pain because of them, and he will curse you. And because I know what will benefit his soul I take no care for his dead body whatsoever; for if I permit ye to sing Psalms, I shall be found to be in the sight of God as one who [striveth to] please the children of men, because for the sake of gratifying men I have treated with contempt that which will benefit the soul which is about to be punished in judgement. For because God is a fountain of grace He seeketh excuses upon which He can lay hold in order to pour out upon us the abundant streams of His grace; if then, we, who have been held to be worthy by God to become acquainted with the art of divine healing, do not apply the binding up which is suitable to the wound, we shall, like those who despise [God], hear that which is written, ‘Those who despised [God] saw, and marvelled at the wonderful thing, and were destroyed.’ For this reason then, that is to say, that we may lighten his punishment, I entreat you to bury the dead man without any singing of Psalms; for the good God knoweth that in return for this slight which hath come upon him, we are giving him rest and are calling him to life. Had he listened unto me on the several occasions on which I admonished him, he would never have come to this pass.”
And when the blessed man had said these things they carried him to the mountain without the singing of Psalms, and he was buried. And the holy man passed several days in that monastery in admonishing and teaching each one of the brethren the fear of God, and the way to strive rightly against the Calumniator, and against his arts, and wiles, and guile, and how in a short time, by the might of the Lord, we shall be able to bring to naught beforehand the things which are cared for by him.
Chapter iv: Of the Funeral of a certain Holy Man who died
NOW whilst Abbâ Pachomius was still there he heard that a certain brother from the monastery of Bêth Râyâ was sick, [and it was said to him], “He wisheth to see thee and to be blessed by thee before he dieth.” And when the man of God heard these things he rose up, and departed on the journey, but when he was about two miles from the monastery, the holy man heard a holy voice in the air, and he lifted up his eyes and saw the soul of the sick brother with the holy angels, singing hymns, and being borne aloft to a blessed and divine life; now the brethren who were accompanying him neither heard nor saw anything. And when the holy man had stood there and gazed for a long time towards
