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"Now having held converse with many of the saints, and having gone round about among the monasteries which were nigh
unto Alexandria for three years and having met about two thousand of the great and strenuous men who lived there, and
who were adorned with the excellence of spiritual lives, I departed from there and came to Mount Nitria."
The Monks of Nitria
Now between this mountain and Alexandria there lieth a certain lake called Mareotis which embraceth a space of seventy miles. And having seated myself in a
boat I crossed this lake in a day and a half, and I came unto
the mountain to the south, where unto is joined the desert
which reacheth unto Cush (Ethiopia). In this mountain of
the Mazaki and of the Mauritanians there live excellent
men who are adorned with divers kinds of ascetic virtues;
and every monk leadeth the ascetic life as he wisheth and
as he is able, either by himself or in a community. Now in
this mountain there are seven bakers who make bread and
who minister unto them, and unto the chosen men of the
inner desert, of whom there are six hundred, and also unto
the people of that mountain. And when I had dwelt in this
mountain for a year, and had profited by the fathers, pious
and blessed men, I mean Rabba Barsis (Arsisius) and Busiris
and Peta-Bast and Agios and Khronis and Serapion, the
elder and had learned from them also concerning the ancient
and first spiritual fathers (who had lived there) I entered
into the inner desert wherein is Mount Nitria.
In this mountain is a great church and in the
courtyard thereof are three palm trees, in each
of which hangeth a whip. One of these is for
the correcting of the monks who transgress
through folly; the second is for the punishing
of the thieves if they were found falling on
the place; and the third is for the chastising
of the strangers who flock there and who
transgress in any matter whatsoever. And it
is the same with anyone who shall commit
any offense, they bring him to the palm tree
and punish him, and he recieveth upon his
back the number of stripes, which they have
appointed unto him. Adjoining the church is
a house which the strangers who arrive there
may lodge, and if any man wisheth to work
there one year, or two, or until he departeth
of his own accord (he may do so) and every
week of days they permit him to rest, so that
he may do nothing, but they give him work
during the remaining days of the week, either among the bakers, or in the refectory. And if there was
among these anyone who was sufficiently educated they
used to give him a book to read, but they did not allow him
to hold converse with any man until the sixth hour. There
were also in this mountain physician for the use of the sick
and those who sold cakes; and they also used wine that was
sold there. All these people worked at the weaving of flax
with their hands, and there was no needy man there. Now
when the evening cometh thou must rise up to hear the
praises, and the Psalms, and the prayers which are sent up
to Christ by the people from the monasteries which are
there and a man might imagine, his mind being exalted,
that he was in the Paradise of Eden.
Now the monks only came to the church on the Sabbath
and on the First Day of the week. Belonging to this church
there were eight priests and governors, but as long as the
first one lived none of the others ministered in the church;
he neither judged nor spake with any man, and they lived
with him a life of silent contemplation. Now this great
man Arsisius and many of the ancient holy
men whom we saw were followers of the
rule of the blessed man Anthony, and
Arsisius himself told me that the holy man
Ammon, who was from Nitria and whom
he knew, and whose soul was taken up and
carried by the angels into Heaven, even saw
Anthony. And Arsisius also spake to me
concerning the blessed man Pachomius,
who came from Tabenna of Hekham, and
who possessed the gift of prophecy and who
became the governor and head of three
thousand men; of this man I will relate the
virtues at a later time.
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