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being condemned by those on the left. And how could it not be so, when two men who have renounced the world together, of the same trade, perhaps stonemasons or carpenters, both young and pure from all bodily sin and from poor families, the one becomes by choice a worker (118) of every virtue, but the other of every evil and wickedness? Or do we not see this happening among us every day? And we see one of these two as humble, compliant, obedient, as a servant of God and not of men, living among us and ministering with all faith to the brothers, having a humble and contrite mind, and reasoning thus with himself and saying—this we have learned from his daily confession and from those who often questioned him and his answering them thus: "I," he says, "venerable father, even when I was in the world, I was scarcely able in hardship to provide my own food with much labor. 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 to more than abound in the work for my food, as much as I am able, and I will submit to the superior and to all my brothers until death without murmuring, as to Christ Himself, disobeying them in nothing at all," but the other, vainglorious, insubordinate, disobedient, and he too reasoning with himself in the opposite way and saying: "Behold, God has sent me a house, bread and wine and abundant foods. I have been numbered with the first, and am first to those who come after me, and I am a brother to all of them, whether they like it or not. From now on I will eat and drink and sleep to my fill. For what need have I to work from now on, that I should labor and others profit from my labor? For if they assign me to some menial tasks, I will first plead inability; (119) and if they compel me, I will say to them: 'And if I am not able to do this, are you going to choke me, are you going to drive me away, if I do not have the strength?'. And so I will pretend to cry, I will shout, I will feign weakness of the knees, I will pretend to be dizzy, I will say my head is troubled by bile, and for this reason I will be able, supposedly with good cause, even to eat from the morning; I will begin to curse and blaspheme and for all the things assigned to me I will contradict and murmur at the same time; and in any case, having grown weary of my malice, they will leave me alone even if they do not want to. And if they ever give me some menial tasks and a service likewise, I will despise it. For example, if they order me to serve the mules, I will pretend not to know how to care for them and I will leave them shabby and unkempt with all their blankets; and either they will be forced to leave me alone or they will give another to help me, and with that one performing all the duties, I, doing very little, will rest. And if they order me to become a baker, I will protest with hypocrisy, so as not to be condemned as disobedient, saying to them: "I, fathers, have never seen how bread is made," and so I will go and make the bread like mud for them, and they, being unable to bear eating it, will no longer force me into such a service." And if they assign him to serve in the kitchen, he does not know how to humble himself before his superior and make a prostration, but says audaciously to him: "Lord have mercy! Father, out of everyone did you choose only me for the dishonorable tasks? Are there not other brothers in the monastery?" and he says these things in order to evade the service assigned to him; (120) but if he sees the abbot's insistence, for the time being he goes, not for God's sake but fearing punishment and the whips, and going away and murmuring he says to himself: "They will have perfect and good things to eat from what I will cook! If I don't make them rise from the table fasting or vomit whatever they eat, I am not myself!" and simply thus the wretch does everything with much madness. And the cooking of the brothers

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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 καλά ἔχουσι φαγεῖν ἐξ ὧν μαγειρεύσω ἐγώ! Ἐάν μή ποιήσω αὐτούς νήστεις ἐκ τῆς τραπέζης ἐξαναστῆναι ἤ ἐξεμέσαι ὅσα ἄν φάγωσιν, οὐκ εἰμί ἐγώ!" καί ἁπλῶς οὕτω πάντα ποιεῖ μετά μανίας πολλῆς ὁ ἄθλιος. Καί τήν μέν μαγειρίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν