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Sayings of the Fathers (Systematic Collection, Latin)

tr. Chadwick, 1958; selections

15. Part 15: Of Humility

Abba Antony was baffled as he meditated upon the depths of God’s judgements, and prayed thus: “Lord, how is it that some die young and others grow old and infirm? Why are there some poor and some wealthy? And why are the rich unrighteous and grind the faces of the righteous poor?”

And a voice came to him: “Antony, look to yourself: these are the judgements of God, and it is not good for you to know them.”

Abba Antony said to Abba Poemen: “Man’s great work is to lay his guilt upon himself before God, and to expect to be tempted to the end of his life.”

Abba Antony also said: “I saw all the devil’s traps set upon the earth, and I groaned and said: ‘Who do you think can pass through them?’ And I heard a voice saying: ‘Humility.’”

Once some old men came to Abba Antony, and Abba Joseph was with them. Abba Antony, wanting to test them, began to speak about holy Scripture. And he began to ask the younger monks the meaning of text after text, and each of them replied as he was able. And to each the old man said: “You have not yet found it.” Then he said to Abba Joseph: “What do you say is the meaning of this word?” He answered: “I do not know.” And Abba Antony said: “Truly Abba Joseph alone has found the true way, for he answered that he does not know.”

Some demons were once standing near Abba Arsenius in his cell, and were troubling him. Then some brothers came, who usually ministered to him. And as they stood outside the cell, they heard him crying aloud to the Lord: “Lord, do not leave me, though I have done nothing good in thy sight. Grant me, Lord, according to thy loving-kindness, at least the very beginning of a good life.”

They said of Abba Arsenius, that while he was in the Emperor’s palace he was the best dressed person there: and while he was leading the religious life, no one was clothed in worse rags.

Abba Arsenius was once asking an old Egyptian for advice about his temptations. And another, who saw this, said: “Abba Arsenius, how is it that you, who are so learned in the Greek and Latin languages, come to be asking that uneducated countryman about your temptations?” He answered: “I have acquired the world’s knowledge of Greek and Latin: but I have not yet been able to learn the alphabet of this uneducated man.”

The old men said that they once gave the brothers in Scete a few figs: but because they had so few, they did not give any to Abba Arsenius, for fear he should be offended. When he heard of this, he did not go out as usual to the divine office with the brothers, and said: “You have excommunicated me, by not giving me the blest food which the Lord sent to the brothers, because I was not worthy to receive it.” And they were edified at his humility, and the priest went and took him some of the figs, and brought him back to the congregation happy.

They used to say that no one could fathom the depth of his religious life. Once when he was living in Lower Egypt, and suffering from importunate visitors, he decided to leave his cell. He took nothing with him, and said to his disciples Alexander and Zoilus: “Alexander, you board a ship, and you, Zoilus, come with me to the Nile and find for me a little boat that is sailing to Alexandria, and then sail to join your brother.” Zoilus was troubled at this, but said nothing, and so they parted.

The old man went down to the country near Alexandria, and there fell gravely ill. But his disciples said to each other: “Do you think one of us has grieved him, and that is why he has separated from us?” They examined themselves, but could not find that they had been ungrateful to him, or that they had ever disobeyed him. When the old man had recovered from his illness, he said to himself: “I will go to my fathers.” And so he came to the place called Petra, where were Alexander and Zoilus his servants. While he was by the river-bank, he met an Ethiopian girl, who came up and touched his cloak. The old man rebuked her. But she said: “If you are a monk, go to the mountain.”

The old man was stricken in heart at these words, and said to himself: “Arsenius, if you are a monk, go to the mountain.” And on the way his disciples Alexander and Zoilus met him, and fell at his feet. And the old man too threw himself on the ground, and they all wept. Then the old man said: “Did you not hear that I fell ill?” They said to him: “Yes, we heard.” And he said: “Then why did you not come to see me?” And Alexander said: “We were aggrieved at your parting from us. For many people were vexed at it, and said: ‘Unless they had disobeyed the old man, he would surely not have left them.’” And the old man said to them: “Yes, I knew this would be said. But men shall say again: ‘The dove found no rest for his feet, and so returned to Noah in the ark.’”

The minds of his disciples were healed by the saying, and they stayed with him to the end of his life. But when he lay dying, they were much distressed. And he said to them: “The hour is not yet come. But I will tell you when it comes. You will be judged with me before the judgement seat of Christ, if you let anyone touch my dead body.” And they said: “What then shall we do? We do not know how to clothe or bury a dead body.” And the old man said: “Surely you know how to tie a rope to my leg and pull me up the mountain?”

When he was soon to commit his soul to God, they saw him weeping, and said: “Truly, Father, are you afraid, even you, of death?” And he said: “Truly. The fear which possesses me now has been with me since I became a monk: and I am very afraid.” So he slept in peace.

