Work Superior And Inferior

Ὁ αὐτός ποτε παρέβαλε τῷ ἀββᾷ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ ἀπὸ γεννήσεως εὐνούχῳ· καὶ λαλούντων αὐτῶν, εἶπεν· Ὅταν ἤμην εἰς Σκῆτιν, τὰ ἔργα τῆς ψυχῆς ἦν τὸ ἔργον ἡμῶν, τὸ δὲ ἐργόχειρον ὡς πάρεργον εἴχομεν· νῦν δὲ γέγονε τὸ ἔργον τῆς ψυχῆς ὡς πάρεργον, καὶ τὸ πάρεργον ἔργον. Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.189b

The same father Theodore came to father John who was a eunuch from birth, and in their talk he said: 'When I came to Scetis, our work was the work of the soul, and manual work we had as a subordinate activity, but now the work of the soul is subordinate and the subordinate is the work.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia