Глава XIV. О послушании

1. Abba Anthony said: obedience with abstinence subdues the animals. 2. Abba Arseny said to Abba Alexander: when you prune your branches, come and eat with me; if strangers come, eat with them. Abba Alexander worked little by little and slowly, and when the time came to taste, he still had a few more branches to trim. Wanting to keep the elder’s word, he stayed to finish his needlework, and Abba Arseny, seeing that he was slow, ate alone, believing that he had wanderers. Abba Alexander came to the elder when evening had already come, and the elder asked him: did you have strangers? He said no. The elder asked again: why didn’t you come? He answered: You told me when you cleanse your branches, then come. I did not come, keeping your word, for only now have I cleansed them. The elder was surprised at his accuracy and said: give permission quickly so that you can complete your rule, and drink water, otherwise your body will become weak. 3. Abba Abraham came to Abba Ari. While they were sitting, a brother came to the elder and asked him: Father, tell me, what should I do to be saved? Abba says to him: go, this year in the evening eat bread and salt; then come and I will tell you. He went and did this. At the end of the year, the brother again came to Abba Arius; Abba Abraham also happened to be there then. The elder said to his brother: go, fast for two days this year. When the brother left, Abba Abraham asked Abba Ari: why do you give the other brothers a light yoke, but impose heavy burdens on this brother? The elder answered him: the brethren come with questions and leave, but this one comes for God’s sake to hear the word, for he is a doer, and whatever I tell him, he will do carefully. That’s why I tell him the word of God. 4. One elder said that Saint Basil, having arrived in one monastery, after a decent teaching, asked the abbot: do you have a brother here who has obedience? He answered him: all your servants are carefully zealous for salvation, Master! He asked him again: Do you have anyone who truly has obedience? Then he brought one brother to him, and Saint Basil ordered him to serve himself during dinner. After eating, the brother gave him water to wash, after which Saint Basil said to him: go, and I will give you to wash, - and the brother allowed him to pour water. Then he said to him: when I enter the sanctuary, come and I will make you a deacon. After this was accomplished, he made him a presbyter and took him with him to the bishopric for the sake of his obedience. 5. Abba Isaiah spoke to the beginners and those who are in obedience to the holy fathers: just as the first paint does not come off, like, for example, crimson on porphyry, and just as young shoots easily turn and bend, so do the beginners who are in obedience. 6. They told about Abba John Kolov that, having retired to an elder of Thebes in Skete, he lived in the desert. The elder took a dry tree and, having planted it, said to Abba John: water it every day with a jug of water until it bears fruit, but the water was as far away from them as if you set out in the evening and arrive only in the morning. Three years later, the tree came to life and bore fruit. The elder took its fruit, brought it to the church and said to the brethren: accept, taste of the fruit of obedience. 7. They said about John, Abba Paul’s disciple, that he had great obedience. In one place there was a cemetery in which a hyena lived. The elder, seeing the dung there, said to John: go and bring it. He asked the elder: what should I do, Abba, with the hyena? He, jokingly, said: if she attacks you, tie her up and bring her here. The brother went there in the evening, and then a hyena came out at him. At the word of the elder, he rushed to grab her, but she ran away, and, chasing her, he said: “My Abba said that I should tie you up,” and, finally catching him, he tied him up. Meanwhile, the elder was worried, waiting for him, and he saw John walking with a tied hyena. Surprised by this, but wanting to humble the student, the elder beat him, saying: stupid! Did you bring a mad dog here to me? The elder immediately untied her and released her. 8. They said that Abba Silouan had a student named Mark, who had great obedience, who was a calligrapher by profession, and whom the elder loved because of his obedience. Abba Silouan had eleven more disciples, who mourned that he loved Mark more than them. Hearing about this, the other elders were saddened and one day, coming to him, they reproached him. Then, calling them, he went out and began to knock on each person’s cell in turn, calling: brother so-and-so, come here, I need you! But not one of them came to him immediately. When he approached Mark’s cell and knocked, he said: Mark! - this one, hearing his voice, immediately jumped out to him. He sent him to obedience and asked the elders: where are the other brothers and fathers? Then, entering Mark’s cell and taking his handicraft, he saw that he had begun to write the letter “yu,” but, hearing the elder’s voice, he threw away the cane without finishing the letter. Then the elders said: truly, whomever you love, Abba, we love him too, for God also loves him. 9. They said about Abba Silouan that once, while walking around the Skete with the elders, he wanted to show them the obedience of his disciple and why he loved him. Seeing a small wild boar, he asked him: Do you see, child, that small buffalo? He answered him: I see, Abba! – How good are his horns!? - He says: exactly, Abba! The elders were surprised at his answer and received edification from his obedience. 