love, and concerning the fourth the other three said, “He hath been in subjection to the old men for twenty-two years.” Then Abbâ Pambô said unto them, “I say unto you that the spiritual excellence of this man is great. Each of you hath chosen the ascetic virtue which he possesseth according to his own wish, but this man hath cut off his own desire, and hath performed the will of others; and those who are thus will, if they keep these things to the end, become confessors.”
Chapter VIII: Of Scrupulous Watchfulness In Our Thoughts And Words And Deeds
248. ABBÂ POEMEN used to say, “Satan hath three kinds of power which precede all sin. The first is error, and the second is neglect (or laxity), and the third is lust. When error hath come it produceth neglect, and from neglect springeth lust, and by lust man fell; if we watch against error neglect will not come, and if we be notnegligent, lust will not appear, and if a man worketh not lust, he will, through the help of Christ, never fall.”
249. They used to say that there was a certain father who was [occupied] in great works, and that [on one occasion], when he was singing the Psalms and praying, one of the holy men came unto him, and he heard him striving with his thoughts, and saying, “How long for the sake of one thought wilt thou go through all this?” Then the man who had come thought that the father was striving with another man, and he knocked at the door before going in to make peace between them; but when he had gone inside he saw no other man there. And because he possessed some authority over the father, he said unto him, “Father, with whom wast thou striving?” And he said, “With my thoughts. For I can repeat fourteen Books, but if I hear one little word outside it will make useless my service to me, and [the repetition] of all these Books will be in vain. And this word only cometh and standeth before me at the season of prayer, and it is because of this that I strive.” And when the holy man heard [these things], he marvelled at the spiritual excellence and purity of the old man, and how openly he had told him about his war.
250. One of the old men used to say, “The Prophets compiled the Scriptures, and the Fathers have copied them, and the men who came after them learned to repeat them by heart; then hath come this generation and [its children] have placed them in cupboards as useless things.”
251. A disciple of Abbâ Ammon told the following story: “On one occasion when we were singing the service, my mind became confused, and I forgot the verse in the Psalm; and
