The Wisdom Of The Desert
Part 1, Section B: Spiritual Life and Perfection
Arranged by James O. Hannay.
Catholic Truth Society of Ireland No.pr111a (1910)
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Chapter 6. On Humility.
The Lord said: —
I am lowly in heart.
— Saint Matthew 11:29.
It is written of Him: —
He made Himself of no reputation,
and took upon Him the form of a servant.
— Philippians 2:7.
He came lowly, and riding upon an ass.
— Zechariah 9:9.
He humbled Himself, even to the death on the cross.
— Philippians 2:8.
Unto the humble, He reveals His secrets,
and sweetly draws nigh and invites him unto Himself.
— The Imitation of Christ, 2, 2.
True humility,
The highest virtue, mother of them all.
— Tennyson, Holy Grail.
1. Of the great safety of being humble.
Saint Antony tells how once in a vision he beheld all the snares of the evil one spread over the whole earth. When he looked upon them and considered their innumerable multitude, he sighed, and said within himself, “Who is able to pass safely through such a world as this?” Then he heard a voice, which answered him, “The humble man alone can pass safely through, O Antony. In no way can the proud do so.”
2. A story of how a certain one escaped one of the snares of the devil through humility.
The devil once appeared to a certain brother transformed into the likeness of an angel of light. He said, “I am the angel Gabriel, and I am sent unto you.” The brother, though he doubted not at first but that he saw an angel, yet out of his humility made answer, “Surely you are sent to some other one and not to me, for I am altogether unworthy to have an angel visitor.” Then the devil, being astonished and baffled, departed from him.
3. The humility of the abbot Arsenius who once dwelt in the emperor’s court.
The abbot Arsenius was one day talking with an ignorant peasant monk about spiritual thought. Another monk saw him doing so, and said to him, “How is it, Arsenius, that you, who know both Latin and Greek, consult this peasant about his thoughts?” Arsenius answered him, “I do, indeed, know Latin and Greek, which contain the wisdom of this world, but I have not yet succeeded in acquiring even the alphabet of what this peasant knows. His wisdom is of another world.”
4. How a brother once obtained a spiritual benefit as a reward for his humility.
It is related of a certain brother that he once persevered in fasting for seventy weeks. This he did desiring to obtain a divine illumination on the meaning of a certain passage in Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, though he so fasted and desired, God hid the matter from him.
Then, at last, he said within himself, “See, I have undergone great toil and am nothing profited. I shall go to one of the brethren, and inquire of him what this word of Scripture may mean.” So saying, he went out and closed the door of his cell after him.
Immediately then an angel met him and said, “The seventy weeks of your fasting have not brought you near to God that you should know His mind. Now, however you have humbled yourself in going to inquire of your brother. Therefore I am sent to reveal to you what you desire to know.” Then the angel opened to him the matter about which he was perplexed, and departed from him.
5. How a divine and eternal reward awaits those whose humility has taught them to regard their own labour as nothing.
A certain father said, “He who labours and considers that by his labour he has accomplished or effected anything, has already, even here, received the reward of all that he has done.”
6. The way in which a certain brother learnt and practised humility.
There was a certain brother who belonged to a high family, as this world reckons rank and grandeur. He was the son of a count, and was extremely wealthy; also, he had been well educated as a boy. This man fled from his parents and his home, and entered a monastery. In order to prove the humility of his disposition and the ardour of his faith, his superior ordered him to load himself with ten baskets and to carry them for sale through the streets of the city. If anyone should want to buy them all together, he was not to permit it, but was to sell them each to a separate purchaser. This condition was attached to his task in order to keep him the longer at work. He performed his task with the utmost zeal. He trampled under foot all shame and confusion for the love of Christ and for His name’s sake. He was not perturbed at all by the novelty of his mean and unaccustomed work. He thought neither of his present indignity nor of the splendour of his birth; he aimed only at gaining through obedience the humility of Christ, which is the true nobility.
7. Words of the hermits concerning humility.
Evagrius said: “The beginning of salvation is to despise yourself.”
Pastor said: “A man ought to breathe humility as his nostrils breathe the air.”
Another said: “Humility is that holy place in which God bids us make the sacrifice of ourselves.”
Syncletica the Abbess said: “As no ships can be built without nails, so no man can be saved without humility.”
Hyperichius said: “The tree of life is on high. Man climbs to it by the ladder of humility.”
