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1. Antony was confused as he meditated upon the depths of God’s judgements, and he asked God, ‘Lord, how is it that some die young and others grow old and sick? Why are there some poor and some rich? Why are there those who are bad and rich and oppress the good poor?’ He heard a voice saying to him, ‘Antony, worry about yourself; these other matters are up to God, and it will not do you any good to know them.’
2. Antony said to Poemen, ‘Our great work is to lay the blame for our sins upon ourselves before God, and to expect to be tempted to our last breath.’
3. Antony also said, ‘I saw the devil’s snares set all over the earth, and I groaned and said, “What can pass through them?” I heard a voice saying, “Humility”.’
4. Once some brothers came to visit Antony, and Joseph was with them. Antony, wanting to test them, began to speak about holy Scripture. He asked the younger monks first the meaning of text after text, and each of them answered as well as he could. To each he said, ‘You have not yet found the right answer.’ Then he said to Joseph, ‘What do you think is the meaning of this word?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know.’ Antony said, ‘Indeed Joseph alone has found the true way, for he said he did not know.’
5. Some demons once came near Arsenius in his cell, and they were troubling him. Then some brothers who usually ministered to him arrived. As they stood outside the cell, they heard him crying aloud to the Lord, ‘Lord, do not leave me, though I have done nothing good in your sight. Grant me, Lord, by your loving kindness, to make at least the first beginnings of good.’
6. They said of Arsenius that while he was in the Emperor’s palace he was the best-dressed person there and while he was leading the life of a monk, no one was clothed in worse rags.
7. Arsenius once asked an old Egyptian monk for advice about his temptations. Another monk who saw this said, ‘Arsenius, how is it that you, who are so learned in Greek and Latin, are asking that uneducated peasant about your temptations?’ He answered, ‘I have a lot of worldly knowledge of Greek and Latin: but I have not yet been able to learn the alphabet of this peasant.’
8. The hermits said that once someone gave the brothers in Scetis a few figs: but because they were so few, they did not give any to Arsenius, for fear he should be offended by the smallness of the present. When he heard of this, he did not go out as usual to the service with the brothers, and said, ‘You have excommunicated me, by not giving me the food which the Lord sent to the brothers; it was because I was not worthy to receive it.’ They were edified by his humility, and the priest took him some of the figs, and brought him back to the congregation content.
9. They used to say of Arsenius that no one could understand the depths of his monastic life. Once when he was living in Lower Egypt, and suffering from importunate visitors, he decided to leave his cell. He took nothing with him, and said to his disciples, Alexander and Zoilus, ‘Alexander, you go on board a ship, and you, Zoilus, come with me to the Nile and find me a little boat that is sailing to Alexandria, and then go and join your brother.’ Zoilus was sad at this, but said nothing, and so they parted. Arsenius went down to the district near Alexandria, and there fell gravely ill. His disciples said to each other, ‘Do you think one of us has upset him? Is that why he has left us?’ They examined themselves, but could not see any way in which they had been ungrateful to him, or had ever disobeyed him. When Arsenius had recovered from his illness, he said to himself, ‘I will go back to my brothers.’ So he went to the place called Petra, where Alexander and Zoilus, his servants, were. While he was by the river bank, he met an Ethiopian girl, who came up and touched his cloak. He rebuked her but she said, ‘If you are a monk, go to the mountain.’ At these words he was stricken to the heart, and said to himself, ‘Arsenius, if you are a monk, go to the mountain.’ On the way his disciples Alexander and Zoilus met him, and fell at his feet. Arsenius also threw himself on the ground, and they all wept. Then Arsenius said, ‘Didn’t you hear that I was ill?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, we heard about it.’ He said, ‘Then why didn’t you come to see me?’ Alexander said, ‘We were upset by your going away from us, for many people were shocked about it, and said, “They must have disobeyed the hermit or surely he would not have left them.” ’ The hermit said to them, ‘Yes, I knew that would be said. But now it shall be said, “The dove found rest for her foot, and so returned to Noah in the ark.” ’ The feelings of his disciples were healed by this, and they stayed with him to the end of his life. When he lay dying they were very distressed. He said to them, ‘The hour is not yet come, but when it does come I will tell you. You will be judged with me before the judgement seat of Christ, if you let anyone else touch my dead body.’ They said, ‘Whatever shall we do? We don’t know how to clothe or bury a dead body.’ Then Arsenius said, ‘I suppose you know enough to tie a rope to my leg and pull me up the mountain?’ When he was about to commit his soul to God, they saw him weeping, and said, ‘Abba, are even you afraid of death?’ He said, ‘Yes, indeed. The fear which possesses me now has been with me since I became a monk: and I am very much afraid.’ So he slept in peace. Arsenius always used to say this, ‘Why, words, did I let you get out? I have often been sorry that I have spoken, never that I have been silent.’ When Poemen heard that Arsenius had departed this life, he wept, and said, ‘You are blessed, Arsenius; for you wept for yourself in this world. Whoever does not weep for himself in this world, shall lament for ever in the next. We cannot escape lamentation; if we do not lament here of our own will, we shall later be forced to lament against our will.’
