Love in the Desert

[lovemuffin]

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers is a collection of aphorisms from Christian ascetics who fled to the deserts of Egypt in the 4th century, and whose way of life became, more or less, the source of inspiration for Christian monasticism in general. When I first became Christian, I fell in love with the ethic of forgiveness and love in the Sermon on the Mount, and for me, the desert fathers are one of the purest expressions of that path that I've found. They've been of tremendous value to me, psychologically and spiritually, in terms of how I approach relationships, myself, my aim in life. There's been other threads that mention these sayings in the past, but I wanted to post a few of these sayings that move me.

I don't know what discussion might be had around this, but I think there are potentially many interesting conversations about the approach to spiritual life that is found in them, both explicitly but also implied, as it were, between the lines.

On Love Which Builds Up a Neighbor

"A brother came to see Abba Poemen, and said to him, 'I sow my field and give away in charity what I reap from it.' The old man said to him, 'That is good,' and he departed with fervour and intensified his charity. Hearing this, Abba Anoub said to Poemen, 'Do you not fear God, that you have spoken like that to the brother?' The old man remained silent. Two days later Abba Poemen saw the brother coming and in the presence of Abba Anoub said to him, 'What did you ask me the other day? I was not attending.' The brother said, 'I said that I sow my field and give away what I gain in charity.' Abba Poemen said to him, 'I thought you were speaking of your brother who is in the world. If it is you who are doing this, it is not right for a monk.' At these words the brother was saddened and said, 'I do not know any other work and I cannot help sowing the fields.' When he had gone away, Anoub made a prostration and said, 'Forgive me.' Abba Poemen said, 'From the beginning I too knew it was not the work of a monk but I spoke as I did, adapting myself to his ideas, and so I gave him courage to increase his charity. Now he has gone away full of grief and yet he will go on as before.'"
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On Non-Judgement

Abba Moses speaking with a brother: 'The aim in all these things is not to judge one's neighbor. For truly, when the hand of the Lord caused all the first-born in the land of Egypt to die, no house was without its dead.' The brother said, 'What does that mean?' The old man said, 'If we are on the watch to see our own faults, we shall not see those of our neighbor. It is folly for a man who has a dead body in his house to leave him there and go weep over his neighbor's dead.

To die to one's neighbor is this: To bear your own faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad. Do no harm to anyone, 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 neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor. This is what dying to one's neighbor means. 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. This is what it means not to judge. Do not have hostile feelings towards anyone and do not let dislike dominate your heart; do not hate him who hates his neighbor. This is what peace is.
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On Gentleness

"Some old men came to see Abba Poemen and said to him, 'When we see brothers who are dozing at the synaxis, shall we rouse them so that they will be watchful?' He said to them, 'For my part, when I see a brother who is dozing, I put his head on my knees and let him rest.'"
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