A young man crossed the desert and finally came to the monastery of Scete.







There, he asked to hear one of the abbot’s lectures – and was granted permission.







That afternoon, the abbot’s discourse was about the importance of work in the field.







After the lecture, the young man said to one of the monks:







“That was amazing. I thought I would hear a fine sermon about virtues and sins,



and the abbot spoke only of tomatoes, irrigation and so forth. Where I come from,



all believe that God is merciful: all one must do is pray”.







The monk smiled and replied:







“Here we believe that God has already done His part; now it is up to us to continue the process”.