Conference Eighteen
Conference Eighteen
THE THREE KINDS
OE MONK
1 laving seen and talked to the three elderly men, whose discourses I wrote down at the behest of our brother Eucherios, we found ourselves with a more burning zeal to visit the remoter districts of Egypt where the number of holy men was greater and more practiced in perfection.
We reached the village of Diolcos, lying on one of the seven mouths of the Nile, and we came there not because of any requirements of travel but because we w ere urged on by the wish to see the holy men who were living there. W'e were rather like extremely zealous purchasers of goods, and we had heard that the most famous monasteries had been established there bv the oldest of the fathers. So we undertook a voyage of discovery with hopes all the greater for ever more gain.
T raveling very far we raised our eager eyes to those high mounttains with their crown of virtue and we saw, first of all, abba Piamun.
I le was the oldest of all the anchorites living there and he was also their priest. He was like a very high beacon. He was like the city on a high mountain referred to in the gospel and he immediately shone in our sight.
I think I must silently pass over his virtues and those miraculous acts which by Ciod's grace were revealed to our gaze as a w itness to his merits.
I w ould simply go too far beyond my plan here and beyond the limits of this IxxT. WTat I have promised to hand on are not the miracles worked by God but, so far as my memory goes, the teachings and the practices of the saints. The object is to provide light for the life of
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perfection rather than food for the empty curiosity of my readers, food w hich v\ ould in no w av serve to correct their faults.
The blessed Fiamun w elcomed us w ith a lively show of gladness.
I le also gave us the refreshment w hich we needed, and seeing that u e \\ ere not from this area he w as very interested to know w here we came from and w hv we had come to Kgvpt. W hen he discovered that we had tra\ eled from a Syriac monastery because of our longing for perfection he began to speak to us as follow s.
"Mv sons, w hen a man w ishes to acquire the skills of a particular art he needs to devote all his possible care and attention to the activities characteristic of his chosen profession, lie must observe the precepts and, indeed, the advice of the most successful practitioners of this work or of this w av of know ledge. Otherwise he is dealing in empty dreams.
One does not come to resemble those w hose hard work and whose zeal one declines to imitate.
"I have known some people who came here from w here you live and who traveled around to the monasteries of the brethren, and all for the sake of acquiring knowledge. But it never occurred to them to practice the rules or the customs w hich w ere the objective of their travels.
Nor would thev w ithdraw into a cell w here they could try to practice w hat they had seen and heard. 1 hey stuck to their old habits and practices, just as they had learned them, and the criticism w as made of them that they had left their ow n provinces not for the sake of their ow n progress but to avoid the presence of poverty. Not only were they unable to acquire any learning but they could not even stay around here because of the sheer stubbornness of their disposition. They would make no changes in their habits of fasting, in the order in which they follov\ ed the psalms, or even in w hat they wore. What else could we believe except that they had come here solely for the purpose of getting fed?
J "Now I believe that it is for the sake of Ciod that you have come here to get to know us. \Ou must therefore abandon all those teachings w hich marked your ow n beginnings as monks. You must take to yourselves, completely and quite humbly, all the practices and teachings of our old masters.
It may be that a moment wall come w hen you fail to grasp the deep meaning of a certain statement or of a mode of conduct.
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Do not be put off, and do not fail to conform.
I'hose seeking profit only, and struggling to imitate faithfully what they have seen their masters doing and saying, and have not argued about them, these will receive a knowledge of everything even while they are still undergoing the experience. But the man who teaches himself bv engaging in arguments will never reach the truth. The Enemy w ill note that he relies more on his own judgment than upon that of the fathers and he will easily bring him to the point where he considers even the most useful and saving matters to be unnecessary or dangerous. The Master of deceit will take advantage of his presumptuousness and the man will hold so stubbornly to his unreasonable opinions that he will reach the stage of being convinced that the only thing that is holy is that which his own blind obstinancy deems to be right and just.
"What you have to learn first, therefore, is the appropriate sequence and the first steps of our profession. You must know about how' they came into being and where they came from, fhen it will be possible for a man to pursue more effectively the discipline of the art to which one is committed. One will be moved to practice it more eagerly when one has recognized the worth of those who originated it and established it.
"In Egypt there are three types of monk. Two of them are quite excellent. The third is a lukewarm type and is to be avoided in every w ay.
"The first type is that of the cenobites, those who live together in one community under the authority of an elder. Most of the Egyptian monks are of this kind.
"The second type is that of the anchorites, men who are first trained in monasteries, have achieved perfection in their w ay of life and who have chosen the hidden life of solitude. And our wish is to belong to this profession.
"The third type—and one to be deplored—is that of the sarabites.
"To all of those, one by one, we w ill devote a fuller discussion.
"The founders of these three professions are those w hom, as I have said, you must first get to know'. Out of this will arise the detestation of the profession to be avoided and a longing for that w'hich ought to be followed, for it is necessarily the case that each route will take its follower to the end reached by the one w ho established it and founded it.
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I he cenobitic life came into being at the time of the apostolic preaching.
It was all there in that crowd of believers at Jerusalem, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. 'There was one heart and one mind among the crowd of believers, nor did anyone claim as his own whatever it was that he possessed, but all things were held in common among them' (Acts 4:32). 'They sold their possessions and their goods, and they divided the money for these among everyone, in accordance
\\ ith need' (Acts 2:45). 'No one among them lacked anything. Owners of land and of houses sold them, brought the prices of what they had sold and laid them at the feet of the apostles. And this was divided among individuals in accordance with need' (Acts 2:34—35).
"As I say, that was how the whole Church was then, and very few like them can be found todav in the monasteries. After the death of the ¥ apostles, however, the mass of believers began to turn lukewarm. This v\ as especiallv true of those who had come from among foreign and different peoples to faith in Christ. Their belief w as rudimentary and their pagan habits were deeply ingrained, and so the apostles demanded no more of them than that they abstain from 'food sacrificed to idols, from fornication, from strangled animals, and from blood' (Acts 15:29). This freedom granted to pagans because of the weakness of their elementary belief began, little by little, to contaminate the Church in Jerusalem.
Kverv day the numbers ofJews and outsiders grew, and the zeal of that first faith began to grow cool. Not only those who came to faith in CTrist but even Church leaders relaxed the original austerity. There were even quite a few^ who came to believe that the concessions w hich they saw granted to the pagans were also allow ed in their own case and thev did not think there w^as any danger in follow ing and confessing faith in Christ side by side with ownership of goods and w ealth.
"But as for those in whom there was still the zeal of the apostolic days, these remembered the old perfection and they went away from their owm communities and from the company of those who believed that it was c]uite law ful for themselves or for the Church of God to display the neglectfulness of a more relaxed way of life. They settled in the neighborhood of cities and in more remote places and, individually and in their own w ay , they began to put into practice those rules which, as they remembered, had been laid down by the apostles for the whole body of the Church. And so there came into being that organized life
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which, as I have said, was characteristic of those disciples who had w ithdrawn from the contagion of the multitude.
"Gradually, with the passing of time, they were cut off from the mass of believers. Because they avoided marriage and because they kept themselves away from their parents and from the life of this \\ orld thev were called monks or solitaries because of this life of solitude separated from their families. As a result of this living together on their part they were called cenobites and their cells and their quarters were called monasteries.
"This, then, was the only type of monk in the earliest days. Thev were first not only in time but in grace and they endured safely through all the years until the era of abba Paul and abba Antony. And w e see traces of them still continuing in the monasteries where austeritv is practiced.
"From this number of perfect men and, if 1 may put it so, from this most fertile root there came subsequently those flowers and those fruits, namely, the holy anchorites. As I have already said a little while ago. Saint Paul and Saint Antony were the originators of this profession. Unlike the case of some, it was not petty-mindedness nor the scourge of impatience which moved them to look for the secrets of solitude. Rather, it was the desire for greater perfection and a more contemplative route. This is so despite what is said regarding Paul, that the treacherv of his ow n kin compelled him to flee to the desert at the time of persecution.
