brought me to this labour of angels, and with such things I remembered God and rejoiced.” Then the old men said, The repentance of each is equal before God.”
599. An old man was asked by one who toiled, “Is the repentance of sinners accepted by God?” And the old man, after he had taught him with many words, said unto him, “Tell me, O my beloved one: if thy cloak were to be torn in rags, wouldst thou throw it away?” And he said unto him, “No, but I would sew up the rents, and then I could use it again.” And the old man said unto him, “If thou wouldst shew pity upon thy garment which hath no feeling, shall not God shew pity on that which He hath fashioned, and which is His work?”
600. A certain brother fell into temptation, and through tribulation relinquished the garb of monkhood; and he wished to begin to renew his ascetic life, but he saw the great difficulty of the matter, and he drew back, and said, “When shall I ever find myself in the same condition as I was formerly?” And through fear he did not begin his work, and he went and made the matter known to an old man, and the old man said, “The matter is thus: There was a certain man who possessed an estate, and he held it to be of no account and did not cultivate it, and it became full of tangled undergrowth and thorns. Now one day he remembered it, and he sent his son, and said unto him, ‘Go, clean the estate.’ And when he had gone and seen the abundance of the undergrowth he was afraid, and said to himself, ‘When shall I be able to clean away all this undergrowth?’ And he threw himself upon a bed, and lay down, and went to sleep, and thus he did every day. Then his father went forth and found that he was asleep, and that he had done nothing; and he said unto him, ‘How is it, my son, that no work whatsoever hath been done by thee?’ And he said to his father, ‘When I came to work and saw the abundance of the undergrowth, I was afraid and said, When shall I be able to clean all this away?’ And his father said unto him, My son, work according to the measure of thy sleep each day, and it shall be sufficient for thee’; and when he heard [this] the young man plucked up courage, and did thus, and in a short time he cleansed the estate. Thus also thou shalt not be afraid, but begin the work of thy rules, and God, by His Grace, will establish thee [among those in] the first rank.” Now when the brother had done thus he was helped.
601. A brother asked one of the old men, and said, “If a monk stumble and fall into sin, are many labours necessary for him, and if he doeth them will he be able to stand in the
