Christian Leaders

"The desert holds them as in their mothers’ lap while they long for eternity, despising this brief life; indifferent to the present life, they are confident of the life to come. In this way, by hastening toward the world’s end, they manage to attain the world without end."

"It is right for a holy man aflame with divine passion to leave his own home and choose the desert as his dwelling. It is right for him to sell all his goods and prefer the desert to father and mother and children. It is right to abandon the land of one’s birth and seek a provisional homeland in the desert, never to be called back by fear or longing or joy or sadness. Clearly this desert dwelling is worthy of total devotion."

"I am convinced that God, in foreknowledge of the future, prepared the desert for the saints to come. I believe he wanted some parts of the world to be rich in the fruits of agriculture and other parts, with drier climate, to abound with holy men. In this way the desert would bear fruit. When he ‘watered the hills from the heights above’, the valleys were filled with plentiful crops. And he planned to endow the sterile deserts with inhabitants, lest any land go to waste."

"You show how strong in you is the love of solitary places, since the strongest human love must yield to it. What shall I call that love of the desert if not the love of God in you?"

"Nowhere but in those solitary places in which it is easy to find God and never lose him again."

"The cell in the desert truly deserves to be called the ark of strength, the seat of faith, the tabernacle of charity, the treasury of piety, the storehouse of justice. For just as in a home precious objects and valuables are kept in a hidden place behind locked doors, so also those magnificent gifts of desert sanctity are put away in a cell in some desert protected by natural inaccessibility, lest they decay because of exposure to worldliness. The desert is an ideal place for the Lord of all to preserve his precious ornament of sanctity, not only to store it there but to bring it out of its hiding place when it is needed."

"Did not he also live in the desert who was greater than any man born of woman, he who was a voice crying in the desert? In the desert he instituted baptism, and in the desert he preached repentance. In the desert the Kingdom of Heaven was first heard of. In the desert he first commanded those mysteries to his listeners, because by going into the desert they could sooner merit them. It was highly fitting that this desert dweller, this angel sent before the face of the Lord, should open the way to the heavenly kingdom. He was both a precursor of Christ and a witness worthy to hear the Father speaking from heaven, to touch the Son as he baptized him, and to see the Holy Spirit descending."

"How pleasant is the solitude of a remote place to those who thirst for God! How attractive for those who seek Christ are those solitary lands stretching in every direction under protecting nature. All things are silent there, and the joyful mind is spurred on by silence in its search for God, finding nourishment in ineffable ecstasies. No sound is heard in the desert save the voice of God. Only that sound that is sweeter than silence, the holy activity of a moderate and holy way of life, breaks into the state of quiet peace, while only the sound of the desert outpost interrupts the silence."

"From the dwelling places in the desert, the road lies always open to our true homeland. Let those who desire “to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalms 27:13; 116:9) take up their residence in an uninhabitable wasteland. Let those who strive to become citizens of Heaven be guests first of the desert."

"O admirable desert, how right it is for the holy monks to live or desire to live near you and within you, for you are rich and fertile in all the good things of him in whom all things are held."

"Then our prowling adversary howls in vain, like a wolf in the sheepfold when the sheep are well guarded, as the vast expanse of the desert protects them like a strong wall."

"I would say that the desert deserves to be called a temple of our God without walls. Since it is clear that God dwells in silence, we must believe that he loves the solitary expanses of the desert. ... Although God is present everywhere, and regards the whole world as his domain, we may believe that his preferred place is the solitudes of heaven and of the desert."

"Ward: He also said concerning Abba Pior that every day he made a new beginning."

"'How much joy, how much peace of soul would a man not have wherever he went, as Abba Poemen says, if he was one who habitually accused himself?'"

"Ward: Abba Poemen said, "If I am in a place where there are enemies, I become a soldier.""

"Ward: Abba Poemen said, "Teach your mouth to say what is in your heart.""

"Ward: [Abba Poemen] also said, "The first time flee; the second time, flee; and the third, become like a sword.""

"Ward: Abba Isaac came to see Abba Poemen and found him washing his feet. As he enjoyed freedom of speech with him he said, "How is it that others practice austerity and treat their bodies hardly?" Abba Poemen said to him, "We have not been taught to kill our bodies, but to kill our passions.""

"Ward: "If you take little account of yourself, you will have peace, wherever you live.""

"Ward: A brother asked Abba Poemen, "How should a man behave?" The old man said to him, "Look at Daniel: no-one found anything in him to complain about except for his prayers to the Lord his God.""

"Ward: Abba Poemen said, "Do not judge yourself, but live with someone who knows how to behave himself properly.""

"Ward: "If you are silent, you will have peace wherever you live.""

"Ward: A brother asked Abba Poemen, "How should I behave in the place where I live?" The old man said, "Have the mentality of an exile in the place where you live, do not desire to be listened to and you will have peace.""