10. Daniel said of Arsenius that he never wanted to discuss any question about Scripture, though he was wonderful at expounding it when he wanted to, and that he was very reluctant to write anyone a letter. When from time to time he came to the meeting in church, he sat behind a pillar so that no one should see his face, and so he himself should not be distracted. Like Jacob, he looked like an angel, having white hair, a man lovely to look at, yet somewhat dried up. He had a long beard that reached down to his waist: his eyes were dim with constant weeping: and although he was tall, his body was bent. He died at the age of ninety-five. He lived for forty years in the palace of the Emperor Theodosius the Great of holy memory, the father of Arcadius and Honorius, then he lived for forty years in Scetis, ten years in the place called Troe, above Babylon, near the city of Memphis, and three years in Canopus near Alexandria. Then he returned to Troe for two more years, and there ended his life in peace and the fear of God. He was ‘a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith’ (Acts 11:24).
11. John told this story. Anub and Poemen and some others who were born of the same mother were monks in Scetis. Some savage Mazicae came and sacked Scetis. The brothers fled and went to a place called Terenuthis; they stayed a few days there in an old temple while they discussed where to live. Anub said to Poemen, ‘Of your kindness, let me live apart from you and our brothers, so that we do not see each other during this week.’ Poemen said, ‘Let us do as you wish,’ so that is what they did. There was a stone statue in the temple. Every day at dawn Anub got up and pelted the face of the statue with stones and every day at evening he said to it, ‘Forgive me.’ Every day for a week he did this: and on Saturday they met again. Poemen said to Anub, ‘I saw you throwing stones at the face of the statue every day this week, and later doing penance to the statue. A true Christian would not have done that.’ Anub answered, ‘I did it for your sake. When you saw me throwing stones at the statue’s face, did it speak? Was it angry?’ Poemen said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘When I did penance before the statue, was it moved in its heart? Did it say, “I won’t forgive you?” ’ Poemen answered, ‘No.’ Anub said, ‘Here we are, seven brothers. If we want to stay together, we must become like this statue, which is untroubled by the injuries done it. If you will not become like this statue, see, there are four doors to this temple, and each of us may go in the direction he chooses.’ At these words they fell upon the ground before Anub, and said to him, ‘Let it be as you say, abba. We will do what you tell us.’ Poemen described what happened afterwards. ‘We remained together all our lives, doing our work and everything else as Anub directed us. He appointed one of us as a steward, and we ate whatever he put before us; no one could have said: “Bring something else to eat,” or “I will not eat that.” So we passed our lives in quiet and peace.’
12. They said of Ammon that some people asked him to arbitrate in their quarrel but the hermit took no notice of them. So a woman said to her neighbour, ‘What a fool this hermit is!’ Ammon heard her; and called her, and said, ‘You can’t imagine how hard I have tried in different deserts to be thought of as a fool! But now that you have recognized that it is part of my nature to be foolish you have made all my efforts to pretend to folly pointless.’
13. There was a bishop of the city of Oxyrhynchus called Affy. They said that while he was a monk, he treated his body very severely. When he became a bishop, he wanted to continue in his city the austerities that he had practised in the desert, but he could not. So he fell prostrate before God and said, ‘Do you think, my Lord, that your grace has left me because I have become a bishop?’ He was answered, ‘No, but in the desert you had no man to help you, and God alone sustained you. Now you are in the world, and have men to help you.’
14. Daniel said that in Babylon there was a nobleman’s daughter, who was possessed by a devil. Her father asked a monk for help. The monk said to him, ‘No one can cure your daughter except some hermits I know: and if you go to them, they will refuse to do it from motives of humility. Let us do it this way: when they come to the city bringing their produce for sale, tell them that you want to buy what they have. When they come into the house to receive the money, we will ask them to pray, and I believe that your daughter will be cured.’ So they went into the street, and found a disciple of a hermit who was sitting there to sell his baskets. They took him back with them to the house, as if to give him the money for his wares. When the monk came into the house, the girl who was troubled with the demon went up to him and slapped him. He followed the Lord’s commandment, and turned to her the other cheek. The demon was forced out, and began to cry: ‘Violence! The commandment of Jesus Christ is driving me out;’ the girl was healed at that moment. When they came back to the hermit, they told him what had happened, and he glorified God, saying, ‘The pride of devils must fall before humble obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ.’
15. Evagrius said, ‘To go against self is the beginning of salvation.’
16. Serapion said, ‘I have afflicted my body far more than my son Zacharias, but I cannot equal his humility or his silence.’
17. Moses said to brother Zacharias, ‘Tell me what to do.’ At these words Zacharias threw himself at his feet, saying, ‘Why ask me, abba?’ The hermit said, ‘I tell you, my son Zacharias, I saw the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and so I cannot avoid asking you.’ Then Zacharias took his cowl from his head, and put it beneath his feet and stamped on it, and said, ‘Unless a man stamps upon self like that, he cannot be a monk.’
18. Poemen said, ‘Moses asked the monk Zacharias, who was dying, “What can you see?” He said, “Nothing better than being silent, abba.” Moses said, “Indeed, my son, keep silent.” At the moment of his death Isidore looked up to heaven, and said, “Rejoice, my son Zacharias, for the gates of the kingdom of heaven are opened to you.”
19. Theophilus of holy memory, the bishop of Alexandria, once went to the mount of Nitria, and a hermit of Nitria came to see him. The bishop said, ‘What have you discovered in your life, abba?’ The hermit answered, ‘To blame myself unceasingly.’ The bishop said, ‘That is the only way to follow.’
20. When Theodore was eating with the brothers, they received the cup with silent reverence, and did not follow the usual custom of receiving the cup with ‘Excuse me’. Theodore said, ‘The monks have lost their manners and do not say “Excuse me”.’
21. They said of Theodore that, after he was ordained deacon in Scetis, he refused to minister in the services but escaped to various places to avoid having to do so. The hermits brought him back, and said, ‘Do not desert your ministry.’ Theodore said to them, ‘Let me go, and I will pray to God. If he shows me that I ought to act as a minister, I will do so.’ He prayed to God saying, ‘Show me, Lord, if it is your will that I minister as a deacon.’ There appeared a pillar of fire between earth and heaven, and a voice was heard saying, ‘If you can become like this pillar, go, and exercise your ministry.’ When he heard this, he determined never to exercise his ministry. When he came back to the church, they did penance before him, and said, ‘If you do not want to take part in the service, at least hold the chalice.’ But he refused, saying, ‘If you do not let me alone, I will leave this place entirely.’ So they let him alone.
22. He also said, ‘Humility and the fear of God surpass all the other virtues.’ ‘The gateway is humility: our predecessors suffered much and therefore entered heaven joyfully.’
23. John of the Thebaid said, ‘Above all a monk should be humble. For this is the Saviour’s first commandment, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).’
24. The brothers in Scetis once met and began to discuss Melchizedek the priest, but they forgot to ask Copres to come. Later, they summoned him and asked him what he thought about the question. He struck his mouth three times and said, ‘Alas for you, Copres. You have left undone what God commanded you to do, and you have dared to inquire into things that he did not ask of you.’ At these words the brothers scattered, each to his own cell.
25. Macarius once told this story about himself: When I was a young man, and living in my cell in Egypt, they caught me, and made me a cleric in a village. Because I did not want to minister, I fled to another place. A man of the world, but of a devout life, came to help me, and took what I made with my hands and ministered to my needs. It happened that a girl of the village was tempted by the devil and seduced. When she was seen to be pregnant, she was asked who was the father of the child and she said, ‘It was this hermit who slept with me.’ They came out, arrested me, and brought me back to the village; they hung dirty pots and jug handles on my neck, and made me walk round the village, beating me as I went, and saying, ‘This monk has seduced our girl. Away with him, away with him.’ They beat me until I was almost dead but another hermit came and said, ‘How long have you been beating that stranger monk?’ The man who used to minister to my needs followed behind, much ashamed, and they heaped insults on him, saying, ‘You supported this hermit, and look what he has done.’ The parents of the girl said that they would not let me go unless I found someone to guarantee her support. I spoke to the man who used to minister to me and asked him to be my guarantor, and he gave a pledge on my behalf. I went back to my cell, and I gave him all the baskets I had, and said, ‘Sell them, and give my wife some food.’ Then I said to myself, ‘Macarius, since you have found a wife for yourself, you need to work much harder to support her.’ So I worked night and day and passed on to her the money that I made. When it was time for the unfortunate girl to bear a child, she spent many days in labour, and still did not produce the baby. They said to her, ‘What’s the matter?’ She said, ‘I know why I am in agony so long.’ Her parents asked her why. She said, ‘I accused that hermit falsely, for he had nothing to do with it; the father is a young man named so-and-so.’ The man who ministered to me heard this, and came to me with joy saying, ‘The girl could not bear her child, until she confessed that you had nothing to do with it and that she had told lies about you. Look, all the villagers want to come to your cell and glorify God, and ask your pardon.’ When I heard this, I did not want them to trouble me, so I rose and fled here to Scetis. That was why I began to live here.
