Following the Apostles’ Example

So if we want to obey the command of the gospel, and to show ourselves followers of the apostle and of the whole first church, or of the fathers who in our own day have succeeded to their virtues and perfection, we should not rest content with rules of our own making, promising ourselves perfection out of this wretched and lukewarm condition of ours. Rather, following in their footsteps, we should by no means aim at looking after our own interests, but should seek out the discipline and order of a monastery, so that we may truly renounce this world. We should keep back nothing, through the temptation of lack of faith, of the things we have despised, and we should look for our daily food not from any store of money of our own but from our own labor.