True Humility

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Administrator

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V.viii.9. Abba Cassian told how a certain brother came to abba Serapion, who asked him to say the prayers according to custom, but he wouldn’t, saying that he was a sinner and unworthy to be called a monk. When abba Serapion offered to wash his feet he likewise demurred using the same words. But the old man gave him something to eat and began to admonish him quite kindly, saying, “My son, if you wish to progress, go and stay in your cell, and look to yourself and your manual work. It will be more profitable for you to stay put rather than go out.” Abba Serapion could see from the young man’s face that he was very displeased at these words, so he went on to say, “You’ve just been saying that you were a sinner and almost unfit to live, so should you really get so upset because I give you some charitable advice? If you would be really humble learn to carry out cheerfully the tasks laid upon you by others without squandering yourself in shabby verbiage.” At this the brother begged the old man’s pardon and departed greatly edified.  
END
From De Vitis Patrum, Book V.

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Giving Instructions

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Administrator

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V.x.30. Again, abba Pastor said, “Once I came to abba Joseph in Lower Heracleus, and in his monastery there was a very fruit tree, and one morning he told me to go and pick some fruit and eat it. This was on a Saturday. I wouldn’t eat because it was a fast day, and said to him, ‘Tell me, for the Lord’s sake, why you told me to go and eat, for I haven’t done so because of the fast, and yet I feel guilty for not having done what you said. For I suppose you wouldn’t have asked me to do this unless you had some reason.’
“And he replied, ‘The seniors at the beginning don’t always give instructions according to the book, but sometimes a bit off-centre. Once they know that they will be obeyed in dubious matters, they will be sure of being always obeyed when giving them instructions about the things that matter.'”

END

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, BOOK V, LIBELLUS 10: DISCRETION

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The Key to My Door

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Administrator

Today we read about the teaching of the fathers on how to keep watch over the mouth, which helps us to guard the mind.

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V.xi. 26.  Again he said, “I once consulted abba Peter, the disciple of abba Lot, about how my mind would be in a turmoil if another brother visited me and told me the gossip about all the others, whereas my soul would be at peace while sitting alone in my cell. And abba Peter replied that abba Lot had a saying ‘It is you who have the key to my door’.  ‘What was the meaning behind that?’ I asked. And he replied; ‘If someone visits you and you ask him how he is, where he comes from, what’s going on with this brother or that brother, whether you get on with them or not, then you open a door for your brother, and you hear things you would rather not.’  And I said, ‘Yes, that’s quite true. How then should one behave when visited by another brother?’  And he said, ‘All sound doctrine is learned through serious thought (= ‘luctus’,  lit. ‘mourning’, ‘lamentation’). Where there is no serious thought it is impossible to have a calm mind.’  And I said ( in the text ‘he said‘ which surely must be a misprint) to him, ‘I do have serious thoughts when I am in my cell, but when anyone comes to see me, or when I go out, they vanish.’  And the old man said, ‘You haven’t yet got control of them, but are only able to make us of them temporarily.’  ‘How do you mean?’ I asked.  ‘Whatever you work at, once you have mastered it, you can make use of it whenever you need.'”

END

From De Vitis Patrum, Book V, Libellus 11: Living Soberly

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Let us Live Soberly

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Administrator

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V.xi. 32.  Holy Syncletica said, “Let us live soberly. It is through our bodily senses that we can be despoiled if we are not careful. How can the house possibly not become darkened if we let smoke in from outside through an open window?” 

V.xi. 33.  She also said, “We must maintain everywhere an armed defence against the demons, for they attack us from outside and stir us up inside, according to our experience. Just as a ship is sometimes buffeted from the outside by the force of the waves, and sometimes sunk because of a build-up of bilge water inside, so we are sometimes lost because of the evil of the deeds we do outwardly, and sometimes betrayed by the maliciousness of our inner thoughts. We must therefore not only watch out for the external attacks of evil spirits, but also expel the uncleanness of our inner thoughts.” 