26. Macarius was once returning to his cell from the marsh carrying palm leaves. The devil met him by the way, with a sickle, and wanted to run him through with it but he could not. The devil said, ‘Macarius, I suffer a lot of violence from you, for I can’t overcome you. For whatever you do, I do also. If you fast, I eat nothing; if you keep watch, I get no sleep. There is only one quality in which you surpass me.’ Macarius said to him, ‘What is that?’ The devil answered, ‘Your humility; that is why I cannot prevail against you.’
27. Mathois once went from Raythu to the country of Gebalon, and his brother was with him. The bishop of Gebalon came to him, and ordained him priest. At supper the bishop said, ‘Forgive me, abba. I know that you did not want to be ordained: but I dared to do it so that you would give me your blessing.’ The hermit said humbly, ‘It is true that I did not much want ordination, but I am more upset by the fact that I must be divided from my brother who is with me, for by myself I cannot offer all the prayers that we do together.’ The bishop said, ‘If you know that he is a worthy person, I will ordain him too.’ Mathois said, ‘Whether he is worthy I do not know but one thing I do know, that is that he is better than I am.’ So the bishop ordained his brother too. When they died neither of them had offered the sacrifice at the altar. The hermit said, ‘I trust God, that perhaps he will not judge me hardly for my ordination, provided I do not dare to consecrate the offering. For such consecration is the duty of men who live innocently.’
28. Mathois said, ‘The nearer a man comes to God, the more he sees himself to be a sinner. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord and knew himself to be wretched and unclean (Is. 6:5).’
29. They said of Moses that when he was ordained, they put the pall on his shoulders. The archbishop said to him, ‘Look at that, here you are clothed in white and ready for your ordination, Moses.’ He answered, ‘White outside, Lord Bishop, or white inside, do you think?’ The archbishop, wishing to test him, said to the clergy, ‘When Moses comes to the altar, turn him away but follow him and listen to what he says.’ They began to drive him from the church, saying, ‘Get out, Ethiopian.’ As he went out, he said to himself, ‘You thing of dust and ashes, they have done you a good turn. You are not a man, how dare you remain in the company of men?’
30. While Poemen was living in a 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” (Ps. 73:22–23).’
31. They told this story of Olympius in Scetis. He was a slave, and each year went down to Alexandria carrying what he had earned to his masters. They met him, and greeted him. Olympius put water in a basin and brought it to wash his masters’ feet. But they said to him, ‘No, abba, please do not lay such a burden on us.’ He answered, ‘I confess that I am your slave: and I am grateful that you have let me go free to serve God. So I still wash your feet, and here is what I have earned.’ They refused to accept it. He said, ‘Very well, if you will not accept my earnings, I shall stay here and be your slave again.’ They revered him, and gave him leave to do what he wanted. They brought him back to the desert with honour, and gave him what he needed to make a love-feast on their behalf, and he was renowned in Scetis.
32. Poemen said, ‘We ought always to be absorbing humility and the fear of God, as our nostrils breathe air in and out.’
33. A brother asked Poemen, ‘How ought I to behave in my cell in the place where I live?’ He answered, ‘Be as prudent as a stranger; and wherever you are, do not expect your words to be taken seriously when you speak, and you will find peace.’
34. He also said, ‘The tools of the soul are these: to cast oneself down in God’s sight; not to lift oneself up; and to put self-will behind one.’
35. He also said, ‘Do not be proud of yourself, but stay with anyone who is living a good life.’
36. He also said, ‘A brother asked Alonius, “What is humility?” The hermit said, “To be lower than brute beasts and to know that they are not condemned.” ’
37. He also said, ‘Humility is the ground on which the Lord ordered the sacrifice to be offered.’
38. He also said, ‘If a man stays in his own place, he will not be troubled.’
39. He also said, ‘Once when the monks were sitting down to eat, Alonius stood and waited on them: and when they saw it, they praised him. But he said not a word. So one of them whispered to him, “Why do you not answer when the brothers praise you?” Alonius said, “If I answer them, I will be pleased that I have been praised.” ’
40. Joseph told this story: Once when we were sitting with Poemen, he talked about ‘abba’ Agatho. We said to him: ‘He is a young man, why do you call him abba?’ Poemen said, ‘His speech is such that we must call him “abba”.’
41. They said of Poemen that he never wanted to cap the saying of others, but always praised what had been said.
42. Once Theophilus of holy memory, the archbishop of Alexandria, came to Scetis. The brothers gathered together and said to Pambo, ‘Speak to the bishop, that he may be edified.’ Pambo replied, ‘If he is not edified by my silence, my speech certainly will not edify him.’