"And so it w as that, as I have said, there arose out of the discipline of the early days another way of seeking perfection. Adherents of this are rightly called anchorites, that is, people who go aside into a retreat.
It is not enough for them to have successfully trampled dow n the snares of the devil among men. They long to join in open combat and in clear battle against the demons. They are not afraid to push into the great hiding places of the desert. They are surely the imitators of John the Baptist, w ho remained in the desert throughout the whole of his life.
Fhey do like Pdias and like Elisaeus, about whom the apostle had this ' Fhey wandered about dressed in the skins of sheep or goats. to say:
I hev were persecuted and poor—they of w hom the world w as unworthy. They went to live in lonely places, on mountains, in caves, in the hollows of the earth' (Heb 1 1:37-38). The Lord, using figurative
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language, had this to sav about them to job: 'Who was it that set the donkey free and loosened his chains?
I have given him the desert tor a home and the salt plains as his place of dwelling.
I le laughs at the city mob. t le does not hear the complaint of a taskmaster. He will look to the mountains for his pasture and afterward he will seek all things green' ()b 39:5-8). Furthermore, there is this in the psalms: 'Let those rescued by the Ivord speak out, those w horn he has bought back from '
I hey wandered the land of the enemy' (Ps 100:2). Later on there is this: about in a \\ atcrless solitude. 1 hey did not find the road to a city w here they might live. They w ere hungry and thirsty.
I he spirit w ithin them grew weak.
In their misery they cried out to the Lord and He freed them from their needs' (Ps 100:4-6). T hese are the men described by Jeremiah: 'Lucky the man w ho bore the yoke from the days of his youth.
I le will sit alone and w ill be silent because he has taken this yoke upon himself (Lam 3:27-28). These are the men w ho in their love and in their work sing, w ith the psalmist, 'I have become like the pelican in the desert.
I have kept w atch.
I have become like the lonely sparrow on the roof-top' (Ps 101:7-8).
"T he Christian religion rejoiced in these tw o monastic professions.
But a gradual decline began to set into this scene. A very bad and unfaithful band of monks emerged subsequently. Back to life and grow ing once again came that dangerous plant w hich, at the beginning of the (Turch, had grown because of Ananias and Sapphira and w hich had been cut dow n by the severity of Peter. For a long time it w as looked upon by monks as something detestable, something accursed, and the frightening memory of a sentence so terrible had kept it from appearing among anyone.
1 hose first guilty of it were given no chance at all by the blessed apostle either to repent or make recompense. A speedy death had cut out the very deadly germ.
"Yet, little by little, prolonged carelessness and the passage of time ensured that many forgot the example of severe punishment set by the apostle in regard to Ananias and Sapphira. And it w as then that there appeared that band of sarabites. The name sarabites is Coptic and they are .so called because they cut themselves off from the monastic communities and take care of their own needs. T hey are descendants of that crow d I mentioned who prefer to put on the show of evangelic perfection rather than to take it up for what it really is.
Lheir incentive to act
c()nkp:rfnce eighteen in this w ay is envy, as w ell as the praises heaped upon those w ho prefer the utter poverty of Christ to all the riches of the w orld.
"These men of puny spirit concern themselves w iti somethint^ requiring the highest virtue or else there w as some compulsion upon them to approach this profession. They hurried to bear the name of beincf monks, though they lacked all urge to be really like them. Thev have no interest in monastic discipline. 7 hey do not submit to the direction of elders and they do not learn their instructions in how' to overcome their ow n desires. Thev do not accept anv of the correct and formative rules deriving from sensible guidance.
Their withdrawal from the w orld is for the sake of public show' and is something done before men's eyes. Or else they remain in their ow n houses, enjoy the name of being monks, and continue to do what they always did. Or else they build cells for themselves, give them the title of monasteries, and then freely live in them as they choose.
I hey never fall in with the gospel commands not to be concerned about one's daily bread and not to be taken up with worldly affairs. 1 his is something done, without any of the doubtings of lack of faith, by those w ho have liberated themselves from all the w ealth of this world and w ho have submitted themselves to monastic rules to the extent that they do not admit to having any authority over themselves. But these others, as 1 have said, run from monastic austerity.
Fhev live two or three to a cell. The last thing they want is to be guided by the concern and the authority of a father-superior.
Their special concern is to be free of the yoke of elders, to be free to do what they themselves wish, to travel out, to wander wherever they please, to do what takes their fancy. In their activities they do more by day and by night than those who live in monasteries, though not from the same kind of faith and for the same purpose. Ehey do this not w ith the intention of handing over the fruit of their w'ork to be disposed of as their mentor thinks fit but to collect and to save money.
"Observe the great difference between both kinds of monk.
"Cenobites think nothing of the morrow . fhey present the fruit of their sw eated labor as an offering that is most agreeable to Ciod. But the others push the selfish concerns of their faithless souls not only into the coming day but over the length of many years. 7 hey think of (iod as being a liar or as one without resources, as someone unable and unw illing to live up to I lis promise of adequate food and clothing.
"7 he ceaseless plea of the cenobites is to be bereft of everything and always to be poor, fhe others w ish for an abundance of all goods.
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I hc ccnobites strive in their daily work to go beyond what is required of them so that \\ hatever remains over and beyond the needs of the monastery can, at the abbot's discretion, be given to prisons or hostels, to hospitals or to the poor.
I he others work so that anything left after the satisfaction of daily greed can be av ailable to their profligate
\v ishes or saved to gratify avarice.
"Finally I \v ish that the sarabites would make better use of the money which, with their bad objectives, they had accumulated for themselves. Fhev come now here near the virtue or the perfection of the cenobites, w ho earn so much money for their monasteries, hand it ov er each day, continue to persevere in their utterly humble submissiveness; w ho stand away from deciding themselves w hat to do w ith w hat they hav e earned by the sweat of their brow and w ho, in this daily renunciation of w hat they have earned, manage to renew' ceaselessly the zeal of their first act of renunciation. But these others are puffed up by the fact of giving something to the poor, and every day they slide headlong to disaster.
I he cenobites continue to show the patience and the discipline with which they persevere in this profession which they once adopted, d hey never do what they themselves w ish. Every day they are crucified to this world and are living martyrs, w hereas, in the case of the others, their lukewarm spirit plunges them into damnation.
"T he numbers of both sorts of monk—cenobites and anchorites are roughly equal in this province. As for the other provinces through w hich I had to travel because of matters connected with the Catholic faith, I discovered that this third kind—the sarabites—flourished and indeed was almost the only kind to exist.
In the days of Lucius, w ho was bishop of the Arian perfidy—this was in the reign of Valens— brought help to our brothers, from Egypt and the 1 hebaid, who had been condemned to the mines of Pontus and of Armenia because of their loyalty to the (>atholic faith. In a few towns
I saw very little monastic discipline and I could not find out if the name of anchorite had ever been heard among them.
H "Now there is a fourth type w hich we have seen emerging lately, men w ho flatter themselves w ith seeming to look like anchorites. At the beginning of their career such is their zeal for a short while that they seem to be in active pursuit of monastic perfection. They then turn very lukew arm.
I hey neglect to cut out their old bad habits and faults. They
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are no longer satisfied to endure the yoke of humility and patience.
I'hev disdain to be ruled by elders. They look for remote cells and they wish to liv e alone so that with no one to bother them they can hav e the name among men of being patient, gentle, or humble. But this w ay of life and this lack of w armth prevent those once infected from ever achiev ing perfection. Indeed, not only do they fall short of this perfection but their faults growmuch worse w hen there is no one there to challenge them.
It is like a deadly poison w ithin. The more it is hidden the more deeply does it generate incurable disease in a sick man. Out of rev erence for the monk's cell no one dares to give open ev idence of the sins of a man liv ing alone, sins w hich he himself preferred to ignore rather than to cure. But the fact is that v irtues are brought into being not by the concealment of sins but rather by their expulsion."
