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Sayings of the Fathers (Systematic Collection, Latin)

tr. Chadwick, 1958; selections

7. Part 7: Of Patience, or Fortitude

Once when the holy Abba Antony was living in the desert, his soul was troubled by boredom and irritation. And he said to God: “Lord, I want to be made whole and my thoughts do not let me. What am I to do in this trouble, how shall I be made whole?” And rising up after a little while, he began to go outside. And he saw someone like himself sitting down and at work; then standing up to pray; then sitting down again to make a plait of palm leaves, and again standing up to pray. It was an angel of the Lord sent to correct Antony and make him careful. And he heard the voice of the angel saying: “Do this and you will be made whole.” When he heard it he was very glad and recovered his confidence. And he did what the angel had done, and found the salvation which he was seeking.

A brother asked Abba Agatho: “I have been instructed to go somewhere, and I have a grievous struggle in the place where I have been told to go. I want to obey the order, yet I am frightened of the inner struggle which will ensue.” The old man said: “Agatho was like that. He obeyed orders, and so won the battle.”

Abba Ammonas said that for fourteen years he had prayed God in Scete night and day to give him power to control his temper.

Abba Bessarion said that for forty nights he had stood up among the thorns, and had not slept.

A hermit who was troubled in mind went to Abba Theodore of Pherme and told him so. The old man said to him: “Go, make your mind humble, put yourself in subjection, and go to live with others.” So he went to a mountain, and there lived with a community. Later he returned to the old man and said: “Not even when I lived with other men did I find rest.” And the old man said to him: “If you are not at rest when a hermit, nor when in community, why did you want to be a monk? Was it not that you might suffer? Tell me, how many years have you been a monk?” And he said: “Eight.” And the old man said: “Believe me, I have been a monk for seventy years, and I have not been able to get a single day’s peace. And do you want to have peace after eight years?”

A brother asked Abba Theodore: “If you suddenly hear the sound of falling masonry, are you frightened, Abba?” And the old man said: “If the heaven fell down on the earth, Theodore would not be afraid.” For he had prayed to God that fear might be taken from him, and that was why the brother asked him.

They said of Abba Theodore and Abba Lucius from the region of Alexandria, that they lived fifty years enticing their souls onwards thus. They said: “When this winter is past, we will move from here.” And in the summer time they said: “At the end of the summer let us move from here.” And so those memorable fathers lived their whole lives in devotion.

Abba Poemen said of Abba John the Short that he prayed the Lord to take away his passions. And so he was made tranquil in heart, and came to an old man and said: “I find that I am at rest, with no war of flesh and spirit.” And the old man said to him: “Go, ask the Lord to stir a new war in you. Fighting is good for the soul.” And when the war revived in him, he no longer prayed for it to be taken away, but said: “Lord, grant me long-suffering to endure this war.”

Abba Macarius the Great came to Abba Antony on the mountain. And when he knocked at the door, Antony went out to him and said: “Who are you?” And he said: “I am Macarius.” And Antony went in and shut the door, and left Macarius outside. And afterwards, when he saw how patiently he waited, he opened the door to him. And he welcomed him, saying: “I have heard of you, and for a long time I have wanted to see you.” And he was hospitable to him and refreshed him; for Macarius was tired with his endeavours. In the evening Abba Antony put out a few palm leaves for himself. And Abba Macarius said to him: “Give me some, so that I can work at them.” Antony said: “I have no more.” So he made a pile of what he had, and they sat late, talking to the profit of their souls, and made a plaited rope, and the rope hung out of the window in the cave. And at dawn Antony went in and saw the plaits which Abba Macarius had made, and he wondered at them and kissed his hand, saying: “There is much virtue in those plaits.”

This Macarius once went down from Scete to a place named Terenuthis, and he climbed into an old pagan cemetery to sleep. And he put one of the bodies under his head as a pillow. The demons hated him when they saw his assurance, and tried to frighten him by calling out “Lady, come with us to bathe.” And another demon answered, from underneath Macarius, as though he were the dead woman: “I have a pilgrim on top of me, and cannot move.” The old man was not frightened, but confidently thumped the body, saying: “Get up, go if you can.” When the demons heard it, they cried with a loud voice and said: “You have beaten us.” And they fled in confusion.

