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Shall I say the same things again for the benefit of myself and those like me who are negligent? Therefore, it will be thus among us ourselves on that fearful day, and many of our brothers will be found standing at the right hand of God with glory, but many on the left being condemned by them. And why not, when two who renounced the world together, of the same trade, perhaps stonecutters or carpenters, both young and pure from all bodily sin and being from the poor, the one becomes by choice a worker (118) of all virtue, but the other of all malice and wickedness? Or do we not see this happening every day in our midst? And we see the one of these two as humble, compliant, obedient, associating with us as a servant of God and not of men, and ministering with all faith to the brothers, having a humble and contrite mind, and reasoning thus to himself and saying—we have learned this from his daily confession and from those who often questioned him and from his answering them thus: "I," he says, "honorable father, even when I was in the world, was able with much labor and in poverty to provide my own food. And having come here, how shall I neglect the work and eat the bread of the monastery for free and be required to account for it on the day of judgment? But since I came to serve God, I will strive even to make the work for my food superabound, as much as I am able, and I will be subject to the superior and to all my brothers unto death without grumbling, as to Christ himself, disobeying them in nothing at all," but the other as vainglorious, insubordinate, disobedient, and he too reasoning thus to himself, contrary to that one, and saying: "Behold now, God has sent me a house, bread and wine, and abundant foods. I have become numbered with the first, and first to those who come after me, and I am a brother of all these, whether they want it or not. From now on I will eat and drink and sleep to my fill. For what need do I have to work from now on, so that I should labor and others profit from my labor? For if they assign me any servile tasks, I will first plead inability; (119) and if they even compel me, I will say to them: "And if I am not able to do this, will you strangle me, will you drive me away, if I do not have the strength?". And so I will pretend to cry, I will shout, I will plead weakness of the knees, I will feign dizziness, I will say my head is troubled by bile, and for this reason at least I will be able, supposedly for good reason, even to eat from early morning, I will begin to curse and blaspheme and against all that is commanded me I will both argue and grumble; and in any case, having become weary they will leave me alone even against their will. And if they give me some menial tasks and likewise at some time a service, I will despise it. For example, if they order me to tend the mules, I will pretend not to know their work and I will leave them ungroomed and uncared for along with all their bedding; and either they will leave me alone, being forced to, or they will give another to help me, and with him performing all the duties, I, doing some little thing, will rest. But if they order me to become a baker, I will protest with hypocrisy, so that I may not be condemned as disobedient, saying to them: "I, fathers, have never seen how bread is made," and so having gone away I will make the bread like mud for them, and they, not being able to bear to eat it, will no longer compel me to such a service." And if they assign him to serve in the kitchen, he does not know how to humble himself to his superior and make a prostration, but says to him audaciously: "Lord have mercy! Father, have you chosen me alone out of all for the dishonorable tasks? Are there not also other brothers in the monastery?" and he says these things, in order to evade the service commanded him; (120) but if he sees the insistence of the abbot, for the time being he goes, not for the sake of God but fearing the punishment and the lashes, and going away and grumbling he says to himself: Perfect and

