Deference

Once Mark's mother came to see him with many attendants. When the hermit went out to receive her, she said, "Abba, tell my son to come here to me, so that I can see him."

The hermit went to Mark's cell, and said to him, "Go on, your mother wants to see you."

Mark was dressed in a torn piece of sackcloth patched with rags, and his head and face were dirty from the smoke of the cooking fire. He came out obediently, but closed his eyes, and greeted his mother and her attendants, saying, "I hope you are well."

None of them, not even his mother, knew who he was. Again she sent a message to the hermit, saying, "Abba, send me my son, I want to see him."

He said to Mark, "Didn't I tell you to go and let your mother see you?"

Mark said to him, "I went as you said, abba. But please, don't give me that order again, for I am afraid of being disobedient to you."

The hermit went and said to his mother, "Your son is the man who came out and greeted you with 'I hope you are well.'" He comforted her, and sent her on her way.

~~Bronze Pokora / Humbleness, 1993, by Zoubek Olbramh.

Reap What You Sow

A brother said to Poemen, "If I give my brother something, for instance a piece of bread, the demons made the gift worthless by making me think that it was done to please men."

Poemen said to him, "Even if it is done to please men, we still ought to give our brothers what they need." Then he told him this parable:

"In a town there were two farmers. One of them sowed seed, and gathered a poor harvest; the other was idle and did not sow, and had no harvest to gather. If famine came, which of them would survive?"

The brother answered, "The one who sowed seed, even if the harvest was poor."

"It is the same for us," said Poemen. "We sow a few seeds, and they are poor, but in the time of famine we shall not die."

Pray Without Ceasing

Bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus, of holy memory, was told this by the abbot of his monastery in Palestine:

"By your prayers we have our rule; we carefully observe the offices of terce, sext, none and vespers."

But Epiphanius rebuked him and said, "Then you are failing to pray at other times. The true monk ought to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17). He should always be singing psalms in his heart."

~~ Illustration from A Child's Book of Saints (1898) by William Canton (1845-1926)

Godliness

Allois said, "If you really want to, by the evening of one day you can reach a measure of godliness."

~~Photo of Sunset in Todi, Italy, by Frank Logue

Half-Hearted

Arsenius of blessed memory said, "A monk living in a place that is not his native country will never be half-hearted, and so will be at peace."

~~Half-Hearted, acrylic by Greg Johnson

Sin and Guilt

A brother said to Poemen, "If I see my brother sin is it really right not to tell anyone about it?"

Poemen answered, "When we cover our brother's sin, God covers our sin. When we tell people about our brother's guilt, God does the same with ours."

~~Guilt by Terry McCallum

Nothing Done For Show

Once a brother came to Theodore of Pherme, and spent three days asking him for advice. Theodore did not answer, and he went sadly away.

So, Theodore's disciple asked him, "Abba, why didn't you speak to him? Look, he has gone away sad."

Theodore replied, "As a matter of fact, I said nothing to him because he's only interested in getting credit by repeating what others have said to him."

~~Photo by Frank Logue