"If they shoot at us we will throw bread to them, that will be our reply."
"Do you have many visitors?"
"Not many."
"Do the Russian pilgrims come here to pray?"
"Yes, some."
"Are you content to live out here in the Sahara whilst all sorts of great events are happening in the world, and content to have no news and never mix with the people of the city? In England we're too busy, one couldn't escape to a place like this even if one wanted to."
The abbot gave me a remarkable reply:
"I think there is room for everybody: one seeks money, that is his way; another prays, that is his way; another does his duty and ploughs, that is his way. There are many ways. You know of Martha and Mary. Martha was right, but Mary's good part was right also."
How touching it was for me to get this true reply in this remote monastery, and to hear of Martha and Mary in the first half-hour of conversation with the monks. My mind was preoccupied with the ideas of Martha and Mary, and here was this simple Coptic abbot using almost the same terms to express himself as I might use myself.
There were in this monastery about sixteen monks, and in the desert altogether there may be about one hundred and fifty. Once there were thousands of holy men and hundreds of monasteries.