Another said: “It is better for a man to be conquered by others on account of his humility, than to be victorious over them by means of pride.”
Another said: “May it ever be my part to be taught, and another’s to teach.”
Cassian said: “It is never said of those who are entangled in other sins that they have God resisting them, but only ‘God resists the proud’.”
Motois said: “Humility neither is angry nor suffers others to be angry.”
The abbot John the Short said: “The door of God is humility. Our fathers, through the many insults which they suffered, entered the city of God.”
He also said: “Humility and the fear of God are pre-eminent over all virtues.”
8. How one yearned for perfection, and God taught him to be humble.
There was a certain old man who dwelt in the desert, and it seemed to him that he had learnt the perfection of all the virtues, which he practised. So he prayed to God, saying, “Show me what is yet lacking for the perfection of my soul and I will accomplish it.” Then God, who wished to teach him humility of mind, said to him, “Go to the leader of a certain congregation of monks, and what he bids you, that do.” At the same time, God spoke to that leader of monks and said, “Behold, the solitary of whom you have heard comes to you. Bid him take a whip and go forth to herd your swine.” The hermit arrived, knocked at the door, and entered. When they had saluted each other and had sat down, the hermit said, “Tell me, what shall I do to be saved.” The other, doubting within himself, replied, “Will you do what I bid you?” The hermit said, “Surely, yes.” Then said the other, “Lo! Take this whip and go forth and herd my swine.” While the hermit drove the swine out to their pasture there came by some men who knew him, and they said, “Do you see that famous hermit of whom we heard so much? He must have gone mad, or some demon possesses him. Look at him feeding swine.” All this the hermit endured patiently. Then God saw that he had learnt humility, and was able to bear the insults of men. Therefore, He bid him return to his own place.
9. How a certain elder shrank from being praised, and rejoiced when he was despised.
A certain old man dwelt in the lower part of the desert, at peace, in a cave. A religious man from a neighbouring village used to bring him what he wanted. It happened that this man’s son fell sick. With many prayers, he besought the old man to come to his house and pray for the child. At length he prevailed with him, and running home, cried out, “Prepare for the coming of the hermit.” When the people of the village knew that he was coming they went out with torches to welcome him as if he had been some prince or governor. The hermit, as soon as he perceived how they meant to greet him, stood upon the river-bank, and taking off his clothes, went naked into the water. When the man who was accustomed to minister to him saw this he was greatly ashamed, and said to the villagers, “Return to your homes, for our hermit has lost his senses.”
Then going to the old man, he said, “My father, why have you done this? All those who saw you are saying, ‘That old man is nothing better than a fool’.”
The hermit replied to him, “That is the very thing I wished to hear.”
10. How Saint Ammon became a fool for Christ’s sake.
This story is told of the abbot Ammon. Certain men came to him asking him to judge in a contention, which they had. He, however, would not, and put them off.
Then a woman said to another woman who stood near her, “The old man is silly.”
Ammon heard her words, and calling her to him said, “For very many years I have toiled in various solitary places to attain that silliness at which you scoff. Is it likely now that I shall be content to lose it because you taunt me?”
11. The abbot Pastor’s description of humility.
The abbot Pastor was once asked by a monk: “How ought I to conduct myself in the place where I dwell?”
He answered, “Be cautious as a stranger among strangers. Wherever you are, never seek to have your own opinion prevail or your word influential. So you may have peace.”
12. How the devil was vanquished by the great humility of one of the brethren.
There were two brethren, relatives according to the flesh, and bound to each other yet more closely, by the spiritual purpose of their devotion. Against them the devil laid a plot that he might separate them the one from the other. Once, towards evening, the younger of the two, as he was wont, lit their lamp and put it on its stand. Through the malice of the devil, the stand was overturned, and the lamp went out. By this means, the devil hoped wickedly to entrap them into a quarrel. The elder of the two, growing suddenly angry, struck the younger fiercely. But the younger fell humbly on the ground and besought, saying, “Sir, be gentle with me, and I will light the lamp again.”
Then, because he gave back no angry word, the evil spirit was filled with confusion, and departed from their cell.
That same night he told the chief of the devils the story of his failure, saying, “Because of the humility of that brother who fell upon the ground and begged the other’s pardon I was unable to prevail against them. God beheld his humility, and poured His grace upon him. Now, lo! It is I who am tormented, for I have failed to separate these two or make them enemies.”
