Poemen

When Abba Poemen was young, he once went to an elder to ask him about three thoughts. When he reached the elder, he forgot one of the three and returned to his cell. As he reached out to take the key, he remembered the thought he had forgotten. He left the key and went back to the elder. The elder said, “You came back quickly, brother.” Poemen explained, “When I reached out to take the key, I remembered the thought I was seeking. I did not open the door, and that is why I came back.” The journey was very long. The elder said to him, “Shepherd of angels, Poemen! Your name will be spoken throughout all the land of Egypt.”

Poemen’s brother Paesius once formed a relationship with someone outside his cell. Abba Poemen did not want this and, unable to find rest over it, got up and fled to Abba Ammonas. He said, “My brother Paesius has a relationship with someone, and I have no rest.” Abba Ammonas replied, “Poemen, are you still alive? Go, sit in your cell, and put it in your heart that you have already been in the tomb for a year.”

The priests of the district once came to the monastery where Abba Poemen was. Abba Anoub came in and said to him, “Let us invite the priests to come in today.” Poemen remained silent for a long time. Anoub went out grieved. Those sitting nearby asked Poemen why he had not answered. He said, “It is not my concern, for I have died. A dead man does not speak.”

There was an old anchorite in Egypt who, before Abba Poemen and those with him arrived, had knowledge and was greatly honored. When Abba Poemen and those with him came up from Scetis, the people left the old man and went to Poemen. Poemen was grieved for him and said to his brothers, “What shall we do for this great elder? These people have caused us sorrow by leaving him and coming to us, though we are nothing. How can we comfort him?”

They prepared a little food, took a measure of wine, and went to the elder’s cell. They knocked, and his disciple asked, “Who is there?” They said, “Tell Abba that Poemen wants his blessing.” The disciple brought the message, but the elder replied, “Go away; I have no time.” They stayed outside in the heat and said, “We will not leave until we are permitted to see the elder.” When he saw their humility and patience, he was moved and opened to them.

They entered, ate together, and the elder said, “Truly, what I heard about you was not enough; I have now seen a hundred times more in your deeds.” From that day he became their friend.

The magistrate once wanted to see Abba Poemen, but the elder would not receive him. So the magistrate seized the only son of Poemen’s sister as though he were a criminal and imprisoned him, saying, “If the elder comes and intercedes for him, I will release him.” Poemen’s sister came weeping to his door, but he did not answer her. She cried out against him, saying, “Bronze-hearted man! Have pity on me, for he is my only son.” Poemen sent word to her, “Poemen has not begotten children.”

When the magistrate heard this, he said, “Let him only send me one word, and I will release him.” The elder replied, “Examine him according to the laws. If he deserves death, let him die; if not, do as you wish.”

A brother once fell into sin in a cenobium. There was an anchorite in that district who had not left his cell for a long time. The abba of the cenobium went to the elder and told him about the brother who had fallen. The anchorite said, “Drive him out.” So the brother left the cenobium, went into a ravine, and sat there weeping.

Some brothers who were going to Abba Poemen heard him crying. They went down and found him in great distress. They urged him to go to the elder, but he would not, saying, “I will die here.” When they came to Abba Poemen, they told him what had happened. He begged them to go back and tell the brother, “Abba Poemen is calling you.” Then the brother came. Seeing him afflicted, Poemen rose, embraced him, treated him graciously, and invited him to eat.

Then Poemen sent one of his brothers to the anchorite, saying, “For many years, having heard about you, I have wanted to see you, but because of our laziness we have never met. Now, by God’s will and since the opportunity has arisen, take the trouble to come so that we may see one another.” The anchorite, who did not leave his cell, heard this and said, “If God had not assured the elder, he would not have sent for me.” He rose and came to Poemen. They greeted one another with joy and sat down. Poemen said to him, “There were two men, and each had a dead person in his house. One left his own dead and went to weep over the other man’s dead.” The elder was struck with compunction and remembered what he had done. He said, “Poemen is above in heaven, while I am down, down on the earth.”