Germanus: "Is there any difference betw een a house of cenobites and a monastery, or is one thing covered by the two names?"
Piamun: "Many people are accustomed to use without any differentiation the terms monastery and house of cenobites.
" 'Monastery' is the name of the residence and does not imply more than the place w here the monks liv e. 'House of cenobites' points to the character and the way of life of the profession.
"The residence of a simple monk can be called a monastery. But a place cannot be termed a house of cenobites unless one means a community of many people liv ing together. And those places w here bands of sarabites dwell are called monasteries.
"But I note that you belonged to an excellent group of monks before you sought out the principles of our profession.
I mean that you came from the praiseworthy arena of a cenobitic house in order to push on to the high peaks of anchoritic discipline. W ith sincere hearts you are in search of that v irtue of humility and patience which, no doubt, you learned there in the house of cenobites. And I see that you are not content simply to put on appearances, pretending humility as you speak and displaying politeness by means of affected and exaggerated gestures.
"Abba Sarapion once made elegant fun of fake humility. Someone
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came to him displaying the utmost self-objection by means of w hat he wore and w hat he said. In accordance with custom the old man invited him to offer up a prayer. But the other vigorously refused all his pleas, claiming to be w allow ing in sinfulness to such an extent that he did not deserve even a portion of the common air.
I le would not sit upon his mat of reeds, choosing the ground instead. And when it came to the w ashing of the feet he v\ as even less accommodating.
"\\ hen the meal was over, abba Sarapion, taking advantage of the custom of holding discussions, began to give him good and gentle advice.
1 le told him that since he w as young and strong he ought not to be lazy or footloose, that he should not be frivolously rushing in all directions. Instead, he ought to remain in his cell, as the teaching of the elders demanded, and he should choose to support himself by his own efforts rather than through the generosity of someone else, a situation w hich the apostle Paul took care to avoid. For laboring as he did for the sake of the gospel he could have claimed hospitality as a right. How ever, he preferred to work day and night to earn bread for himself and for those who were ministering along w ith him and who could not w ork w ith their own hands.
"I learing these words, the young man w as so filled with sadness and grief that his expression could not hide the bitterness w hich had arisen in his heart.
" 'Mv son,' said the old man, 'up to now' you w ere loading yourself w ith the w eight of your w rongdoing. You had no fear that in confessing such aw ful crimes you would be much remarked upon.
I have just now given you a little bit of simple advice, which of itself implies no criticism of you and is prompted by the wish to edify and to show' care. Yet,
I ask you, how' is it that I see you stirred by such anger that your expression has not been able to hide it nor have you been capable of putting on a pretense of being serene? Did you imagine that while you w ere displaying your humility you would hear from me the words "at the beginning of his discourse the just man accuses himself?" (Prv
18:7).'
"W hat you must cling to is genuine lowliness of heart, which comes not from show and from words but rather from the central humility of the spirit. When you give the clearest proof of patience, then your humility will shine splendidly.
It will shine not when someone boasts of wrongdoing which nobody believes but rather when a man is indifferent to arrogant accusations made against him and w hen he endures, with peacefully gentle spirit, the w rongs done to him."
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Germanus: "We would like to know how this tranquility may be acquired and kept.
It is one thing for us to haye silence laid upon us, to keep our mouths shut, to restrain all loose speech. But gentleness of heart must also be preserv ed by us.
It can sometimes happen that while one restrains one's words one loses the peacefulness within—hence our belief that someone can only preserve the v irtue of gentleness by living alone in a cell that is far away."
Piamun: "True patience and humility can only be acquired and kept when the innermost heart is humble. Coming from such a source it will have no need of the help prov ided by a cell nor of the refuge characteristic of liv ing alone.
It does not need the protection of something exterior since it is supported within by the v irtue of humility, its mother and custodian.
"If we become upset by some provocation, then clearly the foundations of humility are not solidly established in us and the edifice we hav e raised is struck down into disastrous ruin by the onset of even a minor storm. Indeed, patience is neither praiseu orthy nor admirable if its condition of tranquility remains unassailed by any hostile attacks.
But it is outstanding and splendid when it remains immov able during the raging storms of temptation. The notion is there that it will be harassed and wrecked by adversity. In fact it is made all the stronger and it becomes more sharply real in a situation when there is the conyiction that it will be battered. Ev eryone knows that passion and forebearance underlie patience, and obv iously no one may be called patient except the man who has endured without rancor all the suffering heaped upon him. This is the man so rightly praised by Solomon: 'Better a patient man than a strong one, better the man who restrains his anger than the one who captures a city' (Pry 16:32). And again: 'The equable man is very rich in prudence, and the puny-minded man is certainly foolish'
(Pry 14:29).
"When someone is the victim of an injury and is then consumed by the flame of anger it must not be thought that the bitterness of the affront done to him is the cause of his sin. Rather, here is ev idence of a hidden infirmity, evidence that accords with the parable told by our
Lord and Sayior concerning the two houses, the one founded on a rock.
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the other built on sand.
The onslaught of rains and rivers and storms \\ as the same for both, he said. But the one built on the solidity of rock suffered no damage from such a violent battering.
I he one built on the unstable shifting sands collapsed at once, and the reason for the immediate ruin
\\ as quite obvious.
It was not because of the beating of rains and torrents but because it had been built stupidly on sand.
"I'he holv man does not differ from the sinner in the fact of not being similari v tempted, but rather to the extent that the former is not overcome bv some great onslaught, \\ hereas the latter is defeated by even a minor temptation. And, as I have said, the brave endurance of some just man w ould not be worthy of praise if his victorv were unaccompanied bv temptation, for it is surely true that there can be no place for a victorv \\ here the clash of a contest is missing. 'Blessed indeed is the man who endures temptation because after passing the test he w ill receive the crow n of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him' (|as 1:12). According to Paul the apostle the virtue of a man is brought to perfection not amid idleness and pleasure but in infirmity. And then this saying:
' l oday I have set you up into a fortified citv, into a pillar of iron and a wall of bronze over all the land, over the kings and leaders ofJudah, over its priests and over all the people of the earth. And they shall make war against you, and they shall not be victorious because
I am w ith you, says the Lord, so that I may protect vou'
(Jer 1:18-19).
"I w ant to give vou at least tw o examples of this patience.
I he first has to do with a woman in religious life. She was so enthralled by the virtue of patience that not only did she not turn away at the onset of temptation but she even sought out occasions of challenge before whose constant onslaughts she w ould not falter. She lived in Alexandria and came of well-to-do parents. She served the Lord religiously in the house which her parents had left to her.
"She came to bishop Athanasius, of happy memory, and she asked him to give over to her care of one of the widows who w as being kept at the expense of the church. Let me tell vou the words of her request.
'Clive me one of the sisters to look after,' she said. 1 he pontiff, seeing that she was so verv eager to perform the work of merev, gave praise to the woman's project.
I le gave instructions that a w idow be chosen w ho surpassed all others in goodness of character, seriousness, and discipline.
This w as in order to ensure that the woman's urge to be gen-
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erous would not be overcome by some draw back, that in looking tor the reward due to someone helping the poor she might not experience a loss of faith on account of another w oman's debased morals.
The w oman brought the widow to her house and lavished attention on her. Idle w idow found her to be all modestv and gentleness. few days later the woman came back to the pontiff mentioned above.
'I asked vou to give me a w idow w horn I could help and serve in all her needs,' she said. Now he still did not grasp w hat it w as that the woman wanted or w ished. He thought that her request had been neglected bv the person in charge, and so he made urgent inquiries about the reasons for this delay. W hen he learned that a w idow superior to all the others had been chosen for this woman he quietlv arranged that there be sent to the ladv the worst of all the w omen, someone w ho surpassed all others in being irritable, quarrelsome, boozv, and garrulous. Such a one w as easier to locate and she w as handed over to the lady, w ho took her home and looked after her with the same attentiveness, indeed w ith more /.eal, than had been lavished on the first one.
