Lantern Light

Jacob said, "Like a lantern giving light in a dark little room, so the fear of God comes into a man's heart and enlightens it, and teaches him all that is good and the commandments of God."

The Temptress

Once when Arsenius was living in Canopus, a virgin, a very rich lady, and one that feared God, came from Rome hoping to see him. Theophilus the archbishop received her. She asked him to arrange with Arsenius for him to meet her.

Theophilus went to Arsenius and said, "A lady has come from Rome and she wants to see you." Arsenius refused to receive her.

When the lady heard this she gave orders for her camels to be saddled, and said, "I believe that with the help of God I will see him. In my city of Rome there are many people to see but I have come here in order to see saints."

When she reached the hermit's cell, by the providence of God he was standing outside it. When the lady saw him she fell at his feet. Arsenius helped her up with indignation and looking directly at her said, "If you want to see my face, look closely; here it is."

But, she was too ashamed to raise her eyes. Arsenius said to her, "Haven't you heard about my way of life? That is what you should be trying to see. Why have you dared to come all the way across the sea; you are a woman and ought not to be going about at all. Have you done this so that you can go back to Rome and say to other women, ' I have seen Arsenius'? In that way you will turn the sea into a highway with women coming to see me."

She said, "If by God's will I return to Rome, I will not let any other women come here. But pray for me and remember me always."

Arsenius replied, "I pray God that he will blot the memory of you from my heart."

When she heard that, she went away in distress. When she got back to Alexandria, she began in her sorrow to be ill of a fever. The archbishop was told that she was ill, and came to comfort her. He asked her what was the matter and she said, "I wish I had never come here. I said to Arsenius, 'remember me' and he said, 'I pray God that your memory may be blotted from my heart,' and now I am dying of sorrow."

Theophilus said to her, "Do you not realize that you are a woman, and the enemy uses women to attack holy men? That is why he said what he did. He prays for your soul all the time."

So, her worry was resolved, and she returned contentedly to her home.

Three Rules

They used to say about Theodore of Pherme that he kept these three rules before all others: poverty, abstinence, and avoiding the company of other people.

~~Photo by Victoria Logue

From the Mouth of God

One of the monks saw in a dream a company of angels coming down from heaven by the commandment of God, and one of them held in his hand a scroll that was written on the inside and on the outside, and the angels said to each other, "Who is fit to be entrusted with this?"

Then some of them mentioned one man, and others another, and others answered and said, "Indeed those you mention are holy and righteous, but not sufficiently so to be trusted with this thing."

After they had considered many names of the saints, they finally said, "No one is fit to be entrusted with this except Ephraim."

Then the hermit who was having this vision saw that they gave the scroll to Ephraim. When he got up in the morning he heard they were saying, "Ephraim is teaching and the words flow from his mouth like water from a fountain."

Then the hermit who had seen the vision realized that whatever Ephraim said came from the Holy Spirit.

Sleep With A Clear Conscience

Agatho said, "I tried never to go to sleep while I kept a grievance against anyone. Nor did I let anyone go to sleep while he had a grievance against me."

~~Photo of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome by Frank Logue

Offer Your Shirt Also

When Macarius was living in Egypt, one day he came across a man who had brought a donkey to his cell and was stealing his possessions. As though he was a passer-by who did not live there, he went up to the thief and helped him load the beast, and sent him peaceably on his way, saying to himself, "We brought nothing into this world (I Timothy 6:7) but the Lord gave; as He willed, so it is done: blessed be the Lord in all things."

The Alphabet of the Peasant

Arsenius once asked an old Egyptian monk for advice about his temptations. Another monk who saw this said, "Arsenius, how is it that you, who are so learned in Greek and Latin, are asking that uneducated peasant about your temptations?"

Arsenius answered, "I have a lot of worldly knowledge of Greek and Latin but I have not yet been able to learn the alphabet of this peasant."