Abba Mathois said: “I want to find some easy but continual work, rather than a heavy work that is quickly finished.”

They said of Abba Milidus, that while he was living on the frontiers of Persia with two disciples, two sons of the emperor came on their usual hunting expedition, and put nets over an area of forty miles, and speared whatever they trapped. And they found the old man and his disciples within the area. And when they saw his hairy and forbidding face, they were surprised and said: “Are you a man or a Spirit?” And he said: “I am a sinful man, and I have come out here to lament my sins; and I worship Jesus Christ the Son of the living God.” They said to him: “There is no God but the sun, and the fire and the water. Worship them and sacrifice to them.” And he replied: “You are wrong: these are but creatures. I beseech you, be converted—recognize the true God who made these and all things else.” But they mocked him and said: “Are you saying that the true God is a condemned and crucified man?” “Yes,” said Milidus, “I say that the true God is he who crucified sin and killed death.”

So they tortured him and his two monks to force them to sacrifice. And after much torture they beheaded the two monks, but they went on torturing the old man day after day. But afterwards they fastened him in one place and fired arrows into him, one in front and one behind, so that he looked like a signpost. The old man said to them: “Since you have conspired to shed innocent blood, tomorrow, at this very moment of the day, your mother shall be bereaved of her children and your affection for her, and you will spill each other’s blood by your own arrows.” They thought his words were silly: and next day went out again to hunt. It happened that a stag escaped from their net, and they jumped on their horses and chased him. And each fired an arrow which hit the heart of the other: and so they died as the old man had foretold.

Abba Poemen said: “The mark of the true monk only appears under temptation.”

Another saying of his was this. Isidore the presbyter in Scete once addressed a congregation of monks and said: “My brothers, is not work the reason why we are here? And now I see that there is no work here. So I am taking my cloak and going where there is work, and there I shall find rest.”

Saint Syncletice said: “If you live in a monastic community, do not wander from place to place: if you do, it will harm you. If a hen stops sitting on the eggs she will hatch no chickens: and the monk or nun who moves from place to place grows cold and dead in faith.”

She also said: “When the devil does not use the goads of poverty to tempt, he uses wealth for the purpose. When he cannot win by scorn and mockery, he tries praise and flattery. If he cannot win by providing health, he tries illness: if he cannot win by comfort, he tries to ruin the soul by vexations which lead a person to act against the monastic vow. He inflicts severe sicknesses on people whom he wants to tempt, and so makes them weak, and thereby shakes the charity which they feel towards God. But although the body is shattered and running high temperatures and thirsting unbearably—yet you who endure all this are a sinner, and remember the punishments of the next world, and the everlasting fire, and the torments of the judgement. So you will not fail in the sufferings of this present time; indeed you should rejoice because God has visited you. Keep saying the famous text: ‘The Lord hath chastened and corrected me: but he hath not given me over unto death.’¹ Iron is cleaned of rust by fire. If you are righteous and suffer, you grow to a yet higher sanctity. Gold is tested by fire. A messenger from Satan is given to you to be a thorn in your flesh. Lift up your heart, for you see that you have received a gift like that of St Paul. If you suffer from fever and cold, remember the text of Scripture, ‘We went through fire and water,’—and then ‘thou broughtest us out into a place of rest.’ If you have won the suffering, you may expect the place of rest, provided you are following what is good. Cry aloud the prophet’s words, ‘I am poor and destitute and in misery’—for threefold suffering like this shall make you perfect. He said also, ‘Thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble.’²

Thus, let us test our souls by this kind of self-discipline, for we have our enemy before our eyes.”

