Apophthegmata

Concerning Abba Macarius of Egypt. Abba Macarius related about himself, saying: When I was younger and was living in a cell in Egypt, they seized me and made me a cleric in the village; and not wishing to accept this, I fled to another place. And a pious layman came to me, and he would take my handiwork and serve me. It happened, through a temptation, that a certain virgin in the village fell; and having conceived, she was asked who had done this. She said: The anchorite. And they came out and seized me in the village, and they hung soot-blackened pots and small jars around my neck, and they paraded me through the village, street by street, beating me and saying: This monk has corrupted our virgin, take him, take him. And they beat me almost to the point of death. Then one of the elders came and said: How long will you beat the foreign monk? The one who served me followed behind me, ashamed; for they were insulting him greatly and saying: Behold the anchorite whom you vouched for, what has he done? And her parents say: We will not release him until he gives a guarantor to support her. And they spoke to my servant, and he stood surety for me. And having gone to my cell, I gave him all the baskets I had, saying: Sell them and give them to my wife to eat. And I said to my own thought: Macarius, behold you have found yourself a wife; you must work a little more, so that you may support her; and I worked night and day, and I sent to her. And when the time came for the wretched woman to give birth, she remained for many days in torment, and she did not deliver.

and they said to her, "What is this?" She said, "I know: I falsely accused the anchorite, and lying, I made the accusation; and he has no involvement, but such-and-such a younger man." And the one who served me came rejoicing and said that that virgin was unable to give birth until she confessed, saying, "The anchorite has no involvement, but I lied against him; and behold, the whole village wants to come here with glory and repent to you." But I, hearing these things, so that the people would not trouble me, arose and fled here to Scetis. This is the beginning of the reason why I came here. Abba Macarius of Egypt once came from Scetis to the mountain of Nitria, for the offering of Abba Pambo. And the elders said to him, "Speak a word to the brothers, Father." He said, "I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. For once, when I was sitting in my cell in Scetis, my thoughts troubled me, saying, 'Go into the desert and see what you see there.' I struggled against the thought for five years, saying, 'Lest it be from demons.' And as the thought persisted, I went into the desert. And there I found a lake of water, and an island in the middle of it. And the beasts of the desert came to drink from it. And I saw in their midst two naked men. And my body trembled, for I thought they were spirits. But they, seeing me trembling, spoke to me: 'Do not fear; we too are men.' And I said to them, 'Where are you from, and how did you come into this desert?' And they said, 'We are from a cenobium; we made an agreement and came out here; behold, forty years.'

One is an Egyptian, the other a Libyan. And they also asked me, saying, "How is the world? Does the water come at its proper time? Does the world have its abundance?" And I said to them, "Yes." And I asked them, "How can I become a monk?" And they said to me, "Unless one renounces all worldly things, he cannot become a monk." And I said to them, "I am weak and cannot do as you do." And they said to me, "Even if you cannot do as we do, sit in your cell and weep for your sins." And I asked them, "When winter comes, do you not shiver? And when heat comes, are your bodies not burned?" They said, "God has made this provision for us: we neither shiver in winter nor does the heat of summer harm us." For this reason I told you that I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. Forgive me, brothers. Abba Macarius, when he dwelt in the utter desert—he was alone there, living as a recluse, while below there was another desert with more brothers. The old man watched the road, and he sees Satan coming up in the form of a man, passing by him; he appeared to be wearing a linen tunic full of holes, and at each hole a little flask was hanging. And the great old man said to him, "Where are you going?" And he said to him, "I am going to tempt the brothers." The old man said, "And what are these little flasks for?" And he said, "I am carrying tastes to the brothers." The old man said, "All of these?" He answered, "Yes; if one does not please someone, I bring another; and if not even this one, I give another; certainly at least one of them will please him.

And having said these things, he departed. The old man remained, watching the roads until that one returned again. And when the old man saw him, he said to him, "May you be saved." The other answered, "Where is it possible for me to be saved?" The old man said to him, "Why?" The other said, "Because everyone has become wild toward me, and no one tolerates me." The old man said to him, "Do you have no friend there, then?" The other answered, "Yes, I have one monk there who is a friend, and he at least obeys me. But when he sees me, he turns away like a windmill." The old man said to him, "And what is the brother called?" The other said, "Theopemptus." Having said these things, he departed. And Abba Macarius arose and went to the lower desert. And when the brothers heard, they took palm branches and went out to meet him. And then each one prepared himself, thinking that the old man was going to stay with him. But he was seeking who the one called Theopemptus was on the mountain. And having found him, he entered his cell. Theopemptus received him joyfully. When he began to speak privately with him, the old man said, "How are things with you, brother?" The other said, "By your prayers, well." The old man said, "Do not the thoughts trouble you?" The other said, "For the moment I am well," for he was ashamed to speak. The old man said to him, "Behold, how many years I have practiced asceticism, and I am honored by all, and even I, an old man, am troubled by the spirit of fornication." Theopemptus answered, saying, "Believe me, Abba, it is the same with me." And the old man pretended that other thoughts were troubling him, until he made him confess. Then he said to him, "How do you fast?" The other said to him, "At the ninth hour." The old man said to him, "Fast until evening, and practice asceticism.

and recite the Gospel and the other scriptures; and if a thought arises in you, never look downward, but always upward; and immediately the Lord helps you. And having thus formed the brother, the old man departed into his own desert. And watching again, he sees that same demon, and says to him, "Where are you going again?" The other says, "To remind the brothers," and he departed. When he returned again, the holy man says to him, "How are the brothers?" The other says, "Badly." The old man says, "Why?" The other said, "They are all wild; and the greater evil is that even the one I had as a friend who obeyed me, he too—I do not know from where—has been perverted, and not even he obeys me, but has become wilder than all; and I swore never to set foot there again, except after some time." And having said this, he departed, leaving the old man; and the holy man entered his cell. Abba Macarius the Great visited Abba Antony on the mountain, and when he knocked at the door, Antony came out to him and said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am Macarius." And Antony closed the door and went in, leaving him. And seeing his patience, he opened to him. And jesting with him, he said, "For a long time I have desired to see you, hearing about you." And having entertained him, he gave him rest; for he was

from much labor. When evening came, Abba Antony moistened a palm branch for himself. And Abba Macarius said to him, "Command that I also moisten one for myself." He said, "Moisten." And having made a large bundle, he moistened it. And sitting together from evening, speaking about the salvation of souls, they were plaiting; and the rope descended through the window into the cave. And entering in the morning, the blessed Antony saw the great quantity of rope from Abba Macarius, and he said, "Great strength comes forth from these hands." Abba Macarius said concerning the desolation of Scetis to the brothers: "When you see a cell being built near the marsh, know that its desolation is near; when you see trees, it is at the doors. But when you see children, take up your sheepskins and withdraw." He said again, wishing to console the brothers: "A demon-possessed child came here with his mother, and he said to his mother, 'Get up, old woman, let us go from here.' She said, 'I cannot walk.' And the child said to her, 'I will carry you.' And I marveled at the wickedness of the demon, how he wanted to drive them away.

Abba Sisois said: When I was in Scetis with Macarius, we went up to harvest with him, seven names. And there was a widow gathering reeds behind us, and she did not stop weeping. So the old man called the master of the estate and said to him, "What is the matter with this old woman, that she is always weeping?" He said to him, "Because her husband had a deposit from someone, and he died suddenly, and he did not say where he put it; and the owner of the deposit wants to take her and her children as slaves." The old man said to him, "Tell her to come to us, where we are resting from the heat." And when the woman came, the old man said to her, "Why are you weeping like this?" And she said, "My husband died having taken a deposit from someone, and he did not say when dying where he put it." And the old man said to her, "Come, show me where you laid him." And taking the brothers with him, he went out with her. And when they came to the place, the old man said to her, "Withdraw to your house." And after they had prayed, the old man called to the dead man, saying, "So-and-so, where did you put the deposit of another?" And he answered and said, "In my house it is hidden under the foot of the bed." And the old man said to him, "Sleep again until the day of the resurrection." And the brothers, seeing this, fell at his feet from fear. And the old man said to them, "This did not happen because of me; I am nothing. But because of the widow and the orphans, God did this thing. And this is the great thing: that God wants the soul to be sinless, and whatever it asks for, it receives." And he went and told the widow where the deposit lay.

