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| Chapter XIV. How, even if a large sum of money is amassed by the labour of each, still no one may venture to exceed the moderate limit of what is appointed as adequate.
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Chapter XIV.
How, even if a large sum of money is amassed by the
labour of each, still no one may venture to exceed the moderate limit
of what is appointed as adequate.
And although each one of
them may bring in daily by his work and labour so great a return to the
monastery that he could out of it not only satisfy his own moderate
demands but could also abundantly supply the wants of many, yet he is
no way puffed up, nor does he flatter himself on account of his toil
and this large gain from his labour, but, except two biscuits,769
| 769 Paxamatium, a
biscuit. The word comes from the Greek παξαμάδιον,
and is said to be derived from the name of a baker, Παξαμός (see
Liddell and Scott, c. v.). These biscuits formed an important part of
the diet of the Egyptian monks, as we see from the Conferences, where
they are often mentioned; e.g., II. xi, xix., xxiv., xxvi.; XII. xv.;
XIX. iv. | which are sold there for scarcely
threepence, no one thinks that he has a right to anything further. And
among them there is nothing (and I am ashamed to say this, and heartily
wish it was unknown in our own monasteries) which is claimed by any of
them, I will not say in deed but even in thought, as
his special property. And though he
believes that the whole granary of the monastery forms his substance,
and, as lord of all, devotes his whole care and energy to it all, yet
nevertheless, in order to maintain that excellent state of want and
poverty which he has secured and which he strives to preserve to the
very last in unbroken perfection, he regards himself as a foreigner and
an alien to them all, so that he conducts himself as a stranger and a
sojourner in this world, and considers himself a pupil of the monastery
and a servant instead of imagining that he is lord and master of
anything.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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