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How Should we Behave?

Friday, February 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, ‘How should a man behave?’ The old man said to him, ‘Look at Daniel: no one found anything in him to complain about except his prayers to the Lord his God.’ (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Poemen 53)

Filed Under: Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent., Holy Fathers, Prayer

Advice on Prayer

Thursday, February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent.

Teach your mouth to say that which you have in your heart. (Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Poemen 63)

St. Benedict of Nursia ca. 480-547

Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in sight of the Godhead and of His Angels, and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice. (The Rule of St. Benedict, 19)

Filed Under: Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent., All, Holy Fathers, Prayer, St. Benedict of Nursia ca. 480-543

The Love of the Theotokos

Sunday, August 14, 2011 By 1 Comment
Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent.
 
Abba Joseph related that Abba Isaac said, ‘I was sitting with Abba Poemen one day and I saw him in ecstasy and as I was on terms of great freedom of speech with him, I prostrated myself before him and begged him, saying, “Tell me where you were.” He was forced to answer and he said, “My thought was with St Mary, the Mother of God, as she wept by the cross of the Saviour. I wish I could always weep like that.” (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Abba Poemen 144)
 
St. Silouan of Mt. Athos 1866-1938
 
In this wise I reflect in my soul: if I who love God so little am so violently heartsick for the Lord, how exceedingly great must have been the grief of the Mother of God when she was left on earth, after the Ascension of her Lord. She put not in writing the tale of her soul’s affliction, and we know little of her life on earth, but this much we must suppose…the abundance of her love for her Son and her God reaches beyond our understanding… We cannot fathom the depth of the love of the Mother of God, but this we know:
 
The greater the love, the greater the sufferings of the soul.
The fuller the love, the fuller the knowledge of God.
The more ardent the love, the more fervent the prayer.
The more perfect the love, the holier the life.
 
Not one of us is able to attain to the fulness of the Mother of God’s love, and we have need of repentance like Adam. Yet in part, as we are taught of the Holy Spirit in the Church, we may comprehend that love of hers. (St. Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony)
Filed Under: Abba Poemen the Great ca. 4th cent., All, Holy Fathers, St. Silouan the Athonite 1886-1938, Theotokos (Mary)