Apa Psote

A spiritual discourse of the Holy Father, Apa Psote, the great bishop of the city of Psoi. He delivered it on the Sunday of the Lord's Day, in the era of the Emperor of Thebes, sending greetings to all, concerning his head, which he presented to the governor of the king and the soldiers of the emperor, that they might judge him at the evening of that day, while the people were assembled. In peace, Amen. I ask you, O my beloved sons and daughters, and I greet you all together with a greeting from God. For I stretch out my hand to you today in the commandments of life, that you may walk in them at all times, and that you may continue to do my will. I know this, that I will not return to you in the flesh forever. O my beloved sons, strive for yourselves in a good struggle, for the struggle of this world is a fleeting one. Woe to the one who will follow it and its evil deeds. Woe even more to those who set their hearts on things that pass away, whether building, planting, or any work of violence.

Behold, for you see me today. Whether I have done good, whether I have done violence or evil, behold, they have been sent after me to the house of your city by the impious river, to bear witness for you that from my youth, many times the angel of the Lord appeared to me while I was tending my father's sheep, and he did not cease to instruct me in my duty until I had apostatized all his writings. Behold, then, now by the command of the good God, I have come to know now that my blood will be poured out upon the holy name of my Lord Jesus Christ. Even as they have revealed this to me, yet I fear for the path I will take to God within, and the powers that stand within, because I am flesh and blood like everyone, and there is no sin except against God alone. And the laws that they have given us within the church, written for us, say that it is fitting for the bishop not to involve himself in any matter. Who then now will God condemn for his sins? For it is said that for every single word a man speaks, he will give account for them before the tribunal of the face of God the Almighty, the place where there is no name or form that can help.

But each one will receive according to his deeds. O my children, know that repentance is the door that you have opened for yourselves, that you may walk according to its deeds. For the paths that go to God are difficult, and they are rough, and the gate is narrow, for the Lord takes his chosen ones to the gate, according to the saying of the stone of truth, Matthew the Evangelist. And especially the great fear, the terror, and the great flame of the fire that burns here and there, this one which no one can loosen from its heat or its burning. For whether righteous or sinner,

They will be cast into the fire that cannot be extinguished, before the tribunal that is beneath terror. O this tribunal that is filled with trembling and with swords! O this tribunal of terror, before which every person stands in fear and trembling and shame and confusion and a rushing together without restraint. Woe to me! O my children, that I should stand before it in vain, having abandoned [my duty], while my evil deeds stand before me in the form in which I did them, and I gaze after them. Woe to me at the time when my horatos of truth, the prokrites of the whole, will judge me. Woe to me at the time when the one who cannot be angered will be angered at me. He will not say to me, "O old man of one [kind] with his skima; O name and schema, that you are a Christian, or that you are a bishop." He will not take heed of me at all. Behold, our sins stand before us, each one in the manner in which we did them. Then what shall we say? Shall we not be silent, since we cannot find a word to say on that day at all? Then will there be any denial possible before him? Not at all. What shall we do? We will deny our impieties. The angels stand before the tribunal that is beneath terror with us, and they will accuse us through our angel, like an advocate, saying, "This sin, this one that you committed, of what day? And in what manner did I stand before you?" O woe to every person whose angel [does this]!

will uncover his shame before the tribunal of Christ, before God and his angels and the ranks of the heavens. Woe to a bishop who does not teach his people well, his city, and his district, for they will certainly condemn him. And also if he neglects the churches of God, which are desolate, and the widows and orphans. Woe to a hegoumenos who will be ashamed before a rich man, who destroys justice, and who does not know the law, who gives a bribe to pervert the word of truth, who does not care for those he sees and those who are brought before him. Woe to

A judge who will pervert the judgment of a poor man because of a bribe, he will take the face of a rich man and oppress the poor man because he has nothing to give. Woe, woe to a layman who is idle, who will do no work for the church, as if he wishes to be a judge over it, or who will judge any of the orders of the church. Let the laymen be removed from this work. Do not bring any judgment upon yourselves before God. Woe, woe to one who is the head of a monastery, that is, the father of a monastery, who gives the works of God for money, or for other things, or who knows of some among the brothers who are giving the communion of God while he is silent and does not cast them out of the congregation. Woe to a presbyter who is negligent towards his people, who does not beget them, nor does he teach them the things that are the remedy for their souls. They will certainly condemn him for the souls of his people, and he will give an account for them. Woe to a deacon who is profane upon the altar, and who eats the things of the church, who does the works of God with negligence. Woe to a layman who fornicates or who does deeds with a transgressor. They look upon their forms with shamelessness, and those who cast their desires upon the earth, and those whose hands are open to receive bribes.

and those who corrupt them, and the irrational animals. These are the ones who destroy the temple of God. These also are the ones whom God will destroy in his wrath and the fire of his anger. Do not, my children, be angry at these, lest God cast you out in shame. Do not be negligent concerning yourselves, for all the negligences of this world are punishments in the coming age. And we all know that the flesh is weak. The soul cannot bear the pains of the Lord which he will inflict in a just judgment because of our sins. If we persist in our sins, God will give us more labor in the torments which he will inflict. O my children, the end of each one comes to him even today. For I know that I will be brought before the governor and he will condemn me in the name of my Lord, that I have abandoned him. But it will not happen that I abandon him. I am prepared for my head to be cut off in the name of my true king and my savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I adjure you, O my beloved children, to continue to do my will according to the love of God, and to stretch out your hands to work for your own salvation, for the salvation of man is the law of God.

The one who will the law, for he is a companion of God, whether in this world or in the other. The one who will transgress the law is an enemy of God in this world and the one to come. You have heard, all of you, the voice of the gospel, in one place blessing, in another place cursing, and being angry and indignant. In one place, "Blessed are the poor," which means they did not abandon the law of God. Woe to those whom the world has made slaves of them in vanity, that is, the thieves and the murderers and the fornicators, and the gluttons, and the magicians, and the sorcerers, and the seducers, and the kidnappers, and the drunkards. Those whose hope is placed in the magician, setting their hearts on them, or that they are the ones who give them stability in their distress. O senseless and untaught and foolish ones! Say to me, in what manner, if God wishes to bring a sickness upon a man as a test, and an instruction for him, is there a man of earth and clay who will change it there? Or will he turn back the command of God to the contrary? But there is no one who can enslave or change it.

of the devil who drags a man backward, and they mock each one, each wanting to take them to the abyss, to the heart that is going downward into its depth, because of its disobedience. Behold now, then, you see me being in your midst today, I wish to drink your joy and your sweet face. O my children, you are also like the soldiers of the governor, who brought him before his command. And behold, the governor comes out from Sioout; he will go to the village. They will bring him before him, and they will take my head in that place, in the name of Emmanuel, which is interpreted as "God is with us." Struggle, O my children, walk in the ways of the Lord and his commandments; do not abandon them at all, so that you do not bring upon yourselves a great judgment that has no forgiveness. For it is written, "The disobedient child is in destruction," and destruction belongs to the devil and his demons. But the kingdom of heaven, which God has prepared for those who do his will, according to what he said in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, wishing to see you.

He then said, "The one who will do the will of my father who is in the heavens, this one is my brother and my sister and my mother. Likewise also, he will bring the word and speak it to those who will abandon the law and the prophets, saying, 'The one who will not do the will of my father who is in the heavens, this one is my enemy.' And just as he has hated me, I also will hate him. Just as he has denied me in this world, I also will deny him in the eternal age before the angels. And just as he has turned his face away from my law so as not to keep its mouth, I also will turn my face away from his mouth when it is in the darkness where there is no light within it. For it speaks from its mouth without receiving.

Deceit. Do not love the world, nor those in the world, for the world will pass away with its desire. For it is like a man who has set his hour for himself; he was not told until what time he will die, nor was he told on which day the one beside him will die. This is the way of the world; no one knows the fullness of its completion, except the one who determines the fullness. God the Pantocrator, and no creature will remain for a moment to pass away, except God the Master of all, the Lord of all things that exist and will come to be. And blessed are those who will die in the Lord from now until eternity. But woe to those who will die in evil things, for there is no repentance laid out for them again. But sin and lawlessness and all kinds of impiety that they have done, these will receive their honor, and death will walk before them. For it is said in the Psalms, "Death is what pursues them." And also, "Those who hate the righteous will sin." He also says in the Catholic Epistles, "He who hates his brother is a murderer." How great then is the judgment of him who hates God who created him. And any man who sins hates God who created him. Those who do not hate Christ do not sin. I speak to you the word of truth: if you despise your own synod, you are a man who sins.

Hate his own soul. In what way, then, does a man hate his own soul? But often someone says to me, "No one hates his own soul at all." I know this also, but set the gnostic for me, O brother, simply. A man today who says, "I care for my soul," he eats and drinks all his days. But when he dies, they take his soul and make it into matter.

of the fire. And the heart is bound to the sins he has committed at the time he is in the world. For he himself says in his ignorance, "I love my soul." He loves to commit sins continually. And he does not know that the things he does continually are written in writings that are not erased, nor are they dissolved, but they are spiritual writings. They write our sins one by one. For sin is sin, and they are related to each other. This is the way the punishments are, and they are related to each other. Without the faces of the roads and the merciless tormentors, and the judges who have no form, they are upon the punishments. They are given to each one in a merciless manner and with great anger. Consider that the father of every sin walks giving his form, and he changes like the wolves. He turns in his snares, and he comes in many forms. He wishes to swallow our souls. And the hooks of death are in his hand, coming into the heart of man. He fills it with the passion of evil, and he falls upon man in his smallness without shame. He comes in a form of a serpent under the face of the great ones. After that, he comes with an eye's desire and a heart's envy. He also comes with a solitary form and with pride, and with a vain glory, and with a mixture, and with a form of a madman.

with a lack of righteousness, and with a love of the assembly, and a heart set on fornication, and with drunkenness, and with sorcery. All these things happen to a person in his first material age, and in his second. But when he comes to the third material age, which is old age, then the devil adds to him slander, and smallness of heart, and false swearing, when his body loses strength, and he does not know that it is old age. And he makes him become hungry and thirsty.

with the blindness of the manner of the beasts. These and the others, the devil does to a person in his third material age. But blessed is the person whom the devil will tempt, and he overcomes him through repentance, because his reward is great before God on the day of his coming out of the body. O my beloved children, you see that the light has set, and the sun has begun to set. Let us offer up the holy offering, for the time has come for us to receive from the holy mysteries, the body and blood of Christ, which are without deceit, from your hands. For behold, the velitarius of the king speaks with the soldiers of the governor, saying, "Let us take him and go, for the light has set." When the blessed Apa Psote, the bishop, said these things, he sealed the people three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And he gathered them together, gave them peace, dismissed them, and they went to their houses, glorifying their Lord Jesus Christ. Glory to him and to his good Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.