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Apophthegmata Patrum: Sayings of the Desert Fathers

In the 300s and 400s in Egypt, a number of men and women decided to live in the desert in order to escape the busyness of life and to focus on God. This was the beginning of the monastic (or monk) movement. Some lived singly in caves, while others built houses and lived in small communities. A number of teachings and sayings of these spiritual leaders have been passed down in what is known as the Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. This column will share some of these. (These sayings are each around 1600 years old. Also, the word "Abba" is used, which means "Father.")

Abba Poemen used to say, "A man will be always tripped up by that thing which he will not cut off from himself."
Abba John said, "If a king wishes to subdue a city belonging to enemies, he first of all keeps them without bread and water, and the enemy being in this way harassed by hunger becomes subject unto him; and thus it is in respect of the passions, for if a man endures fasting and hunger regularly, his enemies become stricken with weakness in the soul."
A certain brother was estranged from a fellow monk, and he came to Abba Sisoes the Theban, and said to him, "I am estranged from a fellow monk, and I wish to take vengeance for myself;" and the old man said, "Let us pray." And while he was praying, he said in his prayer, "O God, from now on we have no need of You to take care of us, for we will take vengeance for ourselves;" and when the brother heard these words he fell down at the feet of the old man and said unto him, "From now on I will not enter into judgment with that brother." And so Abba Sisoes healed that brother.
One of the old men used to say, "The Prophets compiled the Scriptures, and the [Desert] Fathers have copied them, and the men who came after them learned to repeat them by heart; then came this generation and its children have placed them in cupboards as useless things."
Abba Poemen used to say, "Teach your heart to keep that which your tongue teaches."
Certain of the old men went to Abba Poemen, and said unto him, "Do you wish us if we see brothers sleeping in the congregation, to hit them so that they wake up?" And he said unto them, "If I see my brother sleeping, I place his head upon my knees, and I give him a place to rest upon."
A certain brother committed an offense in Scete, the camp of the monks, and when a congregation was assembled on this matter, they sent after Abba Moses, but he refused to come; then they sent the priest of the church to him, saying, "Come, for all the people are expecting you," and he rose up and came. And he took a basket with a hole in it and filled it with sand, and carried it upon his shoulders, and those who went out to meet him said unto him, "What does this mean, O father?" And he said unto them, "It is my sins which are running down behind me and I cannot see them, and I, even I, have come this day to judge shortcomings which are not mine." And when they heard this they set free that brother and said nothing further to him.
They used to say about Abba Agathon that for a period of three years he placed a stone in his mouth until he thoroughly learned to hold his piece.
On one occasion there was an offering made in the mountain of Abba Anthony, and a skin of wine was there, and one of the monks took some of it in a small vessel, and with a cup in his hand he went and carried it to Abba Sisoes. And he mixed him a cupful, and he drank it, and he mixed him a second cupful, and he took it and drank it, but when he mixed him a third cupful Abba Sisoes refused to drink it, saying, "Stay your hand, brother, do you not know that the third cup is of Satan?"
And when Abba Poemen heard that he was dead, that is to say, that Abba Arsenius had gone to his rest, he said, "Blessed are you, O Abba Arsenius, for you did weep over yourself in this world. For he who weeps not for himself in this world must weep forever in the next. He may weep here voluntarily or there because of the punishments which he will receive, but it is impossible for a one to escape weeping either here or there."
An old man said, "The Enemy will never cease to cast into your house, if he possibly can, impurity of every kind, and it is your duty neither to refuse nor to neglect to take that which is cast in and to throw it out; for if you are negligent your house will become filled with impurity, and you will be unable to enter in. Therefore whatever the Enemy casts in little by little you throw out little by little, and your house shall remain pure by the Grace of Christ."