Arsenius always used to say this: “Why, you words, did I let you go out? I have often been penitent that I spoke, never that I kept silent.”

When Abba Poemen heard that Arsenius had departed this life, he wept, and said: “You are blessed, Abba Arsenius; for you wept for yourself in this world; and he who does not weep for himself in this world, shall lament for ever in the next. We cannot escape lamentation: if we do not lament here of our own will, we shall later be forced to lament against our will.”

Abba Daniel said of Abba Arsenius that he never wanted to discuss any question about the Scripture, though he was wonderful at expounding it when he wanted: and that he was very slow to write anyone a letter. When from time to time he came to the meeting in church, he sat behind a pillar so that none should see his face and he himself should be undistracted. And like Jacob, he looked like an angel, having white hair, a man lovely to look upon, yet somehow dried up. He had a long beard which reached down to his waist: his eyes were dim with constant weeping: and although he was tall, his body was bent, for he died at the age of ninety-five. He lived for forty years in the palace of the Emperor Theodosius the Great of holy memory, the father of Arcadius and Honorius: then he lived forty years in Scete, ten years in the place called Trohe, above Babylon, near the city of Memphis, and three years in Canopus near Alexandria. Then he returned to Trohe for two more years, and there ended his life in peace and the fear of God. He was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”¹

Abba John told this story. Abba Anub and Abba Poemen and the others, who were born of the same mother, were monks in Scete. And some savage Mazicae came and sacked Scete. The monks went away, and came to a place called Terenuthis, while they discussed where to live, and stayed a few days there in an old temple. Abba Anub said to Abba Poemen: “Of your charity, let me live apart from you and your brothers, and we shall not see each other for a week.” And Abba Poemen said: “Let us do as you wish”: and they did so.

In the temple stood a stone statue. And every day at dawn Abba Anub rose and pelted the face of the statue with stones: and every day at evening he said: “Forgive me.” Every day for a week he did this: and on Saturday they met again. And Abba Poemen said to Abba Anub: “I saw you, Abba, throwing stones at the face of the statue every day this week, and later doing penance to the statue. A true Christian would not have done that.” And the old man answered: “For your sakes I did it. When you saw me throwing stones at the statue’s face, did it speak? Was it angry?”

And Abba Poemen said: “No.”

And he said: “When I did penance before the statue, was it troubled in heart? Did it say: ‘I do not forgive you?’” And Abba Poemen answered: “No.”

And he said: “Here we are, seven brothers. If we want to stay together, we must become like this statue, which is untroubled by the injuries I have done it. If you will not become like this statue, see, there are four doors to this temple, and each of us may go in the direction he chooses.”

At these words they fell upon the ground before Abba Anub, and said to him: “As you say, Father. We will do what you tell us.” And afterwards Abba Poemen described what happened. “We remained together all our lives, doing our work and everything else as the old man directed us. He appointed one of us as a steward, and we ate whatever he put before us; no one could have said: ‘Bring something else to eat,’ or ‘I will not eat that.’ And so we passed our lives in quiet and peace.”

They said of Abba Ammon that some people asked him to arbitrate in their quarrel. But the old man took no notice of them. And one woman said to another woman standing next to her: “That old man is a fool.” And the old man heard what she said; and he called her, and said: “Can you imagine what travail I have endured in different deserts in the effort to acquire this folly? And you are making me lose it all today.”

There was a bishop of the city of Oxyrhynchus named Affy. They said that while he was a monk, he treated his body very severely. And when he became a bishop, he wanted to continue in his city the austerities which he had practised in the desert, but he could not. So he fell prostrate before God, and said: “Dost thou think, my Lord, that thy grace has left me because I have become a bishop?” And it was revealed to him: “No: in the desert you had no man to help you, and God alone sustained you. But now you are in the world, and have men to help you.”

Abba Daniel said that in Babylon there was a nobleman’s daughter, who had a devil. Her father sought out a monk. And the monk said to him: “No one can cure your daughter except some hermits I know: and if you go to them, they will refuse to do it from motives of humility. Let us do this: when they come, bringing their produce for sale, tell them that you want to buy what they have. And when they come into the house to receive the money, we will ask them to pray, and I believe that your daughter will be healed.”

So they went into the street, and found a disciple of the old men, who was sitting there to sell his baskets. They took him back with them to the house, as if to receive the money for his wares. And when the monk had come into the house, the girl, who was troubled with the demon, went up to him and slapped him. And he followed the Lord’s commandment, and turned her the other cheek. The demon was forced out, and began to cry: “Violence! The commandment of Jesus Christ is driving me out”: and so the girl was in that moment healed. When they came to the old men, they told them what had happened, and glorified God, saying: “The pride of devils cannot but fall before the humble obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ.”