13. Another story of a devil vanquished by humility.
There was a certain hermit renowned among the monks. It happened that there once met him a man possessed by an evil spirit, who struck him violently upon the cheek. The old man straightway turned to him the other cheek, that he might smite him upon it also. The devil was not able to endure the flame of his humility, but immediately departed from him who was possessed.
Chapter 7. On Discretion.
The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.
But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness.
— Saint Matthew 6:22-23.
Some persons, inexperienced in the grace of the devout life,
have overthrown themselves,
because they attempted more than they were able to perform,
not weighing the measure of their own weakness,
but rather following the desire of their heart
than the judgment of their reason.
Better it is to have a small portion of good sense
with humility and a slender understanding,
than great treasures of knowledge with vain self-complacency.
— The Imitation of Christ, 3, 7.
1.
A discourse of Saint Antony,
wherein is explained the meaning and the value of discretion.
Often men are most strict in fasting and in vigils. Often they nobly withdraw into solitude and aim at depriving themselves of all their goods so that they do not suffer even one day’s supply of food or a single penny to remain to them. Often they fulfil all the duties of kindness with the utmost devotion. Yet even such men are sometimes suddenly deceived. They cannot bring the work they have entered upon to its fitting close, but bring their exalted fervour and noble manner of life to a terrible end. In these men, though the virtues I have mentioned abound in them, yet discretion is wanting, and they are not able to continue unto the end. There is no other reason for their falling away than that they have not obtained discretion, that spiritual wisdom which, passing by excess on either side, teaches a monk to walk always along the royal road.
It does not suffer him to be puffed up on the right hand of virtue, that is, from excess of zeal, in foolish presumption, to transgress the bounds of due moderation. Nor does it allow him to become slack and turn away to vices on the left hand, that is, under pretext of duly managing the body, to become lukewarm. For it is discretion which is termed in the gospel the “eye” and “the light of the body” according to the Saviour’s saying, because as it discerns all the thoughts and actions of men it sees and overlooks all things that should be done. But if in any man this be “evil,” that is, not fortified by sound judgment and knowledge, or is deceived by some error or presumption, it will make the whole body “full of darkness.” It will obscure all our mental vision, and our actions will be involved in the darkness of vice and the gloom of un-peacefulness. No one can doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong and is overwhelmed by ignorance, our thoughts and deeds must be involved in the darkness of still greater sins.
2. A story of the abbot John the Short: how he fell into the sin of presumption through lack of discretion, and afterwards was saved.
They tell this story about the abbot John the Short. Once he said to one of the brethren who was his senior, “I wish to be as the angels are, free from all care, doing no work, but ceaselessly praising and praying to God.” Then casting off his raiment, he departed into the wilderness. After a week had passed, he returned to his brother and knocked at the door of his cell.
Before he opened to him, the brother asked, “Who are you?” John replied, “I am John.”
Then the brother answered him and said, “Not so, for John has become an angel, and no longer has intercourse with men.” He, however, continued knocking, and crying out, “Indeed, I am he.”
The other, however, would not open the door, but left him suffering there. At last, he opened the door and admitted John, saying to him, “If you are a man, need is for you to work that you may live. If you are an angel, why do you seek entrance to my cell?” John then, being truly penitent, replied, “Pardon me, O brother, for I have grievously sinned.”
3. The abbot Evagrius commends discretion in advising that all things be done moderately and at fitting seasons.
The abbot Evagrius said: Reading and watching and prayer are good for the slothful spirit and the wandering mind. Fasting and toil and carefulness will tame lust though it burn in us. The singing of psalms, together with patience and tenderness, will conquer wrath and bring peace in troubled times. Yet must all these be practised at due times, and all within the bounds of moderation. For he who exercises himself in these ways inopportunely and excessively may indeed profit for a little while, but after a short time will be harmed, not helped, by them.
4. How the abbot Lucius rebuked certain brethren who showed that they lacked discretion, and taught them a better way.
Certain brethren once came to the abbot Lucius, and the old man asked them, “What work are you wont to do?”
They said, “We do no work, but, according to the saying of the apostle, we pray without ceasing.” Then said the old man, “Do you never eat?” And they replied, “Truly, we do eat.” Then Lucius said, “And who does your praying for you while you eat?” They were silent. Then he asked them “Do you never sleep?” When they confessed that they slept, he asked, “And who does your praying for you while you sleep?” They could find no answer to give to him.
