9
1. Once a brother in the community of Elias fell when he was tempted. He was expelled from the community, and went to the mountain to Antony. When he had been with him for some time, Antony sent him back to his community, but when they saw him, they sent him away again. So he went back to Antony and said, ‘They won’t have me, abba.’ So Antony sent a message to them saying, ‘A ship was wrecked in the ocean and lost its cargo, and with great difficulty the empty ship was brought to land. Do you want to run the ship that has been rescued onto the rocks and sink it?’ They realized that Antony had sent him back, and at once accepted him.
2. A brother sinned and the presbyter ordered him to go out of church. But Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, ‘I, too, am a sinner.’
3. When Isaac of the Thebaid visited a community, he saw that one of the brothers was sinful, and passed sentence on him. But when he was returning to his cell in the desert, the angel of the Lord came and stood in front of the door of his cell, and said, ‘I will not let you go in.’ He asked, ‘Why not?’ The angel of the Lord replied, ‘God sent me to ask you, “Where do you tell me to send that sinful brother whom you sentenced?” ’ At once Isaac repented, saying, ‘I have sinned, forgive me.’ The angel said, ‘Get up, God has forgiven you. In future take care to judge no man before God has judged him.’
4. In Scetis a brother was once found guilty. They assembled the brothers, and sent a message to Moses telling him to come. But he would not come. Then the presbyter sent again saying, ‘Come, for the gathering of monks is waiting for you.’ Moses got up and went. He took with him an old basket, which he filled with sand and carried on his back. They went to meet him and said, ‘What does this mean, abba?’ He said, ‘My sins run out behind me and I do not see them and I have come here today to judge another.’ They listened to him and said no more to the brother who had sinned but forgave him.
5. Joseph asked Poemen, ‘Tell me how to become a monk.’ He said, ‘If you want to find rest in this life and the next, say at every moment, “Who am I?” and judge no one.’
6. A brother said to Poemen, ‘If I see my brother sin is it really right not to tell anyone about it?’ He said, ‘When we cover our brother’s sin, God covers our sin. When we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God does the same with ours.’
7. Once a brother in a community sinned. In the same region there was a hermit who had not gone out of his cell for a long time. The abbot of the community went to the hermit and told him of the monk’s offence. The hermit said, ‘Expel him.’ So the monk was expelled from the community, and he flung himself into a ditch and wept. Some other monks happened to go by on their way to see Poemen, and they heard the sinful monk groaning in the ditch. They climbed down and found him despairing with grief and they asked him to go with them to the hermit. He would not, saying, ‘I shall die here.’ The brothers went to Poemen and told him about it. He asked them to go back to the monk and say, ‘Poemen wants you.’ They did what he said, and the monk came to Poemen. When he saw how he was suffering, he got up and kissed him, and hospitably invited him to eat with him. Meanwhile, Poemen sent one of his brothers to the hermit with this message, ‘I have heard of you, and for many years I have wanted to meet you, but we were both too idle to arrange a meeting. But now, by God’s will let us take this chance; make the tiring journey so that we can meet.’ Poemen had a rule of not going out of his cell. When the hermit heard the message, he said, ‘He would not have sent to me unless God had inspired him to do so.’ He got up and went. They greeted each other gladly and sat down. Poemen said to him, ‘There were two men and they were each mourning for a dead man. But one left the dead man he was mourning for, and went to weep for the other’s.’ The old hermit was stricken when he heard this, and remembered what he had done. He said: ‘Poemen is in heaven, I am only on the earth.’
8. A brother asked Poemen, ‘What am I to do, for I become weak just by sitting in my cell?’ He said, ‘Despise no one, condemn no one, revile no one: and God will give you quietness, and you will sit at peace in your cell.’
9. 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.’
10. A hermit said, ‘Do not judge an adulterer if you are chaste or you will break the law of God just as much as he does. For he who said “Do not commit adultery” also said “Do not judge.” ’
11. The presbyter of a church used to come to a hermit to consecrate the Eucharist for him so that he could receive it. But someone else visited the hermit and said evil things about that presbyter. The next time the presbyter came to consecrate as usual the hermit was horrified and would not let him in. The presbyter saw it and went away. Then the hermit heard a voice saying, ‘Men have taken my judgement into their own hands.’ He saw a vision of a well of gold and a bucket of gold, and a rope of gold, and plenty of drinking water. He saw a leper emptying and refilling the bucket and he wanted to drink but did not because it was a leper who had poured the water out. Then the voice came a second time to him and said, ‘Why don’t you drink this water? What does it matter who draws it? For he only draws it, and pours it out again.’ Then the hermit came to himself, and understood what the vision had meant. He called the presbyter and made him consecrate the offering as before.
12. Two brothers in a community lived a holy life, and had made such progress that they could see the grace of God in each other. It happened that one of them went out of the monastery on a Friday morning and saw a man eating. He said to him: ‘Why are you eating at this hour on a Friday?’ On Saturday the usual celebration of mass was held. His brother saw that the grace which had been given the other had left him, and he was distressed. He went to his cell and said, ‘What have you done, brother? I do not see the grace of God in you as I used to do.’ He said, ‘I am not aware of having sinned, either in deed or thought.’ His brother said, ‘Did you say an unnecessary word to someone?’ Then he remembered, and said, ‘Yes. Yesterday I saw someone eating food in the morning, and I said to him, “Are you eating at this hour on a Friday?” That is my sin. Do penance with me for a fortnight and we will beg God to forgive me.’ They did so. After a fortnight the brother saw the grace of God again coming upon his brother and they were comforted, and gave thanks to God who alone is good.