Fruit of the Vine

In that place when Ephraim of holy memory was a boy, he saw in sleep, or by revelation, that a vine was planted on his tongue and it grew and filled the whole earth with very great fruitfulness so all the birds of the air came and ate the fruits of that vine and spread the fruit further.

Hosts of Angels

Mark said to Arsenius, "Why do you go away from us?"

Arsenius replied, "God knows I love you. But I cannot be with God and with men. The countless hosts of angels have only a single will, while men have many wills. So, I cannot leave God, and be with men."

~~Myriads of God's hosts protrayed by Walter Russell in The Bible and Its Story, Vol 5.

The Healer

They said of Isidore, the priest in Scetis, that if anyone had a monk who was sick or weak or insolent and wanted to send him away, he would say, "Bring him to me." Then he would take him and cure him by his patience.

~~The Healer by Marius Michael-George

Riches to Rags

They said of Arsenius that while he was in the Emperor's palace he was the best-dressed person there and while he was leading the life of a monk, no one was clothed in worse rags.

~~photo by Nathaniel Chongsiriwatana

O for Obedience

They said that Silvanus had a disciple in Scetis called Mark, who possessed the virtue of obedience in large measure. He was a copyist of old manuscrips: and Silvanus loved him for his obedience.

Silvanus also had seven other disciples, and they were sad that he loved Mark more than them. When the nearby hermits heard that he loved Mark above the others, they took it badly.

One day when they visited him, Silvanus took them with him out of his cell, and began to knock on the door of each of his disciples, saying, "Brother, come out, I have work for you." Not one of them appeared immediately.

When he came to Mark's cell, he knocked, saying, "Mark," and as soon as Mark heard the voice of Silvanus he came out and Silvanus sent him on an errand.

So, Silvanus said to the other hermits, "Where are my other disciples?" He went into Mark's cell, and found a book he had just begun to copy, and he was making the letter O, but when he had heard the voice of Silvanus, he had not finished the line of the O.

The visitors said, "You are right, abba, and we also love the one whom you love, for God loves him too."

Doors

A brother came to Poemen in the second week of Lent and told him his thoughts, and found peace of mind from his answer. Then he said, "I almost didn't come to see you today."

Poemen asked him why and he explained, "I was afraid that the door wouldn't be opened as it is Lent."

Poemen answered him, "It is not wooden doors we were taught to shut; the door we need to keep shut is the mouth."

Repent

Evagrius said, "When a distracting thought comes into your head, do not cast around here and there about it in your prayer, but simply repent and so you will sharpen your sword against your assailant."