Then he said, “I see that you do not perform what you boast. I will show you how to pray without ceasing. Sit working in the morning up to the accustomed hour; weave mats and make baskets. Meanwhile keep praying in these words: ‘Lord, according to your mercy pardon my offences and do away with my iniquity.’ When you have finished a few baskets sell them for money. Give a portion to the poor, and keep the rest to buy your food. When, then, you eat or sleep, the poor whom you relieve are filling in the gaps in your ceaseless round of prayer.”
5. The abbot Pastor teaches discretion to a brother who repented truly of his sins.
A brother asked the abbot Pastor, “I have committed a great sin. Shall I do penance for three years?” Pastor replied to him, “That is too long.” Then the brother said, “Do you advise one year?” Again, Pastor replied, “That is too long.” Those who were standing by asked, “Are forty days sufficient?” Pastor said again, “It is too long.” Then he added, “If a man repent with all his heart, and fully determine not to commit again the sin which he deplores, God will receive his repentance though it endure but three days.”
6. Of a wandering brother who lacked discretion, being puffed up with spiritual pride.
A certain wandering brother came to the monastery of the abbot Silvanus. He saw the brethren working, and rebuked them, saying, “Why do ye labour for the meat which perishes? Mary chose the good part.” Then said the abbot Silvanus to his disciple Zacharias, “Give this brother a book to read and put him into an empty cell.” At the ninth hour, the brother looked out and gazed along the path to see if any man was coming to call him to a meal.
After a while, he went to Silvanus, and said, “Do not the brethren eat to-day?” The abbot confessed that they had already eaten.
Then said the brother, “Why did you not send to call me?”
Silvanus answered him, “You are a spiritual man. You have surely no need of such food as we eat. We, indeed, are but carnal; we must eat. We labour, but you have chosen the good part. You read all day, and have no wish to receive carnal food.”
7. Of discretion in prayer.
Certain brethren asked Saint Macarius how they ought to pray. He answered them, “There is no need of much speaking in our prayers. Stretch out your hands and say, ‘Lord, have mercy upon me as You will and as You see best.’ If your mind is disquieted, then say, ‘Help You me.’ He knows well what is best for us. Of His own will He grants us mercy.”
8. How discretion taught Nathyra to alter his rule of life according to the circumstances amid which he found himself.
The abbot Nathyra, the disciple of Silvanus, when he lived as a hermit in his cell, adopted a very moderate rule of life, allowing himself all that was necessary for the welfare of his body. Afterwards, when he became a bishop, he used a much severer discipline. One of his disciples asked him, saying, “Master, when we dwelt together in the desert you used not thus to crucify yourself; why do you do so now?”
The bishop said to him, “My son, there in the desert we had solitude and quietness and poverty; therefore I so regulated my bodily life that I should not grow weak, but be able to strive for those graces which I desired. Here in the world are many temptations to excess of every kind; moreover, here there are many to warn me should I overtax my strength with fasting. I live austerely here, lest I should let slip the hope of perfection which led me to become a monk.”
9. The abbot Agathon gave evidence of his discretion by avoiding all extravagance.
The abbot Agathon so managed his life and his affairs that discretion appeared to govern everything he was or did. This was the case not only in great matters, such as the labour, which he performed, but even in the details of his dress. Thus he wore such clothes as never could strike anyone as either particularly good or particularly poor.
10. How one was preserved from a snare by discretion.
They tell about a certain old man that sometimes in his struggles against temptations he saw the devils, who surrounded him, with his bodily eyes. Nevertheless, he despised them and their temptations. Seeing that he was being vanquished, the devil came and showed himself to the old man, saying, “I am Christ.” But when the old man beheld him, he shut his eyes. Then the devil said again, “I am Christ; why have you shut your eyes?” The old man answered him, “I neither expect nor wish to behold Christ in this present life. I look to see Him only in the life beyond.” Hearing these words, the devil straightway vanished from his sight.
11. The story of another who was saved by discretion from an illusion.
There was another old man whom the demons wished to seduce. They said to him, “Do you wish to behold Christ?” He replied to them, “May you be accursed for the words you speak. I believe my Christ when He says to me, ‘If anyone shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ or lo there, believe him not’.” When they heard him answer them thus, the devils immediately vanished.
