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1. Antony said, ‘Now I no longer fear God, I love him, for love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).’
2. He also said, ‘Our life and our death are with our neighbour. If we do good to our neighbour, we do good to God; if we cause our neighbour to stumble, we sin against Christ.’
3. Amoun of Nitria came to Antony, and said to him, ‘I see that I have more to suffer than you; how is it that your reputation among men is greater than mine?’ Antony said, ‘It is because I love God more than you do.’
4. Hilarion once came from Palestine to Antony on the mountain: and Antony said to him, ‘Welcome, morning star, for you rise at break of day.’ Hilarion said, ‘Peace be to you, pillar of light, for you sustain the world.’
5. Mark said to Arsenius, ‘Why do you go away from us?’ He replied, ‘God knows I love you. But I cannot be with God and with men. The countless hosts of angels have only a single will, while men have many wills. So I cannot leave God, and be with men.’
6. Agatho said, ‘I tried never to go to sleep while I kept a grievance against anyone. Nor did I let anyone go to sleep while he had a grievance against me.’
7. Once when John was going up from Scetis with other monks, their guide lost his way in the night. The brothers said to John, ‘What shall we do, abba, to prevent ourselves from dying in the desert, now that this brother has lost the way?’ John said, ‘If we say anything to him, he will be upset, so I will pretend I am worn out, and say I can’t walk any further, and must stay here till daylight.’ He did so and the others said, ‘We won’t go on either, we’ll stay with you here.’ They stayed there till dawn, so that they should not blame the monk who had guided them wrongly.
8. Before Poemen went to Egypt, there was a hermit there who was very famous. But when Poemen came up from Scetis with his monks, the people left this hermit in favour of Poemen. The hermit was jealous, and criticized Poemen and his group. When Poemen heard this, he was sorry, and said to his monks, ‘What can we do about this hermit? These people have made us suffer, by leaving him and visiting us who are nobody. How can we soothe his mind?’ He said to them, ‘Make something to eat, and take a little jug of wine; we will go and eat with him, perhaps we’ll be able to heal his mind.’ So they took the bread that they had made ready, and went to the hermit’s cell. When they knocked, his disciple answered the door, and said, ‘Who are you?’ They said, ‘Tell the abba, “Poemen is here, and he wants to be blessed by you.” ’ The disciple told the hermit, who returned the message, ‘Go away, I am busy.’ But they persevered and said, ‘We won’t go away till we have had the hermit’s blessing.’ Seeing their perseverance and their humility, the hermit was stricken with remorse and opened the door to them. They went in and ate with him. While they were having supper, the hermit said, ‘Indeed, I have heard less than the truth about you. I see that you do a hundredfold more than I was told.’ So he became their friend from that moment.
9. Poemen said, ‘Try, so far as you can, to wrong no man, and keep your heart pure towards everyone.’
10. He also said, ‘There is no greater love than that you should lay down your life for your neighbour. When you hear a complaint against you and you struggle with yourself, and do not begin to complain in return, when you bear an injury with patience and do not look for revenge, that is when you lay down your life for your neighbour.’
11. Pambo once happened to be travelling in Egypt with some monks. He saw some men from the world sitting down, and said to them, ‘Get up, give a greeting, and kiss the monks that you may be blessed. For they often talk with God, and their mouths are holy.’
12. Paphnutius is said to have seldom drunk wine but once on a journey he came upon a meeting-place of robbers while they were drinking. The chief of the robber band recognized him and knew that he would not drink wine, but he saw that he was tired out. So he filled a cup with wine, held a naked sword in his other hand, and said, ‘If you don’t drink, I’ll kill you.’ Paphnutius knew that the robber chieftain was trying to obey the commandment of God: and in his desire to help him, he took the cup and drank. Then the robber chieftain did penance before him, and said, ‘I’m sorry, abba, that I grieved you.’ The hermit said to him, ‘I believe that because of this cup my God will have mercy upon you in this world and the next.’ The robber chieftain replied, ‘I believe in God and from now on I’ll harm no one.’ The hermit won over the whole band of robbers, because for God’s sake he let himself fall into their power.
13. Hyperichius said, ‘Snatch your neighbour from his sins, so far as you can, and refrain from condemning him, for God does not reject those who turn to him. Let no evil word about your brother stay in your mind, so that you can say, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors” (Mt. 7:12).’
14. Two monks were in Cellia. One of them was an old man, and asked the younger, ‘Let’s stay together, my brother.’ The other said, ‘I’m a sinner, and can’t live with you, abba.’ But he begged him, saying, ‘Yes, we can stay together.’ The old man had a pure heart, and the younger did not want him to know that he sometimes fell into lust. Then the old monk said, ‘Let me go away for a week, and we will talk about it again.’ At the end of the week the old man came back, and the younger, to test him, said, ‘I fell into a great temptation during this week, abba. When I went to a village on an errand, I lay with a woman.’ The older man said, ‘Are you penitent?’ The brother said, ‘Yes.’ The old man said, ‘I will carry half the burden of the sin with you.’ Then the brother said, ‘Now I know that we can stay together.’ They remained together till death parted them.
15. One of the fathers said, ‘If anyone asks you for something, and you give it to him, even if you are forced to give it, let your heart go with the gift, as it is written, “If a man forces you to go with him one mile, go with him two” (Matt. 5:41). This means that if you are asked for anything, give it with a willing heart.’