43. A brother named Pystus told this story: Seven of us hermits went to Sisois, who was living in the island of Clysmatus. When we asked him to give us a word, he answered, ‘I’m afraid I’m very ignorant. But I once went to see Hor and Athrem when Hor had been ill for eighteen years. I began to beg them to speak a word to me. Hor said, “What can I say to you? Go and do whatever you think right. God is the God of the man who extracts from himself more than he can do, and carries all by violence.” These men, Hor and Athrem, were not from the same province. But there was much love between them until their death. Athrem was a man of perfect obedience, Hor of great humility. I spent a few days with them, observing their virtues; and I saw Athrem do a wonderful thing. Someone brought them a little fish, and Athrem wanted to prepare it for his brother, Hor. So Athrem took a knife and cut into the fish: but at that moment Hor called him, “Athrem, Athrem.” He left the knife in the middle of the fish and did not finish the cut but ran to Hor. I was astonished at his obedience, and that he did not say, “Wait until I have cut up this fish.” So I said to Athrem, “Where did you learn such obedience?” He answered me, “It is not mine: it is his.” He said, “Come and see his obedience.” He intentionally cooked some fish badly, and put a piece in front of Hor; he ate it without saying a word. Athrem said, “Was it good, abba?” He answered, “Very good.” Then he brought him another piece, very well cooked, and said, “Look here, I have ruined it, abba, by cooking it badly.” Hor answered, “Yes, you have cooked it rather badly.” Athrem turned to me and said, “Did you see his obedience?” I left them and ever since I have tried, as far as I could, to practise what I saw.’ All this was told the brothers by Sisois. One of us asked him, ‘Please, speak a word to us.’ He said, ‘Whoever has limitless knowledge understands the Scriptures perfectly.’ Another of us asked him, ‘What is pilgrimage, abba?’ He answered, ‘To keep silent: and wherever you go say, “I am at peace with all men”: that is pilgrimage.’
44. A brother once came to Sisois on the mountain of Antony, and as they were talking he said to Sisois, ‘Have you reached the stature of Antony yet, abba?’ He answered, ‘If I had a single thought like Antony, I should leap toward heaven like a flame. But I know myself to be someone who can only with an effort keep his thoughts in check.’
45. The same brother asked him, ‘Do you think Satan persecuted the men of old as he persecutes us?’ Sisois said, ‘More, for now his doom has drawn nearer, and he is weakened.’
46. Some others came to hear a word from Sisois. He said nothing to them, but kept repeating, ‘Forgive me.’ They saw his baskets, and said to his disciple, Abraham, ‘What are you doing with those baskets?’ He answered, ‘We sell them now and then.’ Sisois heard this and said, ‘And so Sisois eats now and then.’ They were very edified at his humility, and went away happy.
47. A brother said to Sisois, ‘I look into my own mind and I see that it is recollected and intent upon God.’ Sisois said to him, ‘It is nothing special that your mind should be with God. The great thing is to see yourself to be lower than every created being. Bodily toil will put that right, and lead you on the way to humility.’
48. Syncletica of blessed memory said, ‘A ship cannot be built without nails and no one can be saved without humility.’
49. Hyperichius said, ‘The tree of life is high, and humility climbs it.’
50. He also said, ‘Imitate the publican, to prevent yourself being condemned with the Pharisee. Follow the gentleness of Moses, and hollow out the rocky places of your heart, so that you turn them into springs of water.’
51. Orsisius said, ‘If you put a piece of unbaked tiling in a building with a river nearby, it does not last a day. If it is baked, it is as good as stone. So it is with those of worldly wisdom, who are not proved by the word of God, as Joseph was proved at his beginning. To live among men is to be tempted often. It is good that a man should know his weakness, and not pick up too heavy a burden at first. But those of strong faith cannot be moved. Take the life of the patriarch Joseph and see what grievous temptations he suffered in a country where there was no trace of the true worship of God. But the God of his fathers was with him, and kept him safe in every trial, and he is now with his fathers in the kingdom of heaven. So let us own our weakness, and struggle onward. It is hard for us to escape the judgement of God.’
52. There was an old hermit in the desert who said to himself that he was perfectly virtuous. He prayed to God and said, ‘Show me what makes me perfect, and I will do it.’ But God wanted to humble him, and said, ‘Go to that archimandrite, and do what he tells you.’ God gave a revelation to the archimandrite, before the hermit came, and said, ‘A hermit is soon coming to see you. Tell him to take a whip and go and herd your swine.’ The hermit arrived, knocked at the door, and went to see the archimandrite; they greeted each other, and sat down. The hermit said, ‘Tell me what I must do to be saved.’ The archimandrite said, ‘Will you do what I tell you?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ The archimandrite said, ‘Take this whip and go and herd the swine.’ When those who knew the hermit and his reputation saw that he had gone to be a swineherd, they said, ‘Look at that hermit who had won such a great reputation. Look what he is doing. He has gone mad, and is troubled by a demon, and is herding swine.’ But God looked on his humility, and saw how he bore these insults with patience, and told him to go back to his cell.
