A Treatment Of Thieves

Ἤν τις μέγας ἡσυχαστὴς ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῆς Ἀθλίβεως· καὶ ἤλθον ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ λῃσταί· καὶ ἔκραχεν ὁ γέρων· καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ γείτονες αὐτοῦ ἐπίασαν τοὺς λῃστὰς, καὶ ἔπεμψεν αὐτοὺς τῷ ἡγεμόνε, καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς φυλακήν. Καὶ ἐλυπήθηαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ, λέγοντες, ὅτι Δι' ἡμᾶς παρεδόθησαν. Καὶ ἀναστάντες ἀπῆλθον πρὸς τὸν ἀββᾶν Ποιμένα, καὶ ἀνήγγειλαν αὐτῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα. Καὶ ἔγραψε πρὸς τὸν γέροντα, λέγων· Ἐννόησον τὴν πρώτην προδοσίαν πόθεν γέγονε, καὶ τότε βλέπεις τὴν δευτέραν. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ προεδόθης πρότερον ἐκ τῶν ἔσωθεν, οὐκ ἂν τὴν δευτέραν προδοσίαν ἐποίησας. Ἀκούσας δὲ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τοοῦ ἀββᾶ Ποιμένος, ἧν δὲ ὀνομαστὸς εἰς ὅλην τὴν χώραν, καὶ μὴ ἐξερχόμενος ἐκ τοῦ κελλίου αὐτου, ἀναστὰς ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ἐξέβαλε τοὺς λῃστας ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς, καὶ δημοσίᾳ ἠλευθέρωσεν αὐτούς. Ἄποφθέγματα των Αγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Ελενουπόλεως Source: Migne PG 65.344a-b

There was a great hermit dedicated to silence in the mountain of Athlibeos. Some thieves came upon him and the old man cried out. The neighbours, hearing him, seized the thieves and sent them to the magistrate, and he threw them into prison. The brothers were grieved by this and said, 'Because of us they have been put in prison.' They rose up and went to Father Poemen and told him about it. He wrote to the hermit saying, 'Think on the first betrayal and where it comes from and then see the second. If you had not first failed within, you would not have committed the second betrayal.' On hearing the letter of Father Poemen read, though the hermit was renowned in all the district for not coming out of his cell, he arose, went to the city, took the thieves out of prison and liberated them in public. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia