Авва Исаак, пресвитер из Келлий

1. The elders, having gathered, agreed among themselves to present Abba Isaac to the patriarch for his ordination as a presbyter. Abba, hearing about this, fled to Egypt and hid in the field, in the grass. The fathers hastily set off in pursuit of him. It so happened that they came to the same field in which Abba Isaac was hiding. It was already late, night had fallen, and the elders settled down here for the night, and the donkey that was with them was released onto the grass. The donkey, walking through the field, came to the place where the abba was hiding in the morning and stood over him. And the elders, starting in the morning to look for the donkey, found the Abba with him, to their surprise. They wanted to tie him up; but he did not allow them to do this, saying: “I will no longer run away. This is the will of God. I can’t get away from her, no matter where I run.” 2. They said about Abba Isaac that he mixed ashes from the censer into his bread. 3. Abba Isaac and Abba Abraham lived together. One day, Abba Abraham, entering his cell, found Abba Isaac crying and asked him: “What are you crying about?” Abba Isaac answered: “How not to cry? Our fathers have passed away, and we have no one to go to for advice. The money we earned for our handicrafts was not enough for us to hire ships on which we went to the elders! Now we are orphans: I cry about it.” 4. One day Abba Isaac fell into a serious illness and languished there for a long time. His brother prepared boiled food for him and put seasoning in it. The elder did not want to taste this food. The brother begged him, saying: “Abba! taste a little for the sake of your bodily weakness.” The elder answered: “Brother! I tell you the truth: I wish I could spend thirty years in this illness.” 5. Abba Isaac said: “I have never brought into my cell a hostile thought against the brother who insulted me; In the same way, I tried so that my brother would not bring into his cell any thoughts hostile to me.” 6. Abba Isaac, presbyter of Kelly, said: “I saw a brother who wanted to eat an ear of wheat while he was reaping in the field. The brother said to the owner of the field: “Let me eat one ear of corn.” The owner, hearing this, was surprised and answered: “Abba! You eat yours, and are you asking me!” This is how my brother guarded his conscience strictly. 7. One of the elders said that one of the brethren came in a small hood in the presence of Abba Isaac to the Church of the Cells. The elder sent him out of the church, saying: “This church belongs to the monks, and you are a layman, and you cannot be here.” 8. Abba Isaac told the brethren: “Don’t bring children here: because of them, three churches in Skete have been deserted.” 9. When the brothers went out to the harvest, Abba Isaac said to them: “I no longer give you any commandment, because you do not keep what is commanded.” 10. When the time came for the death of Abba Isaac, the elders gathered to him and asked him: “Abba! How shall we conduct our residence after your departure?” He answered: “You saw how I lived. If you want, then imitate me: keep the commandments of God, and God will send you His grace, and will preserve this place. If you do not keep the commandments of God, you will not remain in this place. And we mourned when our fathers died. But, keeping the commandments of God and the testaments of our fathers, we lived as if in cohabitation with them. And do this, and you will be saved” 451. One day Abba Isaac of Thebaid came to the hostel. Seeing a brother there who had fallen into sin, he was angry with him and ordered him to be expelled. After this, when Isaac was returning to his cell, the Angel of the Lord came and, standing before the door of the cell, said: “I will not allow you to enter your cell.” Isaac began to ask the Angel to tell him his guilt. The angel answered: “God sent me, saying: go and ask Isaac: where did he command to place the brother who had sinned, whom he condemned?” Isaac immediately repented, saying: “Lord! I have sinned: forgive me.” The angel said to him: “Get up. God has forgiven you. But in the future, do not do this: do not condemn anyone before the Lord condemns him. “Men have stolen judgment and are not giving it to Me,” says the Lord.”452 They said that Abba Apollos had a disciple named Isaac, who was taught every good deed and acquired sacred silence of the heart. He observed it especially during the offering of the holy sacrifice. When he went to church, he did not allow anyone to approach him for conversation. He adhered to the rule: “Everything is good in its time, and the time of every thing under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). When the service ended, he, as if driven by fire, hurried to his cell. It happened that after the Divine service the brethren handed out a piece of bread and a cup of wine: but Isaac never took it, not because he rejected the blessing of the brethren, but because he kept within himself the silence into which he had prepared himself during the service. An illness befell him, from which he fell ill. Hearing about this, the brethren came to visit him. Sitting with him, they asked him: “Abba Isaac! Why do you leave so hastily from the congregation of the brethren at the end of the service?” He answered: “I am not running away from you, but from the cunning of demons. If someone has a lighted candle in his hand and stands with it in the open air, then the candle will go out: so the mind of one sanctified by the Holy Mysteries is darkened if he lingers outside the cell” 453. Patrolog. Tom. XI, Pag. 786 and 909. You might be interested in: