title: Voices in the Wilderness: An Anthology of Patristic Prayers
author: Nikolaos S. Hatzinikolaou
description: This book gives insight and inspiration to the intense prayers of the Church Fathers and Mothers.
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  [The Recluse](story.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Isaac Bashevis Singer
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE winter night was long and  
  cold. The beggars and wanderers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  who slept stretched out  
  on benches in the study house began  
  to stir and wake up. One sighed,
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  another coughed, a third one scratched  
  his head. A memorial candle in a
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  candelabra beside the Holy Ark cast
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  trembling shadows over the walls
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and ceiling.  
  Footsteps were heard in the outer  
  room and someone stamped the snow  
  from his boots. The door opened, and  
  a thin, pale man covered with snow  
  entered. The beggars sat up.  
  "Hey, where are you coming from  
  in the middle of the night?" one of  
  them asked.  
  ''I've lost my way. I was heading in  
  the direction of Lublin on foot, but the  
  road became completely blocked with  
  snow and I could not continue. It is a  
  miracle that I survived."  
  "'In this blizzard it was more than a  
  miracle!"  
  "You will have to recite the prayer  
  of 