Bread from Heaven

“When the monk I mentioned heard about this, and learned both that the children had been put in danger by meeting the snake and that, after getting the better of the serpent, they had received a sound beating besides, he begged the abbot that from then on no bread or food of any kind should be sent to him. And now the eighth day had passed since that man of Christ had exposed himself to the danger of dying of hunger. His limbs were drying up with fasting, but his mind, fixed on heaven, could not fail; his body was wasting away with abstinence, but his faith stayed firm.

“Meanwhile, the abbot was prompted by the Spirit to visit that disciple. Out of a devout concern he was eager to learn how that faithful man was keeping himself alive, since he had refused all human help in supplying his needs. So he set out in person to see for himself. When the recluse saw the old man coming toward him in the distance, he ran to meet him, thanked him for the visit, and led him to his cell. As they entered the cell together, they saw a basket of palm branches, full of hot bread, hanging fixed on the doorpost. First they noticed the smell of the hot bread; then, when they touched it, it seemed as if it had been taken out of the oven only a little while before. At the same time, they did not recognize the bread as being of the shape common in Egypt. Both were filled with amazement and acknowledged the gift as coming from heaven. The recluse declared that it had come about because of the abbot’s arrival, while the abbot credited it rather to the faith and virtue of the recluse; but both broke the bread sent from heaven with great joy.

“And when the old man went back to the monastery and told the brothers what had happened, such eagerness seized all of them that they competed with each other in their haste to go off to the desert and its holy seclusion. They called themselves wretched for having lived far too long among a crowd, where life with other people had to be carried on and put up with.