Saint Syncletice also said: “If you are troubled by illness, do not be melancholy, even if you are so ill that you cannot stand to pray or use your voice to say psalms. We need these tribulations to destroy the desires of our body—in this they serve the same purpose as fasting and austerity. If your senses are dulled by illness, you do not need to fast. In the same way that a powerful medicine cures an illness, so illness itself is a medicine to cure passion. And there is much profit of soul in bearing illness quietly and giving thanks to God. If we go blind, let us not be disturbed. We have lost a means to excellence, yet we can contemplate the glory of God with the inward eyes of the soul. If we go deaf, let us remember that we shall no longer hear a lot of silly talk. If suffering has weakened the strength of your hands, you still have an inner strength against the enemy’s attacks. If the whole body is afflicted by disease, the health of the inner man is still increasing.”

She also said: “People in the world who commit crime are thrown into prison against their will. For our sins, let us put ourselves under guard, and by willingly accepting it now we shall avoid punishment in the future. If you fast, you should avoid saying that by weakening your frame you have fallen ill, for people who do not fast, fall ill in the same way. If you have begun some good work, you should not be turned from it by the enemy’s attempts to hinder you, indeed your endurance will conquer the enemy. Seamen beginning a voyage set the sails and look for a favourable wind—and later they meet a contrary wind. Just because the wind has turned, they do not throw the cargo overboard or abandon ship: they wait a little and battle against the storm until they can again set a direct course. And when we run into headwinds, let us put up the cross for our sail, and we shall voyage through the world in safety.”

They said of Abbess Sarah of blessed memory, that for sixty years she lived on the bank of a river, and never looked down to see the water.

Abba Hyperichius said: “Keep praising God with hymnody, and meditate continually, and so lift the burden of the temptations that come upon you. A traveller carrying a heavy burden stops from time to time to take deep breaths, and so makes the journey easier and the burden lighter.”

He also said: “Temptations come to us in all kinds of ways. We ought to be armed at all points, and then we shall appear to them to be tried warriors when they come against us.”

An old man said: “If a man is tempted, sufferings crowd round him on all sides, and he becomes timid and begins to grumble.” And the old man told this story. A temptation came to a brother who lived at Cellia. And if anyone saw him, they did not wish him well, nor did they welcome him into their cells. If he was short of bread, no one lent him any. If he was on his way back from harvesting, no one followed the usual custom of inviting him in for refreshment. Once he had been reaping, and he became very thirsty, and had no bread in his cell. But in all these tribulations he kept thanking God. And God seeing his patience, took away his inner struggle and gave him rest. And immediately there was a knock on his door, and a man from Egypt was outside leading a camel laden with bread. When the brother saw it, he began to weep, and said: “Lord, I am not worthy of even a little suffering.” And now that his trial was over, the brothers welcomed him in their cells and in the church, and refreshed him.

An old man said: “We do not make progress because we do not know what we can do; we lose heart in the work we have begun; and we want to be good without trying to be good.”

³ A brother asked an old man: “What am I to do? My thoughts will not let me sit alone in my cell even for an hour.” The old man said: “My son, go back and stay in your cell, wash your hands, pray God continually, and cast your thoughts upon God: and let no one persuade you to go out of your cell.” And he said: “A lad who was living in the world with his father, decided to become a monk. But though he begged his father to allow it, the father kept refusing: until in the end, at the request of some devout friends, he consented with an ill grace. And the lad left home and entered a monastery. As soon as he was a monk, he began to keep the monastic rule perfectly, and to fast every day. He even began to go without food for two days and to eat a proper meal only once a week. His Abba saw him and marvelled, and blessed God for his self-discipline.

After a short time it happened that the monk began to beg his Abba: ‘Please let me go into the desert.’ The Abba said: ‘My son, do not think of it. You cannot endure austerity like that, or the skill and temptation of the devil. When you are tempted in the desert, there is no one to comfort you in the troubles which the devil stirs up.’ But the monk began the more to ask him to let him go. And his Abba, seeing that he could not hold him, said a prayer and let him go. Then he said to his Abba: ‘Please give me guides to show me the right way.’ And the Abba selected two monks from that monastery to go with him.

For two days they walked through the desert, and then were exhausted with the heat. So they lay down and slept for a little. While they were asleep, an eagle swooped down and beat at them with its wings, and then flew off a little and alighted. They woke up and saw the eagle, and said: ‘Here’s your angel: rise and follow him.’ The brother rose and bid the brothers good-bye, and followed the eagle, which flew a little and then alighted, and on his approach flew a little further; this went on for three hours. Then the eagle flew off to the right of the pursuing monk, and did not reappear. Nevertheless the monk went that way, and saw three palm-trees, and a spring, and a little cave. He said: ‘Here’s the place that God has made ready for me.’

He went into the cave and stayed there, eating dates and drinking the water from the spring; for six years he lived there alone and saw no man. But one day the devil came to him disguised as an elder, with a fierce expression on his face. The brother saw him and was frightened, and fell down to pray. And when he rose again, the devil said to him: ‘Let us pray again, brother.’ And when they rose again, the devil said: ‘How long have you been here?’ He answered: ‘Six years.’ And the devil said: ‘This is remarkable. I have had you as my neighbour, and I did not find out until four days ago. I have a hermitage not far from here, and this is the first day in eleven years that I have left it, because I discovered that you were living near me. And I considered the matter and said, Shall I go to this man of God, and consult him for the good of my soul? I tell you, brother, we do no good sitting like this in our cells. We cannot receive the body and blood of Christ, and I am afraid that he will cast us away if we separate ourselves from that sacrament. But I tell you, brother, three miles from here is a monastery with a presbyter. Let us go there every Sunday, or every other Sunday, and receive the body and blood of Christ, and return to our cells.’

The brother was pleased and persuaded by the devil’s suggestion. On Sunday the devil came and said: ‘Come, it is time to go.’ They went out and came to the monastery where the presbyter was, entered the church and fell to prayer. When the monk ended his prayer, he could not see his guide anywhere, and said: ‘Where do you think he has gone? Has he had to go out?’ He waited some time; but his guide did not return. He went out of the church and looked round for him, but could not find him. So he asked the monks of the place: ‘Where is the Abba who came to church with me?’ They said: ‘We saw no one else but you.’

Then the brother knew he was a demon, and said: ‘See the skill with which the devil has winkled me out of my cell. Yet he cannot touch me, because I have come here for a good reason. I shall receive the body and blood of Christ, and go back to my cell.’ After mass in the church, the brother wanted to go back to his cell. But the abbot of the monastery kept him, saying: ‘Unless you dine with us, we shall not let you go back.’ So he shared their dinner, and went back to his cell.

Then the devil came again, this time in the likeness of a young man of the world, and began to look him up and down from head to foot and say: ‘Is this the man? It is not.’ And he began to stare at him. The brother said to him: ‘Why are you gazing at me?’ And the devil said: ‘I think you do not know who I am. How should you know after so long a time? I am the son of your father’s neighbour. Is not your father’s name this, and your mother’s that, and your sister’s that, and your name that? Are not your two serving girls called such and such? But your mother and sister died three years ago. Now your father has died, and left his property to you, saying: “My son, who in holiness left the world and followed God, is the only heir left to me, so I will leave him everything. If anyone is a prophet of the Lord and knows where he is, let him speak. Then my son, can come and take my wealth and give it away to the poor for the benefit of my soul and his soul.” And many people went seeking you but could not find you. I was brought here accidentally by some work and recognized you. Do not delay, but come; sell it all and do what your father wanted.’

The brother answered: ‘I have no need to go back to the world.’ The devil said: ‘If you do not come and your wealth vanishes you will have to give an account of it before God. Surely I am saying nothing wicked in telling you to come and give money to the poor and needy like a good and generous man, and so prevent money left to the poor from being misappropriated by evil men and women? What is the trouble in coming to give alms as your father wanted for the good of your soul, and then returning to your cell?’

