It so happened that a certain brother in the coenobium committed a crime, and when he was condemned by the brothers he fled to Abba Antony. Some brothers who wanted to reform him went after him, and began to make out a case against him because of his crime, even though he denied having done anything wrong.
Among those present was Abba Paphnutius, nicknamed the Chief (Cephalas), who told the assembled brothers a parable they had not heard before. “I saw,” he said, “a man on the banks of the river up to his knees in mud. Some people came with outstretched hands trying to get him out but only succeeded in burying him further up to his neck.”
Then blessed Antony said this about Abba Paphnutius, “Now there is a man who can heal souls by speaking the truth.”
The brothers were conscience-stricken by this saying and apologised, and took back into the coenobium the brother who had departed.
