A Year in the Guest House

So when someone has been received and tested by the persistence we have described, and has laid aside his own clothes and been dressed in those of the monastery, he is not allowed to mix at once with the community of the brothers. Instead he is given into the charge of an elder who lodges apart, not far from the entrance of the monastery. This elder is entrusted with the care of strangers and guests, and he gives all his diligence to receiving them kindly. The newcomer serves there for a whole year without any complaint and gives proof of his service toward strangers. In this way he is initiated into the first elements of humility and patience, and his long practice in them is recognized. When he is to be admitted from there into the community of the brothers, he is handed over to another elder, who is placed over ten of the younger monks. The abbot entrusts them to him, and he both teaches and governs them, following the arrangement we read of in Exodus as made by Moses. [a]