335. The same old man used to say also, “As he who is a stranger is not able to take another stranger into the house of one by whom he hath not been entreated to enter, so also is it in the case of the Enemy, for he will not enter in where he is not welcomed.”
336. Abbâ Epiphanius said, “He who revealeth and discovereth his good work is like unto the man who soweth [seed] on the surface of the ground, and doth not cover it up, and the fowl of the heavens cometh and devoureth it; but he who hideth his good works is like unto the man who soweth his seed in the furrows of the earth, and he shall reap the same at harvest.”
337. Abbâ Epiphanius used to say, “Whensoever a thought cometh and filleth thy breast, that is to say, thy heart, with vainglory or pride, say thou unto it, ‘Old man, behold thy fornication.’ ”
338. And he also said, “O monk, take thou the greatest possible care that thou sin not, lest thou disgrace God Who dwelleth in thee, and thou drive Him out of thy soul.”
339. The old men said, “Let no monk do anything whatsoever without first of all trying his heart [to see] that what he is about to do will be [done] for God’s sake.”
340. One of the fathers asked a youthful brother, saying, “Tell us, O brother, is it good to hold one’s peace or to speak?” then that young brother spake unto him, saying, “If the words [to be said] be useless, leave them [unsaid], but if they be good, give place to good things, and speak [them]. Yet, even though the words be good, prolong not thy speech, but cut it short, for silence is best of all.”
341. Rabbâ Paul the Great, the Galatian, used to say, “The monk who living in his cell hath some small need, and who goeth out to provide therefor, is laughed at by the devils.”
342. The blessed woman Eugenia said, “It is helpful to us to go about begging, only we must be with Jesus, for he who is with Jesus is rich, even though we be poor in the flesh. For he who holdeth the things of earth in greater honour than the things of the Spirit falleth away both from the things which are first and the things which are last. For he who coveteth heavenly things must, of necessity, receive the good things which are on the earth. Therefore it belongeth unto the wise to await not the things which now exist [here], but the things which are about to be, and the happiness which is indescribable, and in this short and trouble some life they should prepare themselves therefor.”
343. On one occasion when Abbâ Arsenius was living in the lower lands, and was troubled, he determined to leave his cell