A relative of Abba Poemen had a child whose face had been twisted backward through demonic activity. The child’s father brought him and sat outside the monastery, weeping. One of the elders came out, saw him, and asked, “Why are you crying, man?” He replied, “I am related to Abba Poemen, and this trial has happened to my child. We wanted to bring him to the elder, but we were afraid, because he does not want to see us. If he learns that I am here, he will send and drive me away. But when I saw you all here, I dared to come. As you wish, Abba, have mercy on me: take the child inside and pray for him.”

The elder took the child inside. Acting wisely, he did not bring him immediately to Abba Poemen, but began with the lesser brothers and said, “Make the sign over this child.” After having all the brothers make the sign over him in turn, he finally brought him to Abba Poemen. Poemen did not want the child to approach him, but the brothers begged him, saying, “As everyone else has done, so you also, Father.” Then he sighed, rose, and prayed, “God, heal Your creature, so that it may not be ruled by the enemy.” He made the sign over the child, and he was immediately healed and returned healthy to his father.

An anchorite from another place once came to see Abba Poemen. He was highly respected and had great love. Poemen received him with joy, and he began speaking to him about Scripture and about spiritual and heavenly things. But Poemen turned his face away and gave him no answer. The visitor went away grieved and said to the brother who had brought him, “I made this whole journey in vain. I came to see the elder, but he will not speak to me.”

The brother went to Poemen and said, “Abba, this is a great man, highly honored in his own country. Why did you not speak to him?” The elder said, “He is from above and speaks of heavenly things; I am from below and speak of earthly things. If he had spoken to me about the passions of the soul, I would have answered him. But if he speaks to me about spiritual things, I do not know them.”

The brother went out and said to the visitor, “The elder does not readily speak about Scripture, but if someone speaks to him about the passions of the soul, he answers.” Moved by this, the visitor went back in and said, “What should I do, Abba? The passions of the soul rule me.” Poemen looked at him with joy and said, “Now you have come well. Open your mouth about these things, and I will fill it with good things.” The visitor was greatly helped and said, “Truly, this is the right way.” He returned to his own country thanking God that he had been counted worthy to meet such a holy man.

The magistrate once seized a man from Abba Poemen’s village. The people came to the elder and begged him to intercede. Poemen said, “Give me three days.” During those days he prayed to God, “Lord, do not give me this grace, or they will never let me remain in this place.” After three days he went to the magistrate and asked for the man’s release. The magistrate said, “Are you interceding for a robber, Abba?” When Poemen heard that his request had not been granted, he rejoiced.

It was said that once Abba Poemen and his brothers were making waxed cords, but the work was not going well because they had no means to buy flax. Someone who loved them told a faithful merchant about the matter. Abba Poemen did not want to receive anything from anyone because of the trouble this could cause. The merchant, wanting to do the elder a service, pretended that he needed the waxed cords. He brought a camel and took them away.

When the brother came to Abba Poemen and heard what the merchant had done, intending to praise him, he said, “Indeed, Abba, though he did not need them, he took them so that he could give us work.” When Poemen heard that the merchant had taken them without needing them, he said to his brother, “Get up, hire a camel, and bring them back. If you do not bring them back, Poemen will not remain here with you. I will not wrong a man who does not need them, making him suffer a loss so that I may gain.” His brother went, and after much labor brought them back. If he had not brought them, the elder would have left them. When Poemen saw the cords, he rejoiced as though he had found a great treasure.

The priest of Pelusium once heard about some brothers who were constantly going into the city, bathing, and neglecting themselves. He came to the synaxis and took the monastic habit away from them. Afterward his heart struck him, and he repented. He came to Abba Poemen, overwhelmed by his thoughts and carrying the brothers’ tunics, and told the elder what had happened.

Poemen said to him, “Do you not have anything of the old man in you? Have you stripped him off?” The priest replied, “I still have a share in the old man.” The elder said, “Then look: you too are like the brothers. Even if you retain only a little of the oldness, you are still subject to sin.” The priest went away, summoned the brothers, made a prostration in repentance before the eleven of them, clothed them again in the monastic habit, and dismissed them.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “I have committed a great sin, and I want to repent for three years.” The elder said to him, “That is a long time.” The brother said, “Then for one year?” Again the elder said, “That is a long time.” Those who were present said, “What about forty days?” Again he said, “That is a long time.” Then he said, “I tell you that if a person repents with his whole heart and does not go on committing the sin, God receives him even in three days.”

