Combating the Passion of Accidie (Sloth) 2 — Training Novices

In the monastery, care must be taken to train the novices to work hard all their lives. This is a matter of learning. We can learn to be lazy; we can learn to work hard. Of course, there should not be a ‘sweat-shop’ atmosphere in the monastery. However, part of the formation of the monk should be an attitude that it is proper to work. This will become a habit in the monk and as he progresses the monk will retain this habit. This habit will serve him in good stead in his spiritual endeavours, since asceticism is itself a matter of work—of work on ourselves.