A brother asked an old man, ‘If a monk succumbs to temptation he is grieved because he falls from perfection to a lower level, and he struggles to rise again; while he who comes from the world makes progress as a beginner.’ And the old man answered him, ‘The monk who succumbs to temptation is like a house which collapses. If he is watchful in his thoughts, he finds much material for building the house which collapsed – foundations, stones, wood – and he is able to make more rapid progress than he who has not dug and laid foundations and who does not possess any materials but only has the hope that the house will be finished one day. So it is for him who after a long monastic training succumbs to temptation: he, in his repentance, finds various materials – meditation, psalmody, and manual work – these are the foundations. But the beginner must first learn all this, while the monk can return to his former level.’
