else, it was right for a monk to acquire humility, for this was the first commandment of our blessed Redeemer, Who said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” (St. Matthew 5:3).
510. John Kolob used to say, “Humility is the door which leadeth into the kingdom, and our fathers, through many revilings, have gone into the city of God rejoicing.”
511. An old man used to say, “It is good for a man to say, ‘Forgive me,’ and then to make an offering of something; for this suiteth the monkish garb.”
512. The same old man also said, “A dog is better than I am, for he hath love, and he cometh not to judgement.”
513. Abbâ Eupraxius used to say, “The tree of life which riseth in the heights is humility.” He also said, “Make thyself like unto the publican; and be not made guilty with the Pharisee; choose for thyself the meekness of Moses, so that thine heart, which is as hard as steel, thou mayest change into a fountain of water.”
514. One of the old men said, “I would rather have defeat with humility than conquest with boasting.”
515. An old man said, “When the thought of pride goeth up in thee, and thou becomest arrogant, examine thy conscience [and see] if thou hast kept all the commandments, and if thou lovest thine enemies, and if thou lovest the approbation of thine enemy, and if thou art grieved when he is afflicted, and if thou art considered by thyself to be an unprofitable servant, and a sinner greater than any other man. And even if thou hast performed rightly all the demands of ascetic excellence, thou shalt not be proud, for thou must know that the thought of pride abrogateth and maketh unprofitable all the virtues.”
516. An old man used to say, “He who is held in greater honour or is more praised than he deserveth suffereth great loss; but the man who receiveth neither honour nor praise from men shall be praised above all.”
517. A brother asked an old man, saying, “Is it a good thing for us to repent many times?” The old man said unto him, “We see that when Joshua, the son of Nun, lay upon his face the Lord spake with him” (Joshua 5:14).
518. An old man was asked, “Why do the devils fight against us in the way they do?” And he said, “Because we throw away from us our armour, that is to say, obedience, humility, and abstinence.”
519. The old men used to say, “Whensoever we have no war to wage then especially it is meet that we should abase ourselves, for God, because He knoweth our feebleness,
