we have a rule, until I have fulfilled it first." And the elder began his prayer, and having begun the psalter, after each psalm he made a prayer and asked God that she would repent and be saved. And God heard him: and the woman stood trembling and praying near the elder, and when the elder had finished the psalms, the woman fell to the ground. The Elder began to read from the Epistles, said much from it, and thus performed the prayer. The woman was touched, and realizing that he had come to her not for sin, but to save her soul, she fell down before him, saying: "Show me love, and where I can please God, there lead me." Then the elder took her to the convent and handed her over to the abbess and said: "Receive this sister and do not impose on her a yoke, or commandments, as on other sisters, but if she desires anything, give it to her; if she wishes, let her go out. And when she had lived a few days, she said, "I am a sinner, I want to eat every other day; and after a few more days, she said, summoning the abbess of the monastery: since I have offended God so much by my sins, do love, lead me into the cell and lock it up, and through the window give me some bread and needlework. And the abbess listened to her and did this for her. And so she pleased God for the rest of her life.

34. One of the elders said about malice that he is not overwhelmed by anything at all, or that he has not grieved anyone, or that it is peculiar only to angels not to be grieved by anyone. And to be somewhat confused and soon reconcile with a brother is characteristic of good ascetics. But when someone is confused or offended, they hold grief or anger for a while or a whole day — this is a demonic deed. For such a one becomes a brother of demons and a friend of the devil. For he cannot receive remission of sins from God Himself until he forgives his brother.

35. The elders said that each position of one's neighbor should be one's own, and sympathize with him in everything, and rejoice with him, and weep, and live as if wearing the same body, and take care of oneself if any tribulation befalls him, as it is written: "I am one body in Christ" and "the multitude of the people who believed were of one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:11). 32).

36. Two brothers lived with each other. It happened that the manager of the household brought less than usual, so that he either spent it illegally or joked with him. Wanting to know about this, he followed him. When he entered into a dishonorable place, he also pretended to enter there, and, falling down before him, exhorted him to repent. But even the one who has not sinned often asked the sinner to pray for him as for the fallen. And it happened that the one who had not sinned fell ill, and when he was about to die, he confessed to his brother, saying, "I am clean from the sin of which you think, but I did this for you, that you might repent, and when he died, the sinner took upon himself the feat of repentance."

37. Another, when his brother left the hermit's life and turned to worldly life, showed that he himself had the same intention, and by the mercy of God, repenting, they again took upon themselves a greater asceticism than before.

38. The elder said: "The weakening of love for the brethren happens to you because you take thoughts into yourself out of suspicion and believe them in your heart, and do not want to endure them at will. With God's help, desire above all not to believe your own suspicions, and with all zeal and effort humble yourself before your brethren and cut off your own desire for them.

39. There was a certain hermit who had another hermit under his care in a cell ten miles away. And one day he said to him: "Call your brother, that he may come and take bread." And again he pondered: for the sake of bread I will trouble my brother to walk ten miles, it would be better to bring him half of the bread. And taking it, he went to his brother's cell. And as he walked, he hurt his toe, and when the blood began to flow, he began to weep in pain. And then an angel came, saying to him, Why are you weeping? The hermit said to him: I wounded my finger and felt pain. The angel said to him, "Is this why you weep?" Don't cry. For the steps that you take for the Lord's sake are numbered, and at a great price are reckoned before the Lord. And that thou mayest know, behold, before thee I take thy blood, and lift it up unto God. Then, thanking him, he made his way to another monk, and giving him half of the bread, he told him about God's love for mankind and returned to his cell. A day later, again taking half of the bread, he went to another monk. It happened that this other monk was zealous to do the same and went to another monk. They met each other on the road. And the first, having done a good deed, begins to say to him: "I had treasure, and you wanted to steal it." And the other said to him, "Where is it written that the strait gate is open to you alone?" Allow us also to enter with you. And as they spoke, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and said to them, "Your dispute has come to the Lord like a smell of fragrance."

40. The brethren once went to Mount Diolcus to live there, learned to do some handicrafts and did it for a fee, and because they were not skillful, no one gave them work. A certain elder began to exhort them and said to them, "Why do you not work?" They, being timid, answered: "Since we work badly, no one gives us work." The elder knew one who was also working and said to them: "Go to such and such an elder, and he will give you a job." They went, and he gladly gave them a job. And the brethren said to him, "We work badly, father." The elder said: I believe God, that your handicraft and other things will do successfully. Overflowing with love, the elder encouraged them to work as well. Truly needy women delight in the kingdom of heaven.

Chapter 18. About the clairvoyant

1. It was once revealed to Abba Anthony in the wilderness: there is in the city someone like you, a physician by rank, who gives his surplus to the needy, and every day sings the Trisagion with the angels of God.

2. (doubtful fragment – ed.) The brother came to the cell of Abba Arsenius in the Skete and looked out of the window and saw the elder as if on fire. The brother was worthy to see. And when he knocked, the elder came out, and saw his brother in terror, and said to him, "How long have you knocked?" And hast thou not seen what? And he said, "No." And when he had conversed with him, he dismissed him.

