The other day I heard an anecdote from the life of a great nineteenth-century Russian saint that I found vastly amusing. I haven't been able to find a written version of this story and am therefore reluctant to use the saint's name in case some part of it proves to be inaccurate. Here, then, is the story with names and details removed:
A poor man knocked on the residence of the local bishop in order to beg for food, where he was met by the bishop's cell-attendant. The cell-attendant asked the bishop what he should give the beggar. The bishop replied: "Send him away without anything, telling him: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God [Mt 4:4].
The next morning when the bishop came down to the breakfast table he found that no food had been put out for him, with only a Gospel book on his place setting. When he asked his cell-attendant where his breakfast was, the latter replied: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
(It's the cell-attendant, by the way, who went on to become the great saint and luminary.)
A poor man knocked on the residence of the local bishop in order to beg for food, where he was met by the bishop's cell-attendant. The cell-attendant asked the bishop what he should give the beggar. The bishop replied: "Send him away without anything, telling him: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God [Mt 4:4].
The next morning when the bishop came down to the breakfast table he found that no food had been put out for him, with only a Gospel book on his place setting. When he asked his cell-attendant where his breakfast was, the latter replied: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
(It's the cell-attendant, by the way, who went on to become the great saint and luminary.)
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