One day, Father Paul traveled to a big city. By then he was already
very old and half-blind. In the city, he co-served with a certain
Metropolitan. The Metropolitan gave Father Paul money for his return
trip and they took their leave of one another. There was still time
left until his train and so Father Paul decided to have lunch. He went
into a restaurant. The hostess behind the counter said to him, “Pops,
you had better get lost. You’re not dressed correctly for this kind of
place.” She had taken a look at Father Paul’s feet and had noticed
that he was wearing felt boots. It had been cold when he left his
village, but then they had had a thaw and pools of dirty water from
his boots were forming on the restaurant floor. The priest’s coat was
also second-hand and old, and the suitcase he was holding in his hand,
which contained his vestments, was scuffed-up. The young woman had
clearly taken him for some kind of vagrant. Father Paul left. He went
to another restaurant, which looked more like a cafeteria. They told
him that they only served prix-fixe meals. “I don’t mind,” Father Paul
replied. Father Paul left his suitcase by a table, picked up a tray
and placed his prix-fixe lunch on it. The lunch consisted of soup, the
main course and compote for dessert. He placed his food on a table and
was about to start eating when he realized that he had forgotten to
take utensils. He went back to pick up a spoon and a fork, got back to
his table and saw that a stranger had already placed himself there and
was eating his soup. Some prix-fixe lunch. Father Paul sat himself
down across the table from the man and, saying nothing to him, began
eating his main course. He finished it and stuck the slices of bread
into his pocket. The two of them shared the compote.

The man got up and headed for the door. Father Paul looked under the
table and saw that his suitcase was gone. The glutton had stolen it.
Not only had he eaten half his lunch, but he had pilfered his suitcase
as well. Father Paul jumped from his table and started after the
thief. But then he noticed his suitcase standing next to a different
table. His lunch was on that table, too, completely untouched. He had
made a mistake. The man was long gone. The story gave Father Paul a
headache. What a humble man that fellow had been, saying nothing even
though Father Paul had eaten half of his lunch.

- Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy by Maya Kucherskaya