to us.” The old man said, “Because the remembrance of God is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the life of the soul, which the Fathers call the ‘repository of life,’ and ‘the breath of the life of the soul and of the mind,’ when the monk tarrieth in the cities, and in the sight and converse of the children of men, he dieth in respect of the breath of life which is in God, that is to say, he forgetteth God, and the love of Christ groweth cold in his heart, the love which he hath acquired by many labours, and he forgetteth his virtues, and he becometh lax in respect of [his] liking for tribulations, and he loveth pleasures, and hath an affection for lusts, and the sincerity of his heart is troubled through the disturbance which entereth into his senses, that is, seeing, and speaking, and hearing, which are indeed the strength of the soul; and it happeneth also that he falleth into great passions, wherefrom may Christ God save us! Amen.”
664. The brethren said, “The excellent man Hieronymus said in the history of the triumphs of the blessed Isidore, the archimandrite, that he had in his monastery one thousand monks, and that they all lived within the gate of his habitation, and that none of them ever went outside it until the day of his death, except two brethren who only set out therefrom to sell their handiwork, and who brought in only such things as were required for their absolute needs. How is it that in an assembly of our early Fathers, that is, a congregation containing one thousand brethren, two men only were sufficient [to provide for] their ministrations? In our generation if there was a congregation of five and fifty monks, only five would lead a life of ascetic excellence in seclusion, and the [other] fifty would be going out and coming in ceaselessly and without rest to supply them with what they needed.” The old man said, “Concerning the love for labours, and the watch which the early Fathers kept [on themselves], and concerning the love of pleasure, and the laxity of ourselves who belong to a later time, if it be right to tell the truth, we ought to speak most concerning the laxity and ignorance of the governors of monasteries. In former times the brethren who lived lives of contemplation and seclusion and loved spiritual repose were many, and those who went out on to the high roads, and entered the cities, and performed outside labours were few; but in our days, in a congregation which, as ye have said, containeth five and fifty monks, five will lead a life of spiritual repose inside the monastery, and the other fifty will toil ceaselessly in the works which are outside it, and during the whole time they will complain and blame the five who are inside, because they do not go out and serve
