sleep is about to confuse thee. And if thou wilt hearken unto me, we shall enjoy happiness together in the inheritance of blessing, but if thou wilt not hearken unto me, then woe is me that I have ever been fettered by thee, for on thy account I, the wretched thing, shall be condemned.’
“Now, if ye act thus daily, and if ye consecrate yourselves, verily ye shall become real temples of God, and since God dwelleth in you the cunning and wiles of Satan shall not be able to do you injury; for instead of having a myriad of teachers, the word of God shall dwell in you, and it shall teach you more [than they], and it shall make you exceedingly wise by its own knowledge; and it is unable to speak all the things which belong to human speech, but these the Spirit, holy, and divine, and pure, and spotless shall teach you, even as the Apostle saith (Romans 8:26), ‘For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself prayeth for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,’ etc. And there are many other helpful things which it would be possible for us to say unto you by God’s grace, yet because our mind doth not urge us to these same things we must direct our discourse to other matters.”
Chapter XI: Of How, Not Even In The Time Of Famine, Was Abba Pachomius Induced To Take Wheat For Nothing For The Use Of His Monastery
WHEN a famine took place in the days of Pachomius, and the brethren had no wheat, that is to say, when, so to speak, no wheat could be found in all Egypt, the holy old man sent to call one of the brethren that he might go round about in the cities and villages and seek for wheat to buy; and he gave him a sum of money for the purchase of the wheat, that is to say, one hundred dînârs. And having gone round about in very many places, the man who had been entrusted with this work came to a city which is called Armûtîn, and by the Providence of God he found there a certain governor of the state, who was an exceedingly reverent man and a fearer of God, and who had heard of the rule of the holy man Pachomius and of the brethren; now this governor was in charge of the wheat which belonged to the community, and the brother approached him, and entreated him to sell him wheat to the value of one hundred dînârs. Then the governor said unto him, “Of a truth, O my brother, if I had wheat of my own, or even some [belonging to] my own children, I would take it and give it to you, for I have heard concerning your godly and spiritual rule of life; but hearken unto what I am going to say unto thee. The wheat which hath
