Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

The Paradise of the Desert Fathers

447 bytes added, 10:00, December 29, 2005
no edit summary
{{cleanup}}The following are excerpts from what is widely known in the [[Coptic]] Church as "''Bustan Al-Rohbaan''" (transliterated Arabic, or The Monks' Garden), also referred to in English as the "Paradise of the Desert Fathers". Bustan al-Rohbann is not a single book, rather it is a collection of sayings and accounts written by and about the [[Desert Fathers]] of Egypt. The excerpts presented here are adopted from an abbreviated book translated and edited by Dr. Benedicta Ward, an Anglican nun [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dbooks%26field-author-exact%3DBenedicta%20Ward%26rank%3D-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/002-5914691-4828836],[http://store.holycrossbookstore.com/saofdefa.html].
In the desert of the heart, let the healing fountain start;
A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, "I, too, am a sinner."
==TRUE PEACETrue peace==
===Sayings===
One of the brothers asked abba Isidore, a priest of scetis, "Why are the demons so terrified of you?" And the old man said, "Ever since I became a monk I have tried never to let anger rise as far as my mouth."
A brother asked abba Poemen, "How should I behave in my cell in the place where I am living?" He replied, "Behave as if you were a stranger, and wherever you are, do not expect your words to have an influence and you will be at peace."
==OBEDIENCEObedience==
===Sayings===
The holy Syncletia said, "I think that for those living in community obedience is a greater virtue than chasity, however perfect. Chastity carries within it the danger of pride, but obedience has within it the promise of humility."
So abba Sylvanus said to the old men, "Where are the other brothers?", and he went into Mark's cell and found the book in which he had been writing and he was making the letter O; and when he heard the old man's voice, he had not finished the line of the O. And the old men said, "Truly, abba, we also love the one whom you love; for God loves him, too."
==HOW TO BECOME A DISCIPLEHow to become a disciple==
===Sayings===
Some old men said, "If you see a young man climbing up to the heavens by his own will, catch him by the foot and throw him down to the earth; it is not good for him."
Abba John said, "A monk is toil. The monk toils in all he does. That is what a monk is."
==HUMILITYHumility==
===Sayings===
An old man was asked, "What is [[humility]]?" and he said in reply, "Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour and believe yourself a sinner and make yourself subject to all." Then a brother said, "What does it mean, to be subject to all?" The old man answered, "To be subject to all is not to give your attention to the sins of others but always to give your attention to your own sins and to pray without ceasing to God."
An old man said, "Every time a thought of superiority or vanity moves you, examine your conscience to see if you have kept all the commandments, whether you love your enemies, whether you consider yourself to be an unprofitable servant and the greatest sinner of all. Even so, do not pretend to great ideas as though you were perfectly right, for that thought destroys everything."
The old men used to say, "When we do not experience warfare, we ought so much the more to humiliate ourselves. For God seeing our weakness, protects us; when we glorify ourselves, he withdraws his protection and we are lost."
==TRUE POVERTYTrue poverty==
===Sayings===
Abba Theodore, surnamed Pherme, had three good books. He went to abba Macarius and said to him, "I have three good books, and I am helped by reading them; other monks also want to read them and they are helped by them. Tell me, what am I to do?" The old man said, "Reading books is good but possessing nothing is more than all.' When he heard this, he went away and sold the books and gave the money to the poor.
Once abba Arsenius fell ill in Scetis and in this state he needed just one coin. He could not find one so he accepted one as a gift from someone else, and he said, "I thank you, God, that for your name's sake you have made me worthy to come to this pass, that I should have to beg."
==LIFE TOGETHERLife together==
===Sayings===
Amma Syncletica said, "We ought to govern our souls with discretion and to remain in the community, neither following our own will nor seeking our own good. We are like exiles: we have been separated from the things of this world and have given ourselves in one faith to the one Father. We need nothing of what we have left behind. There we had reputation and plenty to eat; here we have little to eat and little of everything else."
A beginner who goes from one monastery to another is like a wild animal who jumps this way and that for fear of the halter.
==SILENCESilence==
===Sayings===
Having withdrawn from the palace to the solitary life, abba Arsenius prayed and heard a voice saying to him, "Arsenius, flee, be silent, pray always, for these are the source of sinlessness."
This place was called Cellia, because of the number of cells there, scattered about the desert. Those who have already begun their training there [i.e. in Nitria] and want to live a more remote life, stripped of external things, withdraw there. For this is the utter desert and the cells are divided from one another by so great a distance that no one can see his neighbour nor can any voice be heard. They live alone in their cells and there is a huge silence and a great quiet there. Only on Saturday and Sunday do they meet in church, and then they see each other face to face, as men restored to heaven.
==THE KINGDOM WITHINThe kingdom within==
===Sayings===
It was revealed to abba Antony in his desert that there was one in the city who was his equal. He was a doctor by profession, and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to the poor and every day he sang the sanctus with the angles.