Again he said, “The sign of a monk is revealed in trials.”

Again he said, “Just as the emperor’s sword-bearer stands beside him always ready, so the soul must be ready against the demon of fornication.”

Abba Anoub asked Abba Poemen about the impure thoughts that the human heart generates and about vain desires. Abba Poemen said to him, “Will an axe glory without the one who cuts with it? You too, do not give them your hand, and they will remain idle.”

Again Abba Poemen said, “If Nebuzaradan the chief cook had not come, the temple of the Lord would not have been burned. This means: if the indulgence of gluttony had not entered the soul, the mind would not have fallen in the battle against the enemy.”

It was said of Abba Poemen that when he was invited to eat against his will, he went weeping, so that he would not disobey his brother and grieve him.

Again Abba Poemen said, “Do not live in a place where you see some people are jealous of you; otherwise you will not make progress.”

Some people told Abba Poemen about a monk who did not drink wine. He said, “Wine is not for monks.”

Abba Isaiah asked Abba Poemen about filthy thoughts. He replied, “Just as clothes in a chest, if someone leaves them there, rot over time, so also thoughts: if we do not act them out bodily, over time they disappear—that is, they rot away.”

Abba Joseph asked him the same question. Abba Poemen replied, “Just as when someone puts a snake and a scorpion into a vessel and seals it, after some time they will surely die, so also evil thoughts that spring from the demons fade away through endurance.”

A brother came to Abba Poemen and said to him, “I sow my field and use its produce for charity.” The elder replied, “You do well.” The brother went away eagerly and increased his charity. When Abba Anoub heard what had been said, he said to Abba Poemen, “Do you not fear God, speaking to the brother like that?” The elder remained silent.

Two days later Abba Poemen sent for the brother and, with Abba Anoub listening, said to him, “What did you say to me the other day? My mind was elsewhere.” The brother replied, “I said that I sow my field and use its produce for charity.” Abba Poemen said, “I thought you were speaking about your brother who lives in the world. But if you yourself are doing this work, it is not the work of a monk.” When the brother heard this, he was saddened and said, “I know no other work but this, and I cannot stop sowing my field.”

After he left, Abba Anoub made a prostration before Poemen and said, “Forgive me.” Abba Poemen replied, “I too knew from the beginning that it is not the work of a monk. But I spoke according to his thought and gave him eagerness to grow in love. Now he has gone away saddened, and he will still do the same thing.”

Again Abba Poemen said, “If a person sins and denies it, saying, ‘I did not sin,’ do not rebuke him; otherwise you cut off his eagerness. But if you say to him, ‘Do not lose heart, brother, but guard yourself from now on,’ you stir his soul toward repentance.”

Again he said, “Experience is good, for it teaches a person to become proven.”

Again he said, “A person who teaches but does not do what he teaches is like a spring: it gives everyone drink and washes them, but it cannot cleanse itself.”

Once, while passing through Egypt, Abba Poemen saw a woman sitting in a tomb and weeping bitterly. He said, “Even if all the delights of this world were to come, they would certainly not move this woman’s soul away from mourning. So too the monk ought always to have mourning within himself.”

Again he said, “There is a person who seems to be silent, but his heart condemns others; such a person is always talking. And there is another who speaks from morning until evening yet keeps silence; that is, he says nothing except what is beneficial.”

A brother came to Abba Poemen and said to him, “Abba, I have many thoughts, and I am in danger because of them.” The elder took him outside into the open air and said to him, “Spread out the fold of your garment and hold back the winds.” He said, “I cannot do that.” The elder said to him, “If you cannot do this, neither can you prevent thoughts from coming. But it is your part to resist them.”

Abba Poemen said, “If three are together, and one practices stillness well, another is sick and gives thanks, and the third serves with a pure thought, the three are engaged in one work.”

