Глава XXI. Об образе жизни святых мужей

1. When one day Abba Anthony was praying in his cell, a voice came to him saying: Anthony! You have not yet reached the level of such and such a wanderer living in Alexandria. In the morning Abba Anthony got up, took his staff, went to him and, having reached the place, entered his dwelling. When he saw the elder, he was embarrassed, but he said to him: tell me your deeds. He answered: I don’t know that I did anything good, except that when I get up in the morning and sit down to do my handicraft, I say: this whole city, from small to large, will enter the kingdom for their righteous deeds, and I alone will inherit the torment for my sins, and in the evening, before going to bed, I say the same word. Hearing this, Abba Anthony said: truly, you, like a good golden leaf, sitting in your house with tranquility, inherited the kingdom, but I, unreasonable, having lived in the desert, during my life did not achieve this measure. 2. One day the blessed Archbishop Theophilus came to Abba Arseny with some commander and asked the elder, wanting to hear a word from him. The elder, after a short silence, asked them: will you do what I tell you? They answered: we will do it. Then the elder told them: if you hear about Arseny anywhere, do not go to him. 3. Another time, the archbishop, wanting to come to the elder, sent first to find out if he would open the door for him. The elder answered him this way: if you come, I will open the doors for you, but if I open it for you, then I will open it for everyone, and then I will no longer stay here. The archbishop, hearing this, said: if I drive him away with my coming, then it’s better for me not to go to him. 4. Two of the fathers asked God to reveal to them the extent to which they had come, and a voice came to them: in such and such an Egyptian village there is a layman named Eucharist with a wife called Mary. You have not yet come to the extent of them. Both elders went to that village, asked and found his cell, and in it one of his wife, and asked: where is your husband? She answered: he is a shepherd, tends sheep, and led them into the cell. When evening came, the Eucharist came with the sheep and, seeing the elders, prepared a meal for them, brought water and washed their feet. The elders said to him: we will not taste anything until you reveal to us what you have done. The Eucharist said to them with humility: I am a shepherd, and this is my wife. The elders continued to ask him, but he did not want to open it to them. Then the elders say: God sent us to you. When he heard this word, he was afraid and said to them, “We have received these sheep from our parents.” When God prospers us and we acquire something from them, we divide it into three parts: one for the poor, the other for hospitality, and the third for our needs. Since I took my wife, we have not known the marriage bed - neither she, nor I, and each of us sleeps separately; At night we put on hair shirts, and during the day we wear ordinary clothes. Until now, not a single person knows about this. Hearing this, the elders were surprised and returned, glorifying God. 5. Abba Theodore of Byzantium told us: in my youth, while in Constantinople, I became a monk, in my twentieth year. Three years after that, the thought came to me to go to Jerusalem and, having found a ship sailing to Ionia, I boarded it. We sailed safely for six days, then a storm came, and after four days of disaster we were thrown onto the Alexandria shore. Then it was the month of January, and I decided to spend the winter in the hermitage desert. I came to Abba Nil, and he gave me a small cell next to him. When Pentecost came, I said to him: Abba! Give me a commandment for these holy days. The elder says to me: how? It’s been so many days since you’ve been here that you haven’t asked for a commandment, and are you asking for it now? I tell him: now is Pentecost, and I want to labor in these holy days. The elder answered me: are the other days of the year evil, indecent and unclean? Or do the sun, moon and stars shine only on these days, and not on others? I, my son, hear what the Divine Scripture says: Yours is the day, and Yours is the night (Ps. 73:16) and I will bless the Lord at all times (Ps. 33:2); also: I will bring His praise into my mouth (Ps. 33:2); and again: I will bless You every day (Ps. 144:2), and the Apostle says: pray unceasingly. Give thanks in everything (1 Thess. 5:17, 18). So, if for you only these days are holy and are days of achievement and labor, and other days are of peace and consolation, then blessed are you! I, child, know three ranks of Christians: slaves, mercenaries and sons. A slave must always serve his master with fear and diligence; a mercenary, too, if he wants to receive pay, must always work unflatteringly, unflatteringly and resignedly, giving himself no rest either in winter, or in summer, or in spring, or in autumn. So, my child, if you are a slave, then you must work 365 days of the year with all zeal and love; if you are a mercenary, you must again work tirelessly all year in order to enrich yourself with virtues; if you are a son, then at the same time you must always honor your father in order to inherit his property, and not so that sometimes you honor your father and sometimes insult him. Truly I tell you, child, God demands from monks that they always strive, pray unceasingly, read and meditate with attention and sobriety, both on special holidays, and on Pentecost, and on Sunday, and on Saturday. A lazy slave is not rewarded with freedom; the poor mercenary is deprived of his pay, and the son, disobedient to his father, loses his inheritance. I tell him: Abba, if you don’t close the doors, I will always come to talk to you. He told me: it is not a wooden door that blocks the entrance of the demon and sins, and it is not a conversation with servile people that rejects it. Come when you want and go when you