53. A demoniac, frothing terribly at the mouth, struck an old hermit on the jaw, and he turned the other cheek. This humility tortured the demon like flames, and drove him out there and then.
54. A hermit said to a brother, ‘When a proud or vain thought enters your mind, examine your conscience to see if you are keeping God’s commandments; ask yourself if you love your enemies; if you rejoice in your enemy’s triumph, and if you are sad at his downfall; do you know yourself to be an unprofitable servant and a sinner beyond all others? But not even then must you think that you have corrected all your faults; to entertain such a thought as that would undo all the other good you have done.’
55. A hermit said to a brother, ‘Do not measure yourself against your brother, saying that you are more serious or more chaste or more understanding than he is. But be obedient to the grace of God, in the spirit of poverty, and in love unfeigned. The efforts of a man swollen with vanity are futile. It is written, “Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12); “let your speech be seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6) and so you will be dependent upon Christ.’
56. A hermit said, ‘He who is praised and honoured above what he deserves suffers grievous loss. He who receives no honour at all among men, shall be glorified hereafter.’
57. A brother asked a hermit, ‘Is it good to be always repenting?’ He answered, ‘We have seen Joshua the son of Nun; it was when he was lying prostrate on his face that God appeared to him’ (cf. Josh. 5:14).
58. A hermit was asked why we are troubled by demons and he answered, ‘Because we throw away our armour, that is, humility, poverty, patience and men’s scorn.’
59. A brother asked a hermit, ‘If a brother brings me gossip from the world, abba, shall I tell him not to tell it to me?’ The hermit said, ‘No.’ The brother said, ‘Why?’ The hermit answered, ‘Because we cannot stop ourselves doing the same. We should find ourselves doing what we are telling our neighbour not to do.’ The brother said, ‘Then what is best?’ He answered, ‘If we could keep silence, that would be better for us and for our neighbour as well.’
60. A hermit was asked, ‘What is humility?’ He said, ‘It is if you forgive a brother who has wronged you before he is sorry.’
61. A hermit said, ‘In every trial do not blame other people but blame yourself, saying, “This has happened to me because of my sins.” ’
62. A hermit said, ‘I never push myself up above my station; and I am untroubled when I am put in a low place. All the time I try to pray God to strip me of my unregenerate nature.’
63. A brother asked a hermit, ‘What is humility?’ He answered, ‘To do good to them that do evil to you.’ The brother said, ‘Suppose a man cannot attain that standard, what is he to do?’ The hermit answered, ‘He should run away, and choose silence.’
64. A brother asked a hermit, ‘What is the work of pilgrimage?’ He said, ‘I know a monk who was on pilgrimage and came into a church where a love-feast was being held, and he sat down to eat with the monks. But some of them said, “Who brought that man in here?” They said to him, “Get out of here.” He rose from the table and went out. But some of the others were sorry that he had been driven away and went out and brought him back. Then someone asked him, “How did you feel when you were driven out and then brought back?” He said, “I thought that I was no better than a dog, and a dog goes out when he is chased out and comes back when he is called.” ’
65. Some people once came to a hermit in the Thebaid to ask him to cure a demoniac whom they brought with them. After the hermit had been asked to do this for some time, he said to the demon, ‘Go out of God’s creature.’ The demon answered, ‘I will, but first let me ask you a question; tell me, who are the goats and who are the sheep?’ The hermit said, ‘The goats are people like myself; who the sheep are, God alone knows.’ The demon shouted aloud at the words, crying, ‘Look here, I am going out because of your humility,’ and he went out at that moment.
66. An Egyptian monk was living in the suburbs of Constantinople: and when the Emperor Theodosius II passed that way he left his train of courtiers and came unattended to the cell. The monk opened the door to his knock, and at once recognized that he was the Emperor, but he received him as though he was only one of the imperial guards. When he had come in, they prayed together and sat down. The Emperor began to ask him, ‘How are the hermits in Egypt?’ He answered, ‘They are all praying for your salvation.’ The Emperor looked round the cell to see if he had any food, and saw nothing except a basket with a little bread, and a flagon of water. The monk said to him, ‘Will you take a little to eat?’ He put the bread in front of him, and mixed oil and salt, and gave him that to eat and drink. The Emperor said to him, ‘Do you know who I am?’ He said, ‘God knows who you are.’ The Emperor said, ‘I am the Emperor Theodosius.’ The monk at once fell down before him and did humble obeisance. The Emperor said, ‘Blessed are you, for you have an untroubled life, without thought of the world. I tell you truly, I was born an emperor and I have never enjoyed bread and water as I have today: I have eaten with real pleasure.’ He began to do honour to the monk, so the hermit went out, and fled back to Egypt.
