On humility

Abba Anthony said, ‘I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.”’

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975 [1984]) 2.

Humility is one of the central mysteries around which our life circles. I have always found it a mystery and have sometimes found myself puzzling over what it means, caught between the rather problematic doormat mentality and the equally problematic culture of self-assertion. Of course humility in the monastic tradition is intimately related to self-knowledge, to understanding our own identity in the eyes of God and our place among our brothers and sisters. But even this can too easily become a matter of theoretical knowledge. I suspect that true humility has more to do with that which is given to us, with the insights that we catch glimpses of in our struggle to acknowledge reality as it is, with the confrontation with our own weakness that impels us to throw ourselves onto the mercy of God, and with the compassion that the truly humble radiate simply by who they are. And that has a power that is beyond words or concepts.

 

For those who teach

[Amma Syncletica said] ‘It is dangerous for anyone to teach who has not first been trained in the “practical” life. For if someone who owns a ruined house receives guests there, he does them harm because of the dilapidation of his dwelling. It is the same in the case of someone who has not first built an interior dwelling; he causes loss to those who come. By words one may convert them to salvation, but by evil behaviour, one injures them.’

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975 [1984]) 233.

And, on a similar note,

If you wish to sow your seed among the destitute, sow from your own seed; for if you wish to sow from the seed of others, know that what you sow is the most bitter of tears.

Abba Nilos of Sinai, as quoted by Saint Isaac of Nineveh, The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, translated by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, 1984. 30.

 

Who am I?

Abba Poeman said to Abba Joseph, ‘Tell me how to become a monk.’ He said, ‘If you want to find rest here below, and hereafter, in all circumstances say, Who am I? And do not judge anyone.’

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975 [1984]) 102.

 

On stability

[Amma Syncletica said] ‘If you find yourself in a monastery do not go to another place, for that will harm you a great deal. Just as the bird who abandons the eggs she was sitting on prevents them from hatching, so the monk or the nun grows cold and their faith dies, when they go from one place to another.’

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975 [1984]) 231.

 

Kindling the Divine Fire

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 by the smoke and cry, and by this means obtain what they seek (as it is said: “Our God is a consuming fire” [Heb. 12.24]): so we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work.’

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection. Translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1975 [1984]) 230-231.