hast confidence, that do also, and thou shalt be at ease. For to be as all other men are is true humility, and the men who see that thou art like unto all other men will regard thee as they regard every one else, and thou wilt not be troubled.”
465. A certain brother went on one occasion from Egypt to Syria to visit Abbâ Zeno, and the Egyptians began to make accusations against his thoughts before the old man. And when Abbâ Zeno heard this, he marvelled and said, “The Egyptians always hide the spiritual excellences which they possess, but they describe the shortcomings which they do not possess; on the other hand, the Syrians and the Greeks declare that they possess the virtues which they have not, and they hide the shortcomings which they do possess.”
466. They used to talk about a certain old man who fasted for seventy weeks, and who only ate each Saturday; and he asked God that a word from the Book might be given unto him, but it was not given. Then he said within himself, “Behold, I have laboured in all these things, and I have omitted nothing; I will arise and go to my brother and question him [about it].” And when he had shut the door to depart, the angel of the Lord appeared, and said unto him, “The seventy weeks wherein thou didst fast have not come nigh unto God, but, inasmuch as thou hast humbled thyself to go to thy brother, I have been sent to make known unto thee a word, and to give thee rest”; thereupon he made the word known unto him, and gave him rest, and departed.
467. A brother asked an old man, saying, “What shall I do? For the love of praise is killing me.” The old man said unto him, “Thou doest well, for behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth.” Then the brother was sorry because of what the old man had said unto him, and he expressed contrition, and said, “Father, forgive me, but I have done nothing of the kind”; the old man said unto him, “If now He Who did make them came into this world in humility, why dost thou who art mud boast thyself?”
468. One of the old men said, “Be not humble in thy words only, but also in thy deeds.”
469. On one occasion a certain governor came to see Abbâ Sîmôn, and when the old man heard of his coming from those who came to make it known to him beforehand, he straightway girded up his loins, and went up a palm tree to clean it. And when those who came cried out to him, saying, “Old man, tell us where the monk is,” he said unto them, “He is not here”; so they departed from that place.
470. One of the fathers from Parmê told a story of how, on one occasion when he had returned to Abbâ Theodore, he found
