A Failed Flight

Εἶπε πάλιν ἡ Ἀμμᾶς Θεοδώρα, ὅτι Ἥν τις μοναχός· καὶ ἀπὸ πλήθους τῶν πειρασμῶν λέγει· Ὑπάγω ἔνθεν. Καὶ ὡς ἔβαλεν ἑαυτοῦ τὰ σανδάλια, ὁρᾷ ἄνθρωπον ἂλλον βάλλοντα καὶ αὐτὸν τὰ σανδάλια αὐτοῦ, καὶ λέγοντα αὐτῷ· Οὐ δι' ἐμὲ ἐξέρχῃ; ἰδοὺ ἐγώ προάγω ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχῃ. Ἀποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.204b

Again Mother Theodora said, 'There was a monk, who, because of the great number of his trials said, 'I will go away from here.' As he put on his sandals, he saw another man who was also putting on his sandals, and this other man said to him, 'Are you leaving because of me? But see, I go before you wherever you may go.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia