Stamp on Self

Moses said to brother Zacharias, "Tell me what to do."

At those words Zacharias threw himself at his feet, saying, "Why ask me, abba?"

The hermit said, "I tell you, my son Zacharias, I saw the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and so I cannot avoid asking you."

Then Zacharias took his cowl from his head, and put it beneath his feet and stamped on it, and said, "Unless a man stamps upon self like that, he cannot be a monk."

~~Descent of the Holy Spirit by Christopher Smith

Humility

Serapion said, "I have afflicted my body far more than my son Zacharias, but I cannot equal his humility or his silence."

What Makes a Monk?

Macarius said to Zacharias, "Tell me, what makes a monk?"

Zacharias said, "Isn't it wrong for you to be asking me?"

Macarius replied, "I am sure I should ask you, Zacharias my son. There is something that urges me to ask you."

Zacharias said to him, "As far as I can tell, abba, I think that anyone who controls himself and makes himself content with just what he needs and no more, is indeed a monk."