grade wherein he was formerly? He who goeth forth from the world, and beginneth the cultivation of spiritual excellence, will find it easy to advance, for he who is occupied in labours, if it be that he is reduced from the grade wherein he stood by his stumbling, will be afflicted and grieved in his mind.” Then the old man answered and said unto him, “A monk is like unto a house which hath fallen down, and if he be awake in his mind (or thought), and if he be zealous and anxious to build that which was fallen down, he will find ample material which will be of use in his building among the remains of that which fell down before [he began to build]; for he will find the foundation stones, and the old stones from the walls, and other things, which were employed in the old building, and out of these, if he be so disposed, he will be able to make his building to rear itself up better than the man who hath not yet dug the places for the foundations and laid the foundation stones, and who doth not possess the materials which are to be employed in the building, and who only beginneth to build with the hope that he will be able to finish. And thus is it with him that falleth from the practice of rules and works of the monkish life into temptation, for if he turn back, and repent, he will possess ample material from [his] former works of the ascetic life which he possesseth [to begin his building afresh], I mean to say, the training and the service of the work of the hands, which is the foundation [thereof]. Whosoever then hath gone forth from the world, and beginneth the cultivation of ascetic excellence, when he hath done these things he will still be found standing in the front rank of the solitary (or monkish) life.”
602. One of the old men told the following story, saying:—There was a certain monk who dwelt in the desert, and he lived a life of strict and severe rule, and he was famous among men, and he could even cast out devils and heal the sick. And it came to pass that, through the agency of Satan, the passion of fornication was stirred up against him, and because he was not sufficiently humble to reveal his war unto the old men who were before him, in a few days’ time he fell into fornication with a woman who used to come to him continually for assistance. Now having fallen, he despaired about himself, and he rose up to go to the world, and he was sad and grieved concerning his fall; and he meditated, saying, “I will go into the desert which is further away, and I shall not see any man, and I shall not be seen of any, and there I will die like the wild animals.” And when he had gone, and he was wandering about in the desert and in the mountains,