10. One day Abba Mark’s mother came to see him with great pomp. The elder came out to her, and she said to him: Abba! Tell my son to come out so I can see him. Entering, the elder said to him: come out so that your mother can see you! He was dressed in patched clothes and dirty from the kitchen. Coming out for the sake of obedience, he closed his eyes and said: save yourself! - but didn’t see anyone. The mother, not recognizing him, again sent to the elder, saying: send my son to me to see him! He asked Mark: Didn’t I tell you to go out so that your mother could see you? This one answered: I went out according to your word, Abba! But I ask you, do not tell me to go out again, lest I disobey you. The elder came out to his mother and told her: he is the same one who came out to you and said: save yourself! And, having consoled her, he let her go. 11. They said about Abba Megephia that he was very humble, taught by the Egyptians, and visited many elders, also Abba Sisoes and Abba Pimen. One day one of the saints came to him, as he himself said, and asked him: how do you live, brother, in this desert? He answered: I fast for two days and eat one piece of bread. Abba told him: if you want to listen to me, eat half a loaf of bread every day. By doing this, he found peace. 12. Abba Mios of Cilicia said: obedience is for obedience: whoever listens to God, God will hear him. 13. Abba Moses said to one brother: acquire obedience, from which are born: humility, patience, generosity, contrition, brotherly love, for these are our military weapons. 14. He said: go, brother, into the obedience of the truth, in which is humility, in which is strength, in which is joy, in which is joy, in which is patience, in which is generosity, in which is brotherly kindness, in which is contrition, in which is love, for he who has obedience is filled with all virtues. 15. He said again: a monk who fasts and is under a spiritual father, but does not have obedience and humility, will not acquire any virtue and does not even know what a monk is. 16. One layman, of a very pious life, came to Abba Pimen, who had other brethren who wanted to hear the word of the elder. The elder says to the faithful layman: say a word to the brothers. He apologized, refusing: forgive me, Abba! I came to study. But, convinced by the elder, he said: I am a layman, a seller of vegetables, and when trading, I make small ones from large bunches - I buy for a small amount and sell for a large amount. However, I do not know how to speak from Scripture, but I will tell a parable. One man asked his friend: I have a desire to see the king, come with me. The friend answered him: I will walk with you halfway. He says to another friend: take me to the king. He said to him: I will take you to the royal palace. He says to the third: go with me to the king. The friend said to him: I will go, enter the chamber and stand before the king; Then I will call you and bring you to the king. The brothers asked him: what is the power of this parable? He answered: the first friend is asceticism, which guides you halfway; the second is purity that reaches to heaven; and the third is alms, which boldly leads to the king himself - God. And the brethren, having received edification, left. 17. Once upon a time four wanderers came to the great Pamvo, dressed in leather, and each revealed to him about the virtue of the other: one fasted a lot; the other was non-covetous; the third had great love; about the fourth they said that he had been in obedience to the elder for twenty-two years. Abba Pambo answered them: I tell you that the virtue of this latter is higher than all others, for each of you adheres to his own will, acquiring this or that virtue, and this one does the will of another, cutting off his own will. Such are the essence of confessors if they maintain the same practice to the end. 18. Abba Rufus said that he who lives in obedience to his spiritual father will receive a greater reward than he who secludes himself in the desert. At the same time, he added that one of the fathers said: I saw four ranks in heaven: the first rank is a person who is sick and thanks to God; the second rank is one who is zealous about welcoming strangers, standing in it and serving; the third rank is one who prays in the desert and does not see people; the fourth rank is living in obedience to the father and submitting to him for the sake of the Lord; and this one, committed there for obedience, wore a golden chain and shield and had great glory before others. “I,” he says, asked the one who led me: “Why does this lesser one have greater glory than others?” He answered: he who loves hospitality does so of his own free will; He who is in the desert has retired there of his own free will, but this one who has obedience, leaving to do his will, as if hanging on God and his father, for this he has greater glory than others. Therefore, children, obedience done for the Lord’s sake is good! Listen to some small indication of the fruits it bears. O obedience—the salvation of all the faithful! O obedience, the mother of all virtues! O obedience - finder of the kingdom! O obedience - the opener of heaven and the leader of people from the earth there! O obedience, the nourisher of all the saints, from whose breasts they fed and attained perfection! O obedience - cohabitant of the Angels! 19. One of the Thebeans came to Abba Sisoes, wanting to become a monk. The elder asked him if he had anyone in the world. He answered: I have one son. The elder told him: go throw him into the river, and then you will be a monk. After his departure, the elder sent one brother to prevent him from doing so; and when he was about to abandon his son, his brother said to him: wait! What are you doing? He replied: Abba told me to leave him. The brother says: the elder then told you not to leave him. Then, leaving his son, he came to the elder and became a skilled monk, for the sake of his obedience. 20. Someone asked Abba Sopater: give me a commandment, Abba, and I will keep it. He said to him: do not let your wife enter your cell, do not read the apocrypha and never argue about anything, for this results in stubbornness and division of both parts. These things cannot be useful to a monk. 21. They said about Abba Sai and Abba Moi that they lived together. Abba Saiy had great obedience, but was very stern. The elder told him, tempting him: go and steal! He went and stole from the brothers for the sake of obedience, thanking God for everything, but the elder, accepting it, secretly gave it back to the brothers. One day he happened to be on the road, and Sai became weak. Abba left him paralyzed and, coming, said to the brethren: go and bring Saiy, for he lies as if he had been slain. They went and brought him. 22. Abba Serid, the head of the cenobia near Gaza on the river Thyaf, had one friend, an Egyptian who lived in Ascalon, who had a disciple. One day he sent his disciple in winter with a letter to Abba Serid, so that he would give him a roll of paper. When this young man came from Ascalon, there was very heavy rain, so that the river Fiath became formidable. Having given the letter to Abba Serid, this young man says to him, despite the fact that it was raining: give me, Abba, the papers, and I will go. He told him: it is raining. Where will you go now? The young man answered him: I have a commandment and cannot stay. And since he insisted, Abba gave him the papers, and he set off. Abba said to those with him, among whom was Abba Dorotheos: let's go see what he will do on the river! And then it was raining heavily. Having reached the river, the young man walked far away from them, took off his clothes and, wrapping papers in them, fastened them on his head; then, saying to them: pray for me, he threw himself into the river. Abba Serid assured that there was nothing to expect except to send someone to the sea to find his body. Meanwhile, straining and struggling with the swiftness of the water, although he was carried far away, he nevertheless reached the other bank of the river. Marveling at his obedience even to the point of death, they glorified God. This is the obedience that the fathers call unreflective and which gives great boldness before God to those who have been vouchsafed it. May He grant us the same grace, so that, having passed our days carelessly and peacefully, we may find mercy before the face of God. 23. Mother Synklitikia said: while in the cinnamonium, let us prefer obedience to asceticism, for this teaches arrogance, and then humility. 24. Again she said: we must control our souls wisely and, when we are in the movie, not seek our own and not work with our own opinion, but in everything sincerely obey our father by faith. We gave ourselves up to exile, that is, we became outside all worldly cares. So, let us not look for what is characteristic of that from which we were cast out. There we had glory, here we have reproach; there there is plenty of food, here there is a shortage of bread. 25. Abba Iperechius said: a precious thing for a monk is obedience. He who acquires it will be heard by God and will boldly appear before the Crucified One, for the crucified Lord was obedient even to the point of death (Phil. 2:8). 26. One of the fathers told: one scholastic from Theopolis (Antioch) came to one recluse, asked to take him in and make him a monk. The elder said to him: if you want me to accept you, go sell your property, give it to the poor - according to the commandment of the Lord - and then I will accept you. He went and did so. After this, he again said to him: You must keep another commandment, namely, not to say anything. He agreed and spent five years in silence. Many began to praise him, and then Abba said to him: it is not good for you to stay here; I will send you to Cenovia, to Egypt. And he sent him to Egypt, but when he sent him he did not say whether he should speak or not; and he, keeping the commandment, continued to remain silent. Abba, who received him, wanting to test whether he was speaking or not, sent him on business into the flood to force him to say that he could not cross. He also sent his brother after him to see what he would do. Arriving at the river and not being able to cross, he knelt down, and then a crocodile appeared, took him upon himself and carried him to the other bank. The brother who saw this returned and told the Abba and the brethren about it, and they were amazed. A year later, he died, and Abba sent to say to the one who sent him: although you sent us a mute man, you were an angel of God. The recluse conveyed the answer: he was not mute, but, keeping the commandment that I first gave him, he remained speechless. Everyone was surprised and glorified God. 27. One elder had a disciple handed over to him by another, and, wanting to keep him, he disposed him to have perfect obedience, so that when the elder said to him: as soon as the oven gets hot, go take the book that is being read in the congregation and throw it into the fire, he went and did so without thinking. But when the book was thrown, the fire went out, so that they would know how good obedience is, for it is a ladder to the kingdom of heaven. 28. There was in Konovia a man from the world, who had his son with him. Wanting to test him, Abba tells him: do not speak to your son, but treat him as a stranger. He answered: I will do according to your word, and spent many years without speaking to him. When the hour came for his son to be called and he was approaching death, the abba said to his father: go now and talk to your son. He answered him: if you command, we will keep the commandment to the end. The son died, and he did not speak to him. Everyone was surprised at how joyfully he accepted the Abba’s commandment and kept it. 29. The elders said: if someone has faith in someone and gives himself up in obedience to him, there is no need for him to heed the commandments of God, but to entrust his desires to his father; and there is no sin for him before God, for God requires nothing so much from a beginner as oppression through obedience. 30. One brother from Skete, leaving for the harvest, came to one great elder and asked him: tell me, what should I do, for I am leaving for the harvest? The elder says to him: if I tell you, will you believe me? The brother answered: Truly, I will listen to you. Then the elder says: if you believe me, then give up this harvest, come and I will tell you what to do. The brother, abandoning the harvest, returned to the elder, and he said to him: go into your cell and eat dry salt once a day for fifty days, and then I will tell you something else. He went, did so, and again came to the elder. He, seeing that he was a worker, taught him how he should sit in his cell. The brother came to his cell, fell face down on the ground and wept before God for three days. After this, when his thoughts said to him: “You have exalted yourself, you have become great,” he laid his sins before himself and said: “But what about these sins of mine?” If they said to him: You have committed many sins, then he answered: I will perform my small services to God and believe that He will show mercy to me. The spirits he had defeated finally appeared to him sensually and said: We are crushed by you. He asked: why? And they answered: if we exalt you, you resort to humility; and if we humble you, you rise to heights. 31. One old man had a servant in his village. One day he happened to be slow in bringing what he needed to the elder, and his food supplies were exhausted and the handicraft he had in his cell stopped, so he grieved, having neither needlework nor food. Then he asks his disciple: Do you want to go to the village? He replied: I’ll do it as you want. Due to temptations, the brother was afraid to approach the village, but in order not to disobey his father, he agreed to go. The elder said to him: go, and I believe in the God of my fathers that He will cover you from all temptation. So, having made a prayer, he released him. Arriving at the village and asking where their servant lived, he found his house, but it happened that he and all his household were outside the village at the memorial, except for his daughter, who, hearing a knock, opened the door and, learning that he was inquiring about her father, asked him to come in and even pulled him in, but he did not agree. Finally, after much coercion, she brought him into the house. Noticing unclean movements in himself and confused by thoughts, the brother, sighing, cried out: Lord! Prayers for the sake of my father, save me at this hour. Having said this, he immediately found himself at the river, on the way to the monastery, and returned harmlessly to his father. 