430. Like a priest He sat among the priests and taught the people.
431. Like a Bishop He took bread, and blessed [it], and brake, and gave unto His disciples. He was beaten for thy sake, He was crucified for thy sake, and He died for thy sake, yet for His sake thou wilt not even bear disgrace! He rose as God, and He ascended as God. He wrought all things for us, fittingly and in order, that He might redeem us. Let us, then, be watchful, and zealous, and constant in prayer; let us do all things which are pleasing unto Him, and which gratify those who love Him, so that we may be redeemed and live. Was not Joseph sold into Egypt, and was he not in a strange land? And the three Holy Children in Babylon, peradventure they acquired knowledge with man and stood in front of them [of themselves]? Nay, it was because they feared God that He helped them, and made them glorious.
432. An old man, who hath delivered himself unto God, used to say, “The monk hath no will of his own. Now he who abideth in ministering unto the will of God never wearieth, but if thou performest thine own will thou becomest weary and exhausted, because God doth not support thee.”
433. The old man also said, “When a soldier entereth the battle he taketh care for himself only, and so also is it with the huntsmen; let us then be like unto these, for riches, and kinsfolk, and wisdom are dung without a correct rule of life and conduct.”
434. The old man also said, “God dwelleth in the man who worketh with God, for He said, ‘I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and they shall be to Me a people, and I will be unto them a God.’ ”
435. The old man also said, “God saith unto thee thus: If thou lovest Me, O monk, that which I wish do, and do not what I desire not. The life of a monk consisteth of:—Good works, obedience, training, not to blame his neighbour, not to calumniate any man, and not to complain, for it is written, ‘The mercy of the Lord hateth evil things.’ ”
436. The same old man used to say, “The life and conduct of a monk are these:—He must not act iniquitously, and he must not look upon evil things with his eyes, and he must not hearken with his ears unto things which are alien to the fear of God, and he must not utter calumnies with his mouth, and he must not seize things with his hands, but must give especially to those who are in need, he must neither be exalted in his mind nor meditate with wicked thoughts, and he must not fill his belly. All these things he must perform with intelligence, for by them is a monk known.”
