glorious works, and since he had added excellence to his own labours, Paphnutius asked God again to inform him which of the saints he resembled. And again a divine voice came to him, and said, “Thou art like unto a certain chief of a village which is near thee”; and straightway Paphnutius went down thereto, and when he had knocked at the door, the master of the house came nigh, as was his wont, to receive strangers, and he opened the door, and brought him inside, and he washed his feet, and set a table before him and entreated him to eat. And the blessed man asked him, saying, “Tell me, O man, what fair deeds and actions thou doest, for, according to what God hath made known to me, thou art more excellent than many monks.” Then the man said unto him concerning himself, “I am a sinner, and I am not worthy of the heaven of the monks.” And the blessed man having made enquiries of him persistently, the man answered and said unto him, “I do not feel constrained overmuch to relate to thee the history of my deeds, but since thou hast said, ‘I have been sent by God’, I will shew thee what I have done. Behold, for the last thirty years I have kept myself away from my wife, and three times only have I had intercourse with her; I have three children by her, and they minister unto my affairs. But to this very day I have never ceased to receive strangers, and no man in my village can boast that he hath excelled me in hospitality to strangers, and no poor man and no stranger have ever departed from me with an empty hand, or without having been suitably supplied by me with provisions for the way. I have never neglected to comfort with my gifts the poor man who hath been brought low. I have never accepted the person of my son in judgement. The possessions of strangers have never entered my house. No strife hath ever taken place near me which I have not ended peacefully. The members of my house have never been blamed for the committal of abominable deeds, and my flocks and herds have never drawn nigh to the fruits of strangers. I have never sowed my fields except for the poor, and I have set them aside for the pleasure of every man, and I have gathered in that which remained over. I have never allowed the poor man to be carried away by the rich man by force. I have never made a man to grieve in [all] my life. And I have never passed a decree of wickedness upon any man. These, according to the will of God, I know within myself that I have done.”
And when the blessed Paphnutius heard the glorious character of the life and works of the man, he kissed him upon the head, and said unto him, “May the Lord bless thee out of Zion,
