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

Heaven and Hell

Evagrius said, "While you sit in your cell, recall your attention, and remember the day of your death and you will see that your body is decaying. Think about the loss. Feel the pain. Shrink from the vanity of the world outside. Be retiring, and be careful to keep your vow of quiet, and you will not weaken.

Remember the souls in hell. Meditate on their condition, the bitter silence and the moaning, the fear and the strife, the waiting and the pain without relief, the tears that cannot cease to flow.

Remember, too, the day of resurrection, imagine God's terrible and awful judgment. Bring into your sight the confusion of sinners before God and His Christ, before angels and archangels and powers, and all the human race, punishment, everlasting fire, the worm that never dies, the darkness of Tartarus ~ and above them all the sound of gnashing teeth, dread and torments.

Bring before your eyes the good laid up for the righteous, their confidence before God the Father and Christ His Son, before angels and archangels and the powers, and all the people in the kingdom of heaven and its gifts, joy and peace. Remember all this.

Weep and lament for the judgment of sinners, keep alert to the grief they suffer; be afraid that you are hurrying towards the same condemnation. Rejoice and exult at the good laid up for the righteous. Aim at enjoying the one, and being far from the other.

Do not forget this whether you are in your cell our outside it. Keep these memories in your mind and so cast out of it the sordid thoughts that harm you."