Abba Evagrius said: “The beginning of salvation is, to contradict yourself.”

Abba Serapion said: “I have afflicted my body far more than my son Zacharias, and I cannot equal his humility or his silence.”

Abba Moses said to the brother Zacharias: “Tell me what to do.” And at the words, Zacharias threw himself at his feet, saying: “Why ask me, Father?” The old man said: “Believe me, my son Zacharias, I saw the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and so I cannot but ask you.” Then Zacharias took his cowl from his head, and put it beneath his feet and stamped on it, and said: “Unless a man stamps upon himself like that, he cannot be a monk.”

Abba Poemen said: “Abba Moses asked the monk Zacharias, who was dying: ‘What can you see?’ And he said: ‘Nothing better than being silent, Father.’ And Abba Moses said: ‘Truth, my son: keep silent.’”

At the moment of his death Abba Isidore looked up to heaven, and said: “Rejoice, my son Zacharias: for the gates of the kingdom of heaven are opened to you.”

Theophilus of holy memory, the bishop of Alexandria, once went to the mount of Nitria, and an abba of Nitria came to him. The bishop said: “What have you found upon your way, Father?” And the old man answered: “To blame myself unceasingly.” And the bishop said: “This is the only way to follow.”

When Abba Theodore was supping with the brothers, they received the cups with silent reverence, and did not follow the usual custom of receiving the cup with a “Pardon me.” And Abba Theodore said: “The monks have lost their manners and do not say ‘Pardon me.’”

They said of this Abba Theodore, that after he was ordained deacon in Scete, he refused to minister in services, but escaped to various places to avoid having to do so. And the old men brought him back, and said: “Do not desert your ministry.” Abba Theodore said to them: “Let me go, and I will pray to God. If he shows me that I ought to act as a minister, I will do so.” And he prayed to God thus: “Show me, Lord, if it be thy will that I minister as a deacon.” And there appeared a pillar of fire from earth to heaven, and a voice was heard saying: “If you can become like this pillar, go, and exercise your ministry.” When he heard this, he determined never to exercise his ministry. And when he came back to the church, they did penance before him, and said: “If you do not want to take part in the service, at least hold the chalice.” But he refused, saying: “If you do not let me go, I will leave this place altogether.” And so they left him.

Abba John the Short said: “The gateway to God is humility. Our fathers endured much suffering and so entered the city of God with joy.”

He also said: “Humility and the fear of God surpass all the other virtues.”

Abba John of the Thebaid said: “The monk ought above all to be humble. For this is the Saviour’s first commandment: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.’”²

The brothers in Scete were once assembled, and began to discuss Melchizedek the priest. But they forgot to call for Abba Copres. Later, they summoned him and asked him what he thought upon the question. He struck his mouth three times and said: “Woe upon you, Copres. You have left undone what God commanded you to do, and you have dared to enquire into things which he did not ask of you.” At these words the brothers fled, each to his own cell.

Abba Macarius once said of himself: “When I was a young man, and was staying in my cell in Egypt, they caught me, and made me a cleric at a village. And because I did not want to minister, I fled to another place. And a man of the world, but of a devout life, came to me, and took what I made with my hands and ministered to my needs.

It happened that a girl of the village was tempted by the devil and seduced. And when she was seen to be pregnant, she was asked who was the father of the child: and she said: ‘It was this hermit, who slept with me.’ They came out, arrested me, and brought me back to the village: and they hung dirty pots and jug handles on my neck, and made me walk round the village, beating me as I went, and saying: ‘This monk has seduced our girl. Away with him, away with him.’ And they beat me until I was almost dead: but one of the old men came and said: ‘How long have you been beating that stranger monk?’ The man who used to minister to my needs followed behind, ashamed: and they heaped insults on him, saying: ‘You bore witness to this hermit, and look what he has done.’

The parents of the girl said that they would not let me go unless I found someone to guarantee her support. I spoke to the man who used to minister to me and asked him to be my guarantor, and he gave a pledge on my behalf. I went back to my cell, and I gave him all the baskets I had, and said: ‘Sell them, and give my woman some food.’ Then I said to myself: ‘Macarius, you have found a woman for yourself; you need to work much harder to support her.’ So I worked night and day, and passed her the money which I made.

When it was time that the unfortunate girl should bear a child, she spent many days in travail, and still did not bring forth the baby. They said to her: ‘What’s the matter?’ She said: ‘I know why I am in agony so long.’ Her parents asked her why. She said: ‘I accused that monk falsely, for he had nothing to do with it: the father is a young man named N.’

The man who ministered to me heard this, and came to me with joy saying: ‘The girl could not bear her child, until she confessed that you had nothing to do with it and that she told lies against you. And look—all the villagers want to come to your cell and glorify God, and do penance to you.’ When I heard this, I did not want the men to trouble me, so I rose and fled here to Scete: and this was the reason why I began to live here.”

