another monk who lived in the neighbourhood of men, and he filled a vessel full of water, and set [it] down, and at the season when he ate, being urged by the operation of God, he meditated within himself, and said, “I will arise and will go into the desert, and will learn from that old man what this is.” Now as he was travelling along the way, the night overtook him, and he went into a house of idols which was on the road, and passed the night there, and he heard the devils saying to each other, “This night we have cast down such a monk by fornication.” Now when he heard this he marvelled, and he came to the old man, and found him sad, and he said unto him, “Father, what shall I do? For I filled a vessel with water, but when I came to eat my meal I found that it had been spilled.” And the old man said unto him, “Hast thou come to ask me about a vessel of water which hath been spilled? What am I myself to do? For this night I have fallen into fornication.” The monk said unto him, “I know it also; hold thy peace.” The old man said unto him, “How knowest thou?” And the monk said unto him, “Last night when I was sleeping in a house of idols which is on the road, I heard the devils say [so] to each other, and I was distressed [thereat].” And the old man said unto him, “Henceforth I will go to the world,” but the monk persuaded him, saying, “Nay, father, but stay in thy place, and send the woman away, for this is a temptation of the Enemy”; and the old man hearkened unto him, and sent her away, and he himself continued in his ascetic works, and he mourned, and made supplication unto God with abundant tears, until at length he arrived at his former state of ascetic excellence.
117. A brother asked one of the fathers, saying, “What shall I do, for I am disturbed in mind when I go up to perform the office of the deacon?” And the old man said unto him, “It is not good for thee to be disturbed when thou goest up to minister, but if thou art, and thou art disturbed in thy cell, thou must labour, and give thanks, and receive the hire of which thou art worthy.” Then that brother said unto him, “If I can find a man who will minister for me for a gift, and I cheat him not, may I [let him] do so?” The old man said unto him, “If thou canst find a man who is in the world who can perform thy ministration, and will take his hire, yes, but if he be a monk, no.”
118. A brother said unto Abbâ Poemen, “Can a man rely upon any one work of spiritual excellence [for salvation]?” The old man said unto him, “John the Less said, ‘I should wish that a man should take to himself a little of each kind of spiritual excellence.’ ”
