my son, and the God Whom thou hast loved, and Whom thou hast made plans to please in everything, shall be unto thee a father, and a fellow monk; and do thou pray on my behalf that the Lord may visit me.” And when that brother had heard these words, he answered and said unto the old man with love and great humility, “O my father, I have made a covenant with the Lord that I will not be separated from thee except by death, and inasmuch as my dwelling with thee hath been unto me source of great benefit, there is nothing which can remove me and take me away from thee; but wheresoever thou goest I will go; and wheresoever thou dwellest I will dwell with thee.”
Then after all these things the old man came to himself, and he sighed greatly, saying, “Verily, this is a matter which can only have come from God, the Merciful, Who desireth not the death of a sinner, but that he may turn to Him and live, and He it is Who hath remembered my former works, and hath not left me to perish utterly, but hath sent this young man unto me that He might again turn me unto Him.” Then the old man found himself able by means of words, which were full of strong entreaty, to persuade the woman to take her daughter with her, and to go and dwell in one of the abodes of women which existed in the villages round about them. And this actually came to pass. And after the old man had remained there with his son, and with that excellent disciple, he began to remember his former life, and to renew the habits thereof, and he excelled greatly in the cultivation of all kinds of spiritual excellences, and he gave thanks unto God unceasingly, that by means of the young man He had held him worthy of the end of peace. And he was always saying, “Truly obedience for the sake of God not only greatly helpeth those who possess it, but it greatly gratifieth God also, and it is found by others to be the cause of life, and it tormenteth Satan sorely; on the other hand, disobedience worketh that which is contrary to all these things.” So after a long time that old man died in peace, being worthy of the great measure [of reward] of his fathers, and he departed from the world, and left behind him as upright heirs of his spiritual excellences and of his monastery his spiritual son, and the son who was his according to the body and the spirit; may our Lord through their prayers make us worthy of their spiritual excellence and their inheritance! Amen and Amen.
