27. Авва Исайя сказал: простота и немечтание о себе очищают от злых помыслов.

28. Еще сказал: если кто обращается с братом с хитростию, — не минует печали сердечной.

29. Еще сказал: если кто, по лукавству, говорит не то, что имеет на сердце, — тщетна услуга его. Итак, не прилепляйся к таковому, дабы не оскверниться ядом этого оскверненного человека.

30. Еще сказал: корысть, честь и спокойствие борют человека до самой смерти; но не должно предаваться им.

31. Авва Феодор Фермейский говорил: если ты имеешь с кем-либо дружбу, и случится ему впасть в искушение блуда; то если можешь, подай ему руку, и извлеки его. Если же он, впадет в ересь, и, не смотря на твои убеждения, не обратится; то скорее отсекай его от себя, дабы, если замедлишь, и самому тебе не упасть с ним в бездну.

32. Авва Феодор пришел однажды к авве Иоанну, скопцу от рождения, и между разговором сказал: когда мы жили в Скиту, занятия души были настоящим нашим делом, а рукоделье считали мы подельем; а ныне занятие души стало подельем, а поделье — самым делом.

33. Один из отцев пришел к авве Феодору, и сказал: вот такой-то брат ушел обратно в мир! — Не удивляйся сему, говорит в ответ авва Феодор, но подивись лучше, если услышишь о ком-либо, что возмог он убежать от врага.

34. It was said of Abba John Kolov that he once said to his elder brother: "I wish to be free from cares, just as the angels are free from them, who do not work anything, but serve God unceasingly." And having taken off his clothes, he went into the wilderness; but after living there for a week, he returned again to his brother. When he knocked at the door, the brother, without opening the door, gave him a voice from within, asking him: "Who are you?" "I, John," he said. The brother answered and said, "John has become an angel, and he is no longer among men." John begged him, saying, "It is I, open it to me." But the brother did not open it, but left it to mourn until morning. At last he opened the door, and said to him, "You are a man, and you must work again to support yourself." John bowed down to him, saying, "Forgive me!

35. In the Skete there were some elders who ate food together. Among them was Abba John Kolov. A certain presbyter stood up to serve a cup of water; but no one dared to accept the chalice from him, except John Kolov. "Everyone was amazed, and said to him, 'How did you, the youngest of all, dare to accept a favor from the presbyter?' He answered them: "When I myself get up to give the cup, I rejoice if everyone accepts it, hoping to receive a reward" (cf. Matt. 10:42); Wherefore I also received a cup from him, that I might give him a reward, and that I might not grieve him when no one would receive the cup from him. When he said this, everyone was amazed, and received edification from his prudence.

36. Abba Pimen asked Abba Joseph, "What should I do when passions come to me—should I resist them or allow them to enter? The elder answered: allow them to enter, and then fight with them. And so, Pimen returned, and sat in the Skete. "A certain Thebes, having come to the Skete, said to the brethren: I asked Abba Joseph, "If passion comes to me, should I resist it, or should I allow it to enter?" and he answered me: do not allow the passions to enter in any way, but cut them off immediately at their first appearance. "Abba Pimen, hearing that Abba Joseph had said thus to the Theban, got up, went to him again in Panetho, and said, 'Abba! I believed thee in my thoughts, and thou didst say so to me, and to the Theban otherwise. The elder said to him, "Do you not know that I love you?" "I know," Pimen said. Joseph continued, 'Did you not say, 'Tell me as you would say to yourself?' That is why I told you so. For when passions enter into you, and you allow them, and then fight with them, they will make you more skillful. I have told you this, knowing you. But there are people for whom it is useful that passions do not come to them, and such people should immediately cut them off.

37. A brother once came to Abba Joseph in lower Heraclea. In his monastery there was a fig tree full of fruit. In the morning, the elder said to his brother, "Go and eat of the fig tree." "And it was Friday. "My brother didn't go for the sake of fasting. After that I begged the elder, saying: "For God's sake, reveal to me your thought: behold, you have said to me, 'Go, eat'; But I did not go for the sake of fasting, but was ashamed of Thy commandment, and I ponder within myself: with what intention would Thou say to me, "Go and eat?" The Elder answered: at first the Fathers do not speak directly, but rather command to do something gateway; and when they see that the brethren obey and fulfill such commands, then they do not tell them the perverse, but the direct truth, being convinced that they are obedient to them in everything.

38. The brother asked Abba Joseph, "What should I do?" I cannot endure sorrows, nor work, nor give alms. The elder answered him: if you cannot do any of this, at least guard your conscience in relation to your neighbor, shun all evil, and you will be saved; for God requires a sinless soul.

39. Abba Isidore said, "If you strive as you should, do not be proud of fasting, but if you are vain about it, then what is the use of fasting? It is better for a man to eat meat than to be haughty and boastful.

40. He also said, "Disciples should love their teachers as fathers and fear them as rulers." Neither love should expel fear, nor fear should extinguish love.