A certain brother came to Abba Macarius, the Egyptian, and said unto him, "Father, speak to me a word whereby I may live." Abba Macarius said unto him, "Go to the cemetery and revile the dead"; and he went and reviled them, and stoned them with stones, and he came and informed the old man. And the old man said unto him, "Did they say nothing unto you?" And the brother said unto him, "No." And again the old man said unto him, "Go tomorrow and praise them and call them, ‘Apostles, Saints, and Righteous Men’"; and he came to the old man, and said, "I have praised them." And the old man said unto him, "And did they give you no answer?" and he said "No." And the old man said unto him, "You see how you have praised them, and that they said nothing to you, and that although you did revile them they returned you no answer. And thus let it be with yourself. If you wish to live, become dead, so that you may care neither for the reviling of men nor for [their] praise, for the dead care for nothing; in this way you will be able to live."
An old man said, "Whenever one reads the Divine Books (Bible), the devils are afraid."
It is related of a certain old man that if he heard a brother speak evil to him he would labor very hard to make something which would please the brother who had spoken to him, and the old man would send whatever he had made to the place where he was.
Abba Poemen used to say that John Colob, who had made entreaty to God, and his passions were removed from him, and he was set free from anxious care, went and said unto a famous old man, "I perceive that my soul is at rest, and that it has neither war nor strife to trouble it." Then the old man said unto him, "Go and entreat God to let war and strife come unto you again, for it is through war and strife that the soul advances in spiritual excellences." And afterwards, whenever war stood up before him, he did not pray, "O Lord, remove striving from me," but he made supplication unto God, saying, "O Lord, give me patience to endure the strife."
A certain brother asked an old man, saying, "What shall I do because of my negligence?" The old man said unto him, "If you will root out this small plant, which is negligence, a great forest will come into being."
Abba Agathon used to say to himself, whenever he saw any act or anything which his thought wished to judge or condemn, "Do not commit the thing yourself," and in this manner he quieted his mind, and held his peace.
Abba Poemen said, "The chief of all wickednesses is the wandering of the thoughts."
On one occasion Abba Macarius went to visit a certain monk, and he found him to be ill, and he asked him if he wanted anything to eat, for he had nothing whatsoever in his room, and the monk said unto him, "I want some honeycakes"; and when the wonderful old man heard this he set out for Alexandria, and he did not regard this journey as a trouble, although it was sixty miles away from them, and he brought the honeycakes to give to the sick monk. And this he did himself, and did not tell any one else to bring them, and the old man thus showed the love he felt for others.
One of the monks said, "While we were sitting and talking about love, Abba Joseph said, ‘Do you know what love is?’ And he said that Abba Agathon had a little knife, and that a certain brother came to him and said, ‘Father, the little knife which you have is pretty’; and Abba Agathon did not let him depart until he had taken it."
Amma [Mother] Syncletica said, "In the beginning, there is much struggle for those who come near to God. But after that, there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: At first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get warmth."
A certain man said that there were once three men who loved to work for God and they were monks. The first one chose to go about and see where there was strife, which he turned into peace; the second chose to go about and visit the sick; but the third departed to the desert that he might dwell in the quietness. Finally, the first man, who had chosen to still the contentions of men, was unable to make every man to be at peace with his neighbor, and his spirit was sad; and he went to the man who had chosen to visit the sick, and he found him in unsettled because he was not able to make everyone well. Then the two of them went to the monk in the desert, and, seeing each other, they rejoiced, and the two related to the third the tribulations which had come on them in the world, and asked him to tell them how he had lived in the desert. And he was silent, but after a little while he said until them, "Come, let each of us go and fill a vessel of water;" and after they had filled the vessel, he said unto them, "Pour out some of the water into a vessel and look down to the bottom through it," and they did so. And he said unto them, "What do you see?" and they said, "We see nothing." And after the water had in the basin had ceased to move, he said to them a second time, "Look into the water," and they looked, and he said until them, "What do you see? And they said unto him, "We see our own faces distinctly;" and he said until them, "Thus is it with the man who dwells with men, for because of the disturbances caused by the affairs of the world, he cannot see his sins; but if he lives in the peace and quietness of the desert, he is able to see God clearly."

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