Abba Macarius was once returning to his cell from the marsh carrying palm-leaves. And the devil met him by the way, with a sickle, and wanted to run him through with the sickle, but could not. The devil said: “Macarius, I suffer much violence from you, for I cannot overcome you. For whatever you do, I do also. If you fast, I eat nothing: if you keep watch, I get no sleep. But it is only one quality in you which overcomes me.” And Abba Macarius said to him: “What is that?” The devil answered: “Your humility—that is why I cannot prevail against you.”

Abba Mathois once went from Raythu to the country of Gebalon, and his brother was with him. And the bishop of Gebalon came to him, and ordained him priest. And at supper the bishop said: “Forgive me, Abba. I know that you did not want to be ordained: but I dared to do it, so that you would give me your blessing.” The old man said humbly: “My soul did not much want ordination, it is true. But I am grieved by the fact that I must be divided from my brother who is with me: and by myself I cannot offer all the prayers which together we offer.” The bishop said: “If you know that he is a worthy person, I will ordain him too.” Abba Mathois said: “Whether he is worthy I do not know: but one thing I do know, that he is better than I am.”

So the bishop ordained his brother too: and neither of them, when he died, had offered the sacrifice at the altar. The old man said: “I trust God, that perhaps he will not judge me hardly for my ordination, provided I do not dare to consecrate the offering. For that is the duty of men who live innocently.”

Abba Mathois said: “The nearer a man comes to God, the more he sees himself to be a sinner. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord, and knew himself to be wretched and unclean.”³

They said of Abba Moses that when he was ordained a cleric, they put the pall on his shoulders. And the archbishop said to him: “See, you are clothed in white and ready for your ordination, Abba Moses.” He answered: “White outside, Lord Pope, or white inside, do you think?”

The archbishop, wishing to test him, said to the clergy: “When Abba Moses comes to the altar, turn him away: but follow him and listen to what he says.” They began to drive him from the church, saying: “Get out, Ethiopian.” As he went out, he said: “You thing of dust and ashes, they have done you a good turn. You are not a man, how dare you remain in the company of men?”

While Abba Poemen was in a community, he heard of Abba Nesteros and wanted to see him. So he sent a message to his abba to ask him to let Nesteros come to him. But the abba did not wish it, and refused. A few days afterwards the steward of the monastery asked the abba to let him go to Abba Poemen, so that he could tell him his thoughts. His abba, when he was giving him leave, said to him: “Take with you the brother Nesteros whom the old man asked me to send him. I did not dare to let him go alone, and have put off sending him until now.” When the steward reached the old man, he talked to him about his thoughts, and the old man healed his mind by his answer. Then the old man turned to the brother and said: “Abba Nesteros, how have you won this virtue, that if there is trouble within the monastery, you do not speak, and remain serene?” The brother had to be pressed by the old man for an answer. In the end he said: “Forgive me, Abba. When I first entered the community, I said to my soul, You and the donkey must be alike. The donkey says nothing when he is beaten. That is what you must do: as you read in the Psalm: ‘I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.’”⁴

They told this story of Abba Olympius in Scete. He was a slave, and each year went down to Alexandria carrying what he had earned for his masters. They met him, and greeted him. The old man put water in a basin and brought it to wash his masters’ feet. But they said to him: “No, Father, please do not put a burden on us.” He answered: “I confess that I am your slave: and I am grateful that you have let me go free to serve God. Yet I wash your feet, and here is what I have earned.” But they refused to accept it. And he said: “Believe me, if you will not accept my earnings, I shall stay here and be your servant.” But they revered him, and gave him leave to do what he wanted. And they brought him back to the desert with honour, and gave him what he needed to make a love-feast on their behalf; and henceforward was renowned in Scete.

Abba Poemen said: “A man ought ever to be absorbing humility and the fear of God, as the nostrils breathe air in and out.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “How ought I to behave, in my cell in the place where I live?” The old man answered: “Be as prudent as a stranger; and wherever you are, do not expect your words to be powerful in your presence, and you will find peace.”

He also said: “The tools of the soul are these: to cast oneself down in God’s sight; not to lift oneself up; and to put one’s self-will behind one.”

He also said: “Do not put a value on yourself, but cleave to the man who is living a good life.”

He also said: “A brother asked Abba Alonius: ‘What is lowliness?’ And the old man said: ‘To be lower than brute beasts; and to know that they are not condemned.’”

He also said: “Humility is the ground whereon the Lord ordered the sacrifice to be offered.”

He also said: “If a man keeps his own place, he shall not be troubled.”

He also said: “Once when the old men were sitting down to supper, Abba Alonius stood and waited on them: and when they saw it, they praised him. But he said not a word. So one of them whispered to him: “Why do you not answer when the old men praise you?” And Abba Alonius said: “If I answer them, I shall find pleasure in being praised.”

