Авва Виссарион

1. Abba Vissarion was born in Egypt, in his adolescence he learned the sacred books, and the Divine light shone in his heart: he loved God with all his soul from his very young age, and never desecrated the holy baptism given to him by any sinful deed. Preserving within himself, to the best of his ability, the beauty of the image of God, he withdrew into the desert and labored there, as if disembodied. For this reason, he was honored with special grace from God, who performed extraordinary signs through him, similar to the signs performed by the great prophets. Having spent his life pleasing God and having reached a ripe old age, he retired to the heavenly monasteries. 2. Abba Dula, a student of Abba Vissarion, said the following: One day we were walking along the seashore; I felt great thirst and said to Abba Vissarion: “Father! I am very thirsty." The elder, having prayed, said to me: “Drink from the sea.” The sea water became fresh, and I quenched my thirst with it. Having drunk, I poured water into the vessel as a precaution so that I would have water with me if I began to feel thirsty again. The elder, seeing this, said to me: “Why did you do this?” I answered: “Forgive me; I did this out of fear that I would feel thirsty again.” The elder said: “As here is God, so everywhere is God” 226. 3. At another time, Abba Vissarion needed to cross the river Chryzoroia. Having said a prayer, he walked along the river, as if on dry land, and came out to the other bank. In surprise, I bowed to him and asked: “How did your feet feel when you walked on the water?” The elder answered: “My heels felt the water, but the rest was dry.” In this way he crossed the great river Nile 227 more than once. 4. One day we went to see some old man. While we were still far away, the sun began to set. The elder, having prayed within himself, said out loud: “Lord! I pray to you, let the sun shine while I come to your servant.” The sun stopped and remained motionless until we reached the elder’s cell, to whom we were going with the aim of receiving spiritual benefit 228. 5. At the monastery, one of the brethren fell into sin and was excommunicated from the church by the hieromonk abbot 229. When the brother was leaving the church, then Abba Vissarion stood up and went with him, saying: “And I am a sinner” 230. 6. A brother who lived with other brothers asked Abba Vissarion for guidance. The elder said: “Observe silence and do not compare yourself with others” 231. The instruction is very useful. In dormitories, most embarrassment arises from comparing oneself with others. My brother was given such and such a thing: “Why and why was the same thing not given to me?” - says the inexperienced monk, and expels the holy world from his heart. In order to avoid self-delusion and mental disorder caused by comparing oneself with others, one must constantly maintain oneself in a way of thinking (in monastic terms: in wisdom) brought about by humility, and for this one must constantly be vigilant over oneself - one must remain concentrated in oneself, and for this it is necessary to observe silence. 7. Abba Vissarion said: “When you are in peace and do not feel battle within yourself, then especially humble yourself, so as not to boast of a calm and joyful state that does not belong to you, and for boasting not to be given battle. Often God does not allow us to fight because of our weakness, so that we do not completely perish” 232. 8. Dying, he said: “A monk, like the Cherubim and Seraphim, must be all eyes” 233. 9. One day a man who was possessed was brought to the Skete. They prayed for him in church, but the demon did not come out because he was cruel. The clerics said to each other: “What should we do with this demon? no one will be able to expel him except Abba Vissarion; but if we ask him about it, he won’t even come to church. Here's what we'll do: he comes to church first of all; Let us put the one who is mad in his place; when Abba Vissarion enters, we will stand in prayer and say to him: “Abba! They told my brother to stand up too.” They did just that. When the elder came to church early in the morning, they stood up for prayer and spoke about their brother. The elder, not suspecting anything, said to his brother: “Get up and get out of here,” and the demon immediately left the patient; the sick man became healthy 234. 10. Abba Vissarion told about himself: “When I was twenty-five years old, I went to worship in Jerusalem and other holy places, and saw the holy father Gerasim of Jordan. When I returned to Alexandria, I heard about his death, and how a lion, roaring, died on his grave. Hearing this, I was inflamed with jealousy and squandered all my property, leaving behind me one piece of land to give it to a nunnery located near Alexandria. But first I went to Father Isidore of Pilusiot and told him about my intention, saying: “Abba! I think, if God is pleased to renounce the world: why did I squander all my property, leaving one piece of land to give it to a nunnery. Meanwhile, one of the senators offers me seventy pounds of gold for this plot; Should I sell it to him or not? The elder answered: “If the estate is worth seventy pounds, then give it for fifty; Having taken the gold, donate it to the monastery to the fasting women, and you will have a great reward from God and from people. If you give them your property, you will plunge them into rumors, carelessness and laziness; frustration can even reach the point of debauchery; in a word, you will plunge them into a perilous abyss.” I did not pay attention to the instructions of the holy elder and, having returned, acted according to my discretion and will, gave the village to the nuns, sealing the donation with a written document in front of the entire clergy, before the patriarch and abbot. Then I moved to the Skete and became a monk. After spending 16 months in the Skete, he saw himself in a dream vision at night in Bethlehem during prayer. The church was filled with light. In the church there were men singing a holy song, and a certain woman, dressed in a purple robe, of indescribable beauty. I was overcome with fear and wanted to leave there. But then one of the mentioned men came up to me and, looking at me angrily, said to me in a menacing voice: “Tell me, Eustathius, what answer will you give about the convent to which you gave property, and thereby angered the Lord God? I will strike you with death if you do not correct what you have damaged.” I told him: “Sir! I gave away the estate with slaves and rows of oxen with the goal of providing assistance to the nuns, and not in order to anger God.” Then the Woman clothed in scarlet opened her holy lips and said to me: “Child! God accepted your good will; but the devil and the hater of our souls found in this matter a reason to wound the souls and bodies of the nuns. If the property had been useful to the nuns, then God could have sent them silver and gold in a torrential rain and subjugated cities and villages into their service. But this is not useful for those