As sole thanks for these services all she got w as to have continuous outrages inflicted on her, to be persistenti v criticized and denounced.
I he woman insultinglv claimed that the ladv had asked for her from the bishop not in order to provide protection but to annoy and to insult her.
She had taken her aw av from being at peace to being bothered, instead of the opposite. From continuouslv complaining to her this violent w oman carried on to the extent that she could not refrain from doing ph vsical violence.
Fhe ladv, seeking to be ever more humble, redoubled her efforts. She learned to overcome the raging woman not so much bv her ow n restraint as by her ever more humble submissiveness.
"T he victim of every kind of indignity, she softened, through her humane gentleness, the wildness of that rowdy female.
Deeply strengthened bv this task she attained the longed-for and perfect virtue of patience. And she returned to the pontiff to thank him both for the w isdom he showed in the choice he had made and also for the profit w hich the exercise had brought to her. In accordance w ith her w ishes, he had found her a good teacher of patience w hose ceaseless insults had strengthened her everv dav, like the oil that toughens athletes. As a result she had been able to attain the utmost patience of soul. AOu gave me someone I could really help,' she said.
'1 he first woman honored me and soothed me w ith her ow n good manners.'
"Enough now about a woman. W e are not simplv edified bv a story (){ this sort. W e are put to shame, we who cannot preserve our j^atience
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unless, like \\ ild animals, w e go to ground in the very depths of our cells.
/5 "Let me now give you the example of abba Paphnutius. He is now the priest in that desert of Scetc which is renow ned and which ought to be famous everyw here.
"Now Paphnutius has displayed such a love of the hidden life that the other anchorites have nicknamed him Bubalus.
I hey have called him the W ild Ox because of this innate longing he has for solitude, because of the joy he has in alw ays living alone.
"Lven as a very young man he was preeminent in virtue and grace.
I he most celebrated and skilled fathers of that time admired his seriousness and his unshakable constancy. Despite his youthfulness they regarded him as equal in virtue to the elders and they chose to include him in their ow n ranks.
"But that malice w hich in the old days turned the minds of his brothers against Joseph set off the consuming fire of jealousy in one of the brethren and he w as filled w ith the wish to sully the other man's beauty w ith some tarnish or stain. So he thought up the follow ing evil plan. One Sunday he took advantage of the time w hen Paphnutius had gone to church from his cell. He crept in and hid his book among the weavings which the other man was accustomed to make out of palm leaves, fhen, sure of the success of his trick, he went to church himself, like a man of pure and simple good conscience. When the w hole solemn rite had been celebrated in the usual fashion he made complaint, in the presence of all the brethren, to Saint Isidore who at that time was the predecessor of Paphnutius as priest in the desert. He claimed that his book had been stolen from his cell. His complaint so moved the hearts of all the brethren, and especially of their priest, that at first they did not know w hat to think or what to do. Everyone w as astounded by such an unheard-of crime. No one could remember any such thing happening before in the desert there nor w hat could follow' such a deed. The man who made the accusation urged that everyone should remain in the church and that some people should be sent around to search all the cells of the brethren one by one.
I he task w as given by the priest to three of the older men. 1 hese searched all the cells. Finally they came to the cell of Paphnutius and they found the book hidden w here the culprit had concealed it among palm leaves which had been woven 'mtosirae, that is to say, cords, fhe
c()nferp:nce eighteen searchers hastened back to the church and produced the book before everyone.
"Now Paphnutius was certain of his ow n clear conscience. But he acted as though he acknowledged the theft. He agreed to render full satisfaction and he humbly asked to be allow ed to do penance. In his modesty and humility he realized that if he tried to claim innocence of the theft, there would be added to the situation the fact that a lie had been told, since no one w ould suspect that matters were anything other than what had been found. So he went out of the church. He w as not so much downhearted as full of trust in the judgment of God. He poured out tearful prayers continuously to God. He tripled his fast. He prostrated himself with complete humility in the sight of men.
"For nearly two weeks he submitted in this way. He was full of • ¥ contrition in flesh and spirit, and on Saturday and Sunday he hastened in the morning not to receive holy communion but to prostrate himself at the church door and to ask pardon.
"1 le who knows the deepest secrets did not allows him to remain for long the victim of his own penance and of the disgust of the others.
For the man who thought up the crime, the shameless thief of w hat had belonged to himself, the sly purloiner of another's good name—he it was w ho revealed what he had done unknown to the others. He did so at the instigation of the devil w ho had driven him to his ow n act of mischief.
1 le was possessed by one of the cruelest of demons and he openly described all the trickery involved in his hidden crime. The designer of these fraudulent charges was the very one to uncover them. He was plagued grievously and for long by the unclean spirit. No deliverance came of the prayer of the holy men living round about, men w'ho had received the divine gift of conquering evil spirits. Not even the outstanding grace lavished on the priest Isidore was able to drive out from the man the power that tormented him, and Isidore was someone to whom the Lord's generosity had given so great a power that any victim of pt)ssession w as cured before he w as brought even to the threshold of. his cell. The glory of success was reserved by Christ for the young
Paphnutius. His prayers alone were able to cleanse the man guilty of working against him. The man nowcalled upon the name of the very one whose reputation he had in jealous hostility sought to take away, and it w as from him that he received pardon for his sin and the end of present woe.
"Thus it was that from his youngest years Paphnutius gave clear indications of the sort of man he would be in the future.
In the years
JOHN CASSIAN
\\ hen he was still a bov he sh()v\ ed the signs of that perfection which w ould come to such grow th in the time of his maturity. And if w e w ish to arrive at the summit of a virtue such as his then we too must establish our first steps along the same path.
"I have told you this story for two reasons.
"First let us note the unshakable calm and constancy of this man.
Now we are the victims of much less hostile attack and, hence, we should adopt a much greater stance of trant]uility and patience.
"Second, let us be quite clear about the fact that we can never be tully confident in the face of the storms of temptation and the onslaughts of the devil if the only protection of our patience and all our trust lie not in the strength of the inner man but in the closed doors of a cell, in the escape to solitude, in the company of holy men or in some other external source of defense.
If He who in the gospel said, 'The kingdom of God is w ithin you' (Lk 17:21)—if He does not give us strength of soul through His protective virtue, then it is for nothing that w e seek to defeat the hostile attacks of the creatures of the air or try to avoid them in far-off places or strive to bar their approach through the protection of a dw elling place. For none of these things w ere lacking in the case of the holy Paphnutius and still the tempter w as able to find a w ay to get at him. Neither the enclosing walls nor the loneliness of the desert nor the superabundant merits of that group of holy men drove off that foulest of spirits. Yet because the holy servant of God had placed his heart's hope not in externals but in that Judge of all things hidden he could not be overcome by the devices of so great an onslaught.
"By contrast, there w as the man w hom jealousy drove headlong into so great a crime. Did he not have the advantage of solitude, the protection of a far-off cell, Isidore for director and priest, and the company of other holy men? And still the devil's tempest found he had built on sand and not only did it batter him but it brought his dwelling place tumbling dow n.
"So let us not look for peace outside ourselves and let us not count upon another's patience to rescue us from our sins of impatience. For just as the kingdom of God is w ithin us so too is it the case that 'the enemies of a man are of his ow n household' (Mt 10:36). No one fights against me more than my ow n heart, which is surely close to me in my own household. If w e are careful, however, w e can suffer the minimum
CONFERENCE EIGHTEEN
harm from the enemies within. When the enemies in our own household are not at war with us, then, in the tranquility of the spirit, the kingdom of God becomes a possession. To put the matter quite clearly to you, I cannot be harmed by the malice of any man if my o\\ n unquiet heart does not set me against myself. If I suffer harm it is not from the attack of an outsider but because of the snare of my o\\ n impatience.