She took it and gave it to her master, and he freed her children. And all who heard glorified God. Abba Peter said concerning Saint Macarius that once, when he came to a certain anchorite and found him ill, he asked what he wanted to eat, since there was no one in his cell. And when the other said, "A pastil," the brave man did not hesitate to go to the city of Alexandria and give it to the sick man; and the remarkable thing is that it was not noticed by anyone. He also said that when Abba Macarius lived in simplicity toward all the brothers, some said to him, "Why do you make yourself so?" And he said, "I served my Lord for twelve years that he might grant me this gift, and do you all advise me to lay it aside?" They said concerning Abba Macarius that if he had leisure with the brothers, he set a rule for himself: that if wine were found, he would drink for the brothers' sake, and in place of one cup of wine he would not drink water for one day. So the brothers, for the sake of rest,

They would give it to him, and the old man would take it with joy, in order to torment himself. But his disciple, knowing the matter, said to the brothers, "For the Lord's sake, do not give it to him; otherwise, he will subdue himself in his cell." And the brothers, learning this, no longer provided it to him. Once, as Abba Macarius was passing from the marsh to his cell, carrying some palm branches, the devil met him on the road with a sickle. And when he tried to strike him, he could not. And the devil said to him, "Great is the violence I suffer from you, Macarius, for I cannot prevail against you. For see, whatever you do, I also do: you fast, so do I; you keep vigil, I never sleep at all. There is only one thing in which you conquer me." Abba Macarius said to him, "What is that?" And he replied, "Your humility. And because of this, I cannot prevail against you." Some of the fathers asked Abba Macarius the Egyptian, saying, "How is it that your body is dry both when you eat and when you fast?" And the old man said to them, "The stick that turns the burning brushwood is entirely consumed by the fire. So if a man purifies his mind in the fear of God, that fear of God itself consumes his body.

Abba Macarius once went up from Scetis to Terenuthis, and entered the sanctuary to sleep. There were old Greek coffins there, and taking one, he placed it under his head as a pillow. The demons, seeing his boldness, were envious, and wanting to frighten him, they called out a woman's name, saying, "So-and-so, come with us to the bath." Another demon answered from beneath him, as if from the dead, saying, "I have a stranger on top of me, and I cannot come." The old man was not frightened, but boldly struck the coffin, saying, "Get up, go into the darkness, if you can." Hearing this, the demons cried out with a loud voice, saying, "You have conquered us," and fled in shame. They said of Abba Macarius the Egyptian that, when going up from Scetis carrying baskets, he grew weary and sat down, and prayed, saying, "God, you know that I am not strong." And immediately he found himself at the river. There was a man in Egypt who had a paralytic son; he brought him to the cell of Abba Macarius, and leaving him weeping at the door, he withdrew far off. The old man, looking out, saw the child and said to him, "Who brought you here?" And he said, "My father threw me here and went away." The old man said to him, "Get up and catch up with him." And immediately, being healed, he got up and caught up with his father, and thus they went to their home. Abba Macarius the Great said to the brothers in Scetis, as he dismissed the church, "Flee, brothers." And one of the old men said to him, "Where can we flee beyond this desert?

He would put his finger to his mouth, saying, "Flee from this." And he would enter his cell, close the door, and sit down. The same Abba Macarius said: If, when rebuking someone, you are moved to anger, you are fulfilling your own passion; for you will not save others, but destroy yourself. The same Abba Macarius, while in Egypt, found a man who had a beast and was plundering his necessities; and he himself, standing by the plunderer as a stranger, loaded the beast, and with great tranquility escorted him, saying, "We brought nothing into the world; clearly, we can take nothing out. The Lord gave; as he wished, so it happened. Blessed is the Lord for everything." Some asked Abba Macarius, saying, "How ought we to pray?" The old man says to them, "There is no need to babble, but to stretch out the hands and say, 'Lord, as you wish and as you know, have mercy'; and if a battle presses, 'Lord, help'; and he knows what is fitting, and he works mercy with us." He said

