present they have not cooked either vegetables or crushed peas”; and the old man answered and said unto him readily and pleasantly, “My son, grieve not, for from this time forward I will make them to cook these things for thee.” And having gone round about through the monastery Abbâ Pachomius went to the place where the food was [kept], and he found him that did the cooking plaiting a mat of palm leaves, and he said unto him, “How long is it since thou hast cooked vegetables for the brethren?” and he answered, “Two months.” And Rabbâ said unto him, “Hast thou acted thus in spite of the command and ordinances of the holy fathers which enjoin that vegetables shall be cooked for the brethren every Saturday and every Sunday?” And the cook answered and said unto him, “Truly, O father, I wanted to cook some vegetables on each of these days, but because I saw that when they were cooked they were not eaten (for all the brethren, so to speak, were restraining themselves, and were not eating cooked food), except by the young men who usually ate them, and when I saw that when they were not eaten they were thrown away, [I cooked] no more so that all the expense and all the trouble might be avoided. Now we pour into the cooked food of the brethren forty boxes of oil daily. And when I saw that the food was not eaten I did not cook it, for I did not consider it to be right that we should throw away and waste such costly things. And moreover, because I could not sit idle I began to plait a mat with the brethren, for I thought that one man would be sufficient in the kitchen to prepare the less important meals for brethren, that is to say, chopped garlic, and mountain herbs [mixed with] vinegar and olive oil, and herbs from the garden.”
And when the holy man had heard these things he said unto the cook, “How many mats have ye made? Ye who belong to the kitchen must have been continually at this work”; and the cook said, “Five hundred.” And Abbâ Pachomius said unto him, “Bring them here, for I wish to count them”; and having brought the mats he ordered them to be thrown into the fire. Then, when they had all been consumed, Abbâ Pachomius said unto them, “Why have ye forsaken the ordinance which hath been given unto you for the government of the brethren through [your] Satanic minds? I have destroyed pitilessly the labour of your hands, and have burned it in the fire, so that ye may learn what it is for a man to treat lightly the laws of the fathers, which have been given for the benefit of souls. How great is the help which ye have removed from the brethren through your not having cooked food for them! Have ye forgotten that a man hath
