454. An old man said, “Whensoever a man is praised it is meet for him to think upon his sins, and he should consider, saying, ‘I am unworthy of the things which are said about me.’ ”
455. The blessed Macarius behaved towards all the brethren without any wicked suspicion, and certain people said unto him, “Why dost thou act in this manner?” And he said, “Behold, for twelve years I have been supplicating my Lord to give me this gift, and would you advise me to relinquish it? If it happen that one of the brethren commit a sin before the eyes of him who possesseth no wickedness, and he know that it is an evil thing, it is not right that he should bear some of the pain of him that hath fallen.”
456. Abbâ Poemen used to say, “No monk should condemn any man in anything, and no monk should reward a man with [evil for] evil, and no monk should be a man of anger.”
457. An old man asked Abbâ Poemen, saying, “Some brethren dwell with me; dost thou wish me to give them commandments?” And he said unto him, “No, but thou thyself must first do work, and if they wish to live, they will observe [it] and do [it].” The old man said unto him, “Ought they also to wish me to govern them?” And Abbâ Poemen said unto him, “No, be unto them an example, and not a lawgiver.”
458. Abbâ Poemen said, “If a brother come unto thee, and thou be not benefited by his coming in [to thee], enquire in thine heart, and learn what thought thou hadst [in thy mind] before the entrance of that brother, and then thou wilt learn whence cometh the source of injury; if thou wilt do this with humility and knowledge, behold, thou wilt live without blame with thy brother, and thou wilt bear thine own shortcomings. If a man maketh his habitation with knowledge it will not fall, for God is before it, and, as it appeareth to me, from this habitation a man may acquire the fear of God.”
459. A brother asked an old man, saying, “By what means may a man go forward? and the old man said unto him, The greatness of a man consisteth of humility, for in proportion as a man descendeth to humility, he becometh exalted to greatness.”
460. Abbâ John used to say, “We relinquish a light burden when we condemn ourselves, but we take upon ourselves a heavy burden when we [attempt to] make ourselves righteous.”
461. On one occasion Abbâ Theophilus went to the Nitrian Mountain to visit the fathers, and the priest of the Mountain came to him; and Abbâ Theophilus said to him, now he was Theophilus the Bishop of Alexandria, “What thing of excellence hast thou found on this road?” And the old man said unto him, “I make accusations against myself, and I blame
