Letters, Volume 1

Letters to a monk, who was a priest

LETTERS TO A MONK, WHO WAS A PRIEST (211–213) LETTER 211 Once, one of the fathers, a priest, who had toiled a great deal in the desert and now sought to live in stillness in the monastery, asked the Other Old Man how he should begin to live in stillness . Response by John. OHN THE BAPTIST said to our Master Christ, God: “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”1 Your love, however, has done the right thing and given us a lesson in humility, in order that we may in this way be ashamed and speak of our passions. “For it is beyond all dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.”2 Therefore, you ought to take care of me. For you are also a priest, a priest of God and a spiritual physician who has been called to anoint with oil those who have been afflicted, and to heal them from bodily illness; indeed, you also mix the anointing with the forgiveness of sins.3 Therefore, I, who have not been counted among the clergy because of my unworthiness, and because the luster of my white hair has not prevented me from having immature thoughts, am surely unable to give advice to one who is my superior. If the person asking me were someone on my level, my babbling would not allow me to keep silent without replying to him; for I have an uncontrolled tongue. And I would have said to him that a child progresses from the stage of a beginner to the stage of the more advanced. And he surely would have said to me that of course this is the case. Since, however, I have considered what I would have responded to him, I would also have said the fol219 1. Mt 3.14. 2. Heb 7.7. 3. Cf. Jas 5.14–15. 220 BARSANUPHIUS AND JOHN lowing: “Therefore, you also should live in stillness five days of the week and be in the company of your brothers for the other two days.4 And if your sitting in the cell is indeed according to God, that is to say, if you come to know what you want from sitting in your cell, you will not fall into the hands of the demon of vainglory. For people who know what they came to do in a city desire that alone and do not divert their hearts toward anything else; otherwise, they would fail in that which they seek.” Forgive me, Abba; for I have nothing else to say to you. But pray for me to the Lord; for I have neither any good deed to show nor any good word to say. LETTER 212 Question from the same [brother] to the same Old Man: “When I give to my body more than is necessary, it does not help me during the liturgy; and if I give it less, I am afraid it will collapse completely. What should I do about this? And in regard to holy Communion, since I want to partake of this every day, is it a burden to me that I approach holy Communion as a sinner, or should I continue to partake of it? And, again, how can I protect myself in stillness?” Response by John. I have previously mentioned to your love, Abba, the words of John [the Baptist] to the Savior; and yet you have written once again to me, the foolish and ignorant one. Therefore, if John did not refuse to respond, why should I, who am contemptible, refuse? For I am speaking the truth when I say that I am nothing and that I know nothing. Yet, for the sake of obedience, I speak that which I have in my heart. I will not say, however, that it is exactly like this, but I am speaking according to what I have. God does not demand from the one who is ill any physical liturgical function, but only a spiritual function, namely, prayer. For it is said: “Pray without ceasing.”5 As for bodily diet, if the body cannot perform the liturgy when it receives sufficient food, and if you are afraid of illness when it receives insufficient food, then retain the middle way. Give it neither too much nor too lit4 . This was the customary lifestyle for early Palestinian monastics. 5. 1 Thes 5.17. [18.216.251.37] Project MUSE (2024-04...