So he persuaded the brother to return to the world. He went with him as far as the town and left him. The brother was making to enter his father’s house, as the house of a dead man, when his father came out alive and well. He did not recognize his son, but said: ‘Who are you?’ The monk in his surprise could not say a word. His father began again to ask him who he was and whence he came. Then, in his confusion, he said: ‘I am your son.’ His father said: ‘Why have you come back?’ He was ashamed to say why he had come, so he said: ‘My love made me return; I wanted to see you.’ And he stayed at home. And soon he fell into lust, and was severely punished by his father, and was wretched and did no penance but remained in the world.

So I tell you, my brothers, that a monk never ought to let himself be persuaded by anyone to leave his cell.”

In the desert some people came to a great old man and said: “How is it you are happy here in this severe life?” And the old man said: “All the severity of my life here cannot compare with the day of torment prepared for sinners in the next world.”

An old man said: “The ancients were reluctant to move from place to place—except perhaps for three reasons: first, if a man was vexed against them and no amount of satisfaction would propitiate him: secondly, if many people praised them: and thirdly, if they were tempted to lust.”

A brother said to Abba Arsenius: “What am I to do, Abba? My thought troubles me, telling me ‘You cannot fast, nor work, nor visit the sick, because even these things are selfish.’” The old man saw that the devil had sown the thought and said: “Go, eat and drink and sleep, only do not leave your cell; remember that staying in the cell is what keeps a monk on his proper path.” He did it for three days and then suffered from accidie. So he found a few palm leaves and split them; the next day he began to make a plait from them. When he grew hungry, he said to himself: “Here are a few more palm-leaves. I shall lay them out before I eat.” And after he had finished, he said: “I shall read a little before I eat.” And after he had finished, he said: “I shall say a few psalms, and then I shall eat with an untroubled mind.”

So step by step he made progress with God’s help, until he came back to the right way. And when he had received confidence against evil thoughts, he overcame them.

An old man was asked by a brother why, when he stayed in his cell, he suffered accidie. The old man answered: “You have not yet seen the resurrection for which we hope, nor the torment of fire. If you had seen these, then you would bear your cell without accidie even if it was filled with worms and you were standing in them up to your neck.”

The brothers asked an old man to rest from his great labour. He answered: “Believe me, my sons, if Abraham was penitent when he saw God’s glorious gifts, should we not struggle the more in our labour?”

A brother asked an old man and said: “My thoughts wander, and I am troubled.” He answered: “Go on sitting in your cell, and your thoughts will come back from their wanderings. If a she-ass is tethered, her foal skips and gambols all round her but always comes back to the mother. So will it be with the man who for God’s sake sits patiently in his cell. Though his thoughts wander for a time, they will come again.”

An old man lived in the desert twelve miles from the nearest water. Once, on his way to draw water, he felt exhausted. So he said: “What need to suffer this? I will come and live by the spring.” As soon as he said this, he turned round and saw a man following him and counting his steps. He asked the man, “Who are you?” And he said: “I am an angel of the Lord, sent to count your steps and reward you.” When the old man heard this, his mind was strengthened, and he moved his cell five miles further from the spring.

The fathers used to say: “If you are tempted where you are, do not leave the place at a time of temptation. If you do leave it, you will find the temptation which you are fleeing wherever you next place your cell. Be patient till the temptation is past; then your departure will scandalize no one and bring no trouble to the other people who live there.”

A brother was restless in the community and often moved to anger. So he said: “I will go, and live somewhere by myself. And since I shall be able to talk or listen to no one, I shall be tranquil, and my passionate anger will cease.” He went out and lived alone in a cave. But one day he filled his jug with water and put it on the ground. It happened suddenly to fall over. He filled it again, and again it fell. And this happened a third time. And in a rage he snatched up the jug and broke it. Returning to his right mind, he knew that the demon of anger had mocked him, and he said: “Here am I by myself, and he has beaten me. I will return to the community. Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help.” And he rose up, and went back.

A brother asked an old man: “What am I to do, father? I do nothing like a monk. I eat, drink and sleep as I like, I am much troubled by vile thoughts, I shift from task to task, and my mind wanders everywhere.” The old man answered: “Stay in your cell, and do what you can without trouble of mind. It is only a little that you do now, yet it is even as when Abba Antony did mighty things in the desert. I trust God that whoever stays in his cell for God’s sake, and guards his conscience, will be found where Antony is.”

An old man was asked how a watchful monk should not be scandalized when he sees others returning to the world. And he replied: “A monk ought to look at hounds when they are hunting a hare. One of them glimpses the hare and gives chase: the others merely see a hound running, run some way with him, then they get tired and go back on their tracks. Only the leading hound keeps up the chase until he catches the hare. He is not deterred by the others who give up; he thinks nothing of cliffs or thickets or brambles; he is often pricked and scratched by thorns; yet he keeps on until he catches the hare. And so the man who searches for the Lord Jesus, aims unceasingly at the cross, and leaps through every obstacle in his way until he comes to the Crucified.”

An old man said: “A tree cannot bear fruit if it is often transplanted. So it is with the monk.”

When a brother was troubled by thoughts of leaving the monastery, he told this to his abbot. And he said: “Go and sit down, and entrust your body to your cell as a man puts a precious possession into a safe, and do not go out. Then let your thoughts go where they will. Let your mind think what it likes, so long as it does not drive your body out of the cell.”

An old man said: “The monk’s cell is the furnace in Babylon in which the three children found the Son of God. It is the pillar of cloud out of which God spoke to Moses.”

For nine years a brother was assailed by temptations to leave his community. Every day he picked up his cloak to go, the cloak in which he wrapped himself at night. At evening he would say: “I will go away tomorrow.” And at dawn he would think: “I ought to bear this torment and stay here just today for the Lord’s sake.” He did this every day for nine years, until the Lord took away temptation.

A brother fell into temptation, and in his suffering he stopped keeping the monastic rule. When he later tried to start keeping the fundamentals of the rule, he was hampered by his suffering; and he said to himself: “When shall I be as I once was?” And in this gloomy state of soul he could not make himself begin the monastic office. So he went to an old man and told him what had been happening. When the old man heard of his sufferings, he told him this story by way of example.

“A man had a plot of land. And through his carelessness brambles sprang up and it became a wilderness of thistles and thorns. Then he decided to cultivate it. So he said to his son: ‘Go and clear that ground.’ So the son went to clear it, and saw that the thistles and thorns had multiplied. So his spirit weakened, and he said: ‘How much time shall I need to clear and weed all this?’ And he lay on the ground and went to sleep. He did this day after day. Later his father came to see what he had done, and found him doing nothing. And he said to him: ‘Why have you done nothing till now?’ And the lad said to his father: ‘I was just coming to work, father, when I saw this wilderness of thorn and thistle, and I was deterred from starting, and so I lay on the ground and went to sleep.’ Then his father said to him: ‘Son, if you had cleared each day the area on which you lay down, your work would have advanced slowly and you would not have lost heart.’ So the lad did what his father said, and in a short time the plot was cultivated.

So you, brother, do a little work and do not faint, and God will give you grace and bring you back to your proper way of life.”

The brother went away and patiently did what the old man had told him. And he found peace of mind, and made progress with the help of the Lord Christ.

There was an old man who was often ill. But one year he did not fall ill. And he was grievously troubled and wept, saying: “The Lord has left me, and has not visited me.”

An old man said that a brother was goaded by his thoughts for nine years to despair of his salvation. He judged himself and said: “I have ruined my soul. And because I have perished already, I will go to the world.” On his journey he heard a voice saying: “Those temptations which you endured for nine years were your crowns. Go back to your cell, and I will take from you these evil thoughts.” Thereupon he realized that it is not good to despair of oneself because of the temptations that come. If we use these thoughts well they will give us a crown.

An old man was living in a cave in the Thebaid with one well-tested disciple. It was usual for the old man to teach the disciple during the evening and show him how the soul should progress: and after the address, he prayed and sent him away to sleep.

