Авва Ивиссарион

The disciples of Abba Ivissarion told the following about his residence: it was similar to the lifestyle led by a bird of the air, a fish, or any animal of the earth. He spent the entire time of his life outside of rumors and care. He did not care about his cell; he did not attach his soul to any place; he did not desire to be satisfied with food; did not desire the acquisition of estates; he did not carry books with him. Completely free from all bodily addictions, fueled by the hope of receiving eternal blessings, elevated to the firmament of faith, he was constantly in a kind of sacred frenzy. He moved from place to place, enduring nakedness, the cold of inclement weather, and the heat of the sun, always being under the open sky. Either he wandered along the desert rapids, like a traveler who had lost his way, or he rushed across the vast sandy steppe, as if across the sea. If he happened to come to a place inhabited by people, to some cenobitic monastery of unanimous brothers, he would sit at the gate and indulge in tears, like a swimmer thrown ashore by a storm after a shipwreck. Often one of the brethren went outside the monastery and, finding him sitting at the gate, took him for a beggar walking around the world asking for alms. Having mercy on him, his brother approached him and said to him: “What are you crying about? if you need anything, we will give you everything we can. Enter the monastery, share a meal with us, and find comfort.” The elder answered: “It is impossible for me to enter under the roof of a human dwelling before I find my lost house and property. I lost great wealth for various reasons. In addition to everything, sea robbers attacked me, I was shipwrecked, lost the glory of my family, and from being famous I became despicable.” The brother, brought into condolences by these words of his to the elder, entered the monastery and, taking a piece of bread there, brought it to the elder; handing it to him, he said: “Father! accept this, and the rest of what you told us, nobility and wealth, God is able to return to you.” But the elder indulged in even more crying and sobbing. “I don’t dare say,” he said at the same time, “whether I can find what was lost. It behooves me to diligently submit to continuous suffering, to be in daily concern because of my countless evils! It is fitting for me to end my earthly journey in unceasing wandering” 561. The feat of Abba Ivissarion belongs to the exceptional types of feats, into the field of which rare ones are brought out by God’s providence, and spontaneous imitation of them, without a special calling from God, is prohibited. You might be interested in: