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THIS practical life then, which as has been said rests on a double
system, is distributed among many different professions and interests. For
some make it their whole purpose to aim at the secrecy of an anchorite and
purity of heart, as we know that in the past Elijah and Elisha, and in our
own day the blessed Antony and others who followed with the same object,
were joined most closely to God by the silence of solitude. Some have given
all their efforts and interests towards the system of the brethren and the
watchful care of the coenobium; as we remember that recently Abbot John,
who presided over a big monastery in the neighbourhood of the city
Thmuis, and some other men of like merits were eminent with the signs of
Apostles. Some are pleased with the kindly service of the guest house and
reception, by which in the past the patriarch Abraham and Lot pleased the
Lord, and recently the blessed Macarius, a man of singular courtesy and
patience who presided over the guest house at Alexandria in such a way as
to be considered inferior to none of those who aimed at the retirement of
the desert. Some choose the care of the sick, others devote themselves to
intercession, which is offered up for the oppressed and afflicted, or give
themselves up to teaching, or give alms to the poor, and flourish among men
of excellence and renown, by reason of their love and goodness.
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