Book III (continued)

When they met together (as we have said) they gave thanks to God and took food. After the meal they sat till Vespers meditating on the holy Scriptures. There were no worldly tales exchanged, no worldly cares, no talk of what was going on in the world around them, but only spiritual conferences concerned with the longed for kingdom of heaven, future bliss, the glory of the righteous, the punishment of sinners and the peace of the saints. As they talked they sighed from the bottom of their hearts and wept copiously. They kept vigil the whole night through, proclaiming the praises of God, until at about the ninth hour on Sunday they brought their conference to an end. Each one then returned to his own cell where, alone with God alone, they served him day and night.
The Saracens found them engrossed in such occupations when they were racing everywhere through the desert. They rushed in on them and dragged them out of their hermitages, tied them up and hung them up by their feet. Tortured to the very limit with many beatings, they at last had a fire of bitter herbs lit under them, the acrid smoke from which destroyed their eyesight. They were at last released after many torments and driven off half dead. We knew one of them who lived for quite a long time afterwards in a certain place. But we hardly know anything about where the others went.
201. (Also in V.xvii.10 & VII.xxxvii.) A brother had a question for abba Poemen.
"What does it mean when the Lord in the Gospel says. 'Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends' (John 15.13). How do you do that?"
"If you are insulted by your neighbour," said the old man, "and are tempted to reply in kind, but take the force of it in your heart while working hard at forcing yourself not to return the insult and upset him, that is when you are laying down your life for your friend."
202.  (Also in VI.iv.4 & Appendix  Mart.) An old man said, "If what you do is not in agreement with how you pray, you labour in vain in your prayers. It is only when you renounce your desire to sin and walk in the fear of God, that God will then accept you with joy."
203.  (Also in Appendix.Mart.36) A brother asked an old man what he should do in all the temptations which came upon him and in all the thoughts which came from the enemy. He replied, "You should always weep in the presence of the goodness of God. Run to him and he will help you. It is written, 'The Lord is my helper, therefore I pour contempt upon my enemies'" (Psalms 118.7)
204.  (Also in VII.xxxix.3, attributed to Poemen) A certain old man said, "A fly will not go near a pot when it is on the fire, but once it has cooled the fly will alight on it and produce maggots. Likewise the demons flee from the monk on fire with the love of God, but if he cools down they buzz into him and lead him astray."
205.  (Also in V.iii.15 & Appendix.Mart.48) Once when abba Silvanus was sitting in his cell he fell flat on his face in a trance. And after a few hours he got up and wept violently.
"What is the matter, father?" asked his disciple standing nearby.
He said nothing but continued to weep. His disciple urged him to tell him why he was weeping.
"I was caught up to the seat of judgment," he said at last, " and I saw many in our monastic habit condemned to punishment, but many of the laity going into heaven."
And as he said this he wept even more.
206.  (Part of a long dissertation in VII.xliii.2 & Appendix Mart.108, attributed to Silvanus) A certain old man said to a brother, "Think every day that your death is not far away. Don't worry about anything in this world, as if you are already enclosed in the tomb. Let the fear of God be clearly before you at every moment. Consider yourself to be of less importance than anyone else. Don't slander anyone, for God knows all things. Be at peace with everybody and God will always give you peace."
207.  (Also in V.xii.10) Some of the brothers asked the blessed Macarius how they should pray.
"You don't need a lot of words," he said. "We should just lift up our hands to heaven and say, 'Lord, as you will, and how you will, let your will be done.' And if beset by temptation or battle, just say 'Lord help us'. He knows what is best for us."
208.  Abba John used to say, "A monk ought to be like someone sitting under a tree who sees various wild beasts and serpents coming towards him, and because he is not able to resist them he climbs up into the tree and escapes. So should the monk sit in his cell, and when he sees unhealthy thoughts coming at him which he is not able to fight against let him flee to the Lord by prayer and he will be safe."
209.  He also used to say, "A monk ought to be like someone who has a fire on his right hand side and water on his left. When the fire burns up too fiercely he takes water and puts it out. So this is what a monk should always do, when unhealthy thoughts are kindled by the enemy pour the water of prayer over them and put them out."
