In Due Measure

Evagrius said, "A wandering mind is strengthened by reading, and prayer. Passion is dampened down by hunger and work and solitude. Anger is repressed by psalmody and long-suffering and mercy. But all these should be at the proper times and in due measure. If they are not used at the wrong times and to excess, they are useful for a short time. But what is only useful for a short time, is harmful in the long run."

Serving Self

Once at a feast day in Celia the brothers were eating their meal in church. But one of them said to the server, "I eat nothing cooked, only salted."

The serving monk called to another brother in front of the whole crowd, "This brother doesn't eat what is cooked, bring him the salt."

But one of the brothers stood up and said to him, "It would have been better for you to eat meat today in your cell than to have heard this said in front of many brothers."

Two Shillings

A brother asked a hermit, "Would you like me to keep two shillings for myself, in case I fall ill?"

The hermit, seeing that in his heart he wanted to keep them, said, "Yes."

The brother went into his cell, but he was worried, asking himself, "Did he tell me the truth or not?" He got up and went back to the hermit, bowed down and asked him, "For the Lord's sake tell me the truth, for I am worrying about these two shillings."

The hermit said to him, "I told you to keep them because I saw you intended to do so anyway. But it is not good to have more than the body needs. If you keep the two shillings, you will put your hope in them. If by chance they are lost, then God will no longer be interested in your needs. Let us cast all our care upon the Lord, for He cares for us."

An Ear of Wheat

Isaac the presbyter of Celia said, "I know a brother who was harvesting and wanted to eat an ear of wheat. He said to the owner of the field, 'Will you let me eat one ear?'

When the owner heard it, he wondered, and said, 'The whole field is yours, abba, why do you ask me?'

That brother was as scrupulous as that."

Helping Hands

When Chame was dying, he said to his sons, "Do not live with heretics. Do not take any notice of judges. Do not open your hands to get, but let them be stretched out to give."

Self-examen

They used to say about Poemen that when he was ready to go out to the meeting for prayer, he first sat by himself for an hour in self-examination, and then went out.

~~Deep Silence by Joseph Eagle and EagleZen

Grow in the Lord

Amma Syncletica said, "The same thing cannot at once be seed and a full-grown bush. So men with a worldly reputation cannot bear heavenly fruit."