A Lazy Brother Who Lured Others Away

We know a brother whose name we would give if it would do any good. He was living in the monastery and was required to hand over his fixed task to the steward every day. But he was afraid that he might be pushed into taking on a larger share of work, or put to shame by the example of someone who worked more eagerly. So whenever he saw a brother admitted to the monastery who, in the zeal of his faith, wanted to produce a larger amount of work for sale, and found that he could not stop him from carrying out his purpose by private persuasion, he would talk him into leaving with bad advice and whispering. To get rid of him more easily, he would pretend that he too had already been offended for many reasons and wanted to leave, if only he could find a companion and support for the journey. When, by secretly running down the monastery, he had coaxed the newcomer into agreeing, and had arranged with him the time to leave the monastery, the place he should go ahead to, and where he should wait for him, he himself pretended that he would follow, and stayed where he was. And since the other, ashamed of having run away, did not dare to return to the monastery he had fled, the wretched author of his flight remained behind in the monastery. This single example of this kind of man will be enough to put beginners on their guard, and to show plainly what evils idleness, as Scripture says, can produce in the mind of a monk, and how “bad company corrupts good habits.” [a]