210.  (Also in V.xviii.7) When abba Zenon was in Scete he went out of his cell one night to go for a walk in the desert, and he walked quite a distance and wandered for three days and nights before he fell exhausted and nearly dead. And suddenly he saw in front of him a child with bread in his hand.
"Rise and eat, said the child.
Fearing that this was a phantom, he got up and began to pray.
"You do well to pray," said the child. "But now, come and eat."
Abba Zenon would not accept his invitation but prayed a second time and then a third. The child praised him again for praying, and finally he accepted and ate.
"You have wandered a long way," the child said next, "but come, follow me." And immediately he found himself outside his cell.
"Come in to the cell with me and pray," he said to the child. But as he went in himself, the child disappeared.
211.  (Also in V.xii.1, V.iv.2, V.iii.1) Abba Daniel affirmed that the blessed Arsenius at vespers on Saturday used to turn his back on the setting sun, and lifting up his hands to heaven persevered in prayer till the rising sun came into view.
He would keep vigil on other nights, but near dawn, when the weakness of his human nature demanded that he sleep a little, he would say, "Come on then, you unprofitable servant," and shutting his eyes would take a little sleep sitting down before getting up again.
When sitting down to work he always had a little basin on his lap to catch the tears which continually flowed from his eyes because of the longing he had for the life eternal.
212.  (Also in V.xii.9) Abba Lucius asked some brothers who came to him about the way they worked with their hands.
"We don't work with our hands," they said, "but do as the Apostle says: 'Pray without ceasing' (1 Thessalonians 5.17).
"Don't you eat?" said the old man
"Well, yes, we eat," they said.
"Who prays for you while you are eating?" And they could find nothing to say in reply.
"Don't you sleep?" he asked.
"Yes, we sleep," they said.
"Who prays for you when you are asleep?" And they could not find anything to say.
"I'm sorry," said the old man, "but you are not practising what you preach. Now let me tell you how I pray without ceasing while working with my hands. In the morning I sit for a fixed time soaking a few palm leaves and weaving ropes from them, and pray continually saying, 'Have mercy on me O God after your great goodness, and according to the multitude of your mercies blot out my sins' (Psalms 51.1). And when I have worked long enough to have completed baskets or ropes to the value of ten coins, I sell them, keep eight coins for myself and give two coins to the poor. They satisfy my obligation of perpetual prayer when I am eating or sleeping."
213.  (Also in VI.ii.6) Once when abba Macarius was carrying out of Scete the baskets he had made, his journeying made him very tired and he sat down
"God, you know I can't walk any further," he said. And immediately he found himself by the river bank which before had been a long way away.
214. Abba Ammon came to a certain oasis for a drink and came face to face with a basilisk. He fell on his face and prayed to the Lord, "Lord unless this monster dies I shall die." By the power of God the basilisk immediately shrivelled up.
215.  (Also in VI.ii.1) Dulas, abba Besarion's disciple was walking with him once along the seashore, and he began to feel thirsty.
"I am perished with thirst, father," he said.
The blessed Besarion prayed, then told him to take some water from the sea and drink it. Which he did, and found it beautifully sweet, and so he filled up a little flask that he had with him.
"Why are you filing that flask with water, my son," asked the old man when he realised what he was doing.
"Let me do so, father," he said. "I am frightened that I might be thirsty again later on."
"May the Lord forgive you, my son," he said. "God is everywhere, and can always provide sweet water."
216.  (Also in V.iii.20) There was a brother who wanted to go into the desert but his mother would not let him.
"Please let me, mother, "he would say. "I want to save my soul."
At last his mother realised that she would not be able to hold him back and let him go. So he went into the desert, but through negligence began to waste his whole life.
Now it so happened that his mother died. And a little later he became ill and fell into a trance and saw his mother among those being judged.
"What's this, my son?" she said. "Have you also been brought here to be judged? And what about those words of yours about wanting to save your soul?"
He blushed at these words, and stood there, not able to reply. And there came a voice calling him back here, as if it should have been someone else from the coenobium instead of him who had been summoned to pass over. When he came to, he related to all those near him what he had heard and learned. To confirm what he said, he asked one of those near him to go to the coenobium to find out whether someone there of the same name as himself had passed over. And he found that it was so.