want. So the elder did not give me commandments. Returning to my cell, I remained silent until the day of the forty martyrs. That same day I came to him and, when we sat down after prayer, I told him: in my monastery, Abba, there is a great celebration today at the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, and we allow wine, oil and fish. The elder asked: why are you doing this? I answered him: in honor of the saints, the Most Holy Theotokos and the Forerunner. The elder said: you celebrate many bright Sundays - the Forerunner, the holy martyrs, the day of the Mother of God, Vai week, Maundy Thursday, fourteen Saturdays and Sundays in seven weeks of fasting, and also the bright Resurrection of the Savior Jesus! So, if these twenty Passovers you allow wine, fish and oil, how do you fast on other days? I answered: in our monastery, father, for three days they do not eat bread, wine, or oil; On Saturday and Sunday there is a brew with butter, and on Tuesday and Thursday we eat fruits and vegetables. The elder said: it is not bread that gives birth to sin and not vegetables to righteousness, but I will tell you, child, it happens that those who fast for two days eat in three and sleep in four, and that those who eat vegetables and abstain from bread in soul and body arm themselves against each other and eat each other, darken the mind, burden the heart with too much sleep and wound the conscience; thinking of fasting, they indulge in gluttony; thinking of keeping vigil, they sleep even more; wanting to honor the martyrs, they bring laurels to the body by eating and sleeping a lot. The martyrs endured all kinds of torment: beating with sinews, hanging, burning, eyes poured out, fingers cut off, ribs planed, head squeezed, boiled in tar, tormented by hunger and filth, but instead of all this they indulged in consolations, allowing fish, wine, oil, strong drink and honey. So, child, if you want to honor the martyrs, the Most Holy Theotokos and the Baptist John, almost by their abstinence and vigil, and not by gluttony; by prayer, fasting and patience, and not by drinking too much; purity, chastity and virginity, and not joy and luxury. Let us present to God at the hour of prayer a sober mind, a heart not darkened by bad thoughts, a bright conscience that drives away bad thoughts, an excited thought free from association with bad memories, and we will delight God, attract the Angels to help, gain the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Baptist John, and make friends and patrons of the holy martyrs! When, after fasting for two days, then we eat three times and sleep five times, while the mind remains in dreams, evil thoughts well up like a spring, the heart is defiled, the conscience is darkened, the tongue sings hastily, and the eyes wander hither and thither - then the devil is consoled, the demons rejoice, and we become vain, not noticing our destruction. 6. Someone named Paul, a noble man, who had a wife worthy of himself and great wealth, had the intention of becoming a monk and, calling his wife and children, said to them: I want to sell you. They said: do what you want and what you please. He took his wife and half of his property and, coming to the nunnery, said to the sisters: I want to sell you this. Realizing his good intention, they joyfully agreed to this, and when the agreement took place, he gave both his wife and half of his estate to the abbess. In a similar way, he took his children to another monastery, doing the same. Finally, in another monastery, I did the same with myself and then said to the Abba: if you command, I would like to enter the house of prayer alone. Ava agreed. Having entered and closed the doors, he stretched out his hands to heaven and cried out to God: God! You know that I have surrendered to You with all my heart. And a voice came to him: I know and have received you with all mercy. So he lived in the movie, like a slave, correcting all matters and being lower than everyone else, and for such humility he was exalted by God, for after his death the ointment expired and many other signs were performed. 7. Brother! You cannot live without labor and without achievement you cannot be crowned. Work hard, striving for salvation, and pray unceasingly, and God, who wants everyone to be saved, will help you, and come into the understanding of truth (1 Tim. 2:4). 8. Abba Macarius once came from Skete to Mount Nitria in memory of Abba Pamvo, and the elders asked him: say, father, a word to the brothers! He said: I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks, for when I was sitting in my cell in Skete, a thought came over me and said: go into the desert and see what you see there. I struggled with this thought for five years, telling myself whether it was from demons. But since the thought did not recede, I went into the desert. There I found a lake and an island among it. Desert animals came to drink from the lake, and I saw two naked people among them. My body trembled with fear, for I thought that they were spirits. They, seeing that I was afraid, turned to me: don’t be afraid, we are people too. I asked them: where are you from and how did you come to this desert? They answered: we are from Kinovia, they agreed among themselves and came out here. One of us is Egyptian and the other is Libyan. Then they asked me: how is the world? Does the water come on time? And is there abundance in the world? I said yes. And again he asked them: how can I become a monk? They tell me: if someone does not renounce everything in the world, then he cannot be a monk. I told them: I am weak and cannot do it like you. They said: if you can’t, like us, sit in your cell and mourn your sins. I also asked them: when it’s winter, don’t you feel cold? And when there is burning heat, does not your body burn? They answered: God has designed us in such a way that we do not feel cold in winter, nor do the burning of the sun harm us in summer. That is why I said that I had not yet become a monk, but I had seen monks! Forgive me, brothers. 