"The Great Watch". From the cell notes of Hieromonk Jerome.
One of devoted people, wishing to retire to the monastery, asked the hegumen to accept him to the cenoby. After many of his desires expressed before the hegumen, he was asked to live a little as he lives and go to obedience, which was then assigned to him. From the very moment he received obedience, he showed a spirit of defiance by the fact that he did not like obedience or the cell. When the hegumen made a remark to him, he was very alarmed, but, however, he went on convinced by an older one, who told him about the power of obedience, he apparently set to work. And when he just got down to it, a demon suddenly appeared in the middle of the day and said to him: “And you dared to leave me! Didn’t I console you, giving you various pleasures at the request of your heart? ”Of course, the newcomer was very scared, because after that wriggling snakes and other reptiles appeared, he began to cry and scream hysterically.
Then they told the confessor, who instructed him not to cry and not to be afraid of anything. When asked why this happened, he spoke out that he concealed his weaknesses in confession, not wanting to be ashamed of the confessor. Then the first days he felt a great fear, but when he made the sign of the Cross, then everything stopped. This novice, however, lived in the monastery for only about three months and, embarrassed more and more, left for his homeland.
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