An Inheritance Problem

Εἰπε πάλιν ἀββᾶς Κασιανὸς, ὅτι ἡν τις μοναχὸς οἰκῶν ἐν σπηλαίῷ ἐν ἐρήμῳ· καὶ ἐδηλώθη αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν κατὰ σάρκα, ὅτι Ὁ πατήρ σου ἰσχυρῶς ἐνοχλεὶται, καὶ μέλλει τελευτᾀν, ἐλθὲ ἵνα κληρονομήσῃς αὐτόν. Ὁ δέ ἀπεκρίθη πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐγὼ πρὸ εκείνου ἀπέθανον τῷ κόσμῳ· νεκρὸς ζῶντα οὐ κληρονομεὶ   ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Again Father Casianus said, ' There was a certain monk dwelling in a cave in the desert and it was revealed by a family relative that his father had fallen gravely ill and was to die and that he should thus come to take his inheritance. The monk said, ' Before him I died to the world; the dead do not inherit from the living.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia