An Excursus into the World of the Desert Fathers

Lately I have been reading works on Christian Spirituality and have had the pleasure to re-read (for the third... or is it the fourth time) Nouwen's classic: The Way of the Heart. In it, he draws heavily from the tradition of the Desert Fathers. I found that as I read I was increasingly intrigued by these short parables attributed to the Fathers. So I flipped to the back of the book to find the source from which Nouwen was pulling these wonderful sayings.  Luckily our library had Benedicta Ward's The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks and I spent an hour or so reading it today. Below I provide a few of my favorites from my reading today and below them are a couple of sayings I wrote. Enjoy!

1. Of Abba Ammonas, a disciple of Anthony, it is said that in his solitude he 'advanced to the point where his goodness was so great that he took no notice of wickedness.'  Thus, having become bishop, someone brought a young girl who was pregnant to him, saying, 'See what this unhappy wretch has done; give her a penance.' But he, having marked the young girl's womb with the sign of the cross, commanded that six pairs of fine linen sheets should be given her, saying, 'It is for fear that, when she comes to give birth, she may die, she or the child, and have nothing for the burial.' But her accusers resumed, 'Why did you do that? Give her a punishment.' But he said to them, 'Look, brothers, she is near to death; what am I to do?" Then he sent her away and no old man dared accuse anyone any more. 

2. . A brother sinned and the presbyter ordered him to go out of the church. But Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, ‘I, too, am a sinner.’

3. Joseph asked Poeman, ‘Tell me how to become a monk.’ He said, ‘If you want to find rest in this life and the next, say at every moment, “Who am I? and judge no one.’

4. A brother said to Poeman, ‘If I see my brother sin is it really right to not to tell anyone about it?’ He said, ‘When we cover our brother’s sin, God covers our sin. When we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God does the same with ours.’

5. When Nesteros the Great was walking in the desert with a brother, they saw a dragon and ran away. The brother said, ‘Were you afraid, abba?’ Nesteros answered, ‘ I wasn’t afraid, my son. But it was right to run away from the dragon, otherwise I should have had to run away from conceit.’

6. A brother came to Poemen, and said to him, ‘ I have sown seed in my field, and I will make a love-feast with a crop.’ He said, ‘ That’s a good idea.’ He went away with purpose, and invited more to the love-feast which he was making. When Anub heard this, he said to Poemen, Aren’t you afraid of God that you said that to the brother?’ Poemen said nothing. But two days later he sent for the brother and called him to his cell. He said to him, in the hearing of Anub, ‘What did you ask me the other day? My attention was elsewhere.’ The brother said, ‘I have sown my field, and I am going to make a love-feast with the crop.’ Poemen said to him, ‘I thought you were talking about your brother, who is a layman. What you are doing is not a monk’s work.’ The brother was sad when he heard this, and said, ‘That’s the only kind of work I know how to do: I can’t stop sowing seed in my field.’ When he had gone away, Anub began to apologize to Poemen, saying, ‘Forgive me.’ Poemen said to him, ‘Look here, I knew from the beginning that it was not a monk’s work. But I spoke to his soul’s need, and stilled his soul so that he might increase in charity; now he has gone away sadly, but he will go on with the same work.’

7. A brother came to Poemen and said to him, ‘Many thoughts come into my mind and put me in danger.’ He sent him out into the open air, and said, ‘Open your lungs and do not breathe.’ He replied, 'I can’t do that.’ Then he said to him, ‘Just as you can't stop air coming into your lungs, so you can’t stop thoughts coming into your mind. Your part is to resist them.’

8. Arsenius once asked an old Egyptian monk for advice about his temptations. Another monk who saw this said, ‘Arsenius, how is it that you, who are so learned in Greek and Latin, are asking that uneducated peasant about your temptations?’ He answered, ‘I have a lot of worldly knowledge of Greek and Latin: but I have not yet been able to learn the alphabet of this peasant.’

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1. Brother Dave was once offered a preaching job at a high profile church. When asked if he would take the job he answered, “No, it would cause me to be prideful.” Many who heard this were impressed, but an elder later said to him, “You should take the job, because the only reason you told us your answer was so we would think highly of you. Next time simply say: No.”

2. One day brother Dave asked an elder, “Is it ok for me to laugh with sinners?” The elder laughed in reply.