to Abbâ Anthony, and having embarked in a boat to journey to him, they found [there] a certain old man, who was also going to visit him, and they were not acquainted with him. And as they were sitting in the boat, they spake now and again a word of the Fathers, or a word from the Book, or they talked about the work of their hands; and the old man listened unto all they said, but held his peace. Then, having crossed the ferry, the old man was found to be going also to Abbâ Anthony. And when they had all arrived at the place where he was, he said unto them, “Ye found excellent company in this old man”; and to the old man himself he said, “Thou didst find excellent brethren to travel with thee, O father.” And the old man said, “They are excellent brethren, but they have no door to their house, and whosoever wisheth can go into the stable, and untie the ass, and go whithersoever he pleaseth on him.” Now this he said because they uttered every word which came into their mouths.
11. A certain brother asked Abbâ Sisoes, saying, “Father, how was it that thou didst leave Scete where thou wast with Abbâ Macarius, and didst come here?” And the old man said unto him, “When Scete began to be filled [with monks] I heard that Abbâ Antonius had fallen asleep, and I came to the mountain here, and found that this place was quiet, and I lived here for a little time.” The brother said unto him, “How long hast thou been here?” and the old man said, “Behold, I have been here seventy years this day.”
12. They used to say concerning Abbâ Theodore and Abbâ Luk that they passed fifty years with disturbed minds, and were troubled the whole time about changing their place [of abode]; and they said, “Behold, we will change in the winter”; and when the winter arrived, they said, “We will change in the summer”; and thus they did unto the end of their lives.
13. A certain father came to Abbâ Arsenius, and he knocked at the door, and the old man opened unto him thinking that it was his servant [who had knocked]; and when he saw who it was, he cast himself upon his face, and the father entreated him, saying, “Stand up, O father, that I may give thee the salutation of peace.” But Arsenius disputed with him, saying, “I will not stand up until thou hast departed”; and though he entreated him to do so often he would not stand up, and the father left him and departed.
14. Abbâ Battimion said, “When I went down to Scete they gave me some apples to take to the brethren, and when I had knocked at the door of Abbâ Abhîlâ, he said to me when he saw me, ‘If these apples had been of gold I would not have wished thee to knock at my door; and moreover, do