32. Two brothers according to the flesh came to the monastery. One of them was an ascetic, and the other had great obedience. The father said to him: do this, and he did it; do this,” and he did; He said, “Eat early in the morning,” and he ate; and everyone praised him in the monastery for the sake of obedience. Incited by envy, his brother, an ascetic, decided: I will test him to see if he has obedience. And coming to his father, he said: Send your brother with me to go to such and such a place. Ava let him go. Coming to a river in which there were many crocodiles, he said to him: go down into the river and walk along it. He came down; crocodiles came and rubbed against his body, but did not harm him. Seeing this, the brother said to him: get out of the river now. Walking further, they saw a body lying on the path, and the ascetic said: if we had some rags, we would put them on it. But he who had obedience said: Let us better pray, perhaps he will rise. They began to pray, and while they were praying, the dead man arose. The ascetic boasted that this happened for the sake of his asceticism, but God revealed to the father of the monastery how he tempted his brother with crocodiles, and how the dead man arose. When they arrived at the monastery, the abba said to the ascetic: why did you do this to your brother? After all, for the sake of his obedience the dead rose. 33. One brother, who had three sons in the world, came to the monastery, leaving them in the city, but did not tell the Abba about the children. After a three-year stay in the monastery, his thoughts began to bring to mind his children, and he grieved greatly for them. Abba, seeing him in sadness, asked him: what is the matter with you? Why are you so sad? Then he told him: I have three sons in the city, and I want to bring them to the monastery. Ava agreed. Arriving in the city, he found two sons deceased, and with the third he came to the monastery. While looking for Abba, he found him in a bakery. Ava, seeing him, kissed him, then, taking the child, stroked him, hugged him and kissed him too. Then he asks his father: do you love him? He answered: I love you. He asks again: do you love him deeply? He answered: tightly. Hearing the answer, Abba said: take it and throw it into the oven to burn. The father took his child and threw it into the oven, but the flame immediately became dew. And this brother became famous as the patriarch Abraham. 34. The elder said: brothers! The Lord set sorrow and hardship as the beginning for his disciples, but he who runs from the beginning removes himself from the knowledge of God. Just as letters form the beginning of learning for children, guiding them to the knowledge of sciences, so a monk only through labors and sorrows, having obedience, is made a joint heir with God and a son of God. 35. The elder said: God demands from Christians that everyone obey God’s scriptures and that what they read be carried out in deed, obeying the abbots and Orthodox fathers. 36. A brother, offended by someone, came to one elder in his cell and said to him: Father! I'm grieving. The elder asked him: why? He answered: one brother offended me, and the demon confuses me, suggesting that I take revenge on him. The elder said to him: listen to me, my son, and God will deliver you from this passion. Go to your cell and, silently, diligently pray to God for your offended brother. He did as the elder told him, and in one week God took away his anger for the sake of violence, which he did to himself, and for the sake of obedience to the elder. 37. One brother, who was in obedience for God’s sake to a spiritual and holy elder, said to him: Father! Scripture says that through many sorrows we must enter into the kingdom of heaven, and yet I see that I have no sorrow. What should I do? Should I not destroy my soul? When he said this, the elder answered him: do not grieve about this - you have nothing to do with it. Anyone who devotes himself to obedience to his fathers must be carefree and calm. 38. One elder had a disciple who had great obedience: whatever the elder told him, he accepted everything with joy and faith and diligently obeyed him in everything. When he needed clothes, the elder gave him material, and he sewed it into stately clothes with great decoration. At the end of the work, the elder called him to him and asked: child! Did you make that robe? He answered: he sewed it, father, and cleaned it well. He told him: go, give it to such and such a brother or such and such a sick person. He walked and gave willingly. Then the elder gave him other material, and similarly, after sewing the clothes and decorating them, he said to him: give it, child, to such and such a brother. He immediately gave with readiness, never grieved or complained, saying: “Here I work, sew and decorate, and he takes it and gives it to someone else,” but he did every good deed, as soon as he heard it, with readiness. And if he ever asked the elder about some thought, he accepted what he heard from him with such conviction and faith and kept it so faithfully that he did not ask the elder another time about the same thought. You might be interested in: