Abba Abraham used to say of one of the people at Scete that he was a scribe and that did not eat bread. A brother came begging him to write out a book for him. The elder’s mind was rapt in contemplation; he wrote in continuous lines without punctuation. When the brother took it and wanted to punctuate it, he found it lacked some verses and he said to the elder: “There are some lines missing, abba.” Said the elder to him: “Go away, and first practice what is written; then come back and I will write the rest for you too.”
— ABRAHAM OF SCETIS