When he was restored to health he became a recluse, and began to take his salvation seriously, doing penance, and weeping over those things which he had previously done through negligence. So great was his compunction that many people asked him to ease up a little lest he should do himself harm by his incessant weeping, but he refused.
"If I cannot bear in mind the reproaches of my mother," he said, "when the day of judgement comes in the presence of Christ and all his angels, how shall I then bear reproaches and torment?"
217.  (Also in VII.xxiv.2) There was a brother in Egypt noted for his great humility, who had a sister working as a prostitute in the city, leading many souls to perdition. The old men frequently urged the brother to go to her and perhaps persuade her by his admonitions that it was possible for her to give up the sins she was committing.
When he came near to her place someone who knew him ran on before him and announced his arrival.
"Look, your brother is coming to see you from the desert" he called.
When she heard this she joyfully left her clients and ran out to meet him with her head uncovered. And when she saw him she ran to embrace him.
"Dearest sister," he said to her, "Spare a thought for your soul, and for the many you are leading to perdition. Think of the torments prepared for you unless you hasten to repent."
"Do you think, brother," she asked, trembling, "that there is still hope of salvation for me?"
"If you really want it," he said, "salvation is still there for you."
She threw herself at his feet and begged him to take her with him into the desert.
"Put something on your head, then," he said, "and come with me."
"No, let's go at once," she said. "I would rather appear among people improperly dressed than have to go back into that house of shame."
As they walked along he gave her some instruction on how to do penance, until they saw some brothers coming towards them.
"Not everyone knows that you are my sister," he said, "so move away from the road for a while until they have gone past."
After they had gone he called out to her.
"Come sister, let's be on our way."
There was no reply. He went off in search of her and found her dead. Her footprints were all full of blood for she had not been wearing shoes. Weeping and crying he went back to the seniors and told them everything that had happened, and they began to wonder about her salvation. And God revealed to one of the old men that because she had taken no thought for her bodily needs if only her own wounds might be healed, because she had abandoned everything she had, mourned deeply and repented of her sins, therefore God had accepted her repentance.
218.  At the time when blessed Antony was persuaded by Saint Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, to go into the city to combat heresy, a certain learned man called Didymus visited him who was blind. They talked about many things from the Holy Scriptures and other passages which they had gleaned from holy books. Antony was impressed by his intelligence and quick thinking, and asked him, "Are you not sad that you lack eyes?"
He shamefacedly made no answer, until Antony had asked him three times, whereupon he did admit quite simply to being bitter.
"I'm surprised," Antony said, "that such a wise person could lament the loss of something which ants and flies and midges have, rather than rejoicing in something which he shares with saints and apostles. It is much better to see with the spirit than with ordinary eyes, and better to have eyes into which the dust of sin cannot enter, than those which simply by what they see can lead people through concupiscence into the lowest hell."
219 A certain brother in Nitria died and left behind him a hundred solidi which he had got together and hidden wrapped up in some linen. He had been miserly rather than greedy, and forgetful of the thirty pieces of silver which betrayed the Lord Jesus. The monks began to discuss what should be done about the money (there were in that place about five thousand monks living in scattered cells). Some thought it should be given to the poor, some to the church, others to their families. But Macarius, Pambo and Isodore, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said that it should be buried with its owner, saying, 'Your money perish with you' (Acts 8.20). But don't let anyone think that this was a heartless thing to do, for there was as much horror and consternation among the monks if even one solidus only had been misused.
220.   A certain Greek youth entered a coenobium in Egypt but was unable to extinguish the flames of lust no matter how much he fasted or punished himself. He revealed the extent of his temptations to the superior of the monastery, who embarked on a plan to save him. He instructed a respected and very strict monk to belabour the young man with all sorts of insults and reproaches, and after the first accusation to continue in his complaints. When these commands had been carried out he called others to testify against him, heaping further reproaches upon the young man. All these falsehoods made him weep; day by day he groaned and shed tears, for he was filled with bitterness, until at last deprived of all other help he cast himself at the feet of Jesus. What more needs to be said? At the end of a year when asked about his former thoughts and whether they still bothered him he replied, "Father, I'm not even fit to live, so why should I be free to fornicate?" So by the actions of his spiritual father his lusts were overcome and he was put on the path of salvation.