12. A way in which a man may order his life wisely.
A certain brother asked the abbot Antony, “What shall I do that I may please God?” The old man replied, “Keep these commandments which I give you. Wherever you go, have God always before your eyes. “Whatever work you do, set before yourself an example from the Holy Scriptures.
“Wherever you dwell, be not hasty in removing thence. Stay patiently in the same place.
“If you guard these three precepts without doubt you will be saved.”
Chapter 8. On the Necessity for Striving.
The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and men of violence take it by force. — Saint Matthew 11:12 (Revised Version.)
Be you therefore ready for the conflict, if you will have the victory.
Without a combat, you can not attain unto the crown of patience.
Without labour, there is no arriving at rest;
nor without fighting, can the victory be attained.
— The Imitation of Christ, 3, 19.
1. How the abbot John learnt the lesson that inward strife is better than inward peace.
The abbot Pastor relates of John the Short that he once prayed, asking God to take away from him all passion.
God granted his prayer; and he, being free from envy, anger, and all evil thoughts, was at peace. In his great gladness, he went to a certain elder, and said to him, “Behold in me a man who has no strife nor contests. I am altogether at peace.” But the old man, being grieved for John’s sake, replied to him, “My son, go, ask the Lord to grant you occasion for strife. There is no way in which the soul advances towards God but by striving.” Then John, knowing in himself that this was true, did as the old man bade him. Afterwards, when the necessity for constant strife came back upon him, he never again prayed that it should be taken away from him. Always be made this petition “Lord, give me grace to conquer in the strife.”
2. A story setting forth how toil in itself is for the soul of him who desires to enjoy the kingdom of God.
There was a certain old man dwelling in the desert whose cell was above two miles distant from any water.
Often when he went to draw water, and the sun shone hot on him, he grew weary. Once, as he went, he said to himself, “There is no need for me to endure all this labour. I shall go and dwell nearer to the water.”
As he so spoke, he turned and saw one following him who seemed to mark his footsteps. The old man asked him, “Who are you?”
The stranger answered, “I am an angel, and the Lord sent me to count your footsteps and give you your reward.”
When the old man heard this, he remembered that he had not come out into the desert for the sake of ease, but to travel on the narrow way that leads unto life. Then he became yet bolder in heart and more violent, and set his cell even further from the water.
3. The abbot Pastor’s interpretation of a strange saying of the Lord.
The abbot Pastor said, “It is written in the gospel, He who has a coat, let him sell it and buy a sword. (Luke 22:36) This word is to be understood by us in this manner: He who has peace let him cast it away, and in its place take unto himself strife. Now our strife is against the devil.”
4. A saying of the abbot Serenus showing that the strife is severest for those who are furthest advanced towards the kingdom of heaven.
We know well by our own experience and the testimony of the Fathers that devils have not the same power against us which they had formerly in the days of the first anchorites, when there were only a few monks living in the desert. This is because of our carelessness, which makes them relax somewhat of the violence of their first onslaught. They scorn to attack us with the same energy with which they formerly raged against those most admirable servants of Christ.
5. A parable of the abbot Achilles, showing how our strife is not only against the powers of evil which are without, but also, even chiefly, against the evil that is within.
A certain brother said to the abbot Achilles, “How is it that the demons have power against us?” The old man answered him thus: “The trees of Lebanon said, ‘How great we are and high! Yet we are cut down with a very small axe. Yes, and of the axe, which cuts us down, the greater part is wood, and comes from us. Let us therefore give no part of ourselves, and the axe will have no power against us.’ Soon there came some men seeking timber, and they made a handle for their axe out of these very trees in spite of their boasting. So the trees were cut down.
“Now the trees are the souls of men. The handle of the axe is man’s evil will. So we are cut down by means of the evil that is within us.”
6. Of one who, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, did not shrink from the conflict.
The disciple of a certain holy old man was once attacked by a spirit, which tempted him. By the grace of God, he fought valiantly against the vile and impure thoughts of his heart. He used the discipline of fasting. He prayed often. He worked diligently and vehemently with his hands. The holy old man beholding his labour and strife, said to him, “If you wish it, my son, I will pray to the Lord and ask Him to remove this adversary away from you.”
The disciple, however, replied to him, saying, “I perceive, my father, that although I am enduring what is hard, yet good fruit is being perfected in me. By reason of the temptation, which besets me, I fast more than if I were at peace. I am more steadfast in waiting. I am, as I think, more earnest in prayer. I beseech you, nevertheless, that you pray for me and seek the mercy of God for me. Ask that I may be given valour to endure and to fight according to God’s will.”
