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Monday January 19 2026, 00H11
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Certain brothers from the great monastery went forth and departed to the desert, and they came to one of the monks who received them with gladness; and when he saw that, as was usual with monks, they had come from labour, he prepared for them a table before the appointed season, and whatsoever he had in his cell he set before them, and refreshed them. Now when the evening was come they sang twelve Psalms, and they did the same thing during the night, but the old man left them to rest, and he departed that he might sing and pray by himself. And while he was keeping vigil, he heard the brothers conversing together and saying, ' The monks who live in the desert live more comfortably than do we who are in the monasteries.' And when they were making ready in the morning to go to an old man who was his neighbour, he said to them, ' Salute him for me'; and they said unto him, ' you will not water the green herb,' and when he heard [this], he understood the matter. And he kept them until the evening working and fasting, and when the evening had come they sang the great service through, and the brother said to them, ' Today, because you have come from toil, we have shortened the service somewhat,' and he also said to them, 'We are not in the habit of eating every day, but because of you we will eat a little.' And he prepared for them dry bread and salt, and he said to them, ' It is fitting that on your account we should this day make a feast,' and he sprinkled a little vinegar in the salt, and they rose up to sing and pray until the morning, and he said to them, 'We are, on account of you, unable to perform the whole of the service as we are wont to do, for you must rest a little, and you are strangers. 'Now when the morning had come they wished to escape, but he entreated them, saying, ' Spend a few days with us, especially that you may live according to the custom of the desert, for we cannot let you go'; and when they saw that he did not want to send them away, they rose up and fled secretly.
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