When blessed Antony heard this he said, "My son, you sit in your own house and work well, and you have the peace of the Kingdom of God; but I spend all my time in solitude with no distractions, and I have not come near the measure of such words."
==HOSPITALITYHospitality==
===Sayings===
Once three brothers came to visit an old man in Scetis and one of them said to him, "Abba, I have committed to memory the Old and New Testaments." And the old man answered, "You have filled the air with words." The second one said to him, "I have written out the Old and New Testaments with my own hands." He said, "And you have filled the window-ledge with manuscripts." Then the third said, "The grass is growing up my chimney." And the old man replied, "You have driven away hospitality."
It was said of an old man that he dwelt in Syria on the way to the desert. This was his work: whenever a monk came from the desert, he gave him refreshment with all his heart. Now one day a hermit came and he offered him refreshment. The other did not want to accept it, saying he was fasting. Filled with sorrow, the old man said to him, "Do not despise your servant, I beg you, do not despise me, but let us pray together. Look at the tree which is here; we will follow the way of whichever of us causes it to bend when he kneels on the ground and prays." So the hermit knelt down to pray and nothing happened. Then the hospitable one knelt down and at once the tree bent towards him. Taught by this, they gave thanks to God.
==GENTLENESSGentleness==
===Sayings===
Abba Nilus said, "Prayer is the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger."
Some monks came to see abba Poemen and said to him, "When we see brothers dozing in the church, should we rouse them so that they can be watchful?" He said, "For my part, when I see a brother dozing, I put his head on my knees and let him rest."
==BEASTS AND SAINTSBeasts and saints==
===Sayings===
Abba Antony said, "Obedience with abstinence gives men control over wild beasts."
While abba Macarius was praying in his cave in the desert, a hyena suddenly appeared and began to lick his feet and taking him gently by the hem of his tunic, she drew him towards her own cave. He followed her, saying, "I wonder what this animal wants me to do?" When she had led him to her cave, she went in and brought her cubs which had been born blind. He prayed over them and returned them to the hyena with their sight healed. She in turn, by way of thankoffering, brought the man the huge skin of a ram and laid it at his feet. He smiled at her as if at a kind person and taking the skin spread it under him.
==JOYJoy==
===Sayings===
Amma Syncletica said, "In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and, afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire. At first they are choked with smoke and cry, until they obtain what they seek. As it is written, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:24); so we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work."
==LOVELove==
===Sayings===
Abba Poemen said, "There is no greater love than that a man lays down his life for his neighbour. When you hear someone complaining and you struggle with yourself and do not answer him back with complaints; when you are hurt and bear it patiently, not looking for revenge; then you are laying down your life for your neighbour."
A soldier asked abba Mios if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things, he said, "Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?" He replied, "No, I mend it and use it again." The old man said to him, "If you are so careful about your cloak, will not god be equally careful about his creature?"
==GOD IS FOR ALLGod is for all==
===Sayings===
God is the life of all free beings. He is the salvation of all, of believers or unbelievers, of the just or the unjust, of the pious or the impious, of those freed from passions or those caught up in them, of monks or those living in the world, of the educated and the illiterate, of the healthy and the sick, of the young or the old. He is like the outpouring of light, the glimpse of the sun, or the changes of the weather which are the same for everyone without exception.
The man said, "I tell you, abba, I have never been troubled or scandalized." When he heard this the old man said, "What, then, do you think in your heart when you hear these things?" And he replied, "That they are all going into the Kingdom." When he heard this, the old man marvelled and said, "This is the practice which surpasses my labour of all these years."
==PRAYERPrayer==
===Sayings===
They asked abba Macarius, "How should we pray?" And the old man replied, "There is no need to speak much in prayer; often stretch out your hands and say, "Lord, as you will and as you know, have mercy on me." But if there is war in your soul, add, "Help me!" and because he knows what we need, he shows mercy on us."
And he continued, "When I have worked and prayed in my heart all day, I make about sixteen pence. Two of these I put ouside my door and with the rest I buy food. And he who finds the two coins outside the door prays for me while I eat and sleep. And so by the help of God I pray without ceasing."
==INTERCESSIONIntercession==
===Sayings===
It is clear to all who dwell in Egypt that it is through the monks that the world is kept in being and that through them also human life is preserved and honoured by God... There is no town or village in Egypt that is not surrounded by hermitages as if by walls, and all the people depend on the prayers of the monks as if on God himself.
==Source==
[http://www.coptic.net/articles/ParadiseOfDesertFathers.txt Copt-Net: Excerpts from from an abbreviated version of ''Bustan al-Rohbann'' (Paradise of the Desert Fathers) translated and edited by Dr. Benedicta Ward] ==See also==[[Sayings of the Desert Fathers]]
[[Category:Asceticism]]

Navigation menu