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And so throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid, where monasteries
are not rounded at the fancy of every man who renounces the world, but
through a succession of fathers and their traditions last even to the
present day, or are rounded so to last, in these we have noticed that a
prescribed system of prayers is observed in their evening assemblies and
nocturnal vigils. For no one is allowed to preside over the assembly of the
brethren, or even over himself, before he has not only deprived himself of
all his property but has also learnt the fact that he is not his own maker
and has no authority over his own actions. For one who renounces the world,
whatever property or riches he may possess, must seek the common dwelling
of a Coenobium, that he may not flatter himself in any way with what he has
forsaken or what he has brought into the monastery. He must also be
obedient to all, so as to learn that he must, as the Lord says, become
again a little child, arrogating nothing to himself on the score of his age
and the number of the years which he now counts as lost while they were
spent to no purpose in the world and, as he is only a beginner, and because
of the novelty of the apprenticeship, which he knows he is serving in
Christ's service, he should not hesitate to submit himself even to his
juniors. Further, he is obliged to habituate himself to work and toil, so
as to prepare with his own hands; in accordance with the Apostle's
command, daily supply of food, either for his own use or for the wants
of strangers; and that he may also forget the pride and luxury of his past
life, and gain by grinding toil humility of heart. And so no one is chosen
to be set over a congregation of brethren before that he who is to be
placed in authority has learnt by obedience what he ought to enjoin on
those who are to submit to him, and has discovered from the rules of the
Elders what he ought to teach to his juniors. For they. say that to rule or
to be ruled well needs a wise man, and they call it the greatest gift and
grace of the Holy Spirit, since no one can enjoin salutary precepts on
those who submit to him but one who has previously been trained in all the
rules of virtue; nor can any one obey an EIder but one who has been filled
with the love of God and perfected in the virtue of humility. And so we see
that there is a variety of rules and regulations in use throughout other
districts, because we often have the audacity to preside over a monastery
without even having learnt the system of the Elders, and appoint ourselves
Abbots before we have, as we ought, professed ourselves disciples, and are
readier to require the observance of our own inventions than to preserve
the well-tried teaching of our predecessors. But, while we meant to explain
the best system of prayers to be observed, we have in our eagerness for the
institutions of the fathers anticipated by a hasty digression the account
which we were keeping back for its proper place. And so let us now return
to the subject before us.
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