his cell we sat down to eat, and one brought dates and he ate, and he took water and drank; and I said unto him laughingly, “So thou art angry with absinthe, O father? Since thou hast eaten dates and hast drunk water, why dost thou not drink wine?” And he answered and said unto me, “If thou takest a handful of dust and throwest it on a man will it hurt him?” and I said unto him, “No.” And he said unto me, “If thou takest a handful of water and throwest it over a man, peradventure he will feel pain?” and I said unto him, “No.” And he said unto me, And again, if thou takest a handful of chopped straw and throwest it over a man, peradventure it will cause him pain? and I said unto him, “No.” Then he said unto me, “But if thou bringest [them all] and dost mix them together, and dost knead them well, and dost dry them, thou mayest throw and hurl the mass on the skull of a man and thou wilt not break it”; and I said unto him, “Yea, father, [that is true].” And he said unto me, “The monks do not abstain from certain things without good reason, and thou must not listen to the men who are in the world who say, ‘Why do they not eat this, and why do they not drink that?’ Is there not sin in them? Such people know not. Now we abstain from certain things not because the things themselves are bad, but because the passions are mighty, and when they have waxed strong they kill us.”
7. On one occasion the priest of Scete went to the Archbishop of Alexandria, and when he had returned to Scete he wanted to send the brethren [to Alexandria], and he said unto them, “I have heard you say that there is a large assembly of people in Alexandria. Verily, I say unto you that I who went there did not see the face of any man except the Archbishop.” Now when they heard [this] they were disturbed, and said, “Have they sunk into the ground, then?” And he said, “Nay, not so, but my thoughts did not compel me to look at a man”; and when they heard [this] they marvelled, and they were greatly confirmed by these words [in their desire] to keep themselves from looking upon the vain things of the world.
8. One of the old men used to say: On one occasion the fathers were sitting and conversing together on the subject of ascetic excellence, and there was in their midst one of the old men who was a seer of visions, and he saw angels flying about over [the fathers]; but when they came to another subject of discourse, the angels departed, and he saw pigs rolling about among them and wallowing in the mire. And afterwards when the fathers renewed their conversation on spiritual excellence the angels came back and glorified God.
9. One of the fathers used to say that there were two
