Question: “Tell me, Father, how should a person watch his heart, and how should he fight against the devil? Should he block the entrance of speech to the thought of fornication, and if it enters the mind, what should he do? Should my food be by weight?”
The answer: “My son, if a person guards his heart, he will be alert and pure. He will only be exposed to fighting if he is negligent first. If the enemy sees his negligence, he will work to fight him, because we only fall because of our negligence and our failure to resist them, because they want you to talk so that they will not distract you and not stop. So come forward to God for their sake, and cast your weakness before Him, and He will turn them away from you and nullify their strength.” As for the devil of fornication, it is good to block him and not let him in, because if he enters he will defile you and impure you, because he takes a substance from you and with it he can attack you. If he suddenly seizes you and enters you, do not hesitate even for a short time, but stand up and struggle and throw yourself before God and acknowledge your weakness and ask Him to throw him out from you. As for the sake of food and its weight, let it be with moderation and caution.
Question: “Tell me, father, what is your opinion if we were to acknowledge some of the fighting to one of the brothers and ask him to pray about it?”
Answer: “It is good to confess to him who has the strength to hear, and not to him who is still young. But seeking prayer, it is good to ask from everyone.”
Question: “If a person is silent, what should be the state he should be in in the cell?”
Answer: “Sitting in the cell means that a person remembers his sins, weeps and wails over them, and takes care not to let his mind be taken captive. If it is taken captive, he should strive to restore it to himself.”
Question: “Teach me how to cut off my desires while I am in the cell, and also when I am among people, and what is the will of the body, what is the will of Satan, and what is the will of God?”
Answer: “As for cutting off the passion that is in the cell, that is by rejecting all bodily mourning. As for the will of the body, it is to always do its mourning in all matters. If you do not do its mourning, then know that you have cut off your passion while sitting in the cell. As for cutting off the passion that is among people, that is by being like a dead person among them or like a stranger to them. As for the will of God, it is that no one among people perish, as He said Lord, and that the sinner should not die, as He said The Prophet. As for the devil's will, it is that the righteous person should purify himself and be reassured of it, and then he falls into the trap, just as the devil's will is that the sinner should not repent of his sin. He continued, saying: "If we want to succeed in perfection, let us cut off our wills little by little, so that we may reach the point of not having pain, by not speaking about what is not necessary, and by being content with everything that happens to us as if it were according to His will, and by not having any inclination toward anything, for from the complete lack of inclination comes the absence of pain by the grace of God."
Question: “If someone asks me to pray for him, should I pray for him or not?”
Answer: “It is good to pray for everyone who asks you, because the Apostle James says: ‘Pray for one another so that you may be healed.’ And some people prayed for the Apostles, but you should do so as someone who is unworthy and has no authority.”
Question: “Tell me, father, how can thought be food for wild beasts?”
Answer: “Thought becomes food for wild beasts if a person does not precede to blame himself. If he is negligent, they will wound him with their fangs and claws. So it is good that he needs to adhere to repentance. You must not praise yourself, and you must not say that you are something, so that your pains will be healed, and you will not bring others close.”
It happened once that a brother was harmed by thieves, so he was very cowardly, and with God’s help he was saved from them, so he told Sheikh About his annoyance and asked him to pray for him, The Sheikh said“My son, God will not leave us unless we distance ourselves from Him, for He says: ‘I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.’ But it is our lack of faith that makes us cowardly and afraid of the robbers who came to you, even if they were more numerous than Pharaoh’s chariots and soldiers, and you know that by the word of God and His power they were drowned in the sea. Don’t you remember what is written about those who came to take Elisha, how they were struck with blindness? And the book that says: ‘The Lord will keep you from all harm, the Lord will keep your soul, the Lord will keep your coming in and your going out.’ And how can we forget the one who says: ‘Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly Father’s permission, and you are better than many sparrows.’ Cowardice is the offspring of lack of faith, and it is the ultimate lack of hope. It softens the heart and draws people away from God to the land of destruction. Let us flee from him, my son, and let us awaken Jesus our Lord who sleeps within us, saying: O our Great One, save us, and he rebukes the wind and calms the waves. Let us now leave the bruised reed and seek the staff of the cross that divided the sea and drowned the actual Pharaoh, and let us rely and cast ourselves on the One who was crucified for our sake, for He knows how to feed us, His sheep, and drive away the evil wolves from us. My son, I am amazed at you, how you are afraid of the slaves standing outside, and do not think of the masters who are inside, because the tangible thieves are the servants of the devils, the actual thieves. You should know by grace that the thieves came to you, but Christ did not leave you. So hurry to seek Him, and ask Him to help you, because it is written: The Lord is near to those who call on Him, and to those who desire Him in righteousness. He will do the will of those who fear Him, and will hear their prayers and save them. So join yourself to your Master, clinging to Him, and He will drive away from you all the wicked and will nullify their power.
It also happened that this brother was sad, so he asked: Sheikh To pray for him, he answered him, saying: “My son, the Lord endured crucifixion and death, do you not rejoice in sorrows? For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven. So do not ask, my son, for mourning, unless the Lord gives it to you, for all bodily mourning is an abomination to God, and the Lord He said“In the world you will have tribulation, but be strong. I have overcome the world, and the Lord will help you and me. Amen.”
Question: “Tell me, father, how do I miss my brother?”
Answer: “It is good to visit a brother, but idle talk is bad, and this brings you into temptation. So visit your brother, and beware of idle talk. Let your conversation be about the stories of the fathers who came before you, and what they did. And say to him, ‘How are you? How are you, my brother and father?’ And seek from him only words of life. And say to him, ‘Pray for me, for I have many sins,’ and the like. And do a little humility right now, and depart from him in peace.”
Question: “I ask you, Father, to show me what is good will and what is bad will?”
Answer: “I told you that all bodily mourning is abhorrent to our God, because He said The path leading to life is sad and narrow. Whoever chooses it for himself is the good will, and whoever wants it throws himself into every sad matter according to his passion and as much as he can. Hear what the apostle said: I suppress my body and enslave it. Understand that the body does not want this, but by its own will it was forced. Whoever wants salvation must have such a will, and whoever is like this, sorrow is mixed in all his affairs. Do not use a soft bed, and remember that many sleep on the ground and among thorns. If you come across delicious food, leave it, and eat of the inferior, so that it does not stir sorrow in your body. Remember those who never taste bread, and remember also the suffering that your Master underwent for your sake, and give woe to yourself. This is the good will, while the bad will is the body’s lamentation over everything it asks of you, especially if you happen to have bad food and you say: I will not eat, this is the bad will, so cut it off from you and you will be saved.”
Question: “Tell me, Father, what should I do, for my thoughts are very troubled within me.”
Answer: “My son, if a man is idle, he will devote himself to accepting the thoughts that come to him, and if he has work to do, he will not devote himself to accepting them. Rise at dawn, take hold of the mill, and grind your wheat, and make bread from it for your food, before the enemy gets ahead of you and adds sand to it. And hurry and write your tablet, and memorize the other side, because our Lord says to the apostles, ‘You are the salt of the earth.’ So the earth, my son, is your body, so be salt, seasoning it, and drying it. (Namasiya) and his worm, I mean your bad thoughts.
From the saying the Saint Simon the Stylite: “Like a man who speaks of riches that are not his own, and counts the wealth of others, while he himself has nothing, but is found naked, destitute and poor, so he who has acquired nothing for himself of the riches of Christ, and is a companion of holy people, is found naked of the participation of the Spirit, and gains nothing of the riches of Christ.” SaintsBecause he shares with them in dwelling, but he does not share with them in virtue.
To the saint John Chrysostom on the written word: I pray with my spirit and I pray with my conscience, I chant with my spirit and I chant with my conscience: “The apostle wants a person not to pray with his tongue alone, leaving his mind to wander in various matters, so that it becomes fruitless, but rather let there be one struggle for both of them, the tongue utters the words of prayer, the mind distinguishes the hidden, unseen meaning, and the mind follows Jesus upward, like the breath rising with the speech, so that it is like a person complaining to the king while his face is looking at him and his tongue speaks without being busy.”
