When the Egyptian deserts were the abode of those holy men called the Fathers of
the Desert a woman suffering from cancer of the breast went in search of one of
them, a certain Abba Longinus for the man had the reputation of a saint and a
healer.
Now as the woman was walking along the sea, she came upon Longinus himself
collecting firewood, and said, “Holy father, could you tell me where the servant
of God Abba Longinus lives?”
Longinus said, “Why are you looking for that old fraud? Do not go to see him for
he will only do you harm. What’s your trouble?”
She told him what it was. He thereupon gave her his blessing and sent her on her
way saying, “Go now, and God will surely make you whole again. Longinus would have
been of no help to you at all.”
So the woman went away, confident in the faith that she had been healed-which she
was, before the month was over-and she died many years later quite unaware that it
was Longinus who had healed her.
🙂