Then the old man was filled with joy, and said, “Lo! Now I know, my son that you understand this spiritual conflict, how it works in you for the perfecting of your eternal salvation.”
7. Why no man may dare to think within himself ‘I have conquered, and need strive no more.’
A certain old man came to another and said, “I, indeed, am already dead unto the world.” But the other, seeing the danger in which he was, thus warned him, “Be not ever sure of yourself while you remain in the body.
“Although perhaps you may say, ‘I am dead unto the world,’ yet there is one who is by no means dead to you, even your adversary the devil. Surely innumerable are his evil ways, and immeasurable is his craftiness.”
8. Of toil and peace.
Isidore, a priest in Scete, said once to the brethren who were gathered round him, “Brethren, was it not in search of toil and hardship that we came hither? Behold, I find here no sufficient toil. I shall therefore gird myself, and go elsewhere and find toil. Then I shall also find peace.”
9. How toil and patience are the means of spiritual gain.
A certain elder said, “We often fail to advance because we know not the conditions of our strife, nor have we patience to complete the work we have begun. No virtue can be attained without toil.”
10. How no man must cease from striving until he has attained perfection or ceased to wish for it.
A certain brother used often to go to the abbot Sisois and ask advice from him, saying, “My father, what shall I do, for I have fallen into sin?” Sisois replied, “Rise out of your sin.” Again, the brother came with his confession, saying, “I have fallen into sin again.” The old man said to him, “Then again you must rise from your sin.” Very often, the brother came to him, saying, “I rose again, indeed, but again and again I have fallen.” Still Sisois gave him the same advice, “You must not cease to rise from your sin again and again.” At last, the brother said to him, “My father, how long shall I go on rising again from my sin? Tell me this.”
The old man said to him, “Until you are at rest in the perfect performance of what is good, or have found quietness in complete bondage of evil.”
11. We must not think that even repeated victory over any fault frees us from the necessity for strife against it.
There was a certain old man who dwelt for fifty years in the desert. He neither tasted bread, nor even drank enough water to satisfy his thirst. At last, he said, “I think I have conquered utterly — yea, slain — the sins of avarice and vainglory.”
When the abbot Abraham heard that he had spoken these words, he came to him and asked if it was true that he had so spoken. He confessed that it was true. Then Abraham said to him, “Suppose, now, that you were walking along the road and you saw a pile of stones and broken bricks, and suppose that you saw in the midst of them a lump of gold, are you able to look upon it just as you look upon the stones and bricks?”
The old hermit answered, “No. I should feel that it was precious, but I should fight against the thought.”
Then said the abbot Abraham, “See, therefore. Avarice still lives in you, but you have fettered it.” Again, the abbot Abraham spoke to him, “Here is a man who loves you well and praises you. Here is another who hates you, and is for ever slandering you. If both of them come to you, can you look upon both of them with the same affection?” The old hermit answered him, “No. I cannot do this at once, but I should struggle with myself until I felt that I loved him whom at first I did not love.” Then Abraham said, “See, now; your passions are yet alive in you, but they are bound with holy bands.”
12. How we must ever be ready to do violence to ourselves.
A certain elder was once asked, “What is the meaning of this which is written: ‘Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life’?” He answered, “The strait and narrow way is this: that a man do violence to his thoughts and destroy his own will for God’s sake. This is what we are told the apostles did of whom it is written: ‘Lo, we have left all and followed You’.”
13. How in this life it is only possible to escape from strife by yielding entirely to all temptation.
A certain brother said to one of the elders, “In my life there is no strife. My soul is at peace.” The elder said to him, “If that be so, you are like a wide-opened door. Whatever likes can enter into you, whatever likes can go out.
“You know not what is happening in your heart. For if you hold your heart’s door fast, and keep it shut so that you refuse entrance to all evil thoughts, then you will see them standing without and feel that they are fighting against you.”
14. How the life of a monk is a life of ceaseless strife.
The abbot Macarius once said to the abbot Zacharias, “Teach me wherein a monk’s life consists.”
Zacharias replied, “Do you, my father, ask this question of me?” “I am fully determined to ask you,” said Macarius, “for there is One who is spurring me on to do so.” Then Zacharias said to him, “In my opinion, my father, he is truly a monk who in all things does violence to himself.”
Chapter 9. On Fasting.