V.xi. 34.  Again she said, “We have no security in this world. As the Apostle says, ‘Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’ (1 Cor.10.12)  We are sailing indeed in uncertain waters, like the psalmist who likens our life to the sea (Psalm 104). There are regions of the sea which are full of danger and others which are safe; we seem to travel in the safe areas of the sea, it is people in the world who seem to be in the areas of danger. We travel in the light, led by the sun of righteousness, they are tossed about in a night of ignorance. It often happens however that people in the world who travel in tempest and darkness are able to save their ship when afraid of danger by crying to the Lord and by renewed vigilance. We in our places of calm can be sunk by very complacency, having loosed our hold on the rudder of righteousness.” End.

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, BOOK V, Libellus 11: Living Soberly

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A Ship Laden with Precious Gifts

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Administrator

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V.viii.1. Abbot Antony once heard of a young monk who performed a spectacular miracle on the public highway in that when he saw certain old men struggling to walk along on their journey he ordered some wild asses to come and carry them to him. When these old men told abba Antony of this he said, “This young monk seems to me to be like a merchant ship laden with precious gifts, but who knows whether it will ever reach port?” And shortly after he suddenly began to weep and tear his hair out in great distress. “What is the matter, father?” asked his disciples when they saw this. “A great pillar of the church has just fallen” the old man said. He was of course referring to that young monk, and added that they should go to him and see what had happened. So they went and found the young monk sitting on his mat weeping for his sins. When he saw the old man’s disciples he said to them, “Ask the old man to pray to God to give me just ten days of grace in which I hope I may make satisfaction.” And within five days he was dead. End.

From: DE VITIS PATRUM BOOK V, Libellus 8: Do nothing for show 

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Abba John of Lycus

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Administrator

St. John of Lycus or Lycopolis (modern day Assiut) was born in Egypt about the year 305, he died towards the close of AD 394. He lived as a hermit for many years, conversing with people through a window in his cell on Saturdays and Sundays. 

BEGIN. As a foundation stone for our task let us take John as an example of everything that is good. For those who are religiously devoted to God John will be more than sufficient as a guide to the heights of virtue and the summit of perfection. We met him in the desert parts of the Thebaid, living on the side of a steep mountain near the city of Lycus. It was very difficult to get up to his monastery. The approach was so narrow and full of obstacles that no one had joined him there for all of the fifty years since his fortieth birthday …….

There is another marvel that God manifested through him. A certain military tribune came to him and begged him to give permission for his wife to visit him. He said that she had already undergone great dangers in the effort to get to see him. John said that he had never been in the habit of giving interviews to women, especially since having shut himself up in this monastery on the cliff. The tribune persisted in his pleas, saying that if she couldn’t see him she would doubtless perish from grief. Again and again he pleaded, repeating that his wife would surely die, in the belief that she had lost all hope of being healed. Overcome at last by the tribune’s faith no less than his importunity, the old man said, “Go, your wife shall see me this night, not here but at home in her own bed.” At these words the tribune went away, pondering in his heart the meaning of this reply. He told his wife what had been said, and she also was no less puzzled by it. But when she was asleep the man of God appeared to her in a vision, and standing next to her said, “Woman, great is your faith, and therefore I have come to satisfy your desire. But I admonish you that you should not try to seek the physical presence of the servants of God, but rather should contemplate their acts and doings in the spirit. For it is the Spirit which gives life, the flesh profits nothing. I have prayed to God for you, not because I am a righteous person or a prophet, as you think, but simply because of your faith, and he has granted you healing of all the diseases, which afflict your body. From now, you and your husband will be whole, and your whole household will be blessed. Be mindful, both of you, of the blessings which God has given you, fear him always and be content with your wages. You have seen me in your dreams, that should be enough for you, you don’t need anything else.” When the woman awoke she told her husband what she had seen and heard, and described the man’s face and what he was wearing and all other distinguishing marks. Whereupon the man marveled, and went back to the man of God to give thanks. The man of God blessed him and he went away in peace. END.

From: De Vitis Patrum, Book II, Chapter 1

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Abba Zeno and the cucumber

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Administrator

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V.iv.17. Once when abba Zeno was travelling in Palestine he sat down after work by a cucumber patch to eat his meal. A thought arose in his mind, “Pick a cucumber and eat it. It wouldn’t matter much, would it.”