9. Abba Vitimius said that Abba Macarius said: when I lived in Skete, two young wanderers came there, and one of them had a beard. They came to me and asked: where is the cell of Abba Macarius? I said: why are you looking for him? They say: we heard about him and about Skeet and came to see him. I tell them: I am Macarius. They put down the throwing and said: we want to stay here. Seeing that they are gentle and from the rich, I say to them: you cannot live here. The elder says: if we cannot live here, then we will go to another place. Then I said to my thoughts: Why am I driving them away? Maybe they will still be tempted. Labor will make them run away themselves. And I say to them: go and make yourself a cell, if you can. They said: show us the place and we will do it. I gave them an axe, a bag full of bread, salt and, showing them a solid stone, I said: break it here, then bring trees from the lake, cover it and live. I thought that due to labor they would leave, but they asked me: what are they working here? I answered: weavers. Then he took a frond from the lake, showed them the beginning of the weave and how they should be sewn together, then he said: make baskets and give them to the watchmen, and they will bring you bread. After this I left. They patiently did everything I told them and did not come to me for three years. Thoughts tormented me: what could they do if they never came to me to ask about the thought? Those who are far away come, but those who are close did not ask, and did not go to others, unless they silently came to church to receive the Gifts. Fasting for a whole week, I prayed to God that He would reveal to me how to do them. After a week, I went to see how they were living. When I knocked, they opened the door and kissed me in silence. Having said a prayer, I sat down. The elder signaled to the younger one to go out, and he sat down to weave the weave without saying a word. At nine o'clock he knocked, the younger one came in, prepared some boiled food, set the meal at the sign of the older one, and silently placed three dry loaves of bread on it. I said: get up, let's eat. And we got up and ate; he brought a mug of water and we drank. When evening came, they asked: will you go? I said: no, I’m spending the night here. They laid a mat aside for me and, taking off their belts and lecterns, lay down together on one mat, opposite me. When they lay down, I again prayed to God that He would reveal to me what they were doing. Then the roof opened and it became as light as day, but they did not see the light. Believing that I had already fallen asleep, the older one pushed the younger one in the side, they stood up, girded themselves and raised their hands to the sky. I looked at them, but they did not notice it. Then I saw that the demons, like flies, were attacking the younger one and some wanted to sit on the lips, others on the eyes, and I saw an Angel of God with a fiery sword, which protected him and drove the demons away from him, but they could not get closer to the older one. When they went to bed around the morning, I pretended to be awake, and so did they. The elder said only one thing: do you want us to sing twelve psalms? I said okay. Then the younger one sang five psalms, six verses each, one alleluia, and with each verse a fiery lamp came out of his mouth and ascended to heaven. Likewise, when the elder opened his mouth to sing, from his mouth came a kind of fiery rope that reached to the very sky. And I also read a little from memory and, leaving them, said to them: pray for me. They put down the throwing silently. From this I learned that the older one is already perfect, but the younger one is still being fought by the enemy. A few days later the eldest died, and three days later the youngest too. After this, when some fathers came to Abba Macarius, he took them to their cell, saying: come see the torment of the young wanderers. 10. Once Abba Macarius was praying in his cell, and a voice came to him: you have not yet reached the level of such and such two wives living in such and such a city. Getting up in the morning, the elder took the staff and went to that city. Having reached the place of their dwelling, he knocked on the door, and one of them came out and received him into the house, then the other came. He called them and they came and sat with him. The elder said to them: for your sake I came from the desert and undertook such labor; tell me about your work - what is it and what is it? They say to him: Tell us, Father, what kind of work do you want to find among us, when each of us was with her husband on this day? Then the elder gave them a throwing and begged them, saying: Reveal your virtue to me! They said to him: We are strangers to each other in a worldly way, but it happened that we were married to two brothers according to the flesh, and now we have been living in this house for fifteen years and we don’t know if we ever fought with each other or said a bad word to one another. The idea occurred to us to leave our husbands and enter the rank of virgins, and we strongly begged our husbands to do so, but they did not agree to let us go. Having thus failed in this intention, we made a covenant between ourselves and God - not to utter any worldly word with our lips until our death. Hearing this, Abba Macarius said: truly, there is no virgin or married, monk or layman, for God seeks the affection of the heart and gives the Holy Spirit to everyone. 11. Abba Pimen said that Abba Anthony said about Abba Pamvo: because he feared God, he did so because the Holy Spirit dwelt in him. 12. Abba Pimen said: many of our fathers were strong in asceticism, but in the subtlety of reasoning - only one. 13. Abba Pimen said: we saw three physical feats in Abba Pamvo: non-eating every day until evening, silence and handicraft. 