Open Theism Discussion Board

Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > Theological Q&A > (No Subject)

Forum Quick Jump

[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:30 AM (GMT -6)

abba anthony

When blessed Anthony was praying in his cell, a voice spoke to him, saying, "Anthony, you have not yet come to the measure of the tanner who is in Alexandria." When he heard this, the old man arose and took his stick and hurried into the city. When he had found the tanner...he said to him, "Tell me about your work, for today I have left the desert and come here to see you."

He replied, "I am not aware that I have done anything good. When I get up in the morning, before I sit down to work, I say that the whole of this city, small and great, will go into the Kingdom of God because of their good deeds, while I alone will go into eternal punishment because of my evil deeds. Every evening I repeat the same words and believe them in my heart."

When blessed Anthony 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."
From the Fathers on Abba Anthony...

www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/coptic/sayings/anthony2.html

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:34 AM (GMT -6)

This is about Abba Sisoes instead. (Note bold.)

quote:
Abba Sisoes:

One of the brethren went to see Abba Sisoes on Abba Anthony's mountain. While they were talking, he said to Abba Sisoes, "Have you already reached Abba Anthony's stature, Father?" The old man said to him, "If I had one of Abba Anthony's thoughts, I should become all flame..."

(p. 214, Sisoes 9)
It was said of Abba Sisoes that when he was at the point of death, while the Fathers were sitting beside him, his face shone like the sun. He said to them, "Look, Abba Anthony is coming." A little later he said, "Look, the choir of prophets is coming." Again his countenance shone with brightness and he said, "Look, the choir of apostles is coming." His countenance increased in brightness and lo, he spoke with someone. Then the old men asked him, "With whom are you speaking, Father?" He said, "Look, the angels are coming to fetch me, and I am begging them to let me do a little penance." The old man said to him, "You have no need to do penance, Father." But the old man said to them, "Truly, I do not think I have even made a beginning yet." Now they all knew that he was perfect. Once more his countenance suddenly became like the sun and they were all filled with fear. He said to them, "Look, the Lord is coming and he's saying, 'Bring me the vessel from the desert'" (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7). Then there was as a flash of lightening and all the house was filled with a sweet odour.
(pp. 214-215, Sisoes 14)

(from Seeing the light: Quotations from Desert Fathers, www.digiserve.com/mystic/Christian/Desert/kunda.html)

Edited by - Al2Si2H4O9 on 10/02/2002 06:43:41 AM

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:37 AM (GMT -6)

quote:
Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers
Holy Abba Ammon
On one occasion Abba Ammon went to Abba Anthony, and he lost his way, and sat down for a little and fell asleep; and he rose up from his slumber, and prayed unto God, and said, "I beg Thee, O Lord God, not to destroy that which Thou hast fashioned." Then he lifted up his eyes, and behold, there was the form of a man's hand above him in the heavens, and it showed him the way until he came and stood above the cave of Abba Anthony; and when he had gone into the cave of the old man, Abba Anthony prophesied unto him, saying, "You shall increase in the fear of God." Then he took him outside the cave, and showing him a stone, said, "Curse this stone, and strike it," and he did so. Abba Anthony said unto him, "It is thus that you shall arrive at this state, for you shall bear heaviness, and great abuse;" and this actually happened to Abba Ammon.

Now, through his abundant goodness, Abba Ammon knew not wickedness. And after he had become a bishop, through his spiritual excellence they brought unto him a young girl who had conceived, and they said unto him, "So-and-so has done this deed; let them receive correction." But he made the sign of the Cross over her stomach and ordered them to give her six pair of linen cloths, and he said, "When she delivers, either she or the child will die, and if either dies let them be buried." Then those who were with him said unto him, "What is this that you have done? Give the command that they receive correction." And he said unto them, "See, my brothers, she is nigh unto death; what can I do?" Then he dismissed her.

pb[And the old man never ventured to judge anyone, for he was full of loving kindness and endless goodness to all the children of men.

