“ ‘hast become perfect in everything, O man, but now, bow down and worship me, and I will take thee up [to heaven] like Elijah.’ Then the monk said in his mind, ‘I worship the King and Redeemer every day, and if this creature were [a king] he would not ask me to worship him now.’ And when he had said unto him that which was in his mind, ‘I have a King, and I worship Him always, and thou art not a king,’ immediately the Devil removed himself and was no more found.” Now Abbâ Hôr told us these things because he wished to conceal his own rules and manner of life, and to tell us stories about those of other monks, but the fathers who were always with him told us that it was Abbâ Hôr himself who had seen these things.
Now this man was more glorious in his life than very many of the fathers. And because of the multitude of the monks who came to him he used to call the brethren who were with him, to come to make houses for the new comers each day; some of the brethren spread the mud, and others brought the bricks, and others cut down the wood, and when their building was finished, he would supply the needs of those who came. On one occasion a lying brother who had hidden his clothes came to him, but the blessed man rebuked him before every man, and brought his clothes into the light, so that as a result of this [exposure] no man might in future dare to tell a lie in his presence. Now the beauty of his life and deeds made him so glorious that he was able to gather together very many monks to him, and one saw the congregation of the monks with him in the church like a band of righteous men who were splendid in their garb, and they glorified God with praises continually.
Here end the Triumphs of Abba Hor
Chapter iv: The Triumphs Of Abba Ammon
NOW we saw in Thebaïs another man whose name was Ammon, who was the Abbâ of three (or thirty) thousand monks; and they called these monks also “men of Tabenna.” And they lived lives of the greatest austerity, and they used to put their head cloths over their faces, and they covered themselves when they ate, and they turned their looks towards the ground, so that one might not see the other; and they kept strict silence, so that they might think that they were in the desert, and they did these things in order that each might hide his works of ascetic excellence from his fellows. When they sat at table it was a mere matter of form, and they did so in such a way as to deceive each other, and to make each other say, “Behold, they are eating.” Some of them only carried their hands to their mouths once or twice and took a
