OF TWO BROTHERS WHO EXERCISED MARVELOUS PATIENCE IN DEALING WITH ROBBERS
One of the elders said: “An elder of great virtue visited us, and we were reading the sayings of the holy fathers in the book called Paradise, for that elder was always very fond of going through the sayings. He inhaled them, as it were, and from that seed he produced the fruit of every virtue. We came to the story of that elder to whom robbers came and said: ‘We have come to take everything in your cell.’ When he replied, ‘Take whatever you like, children,’ they took everything and went their way. But they had overlooked a purse that was hanging in the cell.
The story says that the elder took the purse and ran after the robbers, shouting and saying to them: ‘Children, take this from me, which you overlooked in our cell.’ They were so amazed at his forbearance that they gave back to the elder everything that had been in his cell. And they repented, saying to each other: ‘Truly, this is a man of God.’
When we read this, the elder said to me, “You know, abba, this saying has been very advantageous to me.” I asked him, “How so, father?” And he said: “I read this at a time when I was in the Jordan region, and I was filled with admiration for the elder. I said: ‘Lord, let me follow in his footsteps, you who have counted me worthy to embrace this way of life.’ While this desire was still strong within me, two days later some robbers came by. When they knocked at the door, I knew they were robbers. I said to myself: ‘Thanks be to God; the occasion has arisen for me to show the fruit of my desire.’ I opened the door and welcomed them cheerfully. I lit a lamp and began showing them the things that were there, saying: ‘Do not worry; before the Lord, I believe that nothing shall be hidden away from you.’ They said to me: ‘Have you any gold?’
‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘I have three pieces of gold.’ I opened the chest before them; they took the gold and went their way in peace.” With a smile, I asked him if they had returned like the robbers in the saying. He replied without hesitation, “No, God forbid! Nor did I want them to come back.”