|
WHEREFORE you should first hear how or whence the system and beginning
of our order took its rise. For only then can a man at all effectually be
trained in any art he may wish, and be urged on to practise it diligently,
when he has learnt the glory of its authors and founders. There are three
kinds of monks in Egypt, of which two are admirable, the third is a poor
sort of thing and by all means to be avoided. The first is that of the
coenobites, who live together in a congregation and are governed by the
direction of a single Elder: and of this kind there is the largest number
of monks dwelling throughout the whole of Egypt. The second is that of the
anchorites, who were first trained in the coenobium and then being made
perfect in practical life chose the recesses of the desert: and in this
order we also hope to gain a place. The third is the reprehensible one of
the Sarabaites. And of these we will discourse more fully one by one in
order. Of these three orders then you ought, as we said, first to know
about the founders. For at once from this there may arise either a hatred
for the order which is to be avoided, or a longing for that which is to be
followed, because each way is sure to carry the man who follows it, to that
end which its author and discoverer has reached.
|
|