Strong and solid food is good for someone healthy and harmful to someone who is sick.
It cannot be harmful unless the weakness of the person taking it is such as to reinforce its capacity for injury.
"Therefore, if it should eyer happen that a like temptation should arise among brethren, we should not be driven off the path of tranquility and we should shut out the blasphemies and the v iolent w ords of the w orld. Eurthermore, we should not be astonished by the fact that perverse and detestable men can hide in the company of saints, for as long as w e tread upon and w ear down the dry land of this world it w ill inevitably happen that the chaff destined for everlasting fire w ill be mixed in with the choicest fruits of the harvest. Indeed, let us remember that a Satan was found among the angels, a Judas among the apostles, and a Nicholas, author of the most depraved heresy, was in the choice company of the deacons. So it will not be surprising that the very worst of men are found in the ranks of the saints.
(It is true that some people maintain that this Nicholas is not the one chosen by the apostles for the work of ministry, d hey cannot deny, however, that he w as not one of the disciples who was of outstanding perfection, one of the very perfect whose like we rarely see in the monasteries of today.)
"But let us not linger over the ruin of that brother mentioned above who fell w ith such painful misfortune in that desert. Let us not think, either, of the ghastly stain which he later washed away w ith the great tears of repentance.
Rather, let us contemplate the example of the blessed Paphnutius.
V\'e ought not to be pulled down by the fall of a man who, pretending to be a monk, gave a head to the old sin of envy.
No. VV'e should imitate completely the humility of the other man.
I he quiet of the desert did not suddenly produce it in him.
It was acquired in the company of men.
It developed and reached its peak in solitude.
"One needs to know' that the disease of envy is harder to cure than any other.
I w ould say that someone striken by its poison is almost beyond healing, d his is the pestilence described figuratively by the prophet: 'See, I will send you serpents against which there are no incantations and they w ill bite you' (jer 8:17). d'he bites of envy are tpiite rightly compared by the prophet to the lethal poison of the basilisk.
1 or
JOHN CASSIAN
it w as because of this that the very first to perish and to tall w as the one who is the source of everything deadly. He brought about his own dow nfall long before he poured the virus of death over man, of w horn he was jealous. 'Death came into the world because of the devil's envy.
So let his ow n kind go on to imitate him' (VVis 2:24-25).
"The devil w as first to be ruined by this scourge, and he kept at bay the cure of penance and the w armth of healing medicine. And in similar fashion those who have allowed themselves to be gnawed in the same poisonous w ay have barred all the efforts of the holy exorcist, for they are tormented not by the faults of the one they envy but rather by his good fortune. They are too embarrassed to admit the truth and so they look outside for extra, stupid reasons for their bad humor. And since these reasons are completely spurious and since they do not wish to publicize the deadly virus lying within their very marrow, all the w ork of healing them is useless. A very wise man had this very apt word to say about them: 'If the serpent bites without a hiss, there is no success for the exorcist' (Eccl 10:1 1). These silent bites are alone in fending off the medicine of w ise men. This deadly menace is so utterly incurable that it is worsened by soothings, inflamed by serious treatment, and irritated by gifts. For 'jealousy can endure nothing,' as Solomon said
(Prv 27:4). The more a neighbor advances in submissive humility, in outstanding patience, in glorious generosity, the more the jealous man is moved by the greater goads of envy and all he wants is the ruin or the death of the one he envies. Nothing of the humility of their innocent brother could soften the jealousy of those eleven patriarchs. This is how
Scripture tells the story about them: 'His brothers w ere jealous of him because his father loved him and they could speak no peaceful word to him' (Gn 37:4).
It revealed the point that their jealousy could accept no friendly gestures from their humble and obedient brother. They wanted him dead and they were barely satisfied by the crime of selling their own brother into slavery.
"So it is that of all sins envy is the most dangerous and the hardest to cure.
It is stimulated by the very remedies for all the others. Thus, for instance, a person grieved by some loss is healed by a generous compensation. Someone angered by an injury done to him is mollified by a humble gesture of satisfaction. But what can you do w ith a man who, the humbler and kindlier you are, feels increasingly angry with you? If his anger were kindled by cupidity he could be made gentle by a gift.
If he were fired by a sense of grievance or by a love of vengeance he could be overcome by soothing gestures of deference. But, in fact, w hat
CONFERENCE EIGHTEEN
stirs his w rath is the good fortune of someone else. And is there anyone who for the sake of appeasing a jealous man would choose to abandon happiness, give up prosperity, give in to some calamity?
"This is the reason why to escape one of the lethal bites of the basilisk, to keep everything alive in us, to have ourselves, so to speak, under the living sway of the Holy Spirit Himself, w e must ceaselessly beg for the help of the God to whom nothing is impossible. As regards the poisonous bites of other snakes—and here
I mean the sins and the vices of the flesh—human frailty, despite the speed w ith w hich it falls into them, is just as readily purged of them. The w ounds that thev cause leave their ow n evident marks on the flesh. And although the earthly body swells up most dangerously because of them, yet some very skilled declaimer of the divine words of Scripture can provide an antidote or saving cure of those words and the rampant poison w ill not bring everlasting death to the soul. But like the poison spurted out by the snake^ the bane of envy shuts out the very life of religion and of faith before the wound can ever be diagnosed in the body. For the fact is that a blasphemer rises up not against a man but against God. He launches his complaints against nothing other than the good fortune of his brother.
1 le criticizes not so much the fault of a man as the judgment of God.
1 lere surely is that 'root of bitterness cropping up' (Heb 12:15), raising itself up on high to hurl spite against the One who bestows all that is good upon man.
"Now let no one be upset w hen God threatens to send serpents to bite those at whose w rongdoing He is angry. For God is certainly not the author of envy. Good things are given to the humble and w ithheld from the proud and the reproved, and it is surely right, surely appropriate, to Ck)d's judgment that jealousy should appear as a scourge from I lis hand and that it should strike and consume those who, as the apostle says, are left to their own deplorable doings. As the saying has it:
'They have roused me to jealousy w ith what is no Cmd and I will rouse them to jealousy w ith w hat is no people' (Dt 32:21)."
"W'e had longed to rise from the first lessons of the monastery to the higher grade of anchorite, and w ith these words of his, blessed Fianum inspired us w ith ever greater eagerness.
It w as he w ho taught us the first essential steps of the solitary life, the know ledge of which w e w ere later to ac(]uire more fully at Scete."
Index to Introduction Catholic Church,
Celibacy, 8, 22 Celtic monks, 32 "Centuries of Meditations"
Agaune,
Alcuin, 34 Anselm, St., 35 Anxiety, 9, 20 Archebius of Panephysis, 30 Asceticism, 3 1-32 Augustine, St., 1, 22, 26-27, 28 (dVaherne),
Charity, 6 Charlemagne, 34 Cluny,
Columban, St., 32 Constantinople, 18, 32 Contemplation, 4,
Basil of Caesarea, St., 28 Bede, Venerable, 25 Benedict, St., 17, 19, 23, 28-29 Benedict of Aniane, St., 29 Bethlehem,
, 32 Bible, 12-15, 22 Blessed Virgin, 35 Book of Cerne, 34 Boredom, 23 1 Corinthians,
Daniel,
Demons, 26 Deuteronomy, 14 Discipline, 28 Discretion, 2, 20, 28 Distractions, 3-5 Cambridge, 34 Cassian, John: and academic study, 24; as an anti-intellectual, 24; and St.
