Austerity of the Desert

There was a bishop of the city of Oxyrhynchus called Affy. They said that while he was a monk, he treated his body very severely. When he became a bishop, he wanted to continue in his city the austerities that he had practiced in the desert, but he could not.

So, he fell prostrate before God and said, "Do you think, my Lord, that your grace has left me because I have become a bishop?"

He was answered, "No, but in the desert you had no man to help you, and God alone sustained you. Now you are in the world, and have men to help you."