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights,
He was afterward much hungered.
— Saint Matthew 4:2.
It is possible to be saved without virginity.
It is not possible to be saved without humility.
Without humility, (I dare even to say this)
even the virginity of Mary would not have pleased God.
— Saint Bernard, 1st Homily in praise of the Virgin Mother.
Sackcloth is a girdle good,
Oh, bind it round you still.
Fasting, it is angels’ food,
And Jesus loved the night air chill;
Yet think not prayer and fast were given
To make one step ‘twixt earth and heaven.
— Lyra Apostolica, 36.
1. How the spirit of love may loose the obligation of a fast, and yet where love makes no call on us the days of fasting ought to be observed.
The abbot Silvanus came one day with his disciple Zacharias to a certain monastery. The brethren who dwelt there besought them to eat something before they departed. They willingly received the food placed before them, lest they should grieve the brethren who offered it. Afterwards they departed. As they journeyed they came to a pool of water, and Zacharias wished to drink of it. Silvanus rebuked him, saying, “This is a fast day. You ought not to drink.” He replied, “But, my father, have we not already eaten and broken our fast?” “My son,” said Silvanus, “that eating was for the sake of the brethren, because we loved them. Now let us keep our fast.”
2. How it is better not to fast than to boast about our fasting — as the Lord says, “When ye fast, appear not unto men to fast.”
There was an assembly of monks in a certain church on a feast day. As the custom was, after the sacrifice had been offered among them, the brethren dined together. One of them said to the disciple who set food before him, “I will not eat this. I eat no cooked food.” This he said boasting of his own abstinence. Then said the blessed Theodorus, “It would be better for you, brother, to be eating flesh in your own cell, than that such a word should be heard among the brethren.”
3. How humility is to be preferred before fasting.
A certain anchorite dwelt in a cave not far from a monastery, and led a life of great privation. Once some brethren came from the monastery to visit him. As the custom was, he set food before them to refresh them after their journey. The brethren compelled the old man to eat with them, saying that they would not eat without his company. Afterwards, when they thought upon what they had done, they said to him,” We fear that you are grieved, father, because today for our sakes you have eaten more than you are wont.”
But he replied, “Brethren, I am not troubled in this matter. I am only grieved when I have acted according to my own will.”
4. How charity is to be preferred to fasting.
Epiphanius, the Bishop of Cyprus, once sent a message to the holy Hilarion, saying, “Come hither, that we may see each other and converse together before we depart from the body.” Hilarion came, and the two old men sat down to eat together. There was set before them the flesh of some birds. Of this, the Bishop partook, but Hilarion refused it, saying, “Pardon me, but since I became a monk I have never eaten anything that had life.”
At these words, the Bishop was grieved, and replied, “Since I became a monk I have tried never to allow anyone to sleep until I had removed any cause of complaint he had against me, nor myself to go to sleep while I was vexed with anyone.” “My father,” said Hilarion, “I pray you pardon me. Your way of life is far more excellent than mine.”
5. The saying of an unknown monk, teaching the same thing. How charity is to be preferred to fasting.
It is better to eat meat and to drink wine than to feed upon the flesh of your brother by envying him.
6. The teaching of Saint Antony, that wisdom is to be preferred to fasting.
There are some who keep under their bodies by fasting, and yet are far from God because they lack discretion.
7. The teaching of the abbot Moses on fasting as an aid to perfection.
Fastings, vigils, meditations on the Scriptures, self-denial, and the abnegation of all possessions are not perfection in themselves, but aids to perfection. The end of the science of holiness does not lie in these practices, but by means of them, we arrive at the end. He will practice these exercises to no purpose who is contented with these as if they were the highest good. A man must not fix his heart simply on these, but must extend his efforts towards the attainment of his end. It is for the sake of the end that these things should be cultivated. It is a vain thing for a man to possess the implements of an art and to be ignorant of its purpose, for in it is all that is of any value.
8. The teaching of the abbot Theonas about the occasions on which men ought not to fast.
If at the coming of a brother, in whose person a man ought to refresh Christ with courtesy and embrace Him with a kindly welcome, he should choose to observe a strict fast, would he not be guilty of churlishness rather than be deserving of praise for devoutness? If, when the failure or weakness of the flesh requires the strength to be restored by partaking of food, a man will not consent to relax the rigour of his fasting, is he not to be regarded as a cruel murderer of his own body rather than as one who is careful for his own salvation? So, too, when a festival season permits a suitable indulgence in food and a liberal repast, if a man will resolutely cling to the strict observance of his fast he must be considered as not religious, but rather boorish and unreasonable.
