Institutes

How Abbot John obeyed his senior by trying to roll a huge stone, which a large number of men were unable to move.

Again, when some others were anxious to be edified by the example of his obedience, the elder called him and said: “John, run and roll that stone hither as quickly as possible;” and he immediately, applying now his neck, and now his whole body, tried with all his might and main to roll an enormous stone which a great crowd of men would not be able to move, so that not only were his clothes saturated with sweat from his limbs, but the stone itself was wetted by his neck; in this too never weighing the impossibility of the command and deed, out of reverence for the old man and the unfeigned simplicity of his service, as he believed implicitly that the old man could not command him to do anything vain or without reason.