67. The hermits said, ‘We become more humbled when we are tempted, because God, knowing our weakness, protects us. But if we boast of our own strength, he takes away his protection, and we are lost.’
68. The devil appeared to a monk disguised as an angel of light, and said to him, ‘I am the angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to you.’ But the monk said, ‘Are you sure you weren’t sent to someone else? I am not worthy to have an angel sent to me.’ At that the devil vanished.
69. The hermits said, ‘If an angel really appears to you, do not accept it as a matter of course, but humble yourself, and say, “I live in my sins and am not worthy to see an angel.”’
70. They said of another hermit, that while he was undergoing temptation in his cell, he saw the demons face to face, and despised them. The devil, seeing himself overcome, came and showed himself, saying, ‘I am Christ.’ The hermit looked at him, and then shut his eyes. The devil said, ‘I am Christ, why have you shut your eyes?’ The hermit answered, ‘I do not want to see Christ in this life, but in the next.’ The devil vanished at these words.
71. The demons, wanting to tempt a hermit, said to him, ‘Would you like to see Christ?’ He said, ‘A curse be upon you and him by whom you speak. I believe my Christ when He said, “If anyone says to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘Lo, there,’ do not believe him” (Matt. 24:23).’ They vanished at the words.
72. They said of a hermit that he went on fasting for seventy weeks, eating a meal only once a week. He asked God the meaning of a text of the holy Scriptures and God did not reveal it to him. So he said to himself, ‘I have worked hard and gained nothing. I will go to my brother and ask him.’ Just as he had shut his door on the way out, an angel of the Lord was sent to him; and the angel said, ‘The seventy weeks of your fast have not brought you near to God but now you are humbled and going to your brother, I have been sent to show you the meaning of the text.’ He explained to him what he had asked, and went away.
73. A hermit said, ‘If anyone, in humility and the fear of God, orders a monk to do something, the very word, spoken for God’s sake, makes the monk ready, and obedient to the command. But if he gives the command because he wants to give orders, if he sets himself up as an authority and seeks power over the monk, and does not give a command in the fear of God, God sees the secrets of the heart and does not let the monk obey him. Everyone knows whether his orders are from God or from self-will and desire for power. An order from God is given with humility and gentleness; an order given out of a desire for power is done with anger and anxiety, for it is of the devil.’
74. A hermit said, ‘I would rather be defeated and humble than win and be proud.’
75. A hermit said, ‘Do not ignore your neighbour for you do not know whether God’s Spirit is in you or in him. I tell you that your servant is your neighbour.’
76. A brother asked a hermit, ‘If I live with other monks, and see something wrong, do you want me to say something about it?’ The hermit replied, ‘If some are older than you, or your contemporaries, you will have more peace of mind in keeping silent for you will find peace in putting yourself below the others.’ The brother said to him, ‘How can I do that, abba? For my thoughts would trouble me.’ The hermit said to him, ‘If you are worrying about the matter, offer a piece of advice, once, with humility. If they do not listen to you, leave what you have done in God’s sight, and He will help you. In this way the worshipper of God lays himself before God, and does not follow his self-will. But take care that your anxiety be of God. In any case, as far as I can see, it is good to be silent, for silence is humility.’
77. A brother asked a hermit, ‘What is the way to make progress?’ The hermit answered, ‘Humility. The more we bend ourselves to humility, the more we are lifted up to make progress.’
78. A hermit said, ‘If anyone says “Forgive me”, and humbles himself, he burns up the demons that tempt him.’
79. A hermit said, ‘Even if you have succeeded in the habit of keeping silent, you should not have that in you as though it was a kind of virtue, but say: “I am not worthy to speak.” ’
80. Another hermit said: ‘Unless the miller blindfolds the donkey in the treadmill, it will turn round and eat the corn. God has mercifully blindfolded us, so that we cannot see the good that we do, for then we should perhaps praise ourselves and lose our reward. That is why we are left for a time with bad thoughts, so that when we see them, we judge and condemn ourselves. Those very thoughts are the cloth that blindfolds us and prevents goodness from being seen. When a man accuses himself, he does not lose his reward.’
81. A hermit said, ‘I would learn rather than teach.’ He also said, ‘Do not teach too early, or you will have less understanding during the rest of your life.’