Again he said, “It is written: ‘As the deer longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for You, O God.’ For deer in the desert swallow many reptiles, and when the venom burns them, they long to come to the water. After drinking, they cool themselves from the venom of the reptiles. So also monks sitting in the desert are burned by the venom of evil demons, and they long for Saturday and Sunday so that they may come to the springs of water—that is, to the body and blood of the Lord—and be cleansed from the bitterness of the evil one.”

Abba Joseph asked Abba Poemen, “How should one fast?” Abba Poemen said to him, “I want the one who eats every day to eat only a little, so as not to become full.” Abba Joseph said to him, “When you were younger, did you not fast two days at a time, Abba?” The elder said, “Certainly—three days, four days, and even a week. The Fathers tried all these things, being strong, and found that one should eat every day, but only a little. They handed down to us the royal way, because it is light.”

It was said of Abba Poemen that whenever he was about to go to the synaxis, he would sit by himself for about an hour, discerning his thoughts, and then he would go out.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “An inheritance has been left to me. What should I do with it?” The elder said to him, “Go away, and come back in three days, and I will tell you.” He returned as the elder had directed. Then the elder said, “What can I tell you, brother? If I tell you, ‘Give it to the church,’ they hold feasts there. If I tell you, ‘Give it to your relative,’ there is no reward for you. But if I tell you, ‘Give it to the poor,’ you will be free from care. So do whatever you want. I have nothing to do with it.”

Another brother asked him, “What does ‘Do not repay evil for evil’ mean?” The elder said to him, “This passion has four modes: first, from the heart; second, from the look; third, from the tongue; and fourth, not doing evil in return for evil. If you can cleanse your heart, it does not come into your look. But if it comes into your look, guard yourself from speaking. And if you do speak, cut it off quickly, so that you do not do evil in return for evil.”

Abba Poemen said, “Guarding, attending to oneself, and discernment—these three virtues are guides of the soul.”

Again he said, “Casting oneself before God, not measuring oneself, and putting one’s own will behind oneself are tools of the soul.”

Again he said, “For every hardship that comes upon you, victory over it is to keep silence.”

Again he said, “Every bodily rest is an abomination to the Lord.”

Again he said, “Mourning is twofold: it works and it guards.”

Again he said, “If a thought comes to you concerning the necessary needs of the body and you make provision for them once, and then it comes a second time and you make provision again, if it comes a third time, do not pay attention to it, for it is idle.”

Again he said that Abba Alonius asked Abba Poemen, “What is self-abasement?” The elder said, “To place yourself beneath irrational animals and to know that they are not subject to condemnation.”

Again he said, “If a person remembered what is written, ‘By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned,’ he would choose rather to keep silence.”

Again he said, “The beginning of evils is distraction.”

Again he said that Abba Isidore, the priest of Scetis, once spoke to the people, saying, “Brothers, did we not come to this place for the sake of toil? Yet now it no longer has toil. So I will prepare my sheepskin and go where there is toil, and there I will find rest.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “If I see something, do you want me to tell you about it?” The elder said to him, “It is written, ‘Whoever answers a word before hearing, it is folly and shame to him.’ If you are asked, speak; if not, keep silence.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Can a person rely on one single practice?” The elder said that Abba John the Dwarf had said, “I want to partake a little of all the virtues.”

Again the elder said that a brother asked Abba Pambo whether it was good to praise one’s neighbor. He said to him, “It is better to keep silence.”

Again Abba Poemen said, “Even if a person were to make a new heaven and a new earth, he could not be free from care.”

Again he said, “A person needs humility and the fear of God just as he needs the breath that comes from his nostrils.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do?” The elder said to him, “When Abraham entered the land of promise, he bought a tomb for himself, and through the tomb he inherited the land.” The brother said, “What is the tomb?” The elder said, “A place of weeping and mourning.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “If I give my brother a little bread or something else, the demons defile it for me, saying that it is being done to please people.” The elder said to him, “Even if it is done to please people, let us still give our brother what he needs.” He also told him this parable: “There were two farmers living in one city. One of them sowed and produced a small, impure crop; the other neglected to sow and produced nothing at all. If a famine comes, which of the two will find something to live on?” The brother answered, “The one who produced the little, impure crop.” The elder said, “So let us also sow a little, even if it is impure, so that we do not die of hunger.”

