1. Cassian said, 'We came from Palestine to Egypt, and visited one of the hermits. After he had welcomed us, we asked him, "When you receive guests, why don't you fast? In Palestine they do." He answered, "Fasting is always possible but I cannot keep you here for ever. Fasting is useful and necessary, but we can choose to fast or not to fast. God's law demands from us perfect love I receive Christ when I receive you, so I must do all I can to show you love. When I have said goodbye to you, I can take up my rule of fasting again. 'The sons of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them; when he is taken from them, then they can fast' (Matt. 9:15)."'

XIII Hospitality
1. Some of the hermits once came to Joseph in Panephysis, to ask him if they should break their fast when they received brothers as guests, to celebrate their coming. Before they asked their question, Joseph said to them, 'Think about what I am going to do today.' He put two seats made of reeds tied in bundles, one on his left and the other on his right, and said, 'Sit down.' Then he went to his cell and put on rags: he came out, and walked past them, and then went in again and put on his ordinary clothes. The visitors were astonished, and asked him what it meant. He said to them, 'Did you see what I did?' They said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Did the rags change me for the better?' They said, 'No.' He said, 'Did good clothes change me for the worse?' They said, 'No.' He said, 'So I am myself whether I wear good clothes or rags. I was not changed for better or worse because I changed my clothes. That is how we ought to be when we receive guests. It is written in the Holy gospel, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22:21). When visitors come we should welcome them and celebrate with them. It is when we are by ourselves that we ought to be sorrowful.' When they heard this they were amazed that he knew what they intended to ask him, and they praised God.

1. The brothers told this story: We once visited some hermits, and after the usual prayer we exchanged greetings and sat down. After we had talked with them, we got ready to go, and asked once again for prayers to be said. But one of the hermits said us, 'What, haven't you prayed already?' We said: 'Yes, abba, when we came in, we prayed, and since then we have been talking.' He said, 'I may be wrong, brothers; but one of you, while he was sitting and talking with you, offered a hundred and three prayers.' With these words he prayed, and sent us away.

1. A hermit once visited Mount Sinai; When he was going away, a brother met him, and groaned, saying, 'Abba, we are afflicted by drought. There has been no rain.' He said, 'Why don't you pray and ask God for it?' He replied, 'We've bene praying and asking God constantly, and still there is no rain.' The hermit said, 'I don't think you are praying earnestly enough. Shall we see whether that is the case? Let us stand and pray together.' He stretched out his hands to heaven and prayed; and at once rain fell. The brother was afraid at the sight, and fell down and worshipped him. But the hermit fled from that place.

1. One of the hermits said, 'No one can see his face reflected in muddy water, so the soul cannot pray to God with contemplation unless it is first cleansed of harmful thoughts.'

1. A hermit used to say, "Ceaseless prayer soon heals the mind.'

1. They said of Sisois that unless he soon lowered his hands when he stood up to pray, his mind was caught up to heaven. So if he happened to be praying with another brother, he quickly lowered his hands and ended his prayer, so that his mind should not be rapt or cause him to go on praying too long for his brother.'

1. Some brothers asked Macarius, 'How should we pray?' He said, 'There is no need to talk much in prayer. Reach out your hands often, and say, "Lord have mercy upon me, as you will and as you know." But if conflict troubles you, say, "Lord, help me." He knows what is best for us, and has mercy.'

1. Some monks called Euchites, or 'men of prayer', once came to Lucius in the ninth region of Alexandria. He asked them, 'What manual work do you do?' They said, 'We do not work with our hands, we obey St Paul's command and pray without ceasing' (1 Thess 5:17). He said to them, 'Don't you eat?' They said, 'Yes, we do.' He said to them: 'When you are eating who prays for you?' Then he asked them, 'Don't you sleep?' They said, 'Yes, we do.' He said, 'Who prays for you while you are asleep?' and they could not answer him. Then he said to them, 'I may be wrong, brothers, but it seems to me that you don't do what you say. I will show you how I pray without ceasing although I work with my hands. With God's help, I sit down with a few palm leaves, and plait them, and say, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great mercy: and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away with mine iniquity' (Ps. 51:1), He asked them, 'Is that prayer, or not?' They said, 'It's prayer all right.' He said, 'When I spend all day working and praying in my heart, I make about sixteen pence. Two of these I put outside the door, and with the rest I buy food. Whoever finds the two pennies outside the door prays for me while I am eating and sleeping: and so by God's grace I fulfil the text, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17).'

1. Lot went to Joseph and said, 'Abba, as far as I can, I keep the moderate rule, with a little fasting, and prayer, and meditation, and quiet: and as far as I can I try to cleanse my heart of evil thoughts. What else should I do?' Then the hermit stood up and spread out his hands to heaven, and his fingers shone like ten flames of fire, and he said, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'