From the life of St. Leo of Optina
"In the first days after joining the monastery," recounted Monk N., "I was excessively zealous for monastic labors. Sometimes, after Matins, others would go to rest, while I would do something in my obedience, and then, already tired, I would lie down for a short rest, mentally worrying about not oversleeping and being in time for the very beginning of the early Liturgy. Then someone began waking me. At the first ring of the bell, it seemed as if someone was saying a prayer at my door. I got up and looked—no one was there. The next day, again. The bell had just rung for Liturgy, and someone's voice seemed to be saying a prayer. I thought of our monk, Fr. I. I went out—no one was there. I explained all this to the elder, Fr. Leonid. "What do you think," he asked me, "who is it that wakes you?" "I'm wondering, Father," I replied, "whether it's an Angel already?" "With horns," the elder retorted, "we'll see what happens next." "The next day, no one woke me, and I overslept the service. The next day, and the third, I overslept it again. So we were both ashamed—both my unknown wakener and I, a credulous zealot."
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