E. A. Wallis Budge, "The Paradise of the Holy Fathers," (Seattle, St. Nectarios Press, 1984), p. 106

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:43 AM (GMT -6)

quote:
www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7261/saint_antony.htm

2. Saint of this month..
(Abba Anthony - Binishty "The Great" Abba Antony)

- The secret behind his life:
a. Realized what is important in his life, after his fathers death.
b. Jesus became the center of his life.
c. Obeying God’s word without questioning?
d. The ability to differentiate between what’s godly and what’s not?
e. The teacher and The Abba!
- He is the only one in history that created a new way of living that been followed by millions around the world.
- Antony and athanasious.

Stories from his life:
1. The king calling him to cure his son, but he call his student to ask him his opinion.
2. The woman at the Nile.
3. St. Paul the simple man and the cure of the man with the evil spirit.
4. who is in comparison to saint Anthony in the place in heaven:
- The doctor.
- The old shoemaker.
5. how can we all be son’s to Abba Anthony.
- God is No. 1
- Listen to the word of god.
- ask for the help of the holy spirit
- learn to differentiate between what’s godly and what’s not.
- love one another, the story of the monk that committee a sin.

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:46 AM (GMT -6)

SEVERAL...

www.cin.org/dsrtft21.html

+ + +

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?' then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'

(Abba James) said, 'Just as a lamp lights up a dark room, so the fear of God when it penetrates the heart of a man illuminates him, teaching him all the virtues and commandments of God.'

He also said, 'We do not need words only, for, at the present time, there are many words among men, but we need works, for this is what is required, not words which do not bear fruit.'

+ + +

Abba John of the Cells told us this story: 'There was in Egypt a very rich and beautiful courtesan, to whom noble and powerful people came. Now one day she happened to be near the church and she wanted to go in. The sub- deacon, who was standing at the doors, would not allow her to enter saying, "You are not worthy to enter the house of God,j jfor you are impure." The Bishop heard the noise of their argument and came out. Then the courtesan said to him, "He will not let me enter the church." So the Bishop said to her, "You are not allowed to enter it, for you are not pure." She was filled with compunction and said to him, "Henceforth I will not commit fornication any more." The jbishop said to her, "If you bring your wealth here, I shall know that you will not commit fornication any more." She brought hying, "If this has happened to me below, what would I not have suffered above?" So she was converted and became a vessel of election.'

(Abba Isidore the priest) said, 'If you fast regularly, do not be inflated with pride, but if you think hightly of yourself because of it, then you had better eat meat. It is better for a man to eat meat than to be inflated with pride and to glorify himself.'

It was said of Abba John the Persian thast when some evildoers came to him, he took a basin and wanted to wash their feet. But they were filled with confusion, and began to do penance.

+ + +

From Palistine, Abba Hilarion went to the mountain to abba Anthony. Abba Anthony said to him, 'You are welcome, torch which awakens the day.' Abba Hilarion said, 'Peace to you, pillar of light, giving light to the world.'

The holy Fathers were making predictions about the last generation. They said 'What have we ourselves done?' One of them, the great abba Ischyrion replied, 'We ourselves have fulfilled the commandments of God.' The others replied, 'And those who come after us, what will they do?' He said, 'They will struggle to achieve half our works.' They said, 'And to those who come after them, what will happen?' He said, 'THE MEN OF THAT GENERATION WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH ANY WORKS AT ALL AND TEMPTATION WILL COME UPON THEM; AND THOSE WHO WILL BE APPROVED IN THAT DAY WILL BE GREATER THAN EITHER US OR OUR FATHERS.'

Abba Copres said, 'blessed is he who bears affliction with thankfulness.'

+ + +

One day, the inhabitants of Scetis assembled together to discuss Melchizedek and they forgot to invite Abba Copres. Later on they called him and asked him about this matter. Tapping his mouth three times, he said 'Alas for you, Copres! For that which God commanded you do, you have put aside, and you are wanting to learn something which you have not been required to know about.' When they heard these words, the brothers fled to their cells.

Abba Cyrus of Alexandria was asked about the temptation of fornication, and he replied, 'If you do not think about it, you have no hope, for if you are not thinking about it, you are doing it. I mean, he who does not fight against the sin and sresist it in his spirit will commit the sin physically. It is very true that he who is fornicating in fact is not worried about thinking about it.