Abba Joseph told this story. “Once when we were sitting with Abba Poemen, he talked of ‘Abba’ Agatho. We said to him: ‘He is a young man, why do you call him Abba?’ And Abba Poemen said: ‘His speech is such that we must call him Abba.’”

They said of Abba Poemen, that he never wanted to cap the saying of another old man, but always praised what had been said.

Once Theophilus of holy memory, the archbishop of Alexandria, came to Scete. The brothers assembled there said to Abba Pambo: “Say a word to the Pope, that his soul may be edified here.” And the old man answered: “If my silence does not edify him, my speech certainly will not.”

A brother named Pystus told this story. “Seven of us, hermits, went to Abba Sisois, who was living in the island of Clysmatus. And when we asked him to give us a word, he answered: ‘Forgive me, I am an ignoramus. But I once went to Abba Hor and Abba Athrem: Abba Hor had been ill for eighteen years. And I began to beg them to speak a word to me. And Abba Hor said: “What have I to say to you? Go and do whatever you think right. God is the God of the man who extracts from himself more than he can do, and carries all by violence.”

These men, Abba Hor and Abba Athrem, were not of the same province. But there was much grace between them, until they died. Abba Athrem was a man of perfect obedience, Abba Hor of great humility. I spent a few days with them, observing their virtues; and I saw Abba Athrem do a wonderful thing. Someone brought them a little fish, and Abba Athrem wanted to prepare it for his elder, Abba Hor. So Abba Athrem took a knife and cut into the fish: but at that moment Abba Hor called him: “Athrem, Athrem.” And he left the knife in the middle of the fish and did not finish the cut but ran to Abba Hor. I was astonished at his obedience, and that he did not say: “Wait until I have cut the fish.” So I said to Abba Athrem: “Where did you find this obedience?” And he answered me: “It is not mine: it is that old man’s.” And he took me and said: “Come and see his obedience.” He cooked a piece of fish badly, intentionally so, and put it in front of the old man. Abba Hor ate it without saying a word. Abba Athrem said: “Is it good, Abba?” He answered: “Very good.” Then he brought him another piece, very well cooked, and said: “See, I have ruined it, Abba, by cooking it badly.” Abba Hor answered: “Yes, you have cooked it rather badly.” And Abba Athrem turned to me and said: “Did you see his obedience?” And I left them: and have tried, as far as I could, to practise what I saw.’

All this was told the brothers by Abba Sisois. One of us asked him: ‘Of your charity, speak us a word.’ And he said: ‘The man who has limitless knowledge understands the Scriptures perfectly.’

Another of us asked him: ‘What is pilgrimage, Father?’ He answered: ‘Keep silent: and wherever you go, say “I am at peace with all men”: that is pilgrimage.’”

A brother once came to Abba Sisois on the mountain of Abba Antony. And in their talk he said to Abba Sisois: “Have you not yet attained the stature of Abba Antony, Father?” And the old man answered: “If I had a single thought like Abba Antony, I should quite leap toward heaven like a flame. But I know myself to be a man who can only with an effort bear his thoughts.”

The same brother asked him: “Do you think Satan persecuted the men of old as he persecutes us?” And Abba Sisois said: “More: for now his doom has drawn nearer, and he is troubled.”

Some others came to hear a word from Abba Sisois. And he said nothing to them, but kept repeating: “Forgive me.” They saw his baskets, and said to his disciple, Abraham: “What are you doing with those baskets?” And he answered: “We sell them now and then.” The old man heard, and said: “And so Sisois eats now and then.” They were very edified at his humility, and went away happy.

A brother asked Abba Sisois: “I observe my own mind, and I see that it is recollected and intent upon God.” And the old man said to him: “This is no great thing that your mind should be with God. The great thing is to see yourself to be lower than every created being. Bodily toil will put it right, and lead you on the way to humility.”

Syncletice of blessed memory said: “As a ship cannot be built without nails, a man cannot be saved without humility.”

Abba Hyperichius said: “The tree of life is lofty, and humility climbs it.”

He also said: “Imitate the publican, to prevent yourself being condemned with the Pharisee. Follow the gentleness of Moses, and hollow out the rocky places of your heart, so that you turn them into springs of water.”

Abba Orsisius said:⁵ “If you put a piece of unbaked tiling in a building with a river nearby, it does not last a day. If it is baked, it is as good as stone. So it is with the man with worldly wisdom, who is not proved by the word of God, as Joseph was proved at his beginning. To live among men is to be tempted often. It is good that a man should know his weakness, and not pick up too heavy a burden at first. But men of strong faith cannot be moved. Take the life of Saint Joseph and see what grievous temptations he suffered, and in a country where there was no trace of the true worship of God. But the God of his fathers was with him, and kept him safe in every tribulation, and he is now with his fathers in the kingdom of heaven. Let us then own our weakness, and so struggle onward. For it is hard for us to escape the judgement of God.”