Again Abba Poemen said that Abba Ammonas had said, “A person may spend his whole life carrying an axe and still not manage to bring down the tree. Another is experienced in cutting and brings the tree down with a few blows.” He said that the axe is discernment.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “How ought a person to conduct himself?” The elder said, “We see Daniel: no accusation was found against him except in the service of the Lord his God.”

Abba Poemen said, “A person’s own will is a bronze wall between him and God, and a rock that resists him. If a person abandons it, he too can say, ‘By my God I shall leap over a wall.’ But if what is right joins itself to his own will, the person labors.”

Again he said that once, while some elders were sitting and eating, Abba Alonius stood serving them. When they saw him, they praised him, but he gave no answer at all. One of them said to him privately, “Why did you not answer the elders who were praising you?” Abba Alonius said, “If I had answered them, I would have been found to have accepted the praise.”

Again he said, “People speak at the level of perfection, yet they act at the lowest level.”

Abba Poemen said, “Just as smoke drives away the bees and then the sweetness of their work is taken away, so bodily rest drives the fear of God out of the soul and undoes all its work.”

A brother came to Abba Poemen in the second week of Lent. After telling him his thoughts and finding rest, he said, “I almost held back from coming here today.” The elder said, “Why?” The brother said, “I thought that perhaps because of Lent the door would not be opened to me.” Abba Poemen said, “We were not taught to close the wooden door, but rather the door of the tongue.”

Again Abba Poemen said, “One must flee bodily matters. When a person is near bodily warfare, he is like a man standing at the edge of a very deep pit: whenever his enemy wishes, he can easily throw him down. But if he is far from bodily matters, he is like a man standing far from the pit. Even if the enemy drags him in order to throw him down, while he is dragging and forcing him, God sends him help.”

Again he said, “Poverty, affliction, constraint, and fasting are the tools of the solitary life. For it is written, ‘If these three men are there—Noah, Job, and Daniel—as I live, says the Lord.’ Noah represents non-possession, Job toil, and Daniel discernment. If these three practices are in a person, the Lord dwells in him.”

Abba Joseph said, “While we were sitting with Abba Poemen, he called Agathon ‘Abba.’ We said to him, ‘He is younger; why do you call him Abba?’ Abba Poemen said, ‘His mouth has caused him to be called Abba.’”

A brother once came to Abba Poemen and said, “What should I do, Father? I am afflicted by fornication. I went to Abba Ibistion, and he told me, ‘You must not let it remain over you for long.’” Abba Poemen said to him, “Abba Ibistion’s deeds are above with the angels, and it escapes him that you and I are in fornication. If a monk controls his belly and his tongue and maintains the life of exile, take courage: he will not die.”

Abba Poemen said, “Teach your mouth to speak what your heart has.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “If I see my brother’s fault, is it good to cover it?” The elder said, “At the hour when we cover our brother’s fault, God covers ours; and at the hour when we reveal our brother’s, God reveals ours.”

Again Abba Poemen said that someone once asked Abba Paesius, “What should I do with my soul? It has become insensible and does not fear God.” He said to him, “Go and attach yourself to a person who fears God. By drawing near to him, you too will be taught to fear God.”

Again he said, “If a monk overcomes two things, he can become free from the world.” The brother said, “What are they?” He answered, “Bodily rest and vainglory.”

Abraham, the disciple of Abba Agathon, asked Abba Poemen, “How do the demons wage war against me?” Abba Poemen said to him, “The demons wage war against you? They do not wage war against us as long as we do our own wills. Our own wills have become demons, and they are the ones afflicting us so that we may fulfill them. If you want to see whom the demons truly fought, it was Moses and those like him.”

