"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Today I ended up having an hour-long amiable discussion at a bar with an atheist. It made me very sad to hear him speak of Christians and the Church in such bitter terms. What then, is to be our response as Christians?
A brother asked him [Poeen], “How ought we to live?” Poemen replied, “We have seen the example of Daniel. They accused him of nothing except that he served his God”
– Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 1:13
They said that Silvanus had a disciple in Scetis called Mark, who possessed the virtue of obedience in large measure. He was a copyist of old manuscripts: and the hermit loved them for his obedience. He had seven other disciples, and they were sad that he loved Mark more than them.
When the nearby hermits heard that he loved Mark above the others, they took it badly. One day when they visited him, Silvanus took them with him out of his cell, and began to knock on the door of each of his disciples, saying, “Brother, come out, I have work for you.” Not one of them appeared immediately. When he came to Mark’s cell, he knocked, saying, “Mark,” and as soon as Mark heard the voice of the hermit he came out and Silvanus sent him on some errand.
So he said to the other hermits, “Where are the other brothers?” He went into Mark’s cell, and found a book which he had just begun to copy, and he was making the letter O, but when he had heard the hermit’s voice, he had not finished the line of the O. The visitors said, “You are right, abba, and we also love the one whom you love, for God loves him too.”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
A timely warning, given that Lent is nearly over…
[Syncletica] also said, “The devil sometimes sends a severe fast which is too prolonged; the devil’s disciples do this as well as holy men. How do we distinguish the fasting of our God and King from the fasting of that tyrant the devil? Clearly by its moderation.
“Throughout your life, then, you ought to keep an unvarying rule of fasting. Do you fast four or five days on end and then lose your spiritual strength by eating a feast? That really pleases the devil!
“Everything which is extreme is destructive. So do not suddenly throw away your armour, or you may be found unarmed in the battle and easily captured. Our body is the armour, our soul is the warrior. Take care of both, and you will be ready for whatever comes.
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
They said there was a working gardener who gave away all his profit in alms, and kept for himself only enough to live on. Later on Satan tempted him and said, “Store up a little money, as a provision to spend when you are old and infirm.” So her made a store of coins in a big pot.
It happened that he fell ill, and his foot became gangrenous, and he spent all his coins on doctors, but grew no better. An experienced doctor told him, “Unless we amputate your foot, the gangrene will spread through your whole body.” So they decided to amputate it.
But the night before the operation, the gardener came to his senses, and was sorry for what he had done, and groaned and wept saying, “Lord, remember my earlier good works when I worked in the garden and served the poor.”
Then an angel of the Lord stood before him and said, “Where is your store of coins? Where has your trust in them gone to?
Then he understood, and said, “I have sinned, Lord, forgive me, I will not do it again.” Then the angel touched his foot, and it was healed at once. He got up at dawn, and went to the fields to work. At the appointed time the surgeon came with his instruments to amputate the foot. The people told him, “He went out at dawn to work in the fields.” The doctor was astonished and went out to the field where he was working, and he saw him digging, and glorified God who had restored his health.
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
Lot went to Joseph and said, “Abba, as far as I can, I keep a moderate rule, with a little fasting, and prayer, and meditation, and quiet: and as far as I can I try to cleanse my heart of evil thoughts. What else should I do?”
Then the hermit stood up and spread out his hands to heaven, and his fingers shone like ten flames of fire, and he said, “If you will, you can become all flame.”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
[Syncletica] also said, “It is dangerous for a man to try teaching before he is trained in the good life. A man whose house is about to fall down may invite travellers inside to refresh them, but instead they will be hurt in the collapse of the house.
“It is the same with teachers who have not carefully trained themselves in the good life; they destroy their hearers as well as themselves. Their mouth invites to salvation, their way of life leads to ruin.”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
…Silvanus said, “I think Mary always needs Martha, and by Martha’s help Mary is praised.”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V