.Augustine, 27; and the Bible, 12Ecclesiasticism, 30 Egypt, 1, 2, 32 Enlightenment,
1 3, 22, 35; on bishops, 30; his (Conferences, 2, 5, 22, 28; and corporate worship, 16-19; and discretion, 2, 20; in the Past, 1-2; Erigena, 35 Ethelwold of Lindisfarne, 34 Evagrius of Pontus, 4, 9, 15, 21 "Extracts of a Rule Collected from all as an ethical guide, 7; his Institutes, 2, 28; the mind of, 2-3; his "On I^Tfection," 9; and ordination, 30-31; on prayer, 1 1, 19; on private worship, 16-19, 34; and the psalter, 13, 34; on purity of heart, 25; and the sacraments, 21-22; on sexuality, 7-8; on work, 19-20 the Institutes of Cassian"
(Benedict of Aniane), 29 Fanaticism, 20-2 Forgiveness,
Freedom, 27 French, R.M., 1 3 Friendship, 7
INDEX Germanus, 7 God: contemplation of, 33; favor of, 1; grace of, 26; light of, 33; mercy Prayer; and anxiety, 20; C'assian on, 11-14, 19; corporate, 16-17; and fanaticism, 21; life of, 14; and meditation on Scripture, 22; private, 16-17, 27; pure, 4, 15, of, 26; resistance to, 26; as sovereign, 12; as 1 hree-in-One, 4; unitv w ith, 21, 33; w ill of, 1; W ord of, 23 Gregory the Great, St., 32-33 35; unceasing, 15, 17-18 Priesthood,
Provence,
Providence,
Psalms, Book of, 1 3 Hesychast,
Holy anarchy, 21, 27, 30 Holy Spirit, 14 Psalter,
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, 35-
Purity of heart, 4, 1 1, 25-26 Idleness, 20 Intercession,
Reformation, 26, 31 Repetition,
Resolution,
Ireland, 32 Jerome, St., 28 Roman Empire, 1,
Romania, 32 Rome, 32 Rosaries, 1 3 Rufinus, 28 Rule of Saint Benedict, 36 Rule of the Egyptian Saint Pachomius, "Jesus prayer," 18
John the Scot, 35 Light-mysticism,
Literature, 25 Luther, Martin, 26 Macarius of Egypt, 18,
Mary, St., 35 Meditation, 22-23 Meditations and Prayers of Anselm, Sacraments, 22,
Scholarship, 24 The, 35 Middle Ages, 19, 21, 26, 33 Miracle-hunting,
Self-discipline, 28 Sexuality,
Sigismund, King, 17,
Silvanus, Abba, 9 Miracles, 20-2
Monasticism, 2, 9, 28, 29-30, 34 Monotony, 20 Moral growth,
Motives, 9-10 Mysticism, 30, 35 Simplicity,
Sin,
Sinlessness, 10 "Sleepless, the," 18
Spain,
Syria,
Nestorius the Patriarch, 2 Thankfulness,
Theonas, Abba,
Traherne, Thomas, 21 Treves, 32 Truth, 3, 6 Obedience, 28 Oneness, 3,21 Ordinations, 30 Origenist school, 4 Origen of Alexandria, 4 Union of mind, 4 Passion, 4, 25 Passionlessness, 4 Paul the Apostle, St., 36 Penitence, 11, 13, 31-32 Vogue, Adalbert de,
Way of a Pilgrim, The (French), 1 3 "White lie," 6
Work,
Perfection, 8-10, 25 Plato, 3, 4
Index to Texts Catholic faith, 125-28 Cenobites, 185-87, 189-90 Chaeremon, 142-54 Charity, 61, 147, 176. See also Love Chastity, 78, 154,
Cherubim, 164 Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ Circumcision, 66 Colossians, Letter to the, 166,
Compunction, 117-18 Concupiscence, 154 Confession, 69-70 Contemplation: of God, 43, 46, 50, Aaron, 88 Abraham, 66, 83, 85, 93, 1 16, 157, 160 Abraham the Innocent, 178 Abstinence, 76-77 Achab, King, 63 Achor,55 Acts, the Book of:
1:1, 110, 163; 2:34— 35, 186; 2:45, 186; 3:12, 178; 4:13, 171;4:32, 186; 5:3,53; 7:39-40,88; 9:6, 75; 15:29, 186; 20:29-30, 166 Alexandria, 194 Allegory, 160—61 Almsgiving,
Amorites, 97 Anagoge, 160-61 Ananias, 75, 188 Anchorites, 82, 125, 185-90, 201 Anthropomorphites, 125-28 Antony, Blessed, 61-62, 64—65, 83, 102, 111, 1 3 1; knowledge and, 156; model for, 132; of things divine, 45; and unceasing prayer, 135-36 1 Corinthians: 3:22, 145; 4:7, 96; 4:20, 119-20, 157, 187 Aoth, 84 Apocalypse, Book of, 90 Apollo, 72 Apostles, 95 Archebius, bishop, 141-^^2 176; 10:1-4, 161; 10:13, 96, 116; 11:13, 161; 12:8-10, 61, 176; 12:31, 151, 176; 13:1-3, 151; 13:3, 41, 88; 13:4-7, 149, 180; 13:8, 45, 144, 151; 13:13, 144; 14:6, 161; 15:3-5, 161; 15:28, 48, 129; 15:41-42, 150; 15:44, 44; 15:53,
2 Corinthians: 2:7, 172; 3:5, 95; 3:6, Aristotle, 176 Armenia, 190 Asuerus, King, 5 3 Athanasius, the Bishop, 194 95; 4:18, 86, 92; 5:1, 86; 5:8-9, 50; 5:16, 128; 6:5-6, 171; 6:7, 76; 6:14-15, 169; 6:16, 164; 1 1:2, 166; Basilisk, 199-201 Benjamin, 78 11:3, 166; 12:8-9, 122; 13:3, 53; 13:9, 112 Covetousness, 104 Cupidity, 181-182, 200 Canaanites, 97 Cappadocia, 126
INDEX Daniel, Book of, 48, 162 David, 86 Death, 48 Demons, 105, 1 35, 173,
Despair, 72-74 Detachment, 61 Deuteronomy, Book of: 6:4, 161; 6:7, 136; 7:1-3, 97; 13:1-3, 175; 32:7, Fasting, 42, 61-62, 64, 76 Fear: degrees of, 152; of earthly law , 143; ot hell, 143-44; of the Lord, 143, 149, 151;loyeand, 151; seryile, 153 Forgiveness, 115 Fornication, 72,
Free will, 52, 92, 96-100, 150 76; 32:21, 201; 32:32, 104; 32:33,
Devil: deception from, 55-56, 64—66; Galatians, Letter to the:
1:1, 123; 1:4, 123; 2:2, 75; 4:^-5, 161; 4:10, 166; 4:22-27, 160; 5:
1 7, 44; 6:2, 149 Genesis, Book of:
1:26, 126; 5:24, 87; delays answers to prayer, 122; Hero and, 64—65; and jealousy, 200; is kept underfoot, 1 36; kingdom of, 46-48; thoughts from, 53; mentioned, 66, 76, 95, 98, 199 Dioclos, 183 Discernment: Antony and, 64; benefit 12:1, 83, 85, 92; 37:4, 200 Gergashites, 97 Germanus, 37, 67, 92 Gifts, spiritual, 174 Gluttony, 76 God: arranges everything,
1 3; as Author of human salvation, 95; to cling to, 42, 45-46, 131; contemplation of, 43, 46, 50, 102, of, 60; gift of, 61; goodness of, 60; grace of, 64, 67, 76, 80; is "the uide," 63, 64; and humility, 670; kinds of, 57-58; lack of, 62111, 113; and free will, 92-93, 96-100; grace of, 72, 74, 93, 98, 65; is "the lamp of the body," 62, 63; is mother, guardian, and guide of all yirtues, 64; processes of, 63; 117, 134; journey to, 158; kingdom of, 38-39, 46-49, 1 13; know ledge of, 45, 50-5 1; of the is source and r(X)t of all yirtues, 67; is "the sun," 63; true, 67-70; use of, 60-79 Drunkenness, 103-04 living, 48; love for, 45, 145; loves us, 129-30, 145; mercy of, 72, 96, 1 14; of peace, 96; permission of, 98; providence of, 98-99, 173; and temptation, 72, 96; things of, 43; and our thoughts, 52-53; union with, 129-30; vocation from, 83, w ill of, 98, 113. See also I lolv Ecclesiastes: 5:3, 108; 5:4, 109; 8:1 1,
69; 10:4, 53; 10:11, 69, 200; 32:20,
Ecclesiasticus, 86 Egypt, 87, 141, 177, 183-84, 190 Elderly, 67-71, 7-1—75 Spirit, Jesus Christ Good deeds, 44 45 Greed, 68-69 Elias, 129, 157, 177, 187 Elisaeus, 157, 187 Enoch, 87 Envy, 196-201 Ephesians, Letter to the, 63, 86 Eternal life, 40 Eucherios, 183 Eunomian deception, 176 Exodus, Book of:
1 6: 3 , 88 ; 2 2 : 2
, 121; 22:27, 121; 32:3 1-32, 1 12; 33:20, Hagar, 160 Healing, 173-74 Heart, purity of, 39, 40-41, 45, 61, 80,
170,
Hebrews, Letter to the: 4:12, 64; 5:14, 64; 9:4-5, 164; ch.
