The senior holy fathers told how a certain monk in the desert, who was also a senior, was actually a slave, and every year he would leave the desert and go down to Alexandria where his masters lived, in order to give them that due proportion of what he had earned which slaves usually give to their masters. But his masters, who feared God, had a great reverence for him, and met him and welcomed him with great honor, and begged him to pray to the Lord for them. But he poured water into a bowl and hastened to wash the feet of these masters of his, wishing to show them all humility and respect. But they were unwilling to let him wash their feet.
“No, beloved father,” they said. “That would seriously embarrass us.” “But I am your slave,” he replied. “It is almighty God who has given you to be my masters, and I am grateful for your authority over me, for you have seen fit to let me serve the true and living God, the creator and master of heaven and earth. So naturally, I bring you the accustomed price of my servitude.”
The masters remonstrated with him, unwilling to accept the money he had brought. “If you are unwilling to accept the money,” the slave replied, “I tell you I will not go back to the desert, but remain here and serve you.”
Hearing this made the masters decide to accept the money, not only so as not to disappoint him, but also to make sure that he would go back to his own cell in the desert. And the money, which he forced upon them even though they did not want it, was no sooner in their possession than they gave it to the poor.
The other brothers questioned this same senior. “Tell us, please, father,” they said, “Why are you so keen on your slavery that you forced that money upon your masters, even though they were unwilling to accept it and resisted very strongly?” “I am punctilious about paying every year the money that I owe my masters in respect of my slavery, so that whatever I can do with the help of the Lord by way of fasts and prayers, holy vigils, and every kind of spiritual labour, Christ being my helper, will be of benefit to me in the life to come and in the salvation of my soul. If I had neglected to pay that slavery money all that spiritual labour of mine might well have been credited to their account, for it was they who sent me to serve Christ the Lord, and change my life.”
It would do well for me to remember this wonderful little story when encountering the IRS this coming month.