How Abba Sergios Pacified a Cursing Farmer by Patience
The higoumen of the monastery of Abba Constantine, Abba Sergios, told us: Once we were traveling with a holy elder, and we lost our way. Quite without meaning to, and indeed without knowing where we were going, we found ourselves in sown fields and trod down some of the seedlings. The farmer was working there, and he noticed what we had done. He began to upbraid us angrily in these words: “You are monks? You fear God? If you had the fear of God before your eyes, you would not have done this.”
At once, the holy elder said to us: “For the Lord’s sake, let nobody say anything,” and he addressed the farmer: “Well spoken, my child. If we had the fear of God, we would not be doing these things.” Again, the farmer spoke angry and abusive words, to which the elder again responded: “You speak the truth, child, when you say that if we were true monks, we would not have done this; but, for the sake of the Lord, forgive us, for we have sinned.”
The farmer was astonished. He came and threw himself at the feet of the elder, saying: “I have sinned, forgive me, and for the Lord’s sake, take me with you.” The blessed Sergios said: “And in truth he followed along with us; and when he came here, he received the monastic habit.”