250. Three of the fathers came on one occasion to an old man at Scete, and one of them spoke to him, saying, “I repeat the Old and the New Testaments by heart”; and the old man answered and said unto him, “Thou hast filled the air with words”; and the other father spoke to him, saying, “I have copied the Old and New Testaments”; and the old man said unto him, “Thou hast filled the cupboards with quires of paper”; and the third father answered and said unto him, “In my fire-place the grass groweth”; and the old man answered and said unto him, “Thou hast also driven away the love of strangers from thee.”
251. Abbâ Poemen used to say that Abbâ Isidore used to twist into ropes a great bundle of palm leaves each night, and [on one occasion] the brethren entreated him, saying, “Rest thyself a little, for thou hast worked too much.” And he said unto them, “If we were to burn Isidore and to scatter his ashes to the winds, he would win happiness, for the Son of God came to the Passion because of us.”
252. A brother said to Abbâ Poemen, “If I stumble and commit a few minor sins my mind afflicteth me, and blameth me, and maketh accusations against me, saying, ‘Why didst thou fall?’” The old man said unto him, “Every time a man falleth into any shortcoming or folly, if he saith, ‘I have sinned,’ immediately God will receive him.”
253. Abbâ Poemen used to say, “It is not right for a man to be persuaded to the thought of fornication, or to utter calumny against his neighbour; and he should not in any way whatsoever incline towards these two thoughts, and he should not utter them, and he should not meditate upon such things in his heart. And if he desireth to think about them and to turn them over in his heart, he will not benefit thereby, but will rather suffer damage; but if he will act against such with ferocity, he will subsequently find rest.”
254. One of the brethren asked Abbâ Poemen, saying, “Father, what shall I do when the thoughts of fornication bestir themselves in me, or any other of the evil passions which are injurious to the soul?” Abbâ Poemen said unto him, “The first time they come upon thee, flee; and the second time they come upon thee, flee also; and the third time they come, set thyself against them like a sharp sword.”
255. The same old man used to say, “Unless Moses had been gathering together sheep into the fold he would never have seen Him that was in the bush.”
256. On one occasion the brethren saw that Abbâ Joseph was sad, and that he was greatly distressed, and they asked him to tell them about his sorrow, and what was the cause thereof, but he was unable to speak to them; and they began to say each man among them to his companion, “What are the suffering and grief which possess the old man, for behold, we have dwelt with him for many years, and we never before saw him in such grief and suffering as this? Perhaps we have in some way offended him.” Then they threw themselves on their faces before the feet of the old man, saying, “Peradventure we have offended thee in some matter, O father, [and if we have] forgive us for Jesus’ sake.” And the old man made answer to them in a state of grief, saying, “Forgive ye me, O my brethren, for I am not offended by you, but I am grieved by myself, because I see that I am going backwards rather than forwards, and that I am the cause of offence and loss, not only to myself but also unto all the others. For I see that at this present we are trafficking, and are losing in respect of our souls very much more than we ever gained at any time of the profit of the fear of our Lord, because shamelessness and fearlessness have gained dominion over us. For in times past when the fathers were gathered together to each other they were wont to form bands and ascend into the heavens, but we are lax folk, and are dead in our sins. Whensoever we draw nigh to each other we come to speak that which is hateful about one another, and one by one we are raised up that we may descend to the bottom of the deepest abyss. And we do not make to sink ourselves and each other only, but also the fathers who come to us, and the strangers who gather together to us, and also the people who are in the world who visit us as if we were solitary monks, and as if we were holy men, and to these last we become a cause of stumbling and loss.
“For thus also did Abbâ Sylvanus and Abbâ Lôt say unto me: ‘Let us not abide here any longer.’ And when I asked them, ‘Why do ye depart from us?’ they spake to me as follows: ‘Up to this day we have benefited by our abiding with the fathers, but from the time of Abbâ Pambô, and Abbâ Agathon, and Abbâ Petra, and Abbâ John, the commandments of the fathers have been held lightly, and we do not observe the ordinances and the laws which our fathers laid down for us. And by assemblies together we suffer loss over and over again through the useless things which are spoken among us. And when we sit down at table, instead of doing so in the fear of God, and with gratitude, and eating that which God hath prepared for us with praise and thanksgiving, we occupy ourselves by conversing together and telling insipid stories; and as we sit at table in this fashion we become so much changed that we do not even hear what is being read to us on account of the noise of the profitless talk which we hold with each other. And besides this, after we have risen up from eating, we converse together with empty talk. What benefit is it to us to live in the desert, seeing that we profit nothing thereby?’ And Abbâ Lôt said, ‘Many times have I heard from brethren who are strangers, and from the people who live in the world, and who come to visit us, that we hold the commandments of the fathers lightly, and they have said of us, “We should never have thought that they were monks!”’ And one of the brethren who were strangers said, ‘I have come to the fathers on several occasions, and [I see that] year by year they certainly observe less and less the early rules and conduct of the fathers.’ What now do ye wish? Will ye correct your lax behaviour, and observe carefully the commandments of our fathers, or must I also depart from you?”
And it came to pass that when the brethren heard these things, they beat the board for assembling the monks, and the whole brotherhood gathered itself together, and Abbâ Joseph spake unto them all the words which are [written] above. And when all the brethren heard the words of Abbâ Joseph, and learned the reason of his pain and grief, and that he wished to depart from them, they cast themselves down upon their faces weeping, and they expressed their contrition to him, saying, “Forgive us, O father, for the sake of Jesus. We have made God angry by our deeds, and we have caused thy holiness grief.” Then each of the fathers said, “Would that thou hadst rebuked us on the very first day wherein thou didst hear [about us] from the fathers, and that they had not departed from us! And would, too, that we had roused ourselves up from our slumber and sluggishness! But what are we to do? For the old men and the holy men do not teach us, and they do not even take their proper places in our congregations, or when we sit at meat. Very many of us wish to hear the histories and commandments of the fathers read, either whilst we are sitting at table or between one sitting and the next, but we are never able to hear a word of their talk.”
And Abbâ Elijah said, “Abbâ Abraham and Abbâ John spake much at table, and at the time of reading, and at the time of the service; and they began to become excited against each other, and the one said, ‘Father, such and such a man is excited,’ and the other said, ‘Such and such a man maketh us excited.’ Now when Abbâ Joseph saw that the whole brotherhood was stirred up, he made supplication unto them, and besought them, saying, ‘I beseech you, O my brethren, to cease from your commotion, for God hath called us to peace, and I therefore beg you to come and pray, and to make supplication unto God that He may make to pass by us the legions and the host of the enemy. For, behold, I see them standing up in wrath and anger, with their swords drawn, and they wish to destroy us all if God doth not stand up to help our wretchedness.’”
And when he had said these things he was able, with some difficulty, to quiet them, and Abbâ Joseph himself began to sing the words of the harpist David, saying, “Their swords shall enter their own hearts, and their bows shall be broken, and God shall make them like a wheel and as dust before the wind. And God shall arise and all His enemies shall be scattered. O God, deliver me, O Lord, remain to help [me]” (Psalm xxxvii, 15; lxxxiii, 13; lxviii, 1; vii, 1). And when they had recited the Psalms of the spirit altogether, and had made an end of the service, they said, “O holy God, O holy mighty One, O immortal holy One, have mercy upon us”; and they all knelt down in prayer. And as they were praying they heard the voices of the devils in the air, and the sounds of armour and of horses, and of many horsemen, and they also heard the voices of the devils who were saying to one another, “Ye shall not have mercy upon them.” And again they said, “O luckless monks, why do ye stand up against us?” If we were to do [what we could do] to you not one of you would be found on the face of the earth! We will never be absent from you, and we will never cease from you.”
And after the filthy legion had been driven away by the secret power, and the wicked devils rested from their wickednesses, all the fathers rose up from the earth whereon they had been poured out in prayer, the earth having been adorned by their tears, and they all offered repentance unto Abbâ Joseph, saying, “Forgive thou us, and pray for us that the Lord may forgive us, for we have sinned and have provoked Him to wrath.” Then Abbâ Joseph said unto them: “Rouse ye yourselves, O my brethren, and take good heed unto your souls, for, behold, ye have heard with your ears the sound of the chariots of the Adversary, who threateneth us and seeketh to destroy us. Let every man be reconciled to his neighbour, and forgive ye every man from his heart the offence [which he hath committed]. And bind ye yourselves with the love of our Lord, with an urgent mind, and a pure heart, to the Lord and to each other. And draw nigh unto God that He may draw nigh unto you, and stand up against the Adversary, who is Satan. If ye wilt observe the commandments of the fathers, I will become a surety (or pledge) for you that Satan shall not be able to injure you, and that the Barbarians shall not come hither; but if ye will not observe them, believe me, O my beloved, this place shall be laid waste.”
