Pantocrator

When Isaac of Thebaid visited a community, he saw that one of the brothers was sinful, and passed sentence on him.

But, when he was returning to his cell in the desert, the angel of the Lord came and stood in front of the door of his cell, and said, "I will not let you go in."

Isaac asked, "Why not?"

The angel of the Lord replied, "God sent me to ask you, 'Where do you tell me to send that sinful brother whom you sentenced?'"

At once Isaac repented, saying, "I have sinned, forgive me."

The angel said, "Get up, God has forgiven you. In the future take care to judge no man before God has judged him."

~~Christ Pantocrator from St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai (550 C.E.)

The Dagger of Praise

They said of Arsenius and Theodore of Pherme that they hated fame and praise more than anything. Arsenius avoided people likely to praise him. Theodore did not avoid them, but their words were like daggers to him.

Obedience

A brother asked Agatho, "I have been instructed to go somewhere, and I have serious doubts about the place where I have been told to go. I want to obey the order and yet I am frightened of the inner struggle that will follow."

Agatho replied, "Agatho was like that. He obeyed orders and so he won the battle."

~~photo by Griffin Logue

The Virtue of Prayer

Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance, suppresses anger, restrains pride and envy, draws down the Holy Spirit in to the soul and raises man to heaven.

St. Ephraim the Syrian

THE LENTEN PRAYER

O Lord and Master of my life
take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power
and idle talk.
But give rather,
the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience and love to thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother;
for Thou art blessed unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

Ephraim the Syrian (c. 306 – 373) was a deacon, prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially among Syriac Christians as a saint. Ephraim wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems and homilies in verse, as well as prose biblical commentaries. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphous works in his name. Ephraim's works witness to an early, vibrant expression of Christian faith, little touched by the European modes of thought, and more engaged with eastern methods of discourse.

Just One Penny

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."

Sleep

Arsenius said, "One hour's sleep is enough for a monk if he is a fighter."

~~Oil, Sleep by Randolphlee McIver, 1981

Age Does Not Equal Wisdom

Cassian said, "Moses the Hermit told us, 'It is good not to hide our thoughts; we ought to disclose them to discreet and devout elders; but not to those who are old merely in years, for many have found final despair instead of comfort by confessing to those whom they saw to be old, but who were in fact inexperienced.'"

~~photo by Frank Logue