The Path to the Desert “A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him for a word. The old man said to him, ‘Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”‘ [1] The roots of desert monasticism lay in distractions the desert elders experienced in the inhabited world. They withdrew to the desert where more intense dedication to God was possible. It is tempting to see this as
On Silence and Solitude (II) A catena of sayings, drawn at random from the desert ascetics of the early Christian centuries, well expresses the value and necessity of authentic silence, silence of the heart. “A brother asked Abba Pambo if it is good to praise one’s neighbor, and the old man said to him, ‘It is better to be silent.’” “A brother asked Abba Poemen, ‘Is it better to speak or to be silent?’ The
The Gift of Silence (II) There is an obvious and deep irony in any attempt to talk about silence. It’s like trying to describe the ineffable or depict the invisible. The task itself is inherently impossible. Silence can only speak for itself: not through words, but through experience. The best way to begin, therefore, is not by any definition or analysis, but by a story. There is a familiar little account in the alphabetical collection
Abba Gregory Nazianzus, the theologian, said, “These three things God requires of all the baptized: right faith in the heart, truth on the tongue, temperance in the body.”42 The desert elders taught that there must be a direct flow from purity of heart to speech and action. When words have their origin in the silence of purity of heart they will be congruent with the monk’s behavior. The common vocation of all Christians is to
The tranquility born of stillness is the grace of God present in a person’s life. This leads us away from the vanity and futility of material pleasures, unhealthy relationships and the struggle of our egos to control our lives. How does this happen? Abba Moses said to Abba Poemen, “If a man’s deeds are not in harmony with his prayer, he labours in vain.” The brother said, “What is this harmony between practice and prayer?”
Stillness A brother asked Abba Poemen, “How should I live in the cell?” He said to him, “Living in your cell clearly means manual work, eating only once a day, silence, meditation; but really making progress in the cell, means to experience contempt for yourself, not to neglect the hours of prayer and to pray secretly. If you happen to have time without manual work, take up prayer and do it without disquiet. The perfection
There were two monks living in one place, and a great old man came to visit them with the intention of testing them. He took a stick and began to bang about the vegetables of one of them. Seeing it, the brother hid himself, and when only one shoot was left, he said to the old man, “Abba, if you will, leave it so that I can cook it that we may eat together.” Then
The Path to the Desert “A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him for a word. The old man said to him, ‘Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”‘ [1] The roots of desert monasticism lay in distractions the desert elders experienced in the inhabited world. They withdrew to the desert where more intense dedication to God was possible. It is tempting to see this as
DAY THIRTEEN 16. A brother said to Father Anthony, Pray for me,” The elder said to him, “I will have no mercy upon you, nor will God have any, if you yourself do not make an effort and if you do not pray to God.” DAY FOURTEEN 17. One day some elders came to see Father Anthony. In the midst of them was Father Joseph. Wanting to test them, the elder suggested a text from
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