14. They told about Abba Pimen: when some elders were sitting with him and, talking about the elders, they called Abba Sisoya, he said: leave Abba Sisoya, for his deeds are not suitable for storytelling. 15. They spoke about Abba Pambo: just as Moses received the image of Adam’s glory when his face became glorified (Ex. 34:29), so Abba Pambo’s face shone like lightning, and he was like a king sitting on his throne. Such were also Abba Silouan and Abba Sisoi. 16. When Abba Romanus was approaching his death, his disciples gathered to him and asked him: how should we be governed? The elder replied: I don’t remember telling any of you to do anything if I didn’t prepare my thoughts in advance not to be angry if they didn’t do what I told them to do. Thus, we lived in peace all our time. 17. When Abba Sisoes lived on the mountain of Abba Anthony, his servant was slow to come to him, and for about ten months the Abba did not see the man. Walking along the mountain, he met a Faranite hunting wild animals. The elder asked him: where did you come from and how long have you been here? He answered: Verily, Abba, I have been here for eleven months, and I have not seen a single person except you. Hearing this, the elder entered his cell and beat himself, saying: Behold Sisoy! You thought you had done something, but you still haven’t done what this layman did! 18. They said about Abba Sisoes that when he was approaching his death, and the fathers were sitting with him, his face shone like the sun, and he said to them: Abba Anthony has come! After a little, he says again: the face of the prophets has come! And his face lit up even more. Then he also said: the choir of the Apostles has come! The light on his face doubled, and he seemed to be talking to someone. The elders asked him: with whom are you talking, father? He said: the Angels have come to take me, and I ask them to leave me to repent a little. The elders tell him: you have no need to repent, father. But he said to them: Truly I do not know whether I have yet made a beginning. Then everyone knew that he was perfect. Then his face again became like the sun, and fear fell on everyone, and he said to them: You see, the Lord came and said: Bring to Me the vessel of the desert! And immediately he gave up his spirit, becoming like lightning, and the church was filled with a fragrance. 19. The same Abba Sisoes, sitting in his cell, always closed the doors. 20. Someone asked Abba Sisoes about Abba Pambo, and he said: Pambo was great in his deeds. 21. One of the fathers said: someone, one day talking with Abba Silouan, saw that his face and body shone like an Angel, and fell on his face. Abba said that others also have this gift. 22. They said about Abba Sarmat that often, on the advice of Abba Pimen, he spent forty days in fasting, and these days passed before him like nothing. Abba Pimen, having come to him, asked: tell me, what did you see while undertaking such work? He answered him: nothing. Avva Pimen tells him: I will not leave you unless you tell me. Then he said: I only saw one thing: when I say to a dream: go, it goes away, and when I say: come, it comes. 23. Abba Matoi said about Abba Tithos that not a single person can open his mouth against him for anything, but just as pure gold stands exactly on the scales, so does Abba Tithos. 24. Abba Philorit said that since I was reborn by water and spirit, and until now I have not eaten black bread for free, but from my labors, from the work of my hands, I have distributed two hundred pieces of gold to the lepers. He was a very fast calligrapher, and did not stop writing even in his eightieth year of age, and yet in his mind he never deviated from God. 25. Abba Psenthaisius, Abba Sur and Abba Psoi said: listening to the word of our father Pachomius, we were greatly edified, being aroused by him to zeal for good deeds. Seeing that even when he is silent, his work serves as a word, we were surprised and said to each other: we thought that all saints from their mothers’ wombs were created by God holy and unchangeable, and not free, and that sinners cannot live piously, being created as such. But now we clearly see the grace of God on this our father, that, descended from Hellenic parents, he became so pious and so adorned with all the virtues. Can't we all follow him as he follows the saints? And is it not written: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)? So, let us live with this man and die with him, for he leads us to God in the right way. 26. They said about Abba Or that he not only never lied, did not swear or curse a person, but he did not even speak unnecessarily. 27. Abba Or said to his disciple: see that you never bring an alien word into this cell. 28. They said about Abba Hor and Abba Theodore that they always had good intentions and constantly thanked God. 29. There was a hermit who grazed with buffaloes. He prayed to God, saying: Lord! Tell me what I'm missing? And a voice came to him: go to such and such a cinema and do what they tell you. He went and stayed there. He did not know how to fulfill the obediences imposed on the brothers, and the younger ones began to teach him this, saying: do this - a simpleton; do it - holy fool. In grief, he again began to pray to God: Lord! I don’t know how to serve people, send me back to the buffaloes. And released by God, he again went into the field to graze with the buffaloes. 