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Sayings of the Fathers (Systematic Collection, Latin)

tr. Chadwick, 1958; selections

8. Part 8: That Nothing Should Be Done for Show

Abba Antony once heard this about a young monk and the piece of show he wrought on a journey. He saw some old men wearily walking along the road, and he ordered donkeys up to carry them until they reached home. When the old men told this to Abba Antony, he said: “I think that monk is like a ship laden with a rich cargo but not yet certain of reaching port in safety.” And shortly afterwards, Abba Antony began to weep, and pull his hair, and groan. When his disciples saw it, they said: “Why are you weeping, Abba?” And the old man answered: “A great pillar of the church has just fallen.” He said this about the young monk, and added: “Come, walk over to him, and see what has happened.” So his disciples went, and found the monk sitting on his mat and weeping for the sin which he had committed. When he saw Abba Antony’s disciples, he said: “Tell the old man to pray God to give me an armistice for only ten days, and I hope to be able to satisfy him.” Within five days he was dead.

The monks praised a brother to Abba Antony. But Antony went to him and tested whether he could endure abuse. And when he perceived that he could not bear it, he said: “You are like a house with a highly decorated façade, where burglars have stolen all the furniture out of the back door.”

They said of Abba Arsenius and Abba Theodore of Pherme that they hated reputation and praise above everything. Abba Arsenius avoided people likely to praise him. Abba Theodore did not avoid them, but their words were like daggers to him.

Archbishop John had a disciple named Eulogius. Eulogius was a presbyter who fasted for two days at a time, and sometimes ate nothing but bread and salt for a whole week: wherefore he had a high reputation. He came to Abba Joseph at Panephysis because he believed he would find harder discipline under him. The old man welcomed him, and of his charity made ready what he had to eat. But the disciples of Eulogius said: “The presbyter only eats bread and salt.” Abba Joseph silently began to eat. They spent three days in silence, hearing not even the sound of psalm or prayer (for they said the office secretly): and then Eulogius and his disciples went away, nothing edified.

But by God’s providence a mist came over the plain: and they wandered in a circle and came back in error to the old man Joseph’s cell. Before they knocked on the door, they heard the singing of psalms within: and they waited a long while outside, listening. Then they knocked on the door, and the old man welcomed them again. Eulogius was thirsty: and his disciples picked up a jug of water and gave it to him to drink. But the jug had sea-water mixed with fresh, and he could not drink it.

Eulogius considered this in his mind, and then began to ask the old man to show him his system, saying: “How is it, Abba, that first you did not sing any psalms, and then you began after we had gone away? And why was the water salt when I tried to drink it?” The old man said: “My disciple is away at work and I made a mistake and put sea-water in.” But Eulogius went on asking the old man, wanting to know the truth. And the old man told him: “That little chalice is for wine which we use in charity to guests. This is for the water which the brethren drink every day.”

With these words he taught him to have mental discretion, and drove out of him the merely human motives: and he became like other people, and in future ate what was put before him. And he learnt to be severe in secret, and said to the old man: “Truly, yours is a labour of love.”

Abba Zeno (the disciple of Abba Silvanus) said: “Never stay in a well-known place nor sit with a famous man, nor lay a foundation on which you might sometime build yourself a cell.”

Once a brother came to Abba Theodore of Pherme, and spent three days asking him for a word. But the Abba did not answer, and he went away sadly. So Abba Theodore’s disciple asked him: “Abba, why did you not speak to him? Look, he has gone away sad.” And the old man said: “Believe me, I said nothing to him because his business is getting credit by retailing what others have said to him.”

Another brother asked Abba Theodore: “Would you like me to eat no bread for several days?” And the old man said: “You would do well. I have sometimes done that.” And the brother said: “Should I take a few peas to the mill and make vegetable meal?” And Abba Theodore said: “If you go to the mill, make yourself bread. What need is there of this carrying to and fro?”

Another brother asked the same old Abba Theodore, and he began to talk and enquire about matters of which he had no experience. And the old man said to him: “You have not yet found a ship to sail in, nor put your luggage aboard, nor put out to sea, and are you already in the city which you mean to reach? If you make some attempt at a thing you are discussing, you will discuss it as it truly is.”

Abba Cassian¹ said that a brother came to Abba Serapion. And the old man encouraged him in the usual way to offer prayer. But he said that he was a sinner, and unworthy of the monk’s habit, and so refused. Serapion wanted to wash his feet, but he used the same words and would not allow it. Serapion gave him supper, and then began to exhort him in charity, saying: “Son, if you want to make progress, stay in your cell, keep a watch upon yourself and attend to the work of your hands. Nothing is more profitable to you than staying in your cell.” But when the brother heard him, he was bitterly angry, and the old man could not help seeing the change in his face. So Abba Serapion said to him: “Just now you were saying ‘I am a sinner’ and accusing yourself of living like an unworthy monk. Then why were you angry when I warned you charitably? If you truly would be humble, learn to carry like a man the burdens which others lay upon you, and do not shower terms of abuse over yourself.” When the brother heard this, he did penance before the old man, and went away with much profit.

Once a provincial judge heard of Abba Moses and went to Scete to see him. They told the old man that he was on his way, and he rose up to flee into a marsh. The judge and his train met him, and asked: “Tell me, old man, where is the cell of Abba Moses?” And the old man said: “Why do you want to see him? He is a fool and a heretic.”

The judge came to the church, and said to the clergy: “I heard of Abba Moses and came to see him. But an old man on his way to Egypt met me, and I asked him where was the cell of Abba Moses. And he said: ‘Why are you looking for him? He is a fool and a heretic.’” And the clergy were distressed and said: “What sort of person was your old man who told you this about the holy man?” And they said: “He was an old man, tall and dark, wearing the oldest possible clothes.” And the clergy said: “That was Abba Moses. And he told you this about himself because he did not want you to see him.” And the judge went away much edified.

A brother asked Abba Mathois: “If I go to live in such-and-such a place, what would you have me do there?” The old man said: “If you live there, do not try to make a reputation for yourself on some pretext—like saying: ‘Either I will not join the congregation or I will not eat this and that.’ This is the sort of thing that creates a bubble reputation, and afterwards you will suffer from crowds. When people hear that sort of thing they flock there.”

Abba Nesteros the Great was walking in the desert with a brother when they saw a dragon and ran away. The brother said: “Are you afraid, father?” The old man answered: “I am not afraid, my son. But it was good to run away from the dragon, for otherwise I should have had to run away from vanity.”

A provincial judge once wanted to see Abba Poemen and the old man would not allow it. The judge arrested his sister’s son as a criminal and imprisoned him, saying: “If the old man comes to ask for him, I will release him.” And the lad’s mother came to Abba Poemen her brother and began to weep outside the door of his cell. Stricken with grief, she began to reproach him, saying: “You may have a heart of cold steel, you may be pitiless, but at least have mercy on your kin and relent.” But he told her: “Poemen is the father of no children.” And she went away. When the judge heard this he sent a messenger to say: “You have only to order his release and I will release him.” The old man sent back the messenger with this message: “Try his case legally. If he ought to die, let him die. If he is innocent, do as you say.”

Abba Poemen also said: “Teach your heart to keep what your tongue teaches others.”

He also said: “Men try to appear excellent in their preaching; they are less excellent in practising what they preach.”

Once Abba Adelphius, who was bishop of Nilopolis, came to Abba Sisois on the mountain of Abba Antony. When he was just leaving, he made him eat at dawn—but it was a fast day. And when they brought the table, some brothers knocked at the door. The old man said to his disciple: “Give them a few buns, because they are weary.” And Abba Adelphius said to him: “Dismiss them for a time, or they will say ‘Abba Sisois ate at dawn.’” And Abba Sisois looked at him, and said to the brother: “Go, give them some.”

So when they saw the cooked food they said: “Have you got visitors? Is even the old man eating with you?” And the brother said: “Yes.” Then they began to be sad and say: “God forgive you, that you have let the old man eat at this hour. Do you not know that he has gone into a severe discipline for a great many days?”

When the bishop heard this, he began to do penance before the old man and said: “Forgive me, Abba, my thought was human, you did what is of God.” And Abba Sisois said to him: “Unless God glorifies man, man’s glory cannot last.”

Abba Ammon (of the place called Raythu) brought this enquiry to Abba Sisois: “When I read the Scripture, I am tempted to make elaborate comments and so prepare myself to answer questions on it.” The old man said: “There is no need. It is better to speak the word simply, with a good conscience and a pure mind.”

Once a provincial magistrate came to see Abba Simon. And Abba Simon took the leather belt which he wore and climbed a palm-tree to clean it with the palm leaves. When the judge’s party came up, they said: “Where is the old hermit of this wilderness?” And he answered: “There is no hermit hereabouts.” So the judge went away.

Another time a magistrate came to see him. And the clergy who went in front said to him: “Abba, be ready: for the judge has heard of you and is coming to be blessed by you.” And he covered himself with his sackcloth and took bread and cheese in his hand, and sat down in his doorway and began to eat it. The magistrate arrived with his retinue. And when they saw the old man, they were contemptuous of him and said: “Is this the hermit about whom we heard such great things?” And they turned round and went straight home.

Saint Syncletice said: “An open treasury is quickly spent. And any virtue will be annihilated if it is published abroad and becomes famous. If you put wax in front of a fire it melts; and if you pour vain praises on the soul, it goes soft and weak in seeking goodness.”

She also said: “The same thing cannot at once be seed and full grown bush. So men with a worldly reputation cannot bear heaven’s fruit.”

Once at a feast day in Cellia, the brothers were eating their meal in church. But one of them said to the server: “I eat nothing cooked, but salt.” And the serving monk called to another brother in front of the whole crowd: “This brother does not eat what is cooked, bring him the salt.” But one of the old men stood up and told him: “Today it would have been better for you to eat meat in your cell than to have heard this said in front of so many brothers.”

A man was being abstinent and not eating bread, and he went to visit an old man. By chance some other pilgrims arrived there and the old man made them a little vegetable soup. When they sat down to eat, the fasting brother took a single pea which he dipped in the soup and chewed it. When they rose from the table, the old man took him to one side and said: “Brother, if you visit someone, do not display to him your manner of life. If you want to keep your own rules, stay in your cell and never go out.” The brother accepted the advice, and thenceforth behaved like other people and ate what was put before him.

An old man said: “If a man takes thought for the morrow, it cuts away his fertility of spirit and leaves him dry.”

An old man said: “Make yourself in many things a fool in fleeing the company of men, or in mocking the world and the men of the world.”

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