There was an elder in the Cells named Apollo. If anyone came asking him to do any kind of work, he would go joyfully, saying, “Today I have work to do with Christ for my soul, for this is its reward.”
They said of a certain Abba Apollo in Scetis that he had been a rough shepherd. Seeing a pregnant woman in the field, and being acted upon by the devil, he said, “I want to see how the child lies in her womb.” He tore her open and saw the child. Immediately his heart struck him, and, pierced with compunction, he went to Scetis and told the Fathers what he had done. He heard them chanting, “The days of our years are seventy years, and if by strength, eighty; and what is beyond them is toil and pain.” He said to them, “I am forty years old and have not made one prayer. Now, if I live another forty years, I will not stop praying to God to forgive my sins.” He did no handwork, but prayed continually, saying, “I have sinned as a man; as God, have mercy on me.” This became his prayer night and day. A brother who lived with him heard him say, “I have troubled You, Lord; forgive me, so that I may rest a little.” He received full assurance that God had forgiven all his sins, including the sin concerning the woman; but concerning the child he did not receive assurance. One of the elders said to him, “God has forgiven you also the sin concerning the child, but He leaves you in pain because it benefits your soul.”
The same Abba Apollo said concerning the reception of brothers, “When the brothers come, we must bow down before them, for it is not them but God whom we bow before. ‘You have seen your brother,’ he said, ‘you have seen the Lord your God.’ We received this from Abraham. And when you receive them, compel them to rest; for we learned this from Lot, who compelled the angels.”