Now therefore, Christians, since we know from the holy Scriptures and from divine revelations how great is the grace that God dispenses to those who truly run to him for refuge and who blot out their sins through repentance, and also how, according to his promise, he rewards them with good things and neither takes vengeance according to what is just nor…

They say concerning Abba Apollo, who lived in Scete, that he was originally a rude and brutish herdsman, and that he [once] saw in the fields a woman who was with child and that, through the operation of the devil, he said, "I wish to know the condition of the child that is in the womb of this woman," and that he ripped her open and saw the child in her…

It is better to drink wine in moderation than to drink water in excess. Some who are holy drink wine in moderation. Some who squander water immoderately may be depraved and pleasure-loving. So it appears to me. Do not therefore ascribe blame or praise to the eating of food as such, or to the drinking of wine, but rather to those who make proper or…

I have not intended in the least to diminish the virtue of our ancestors, and above all the virtue of hospitality. In reality, among the virtues practiced by the most eminent of the patriarchs, this is the only one that tends toward piety. One of them had God the Savior at his own table; another had the angels as his guests; one received as a reward a son…

There was a certain old man who used to live in the desert that is called Scete, and he had a disciple who lived with him; now this [latter] brother was adorned with the spiritual excellences of every kind that befit those who are in subjection to old men, and he was exceedingly conspicuous for his obedience, which was the greatest of all his virtues. And…

Which damage does not derive from the excess of eating and drinking? Diseases, strife and all kinds of problems derive from the satiety of the belly, with all their consequences. When did it happen that Eve went out looking for something outside of paradise? Was it not perhaps when she listened to the snake and ate of the fruit of the tree in order to…