16. It was said that a monk who had made baskets was putting handles on them, when he heard another monk saying nearby, ‘What shall I do? The trader is coming soon and I haven’t got any handles to put on my baskets.’ So he took off the handles he had put on his own baskets, and took them to the nearby monk, and said, ‘I don’t need these; take them and put them on your baskets.’ He helped the brother to finish his baskets, but left his own unfinished.
17. They said that a hermit in Scetis who was ill wanted to eat a little fresh bread. One of the experienced monks heard of it: and he took his cloak, put stale bread into it, went to Egypt, changed the stale bread for fresh, and brought the fresh bread back to the sick hermit. When the brothers saw the fresh bread, they were astonished. The hermit did not want to eat it and said, ‘It is the blood of the brother.’ The others begged him to eat it, saying, ‘For God’s sake eat it, so that his sacrifice is not vain.’ So he ate it.
18. A brother asked a hermit, ‘Suppose there are two monks: one stays quietly in his cell, fasting for six days at a time, laying many hardships on himself: and the other ministers to the sick. Which of them is more pleasing to God?’ He replied, ‘Even if the brother who fasts six days hung himself up by his nose, he wouldn’t be the equal of him who ministers to the sick.’
19. A hermit was asked, ‘How is it that some struggle in their religious life, but do not receive grace like our predecessors?’ He replied, ‘Because then love was the rule, and each one drew his neighbour upward. Now love is growing cold, and each of us draws his neighbour downward, and so we do not deserve grace.’
20. Three monks once went to harvest, and were given a big area to reap. But the first day one of them became ill, and went back to his cell. One of the two who were left said to the other, ‘See here, brother, our brother has fallen ill; you work as hard as you can, and I will do what little extra I can, and we’ll trust God that by our sick brother’s prayers we’ll harvest his part of the field as well as finishing our own part.’ So they harvested the whole area which they had been given, and went to receive their pay. Then they called their brother, saying, ‘Come on, brother, and take your money.’ He said, ‘I haven’t harvested, so I’ve earned nothing.’ They said to him, ‘It was through your prayers that we finished the harvest, so come and take your pay.’ There was a fierce argument between them, the one saying, ‘I won’t take it because I haven’t earned it,’ the others refusing to accept their pay unless he would take his share. So they went off to a famous hermit, prepared to accept his judgement. The brother who had been sick said to him, ‘We three went to earn money by harvesting in a man’s field. When we got there, I fell ill on the first day and went back to my cell, and I could not work a single day with them. Now they are forcing me, saying, “Come, brother, take your pay for work you have not done.” ’ But the other two said: ‘The truth is this. When we arrived at the field, we were given a big area to harvest. If there had been three of us, we might with the greatest difficulty have just finished the work. But by the prayers of our brother, the pair of us harvested the field more quickly than three of us would have done. So we are telling him to come and take his pay but he will not.’ The hermit marvelled to hear them, and said to one of his monks, ‘Ring the bell in the brothers’ church to gather them here.’ When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Come here, brothers, and hear today a just judgement.’ The hermit told them the whole story, and decided that the brother should receive his pay, and do with it whatever he liked. But the brother went away grieved, weeping like a man who has been condemned.
21. A hermit said, ‘Our fathers used to visit the cells of new brothers who wanted to lead a solitary life, to see if any of them was tempted by demons and had taken harm from his thoughts. If they found anyone who had taken harm, they brought him to church. A basin was filled with water. Then, after they had all prayed for the one who was suffering temptation, all the monks washed their hands in the basin and then the water was poured upon the tempted brother, and he was at once cleansed.’
22. Two hermits lived together for many years without a quarrel. One said to the other, ‘Let’s have a quarrel with each other, as other men do.’ The other answered, ‘I don’t know how a quarrel happens.’ The first said, ‘Look here, I put a brick between us, and I say, “That’s mine.” Then you say, “No, it’s mine.” That is how you begin a quarrel.’ So they put a brick between them, and one of them said, ‘That’s mine.’ The other said, ‘No; it’s mine.’ He answered, ‘Yes, it’s yours. Take it away.’ They were unable to argue with each other.
23. A brother said to a hermit, ‘If I see a monk about whom I have heard that he is guilty of a sin, I cannot make myself invite him into my cell. But if I see a good monk, I bring him in gladly.’ The hermit said, ‘If you do good to a good brother it is nothing to him, but to the other give double charity, for he is sick.’
24. A hermit said, ‘I never wanted work to be useful to me while causing loss to my brother, for I have this hope that what helps my brother will bring fruit to me.’
25. There was a brother who served one of the hermits. The old man’s body happened to be badly hurt, and evil-smelling pus flowed out of the wound. The serving brother thought to himself, ‘I’m getting out of here; I can’t bear the smell of gangrene.’ To control the thought, he took a bowl, washed the wound, and kept the water which he used and whenever he was thirsty, he drank from it. But his thoughts began to trouble him again, saying to him, ‘If you will not go away, at least do not drink this pus.’ The brother struggled with endurance, and went on drinking the water. God saw his charity as he ministered to the old man; and God turned the contaminated liquid into the purest water, and by unseen means healed the old hermit.