There was an old hermit in the desert who said to himself that he was perfectly virtuous. He prayed God and said: “Show me what makes me perfect, and I will perform it.” But God wanted to humble him, and said: “Go to that archimandrite, and do what he tells you.” God gave a revelation to the archimandrite, before the hermit came, and said: “A hermit is soon coming to see you. Tell him to take a whip, and go and herd your swine.” The old man arrived, knocked at the door, and went in to the archimandrite: they greeted each other, and sat down. The hermit said: “Tell me what I must do to be saved.” And the archimandrite said: “Will you do what I tell you?” And he said: “Yes.” The archimandrite said: “Take this whip, and go herd the swine.”

When those who knew the hermit and his reputation, saw that he had gone to be a swineherd, said: “Do you see that hermit who had won so great a reputation? Look what he is doing. He has gone mad, and is troubled by a demon, and is herding swine.” But God looked upon his humility, and saw how he bore these insults with patience, and told him to go back to his cell.

A demoniac, frothing terribly at the mouth, struck an old hermit on the jaw, and the old man turned him the other cheek. The humility tortured the demon like flames, and drove him out there and then.

An old man said to a brother: “When a proud or vain thought enters you, examine your conscience to see if you are keeping God’s commandments; if you love your enemies; if you rejoice in your adversary’s triumph, and are grieved at his downfall; if you know yourself to be an unprofitable servant, and a sinner beyond all others. But not even then must you think yourself to have corrected all your faults; knowing that this thought alone in you shall undo all the other good you have done.”

An old man said to a brother: “Do not measure your heart against your brother, saying that you are more serious or more continent or more understanding than he. But be obedient to the grace of God, in the spirit of poverty, and in charity unfeigned. The efforts of a man swollen with vanity are futile. It is written, ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’ Be in your spirit seasoned with salt—and so dependent upon Christ.”⁶

An old man said: “He who is praised and honoured above his deserts suffers grievous loss. He who receives no honour at all among men, shall be hereafter glorified.”

A brother asked an old man: “Is it good to be constant in penitence?” And the old man answered: “We have seen Joshua the son of Nun: it was when he was lying prostrate on his face that God appeared to him.”⁷

An old man, asked why we are troubled by demons, answered: “Because we throw away our armour—humility, poverty, patience and men’s scorn.”

A brother asked an old man: “If a brother brings me talk from the world, Abba, do you want me to tell him not to bring them to me?” And the old man said: “No.” The brother said: “Why?” The old man answered: “Because we cannot stop ourselves doing the same. We should find ourselves doing what we are telling our neighbour not to do.” And the brother said: “Then what is best?” And the old man answered: “If we would keep silence, that is enough for our neighbour as well.”

An old man was asked: “What is humility?” He answered: “If you forgive a brother who has wronged you before he is penitent towards you.”

An old man said: “In every trial do not blame another, but blame yourself, saying: ‘This has happened to me because of my sins.’”

An old man said: “I never push myself up and walk above my station; and am untroubled when I am put in a low place. For all the time I try to pray God to strip me of unregenerate man.”

A brother asked an old man: “What is humility?” And the old man answered: “To do good to them that do ill to you.” And the brother said: “Suppose a man cannot attain that standard, what is he to do?” The old man answered: “He is to run away, and choose silence.”

A brother asked an old man: “What is the work of pilgrimage?” And he said: “I know a monk who was on pilgrimage, and came into a church where a love-feast was being held: and he sat down to eat with the monks. But some of them said: ‘Who brought that man in here?’ And they said to him: ‘Get out of here.’ He rose from the table and went out. But some of the others were grieved that he had been driven away and went outside and brought him back. Then someone asked him: ‘How do you think you felt in your heart when you were driven out and then brought back?’ And he said: ‘I put it in my heart that I was no better than a dog, and a dog goes out when he is chased out and comes back when he is called.’”

Some people once came to an old man in the Thebaid so that he might cure a demoniac whom they brought with them. After the old man had been importuned for some time he said to the demon: “Go out of God’s creature.” The demon answered: “I will go: but I ask you a question; tell me, who are the goats and who are the sheep?” And the old man said: “The goats are people like myself: who the sheep are, God alone knows.” And the demon shouted aloud at the words, crying “See, I go out because of your humility”: and he went out at that moment.