30. The elder said that one elder, who lived in the desert and worked for God for many years, prayed like this: Lord! Convince me, have I pleased You? And he saw an Angel who said to him: You have not yet become like the gardener who lives in such and such a place. Surprised by this, the elder said to himself: I will go to the city to see him and find out what kind of work he is going through, that he has surpassed the work and labor of so many of my years? So, the elder went to the place that he had heard about from the Angel. Finding that man sitting and selling vegetables, he sat with him for the rest of the day. When he finished the sale, the elder asked him: can you, brother, accept me into your cell for this night? With great joy he accepted him, and when they came to the cell, and the gardener did everything to calm the elder, he said to him: do me a favor, brother, tell me about your way of life. He did not want to reveal it, but the elder did not stop asking him. Finally, convinced by his persistence, he said: I always eat in the evening, keeping from the sale only for food, and I give the rest to the poor and, if I accept one of God’s servants, I will rely on them. Getting up in the morning and sitting down to do needlework, I say: this whole city, from small to large, will enter the kingdom for the sake of their righteous deeds, I alone will inherit the torment for my sins; also in the evening I say the same word again. Having heard this, the elder said to him: this work is good, but it will not greatly surpass my labors of so many years. When they sat down to eat, the elder heard singing on the street, for his cell was in a good place, and asked him: so much wanting to live according to God, how do you remain in this place? Are you not embarrassed when you hear these songs? He answered him: I assure you, Abba, that I was never embarrassed or tempted by this. Hearing this, the elder said to him: what do you think in your heart when you hear them? He said that everyone will go to the kingdom. Hearing this, the elder was surprised and said: this is a work that exceeds the work of so many years of mine. Then, putting down the throwing, he said: forgive me, brother, I have not yet achieved this measure, and without tasting anything, he withdrew again into the desert. 31. One of the fathers said that there lived two merchant friends, originally from Aponia, who traded on a foreign side, one of whom was rich, and the other of mediocre wealth. The rich man had a wife, very beautiful and chaste, as her deeds showed. When her husband died, and his friend wanted to take her as his wife, but was ashamed to say so, fearing not to receive consent, she, being reasonable, understood this and said to him: Mr. Samson! (for that was his name) I see that you have thoughts, but tell me what you have, and perhaps I will satisfy you. At first he was ashamed to say, but then he opened up to her and asked her to agree to be his wife. She tells him: if you do what I tell you, then I agree. He replied: I will do whatever you order. She said: Go to your shop and fast until I call you, and I also will not eat anything until I call you. He agreed. She did not determine when she would call him, and he thought that it would be on the same day, and meanwhile a day passed, another and a third, and she did not call him, however, he endured it out of passion for her, or God arranged it that way and gave him patience, knowing where he intended to call him, for he subsequently became His chosen vessel. On the fourth day she sent for him, but he was so exhausted that he could no longer walk, and was brought to her. She prepared a meal and, having made the bed, said to him: here is the meal and the bed! Wherever you command, we will turn there. He answered her: I beg you, have mercy on me and give me some food, because I am dying of hunger and from extreme exhaustion I don’t even know that there is a wife. Then she says to him: you see, when you were hungry, you preferred food to me and every other wife. So, when you have such thoughts, use this medicine and get rid of every inappropriate thought, for, believe me, after my husband I will not marry either you or anyone else, but under the protection of Christ I hope to remain a widow forever. Then, touched and amazed at her intelligence and chastity, he said to her: since the Lord was pleased to look upon me and save me through your prudence, what do you advise me to do? She, not relying on youth and beauty and fearing that she herself might someday suffer from the same thing, says to him: I think that you don’t love anyone more than me for God’s sake. He said: it is true. She continued: “And truly, according to God, I love you, but since there is a Master’s voice that says: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and also his soul, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26), then let us separate ourselves from each other, so that the Lord will impute to you that you have denied your wife for His sake, and me that for His sake I denied my husband. Here in our country, in Aponia, there is a monastery of hermits, and if you sincerely want to be saved, there you will renounce the world and truly please God. He immediately, leaving all his property, rushed to that monastery, lived in it until his death and became skilled, having a pure mind and spiritually contemplating saving things. Abba Samson himself told all this to the one who spoke about it. 32. One of the hermits told the brethren living in Raifa, where there were seventy dates, where Moses camped with his people when they came out of Egypt: I once thought about going into the inner desert - maybe I wouldn’t find there someone even more deserted than me, living and working for God. After four days and four nights, I found a cave and saw a man sitting in it. He knocked according to the monastic custom, but he did not move, for he was dead. Without thinking at all, I walked in, took him by the shoulder, and he immediately crumbled and turned to dust. Looking around and seeing the cinnamon, I touched it, and it also crumbled and turned into nothing. Amazed by this, I went out and found another cave and traces of my husband. Inspired, I approached the cave and knocked, but again no one answered me. I went in and didn't find anyone. Standing outside the cave, I said to myself: of course, the servant of God must come here, wherever he is. And when the day came, I saw buffaloes coming and a servant of