To this thought he replied, “Thieves are condemned to torment. Find out first whether you would be able to bear such torment.”
So he got up and stood in the sun for five days, becoming thoroughly dehydrated, until he said to himself, “I can’t bear this torment.” His better judgment then said to him, “If you can’t bear torment then you had better not steal in order to eat.” End.

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, Libellus 4: Self Control

 

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Amma Syncletica

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Administrator

Amma Syncletica of Alexandria, a Desert Mother of the 4th century, was of a wealthy background and is reputed to have been very beautiful. From childhood, however, Syncletica was drawn to God and the desire to dedicate her life to him. After the death of her parents, she gave all that had been left her to the poor. With her younger sister Syncletica abandoned the life of the city and chose to reside in a crypt adopting the life of a hermit. Her holy life soon gained the attention of locals and gradually many women came to live as her disciples in Christ. Her sayings are recorded with those of the Desert Fathers.

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V.vi.13. Syncletica of blessed memory was asked whether owning nothing was the highest perfection. She replied, “It is indeed a very good thing for those who can. For if you are able to put up with it you may experience bodily discomfort but you will have peace of mind. Just as clothing of good quality is laundered and restored to whiteness by being trampled on and turned over and over again underfoot, so is a strong person made stronger by voluntary poverty.”

V.vii.15. Holy Syncletica said, “If you fall out with someone in the monastery, don’t go and live elsewhere. If you do that you only harm yourself. If a hen fails to keep her eggs warm they will go bad without producing chickens. Just so will monks or nuns grow cold and die if they persist in gadding about from place to place.”

V.vii.16.  Syncletica said, “When the devil fails to subvert us through the rigours of poverty, he uses riches in his endeavours to seduce us.  And if he can’t prevail through insults and indignities he makes use of honour and glory. But if he can’t seduce us by means of pleasures and bodily satisfactions he tries to gain possession of the soul by unlooked for vexations. He can devise all kinds of burdens to be cast on to one whom he wishes to tempt, by means of which he reduces monks to a state of fear and upsets the charity which they ought to have towards God. But even though the body be chastened and afflicted with severe fevers or even intolerable thirst, remember that you are a sinner who suffers these things, and compare them with the punishments and everlasting flames of eternity, the torments which justice demands, and then you will not be overwhelmed by your present troubles but will rather rejoice that God has visited you. Let this pre-eminent saying be upon your lips, ‘The Lord has chastened and corrected me, but he has not given my soul over to death’ (Psalm 118.18). If you are like iron, by being put through the fire you will lose the rust. If you undergo all these things with integrity you will go from strength to strength. You will be like gold which is purified by fire. A messenger of Satan has been given to you to buffet your flesh. Rejoice therefore at the thought of who it is to whom you are being likened, for St Paul himself was found worthy of a similar visitation (2 Cor.12.7). If you are afflicted by illnesses or by excessive cold remember that when Scripture says, ‘We went through fire and water’, what follows is that ‘we were brought out into a wealthy place’ (Psalm 66.11). While you are in the middle of the one, hope confidently for the other, using what strength is given you. Shout aloud the words of the prophet, ‘I am poor and in heaviness’ (Psalm 89.30). It is through tribulations of this sort that you will be made perfect, as it is written, ‘Thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble’ (Psalm 4.1). It is in these practices above all that he tries our spirits, for then we have our adversary always before us. 

V.vii.17.  She also said, “If you should become seriously ill, don’t worry because you are no longer able to stand for prayers or chant the psalms aloud because of weakness and bodily infirmity. For all these things are necessary to dispel the lusts of the flesh in the same way as fasting and labour act against unlawful desires. So when sickness is working towards that end all those other observances are no longer necessary. For just as illness can be cured by strong and efficacious medicine, so vice is cut off by that very illness. It is a great virtue to be patient in the face of illness and give thanks to God. Don’t be overly depressed if you lose your sight – you may have lost one means of praising God, but you can still contemplate with your interior eye. Have you gone deaf? Be thankful that you can no longer hear things that are unseemly. Is your sword-arm weakened by some sort of wasting sickness? You can still carry on the inner fight against the temptations of the enemy. Is your whole body diseased? Your inner man can nevertheless grow in holiness.” END

From: DE VITIS PATRUM BOOK V, Libellus 7: Patience and Fortitude

 

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God has not abandoned him!