An Egyptian monk was living in the suburbs of Constantinople:⁸ and when the Emperor Theodosius II passed that way he left his train of courtiers and came unattended to the cell. The monk opened the door to his knock, and at once recognized him to be the Emperor: but he received him as though he was one of the imperial guards. After he had come in, they prayed together and sat down. The Emperor began to ask him: “How are the fathers in Egypt?” He answered: “They are all praying for your salvation.” The Emperor looked round the cell to see if he had any food, and saw nothing except a basket with a little bread, and a flagon of water. The monk said to him: “Will you take a little supper?” And he put the bread in front of him, and mixed oil and salt, and gave him to eat and drink.

The Emperor said to him: “Do you know who I am?” And he said: “God knows you, who you are.” The Emperor said: “I am the Emperor Theodosius.” The monk at once fell down before him and did humble obeisance. The Emperor said: “Blessed are you, for you have an untroubled life, without thought of the world. I tell you truly, I was born an emperor, and I have never enjoyed bread and water as I have today: I have supped with real pleasure.” And he began to do honour to the monk.

But the old man went out, and fled back to Egypt.

The old men said: “We are the more humbled when we are tempted: for God, knowing our weakness, protects us. But if we boast of our own strength, he takes away his protection, and we are lost.”

The devil appeared to a monk in the guise of an angel of light, and said to him: “I am the angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to you.” But the monk said: “See whether you were not sent to someone else. I am not worthy that an angel should be sent to me.” And the devil vanished.

The old men said: “If an angel in truth appears to you, do not accept it as a matter of course, but humble yourself, and say: ‘I live in my sin and am not worthy to see an angel.’”

They said of another old man, that while he was undergoing temptation in his cell, he saw the demons face to face, and was contemptuous of them. The devil, seeing himself overcome, came and showed himself, saying: “I am Christ.” The old man looked at him, and then shut his eyes. The devil said: “I am Christ, so why have you shut your eyes?” The old man answered: “I would not see Christ in this life, but in the next.” And the devil vanished at the words.

The demons, wanting to seduce an old man, said to him: “Would you like to see Christ?” He said: “A curse be upon you and him of whom you speak. I believe my Christ when he said: ‘If anyone says to you, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo, there, do not believe him.’” And they vanished at the words.

They said of an old man that he went on fasting for seventy weeks, eating a meal only once a week. He asked of God the meaning of a text of the holy Scriptures and God did not reveal it to him. So he said to himself: “Here I am: I have worked so hard, and profited nothing. I will go to my brother and ask him.” Just as he had shut his door on the way out, an angel of the Lord was sent to him; and the angel said: “The seventy weeks of your fast have not brought you near to God: but now you are humbled and going to your brother, I have been sent to show you the meaning of the text.” And he explained to him what he had asked, and went away.

An old man said: “If anyone, in humility and the fear of God, orders a monk to do something, the very word, thus spoken for God’s sake, makes the monk ready, and obedient to the command. But if he gives the command because he wants to give a command, if he sets himself up as an authority and seeks power over the monk, and does not give a command in the fear of God, God sees the secrets of the heart and does not let the monk obey the command. Everyone can see whether the work is done for God, or whether it is an order of self-will and desire for power. An order from God is given with humility and gentleness. An order given from a desire for power is given with anger and trouble of mind, for it is of the devil.”

An old man said: “I would rather be defeated and humble than win and be proud.”

An old man said: “Do not think little of your neighbour for you do not know whether God’s Spirit is in you or in him. I tell you that your servant is your neighbour.”

A brother asked an old man: “If I live with other monks, and see something wrong, do you want me to speak out?” The old man said: “If some are older than you, or your contemporaries, you will have more peace of mind in keeping silent. For you will make yourself at peace in the fact that you are putting yourself below the others.” The brother said to him: “What then am I to do, father? For the spirits trouble me.” The old man said to him: “If you are suffering about the matter, give a piece of advice, once, with humility. If they do not obey you, leave what you have done in God’s sight, and he will comfort you. For this is the way the worshipper of God should lay himself before God, and not follow his self-will. But take care that your anxiety be of God. Yet, as far as I see, it is good to be silent, for here silence is humility.”

A brother asked an old man: “What is man’s way of progress?” The old man answered: “Humility. The more a man bends himself to humility, the more he is lifted up to make progress.”

An old man said: “If anyone says, Forgive me, and humbles himself, he burns up the demons which tempt him.”

An old man said: “Even if you have succeeded in the habit of keeping silent, you are not to have it in you as though it was a kind of virtue, but say: ‘I am not worthy to speak.’”

An old man said: “Unless the miller blindfolded the donkey in the treadmill, it would turn round and eat the corn. And God has mercifully blindfolded us, so that we cannot see the good that we do: for then we should perhaps pat ourselves on the back, and lose our reward. That is why we are left for a time with ill thoughts, so that as we see them, we judge and condemn ourselves. Those very thoughts are the cloth which blindfolds and prevents the piece of goodness from being seen. When a man accuses himself, he does not lose his reward.”