He said Sheikh: “God prolongs His spirit for the sin of the world, but He does not prolong His spirit for the sin of the wilderness.”
He said the father Nestorion: “The monk must hold himself accountable every evening and every morning, what have we done that God wills, and what have we done that God does not will, because this is how he lived.” Father Arsenius Thus we miss ourselves all the days of our life. Take care every day to stand before God without sin, and thus pray to God as if you were seeing Him, because He is truly present. Do not feel good about judging anyone, because judgment, lying, cursing, evil, insults, laughter, all these are foreign to the monk, and he who is honored more than he deserves loses much.
A brother asked him, “If I find time and eat three loaves of bread, is that too much?” And he said He said to him: "Are you at the threshing floor, brother?" He said He also said to him: “And if I drink three cups of wine, is that too much?” He answered him:He said“If there is no devil, then there are not many, but if there is, then there are many, because wine is very harmful to monks, especially the young ones.”
AndHe said Also: “The thief was on the cross and was justified by one word, and Judas was among the apostles, and in one night he lost everything. Therefore, no one who does good deeds should boast, because all who trusted in themselves have fallen.”
He said the Saint Ecclesiastes: “He who can mortify himself from everything, can devote himself to himself by remembering death, and he who loves to mix with people will not be able to devote himself to himself, and this is a defect to his soul.”
AndHe said Also: “A person cannot get through a day as he should if he does not consider it the last day of his life in this world.”
A brother asked the father Rufus: “What is silence?” he answered. Sheikh He said: “It is sitting in the cell with knowledge and fear of God, and refraining from mentioning all evil. Continuing to maintain this creates humility and protects the monks from the enemy.”
When he died, his disciples gathered around him and said: “How should we manage after you?” He answered them: Sheikh“I do not know that I ever told any of you to do anything, before I had first fixed the mind, nor was I angry if he did not do as I told him, and so we spent all our time in peace.”
A wealthy man gave away some money in charity, but kept some of it because of his lack of faith. Then he came to... Father Antonios And he bowed down to him, saying, “Teach me how to be saved.” He said for him Sheikh“If you want to be saved, do what I tell you first. Go to the village, buy meat, take off your clothes, hang it around your neck, and come back.” So he obeyed. SheikhHe bought the meat, took off his clothes, and carried it on his neck. There was no bird or dog in that village that did not gather around him. The bird bit him and wounded his body. When he reached the Saint In this case, He said To him: “Welcome, O son of obedience! Know, O my son, that I told you to do this, in order to give you an example, for many people, when they hear the commandments, do not keep them, and others forget them due to lack of sense. Therefore, I commanded you to do this so that my words would have an effect on you, for the pain of the pain, for those who have lack of sense, talent does not benefit them at all. For this reason, O my son, I have established in you the effects of my commandment. Since your field has been purified from the thorns of heedlessness, let us sow the holy seed in you. Have you seen, O my son, how the birds and dogs have gnawed at your body and wounded it? Likewise, the devils gnaw at the possessors of possessions. Now understand this speech in your mind and think about it all the days of your life. And beware, O my son, of placing your trust in money, but trust in Christ. Go now and distribute all the money that you have left for yourself. So that, my beloved, your monasticism may be pure from deceit, because it is harmful for a monk to keep a dinar and a devil in his cell.” After he supported him with words, he took a little oil and prayed over him and anointed him, and immediately he was healed as if he had never been wounded or in pain, and he went away happily praising God.
It happened once that he came the Saint Paul the Simple Disciple the father Anthony To Scetis, to miss the brothers as usual, and when they entered the church to complete the mass, he was contemplating each one of those entering, and knew the state of his soul, and he saw their appearances as joy, and their angels following them happily, and he saw one of them all black, and ugly demons surrounding him and dragging him, and his angel following him from afar frowning, so when he saw that, he cried and beat his chest many times, and left the church crying, so the brothers came out to him saying: "Why are you crying, our father?" And they asked him to enter with them for the mass, but he refused and sat at the door of the church crying profusely. And when the prayer was completed and they went out, he was also looking at them, wanting to know their exit, and he saw that brother who had entered in that ugly state, had come out with a radiant face, a white body, and his angel was clinging to him, happy, and the devils were following him, and they were sad. And the Saint Paul clapped his hands joyfully and leaped up with great joy, blessing God, the Father of goodness, with a loud voice, saying: “Come, see the awesome works of God, worthy of all amazement and wonder. Come, see the works of our good God, who desires the salvation of all people, and His unspeakable love for mankind. Come, let us worship and fall down, saying: You alone, our God, are able to take away all sin.” And all came to hear his words, and he told them what had appeared to him, and asked that brother to tell him the reason why God had granted him to change that state to a pure one. And he said In the presence of all: “I have been living in filth to the furthest extent for a long time, and when I saw the father I was crying so much, my heart began to feel inside me, so I listened to the readings, and I heard Isaiah “Wash yourselves, be clean, remove your wickedness from before my eyes, learn to do good, and come, let us consider, says the Lord. Though your sins be like porphyry, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like worms, I will make them like pure wool. When I, a sinner, heard these words, my heart weakened, and I said before God: ‘You are the compassionate God who came to save sinners, who said that there would be joy in heaven before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Now, my Lord, what you promised through the mouth of your prophet, fulfill in me, a sinner, and accept me to you repentant. And behold, from now on I will do nothing of the sins I used to do, and I will serve you with all purity until the last breath of my life. And on this I left the church.” When the fathers heard this, they cried out with one voice, saying: “Your works are great, O Lord; you have made them all in wisdom.” From that time on, that brother lived in complete purity and pleased God withbiography Virtuous, we must not lose hope in the mercies of our God, because if we come to Him, He will not demand from us our past deeds, because according to His true promise, He will wash those who return to Him with all their hearts and make them white as snow. To Him be the glory forever.
The priest of the cells had been given the grace of God to see unclean spirits with his own eyes. One day, while he was going to church to complete the general prayer, he saw a group of demons outside the cell of a brother. He found some of them in the form of women singing and saying things that should not be heard, and he found some of them in the form of children dancing, and others doing bad deeds. He sighed. Sheikh Saying: “Without a doubt, there is a monk inside the cell who lives in idleness, and for this reason the unclean spirits surround his cell in this manner, so impolitely.” So when the priest finished the general prayer, he returned and entered that brother’s cell, andHe said He said to him: “Brother, I am in distress, and I have faith in you that if you pray for me, the distress surrounding me will be relieved.” The brother hit the mataniya and said: “I am not worthy to have you pray for me, father.” Sheikh The students kept coming to him, saying: “I will not leave until you promise to pray one prayer on my behalf every night.” So the brother obeyed the order. SheikhBut he did Sheikh This is to give him a reason to pray at night. So when the brother got up at night to pray, SheikhHe became regretful andHe said He said to himself: “Oh, wretched one, if you are praying for such a holy old man, why don’t you pray for yourself alone?” And he made a prayer for SheikhAnd another prayer for himself, and so he completed the week, every night he would perform two prayers, one for himself. SheikhAnd the other about himself. On the following Saturday, the priest went to the church, and saw the demons standing at the door of the brother’s cell, and they were silent, so he knew Sheikh Because the brother prayed, they were silent, so he was happy, and when he finished praying, he returned and entered the brother’s cell, andHe said He said to him: “Have mercy on me, my brother, for the love of the Lord Christ, and increase my prayer every night, for I have found a little rest.” So when he prayed for Sheikh Two prayers, he also became remorseful, saying: “O wretched one, add another prayer for yourself.” So he did this all week, completing four prayers every night. And when the priest came to church on Saturday, he saw the demons silent and frowning, so he thanked God, then he went in to the brother, and asked him to add another prayer, and he added for himself and for himself also. And so it happened. Sheikh He came to him and made him increase little by little until he returned to his first ritual. Then the devils became angry with him. Sheikh For the sake of the salvation that happened to the brother, and they turned away from him, and they were sad, and the brother began to pray without ceasing and gained victory through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever, Amen.
A brother asked Anba Tadros: “How can a person cast out demons from himself?” And he said for him the Saint“If a man receives a guest and honors him, if he cannot drive him out today, he will not be able to drive him out tomorrow, if his belongings are inside the house. But if he gives him his belongings and all that is inside his house, then if he wants to drive him out, he will shut the door in his face. And so it is with the devil, if you do not throw out his belongings outside of you, which are adultery, impurity, lying, and all his tools, you will not be able to drive him out.”
A brother asked Anba Amunamreh, saying: “Father, three thoughts are bothering me. The first is to live in the wilderness without worry. The second is to go to a foreign land where no one will know me. The third is to lock myself in my cell, not meet anyone, and fast for two days at a time.” He said for him Sheikh“None of these ideas can be practiced properly. Rather, it is better for you to sit in your cell, eat a little every day, and keep the word of the tax collector in your mouth always, saying: O God, forgive me, for I am a sinner, and you are departing.”
the father Sisoy who is from Mount AnthonyHe locked himself in his cell and prevented his servant from coming to him for ten months, during which he did not see a human being. One day, while he was walking in the mountain, he found an Arab man hunting wild beasts. And he said for him Sheikh"Where did you come from, and how long have you been here?" And he said The man said to him: “Trust me, monk, I have been on this mountain for eleven months and I have not seen anyone but you.” So when he heard Sheikh Then he entered his cell and began to beat his chest and say: “Oh Sisoui, do not think that you have done anything, because you have not yet done what this Bedouin has done.”
A brother asked him: “Do you think Satan persecuted the ancients in this way?” He answered: Sheikh“But today he is being persecuted more, because his time is near, and therefore he is anxious.”
Once, Anba Adelphius, Bishop of Nilopolis, visited him in the mountain. AnthonyWhen he decided to leave, he made him eat early before he left, and it was a fast. When the table was set, some people were knocking on the door. And he said To his disciple: “Offer them some of the cooking.” And he said Bishop: “Leave them now, lest they say that Abba Sisoey eats early.” So he looked at him. Sheikh AndHe said To the brother: “Go and give them.” When they saw the cooking, They said To the brother: “I wonder if you have guests and…”Sheikh He eats with them? He said“Yes.” They were sad, saying, “Why have you forsaken me?” Sheikh He eats at such a time as this? Do you not know that Sheikh “He tortures himself for many days because of this food.” When the bishop heard these words, he made a prostration, saying: “Forgive me, Father, because I thought humanly, but you did God’s commands.” The Sheikh said“If God does not glorify man, then the glory of men is nothing.”
It also happened once that Abba Qassianos visited him, andthe Saint Germanus, two elders from Palestine, celebrated their hospitality. They asked him why they did not keep the customs of your fasting during your hospitality to the foreign brothers as we have known in our country Palestine? He answered them saying: “Fasting is always with me, but you are not always with me. Fasting is something useful and necessary, and it is from our intention and our will. As for the completion of love, the law of God demands it from us by necessity. Through you, I accept Christ, and it imposes on me a binding debt to serve Him with all diligence. If I accompany you, I can resume my fasting, because the sons of the wedding cannot fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. When the bridegroom is removed, then they fast with authority.”
Once, Anba Youssef asked the father He said, "How long does it take for a person to stop suffering?" Sheikh“At any hour the pains move, immediately cut them off.”
And also, Akhen asked him about a plan, and he answered him: Sheikh Saying: "If Daniel the Prophet He saidI did not eat the bread of desire.
Another brother asked him, “If we walk on a path and our guide goes astray, should we alert him?” And he said for him Sheikh: "no". He said Brother: “Then shall we let him lead us astray?” He answered him. Sheikh“What shall we do then? Shall we take a rod and beat him? I know of brothers who were walking by night, and their guide went astray. There were twelve brothers, and they all knew that they had gone astray, and each one of them struggled not to speak. But when daylight came, their guide knew that he had gone astray. And he saidForgive me, I have lost my way. And they said To all of them: We knew, but we kept quiet. When he heard that, he was amazed, andHe said“Our brothers held out until death not to speak, and praised God. The distance of the road they walked was twelve miles.”