Wheat And Reward

Ἔλεγον περι τοῦ ἀββᾶ Ἠσαιου, ὅτι ποτὲ ἕλαβε θαλλιον, και ἀπῆλθεν εις τὴν ἅλωνα, και λέγει τῷ γεούχῳ· Δος μοι σἶτον. Και λέγει αὐτῷ· Και σὺ ἐθερισας, ἀββᾶ; Λέγει· Οὐχι. Και λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γεούχος· Πῶς οὖν θέλεις σἶτον λαβειν, μὴ θερισῃ; Και λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Οὐκοῦν ἐὰν μή τις θερισῃ, οὐ λαμβάνει μισθον; Λέγει ὁ γεοῦχος· Οὐχι. Και οὔτως ἀνεχώρησεν ὁ γέρων. Ὁι δ' ἀδελφοι, ιδόντες τι ἐποιησεν, ἔβαλον αὐτῶ μετάνοιαν, παρακαλοῦντες μαθειν τι τοῦτο ἐποιησε. Λέγει ἀυτοις ὁ γέρων· Ὑπόδειγμα αὐτὸ ἐποιησα, ὅτι ἐὰν μή τις ἐργάσηται, οὺ λαμβάνει μισθὸν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ.  Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Γαλατίας Source: Migne PG 65.181b

It was said of father Isaiah that he once took a small branch and went out to the threshing floor and said to the farmer, 'Give me some wheat.' The farmer replied, 'Have you harvested it, father?' He said, 'No.' And so the farmer said to him, 'How, then, do you wish to have wheat if you do not harvest it?' The elder said to him. 'If I will not harvest, I will not have the reward?' The farmer said, 'You will not.' And thus the elder went away. The brothers, learning of what he had done, were puzzled and they came to him and asked him why he had acted in such a way. He said to them, 'To give an example, that if you do not labour, you will not gain any reward from God.' Sayings of the Fathers, Palladius of Galatia