82. A hermit was asked, ‘What is humility?’ He answered, ‘Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour, and believe yourself a sinner, and make yourself the servant of all.’ A brother said, ‘What does it mean, to be the servant of all?’ He answered, ‘To be the servant of all is not to look at the sins of others, always to look at your own sins, and to pray to God without ceasing.’
83. A brother asked a hermit, ‘Tell me one thing, that I may keep it and live by it.’ He said, ‘If you can suffer injury and endure, this is a great thing, it is above all virtues.’
84. A hermit said, ‘He who bears scorn and injury and loss with patience, can be saved.’
85. A hermit said, ‘Do not take much notice of your abba, and do not often go to see him; for you will get confidence from it, and start to want to be a leader yourself.’
86. A brother took it upon himself to accept any charge made against his community, so that he even accused himself of fornication. Some of the monks, who did not know the truth about his life, began to murmur against him, saying, ‘This man does much wickedness and no work.’ The abbot, knowing the truth, said to the brothers, ‘I would rather have one of his mats with humility than all your mats with pride.’ To show the kind of person the monk was in God’s sight, he brought all the mats that the monks had made, and the one mat made by the monk of whom they were complaining. He brought a lighted brand, and threw it into the pile of mats. All the mats were burnt except the mat of this monk, which was untouched. The brothers were afraid at the sight, and apologized to him, and thereafter treated him as a father.
87. A hermit was asked how it was that some people said they had seen angels. He answered, ‘Blessed is he who always sees his own sins.’
88. A brother learnt that another brother was angry with him, and went to make it up but the other did not open the door of his cell. So he went to a hermit, and told him about it. The hermit said, ‘See that you have no reason, which looks like a just reason, in your heart for blaming your brother: as though you would accuse him and justify yourself, for if so God will not touch his heart to open the door to you. I tell you this: even if he has sinned against you, think in your heart that you have sinned against him; justify your brother rather than yourself and then God will put it into his heart to make peace with you.’
He told him the following story: There were two devout men, living in the world; and after talking with each other they went out and became monks. Wanting to equal the precept in the Gospel, but not according to knowledge, they castrated themselves, as if it was for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The archbishop heard of it and excommunicated them. They believed that they had done what was right, and were indignant with the archbishop saying, ‘We castrated ourselves for the kingdom of heaven, and he excommunicates us? Let us go and persuade the archbishop of Jerusalem to contradict him.’ They went and told everything to the archbishop of Jerusalem. He said, ‘I also excommunicate you.’ Even more aggrieved, they went to the archbishop of Antioch, and told him everything: and he excommunicated them likewise. So they said, ‘Let us go to see the patriarch at Rome, and he will vindicate us from all these others.’ So they went to the Pope of Rome and put before him what the other archbishops had done, saying, ‘We have come to you, as you are the head of all.’ But he also said to them, ‘I also excommunicate you and you are put out of the church.’ Then these excommunicated persons had no further excuse and said to each other, ‘These bishops defer to each other, and reach agreement because they meet in synods. Let us go to that holy man of God, Epiphanius, the bishop in Cyprus, for he is a prophet, and takes no account of anyone’s rank.’ As they were approaching his city, he received a revelation about them, and sent to meet them, saying, ‘Do not enter this city.’ Then they came to their senses and said, ‘In fact we are rightly blamed; why are we going on trying to justify ourselves? Even supposing the archbishops excommunicated us unjustly, that cannot be true of this prophet, for he has received a revelation about us.’ They blamed themselves greatly for what they had done. So God, who sees men’s hearts, revealed to Epiphanius the bishop that they had accepted how guilty they were for the truth’s sake. So, of his own initiative he sent and brought them back, and comforted them, and received them back into communion. He wrote to the archbishop of Alexandria about them, saying, ‘Receive back your children, for they have done penance in truth.’ The hermit who told the story added, ‘This is truth and obedience to God’s will, to cast oneself before God with confession of sin.’ At these words the brother obeyed his words, and went and knocked on the other monk’s door. As soon as the other learnt who it was, he spoke penitently, and opened the door at once; they kissed each other with sincerity and perfect peace was established.
89. Two monks, siblings, lived together, and the devil wanted to cause division between them. The younger one lit a lamp and put it on the lampstand. The demon played a trick and upset the lampstand. The elder brother was angry and beat his younger brother. But the younger apologized and said, ‘Be patient with me, brother, and I will light it again.’ Suddenly the power of the Lord came and tortured that demon until morning. So the demon told his chief, a pagan priest, what had happened. The pagan priest went out and became a monk; and from the start of his religious life he kept to humility, saying, ‘Humility breaks the power of the enemy. I know, for I have heard them saying, “When we tempt the monks, one of them will turn to God in penitence, and that destroys our power.” ’