Discretion continued)Book V
V.x.45.  Abba Pastor said, "Don't live where there are others urging extravagant practices on you which you don't find profitable."
V.x.46.  A brother visiting abba Pastor told him that he cultivated a field and gave the crops away. The old man told him that he was doing a good work and the brother went away encouraged in what he was doing. Abba Anub overheard this and said to abba Pastor, "Where's your fear of God that you should have spoken to the brother like that?"
But the old man said nothing. After two days abba Pastor asked the brother to come and see him and said, "What was it you were asking me about the other day? I think my mind must have been wandering at the time." 
And the brother said, "I told you that I cultivated my field and reaped it and gave it away."   And abba Pastor said, "Oh, I thought you must have been speaking of your brother who is not a monk, for this is not really monk's work."
He was downhearted to hear this and said, "I don't know how to do any other sort of work except this so why shouldn't I cultivate my field!"
After he had gone, abba Anub apologised to abba Pastor, and abba Pastor said, "I always knew of course that this was not monastic work, but I spoke to his condition (lit, "according to his mind") and encouraged him in his charitable aims. Now of course he's gone away sad, but he will still do the same work."
V.x.47.  A brother asked abba Pastor, "What is the meaning of that Scripture where it talks about being angry with your brother without a cause? "(Matt 5.22.) 
"No matter what your brother may have done to offend you, if you get angry with him even to the extent that you would need to pluck out your right eye and cast it from you, then you are angry without a cause. But if anyone tries to separate you from God, then you can get angry."
V.x.48.  Abba Pastor said, "If someone has done wrong and says, 'I've done wrong' without prevarication, don't scold him lest you destroy his good intentions. If however you say to him, 'Never mind, brother, but don't do it again' you will help him to be sorry."
V.x.49.  Again he said, "It is a good thing to experiment. People become stronger through experiment."
V.x.50.  Again he said, "A teacher who does not do what he teaches is like someone who is quite happy to clean up the mess of all who come to him but can't clean up his own mess and is full of all kinds of uncleanness and filth."
V.x.51.  Again he said, "It is human not to know yourself."
And he added, "One person may seem to live in silence but in his heart he is constantly condemning others. In reality he never stops talking. But another who may talk from morning to night in reality has the gift of silence, because he never speaks except to profit his hearers."
V.x.52.  (Also in VII.xxxvi.1 ascribed to Poemen)  Again he said, "Suppose there were three people together, and one of them sought to be silent, one was ill but nevertheless gave thanks to God, and a third ministered to them both with sincere goodwill, then these three are as much alike as if they were all doing the same work."
V.x.53.  (Also in III.79 and VII.vii.3 ascribed to Poemen)   Again he said, "Evil can in no way drive out evil. If anyone does evil to you do good to him, for your good deed will destroy his evil ones."
V.x.54.  Again he said, "A grumbler is not a monk. Someone who returns evil for evil is not a monk. An angry person is not a monk."
V.x.55.  A brother came to abba Pastor and said, "There are many dangerous thoughts which come into my mind." 
Abba Pastor took him out into the open air and said, "Spread out your cloak and catch me some wind." 
"It's not possible," he replied. 
"Neither it is," said the old man. "Neither is it possible to prevent all kinds of thoughts coming in to your mind. What you can do is resist them."
V.x.56.  (Similar to VII.xxxvi.4)  A brother came to him saying, "What should I do with a legacy which I have had?" 
And abba Pastor said, "Give me three days to think about it." 
He came back as bidden and the old man said to him, "What shall I say to you, brother? If I were to say, 'Give it to the church' the clergy would give you no peace. If I were to say 'Give it to your parents' there's no merit in that. But if I were to say, 'Give it to the poor' at least that would free your mind from worry. Whatever you decide, go and do it. I have no axe to grind."
V.x.57.  Again abba Pastor said, "If you think about some material need and you do nothing about it, and the thought comes again and you still do nothing about it, and if it comes a third time and you don't really pay much attention to it, it was probably superfluous in the first place."
V.x.58.  A brother said to abba Pastor, "If I come to an understanding of something should I talk about it?" 
And the old man said, "Scripture says, 'It is foolish and blameworthy to speak before you listen' (Ecclus.11.8.) So speak only if you are asked to. Otherwise stay silent."
V.x.59.  Again abba Pastor said that according to abba Ammon there are some people who go through life carrying an axe without the faintest idea of how to cut down a tree, but there are others who have one and know how to use it and can cut down a tree in a few strokes."  He was likening an axe to discretion.
V.x.60.  Again he said, "The human will is like a high wall full of sharp stones between the self and God. In order to overcome it say, 'With the help of my God I will leap over the wall. The way of God is an undefiled way.' (Psalm 18.29f.) It is hard work for a human being to train his will in righteousness."
V.x.61.  A brother consulted abba Pastor, saying, "My soul is in danger if I stay with my present abbot. What do you think? Should I stay with him?"
Now abba Pastor knew that this abbot was not a good influence on this brother, and was surprised that he should have come to get advice as to whether he should stay with him. And he said, "If you think it right, stay." 
And the brother went back and stayed. Later on he came again and said, "He's really doing me harm."
But abba Pastor still didn't advise him to leave. He came back a third time and said, "This time I really am leaving him"
And abba Pastor said, "Now you have found the right path. Go, and don't look back." And he added, "If someone sees that his soul is in danger he shouldn't need to seek advice. For truly, anyone might ask about hidden thoughts and get advice from the seniors, but if it is a case of open wrongdoing there is no need to consult anybody - it should just be dealt with immediately."
V.x.62.  (Also in VII.xxv.3) Abba Abraham, the disciple of abba Agathon, asked abba Pastor, "Why are the demons attacking me?" 
And abba Pastor said, "Demons attacking you?  It is not demons fighting with us when we are following our own devices and desires; our own devices and desires have become demons, driving us to fulfil our own desires. But if you would like to know the sort of people with whom the demons do fight, look at Moses and people like him."
V.x.63. (Also in VII.xxvi.1) Abba Pastor said that abba Moses was approached by a brother who asked, "How should  someone set about mortification? By means of one's neighbour?"
And he replied, "You won't get anywhere near the meaning of this word unless you have spent about three years imprinting on your heart that you are already in the grave."
V.x.64.  A brother asked abba Pastor, "How should a monk conduct himself in his cell?" 
And the old man said, "Sitting in the cell doing the obvious things comprises manual labour, eating, keeping silence, meditating. Making progress in the hidden things requires that people should not worry if they are despised wherever they go, but should make good use of every minute and not neglect their own inner development. When it is time to finish their manual work, let them say the divine office, and bring it to a conclusion with an untroubled mind. The end of all these things is that they should be numbered among the fellowship of the just, having renounced the fellowship of the unjust."
V.x.65.  Two brothers came to abba Pambo and the first one asked, "Father, I fast every second day and then eat two loaves. Am I on the right path, or am I being deceived?" 
And the other said, "When I have earned out of my manual work two days supply of beans I keep one lot for my own food and give the other lot away. Am I right in doing this, or am I being deceived?" 
They asked him a lot of things like this but he gave no definite answers. After four days they were about to depart, when some of the clergy spoke to them, saying, "Don't be disappointed, brothers, you will have your reward from God, but this old man has the habit of never saying anything unless it is given him by God." 
So they went back to the old man and said, "Father, pray for us." 
And he said to them, "Oh, are you going, then?" 
"Yes, we are," they said. Then he gazed on them, and wrote upon the ground, pretending to take their way of life upon himself , "Pambo fasts every other day and then eats two loaves. Is this what makes a monk? No. And Pambo produces two lots of beans every day and gives one lot in alms. Is that what makes a monk? Not at all."
  Then after a pause he said, "It is a good work you are doing, but as long as you maintain a good conscience towards your neighbour you will be on the path of salvation."  The brothers found this a great help, and went away happy.
V.x.66.  A brother once asked abba Pambo, "Why is it that I hear certain voices telling me not to do good to my neighbour?" 
And the old man said, "Don't say such things. You are making God out to be a liar. Say rather, 'It is I who have no desire to be merciful.'  God has forestalled you with the words, 'I have given you power to tread down scorpions and serpents and the whole strength of the enemy' (Luke 10.19). Why then don't you crush this unclean spirit?"
V.x.67 Abba Palladius said, "It behoves someone trying to live according to the mind of Christ to teach openly what he knows and to keep honestly quiet about what he doesn't know. And if he won't do either when he is capable of doing so, he is suffering from a very unhealthy disease. The first step in departing from God is a scorn for sound doctrine, and a loss of desire for what the true lover of God longs for."
V.x.68.  A brother asked abba Sisois why he couldn't get rid of his passions, and the old man said, "The whole package of passions is within you, but if you pay the price for them they will depart."
V.x.69.  (Also in III.55) A certain brother came to abba Silvanus in Mount Sinai, and seeing the brothers at work said to the old man, "'Labour not for the meat that perisheth' (John 6.27), and  'Mary has chosen the better part' (Luke 10.41)."
And the old man said to his disciple, "Call Zacharias, and put this brother in an empty cell by himself." 
And at the ninth hour he waited at the door for them to come and invite him to the meal, but when nobody came he got up and went to the old man and asked, "Are the brothers not eating today, father?" 
And the old man said, "Yes they're eating at this moment." 
"And I'm not invited?" said the brother. 
And the old man replied, "You are a spiritual person and don't need that kind of food, but we are very earthy, and because we need to eat we therefore work with our hands. But you have chosen that better part, spending all day reading, without any need for carnal food." 
When he heard this he knelt and apologised, saying, "Forgive me, father."  And the old man said, "It seems to me that Mary couldn't do without Martha. Without Martha, Mary could not have been praised."
V.x.70. Holy Syncletica said, "There are those who through hard work amass worldly goods however great the perils of the sea. And when they get rich they want even more, reckoning nothing to what they already have, but bending all their mind to getting what they don't yet have. And yet we are lacking in those things which really ought to be sought after, and lack the will to strive after those things which are necessary for the fear of God."
V.x.71.  She also said, "There is a sort of heavy-heartedness (tristitia) which is profitable and another sort which is destructive. The profitable sort is when you mourn for your sins and for the blindness of your neighbours, or when you fear lest you fall away from your first good intention of striving after perfection. These constitute a sound sort of heavy-heartedness. But there is a down-side which comes from our enemy. For he can induce an irrational kind of heavy-heartedness. It's called depression (taedium). You need much prayer and psalmody to drive that sort away."
V.x.72.  She said again, "The devil can induce a kind of hard and long drawn out abstinence which his followers go in for. But how do you distinguish a divine and royal abstinence from a diabolical and tyrannous one? It is obvious that as you progress along your path of life you should have a rule of fasting. Then gradually you get to fasting for four or five days at a time, followed by eating too much. Do you think that will help you increase in virtue? That simply gladdens the devil's heart.  It is always the unbalanced actions which are the most debilitating. Don't bring out all at once every weapon you have, lest you find yourself in the midst of battle with no weapons left. The body is our armoury, the mind is the soldier. Treat each of them judiciously so that you can be ready for anything."
V.x.73. Two old men once came to Amma Sara and said to each other on the way, "Let's keep this old woman in her place."  So they said to her, "Don't get ideas about yourself, and boast about these two solitaries who came to see you even though you are only a woman."  And Amma Sara said, "I may be a woman in body, but not in spirit."
V.x.74.  She also said, "If I were to ask God that everyone should be edified by my example, I would soon find myself at each one's door having to ask their pardon. Rather I should pray that my heart becomes pure in the sight of all people."
V.x.75.  Abba Hyperichus said, "The truly wise man is he who teaches others by his deeds, not his words."
V.x.76.  There was once a monk who had lived in a vast mansion in Rome, but in Scete lived near the church with a servant to look after him. The presbyter of the church realised his weakness in that he had been used to all kinds of luxury, and shared with him all that the Lord sent him and all that was given to the church. After living for twenty-five years in Scete, he had become well known as a contemplative of discernment. Hearing of his reputation, one of the foremost Egyptian monks came to see him, expecting to find that his way of life was physically fairly arduous. After their greetings they said the prayers and sat down together. The Egyptian was shocked to notice that his companion was clothed in fine raiment, that his bedding was of finely woven reeds over a layer of tanned leather, that he had a little scarf of soft material round his neck, and that he was wearing sandals on his clean feet. Such a way of living was not customary in that place; severe abstinence was rather the usual rule. Seeing that he had the gift of prayer and discernment, the old Roman realised that his companion was shocked and said to his servant, "Let's do things well today for the sake of this abba who has visited us." 
And he cooked a few vegetables which he had, and sat down for the meal as soon as they were ready. They also drank some of the wine which he kept for his infirmity. And when Vespers was done they said the twelve psalms, went to bed and slept all night. When they got up in the morning the Egyptian said, "Pray for me" and departed, totally disillusioned in him.
He hadn't gone far before the Roman sent after him and called him back, because he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. After welcoming him gladly he asked, "What nationality are you?"
"I am an Egyptian," he replied. 
"And from what city?" he asked.
"I wasn't born in a city and have never lived in one," was the answer.
"Before you became a monk, what did you do? Where did you live?" he asked.
"I was a farm worker," he said.
"You had a bed to sleep in?" he asked.
"As a farm worker should I have been so lucky as to have a bed to sleep in?" he replied.
"Where did you sleep then?" he asked.
"On the bare ground," he replied. 
"What did you eat in your field, and what sort of wine did you drink?" he asked. 
"What sort of food and wine do you think you are likely to get as a farmworker?" he replied.
"Well, tell me how you lived," he said.
"I ate dry bread and perhaps a little salted fish if I could get it, and my only drink was water," he replied.
"A hard life" the old man said, and went on, "You had no bath to wash in?" 
"No, I washed in the river when I could," he replied.
When the old man had learned from these replies everything about his former life and work he told him about his own previous life before becoming a monk, hoping to open his eyes a bit.
"This poor sinner that you see before you came from the mighty city of Rome," he said. "I had an important position under the Roman Emperor."
At these words the Egyptian was taken aback and began to listen carefully to what was being said.
"I left Rome and came here to solitude. "I used to have an enormous house and plenty of money, but I counted them as nothing and came to live in this tiny cell. I used to have couches decorated with gold and covered with expensive drapes, in place of which the Lord has given me this bedding of reeds and leather. My clothing was of the highest and most expensive quality, instead of which I now wear this simple garment. I used to spend a great deal of money on food, instead of which God gives me a few vegetables and a small cup of wine. I used to have countless numbers of servants to look after me, and the Lord has spared me this one servant only to look after me. Instead of my bath I do wash my feet a little and wear sandals in my weakness. Instead of lyre and pipe and other kinds of music which I used to enjoy as I feasted I now say my twelve psalms by day and twelve by night. And for the sins which I formerly committed I now find peace in offering my poor and unworthy service to God. So you see, father, you need not be scandalised because of my weakness." 
Having listened to all this, the Egyptian had a complete change of heart, and said, "Woe is me! For I came into the monastic way from a background of great deprivation and hard work, and I now possess such a lot of things which I did not possess before. You however chose to come from a life of great luxury into a life of deprivation, from great distinction and riches into humility and poverty." Greatly edified, he departed, but became a great friend of his and often came back because he found it so profitable. For he was indeed a man of discernment, filled with the life-giving breath of the holy Spirit.
V.x.77.  An old man said, "There is no need for a lot of words. Human beings have plenty to say for themselves in these days, but it is deeds you want. This is what God wants, not mere words which bear no fruit."
V.x.78.  A brother asked some of the fathers if you could be polluted by unclean thoughts coming into the mind. In reply to this question some said; "Yes, you are polluted", but others said, "No, because if we were polluted we simple people would be beyond salvation. The important thing about salvation is that we don't do evil things even if we think them." 
The brother was not satisfied with these conflicting answers, and went to an old man of rather greater reputation and asked him about the same thing. And the old man replied, "From each person according to his ability."
The brother asked him for the love of God to explain this saying.
And the old man said, "Suppose that there were a valuable object lying here, and two brothers came in, one of whom was highly developed in his way of life and the other not. The first one of great virtue might see the object and think to himself, "I would like to have that", but if he doesn't dwell on the thought and cuts it out of his mind immediately, he is not polluted. The second one who is not yet highly practised in virtue might also see the object and desire it and might have to go through a long struggle in his mind against that desire, but as long as he finishes up by not taking it he also is without sin."
V.x.79.  An old man said, "Whatever your situation if you don't take advantage of what it has to offer you, the place itself will drive you out because you haven't used it profitably."
V.x.80. An old man said, "If anyone in sheer ignorance follows his own will without thought for the will of God,  later there may be an opportunity of returning to the way of the Lord. But someone who follows his own will and not the will of God and won't listen to anyone else, but thinks he knows it all, will find it very difficult to come back to the way of the Lord."
V.x.81.  An old man was asked the meaning of the words, "strait and narrow way." (Matt 7.14).
And the old man replied, "The strait and narrow way is that you should do violence to your own thoughts, and renounce your self-will for the sake of the Lord. This is what the Scripture means when it says that the Apostles 'left all and followed him'" (Matt.19.27).

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