Abba Paul, the great Galatian, said, “A monk who has a few small necessities in his cell and goes out to attend to them is mocked by the demons. This happened to me also.”
Abba Paul said, “I am sunk in mud up to my neck, and I weep before God, saying, ‘Have mercy on me.’”
They said of Abba Paul that he spent the whole Forty Days enclosed with one measure of lentils, a small jar of water, and a single basket, which he braided and unbraided until the feast.