3. A disciple of Abba Arsenius said, speaking as if of something else, or perhaps it was he himself, that when one of the elders was sitting in his cell, a voice came to him, saying, "Go, I will show you the deeds of people." And he got up, and went out, and brought him to a certain place, and showed him the Ethiopian, who was chopping wood and made a large bundle, and tried to carry it, and could not carry it, and instead of taking it away, he went and chopped wood and put it to the bundle. And I did it many times. And when he had spent a while, he showed him a man who stood by a well, and drew water from it, and poured it into a broken vessel, and the water poured into the well. And he said to him again, "Go, I will show you something else." And behold, he saw the temple, and two men sitting on horses, and carrying a log obliquely, one in spite of the other. But they wanted to enter the temple through the door, but they could not, because the log was across, and neither humbled himself to stand behind the other, in order to carry the tree straight, so they remained outside the doors. And he said to him, "These are those who bear as it were the yoke of righteousness with pride, and have not humbled themselves in order to correct themselves and walk the humble path of Christ, therefore they remain outside the kingdom of God." And he who chops wood is a man who has many sins; instead of repenting, he does not reduce his sins, but adds other iniquities to his iniquities. And he who pours water is a man who also does good deeds, but since he mixes evil deeds with them, he also destroys his good deeds. Wherefore it behooves every man to be vigilant in the consideration of his works, that he may not labor in vain.

4. (here we will talk about an obvious vision from the Devil – ed.) Abba Daniel also told, saying: "Our father Abba Arsenius said about a certain wanderer, who was great in life, but simple in faith, but erred in his ignorance and said that the bread that we receive is not in essence the Body of Christ, but that it is only an image. And the two elders heard that he was saying such words, and knowing that he was great in life, they judged that he spoke in gentleness and simplicity, and they came to him and said to him, "Abba! We have heard the speech of a certain infidel, who says that the bread which we receive is not in essence the Body of Christ, but only the image of it. The elder said, "This is what I say." And they exhorted him, saying, "Do not hold it thus, Abba, but as the universal Church has betrayed." For we believe that the bread itself is the Body of Christ, and the cup itself is the Blood of Christ truly, and not figuratively. But just as in the beginning God took His finger from the ground and formed man in His own image, and no one can say that he was not the image of God, although it is incomprehensible, so also of the bread, of which He said: This is My Body, we believe that it is truly the Body of Christ. The elder said: if I am not convinced by my deeds, I will not be convinced. And they said to him, "Let us pray to God this week for this sacrament, and we believe that God will reveal it to us." The elder joyfully accepted this word, and prayed to God, saying: You, Lord, know that I do not believe out of malice, but in order that I may not be deceived by the truth, reveal to me, Lord Jesus Christ, what is true. But the elders, too, withdrawing to their cells, prayed to God, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, reveal to the elder what this mystery is, so that he may believe and not ruin his labor. And God heard both of them, and when the week was over, they came to church on Sunday, and sat down separately on a mat, and in the middle was the elder. Their wise eyes were opened, and when the bread was laid at the holy table, only the three of them saw as if it were a child. And when the presbyter stretched out his hand to break the bread, behold, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven with a knife, and slain the child, and poured his blood into the cup. When the presbyter broke the bread into small pieces, and the angel cut off small parts from the child. When they approached to receive holy communion, the elder alone was given bloody flesh. And when he saw this, he was terrified and cried out, saying, "I believe, O Lord, that the bread offered on the throne is Thy body, and the cup is Thy blood." And immediately the flesh in his hand became bread, as happens in the sacrament, and he received it, giving thanks to God. And the elders said, "God knows human nature, that it cannot eat raw flesh, and therefore He changes His Body into bread, and His Blood into wine, for those who receive it with faith. And they thanked God for the elder, that God did not allow his labors to perish, and all three joyfully went to their cells.

5. The same Abba Daniel told of a certain great elder who lived in the lower countries of Egypt, that he spoke in simplicity, as if Melchizedek was the Son of God himself. And it was announced about him to Blessed Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, and he sent for him. Knowing that this elder was a miracle-worker and that God revealed to him everything that he asked, and that out of simplicity he spoke this word, he used such a wise means, saying: "Abba, I have a request for you." A thought tells me that Melchizedek is the Son of God, and another thought says: no, but a man, the high priest of God, is he. Since I am perplexed about this, I have sent for you, that you may pray to God, that He may reveal to you and know the truth. The elder, trusting in his life, said with confidence: "Give me three days, and I will ask God about this, and I will tell you who he is." Having gone to his cell, he prayed to God for this, and having come three days later, the elder told the blessed one that Melchizedek was a man. And the archbishop said to him, "How did you know, Abba?" And he said, God hath shewed me all the patriarchs, so that every one of them passed before me, from Adam to Melchizedek, and the angel said to me, This is Melchizedek, and therefore be sure that it is so. As the elder left, he himself preached that Melchizedek was a man. And the very blessed Cyril rejoiced.