Desert Wisdom 
Collection of the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers. St.Benedict pointed to the the writings of the early Desert Fathers, specifically mentioning the St. Basil and John Cassian (RB 73:5) as sources for “further perfection.”
In time of temptation
Abba Poemon once said: If a temptation comes to you in the place where you live, do not leave the place at the time of temptation, for wherever you go you will find that which you fled from there before you. But stay until the temptation is past, that your departure may not cause offence… Read More ›
Patient endurance
Abba Poemon once said (Patient endurance) is like having a chest full of clothes, if one leaves them in disorder they are spoiled in the course of time. It is the same with thoughts. If we do not do anything about them, in time they are spoiled, that is to say, they disintegrate. . …. Read More ›
Patience and Anger
A certain brother while he was in the community was restless and frequently moved to wrath. And he said within himself, “I shall go and live in some place in solitude: and when I have no one to speak to or to hear, I shall be at peace and this passion of anger will be… Read More ›
Love of Another
At one time the abbot John was climbing up from Scete with other brethren and the person who was guiding them mistook the way for it was night. And the brethren said to the abbot John, “What shall we do, Father, for the brother has missed the way, and we may lose ourselves and die?”… Read More ›
Open Your Heart to the Word of God
Abba John said, ‘We went to Syria one day to see Abba Poemen and desired to question him concerning purity of the heart. But the old man did not know Greek and no interpreter was to be found. And then, seeing how embarrassed we were, the old man began to speak Greek, saying, ‘The nature… Read More ›
Do not Render Evil for Evil
Another brother questioned Abba Poemen in these words: “What does ‘See that none of you repays evil for evil’ mean?” The old man said to him, “Passions work in four stages; first, in the heart; secondly, in the face; thirdly in words; and fourthly, it is essential not to render evil for evil in deeds…. Read More ›
They are all going into the Kingdom
There was an old man living in the desert who served God for so many years and he said, “Lord, let me know if I have pleased you.” He saw an angel who said to him, “You have not yet become like the gardener in such and such place.” The old man marveled and said,… Read More ›
God is Life and Light for All
God is the life of all free beings. He is the salvation of all, of believers or unbelievers, of the just or the unjust, of the pious or the impious, of those freed from passions or those caught up in them, of monks or those living in the world, of the educated and the illiterate,… Read More ›
Do not be Despondent
When Abba Apollo heard the sound of singing from the monks who welcomed us, he greeted us according to the custom which all monks follow… He first lay prostrate on the ground, then got up and kissed us and having brought us in he prayed for us; then, after washing our feet with his own… Read More ›
We are like Exiles
Amma Syncletica said, “We ought to govern our souls with discretion and to remain in the community, neither following our own will nor seeking our own good. We are like exiles: we have been separated from the things of this world and have given ourselves in one faith to the one Father. We need nothing… Read More ›