The Monk and the Wife of Mud

Ὁ ἀββᾶς Ὀλύμπιος ὁ τῶν Κελλίων ἐπολεμήθη εἰς πορνείαν. Καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ λογισμός· Ὕπαγε, λάβε γυναῖκα, Καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐποίησε πηλὸν, καὶ ἔπλασε γυναῖκα, καὶ λέγει ἑαυτῷ· Ἰδοὺ ἡ γυνή σου· χρεία οὖν ἐργάζεσθαι πολλὰ, ἵνα θρέψεις αὐτήν. Καὶ ἠργαζετο κοπιῶν πολλά. Καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν, πάλιν ποιήσας πηλὸν, ἔπλασεν ἑαυτῷ θυγατέρα, καὶ λέγει τῷ λογισμῷ αὐτοῦ· Ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνή σου· χρείαν ἔχεις περισσότερον ἐργάσασθαι, ἵνα δυνηθῇς θρέψαι τὸ τέκνον σου, καὶ σκεπάσαι. Καὶ οὕτως ποιῶν ἔτηξεν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ λέγει τῷ λογισμῷ· Οὐκ ἐτι ἰσχύω ὑποφέρειν τὸν κόπον. Καὶ εἴπεν· Εἰ οὐκ ἰσχύεις ὑποφέρειν τὸν κόπον, μηδὲ γυναῖκα ζητήσῇς. Καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόπον αὐτοῦ, ἧρεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ ἀνεπάη. Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Olympios of the Cells was struggling with thoughts of fornication. A thought said to him, ' Go and take a wife.' And rising he took some mud and shaped it into the form of a woman. He said to himself, ' Behold a woman, and so begins much labour for you.' After a day again he took some mud and shaped it into a girl, and he said to himself, ' Your wife has given birth. Now are your labours greater, for you must nourish the child and protect her.' And in the doing of this he exhausted himself. He said to himself, ' I do not have the strength for this.' And then he thought, ' If you cannot bear this labour, do not seek a wife.' And beholding his troubles God took from him his struggle, and he had rest. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia