Tag: Desert Fathers

Desert Fathers: Our sins and the sins of others

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solitude

Once there was a meeting of monks in Scetis, and they discussed the case of a guilty brother but Pior said nothing.

Afterwards he got up and went out, took a sack, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. He put a little sand in a basket and carried it in front of him.

The monks asked him, “What are you doing?” He answered, “The sack with a lot of sand is my sins; they are many, so I put them on my back and then I shall not weep for them. The basket with a little sand is the sins of our brother and they are in front of me, and I see them and judge them. This is not right. I ought to have my own sins in front of me, and think about them, and ask God to forgive me.”

When the monks heard this, they said, “This is the true way of salvation” 

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Desert Fathers: Praising God

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Praise

Hyperichius said, “Keep praising God with hymns, and meditating continually, and so lighten the burden of the temptations that attack you. A traveler carrying a heavy burden stops from time to time to take deep breaths, and so makes the journey easier and the burden light”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Desert Fathers: Change During Temptation

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Travel

It used to be said that if you were tempted where you were living, you should not leave the place at the time of the temptation. If you did leave it then, you would find that the temptation that you were fleeing would go with you to the next place. You should be patient till temptation is over, then you could leave without upsetting anyone or troubling others who lived there.

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Desert Fathers: Athlete of God

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Boxing

A hermit said about the temptation to lust, ‘Do you want to be saved? Go, and discipline yourself, “Seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you”. In the world there are boxers who are hit hard and yet stand firm and receive crowns. Sometimes one is set up on by two at once and their blows give him strength so that he overcomes them. Have you not seen what strength exercise brings? So stand and be strong and the Lord will defeat your enemy for you”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Desert Fathers: Crown of Temptation

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 crown

A hermit said that for nine years a brother was goaded by his thoughts to despair of his salvation. He judged himself and said, “I have ruined myself, I have perished already, I will go back to the world.” On his journey he heard a voice saying, “Those temptations which you endured for nine years were your crowns. Go back to your cell, and I will take these evil thoughts from you.” So he realized that it is not right to despair of oneself because of the temptations that come. If we use these thoughts well they will give us a crown.

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

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