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AND so taught by these examples the Fathers in Egypt never allow monks,
and especially the younger ones, to be idle, estimating the purpose of
their hearts and their growth in patience and humility by their diligence
in work; and they not only do not allow them to receive anything from
another to supply their own wants, but further, they not merely refresh
pilgrims and brethren who come to visit them by means of their labours, but
actually collect an enormous store of provisions and food, and distribute
it in the parts of Libya which suffer from famine and barrenness, and also
in the cities, to those who are pining away in the squalor of prison; as
they believe that by such an offering of the fruit of their hands they
offer a reasonable and true sacrifice to the Lord.
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