"Ward: Abba Poemen said, "If a man has sinned and denies it, saying: 'I have not sinned,' do not reprimand him; for that will discourage him. But say to him, 'Do not lose heart, brother, but be on guard in future,' and you will stir his soul to repentance.""

"Ward: A brother going to market asked Abba Poemen, "How do you advise me to behave?" The old man said to him, "Make friends with anyone who tries to bully you and sell your produce in peace.""

"Ward: "The victory over all the afflictions that befall you, is, to keep silence.""

"Ward: 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.""

"Ward: "Even if a man were to make a new heaven and earth, he could not live free of care.""

"Ward: A brother asked Abba Poemen, "Can a man keep all his thoughts in control, and not surrender one to the enemy?" And the old man said to him, "There are some who receive ten and give one.""

"Ward: "Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.""

"Ward: Abba Poemen said that a brother who lived with some other brothers asked Abba Bessarion, "What ought I to do?" The old man said to him, "Keep silence and do not always be comparing yourself with others.""

"It is certain, higher powers are not to be resisted; but some persons in power may be resisted. The powers are ordained of God; but kings commanding unjust things are not ordained of God to do such things; but to apply this to tyrants, I do not understand. Magistrates in some acts may be guilty of tyranny, and yet retain the power of magistracy; but tyrants cannot be capable of magistracy, nor any one of the scripture-characters of righteous rulers. They cannot retain that which they have forfeited, and which they have overturned; and usurpers cannot retain that which they never had. They may act and enact some things materially just, but they are not formally such as can make them magistrates, no more than some unjust actions can make a magistrate a tyrant. A murderer, saving the life of one and killing another, does not make him no murderer: once a murderer ay a murderer, once a robber ay a robber, till he restore what he hath robbed: so once a tyrant ay a tyrant, till he makes amends for his tyranny, and that will be hard to do. [...] The concrete does specificate the abstract in actuating it, as a magistrate in his exercising government, makes his power to be magistry; a robber, in his robbing, makes his power to be robbery; an usurper in his usurping makes his power to be usurpation; so a tyrant in his tyrannizing, can have no power but tyranny. As the abstract of a magistrate is nothing but magistracy, so the abstract of a tyrant is nothing but tyranny. It is frivolous then to distinguish between a tyrannical power in the concrete, and tyranny in the abstract; the power and the abuse of the power: for he hath no power as a tyrant, but what is abused. [...] It is altogether impertinent to use such a distinction, with application to tyrants or usurpers, as many do in their pleading for the owning of our oppressors; for they have no power, but what is the abuse of power."

"Ignorance makes us reject what is beneficial; and when it becomes brazen it strengthens the hold of evil."

"A passion which we allow to grow active within us through our own choice afterwards forces itself upon us against our will."

"Many of us feel remorse for our sins, yet we gladly accept their causes."

"However great our virtuous actions of today, they do not requite but condemn our past negligence."

"Love is the last of the virtues to be born in the heart, but it is the first in value."

"One man received a thought and accepted it without examination. Another received a thought and tested its truth. Which of them acted with greater reverence?"

"The intellect cannot be still unless the body is still also: and the wall between them cannot be demolished without stillness and prayer."

"Concern yourself with your own sins and not with those of your neighbor; then the workplace of your intellect will not be robbed."

"Prayer is called a virtue, but in reality it is the mother of the virtues: for it gives birth to them through union with Christ."

"Do not say: 'I do not know what is right, therefore I am not to blame when I fail to do it.' For if you did all the good about which you do know, what you should do next would then become clear to you."

"I have seen unlearned men who were truly humble, and they became wiser than the wise."

"He who does not choose to suffer for the sake of truth will be chastened more painfully by suffering he has not chosen."

"Do not listen to talk about other people's sins. For through such listening the form of these sins is imprinted on you."

"When you first become involved in something evil, don't say: 'It will not overpower me.' For to the extent that you are involved you have already been overpowered by it."

"Evils reinforce each other; so do virtues, thus encouraging us to still greater efforts."

"The devil belittles small sins; otherwise he cannot lead us into greater ones."

"If Stalin had learned to play cricket, the world might now be a better place."

"Take heed that ye love not human glory in any respect, lest your portion also be reckoned among those to whom it was said, "How can ye believe, who seek glory, one from another?" [John 5:44] and of whom it is said through the prophet, "Increase evils to them; increase evils to the boastful of the earth" [Isaiah 26:15]; and elsewhere, "Ye are confounded from your boasting, from your reproaching in the sight of the Lord." [Jeremiah 12:13] For I do not wish you to have regard to those, who are virgins of the world, and not of Christ; who unmindful of their purpose and profession, rejoice in delicacies, are delighted with riches, and boast of their descent from a merely carnal nobility; who, if they assuredly believed themselves to be the daughters of God, would never, after their divine ancestry, admire mere human nobility, nor glory in any honored earthly father: if they felt that they had God as their Father, they would not love any nobility connected with the flesh."