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| Chapter XXI. Of the spontaneous service of some of the brethren.
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Chapter XXI.
Of the spontaneous service of some of the brethren.
We have been told of
brethren in whose week there was such a scarcity of wood that they had
not enough to prepare the usual food for the brethren; and when it had
been ordered by the Abbot’s authority that until more could be
brought and fetched, they should content themselves with dried
food,778
| 778 Xerophagia
(ξηροφαγία), “dried food,” distinguished from what is raw
(omophagia) in the next chapter. Cf. for the word,
Tertullian on Fasting c. i. and xvii. | though this was agreed to by all and
no one could expect any cooked food; still these men as if they were
cheated of the fruit and reward of their labour and service, if they
did not prepare the food for their brethren according to custom in the
order of their turn—imposed upon themselves such uncalled-for
labour and care that in those dry and sterile regions where wood cannot
possibly be procured unless it is cut from the fruit trees (for there
are no wild shrubs found there as with us), they wander about through
the wide deserts, and traversing the wilderness which stretches towards
the Dead Sea,779
| 779 This shows that
Cassian is here writing about the monks of Palestine, not those of
Egypt, who (according to the next chapter) had a permanent cook. There
is a further allusion to and description of this desert in the
Conference VI. i. | collect in their
lap and the folds of their dress the scanty stubble and brambles which
the wind carries hither and thither, and so by their voluntary service
prepare all their usual food for the brethren, so that they suffer
nothing to be diminished of the ordinary supply; discharging these
duties of theirs towards their brethren with such fidelity that though
the scarcity of wood and the
Abbot’s order would be a fair excuse for
them, yet still out of regard for their profit and reward they will not
take advantage of this liberty.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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