And they offered repentance each to the other, and they became reconciled to each other, and lived in love and in great peace; and they laid down ordinances among themselves on that day to the effect that no man should henceforth conduct himself with negligence and without absence of fear; and that they should neither do nor say anything at the table which was alien [to their mode of life]; and that if any man be found hereafter despising and holding lightly the commandments of the fathers in such a way that he become an occasion of offence and a cause of loss, first to himself, and next to those who dwell with him, and then also to the strangers who come to us, he shall know that he is bringing a punishment upon himself, and that he shall become an alien to all the brotherhood. And Abbâ Joseph sent a brother to bring back Abbâ Sylvanus and Abbâ Lôt, and when these fathers knew what had taken place among the brethren, and that they had laid down ordinances to keep the commandments of the fathers, they praised God, and they rose up, and came, and [when] they saw Abbâ Joseph they saluted him and wept; and Abbâ Joseph told them everything which had taken place, and they glorified God Who had not rejected those who feared Him. And as regardeth the canons and the ordinances which they had laid down among themselves, the brethren observed and performed them all the days of their life; and they died at a good old age, [after] living lives which were well-pleasing unto God.
257. Abbâ Ammon used to say, “I have spent fourteen years in Scete in making supplication unto God by day and by night that He would grant me to overcome anger.”
258. An old man used to say, “Be like unto a camel when thou art loaded with thy sins, and be tied unto and cleave unto him that knoweth the way.”
259. One of the old men used to say, “Formerly, whensoever we met each other we used to speak words of profit about each other, and we formed companies, and were lifted up into the heavens; but now when we are gathered together, we come to hateful converse concerning each other, and we drag each the other down to the bottom of the deepest abyss.”
260. Abbâ Achilles came on one occasion to the cell of Abbâ Isaiah, and found him eating; now there were in the basin [from which he ate] water and salt, and the old man saw him hide the basin behind a mat. Then Abbâ Achilles said unto him, “Tell me, what wast thou eating?” And Abbâ Isaiah said unto him, “Forgive me, I was cutting some palm leaves, and I went up in the heat, and placed in my mouth a morsel of bread and salt; and my throat was dry by reason of the heat, and the food did not go down, and I was pained thereby, and I threw a little salt and water into my mouth, so that I might be able to eat. But forgive me.” The old man said unto him, “Come ye and see Abbâ Isaiah who eateth food which stinketh in Scete; if thou seekest to eat stinking food, get thee to Egypt.”
261. There was a certain monk who had a brother that lived in the world, and this brother was poor, and whatsoever the monk earned by the labour of his hands he used to give to his brother, but in spite of this the brother became poorer still. Then the monk went to one of the old men and told him the matter, and the old man said unto him, “If thou wilt hearken unto me thou wilt not give him any more, but wilt say unto him, ‘My brother, whilst I have anything to give I give it unto thee, but now thou must bring me some of what thou earnest by thy labour’; and whatsoever he bringeth unto thee, that take from him, and where thou knowest there is a stranger, or a poor old man, give it unto him”; and he entreated them to offer up prayer on his behalf. Then the monk went and did thus, and when his brother who lived in the world came to him, he spake unto him even as the old man had told him to do; and the brother went to his house with a sad mind. And on the first day he brought [to the monk] as the result of his labour a few garden herbs, and the monk took them and gave them to the old men, and entreated them to pray for him; and he was blessed and departed. And the old man who was in the world returned on another occasion and brought the monk bread and garden herbs, and his brother took them, and did [with them] as he did at first. Then he came a third time, and brought many costly gifts, and wine, and fish, and his brother saw [this] and wondered, and he called the poor and relieved them therewith. And the monk said unto his brother who was in the world, “Peradventure thou art in need of a little bread, O my brother?” And he said unto him, “Nay, my lord, whilst I took from thee that which used to enter into my house, I spent everything I had; but since I ceased to take anything from thee, God hath blessed me and hath had mercy upon me.” Then the monk went and informed the old man everything which had taken place, and the old man said unto him, “Knowest thou not that the labour of a monk is fire, and that wheresoever it entereth it consumeth? But it is beneficial for him to shew mercy from his own toil, and prayer from the holy men shall be upon him, and thus he shall be blessed.”
262. On one occasion whilst Abbâ Macarius was passing through Egypt with certain other brethren, he heard a child saying to his mother, “My mother, a rich man loveth me, but I hate him; and a poor man hateth me, and I love him”; and when Abbâ Macarius heard [this] he marvelled. And the brethren said unto him, “What is the [meaning of] these words, father?” The old man said unto him, “Verily our Lord is rich, and He loveth us, and we do not desire to hear Him; our Enemy, Satan, is poor, and he hateth us, and we love his hateful things.”