s86 PR. OGRESS OF MONACHl.S.M* 



fe&d ripped up their bellies with knives, or murdered 



lliemfelves in various ways # . 



A very lingular ftroke in the character of an segyptian, 

 a feint, and a monk, evinces the abhorrence Pacho- 

 mius had for whatever was exceffive> Every monk in 

 his cloifter was obliged daily to weave one rufh-mat ; 

 for it cannot be expected that fuch grofs and unfpiri- 

 tualized clowns fhould be always at prayers without 

 growing tired of it. But one of thefe poor holy cham- 

 pions was fo induftrious as to weave two mats in one 

 day, and hung them out of vanity in a place where fa- 

 ther Pachomius mufl of neceffity pais. The blefTed fa- 

 ther faw them, knit his righteous brow, and faid to 

 the monks that attended him : Behold how this 



* Gregory of Nazianzen like wife knew of fuch filicides 

 ainongfi: the reclufes of his diocefe. He fays, in a poem, wherein 

 be commends his monks of Nazianzus, to his friend Hellenius, art 

 officer of the cuftoms : " The fervants of God avoid marriage, 

 " cities, and mankind. Some of them dwell in clifts and caves 

 ** of rocks : they feek repofe, the friend of heavenly wifdonl. 

 ti Others load themfelves with chains. Many fliut themfelves, 

 ** like favage beafts, in little huts, where they behold no human 

 " creature. There are people among them' who fail for twenty 

 (l days together ; others again who maintain an uninterrupted 

 6 * filence. One kept hirafelf for a whole year in the church; 



and in all that time never allowed himfelf to be overtaken by 

 ** deep. Another repaired to the mountain from whence Chriffc 

 " afcended to heaven, and here he flood immovable, amidft 

 " winds, and fnow and frofi, till he was brought half dead into 

 84 a cell that had been built for him. And, what I cannot men- 

 * 4 tion without horror : for avoiding the danger of finning, forne 

 • e monks have put an end to their lives by hunger, or by a halter^ 



oi* by leaping down a precipice/* 



wretched* 



