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A new monk arrived in an ancient monastery to join his brothers in copying books and scrolls in the monastery's scriptorium. He was assigned to be a replicator on copies of books that had already been copied by hand. One day, he asked Father Florian, "Does not the copying by hand of other copies allow for error? How do we know we are not copying the mistakes of someone else? Are they ever checked against the original?" Father Florian was taken aback by the observation of this youthful monk. "A very good point, my son. I will take one of the latest books down to the vault and compare it against the original." Father Florian went down to the vault and began his verification. After a day had passed, the monks began to worry and went down looking for the old priest. As they approached the vault, they heard crying. When they opened the door, they found Father Florian sobbing over the new copy and the original ancient book "What is the problem, Reverend Father?" asked one of the monks. "Oh, my God, my God," sobbed the priest. "In the ancient book of the sacred rites of priesthood... the word is 'celebrate'." |