Abba Macarius said: If disparagement becomes the same to you as praise, and poverty as wealth, and need as abundance, you will not die; for it is impossible for one who believes rightly and works in piety to fall into the impurity of passions and the deception of demons. They said that two brothers in Scetis had fallen into error, and Abba Macarius the Politicus separated them. And some came and told Abba Macarius the Great, the Egyptian. He said: The brothers are not separated, but Macarius is separated; for he loved him. Abba Macarius heard that he had been separated by the old man, and he fled into the marsh. So Abba Macarius the Great went out and found him being stung by mosquitoes; and he said to him: You separated the brothers, and behold, they were about to withdraw to the village. But I separated you, and you, like a beautiful virgin, fled here into the inner chamber. I called the brothers and learned from them and said: None of this happened. So see also, brother, that you were not mocked by demons, for you saw nothing; but do penance for your error. He said: If you wish, give me penance. Seeing his humility, the old man said: Go and fast for three weeks, eating once a week; for this was always his practice, to fast for weeks. Abba Moses said to Abba Macarius in Scetis: I wish to be in hesychia, but the brothers do not let me. And Abba Macarius says to him: I see that your nature is soft, and you cannot turn away a brother.

But if you wish to be still, go into the desert, into the rock, and there you will be still. And he did this and found rest. A brother came to Abba Macarius the Egyptian and said to him, “Abba, speak a word to me on how I may be saved.” And the old man said, “Go to the cemetery and insult the dead.” So the brother went, insulted and stoned them, and returning, reported to the old man. And he said to him, “Did they say nothing to you?” He replied, “No.” The old man said to him, “Go again tomorrow and praise them.” So the brother went, praised them, saying, “Apostles, saints, and righteous ones,” and came to the old man and said to him, “I have praised them.” And he said to him, “Did they answer you nothing?” The brother said, “No.” The old man said to him, “You know how much you dishonored them, and they answered nothing, and how much you praised them, and they said nothing to you. So also you, if you wish to be saved, become dead: take account neither of the injustice of men nor of their glory, like the dead, and you can be saved.” Once, as Abba Macarius was passing through Egypt with some brothers, he heard a child saying to its mother, “Mama, a rich man loves me, and I hate him; and a poor man hates me, and I love him.” And hearing this, Abba Macarius marveled. And the brothers said to him, “What is this saying, Father, that you marveled at?” And the old man said to them, “Truly our Lord is rich and loves us, and we do not wish to hear him; but our enemy the devil is poor and hates us, and we love his uncleanness.

Abba Poemen besought him with many tears, saying, “Speak a word to me on how I may be saved.” The old man answered him, “The thing you seek has now departed from the monks.” Abba Macarius once visited Abba Antony, and after speaking with him returned to Scetis. The fathers came to meet him, and as they were talking, the old man said to them, “I said to Abba Antony that we have no offering in our place.” And the fathers began to speak of other things, and they did not ask further to learn the answer from the old man, nor did the old man tell them. So one of the fathers said this, that if the fathers see that it escapes the brothers to ask about a matter that benefits them, they force themselves to speak the beginning of the word; but if they are not compelled by the brothers, they no longer speak the word, lest they be found speaking when not asked, and it be found to be idle talk. Abba Isaiah asked Abba Macarius, saying, “Speak a word to me.” And the old man says to him, “Flee from men.” Abba Isaiah said to him, “What is it to flee from men?” The old man said to him, “To sit in your cell and weep for your sins.” Abba Paphnutius, the disciple of Abba Macarius, said that I besought my father, saying, “Speak a word to me.” He said, “Do no evil to anyone, and condemn no one; keep these and you will be saved.

Abba Macarius said, “Do not sleep in the cell of a brother who has a bad reputation.” Some brothers once visited Abba Macarius in Scetis, and they found nothing in his cell except foul water, and they said to him, “Abba, come up to the village, and we will give you rest.” The old man said to them, “Do you know, brothers, the bakery of so-and-so in the village?” And they said to him, “Yes.” The old man said to them, “I know it too. Do you also know the field of so-and-so where the river strikes?” They said to him, “Yes.” The old man said to them, “I know it too; when I wish, I have no need of you, but I provide for myself.” It was said of Abba Macarius that if a brother came to him as to a holy and great elder with fear, he would say nothing to him. But if one of the brothers said to him, as if disparaging him, “Abba, when you were a camel driver and used to steal nitron and sell it, did not the guards beat you?”—if someone said this to him, he would speak to him with joy, whatever he asked him. It was said of Abba Macarius the Great that he became, as it is written, an earthly god; for just as God protects the world, so Abba Macarius became one who covers over faults, seeing as though not seeing, and hearing as though not hearing. Abba Bitimius related that Abba Macarius said, “Once when I was sitting in Scetis, two young strangers came down there; one had a beard, and the other was just beginning to grow a beard. And they came to me saying, ‘Where is the cell of Abba Macarius?’ And I said, ‘What do you want with him?’ And they say,

Having heard about him and about Scetis, we came to see him. I said to them, “I am he.” And they made a prostration to me, saying, “We wish to stay here.” But I, seeing that they were delicate and as if from wealth, said to them, “You cannot settle here.” And the elder among them said, “If we cannot settle here, we will go elsewhere.” I said to my own thought, “Why am I driving them away, and they are becoming scandalized? The hardship will make them flee of their own accord.” And I said to them, “Come, make yourselves a cell if you can.” And they said, “Show us a place, and we will build.” The old man gave them an axe and a bag full of loaves and salt. The old man also showed them a hard rock, saying, “Quarry here, and bring yourselves wood from the marsh, and after roofing it, settle down.” I thought, he says, that they would leave because of the labor. They asked me, “What work is done here?” I told them about the rope: and I take palm leaves from the marsh, and I show them the beginning of the rope, and how it must be woven, and I said, “Make baskets, and provide them to the guards, and they will bring you loaves.” Then I withdrew. And they, with patience, did everything I told them; and they did not visit me for three years. And I remained struggling with my thoughts, saying, “What then is their work, that they did not come to ask about a thought?” People from afar come to me; and these who are near did not come, nor did they go to others; they only went to church in silence to receive the offering. And I prayed to God, fasting for the week, that he might show me their work.

of them. After the week, I got up and went to see them, how they were sitting. And when I knocked, they opened, and greeted me in silence. And having made a prayer, I sat down. The elder nodded to the younger to go out, and he sat down to weave the rope, saying nothing. And at the ninth hour he knocked, and the younger came, and made a small meal, and set the table, the elder having nodded to him. And he placed three loaves on it, and stood in silence. And I said, "Rise, let us eat." And we rose and ate. And he brought the jug, and we drank. When evening came, they said to me, "Are you leaving?" And I said, "No, but I will sleep here." And they placed a mat for me apart, and for themselves in the corner apart. And they took off their belts and their analaboi, and they laid themselves together on the mat before me. When they had laid themselves down, I prayed to God that he might reveal to me their practice. And the roof was opened, and there was light as day. But they did not see the light. And when they thought I was asleep, the elder nudged the younger in the side, and they rose, and girded themselves, and stretched out their hands toward the sky. And I watched them, but they did not see me. And I saw demons coming like flies upon the younger. Some came and sat on his mouth, others on his eyes. And I saw an angel of the Lord holding a sword of fire, and fencing him in and driving the demons away from him. But to the elder they could not approach. And about dawn they laid themselves down.

And I pretended that I had woken up, and they did likewise. The elder said to me only this word: "Shall we recite the twelve psalms?" I said, "Yes." And the younger chanted five psalms of six verses each and one alleluia. And with each verse, a flame of fire came out of his mouth and ascended to heaven. Likewise, when the elder opened his mouth to chant, a rope of fire came out and reached up to heaven. And I said a little from my chest. And going out, I said, "Pray for me." And they made a prostration in silence. So I learned that the elder was perfect, but the younger was still being fought by the enemy. After a few days, the elder brother fell asleep, and on the third day, the younger. And when some of the fathers visited Abba Macarius, he took them to their cell, saying, "Come, see the martyrdom of the young strangers." Once, the elders of the mountain sent to Abba Macarius in Scetis, entreating him, and they said to him, "So that the whole people may not be troubled to come to you, we ask you to come to us, so that we may see you before you depart to the Lord." When he arrived at the mountain, all the people gathered to him, and the elders asked him to speak a word to the brothers. Hearing this, he said, "Let us weep, brothers, and let our eyes bring forth tears, before we go where our tears will burn our bodies." And they all wept, and fell on their faces and said, "Father, pray for us.