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Administrator

V.v.38.  There was a certain brother troubled with sexual thoughts who happened to see the daughter of a pagan priest as he was going into an Egyptian village. He fell in love with her and asked her father to give her to him for a wife. “I can’t do that,” he replied, “without asking my god.” So he went to the demon whose cult he served and said, “Look, this monk has come to me, wanting to have my daughter. Shall I give her to him?” 
The demon answered, “Ask him if he will renounce God and his Baptism and his monastic way of life.” Going back to the monk he said, “Deny your God and your Baptism, and your monastic way of life, and I will give you my daughter,” to which he agreed. 
And immediately the priest saw a dove come out of his mouth and fly up to heaven. He went back to the demon and said, “See now, he’s promised those three things” 
But the devil replied, “You still can’t give him your daughter because God has not abandoned him. He helps him still.”  
The priest went back to the monk and said, “I still can’t give her to you for your God still helps you and has not departed from you.”  
When the brother heard this he said to himself, “If God has shown me such grace, when I have ungratefully denied him and my Baptism and my monastic way of life, if he in his goodness has even now come to my help in my wickedness, why am I departing from him?”  
And he turned himself around and came to his senses, and went back to the desert to a certain respected old man to whom he confessed all. And the old man said, “Sit with me in the cave and fast with me for three weeks and I will pray to God for you.”  
And the old man agonised for his brother and prayed God, saying, “O Lord, I pray you, grant me this soul, and accept his penance.”  
And God heard his prayer. At the end of the first week the old man went to the brother and asked him whether he had seen anything, and the brother replied that he had seen a dove hovering high up in the heavens above his head. And the old man said, “Don’t relax, keep on praying earnestly to God.”  
At the end of the second week the old man came to him again and asked him if he had seen anything, and the brother replied that he had seen the dove coming down towards his head.  
The old man replied, “Keep your mind alert and pray.”  
At the end of the third week the old man came to him again and asked whether he had seen anything more. He replied, “I saw the dove come and stand right over my head, and as I reached out my hand to take it, it flew right into my mouth. 
And the old man gave thanks to God, saying, “See, the Lord has accepted your penitence. Now you must watch over yourself and be vigilant.”  
The brother replied, “I shall stay with you till I die.”

From De Vitis Patrum – Book V – Libellus 5: Sexual Temptation

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Inner Stillness

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Administrator

The fathers often talked about inner stillness as a way of sparing oneself of many battles and acquiring the virtues.

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V.ii.1.  Abba Antony said, “Just as fish die if kept on dry land so monks are drawn away from their original intentions if they linger outside their cells or spend too much time with worldly people. Therefore just as the fish must need return to the sea so should we hasten to our cells, lest through lingering abroad we lose our inner watchfulness.”
V.ii.2. Again he said, “He who remains quietly in solitude is saved from three areas of conflict, that is, hearing, speech and sight. He only has one area of conflict, the battle in the heart.”

V.ii.14.   Amma Matrona said, “Many in the desert who seek for popularity will perish. However it is better to mingle with the multitude while at the same time longing for the solitary life than it is to live in solitude and long to be with the multitude.”

V.ii.16. The story is told of three students who became monks. One of them chose to bring reconciliation to those engaged in lawsuits, in obedience to the Scripture, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5.9).  The second took to nursing the sick, and the third sought inner stillness in solitude. The first one found that in his efforts to settle quarrels he couldn’t always succeed. Totally discouraged he went to see the second one who was nursing the sick and found him similarly depressed and unable to fulfill what he had set out to do. So the two of them agreed to go and see the one in the desert. They told him their troubles and asked him if he had managed any differently from them. He didn’t answer for a while, then poured some water into a bowl and told them to look into it while the water was still disturbed. And after a while when the water had become still he asked them to look again. And when they looked they saw their own faces as in a mirror. Then he said to them, “Thus it is with anyone living in the midst of people; there is so much agitation that you can’t see your own shortcomings. But when you find inner stillness, especially in solitude then you can see your own sins.” END.

From: De Vitis Patrum – Book V – Libellus 2: Inner Stillness

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