+ + +

Some of the monks who are called Euchites went to Enaton to see Abba Lucius. the Old man asked them, 'What is your manual work?' They said , 'We do not touch manualj work but as the Apostle says, we pray without ceasing.' The old man asked them if they did not eat and they replied they did. So he said to them "'When you are eating, who prays for you then?' Again he asked them if theydid not sleep and they replied they did. and he said to them, 'When you are a asleep, who prays for you the?' They could not find any answer to give him. He said to them, 'Forgive me, but you do not act as you speak. I will show you how, while doing my manual work, I pray without interruption. I sit down with God, soaking my reeds and plaiting my ropes, and I say "God, have mercy on me, according to your great goodness and according to the multitude of your mercies, save me from my sins." ' So he asked them if this were not prayer and they replied it was. Then he said to them, 'So when I shave spend the whole day working and praying, making thirteen pieces of money more or less, I put two pieces of money outside the door and I pay for my food with the rest of the mony. He who takes the two pieces of maney prays for me when I am eating and when I am sleeping; so , by the grace of God, I fulfil the precept to pray without ceasing.'

+ + +

They said of Abba Macarius the Great that he became, as it is written, a god upon earth, because, just as God protects the world, so Abba Macarius would cover the faults which he saw, as though he did not see them; and those which he heard, as though he did not hear them.

+ + +

The angel when giving the rules of monasticism to St. Pachomius said to him: "... He at the ninth hour three. When the multitude goes to eat, he laid down that a psalm should be sung before each prayer. As Pachomius objected to the angel that the prayer were too few ..."

+ + +

The same Abba Macarius while he was in Egypt discovered a man who owned a beast of burden engaged in plundering Macarius' goods. So he came up to the thief as if he was a stranger and he helped him to load the animal. He saw him off in great peace of soul saying, 'We have brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.' (1Tim.6.7) 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' (Job 1.21)

Abba Macarius was asked, 'How should one pray?' The old man said 'There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, "Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy." And if the conflict grows fiercer say, "Lord, help!" He knows very well what we need and he shews us his mercy.'

A brother went to Abba Matoes and said to him, 'How is it that the monks of Scetis did more thatn the Scriptures required in loving their enemies more than themselves?' Abba Matoes said to him, 'As for me I have not yet managed to love those who love me as I love myself.'

Return to CIN Home Page
Copyright © 1996 Catholic Information Network (CIN) - August 14, 1996

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:49 AM (GMT -6)

SEVERAL MORE THINGS...

www.digiserve.com/mystic/Christian/Desert/humble.html

Being humble
(Quotations from Desert Fathers)

Humility is freedom

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."
(p. 2, Abba Anthony the Great 7)

Regard yourself as being the same as others

A brother questioned Abba Motius, saying, "If I go to dwell somewhere, how do you want me to live?" The old man said to him, "If you live somewhere, do not seek to be known for anything special {i.e. by setting oneself apart from the common practice of Christians}... For these things make an empty reputation and later you will be troubled because of this. For men rush there where they find these {special} practices." The brother said to him, "What shall I do, then?" The old man said, "Wherever you live, follow the same manner of life as everyone else and if you see devout men, whom you trust doing something, do the same and you will be at peace. For this is humility: to see yourself to be the same as the rest. When men see you do not go beyond the limits, they will consider you to be the same as everyone else and no-one will trouble you."
(p. 148, Abba Motius 1)
A brother who had sinned was turned out of the church by the priest; Abba Bessarion got up and went with him, saying, "I, too, am a sinner."
(p. 42, Abba Bessarion 7)

Refrain from evaluating, comparing, and judging

If you take little account of yourself, you will have peace, wherever you live.
(p. 178, Abba Poemen 81)
To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul.
(p. 172, Abba Poemen 36)

A brother who shared a lodging with other brothers asked Abba Bessarion, "What should I do?" The old man replied, "... do not compare yourself with others."
(p. 42, Abba Bessarion 10)

The monk must die to his neighbour and never judge him at all, in any way whatever.

