When blessed Abba Pior had worked for someone at harvest time, he reminded him about his wages. When the man delayed, Pior returned to the monastery. The next season, when the time came again, he harvested for the same man and worked eagerly, but the man gave him nothing, so he returned to his monastery. A third year passed in the same way. After Pior had done the usual work, he left without receiving anything. Then the Lord prospered the man’s household. The man took the wages and went around the monasteries looking for the saint. When he finally found him, he fell at his feet, gave him the wages, and said, “The Lord has given prosperity to me.” Abba Pior told him to give the money to the priest in the church.
Abba Pior used to eat while walking. When someone asked why he ate like that, he said, “I do not want to treat eating as a work, but as something incidental to the work.” To another who asked the same thing, he said, “So that my soul may not feel bodily pleasure even while eating.”
Once there was a gathering in Scetis concerning a brother who had sinned. The Fathers were speaking, but Abba Pior kept silence. Afterward he got up, went out, filled a sack with sand, and carried it on his shoulder. He also put a little sand in a small basket and carried it in front of him. When the Fathers asked what this meant, he said, “This sack containing much sand is my sins. Because they are many, I have put them behind me so that I will not grieve and weep over them. But these few sins of my brother are in front of me, and I occupy myself with them, judging him. We should not act like this. Rather, I ought to carry my own sins before me, concern myself with them, and beg God to forgive me.” The Fathers rose and said, “Truly, this is the way of salvation.”