But why speak at length? Through his virtues, Chariton drew such power from the “divine grace that dwelt in him” <cf. Rom. 6:11> that he could “cast out unclean spirits and heal every disease and every infirmity” as the gospel says <cf. Matth. 10:1>, by means of his God-inspired prayers. Hence all the people streamed to him like a river, and made the desert into a city, as it were, with their crowding, so that the blessed one saw himself deprived of his beloved tranquility and of his conversation with the Lord of the universe through uninterrupted prayer, owing to the disturbance caused by this state of things. Besides, the holy man was very eager to escape from the more-than-human fame that he was attaining (for the man was as unambitious as can be); indeed, he knew that vainglory can obscure virtue just as rust does to iron. Therefore he devoted a period of time to expounding his teachings clearly and fully to his disciples, explaining what way of life was becoming to the monastic state; he put down the rule pertaining to nutrition, that is, that one must partake of food once a day toward evening, and in any case moderately, so that the belly might not be heavy from gluttonous eating and thus be of hindrance in rising for the nocturnal prayer. He described the unpretentious and simple nourishment of which the monk must partake, that is, bread with salt for food, and for drink, water, either spontaneously produced from natural springs or fallen from heaven as rain, for the relief of mankind. He set forth the discipline pertaining to prayers and psalmodies, namely, that by night the monks must keep vigil for six hours, and by day seven times, at fixed hours, they shall praise and glorify the Maker of all, after the blessed David <cf. Ps. 118 (119):164>, and, as for the remaining hours of the day, either they must fill their mouth with the holy song of the divine David, at the same time busying their hands with uninterrupted work, each in his own abode, or they may unroll the books inspired by God and speaking with God's own voice, and pluck from them, as though from blooming meadows, the fruit that benefits the soul.
(transl. Di Segni)
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