The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

.
52 THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
the command of our Lord Who said, "Whosoever loveth
"father or mother, &c/"
CCIII. Abba Ammon the virgin^ once went to Abba
Antony and said unto him, "I observe that I labour in
"the ascetic life more than thou, how is it then that
"thy name is more renowned in the world than mine?"
Abba Antony said unto him, "Because I love our Lord
"more than thou."
CCIV. Once a year Abba Arsenius used to taste
once every kind of fruit in order that he might give
praise unto God, but Evagrius^ never at any time ate
any fruit or any green thing.
CCV. Abba Poemen used to say, "As a snake or
"a scorpion having been placed in a closed vessel for
"a long time will in process of time die, even so will
"the wicked thoughts which are stirred up in the heart
"of ascetics, unless they actually turn them into actions,
"become powerless and perish."
CCVl. Abba Jacob used to say, "For a man to teach
"his neighbour without being asked to do so, is as if
"a man were to rebuke his neighbour."
^ "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy
"of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not
"worthy of Me." St. Matthew x. 37.
"
In Palladius, K'ii^.T om ._a»ir^ Klrsp^ "AbbaAmmon,
he of Nitria," i. e., the Nitrian desert (fol. 305 b, No. 165), but
Bar-Hebraeus seems to have missed the meaning of K'Vi-Li^ here.
3 The followers of Evagrius never drank their fill of water^ and
many of them ate neither bread nor fruit, nor any green thing
except bitter herbs, rdi r^Jlsa.l ^^a^i..! pdiirciA pStocn .ija^S30
(fol. 1920. Triumphs of Evagrius)