1. A brother was leaving the world, and though he gave his goods to the poor he kept some for his own use. He went to Antony, and when Antony knew what he had done, he said, ‘If you want to be a monk, go to the village over there, buy some meat, hang it on your naked body and come back here.’ The brother went, and dogs and birds tore at his body. He came back to Antony, who asked him if he had done what he was told. He showed him his torn body. Then Antony said, ‘Those who renounce the world but want to keep their money are attacked in that way by demons and torn in pieces.’
2. Daniel told this story about Arsenius. An official once came to bring him the will of a kinsman who was a senator and had left Arsenius a large bequest. Arsenius took the will in his hands and wanted to tear it up. But the official fell at his feet, and said, ‘Please do not tear it up; they will blame me.’ Arsenius said to him, ‘I died before he did. Now that he is dead, how can he make me his heir?’ He gave back the will, and would accept nothing.
3. Once when Arsenius was in Scetis he became ill, and he needed just one penny. He had not got one, so he accepted it as alms from someone else, and said, ‘Oh God, thank you! For your name’s sake you have made me worthy to come to this, that I should have to ask for alms.’
4. They told this story about Agatho. He and his disciples spent a long time in building his cell. When they had finished it he lived in it, but in the first week he saw a vision which seemed harmful to him. So he said to his disciples what the Lord said to his apostles, ‘Rise, let us go hence’ (John 14:31). But the disciples were exasperated and said, ‘If you meant the whole time to move from here, why did we have to work so hard and spend so long in building you a cell? People will begin to be shocked by us, and say: “Look, they are moving again, they are restless and never settle.” ’ When Agatho saw that they were afraid of what people would say, he said, ‘Although some may be shocked, there are others who will be edified and say, “Blessed are they, for they have moved their abode for God’s sake, and left all their property freely.” Whoever wants to come with me, let him come; I am going anyway.’ They bowed down on the ground before him, and begged to be allowed to go with him.
5. Evagrius said that there was a brother who had no possessions except a Gospel book and he sold it in order to feed the poor. He said something worth remembering: ‘I have sold even the word that commands me to sell all and give to the poor.’
6. Theodore, surnamed Pherme, had three good books. He went to Macarius, and said, ‘I have three good books, and I am helped by reading them. Other monks also want to read them, and they are helped by them. Tell me what to do.’ Macarius replied, ‘Reading books is good, but possessing nothing is more than anything.’ When he heard this, he went and sold the books, and gave the money to the poor.
7. One of the monks told this story about John the Persian, how because of his many virtues he attained a deep simplicity and innocence. He lived in the part of Arabia that is near to Egypt. Once he borrowed a shilling from another monk and bought linen with which to make things. A brother came and asked him, ‘Abba, give me a little linen, and I will make myself a shirt to wear.’ John gave it him gladly. Then another came and asked him for a little linen, so that he could make himself a coat and he gave it him. Many others came and he gave simply and cheerfully. Later the owner of the borrowed shilling arrived and asked for his money back. John said to him, ‘I will get it for you.’ When he could not find anything with which to pay, he went to Jacob the steward to ask him for a shilling. On the way he found a shilling lying on the ground. He did not touch it, but said a prayer, and went back to his cell. Again the owner of the shilling he had borrowed came and began to speak harshly to him asking for his money. John said, ‘I will give it back to you.’ John went away again and found the shilling still lying on the ground; again he prayed, and went back to his cell. Then the owner began to be demanding and he said, ‘Wait for me just once more, and I will bring you your shilling.’ He went to that place where he had found the shilling on the ground. He said a prayer, and picked it up, and went to Jacob and said, ‘Abba, on my way here I found this shilling on the ground. Of your kindness, tell all the neighbours, to see if anyone has lost it.’ Then Jacob summoned everyone and announced the find, but they could discover no one who had lost it. Then John said to Jacob, ‘If no one has lost it, give it to that monk there, because I owe him a shilling.’ Jacob was astonished that when John was being pressed to pay his debt he had not picked the shilling up at once when he found it and used it in payment.
There was another remarkable thing about John. If anyone came to borrow something from him, he did not take it in his own hands and lend it, but said, ‘Come in, take what you need.’ When a borrower brought anything back, John used to say, ‘Put it back where you found it.’ If a man borrowed something and did not bring it back, John said nothing to him about it.
8. It was said that a monk once came to the congregation at Cellia and went to see Isaac wearing a small hood. The hermit rebuked him, saying, ‘This is where monks live. You are a man of the world, you cannot stay here.’
9. Isaac said to the brothers, ‘Pambo and our predecessors used to wear old and much-patched clothes. You wear good clothes. Go away, you do not belong here.’ When they were starting out for the harvest, he said, ‘I shall give you no more orders, for you never obey me.’
10. Cassian said that Syncleticus renounced the world, and divided his property among the poor. But he kept some for his own use, and so he showed that he was unwilling to accept either the poverty of those who renounce everything or the normal rule of monasteries. Basil of blessed memory said to him, ‘You have stopped being a senator, but you have not become a monk.’
11. A brother said to Pistamon, ‘What am I to do? I am anxious when I sell what I make.’ Pistamon replied, ‘Sisois and others used to sell what they made. There is no harm in this. When you sell anything, say straight away the price of the goods. If you want to lower the price a little, you may and so you will find peace.’ The brother said, ‘I have enough for my needs from other sources, do you think I need worry about making things to sell?’ Pistamon answered, ‘However much you have, do not stop making things, do as much as you can, provided that your soul is at peace.’
12. A brother said to Serapion, ‘Give me a word.’ But he replied, ‘What can I say to you? You have taken what belongs to widows and orphans and put it on your window-ledge.’ He saw that the window-ledge was full of books.
13. Syncletica of blessed memory was asked, ‘Is absolute poverty perfect goodness?’ She replied, ‘It is a great good for those who can do it. Even those who cannot bear it find rest to their souls though they suffer bodily anxiety. As strong clothes are laundered pure white by being turned and trodden under foot in water, a strong soul is strengthened by freely accepting poverty.’
14. Hyperichius said, ‘To accept poverty freely is the monk’s treasure. Therefore, my brother, lay up treasure in heaven, where there will be endless time for rest.’
15. One of the holy men named Philagrius lived in Jerusalem and worked hard to earn himself enough to eat. When he was standing in the market square trying to sell what he had made, a bag containing a great many coins fell on the ground near him by accident. Philagrius found it, and stood there thinking, ‘The loser must soon come back.’ Soon the man who had lost it did come back, very gloomy. So Philagrius took him aside and gave him back his bag. The owner wanted to give him some of the money, but the hermit would not take anything. Then the owner began to call out, ‘Come and see what the man of God has done.’ But Philagrius escaped unnoticed, and went out of the town, so that they should not know what he had done, nor pay him honour.
16. A brother asked a hermit, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ He took off his clothes, and put a girdle about his loins and stretched out his hands and said, ‘Thus ought the monk to be: stripped naked of everything, and crucified by temptation and combat with the world.’
17. Someone asked a hermit to accept money for his future needs but he refused, because the produce of his labour was enough for him. When the giver persisted, and begged him to take it for the needs of the poor, he replied, ‘If I did that my disgrace would be twofold. I do not need it, yet I would have accepted it: and when I gave it to others, I would suffer from vanity.’
18. Some Greeks once came to give alms in the city of Ostracinus: and they asked the stewards of the church to show them who was most in need. The stewards led them to a leper to whom they offered money. But he did not want it, and said, ‘Look here, I have a few palm leaves to work, and I plait them, and so I get enough to eat.’ Then the stewards took them to the house of a widow who lived with her daughters. When they knocked on the door, one of the daughters ran to open it although she was naked. Her mother had gone out to work as a laundress. They offered the daughter clothing and money. But she refused to accept it, and said that her mother had told her, ‘Trust in God’s will. Today I have found work to supply us with enough to live on.’ When the mother came back, they asked her to accept alms but she refused and said: ‘I have my God to care for me. Do you want to take him away from me now?’ They realized her faith, and glorified God.
19. A great man came from a distance to Scetis carrying gold, and he asked the presbyter of the desert to distribute it among the brothers. But the presbyter said to him, ‘The brothers do not need it.’ But he was very pressing, and would not give way, and put a basket of money in the church porch. So the presbyter said, ‘Whoever is in need may take money from here.’ No one touched it, some did not even look at it. The presbyter said, ‘God has accepted your offering to him. Go away and give it to the poor.’ He went away very much edified.
20. Someone brought a hermit who was a leper some money and said, ‘Take this to spend, for you are old and ill.’ He replied, ‘Are you going to take me away from Him who has fed me for sixty years? I have been ill all that time, and have needed nothing because God has fed me and given me what I need.’ He would not accept it.
21. They said there was a working gardener who gave away all his profit in alms, and kept for himself only enough to live on. Later on Satan tempted him and said, ‘Store up a little money, as a provision to spend when you are old and infirm.’ So he made a store of coins in a big pot. It happened that he fell ill, and his foot became gangrenous, and he spent all his coins on doctors, but grew no better. An experienced doctor told him, ‘Unless we amputate your foot, the gangrene will spread through your whole body.’ So they decided to amputate it. But the night before the operation, the gardener came to his senses, and was sorry for what he had done, and groaned and wept saying, ‘Lord, remember my earlier good works when I worked in the garden and served the poor.’ Then an angel of the Lord stood before him and said, ‘Where is your store of coins? Where has your trust in them gone to?’ Then he understood, and said, ‘I have sinned, Lord, forgive me, I will not do it again.’ Then the angel touched his foot, and it was healed at once. He got up at dawn, and went to the fields to work. At the appointed time the surgeon came with his instruments to amputate the foot. The people told him, ‘He went out at dawn to work in the fields.’ The doctor was astonished and went out to the field where he was working, and he saw him digging, and glorified God who had restored his health.
22. A brother asked a hermit, ‘Would you like me to keep two shillings for myself, in case I fall ill?’ The hermit, seeing that in his heart he wanted to keep them, said, ‘Yes.’ The brother went into his cell, but he was worried, asking himself, ‘Did he tell me the truth or not?’ He got up and went back to the hermit, bowed down and asked him, ‘For the Lord’s sake tell me the truth, for I am worrying about those two shillings.’ The hermit said to him, ‘I told you to keep them because I saw you intended to do so anyway. But it is not good to have more than the body needs. If you keep two shillings, you will put your hope in them. If by chance they are lost, then God will no longer be interested in your needs. Let us cast all our care upon the Lord, for He cares for us.’
The Desert Fathers
Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
Translated and with an Introduction by
BENEDICTA WARD
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