11, 49; 11:5, 87; 11:24-26, 149; 11:37-38, 187; 12:9, 50; 12:15, 201; 12:22-23, 50; 13:20-21, 97 Hell, 47, 48 Hero, 64
Ezechiel, the Prophet, 97 Ezekiel (Ezechiel), Book of, 86, 97 Faith, 144 False modesty, 70 Hittites, 97 Hi vites, 97
INDKX Holy Spirit, 47, 5 3, 60, 1 12, 135, 163, 47; 17:4, 1 11; 17:16, 87; 17:19, 111, 17:21, 129; 17:22-23, 130; 176, 201 Hope, 144,
Hopelessness, 71 Hosea, Book of: 4:6, 170; 4:12, 166; 17:24, 111, 130 John the Apostle, St., 129,
John the Baptist, St., 187 7:9, 71; 10:12,162, 170; 14:9, 94 Humility, 134, 164, 179, 191-93, 196-
1 John:
1:8, 148; 1:10, 148; 3:9, 148; 4:1, 54; 4:10, 129; 4:17, 148; 4:18, 150, 152; 4:18-19, 145; 5:14, 122; 5:16, 148; 5:18, 148 Joseph, 116, 196 Joseph the anchorite, 142, 182-201 Judaism, 66 Judas Iscariot, 53, 85, 199 Innocence, 134,
Isaiah, Book of: 6: 10, 173; 11:2, 153; 29:9, 105; 30:20-21, 168; 30:23, 172; 33:6, 152; 35:10, 47; 46:10, Judith, Book of, 84 114; 47:13, 165; 49:6, 150; 51:3, 47; 53:7, 123; 58:6, 121; 58:9, 121; 1 Kings, 74 3 Kings, 53 Knowledge: and contemplation, 1 56; and humility, 164; kinds of, 155; 58:1 1-12, 168; 60:17-20, 47; 65:2, 99; 65:17-18, 47; 66:23, 47 Iscariot, Judas, 53, 85, 199 Iscariot, Simon,
Isidore, St., 196 ractical, 155-56, 162, 175; of Israel, 97 cripture, 169; spiritual, 155-63, 167-70; true, 171; and worship, 169-70 James, Letter of:
1:12, 115, 194; 1:17, 96; 1:19, 163; 2:13,
James the Apostle, St., 129 Jealousy, 196-201 Lamentations, Book of, 118, 188 Lazarus, 49 Laziness, 71, 76 Leviticus, 164 Literature, 166-67 Lord's Prayer, 112-16 Jebusites, 97 Jeremiah, Book of:
1:10, 156; 1:18-19, 194; 2:1 1, 128; 3:6, 165; 5:21, 170; 8:17, 199; 8:22, 90; 9:1, 1 19; 10:23, 94; 32:39-40, 97 Jeremiah, the Prophet, 97, 1 19 Jerusalem, 119 Jesus Christ: cross of, 58; as the Lot,
Love: expels fear, 145, 1 50; (iodlike, 89, 129, 144—47; of goodness, 145; is higher than all charisms, 151; perfect, 145, 150, 153-54; will never cease, 45, 151; and zeal, fullness of purity, 129; and Martha anti Marv, 42-43; prayed, 110-11, 123; and prayer, 128-29; presence of, 50; and riches, 91; simplicity of, 166; suffering for, 144, 146 Lucius, 190 Luke, Gospel of: 4:27, 175; 6:24, 90; 95; temptation of, 55; union \\ ith, 129-30; mentioned, 49, 98, 161,
6:25, 47; 9:49, 179; 9:50, 179; 10:20, 179, 180; 10:40, 43; 10:4142, 43; 11:3, 114; 11:8, 121; 11:9Job, Book of, 74,
10, 121; 12:47, 147; 14:26, 83; 15:17-19, 145; 16:21, 91; 17:5, 95; Joel, Book of, 104 John, the Abbot, 56, 158-59 John, Gospel of:
2: 19, 1 23; 3:
1 3, 49; 17:10, 144; 17:20-21, 46, 198; 19:17-19, 47; 21:34, 103; 22:3132, 95; 23:24, 111, 149 3:16, 123; 7:18, 112; 7:26, 129; 8:35, 152; 8:44, 86; 10:18, 123; Macarius, 157, 176-77 Malachi, Book of, 147,
Mardochaeus, 53 Mark, Gospel of, 96, 120, 174 Martha, 42-43 1 1:26, 87; 1 1:41-42, 1 11; 12:26, 48; 13:2, 53; 1 3:27, 53; 13:34-35, 180; 14:2, 151; 15:4, 96; 15:5, 96; 15:13, 151; 15:14, 152; 15:14-15, 151; 15:19, 87; 16:15, 145; 16:20,
INDEX Mary, 42-43 Matthew, Gospel of: 4:6, 55; 5:3, 90, renunciation, 87, 90; road to, 75, 130, 144; mentioned, 84 Peter the Apostle, St., 85, 129,
119, 136; 5:8, 45, 162; 5:16, 113; 1 Peter, 144, 153 Pherizites, 97 Philippians, Letter to the:
1:23, 50; 5:19, 163; 5:44, 148; 5:45, 148; 5:48, 145; 6:9, 112; 6:10, 113; 6:11, 114; 6:19, 57; 6:22-23, 62; 7:22-23, 174, 179; 9:4, 54; 10:8, 1:30, 95; 2:13, 95; 3:13-14, 40; 3:20, 86; 3:20-21, 87; 4:6,
Photinus, 126 Piamun, Abba, 183-84, 201 Pleas, 107-10. See also Prayer Pontus, 190 Possessions, 104 Poverty, spiritual, 1 16, 1 36 Prayer: and almsgiving, 121; and bodilv things, 102; compunction and, 1 17-18; consummation of, 174; 10:20, 53; 10:36, 198; 10:42, 44; 1 1:25-26, 111; 1 1:28-29, 179; 12:20, 74; 17:19, 120, 121; 18:11, 123; 18:19, 120; 19:21, 83, 89; 19:28, 47, 91; 20:28, 123; 20:31, 98; 21:22, 121, 122; 22:3 1-32, 48; 23:3-4, 163; 24:24, 175; 24:25, 151; 24:26, 150; 25:27, 173; 25:34, 113; 25:34-35, 44, 61; 26:39, 111, 123; 26:41, 154 Mazices, 65-66 Micah, Book of, 112, 124 Micah, the Prophet, 1 12 Mind, 51-52, 103, 138, 167 Modesty, false, 70 Monasteries, 185-87,
Monk, kinds of, 183-201 Moses, 87, 88, 129, 136 Moses, the abbot, 37, 59 106; David and, 1 22; dedication to,
; and doubt, 122; excellence of, 124; the hidden mvsterv of, 132; and the humble heart, 124; nature of, 106-40; perfect, uil, 116, 119-20, 132; perfection and, 101; persistence at, 120; purity in, 128-29, 138; in secret, 123-24; and sorrow, 1 1718, 121, 124; true, 132; types of, 107-10; unceasing, 130-36, 139; unfaltering, 122; and virtue, 102; and works of mercy, 121. See also Contemplation; Pleas; Nesteros, 142, 155-82 Nicholas, 199 Nile, 59, 177, 183 Numbers, Book of, 88 Supplication; I hanksgivings Presumption, 62, 71 Presumptuousness, 66, 75, 185 Obedience, 93 Objectives, 37-38 Older men, 162—63, 184-85 Othonihel, 84 Our Father (Lord's Prayer), 1 12-16 Pride, 57, 134, 163 Prophecy, 161 Proverbs, Book of: 5:15-16, 168; 8:13, 143; 10:4, 180; 11:14, 63; 11:15, Paganism, 128 Panephysis, 141,
Paphnutius, 65, 81-82, 92, 126-27, 56; 11:22, 170; 12:5, 54; 12:10, 149; 13:8, 90; 13:17, 149; 14:23, 173; 14:29, 193; 14:33, 171; 15:33, 181, 196-99 Passion, 104 Patience, 191-94 Paul the Afxjstle, St., 75, 85, 1 12, 187,
Penance, 200 Perfection: achieving, 157; active stage 171; 16:4, 144; 16:25, 56; 16:32, 193; 17:16, 171; 18:2, 172; 18:7, 192; 19:10, 172, 21:13, 149; 22:20, 160; 23:1-2, 60; 23:9, 172; 24:3-4, 64; 24:1 1, 74; 24:15, 172; 25:14, 180; 25:28, 63; 27:4, 200; 27:7, 168; 29:19, 172; 29:20, 163; 30:26, of, 1 56-57; antTdiscernnient of 137; 31:3, 63; 31:6-7, 172; 31:21, elders, 75-76; and free will, 92; 159; mentioned, 86 Psalms, Book of:
, 1 50; 5:9, 94; gates of, 37; life of, 58, 1 10; means to, 42; measures of, 1506:6, 48; 6:7, 118; 11:7, 173; 14:5, 51; and prayer, 101; and 173; 15:9, 171; 16:5, 93; 18:11,
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Self-discipline, 52 169, 172; 24:4, 94; 24:5, 94; 33:7, Self-restraint, 76-77 Simon Iscariot, 53 Simplicity, 134,
90; 33:10, 149, 152; 33:1 1, 90; 33:23, 143; 35:12, 1 34; 36:23, 94; 36:24, 94; 37:6, 90; 38:13, 87; Sin, 48, 143-48 39:3, 93; 39:9, 123; 39:18, 136; 40:16, 171; 41:3-4, 1 18; 44:1 1, 86, Sleep, 1 36 Solitude, 61 Solomon, 69,
Song of Songs, 86 Soul, 111, 117-18 89, 50:19, 124; 67:29, 95; 69:2, 132-34; 73:21, 90, 136; 76:6-7, 53; 77:34-35, 84; 80:5, 99; 80:12, 98, 99; 80:13, 98; 80:14, 99; 83:8, Spiritualiore, 160-74 Superstition, 165-66 Supplication, 107-09. See also Prayer 151; 84:9, 53; 92:18, 93; 93:10, 94; 93:11, 54; 93:17, 93, 147; 93:18, 93; 100:1-2, 162, 188; 100:4-6, 188; 101:7-8, 188; 101:10, 1 19; Tears, 118-19 Temptation: enduring, 115-16; 103:5, 172; 103:15, 63; 103:18, 136; 106:33, 142; 106:109, 84; 110:10, 152; 111:2-3, 90; 115:16ferocity of, 72; f()b's, 1 15; mercy and grace of (iod in, 72, 96; and the mind, 52, 1 34; mentioned, 17, 147; 117:13, 93; 117:14, 108; 118:1-2, 170; 118:18, 94; 118:19, 146, 199 Thanksgivings, 107, \W. See also Prayer Thebais, 141, 190 Thennesus,
Theo, the abbot, 68 Theophilus, the bishop, 125 87; 1 18:104, 162; 1 18:1 12, 149; 1 18:125, 94; 1 19:1, 121; 127:1, 150; 132:2, 169; 140:2, 124; 142:2, 118; 142:10, 94; 144:14, 95; 145:7, 95; 145:8, 95; 145:9, 95; 147:12, 160; 150:6, 48 Purity of heart, 39, 40-41, 45, 61, 80, 1 Thessalonians: 4:12-15, 161; 5:17, 170,
103, 106, 139 Thoughts: scrutinizing, 54; secret, 68Renunciation: by the heart, 88; life of,
69; sources of, 52-54; straying, 166-68; useless, 51, 166 80; perfection by, 90; three kinds of, 81-82, 85-88, 91-92, 100 Repetition, 168 Revelation,
Romans, Letter to the:
1:23, 128; 1:26, 1 Timothy: 2:1, 107; 2:4, 1 14, 173; 2:8, 103, 106; 4:8, 44; 5:6, 48; 6:17-19, 91; 6:20, 170 2 Timothy,
Tropology, 160-61 98; 1:28, 98; 6:22, 40; 8:15, 153; 8:32, 123; 12:6-8, 158; 14:17, 46 Samuel, 63, 75, 1 19 Sapphira, 188 Sarabites, 185, 188-90,
Sarapion, Abbot, 68-69, 126-27, 191Vainglory, 57, 163, 172, 173, 180 Valens, 190 Vice, 101, 102 Vigils, 61-62, 136 Virtues, 101, 102, 156 Vocations, 82-84
Satan. See Devil Saul, 1 19 Wisdom, Book of:
1:4—5, 156, 170; 2:24-25, 200; 4:8-9, 71 Scete, desert of, 37, 81, 126, 177, 196,
Scripture, 41, 44, 49, 52, 164—67 Secrecy, 61 , 64 Zechariah, Book of, 53, 96
I » 'he prcoHr a.
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:ary. of this msteri^l benefits the Library.
THEO^aOFWESIEIWSPMTUAUIY
5M2WTH6 6Re;irr spiriubil mtbtcrs .
. clciirly n must for nil libraries .
. nud for all readers interested in spirituality."
ReUgious Studies Review In one series, the original writings of the universally acknowledged teachers of the Catholic, Pr'otestant, Eastern
Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic and Native American traditions have been critically selected, translated and introduced bv internationally recognized scholars and spiritual leaders.
JOHN CASSIAN—CONFERENCES
translation and preface by Colm Luibheid ^ introduction by Owen Chadwick "If you wish to achieve true bwwledi^^e of scripture you must hurry to achieve unshakeable humility of heart. This is what wiV lead you not to the bwwled^c that puffs a man up but to the lore which illumines through the achievement of love."
John Cassian (c. 365-c. 435) At the turn of the sixth century the Mediterranean world was witnessing the decline of Roman rule that had formed the bedrock of its civil order. During the chaos of those years, there arose in the deserts of Egypt and Syria monastic movements that offered men and women a radical God-centered alternative to the present society. Among the most eloquent interpreters of this new movement to western Europe was John Cassian (c. 365-c.
435). Drawing c.t Ins own early experience as a monk in Bethlehem and Egypt, he journeyed to the West to found monasteries in Marseilles and the region of Provence.
Included in this volume is Cassian's masterpiece, the Conferences, which is a study of the Egyptian ideal of the monk.
The new translation by Colm Luibheid is coupled with an insightful introduction by the distinguished Regius ProfessorEmeritus of Modern History, Cambridge University, Owen
Chadwick, who writes of Cassian's achievement: "Like the Rule of St. Benedict, his work was a protection against excess and a constant recall to that primitive simplicity where eastern spirituality met western."
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