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τά αὐτά καί πάλιν ἐρῶ εἰς ὠφέλειαν ἐμοῦ καί τῶν ὁμοίων μου ἀμελῶν; Τοιγαροῦν καί ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς οὕτως ἔσται ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καί πολλοί τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀδελφῶν εὑρεθῶσιν ἐν δεξιᾷ ἱστάμενοι τοῦ Θεοῦ μετά δόξης, πολλοί δέ ἐξ εὐωνύμων κατακρινόμενοι ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν. Καί πῶς οὐχί, ὁπηνίκα δύο ἐπί τό αὐτό ἀποταξάμενοι, ὁμότεχνοι, λιθοξόοι τυχόν ἤ τέκτονες, αἱ δύο νέοι καί καθαροί ἀπό πάσης σωματικῆς ἁμαρτίας καί ἐκ πενήτων ὄντες, ὁ μέν εἷς γένηται ἐκ προαιρέσεως πάσης ἀρετῆς (118) ἐργάτης, ὁ δέ ἕτερος πάσης κακίας καί πονηρίας; Ἤ οὐχί τοῦτο καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ὁρῶμεν γινόμενον μέσον ἡμῶν; Καί τόν μέν ὁρῶμεν τῶν δύο τούτων ταπεινόν, εὐπειθῆ, ὑπήκοον, ὡς δοῦλον Θεοῦ καί οὐκ ἀνθρώπων συναναστρεφόμενον ἡμῖν καί διακονοῦντα μετά πίστεως πάσης τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, τό φρόνημα ταπεινόν ἔχοντα καί συντετριμμένον, καί οὕτω πως καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν λογιζόμενον καί λέγοντα - τοῦτο μεμαθηκότες ἀπό τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμέραν καί ἀπό τῶν πολλάκις διερωτώντων αὐτόν καί οὕτως ἀποκρινομένου αὐτοῖς · "Ἐγώ, φησί, τίμιε πάτερ, καί ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὤν, μόλις ἐν στενότητι ἠδυνάμην πορίζεσθαι μετά κόπου πολλοῦ τήν ἐμαυτοῦ τροφήν. Καί ὧδε ἐλθών, πῶς ἀμελήσω τοῦ ἔργου καί φάγω ἄρτον τῆς μονῆς δωρεάν καί ἀπαιτηθήσομαι αὐτόν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως; Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί τῷ Θεῷ ἦλθον δουλεύειν, ἀγωνίσομαι καί ὑπερπερισσεῦσαι τό ἔργον τῆς τροφῆς μου, ὅσον εἰς δύναμιν, καί ὑποταγῶ τῷ προεστῶτι καί πᾶσι τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου μέχρι θανάτου ἀγογγύστως, ὡς αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ, εἰς μηδέν τό σύνολον παρακούων αὐτῶν ", τόν δέ κενόδοξον, ἀνυπότακτον, ἀπειθῆ, καί οὕτω καί αὐτόν ἐξ ἐναντίας ἐκείνου λογιζόμενον καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν καί λέγοντα· "Ἰδού δή ἔπεμψέ μοι ὁ Θεός οἶκον, ἄρτον καί οἶνον καί ἀφθόνους τροφάς. Ἐγενόμην συναρίθμιος τοῖς πρώτοις, καί πρῶτος τοῖς μετ᾿ ἐμέ ἐρχομένοις, καί ἀδελφός εἰμι τούτων πάντων, θελόντων καί μή θελόντων αὐτῶν. Τοῦ λοιποῦ φάγομαι καί πίομαι καί ὑπνώσω εἰς κόρον. Τί γάρ μοι καί χρεία τοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι ἀπό τοῦ νῦν, ἵνα ἐγώ κοπιῶ καί τόν κόπον μου ἀποκερδαίνωσιν ἄλλοι; Ἐάν γάρ καί εἰς δουλείας τινάς μοι ἐπιτάξωσι, προβαλοῦμαι πρῶτον ἀδυναμίαν· (119) ἐάν δέ καί ἀναγκάσωσί με, εἴπω πρός αὐτούς· "Καί ἐάν μή δύνωμαι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, ἵνα με ἀποπνίξητε, ἵνα με διώξητε, ἐάν μή ἰσχύω:". Καί οὕτω προσποιήσομαι κλαίειν, κραυγάσω, ἔκλυσιν προβαλοῦμαι γονάτων, σκοτοῦσθαι προφασίσομαι, τήν κεφαλήν μου ἀπό χολῆς ὀχλεῖσθαι εἴπω, καί τούτου γε ἕνεκα δυνήσομαι εὐλόγως δῆθεν καί ἀπό πρωῒας ἐσθίειν, ἀναθεματίζειν ἄρξομαι καί βλασφημεῖν καί ἐπί πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπιταττομένοις μοι ἀντιλογήσομαι ὁμοῦ καί γογγύσω· καί πάντως περικακήσαντες ἐάσουσί με καί μή βουλόμενοι. Εἰ δέ καί δώσουσί μοι ἔργα τινά εὐτελῆ καί διακονίαν ὡσαύτως ποτέ, καταφρονήσω αὐτῆς. Οἷον, εἰ μέν τοῖς ἡμιόνοις προστάξουσί μοι δουλεύειν, προφασίσομαι μή εἰδέναι τήν δουλείαν αὐτῶν καί ἐάσω αὐτά ἀφιλοκάλητα καί ἀνεπιμέλητα μετά πάντων τῶν στρωμάτων αὐτῶν· καί ἤ ἐάσουσί με ἀναγκασθέντες ἤ ἕτερον δώσουσιν εἰς βοήθειάν μου, κἀκείνου πάσας ἐπιτελοῦντος τάς χρείας, ὀλίγον ἐγώ τι ποιῶν, ἀναπαύομαι. Εἰ δέ ἀρτοποιόν προστάξουσί με γενέσθαι, προμαρτύρομαι μεθ᾿ ὑποκρίσεως, ὡς ἄν μή καταγνωσθῶ ὡς παρήκοος, λέγων αὐτοῖς· "Ἐγώ, πατέρες, οὐδέποτε ἐθεασάμην ἄρτον πῶς γίνεται", καί οὕτως ἀπελθών ποιήσω αὐτοῖς τόν ἄρτον πηλόν, αὐτοί δέ μή ὑποφέροντες τοῦτον φαγεῖν, οὐκέτι με εἰς τήν τοιαύτην καταναγκάσουσι διακονίαν". Εἰ δέ καί εἰς τό μαγειρεῖον διακονεῖν τάξουσιν αὐτόν, οὐκ οἶδε ταπεινωθῆναι τῷ προεστῶτι αὐτοῦ καί βαλεῖν μετάνοιαν, ἀλλά λέγει αὐθαδῶς πρός αὐτόν· "Κύριε ἐλέησον! Πάτερ, ἐκ πάντων μόνον ἐμέ ἐξελέξω εἰς τάς ἀτίμους δουλείας; Οὐκ εἰσί καί ἄλλοι ἐν τῇ μονῇ ἀδελφοί;" καί ταῦτα μέν λέγει, ὥστε παρακρούσασθαι τήν προστασσομένην αὐτῷ διακονίαν· (120) ἐάν δέ ἴδῃ τήν ἔνστασιν τοῦ ἡγουμένου, τέως ἀπέρχεται οὐ διά τόν Θεόν ἀλλά φοβούμενος τήν παιδείαν καί τάς μάστιγας, ἀπερχόμενος δέ καί γογγύζων λέγει ἐν ἑαυτῷ· Τέλεια καί