God, naked, with the shameful parts of his body covered with hair. Approaching me and thinking that I was a spirit, he began to pray, for, as he told me later, he was tempted a lot by spirits. Realizing this, I told him: I am a man, a servant of God! Look at my footprints, touch me, for I am flesh and blood. When, after the amen, he looked at me, he was greatly comforted and, leading me into the cave, asked: how did you come here? I answered: I came to this desert to look for the servants of God, and the Lord did not deprive me of what I desired. Then I asked him: how did you come here? How many years have you been here? How do you eat? How is it that, being naked, you have no need of clothing? He said: I was in the Thebaid monastery, and my business was to prepare linen. A thought came to me saying: get out of here and live separately. There you will be able to remain silent and receive strangers, and the greater the reward you will receive. Having formed this thought, I tested it in action - I built a monastery and gathered subordinates. I mined a lot and distributed everything I acquired to the poor and strangers. But our enemy the devil, envious, as always, of my future reward for the fact that I turned my labors into the glory of God, allowed one virgin, who ordered me a job, to order me another one when I finished and handed over the work. From here was born habit and excessive insolence, then shaking hands, laughter and hugs, and finally, we - the unfortunate ones - gave birth to lawlessness. Having spent six months with her in this fall, I thought that, whether now or tomorrow, I must certainly die and fall into eternal torment, for if someone who corrupts a husband’s wife is subject to execution and torment, then what kind of torment is worthy of someone who corrupts a servant of God?! So, leaving everything to my wife, I secretly fled into this desert. Here I found a cave, a spring and a date, which gives me twelve branches with fruits a year - one branch in each month, the fruits of which are enough for me for thirty days. Then, after quite some time, my long hair grew, and when my clothes were worn out, I began to cover my body with it as much as possible and necessary. I asked him again: was it difficult for you here at first? He answered: at first I suffered greatly from my liver, so that I could not adhere to the rule and, lying down, I cried out to the Almighty. When I was in extreme relaxation and could not even move, my husband entered the cave and, standing next to me, asked: what are you suffering from? Fortified by him somewhat, I said that I suffered from liver disease and showed him the place. He put his fingers together and, cutting the place as if with a sword, took out the liver and showed me the wounds on it. Then he cleaned it with his hand and, putting it in its original place, closed the wound and said: now you have become healthy, work for the Lord Christ as you should. Since then I have become healthy and spend my days here without difficulty. For a long time I asked him to let me live in the cell I had seen before, but he said that I could not endure the rage of the demons here. Having reasoned the same thing myself, I asked him, after praying, to let me go. He prayed and let go. I told you this for your benefit. 33. Another elder, who later became a bishop in the city of Oxyrhynchus, said something similar to this, as if the word of someone else who told him such a case, but it was he himself: I once decided to go into the inner desert, where the family of magicians lives, to see if I could find there some humble person working for God, and, taking some dry bread and water for four days, I began the procession. After four days, my food was exhausted and I was at a loss what to do, but, inspired, I surrendered to the will of God and walked for another four days without food. Finally, from lack of food and worthless work, my strength was exhausted, and I lay on the ground as if half dead. Then someone came and touched my lips with his finger, and I immediately became so strong, as if I had not traveled and was not exhausted by hunger, so I got up and went further into the desert. Four days later I was exhausted again and began to pray, stretching out my hands to the sky. And so the former husband again touched my lips with his finger and strengthened me again. Seventeen days after that, I finally found a cell, with water, a date, and a standing old man whose head hair served as clothing. He was all gray and looked scary. Seeing me, he began to pray, and at the end of it, saying amen, he learned that I was a man. Then, taking me by the hand, he asked: how did you get here? What in the world? Is persecution rampant? I said: with the help of you, who truly work for God, I passed through this desert, and as for the persecutions, they subsided by the grace of Christ. So tell me how you came here? He sighed bitterly and began to say: I was a bishop. Persecution came, and I, fearing the torment set before me, made a sacrifice, but then, having come to my senses, I recognized my iniquity and condemned myself to death in this desert. And now I have been living here for forty-nine years, repenting and praying that my sin may be forgiven me. The Lord deigned to support my life with this date, but I did not receive assurances of forgiveness of sin until I was forty-eight years old and was consoled already this year. Having said this, he quickly got up and ran out, stood in prayer and prayed for quite a long time. Having finished the prayer, he came to me again, and in amazement and fear I looked at his face, for it was like fire. He said to me: do not be afraid, the Lord sent you to bury my body, and with this word he gave up his spirit. I tore my leviton and kept half for myself, and wrapped the other around his holy body and buried it in the ground. Immediately the date withered and the cell fell. I prayed to God for a long time with tears that He would restore the date for me and thereby bless me to spend the rest of my days in that place, but since this did not happen, I said to myself: it is not God’s will for this, and, having prayed, I rushed to a populated place. And now the same man who touched my mouth before came again and strengthened me. Having come to the brethren, I told them about this and urged them not to despair, but to seek God with patience. 