Volume 2 — From The Month. SAINTS OF THE DESERT. BY THE REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D.
Reading edition
1. A careless brother said to Abbot Antony, "Pray for me."
The old man made answer: I shall not pity thee, nor will the Highest, unless thou hast pity on thyself, and makest prayer to God.
2. Abbot Arsenius used to say: I have often had to repent of speaking; never of keeping silence.
3. Abbot Theodore said: If God impute to us our negligences when we pray, and our distractions' when we sing, we cannot be saved.
4. Abbot Pastor said: One man is at rest and prays; another is sick and gives thanks; a third ministers cheerfully to them both.
They are three; but their work and their merit is one.
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5. A brother said to Abbot Sisoi: "What must I do to keep my heart?"
The old man made answer: Look to your tongue first, for it is nearest to the door.
6. Abbot Abraham said: Passions live even in the saints here below; but they are chained.
7. Abbot John said to his brother, "I do not like working; I wish to be in peace, and to serve God without break, like an angel;" and he set off to the desert.
In a week's time he returned, and knocked at his brother's door, saying, "I am John."
His brother answered, "No, you are not; for John is an angel." He insisted, "Yes, but I am John."
His brother opened to him, saying, "If you are a man, why don't you work? If you are an angel, what do you knock for?"