9. How spiritual thoughts put to silence the demands of the body.
Once there came a hermit to the cell of an elder to talk with him. The elder said to his disciple, “Prepare some vegetables for us, and moisten some bread.” The disciple did so. But the two old men remained in spiritual converse till the sixth hour of the next day. Then said the host again to his disciple, “Prepare some food for us.”
The disciple answered him, “My father, I prepared it yesterday.” Then the two old men rose up and ate together.
10. Of a certain brother who conquered his body lest he should grieve another.
One of the elders was sick, and for many days could not eat. At last, his disciple asked to be allowed to prepare a special dish that he might relish. Now there was in the cell a jar in which there was a little honey. Beside it there hung another containing oil, and that rancid, for the lamp. The disciple by mistake poured the oil and not the honey on the dish he had prepared. The old man, when he had tasted it, said not a word but silently swallowed a mouthful.
The disciple then constrained him to eat some more. With difficulty, he did so. Again, the disciple pressed him to take of it a third time. But the old man replied, “In truth, I cannot eat again, my son.” The disciple still pressed him, saying, “It is very good. See, I will eat with you.” When he tasted the dish, and knew what he had done, he fell upon his face and said, “Alas, my father, I have poisoned you. Why did you not speak?” Then the old man said, “Be not grieved, my son. If it had been God’s will for me to eat honey then you would have put honey in your dish.”
11. The use of fasting, and how it helps the life of the soul.
Fasting is the bridle in the mouth of the monk. It holds him back from sin. He who rejects the practice of fasting is like an unbridled, fiery horse. He is swept away by passion.
12. The conduct of the abbot Moses, and how the brethren recognised that charity is above rubrics.
Once, a rule was made in the Scetic desert that the monks should fast during the week of the Passover. It happened, however, that certain brethren from Egypt came to visit the abbot Moses during that very week, and he prepared some food for them. Some of the neighbouring monks saw the smoke of his fire rising from Moses’ cell, and they said to the clergy of the church, which was there, “Lo! Moses has broken our rule and cooked some food.”
Then the clergy replied, “When he comes we will speak to him about the matter.” On the Sabbath, when the abbot Moses came with the strangers to the church, the clergy understood his conduct, and cried out in the presence of the assembled brethren, “Oh, Abbot Moses, you have indeed broken a commandment of men, but you have bravely kept the commandments of God.”
13. A rule of life.
A certain brother once visited a hermit, and was entertained by him. He feared lest his entertainment had interfered with the severity of the hermit’s living, and when he was departing he said, “My father, pardon me if I have hindered the observance of your rule of life.”
The hermit answered him, “My rule of life is to receive you with hospitality, and let you depart in peace.”
14. How a man may break his fast through love, and another who keeps his fast may yet be yielding to a base kind of self-indulgence.
Once there were some brethren who, for the love they bore their guests, ate with them, though it was a season of fasting. There was another brother who scorned them as they sat at meat. When the abbot John beheld him, he wept, saying, “What kind of spirit has this man in his heart that he laughs at the brethren, scorning them? He ought rather to be weeping for himself. It is he who breaks his fast, not they. It is he who is eating. He devours charity.”
15. It is better not to fast than to be praised for fasting.
In a certain region, there was a man who fasted much, so that the name of Faster was given to him. Hearing this, the abbot Zeno sent for him. He came joyfully. After praying together, they sat down, and the abbot Zeno began to work in silence. Having no chance of speaking, the Faster was attacked by a restless spirit of accidie (restlessness and spiritual apathy). At last, he said, “Pray for me, my father, for I am going away.” “Why are you going?” asked the old man. “Because,” said the other, “my heart is as if it were on fire, and I know not what is the matter. When I was at home I used to fast until the evening time, and no such thing happened to me.”
Then said the old man, “At home you were fed through your ears by men’s praises. Now, go away. Eat at the ninth hour, and if you do anything, do it secretly.” In following this advice he found that he came to look forward eagerly to the ninth hour. Those who knew him began to say of him, “The Faster has fallen under the power of some devil.” He then came and told all this to the abbot Zeno, who said to him, “This way and this leading is according to God’s will.”
(Thanks to Methuen Company.)