34. One of the fathers told: in one village a bishop died. The villagers came to the archbishop and asked to ordain a new bishop for them, and he said to them: give me the one whom you consider worthy to shepherd the flock of Christ, and I will ordain him as a bishop for you. They answered: We do not know such a thing, but we will accept the one whom your angel gives us. The Archbishop asked: Are you all here? They answered: no. He said to them: go, gather together and come to me, so that your bishop can be elected with the consent of everyone. They all gathered and came to him, asking him to ordain a bishop for them. The archbishop said to them: give me the one you want, and I will ordain him. But they repeated: we will not accept anyone else, but the one whom your angel gives us. He asked: are you all here? They answered: we are all here. He also asked: none of you stayed? They said: no one except the one who holds our donkey's head. Then the archbishop asked: will you agree to the one I appoint? They all said: we agree and ask your holiness to give us exactly the one about whom God will inform you. The archbishop ordered to bring in the one who was holding the donkey's head outside, and asked them: Agree if I ordain this one for you as a bishop. They answered: we agree, we agree. He ordained him to them, and with great joy they returned with him to their village. There was no rain in this village. The newly appointed bishop begged God to send rain to them, and God told him: go in the morning to such and such a gate and whoever enters first, hold him back. He will pray and it will rain. The bishop did so. He went with his clergy to that gate and stood at it. Here comes an old man with a load of firewood to sell. The bishop stood up and stopped him. The elder stacked a bundle of firewood, and the bishop began to ask him: pray, Abba, that the rain will come. The elder prayed, and the rain immediately began to fall, as if from the abyss of heaven, and would not have stopped if the elder had not prayed again. After this, the bishop said to him: Do me a favor, Abba! For the sake of benefit, tell us your life, so as to motivate us to be zealous for virtue. The elder said: forgive me, master! As you can see, I go out and chop myself a small bundle of firewood. Having sold it, I do not leave for myself more than two loaves of bread, which I eat, and the rest I give to the poor. I spend the night in church and the next day I go out again and do the same. If winter happens, I remain without food for two or three days, until good times come again and I can go out and chop my own wood. The bishop and his clergy received great benefit and glorified God. And the bishop said to the elder: you have truly fulfilled the word of Scripture: I am a stranger on earth (Ps. 119:19). 35. One of the fathers asked God to reveal to him to what extent he had achieved. And God revealed to him: in such and such a monastery there is a brother who is better than you. The elder went to that cenovia, where everyone and the abbot himself greeted him with joy. The elder said: I want to see and kiss all the brothers. The abbot ordered everyone to gather, and everyone came, except for the one about whom the elder received notice. He asked them: is there any other brother? They tell him: yes, but he is a fool and is digging in the garden. The elder asked to be called, and he was called. Seeing him, the elder stood up and kissed him, and taking him aside, asked: reveal to us what business you have? The brother answered: I am a crazy person. But after the elder’s intense petitions, he finally said: I don’t know what my Abba is doing to me and what skill he is using for me, but every day he cuts the rope of the matting that I weave, and for thirty years I have endured this, never allowing my thoughts to have anything against the Abba, but always with patience I weave the ropes again, thanking God. Hearing this, the elder was surprised, for this was also shown by his other activities. 36. Two of the fathers, great elders, passing through the hermitage desert, heard a groan from under the ground and, having found the entrance to the cave, entered and saw there the holy virgin eldress lying on the ground, and asked: when did you come here, old woman, and who is serving you? - for there was no one in the cave except her alone, who lay sick. She answered: I spent thirty-eight years in this cave, working for Christ and eating plants. I have never seen a single person here except you. God sent you to bury my body. Having said this, she rested. The elders glorified God and, having buried her body, left. 37. They told about one hermit: he once went out into the desert in one Leviton and walked for three days, then, entering one stone, he saw grass below and a man grazing like animals; he came down slowly and grabbed it. The elder was naked, and since he could not bear the human spirit, he broke free and ran. The brother chased him and shouted: I’m chasing you for God’s sake, wait for me! The elder turned around and said: “And for God’s sake I am running from you.” Then the brother threw off the Leviton and again chased him. Seeing that he had thrown off his clothes, the elder accepted him and said: when you threw away all the substance of this world, I willingly waited for you. His brother asked him: Father! Tell me the word, how to be saved? He told him: run away from people and you will be saved. 