Some devout laymen who knew the old man’s ascetic life happened to visit him. He gave them consolation, and they went away. Then the old man sat down after the evening offices as usual to address and instruct the brother. But while he was talking, sleep overcame him. The brother waited for the old man to wake and end with the usual prayer. But the old man went on sleeping, and the brother went on sitting for a long time: and in the end the disciple, with greatly troubled mind, was forced to go away to sleep. But he tormented himself, and resisted the temptation, and went back to sit by the old man. A second time he was forced up by the longing for sleep, but sat down again. This happened seven times, and still he went on resisting his soul.

In the middle of the night the old man awoke, and found him sitting nearby and said: “Are you not gone away yet?” And he said: “No, you did not dismiss me, father.” The old man said: “Why did you not wake me up?” He answered: “I did not dare to nudge you for fear of disturbing you.”

They both stood up and began to say mattins. After mattins the old man dismissed his disciple. And while the old man was sitting alone, he was rapt and was shown a vision of a glorious place, and a throne in it, and on the throne seven crowns. And he asked the angel who showed the vision: “Whose are those?” And he said: “They are the crowns of your disciple: God has given him this place and throne because of his goodness: tonight he has been granted these seven crowns.”

The old man marvelled, and tremblingly called his disciple to him and said: “Tell me what you did last night.” He answered: “Forgive me, father, I did nothing.” The old man judged that he was being humble and concealing something, and said: “Believe me, I cannot rest until you tell me what you did and thought last night.” But the brother was not aware that he had done anything and could not say a word. But he said to the old man: “Forgive me, father, I did nothing—except only this, that seven times I was driven by wandering thoughts to go away and sleep; but you had not dismissed me as you usually do, so I did not go.”

Then the old man at once understood that every time he resisted the temptation, God bestowed a crown on him. To the disciple he said nothing, thinking it best for his soul: but he told other directors of souls, to teach us how God can bestow crowns upon us even for resisting little temptations. It is good that a man discipline his whole self for God’s sake. As it is written: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”⁴

Once a hermit fell ill. Because he had no one to look after him, he rose and ate whatever he found in his cell. Though this happened for several days, no one came to visit him. Even after a month no one had come. And the Lord sent his angel to minister to him. After the angel had ministered to him for a week, the fathers remembered him and said to each other: “Let us go and see whether the old man is ill.” They went to his cell: and the moment they knocked on the door, the angel departed from him. The old man inside shouted: “Go away, my brothers.” But they lifted the door off its hinge and went in, and asked him why he shouted. And he said: “For a month I was ill and no one visited me. Now for a week an angel of the Lord has ministered to me, but he went away the moment you arrived.” And with these words, he peacefully died. The brothers marvelled, and glorified God, saying: “The Lord does not leave them who trust in him.”

An old man said: “If you fall ill, do not be a weakling. If the Lord God has willed that your body be feeble, who are you to bear it with grief? Does he not look after you in all you need? Surely you do not live without him. Be patient in your illness, and ask him to give you what is right—that is, that you may do his will, and abide in patience, and in charity eat what you have.”

One of the fathers said: “When I was in Oxyrhynchus, the poor came on Friday evening to eat the agape. And while they were asleep afterwards, there was one only with a mat. He put half the mat underneath him and the other half on top, but he was still very cold. And when he went to relieve himself, I heard him grumbling and moaning about the cold: and he consoled himself thus: ‘I thank thee, Lord. How many wealthy men are in prison, sitting on iron or with shackled feet, so that they cannot even go out and relieve themselves freely. But I am like an emperor—I can stretch my legs and walk wherever I like.’ I was standing there and heard what he said: and I went in and told the brothers, and they were much edified to hear it.”

A brother asked an old man: “If I were somewhere where there was no one whom I could consult in a suffering which afflicted me, no one to show me the passion of my soul, what should I do?” The old man said: “Believe in God, for he will send his grace, and will himself be your consolation, if you ask him in charity.” And he added: “I have heard a story like this from Scete. There was a man enduring temptation, and he had no confidence in any of the confessors and so he got his bundle ready to go away. But during the night he saw a vision of God’s grace in the form of a maiden, who asked him: ‘Do not go: stay here with me, for no ill will happen to you from what you have heard.’ He believed her words, and stayed in his cell, and at once was healed in his heart.”

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