“Believe me, beloved brother,” the holy man replied, “I have endured such things in this desert that I have often thought I was very near death. There have been so many times in my life when hope has failed me and I have scarcely had any breath left in my body. Scorched by day in the heat and burning fire of the sun, exposed to dew and hoar frost by night, fainting from hunger and thirst – O how many such things have I suffered! I cannot tell you how many wounds and hard knocks must be suffered by anyone who is willing to die for the love of God, nor would it be right to do so. But the Lord rewards the labors of his Saints (Wisdom 10.17), for his riches are beyond telling, nor can they be diminished. Through all the manifold pains and torments that I have suffered, cold and heat, hunger and thirst, his power has strengthened me with the Heavenly riches of the company of Angels. By spurning food for the body I have been found worthy to receive the bread of Heaven. My Holy Angel has daily brought me bread, and water in due measure, to refresh my body lest it faint, that I might continue in the praise of God. The palm trees have this property that the dates ripen twelve times a year. I picked them daily and ate them together with green herbs, and they were in my mouth as the honey and the honeycomb. In the Gospel it is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4.4). Brother Paphnutios, if you wish to fulfill the Will of God, everything necessary is ready for you. For the Truth Himself counsels you, ‘Take no thought for what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or what you shall wear, for your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. Wherefore seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you'” (Matthew 6.31-33).
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