38. Two like-minded brothers were monastics in one place. They spent their lives in extreme asceticism and in all sorts of virtues. It happened that one of them became a cinematographer, and the other remained a hermit. This latter, having achieved perfection in asceticism, began to perform great miracles, healed the possessed and predicted the future. Having become a cinematographer from ascetics, having heard that his like-minded person had been awarded such gifts, he secluded himself from people for three weeks and diligently prayed to God to reveal to him why he worked miracles and became famous among everyone, but he was not awarded anything like that? And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: he lives for the sake of one God, sighs and cries before Him day and night, endures hunger and thirst for the sake of the Lord, but you have the company of brothers during your labors, and human consolation is enough for you. 39. They said about the hermits that they did not exalt themselves when one surpassed another in virtues. They were all ascetics, and one ate after two days, another after four, and another after a week; there were some who did not eat bread, and some who did not drink. And to put it briefly, they were adorned with all the virtues. 40. The elder said: one should not worry about anything except the fear of God. He said, although I am sometimes forced to care about the needs of the flesh, I never think about it ahead of time. 41. The elder said: just as dishes turn black and are cleaned again, so believers, although they become black when they sin, are enlightened again through repentance. For this reason, faith is rightly likened to the recipient 28. 42. The elder said: immediately after the monastic renunciation of the world, neither the devil nor his demons are allowed to strongly tempt a person so that, having fallen, he would not be extremely amazed by it and so that he would not immediately turn into the world. When the monk succeeds somewhat, both in time and in deed, then the attacks of carnal desires and passions are unleashed on him. And then the person embarrassed by them has the need to humble himself, and cry, and condemn and reproach himself alone, and thus, through temptations, he learns patience, experience and reasoning, always resorting to God with tears. Others, lacking reasoning, were overwhelmed by temptations to the point of excessiveness and, losing their minds, cut themselves with a knife or fell into the abyss from extreme sadness and despair. Some of those who were troubled by the demons of fornication or blasphemy did the same: some of those who were consumed by lust cut off their hooks, while others took wives, carried away by Satan through the strong movement of fornication. So, let us accustom ourselves not to despair and not to be faint-hearted, but rather to endure, be complacent and thank God in every temptation, oppression and violence from the devil, for thanksgiving to God destroys all the tricks of the enemy. Just as hands stained with pitch can only be cleansed with oil, so we spiritually hunger for the mercy and love of our Savior Jesus Christ and are cleansed from the sins that defile us, we approach His mercy with boldness and are saved. 43. Brother! 29 You cannot live without labor and without achievement you cannot be crowned. Work hard, striving for salvation, and pray unceasingly, and God, who desires everyone... to be saved and to come into the mind of truth will help you (1 Tim. 2:4). 44. One brother came to the doctor and asked: is there such a potion that could heal my many sins? The doctor said: eat, and listen: go take the root of spiritual poverty, the flowers of humility, the leaves of patience and the branches of prayer, mix all this and erase it in the mortar of patience and obedience, sift it in a sieve of good thoughts, pour it into a vessel of a clear conscience and pour streams of pure tears, then kindle the flame of divine love under it and, when it boils, pour it into a vessel of reasoning and stir it thanksgiving Finally, draw with the spoon of heartfelt contrition and wipe yourself with the handkerchief of confession. In this way you will cleanse many of your sins. 45. The elders said: just as fire burns wood, so the work of a monk should burn passions. 46. ​​The brothers of one monk said about the brother of that monastery that he had the following three virtues above all the monks: great fasting, long vigil and great handicraft. 47. They said about one old man that he grazed by the Dead Sea and spent seventy years naked, eating only herbs. 48. They said about one elder who lived in Skete that he had the following rule: at night he slept for four hours, for four he stood on the rule, for four he worked and during the day he worked until the sixth hour, from the sixth to the ninth he read and cut branches for himself, then he prepared food and corrected other things needed in the cell. This is how he spent all the days of his life. 49. The elder said: shame and fearlessness often lead to sin. 50. He said again: if you, a man, want to live according to the law of God, then in the Lawgiver you will find the Rewarder. 51. He said again: if you want to voluntarily break the commandments of God, then you will find the devil as your accomplice in your fall. 52. The elder said: carelessness, silence and hidden teaching give birth to purity. 53. The elder said: the bee, wherever it flies, creates honey everywhere; so a monk, wherever he goes, does the work of God. 54. Again he said: Satan is a weaver - as long as you provide him with stumps, he weaves for as long as he can. He said this about thoughts. 55. The elder also said: when a brother wants to go to his brother, the demon of verbiage either forestalls him there, or comes after him to that brother. 56. He also said: God does not want the lazy and idle. 57. The elder said: give up your will and you will receive strength. 58. The elder said: thanksgiving before God for powerlessness intercedes. You might be interested in: