One layman decided to turn to Elder Paisius of Athos to tell about one temptation.
When he was with his companions, he had to be like them. And no matter how much effort he put in, he could not change this state of affairs.
While he was discussing how best to ask a question, a pilgrim came and brought the elder a beautiful watermelon as a gift. Paisius took it with the words:
— Since you have brought me watermelon, lend me your knife to cut us, and I will tell you the secret of how watermelons have become sweet and tasty!
The pilgrim gave him a knife, and the elder began to cut the watermelon into pieces and give each a piece. When it came to the layman’s turn, he had a premonition that what he would hear was relevant to him and related to the problem that occupied him.
And the old man, looking at him with his calm and perceptive look, smiling slightly, said:
— If we plant a watermelon and a pumpkin next to it, the following will happen: the pumpkin will take all the sweetness from the watermelon, and the watermelon will become tasteless and unsweetened, while the pumpkin, no matter how many sweets it takes, will always remain a pumpkin.
For this reason, if you want to have a sweet and delicious watermelon, you need to keep it away from the pumpkin.
Having said this, the elder gave the pilgrim the most beautiful answer: he helped him in this way to understand that friends should be chosen indiscriminately.
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