There is an old story that has often been re-told in
especially the Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a
devout abbot from a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in
a small cabin located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake. He told
his fellow monks that he wanted to spend his days in prayer so as to grow
closer to God. For six months he remained on the island with no other person
seeing him or hearing from him in all that time. But then one day, as two monks
were standing near the shore soaking up some sunshine, they could see in the
distance a figure moving toward them. It was the abbot, walking on water, and
coming toward shore. After the abbot passed by the two monks and continued on
to the monastery, one of the monks turned to the other and said, "All
these months in prayer and the abbot is still as stingy as ever. After all, the
ferry costs only 25 cents!"