An old man said: “I would learn rather than teach.” He also said: “Do not teach too early, or you will have less understanding during the rest of your life.”

An old man was asked: “What is humility?” He answered: “Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour, and believe yourself a sinner, and make yourself the servant of all.” And a brother said: “What does it mean, to be the servant of all?” The old man answered: “To be the servant of all is not to look out for the sins of others, ever to look out for your own sins, and to pray God without ceasing.”

A brother asked an old man: “Tell me one thing, that I may keep it and live by it.” And the old man said: “If you can suffer injury and endure, this is a great thing, above all virtues.”

An old man said: “He who bears scorn and injury and loss with patience, can be saved.”

An old man said: “Do not take much notice of your abba, and do not often go to see him: for you will get confidence from it, and start to want yourself to be a leader.”

A brother⁹ so took upon himself any charge that threatened his community, that he even accused himself of fornication. Some of the monks, who did not know the truth about his life, began to murmur against him, saying: “This man does much ill and no work.” The abba, knowing the truth, said to the brothers: “I want rather one mat with humility, than all your mats with pride.” And to show by God’s judgement the kind of person the monk was, he brought all the things which the monks had made, and the mat made by the monk of whom they were complaining. And he brought a lighted brand, and threw it into the pile of mats. All the mats were burnt except the mat of this monk, which was untouched. The brothers were afraid at the sight, and did penance to him, and thenceforth treated him as a father.

An old man was asked how it was that some people said they had seen angels. He answered: “Blessed is he who always sees his own sin.”

A brother learnt that another brother was aggrieved at him, and went to make satisfaction. But the other did not open the door of his cell. So he went to an old man, and told him the circumstances. And the old man said: “See that you have no reason, which looks like a just reason, in your heart for blaming your brother: as though you would accuse him and justify yourself, and so God would not touch his heart to open the door to you. I tell you this: even if he has sinned against you, keep it in your heart that you have sinned against him: justify your brother rather than yourself: and then God will put it into his heart to make peace with you.” And he told him the following story:

“There were two devout men, living in the world: and after talking with each other they went out and became monks. Wanting to equal the precept in the Gospel, but not according to knowledge, they castrated themselves, as if it was for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The archbishop heard of it and excommunicated them. They believed that they had done right, and were indignant with the archbishop saying: ‘Have we castrated ourselves for the kingdom of heaven, and he excommunicates us? Let us go and persuade the archbishop of Jerusalem against him.’ They went and told everything to the archbishop of Jerusalem. And he said: ‘And I excommunicate you too.’ Further aggrieved, they went to the archbishop of Antioch, and told him everything: and he excommunicated them likewise. So they said: ‘Let us go to see the patriarch at Rome, and he will vindicate us from all these others.’ So they went to the Pope of Rome and put before him what the other archbishops had done, saying: ‘We have come to you, as you are the head of all.’ But he also said to them: ‘I excommunicate you, and you are put out of the Church.’

Then the excommunicated persons had no further excuse, and said to each other: ‘These bishops defer to each other, and reach agreement because they meet in synods. Let us go to that holy man of God, Epiphanius, the bishop in Cyprus, for he is a prophet, and takes no account of anyone’s rank.’ As they were approaching his city, he received a revelation about them, and sent to meet them, saying: ‘Do not enter this city.’

Then they recovered their right minds and said: ‘Truly, we are rightly blamed: why then do we seek to justify ourselves? Even supposing the archbishops excommunicated us unjustly, that cannot be true of this prophet, for he has received a revelation about us.’ And they charged themselves with the great guilt of what they had done. So God, who sees men’s hearts, revealed to Epiphanius the bishop that they had made themselves guilty for the truth’s sake. And so, of his own initiative, he sent and brought them back, and comforted them, and received them to communion. He wrote to the archbishop of Alexandria about them, saying: ‘Receive back your children, for they have done penance in the truth.’

The old man, who told the story, added: ‘This is a man’s sanity and his obedience to God’s will, that he casts himself before God with confession of his sin.’”

At these words the brother obeyed his word, and went and knocked on the other monk’s door. As soon as the other learnt who it was, he spoke penitently, and opened the door at once: they kissed each other with sincerity and perfect peace was established.

Two monks, brothers in the flesh, lived together, and the devil wanted to cause division between them. The younger once lit a lamp and put it on the lampstand. The demon playing his trick, upset the lampstand and the elder was angry and beat his younger brother. But the younger was penitent, and said: “Be patient with me, brother, and I will light it again.” And suddenly the power of the Lord came and tortured that demon until break of day. So the demon told his chief, a pagan priest, what had happened. And the pagan priest went out and became a monk; and from the start of his religious life he held to humility, saying: “Humility breaks the power of the enemy. I know, for I have heard them saying: ‘When we trouble the monks, one of them turns to God and is penitent, and so destroys our power.’”

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