Tag: Desert Fathers

Syncletica of blessed memory said, “A ship cannot be built without nails and no one can be saved without humility.”

– De Vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

…Poemen said… “The nature of water is soft, the nature of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above a stone letting water drip down, it wears away the stone. It is like that with the word of God; it is soft and our heart is hard, but if a man hears the word of God often, it will break open his heart to the fear of God.”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

They said of a monk that the more bitterly anyone injured or assailed him, the more he was well disposed to that person, for he said, “People like this are a means to cure the faults of serious men. People who make them happy do their souls harm. For it is written, ‘They that call thee blessed, deceive thee'”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

A brother asked one of the hermits, “If I happen to oversleep, and am late for the hour of prayer, I am ashamed that others will hear me praying so late, and so I become reluctant to keep the rule of prayer.” He said, “If ever you oversleep in the morning, get up when you wake, shut the door and the windows, and say your psalms. For it is written, “The day is thine and the night is thine” (Ps 74:16). God is glorified whatever time it is.

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Cassian told a story of a hermit who was living in the desert…

He asked God to grant that he should never fall asleep when the conversation was edifying but that if anyone spoke with back-biting or hate, he should nod off at once so that he would not hear poisonous words. He said that the devil strives hard to make men speak idle words, and fights against letting anyone hear any spiritual teaching.

He gave the following example of this: Once when I was talking to some brothers for the good of their souls they became so drowsy that they could not even keep their eyelids open. I wanted to show them that this was the devil’s work, so I started gossiping, and at once they sat up and began to enjoy what I was saying. But I said saldy, “We were talking of heaven just now, and your eyes were closing in slumber: but the moment the talk became frivolous, you all began to listen eagerly. I beg you then, dear brothers, since you know that this is the work of the devil, be watchful and beware of falling asleep when you are hearing about spiritual things.”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

While Poemen was living in community, he heard of Nesteros and wanted to see him. So he sent a message to his abbot to ask him to let Nesteros come to see him, but the abbot did not want to and refused.

A few days afterwards the steward of the monastery asked the abbot to let him go and see Poemen, so that he could tell him his thoughts. When the abbot was giving him leave, he said to him, “Take with you the brother Nesteros whom the hermit asked me to send. I did not dare to let him go alone, and have put off sending him until now.”

When the steward reached the hermit, he talked to him about his thoughts, and the hermit healed his mind by his answers. Then Poemen turned to the brother and said, “Nesteros, how is it that you have the strength, if there is trouble in the monastery, not to say anything but remain at peace?”

The brother had to be pressed by him for an answer. In the end he said, “It is like this, abba. When I first entered the community, I said to my soul, You and the donkey must be alike. The donkey says nothing when he is beaten. That is what you must do, as you read in the psalm, “I am become as a beast before thee, yet I am always with thee: (Psalm 73:22-23).’

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V