Abba Poemen said, “God gave Israel this way of life: to abstain from things contrary to nature—that is, anger, wrath, jealousy, hatred, speaking against one’s brother, and the rest that belongs to the old man.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Give me a word.” He said, “The Fathers set mourning as the beginning of the work.” The brother said again, “Give me another word.” The elder answered, “As far as you can, work with your hands so that from it you may show mercy. For it is written that almsgiving and faith cleanse sins.” The brother said, “What is faith?” The elder said, “Faith is to live in humility and to show mercy.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “If I see a brother about whom I have heard of a fault, I do not want to bring him into my cell; but if I see a good brother, I rejoice with him.” The elder said, “If you do a little good to the good brother, do twice as much for the other, for he is the one who is sick. There was once in a cenobium a solitary named Timothy. The superior heard a report about a brother who was under temptation and asked Timothy about him. The solitary advised him to put the brother out. When he had put him out, the brother’s temptation was laid upon Timothy until he was in danger. Timothy wept before God, saying, ‘I have sinned; forgive me.’ A voice came to him saying, ‘Timothy, do not think I have done this to you for any other reason than that you disregarded your brother in the time of his temptation.’”

Abba Poemen said, “We lie in so many temptations because we do not keep our names and our rank, as Scripture also teaches. Do we not see the Canaanite woman, who accepted the name given her, and the Savior gave her rest? Again, Abigail said to David, ‘In me is the sin,’ and he listened to her and loved her. Abigail represents the soul, and David the Divinity. If the soul blames itself before the Lord, the Lord loves it.”

Once Abba Poemen was passing through the region of Diolcos with Abba Anoub. When they came near the tombs, they saw a woman beating herself in grief and weeping bitterly, and they stood watching her. Going a little farther, they met someone, and Abba Poemen asked him, “What has happened to this woman that she is weeping so bitterly?” He said, “Her husband, her son, and her brother have died.” Abba Poemen answered Abba Anoub, “I tell you, unless a person puts to death all the wills of the flesh and acquires this mourning, he cannot become a monk. Her whole life and her mind are turned toward mourning.”

Abba Poemen said, “Do not measure yourself; instead, attach yourself to one who conducts himself well.”

Again he said that whenever a brother came to Abba John the Dwarf, he gave him the love described by the Apostle: “Love is patient and kind.”

Again he said concerning Abba Pambo that Abba Anthony had said of him, “By fearing God, he caused the Spirit of God to dwell in him.”

One of the Fathers related this about Abba Poemen and his brothers. When they were living in Egypt, their mother wanted to see them but could not. She watched for the time when they went to church and met them. When they saw her, they turned back and shut the door in her face. She cried at the door with much weeping and lamentation, saying, “Let me see you, my beloved children!” Hearing her, Abba Anoub went in to Abba Poemen and said, “What shall we do with this old woman weeping at the door?” Standing inside, Poemen heard her crying with many laments and said to her, “Old woman, why are you crying out like this?” When she heard his voice, she cried out even more and said, “I want to see you, my children. What harm is there if I see you? Am I not your mother? Did I not nurse you? I am completely gray-haired. Hearing your voice has shaken me.” The elder said to her, “Do you want to see us here, or in the world to come?” She said, “If I do not see you here, will I see you in the world to come?” He said, “If you force yourself not to see us here, you will see us there.” She went away rejoicing and saying, “If I will truly see you there, I do not want to see you here.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What are the high things?” The elder said to him, “Righteousness.”

Some heretics once came to Abba Poemen and began speaking against the archbishop of Alexandria, saying that he had his ordination from presbyters. The elder kept silence, then called his brother and said, “Set the table, give them something to eat, and send them away in peace.”

Abba Poemen said that a brother living with other brothers asked Abba Bessarion, “What should I do?” The elder said to him, “Keep silence, and do not measure yourself.”

Again he said, “Do not give your heart’s attention to anything about which your heart is not fully assured.”

Again he said, “If you make yourself of little account, you will have rest wherever you settle.”

Again he said that Abba Sisoes used to say, “There is a kind of shame that carries the sin of lacking fear.”

Again he said, “Self-will, bodily rest, and becoming accustomed to them bring a person down.”

Again he said, “If you are given to silence, you will have rest in every place where you live.”

Again he said concerning Abba Pior that every day he made a new beginning.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “If a person is overtaken in some fault and turns back, is he forgiven by God?” The elder said to him, “Will not God, who commanded people to do this, do it all the more Himself? For He commanded Peter, saying, ‘Up to seventy times seven.’”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Is it good to pray?” The elder said that Abba Anthony had said, “This voice comes from the presence of the Lord, saying, ‘Comfort My people, says the Lord; comfort them.’”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Can a person hold back all his thoughts and give none of them to the enemy?” The elder said, “There is one who receives ten and gives one.”