who have renounced the world for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. They must approach God through much sweat and labor, in humility and silence, and not through gluttony, vanity and wealth.” Then She, stretching out her hand and pointing to me the one who had previously talked with me, said: “This is John the Baptist, teacher and mentor of monks. Those who want to be in unity with him must follow his life and virtues.” The Baptist said to Her: “Lady and Mother of the Lord! From the time this man transferred his estate to the monastery, the monastery became worthless. There was no fear of God in him, no sobriety, no reasoning, no tenderness, no labor, no modesty, no fasting, no vigilance, no heartfelt contrition, no torture of thoughts, no purity, no meekness.” Then the Holy Mother of God said to me: “My son! go and fix the monastery. In this matter you will have Me as your helper.” Then, turning to John the Baptist, she said: “Mark his heart with the sign of the cross, so that he can see his enemies with the eyes of his mind and not consider this vision an empty dream.” The Baptist stretched out his right hand and marked my heart with the sign of the honorable cross. Waking up and coming to my senses from the effect produced by the vision, I immediately took my staff and some bread on a long journey, went to Abba Isidore and told him about the vision that had happened to me. The elder said to me: “Didn’t I tell you that owning the land on which the economy is built is harmful for monks, especially for nuns. If men begin to come often to fasting women, which is required by the economy, then the devil will not leave both of them without an ulcer. It is not typical for monks, especially nuns, to cleave to earthly concerns.” Taking the elder with me, I went to the nuns. Having entered the church and prayed, we called the first elders and told them: “We heard that one of the king’s close associates intends to come here and take the plot of land that I gave to you in order to transfer it to the patriarchate. For this reason, we have come to warn you about this so that you consider what to do in this circumstance.” The old women answered: “We will do what you consider useful for us.” I told them: “I have no opportunity to enter into litigation with the king’s close associates. But, if you want, before the king’s confidant arrives, we will sell the estate to the senator who wanted to buy it; You take the proceeds for yourself, and let the senator deal with the king’s confidant as best he knows.” The nuns said: “Your advice is sound.” We immediately went and sold the land to the senator for sixty pounds of gold; I gave freedom to male and female slaves, and presented gold to the church for fasting women. When we left them, I said to Abba Isidore: “Father! I almost died because of my disobedience. The fathers rightly said that one should not give alms to women.” Abba Isidore answered me: “Don’t say that, son! It’s a sin to think like that. I will tell you the truth: if anyone wants to give alms to the nuns, let him give. He who gives alms to them will receive a greater reward than he who gives alms to the blind, lame and lepers. Nuns are the weakest part; they have renounced the world for the sake of God, and cannot go out, like us, to sell their handicrafts and beg for alms. They are afraid to go out to correct their needs, so as not to destroy themselves and others. If they go outside the gates of the monastery, they will hurt themselves or their neighbors; one of two things is bound to happen. When a desert deer appears in the fields adjacent to the villages, everyone comes running to look at it: so, when a nun from a monastery enters, the devil rushes both big and small to her, especially if she is young. I don’t say this about elderly fasting women, protected by the fear of God: these are not hurt and do not hurt. But the young are exposed to many disasters. Just as a deer struck by an arrow, even if it runs away from the hunters, does not receive any benefit from it, having a deadly arrow in itself: so the soul, having received the ulcer of lust from lust through a vicious view, even if it ran away from those who shot this arrow at it, is mortally wounded and dies. The laity, when they see the beautiful nuns, look at them intently and are hurt; Likewise, nuns, through careless views, often expose their souls to an incurable illness, even though they have avoided a sinful deed. And therefore, the one who gives them alms will receive a reward a hundred times greater than the one who benefits the blind and lepers, for the reason that the nuns, for the love of God, despised worldly pride, hated the rumors and rebellion of worldly villages, preferred the love of Christ’s commandments to enjoying the delights of the world, loved an unconceited life, abandoned unrighteous wealth, acquisitions, possessions, all the vanity of the world, they united themselves with Christ's love, they disdained silver and gold, they did not want to have male and female slaves; on the contrary, they enslaved themselves into serving others for the love of God. Why can anyone who can give alms to nuns receive a reward and a great crown from God? Such a person must protect himself with the fear of God: because the fear of God does not allow the soul to violate the rules of modesty and reverence. On the contrary, giving inhabited plots of land to a monastery for men or women returns the monastics back into the multi-braided networks of this world. Anyone who wants to give alms to monks and nuns should give them either bread, or cereals, or money, or wool, or flax. Such alms give the monk the opportunity to serenely remain silent in his cell; such almsgiving is perfect almsgiving and pleasing to God.” The elder, having told me this, returned to his place, and I bowed to him and went to the Skete” 235. 11. Abba Dula said: “Once my father Vissarion and I, walking through the desert, came to a certain cave; Having entered it, they found an old man sitting and weaving a rope. Not only did he not greet us, but he didn’t even say a single word; he looked at us lower. And Abba Vissarion said to me: “Let’s go from here; The brother must not have received a message from God to enter into a conversation with us.” From there we went to visit Abba John. Returning from him, when they again approached the cave in which they saw the brother sitting, the elder said: “Let us go in to him; maybe God told him to talk to us.” When we entered, we found him already dead. The elder told me: “Brother! Let’s bury his body: it’s clear that God sent us here for this.” While performing the burial, we saw that it was a wife. The elder was surprised and said to me: “Look, my son! and wives overcome the devil in the desert, but we, living in cities, cannot maintain chastity.” Having glorified God, who helps those who love Him, we left there. In the vast desert of Skete there were four churches; each had its own hieromonk, who was in charge of the monks belonging to the church. You might be interested in: