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When we had come from the region of Syria and had sought the province
of Egypt, in our desire to learn the rules of the Elders, we were
astonished at the alacrity of heart with which we were there received so
that no rule forbidding refreshment till the appointed hour of the fast was
over was observed, such as we had been brought up to observe in the
monasteries of Palestine; but except in the case of the regular days,
Wednesdays and Fridays, wherever we went the daily fast was broken:
and when we asked why the daily fast was thus ignored by them without
scruple one of the eiders replied: "The opportunity for fasting is always
with me. But as I am going to conduct you on your way, I cannot always keep
you with me. And a fast, although it is useful and advisable, is yet a
free-will offering. But the exigencies of a command require the fulfilment
of a work of charity. And so receiving Christ in you I ought to refresh Him
but when I have sent you on your way I shall be able to balance the
hospitality offered for His sake by a stricter fast on my own account. For
'the children of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with
them:' but when he has departed, then they will rightly fast."
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