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1. They said that on Saturday evening Arsenius used to turn his back to the setting sun and stretch out his hands towards heaven and pray until, at dawn on Sunday, the rising sun lit up his face, and then he sat down again.
2. The brothers asked Agatho, ‘Abba, which virtue in our way of life needs most effort to acquire?’ He said to them, ‘I may be wrong but I think nothing needs so much effort as prayer to God. If anyone wants to pray, the demons try to interrupt the prayer, for they know that prayer is the only thing that hinders them. All the other efforts in a religious life, whether they are made vehemently or gently, have room for a measure of rest. But we need to pray till our dying breath. That is the great struggle.’
3. Dulas, the disciple of Bessarion, said, ‘I once went into the cell of my abba, and found him standing up, praying with his hands stretched towards heaven. He stayed like that for fourteen days. At the end he called me and said, “Come with me.” We went out and went through the desert. I grew thirsty, and said to him, “Abba, I’m thirsty.” He took off his cloak, and went a stone’s throw away; he prayed and brought me the cloak full of water. We went to the city of Lycus, and visited John, and greeted him, and prayed. Then they sat down and began to talk about a vision that they had seen. Bessarion said, ‘The Lord has commanded the destruction of the pagan temples.’ So it was done and they were destroyed.
4. Evagrius said, ‘If your attention falters, pray. As it is written, pray in fear and trembling (cf. Phil. 2:12), earnestly and watchfully. We ought to pray like that, especially because our unseen and wicked enemies are trying to hinder us forcefully.’
5. He also said, ‘When a distracting thought comes into your head, do not cast around here and there about it in your prayer, but simply repent and so you will sharpen your sword against your assailant.’
6. Bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus, of holy memory, was told this by the abbot of his monastery in Palestine. ‘By your prayers we have kept our rule; we carefully observe the offices of terce, sext, none and vespers.’ But Epiphanius rebuked him and said, ‘Then you are failing to pray at other times. The true monk ought to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). He should always be singing psalms in his heart.’
7. Isaiah said, ‘A priest at Pelusium was holding a love-feast: and when the brothers in church were eating and talking, he rebuked them saying, “Be quiet, my brothers. There is one brother eating among you whose prayer is going up to God like a darting flame.” ’
8. 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.’
9. Some monks called Euchites, or ‘men of prayer’, once came to Lucius in the ninth region of Alexandria. He asked them, ‘What manual work do you do?’ They said, ‘We do not work with our hands. We obey St Paul’s command and pray without ceasing’ (1 Thess. 5:17). He said to them, ‘Don’t you eat?’ They said, ‘Yes, we do.’ He said to them: ‘When you are eating who prays for you?’ Then he asked them, ‘Don’t you sleep?’ They said, ‘Yes, we do.’ He said, ‘Who prays for you while you are asleep?’ and they could not answer him. Then he said to them, ‘I may be wrong, brothers, but it seems to me that you don’t do what you say. I will show you how I pray without ceasing although I work with my hands. With God’s help, I sit down with a few palm leaves, and plait them, and say, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great mercy: and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away with mine iniquity’ (Ps. 51:1). He asked them, ‘Is that prayer, or not?’ They said, ‘It’s prayer all right.’ He said, ‘When I spend all day working and praying in my heart, I make about sixteen pence. Two of these I put outside the door, and with the rest I buy food. Whoever finds the two pennies outside the door prays for me while I am eating and sleeping: and so by God’s grace I fulfil the text, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).’
10. Some brothers asked Macarius, ‘How should we pray?’ He said, ‘There is no need to talk much in prayer. Reach out your hands often, and say, “Lord have mercy on me, as you will and as you know.” But if conflict troubles you, say, “Lord, help me.” He knows what is best for us, and has mercy.’
11. They said of Sisois that unless he soon lowered his hands when he stood up to pray, his mind was caught up to heaven. So if he happened to be praying with another brother, he quickly lowered his hands and ended his prayer, so that his mind should not be rapt or cause him to go on praying too long for his brother.
12. A hermit used to say, ‘Ceaseless prayer soon heals the mind.’
13. One of the hermits said, ‘No one can see his face reflected in muddy water; so the soul cannot pray to God with contemplation unless it is first cleansed of harmful thoughts.’
14. A hermit once visited Mount Sinai. When he was going away, a brother met him, and groaned, saying, ‘Abba, we are afflicted by drought. There has been no rain.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you pray and ask God for it?’ He replied, ‘We’ve been praying and asking God constantly, and still there is no rain.’ The hermit said, ‘I don’t think you are praying earnestly enough. Shall we see whether that is the case? Let us stand and pray together.’ He stretched out his hands to heaven and prayed; and at once rain fell. The brother was afraid at the sight, and fell down and worshipped him. But the hermit fled from that place.
15. The brothers told this story: We once visited some hermits, and after the usual prayer we exchanged greetings and sat down. After we had talked with them, we got ready to go, and asked once again for prayers to be said. But one of the hermits said to us, ‘What, haven’t you prayed already?’ We said: ‘Yes, abba, when we came in, we prayed, and since then we have been talking.’ He said, ‘I may be wrong, brothers; but one of you, while he was sitting and talking with you, offered a hundred and three prayers.’ With these words he prayed, and sent us away.