Another time a demon approached Abba Macarius with a sword, wanting to cut off his foot; but because of his humility, being unable to do so, it said to him: "Everything you have, we also have; you differ from us only in humility, and that is why you prevail." Abba Macarius said: "If we remember the evils brought upon us by men, we destroy the power of the memory of God; but if we remember the evils of the demons, we shall be invulnerable." Abba Paphnutius, the disciple of Abba Macarius, said that the elder used to say: "When I was a child, I used to tend cattle with the other children; and I went to steal some figs; and as they were running, one of them fell, and I took it and ate it; and whenever I remember that, I sit and weep." Abba Macarius said: "Once when I was walking in the desert, I found a skull lying on the ground of a dead man; and shaking it with my palm staff, the skull spoke to me; and I said to it: 'Who are you?' The skull answered me: 'I was a high priest of the idols, and of the Greeks who remained in this place; and you are Macarius the Spirit-bearer. Whenever you take pity on those in torment and pray for them, they are comforted a little.' The elder said to it: 'What is this comfort, and what is the torment?' It said to him: 'As far as the heaven is from the earth, so much fire is beneath us, with us standing from feet to head in the midst of the fire; and it is not possible to see anyone face to face, but each one's face is glued to the back of another. So when you pray for us, from that point one sees the face of the other partially; this is the comfort.'

humility. And the old man wept and said, "Woe to the day on which a man is born." The old man said to him, "Is there another, worse torment?" The skull said to him, "There is a greater torment beneath us." The old man said to him, "And who are there?" The skull said to him, "We, as those who did not know God, are pitied even a little; but those who knew God and denied him are beneath us." And the old man took the skull and buried it. They said of Abba Macarius of Egypt that once he was going up from Scetis to the mountain of Nitria. And as he drew near the place, he said to his disciple, "Go on a little ahead." And as he went forward, he met a certain priest of the Greeks. And the brother, shouting, cried out to him, "Aha, aha, demon, where are you running?" But that one turned and gave him blows and left him half dead. And taking up his staff, he ran on. And going a little further, Abba Macarius met him as he was running, and said to him, "Greetings, greetings, hard worker." And marvelling, he came to him and said, "What good did you see in me, that you greeted me?" The old man said to him, "Because I saw you laboring, and you do not know that you labor in vain." He said to him in turn, "And I was moved by your greeting, and I learned that you are of God's party; but another evil monk who met me insulted me, and I gave him blows to the death." And the old man knew that it was his disciple. And the priest, seizing his feet, said, "I will not let you go unless you make me a monk." And they went up to where the monk was, and they carried him and brought him to the church of the mountain.

And when they saw the priest with him, they were amazed; and they made him a monk; and many of the Greeks became Christians through him. So Abba Macarius said, "Evil speech makes even the good evil; and good speech makes even the evil good." They said of Abba Macarius that, in his absence, a thief entered his cell. When he returned to the cell, he found the thief loading his belongings onto a camel; he himself entered the cell, took some of the belongings, and helped load the camel with him. When they had finished, the thief began to strike the camel to make it rise; but it would not get up. Seeing that it would not rise, Abba Macarius entered the cell, found a small stick, brought it out, and placed it on the camel, saying, "Brother, this is what the camel seeks." And the old man struck the camel with his foot and said, "Get up"; and immediately it got up, and went a little way because of his word; then it sat down again, and did not get up until they had unloaded all the belongings; and thus it went away. Abba Aio asked Abba Macarius, saying, "Say a word to me." Abba Macarius said to him,

Flee from people; sit in your cell, and weep for your sins, and do not love the talk of men; and you will be saved.