To die to one's neighbour is this: To bear your own faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad. ...do not think anything bad in your heart towards anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbour, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbour. This is what dying to one's neighbour means.
(p. 141, Moses 1, 7)

Be meek, not scornful

There is no other virtue than that of not being scornful.
(p. 75, Abba Theodore of Pherme 13)
Choose the meekness of Moses (Num. 12:3) and you will find your heart which is a rock changed into a spring of water (Ex. 17:5-6, Ps. 105:41).
(p. 233, Amma Syncletica 11)

Do not rail against anyone, but rather say, "God knows each one." Do not agree with him who slanders, do not rejoice at his slander and do not hate him who slanders his neighbour... Do not have hostile feelings towards anyone and do not let dislike dominate your hearts; do not hate him who hates his neighbour. This is what peace is: Encourage yourself with this thought...
(pp. 142-143, Abba Moses 7)

Beware of self-righteousness

I prefer a sinful man who knows he has sinned and repents, to a man who has not sinned and considers himself to be righteous.
(p. 225, Abba Sarmatas 1)
Abba Poemen said to Abba Isaac, "Let go of a small part of your righteousness and in a few days you will be at peace."
(p. 187, Abba Poemen 141)

The thief was on the cross and he was justified by a single word; and Judas who was counted in the number of the apostles lost all his labour in one single night and descended from heaven to hell. Therefore, let no-one boast of his good works, for all those who trust in themselves fall.
(p. 159, Abba Xanthias 1)

A brother settled outside his village and did not return there for many years. He said to the brethren, "See how many years it is since I went back to the village, while you often go up there." This was told to Abba Poemen and the old man said, "I used to go back up there at night and walk all round my village, so that the thought of not having gone up there would not cause me vain-glory."
(p. 183, Abba Poemen 110)

If you fast regularly, do not be inflated with pride, but if you think highly of yourself because of it, then you had better eat meat. It is better for a man to eat meat than to be inflated with pride and to glorify himself.
(pp. 106-7, Abba Isidore the Priest 4)

Know that the last shall be first

The holy Fathers were making predictions about the last generation. They said, "What have we ourselves done?" One of them, the great Abba Ischyrion replied, "We ourselves have fulfilled the commandments of God." The others replied, "And those who come after us, what will they do?" He said, "They will struggle to achieve half our works." They said, "And to those who come after them, what will happen?" He said, "The men of that generation will not accomplish any works at all and temptation will come upon them; and those who will be approved in that day will be greater than either us or our fathers." (cf. Mk. 10:31)
(p. 111, Abba Ischyrion 1)

©1999 by Deb Platt
-----------------------------------------
Select a new topic, or explore this topic further within Christianity or across religions. Browse additional quotations from Desert Fathers. Refer to bibliography. Go to home page.

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 10/2/2002 1:51 AM (GMT -6)

www.beliefnet.com/boards/message_list.asp?discussionID=177621

Seek Not the Praises of Men

This selection is from St. Macarius the Great, born around 300 A.D. A former camel driver and trader, he was one of the earliest pioneers of "Scetis," an area in the Egyptian desert near Alexandria that is renowned for the richness of its ascetic life. St. Macarius lived before monasteries were established and as with many monks of his time was a wanderer, not living in any particular place for very long. He visited St. Anthony the Great in the Red Sea Desert at least twice. St. Macarius died around 390 A.D.

BEGIN: A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, "Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved." So the old man said, "Go to the cemetery and abuse the dead." The brother went there, abused them and threw stones at them; then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, "Didn't they say anything to you?" He replied, "No."

The old man said, "Go back tomorrow and praise them." So the brother went away and praised them, calling them, "Apostles, saints, and righteous men." He returned to the old man and said to him, "Did they not answer you?" The brother said, "No."

The old man said to him, "You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too, if you wish to be saved, must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved." END

from "The Desert Christian," by Sr. Benedicta Ward, (New York: MacMillan, 1975), p. 132

Forum Information

Currently it is Monday, November 09, 2026 2:59 PM (GMT -6)
There are a total of 97,718 posts in 6,040 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 0 new threads and 0 reply posts. View Active Threads

Need Support? | Forum Help Manual