“At a time of great cold, Serapion meets in Alexandria a poor man who is completely naked. He says to himself: “This is Christ, and I am a murderer if he dies without my having tried to help him.” So Serapion takes off all his clothes and gives them to the poor man, then he remains naked in the street with the only thing he has left, a Gospel under his arm… A passer-by, who knows him, asks him: “Abba Serapion, who has taken away your clothes?” And Serapion, showing his Gospel, replies: “This is the one who has taken away my clothes.” Serapion then goes to another place and there sees someone who is being taken to prison, because he is unable to pay a debt. Serapion, seized with pity, gives him his Gospel, so that he can sell it and so pay his debt. When Serapion returns to his cell, no doubt shivering, his disciple asks him where his tunic is, and Serapion replies that he has sent it where it is more needed than on his body. To his disciple’s second question : “And where is your Gospel?’, Serapion replies: I have sold the one who continually told me: Sell your goods, and give to the poor (Lk. 12,33); I have given it to the poor that I might have greater confidence on the day of judgment” (Pat. Arm. 13, 8, R: III, 189).