The same brother asked Abba Sisoes the same question. He said to him, “There is one who gives nothing to the enemy.”

There was a great practitioner of stillness on the mountain of Athlibeos. Robbers came upon him, and the elder cried out. His neighbors heard, seized the robbers, sent them to the governor, and he put them in prison. The brothers were grieved and said, “They were handed over because of us.” They went to Abba Poemen and told him what had happened. He wrote to the elder, saying, “Consider where the first betrayal came from, and then you will see the second. If you had not first been betrayed from within, you would not have committed the second betrayal.” When the elder heard Abba Poemen’s letter—for he was renowned throughout the region and did not leave his cell—he rose, went to the city, brought the robbers out of prison, and publicly set them free.

Abba Poemen said, “A monk is not one who complains of his lot; a monk is not one who retaliates; a monk is not one given to anger.”

Some elders came to Abba Poemen and said to him, “If we see brothers becoming drowsy in the synaxis, do you want us to nudge them so that they stay awake during the vigil?” He said to them, “For my part, if I see a brother becoming drowsy, I put his head on my knees and let him rest.”

It was said of a brother that he was attacked by a thought of blasphemy and was ashamed to speak of it. Wherever he heard that great elders were living, he went to them so that he might tell them, but when he arrived he was ashamed to confess it. He often came also to Abba Poemen. The elder saw that he was carrying thoughts and was grieved that the brother did not tell him. One day, as he was sending him away, he said, “For so long you have been coming here with thoughts you want to tell me, yet when you come you do not want to speak of them. Each time you go away distressed, still carrying them. Tell me, my child, what is it that you have?” He said, “The demon attacks me with blasphemy against God, and I was ashamed to say it.” When he had told him the matter, he was immediately relieved. The elder said, “Do not be distressed, my child. Whenever this thought comes, say, ‘I have nothing to do with it. Your blasphemy be upon you, Satan; my soul does not want this.’ Whatever the soul does not want lasts only a short time.” The brother went away healed.

A brother asked Abba Poemen, saying, “I see that wherever I go, I find help.” The elder said to him, “Even those who have a sword in their hands have God showing them mercy in the present time. If, then, we are courageous, He will deal mercifully with us.”

Abba Poemen said, “If a person blames himself, he endures everywhere.”

Again he said that Abba Ammonas used to say, “A person may spend a hundred years in his cell and still not learn how one ought to sit in a cell.”

Abba Poemen said, “If a person reaches the saying of the Apostle, ‘All things are pure to the pure,’ he sees himself as less than all creation.” The brother said, “How can I regard myself as less than a murderer?” The elder said, “If a person reaches this saying and sees someone committing murder, he says, ‘This man committed this one sin; but I kill every day.’”

The brother asked Abba Anoub the same saying and told him what Abba Poemen had said. Abba Anoub said to him, “If a person reaches this saying and sees his brother’s shortcomings, his own righteousness swallows them up.” The brother said, “What is his righteousness?” The elder answered, “Always to blame himself.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “If I fall into a grievous fault, my thought devours me and accuses me, saying, ‘Why did you fall?’” The elder said to him, “At the hour when a person falls into a fault and says, ‘I have sinned,’ it immediately comes to an end.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Why do the demons persuade my soul to attach itself to the one who surpasses me and make me despise the one who is less than I am?” The elder said to him, “For this reason the Apostle said, ‘In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also wooden and earthen ones. If, then, anyone cleanses himself from all these, he will be a vessel for honor, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.’”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “How is it that I do not become free with the elders regarding my thoughts?” The elder said that Abba John the Dwarf had said, “The enemy rejoices over nothing so much as over those who do not reveal their thoughts.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “My heart becomes slack when even a little toil comes upon me.” The elder said to him, “Do we not marvel at Joseph, who was a young man of seventeen, and how he endured the temptation to the end? And God glorified him. Do we not also see Job, how he did not give way but held fast to endurance to the end? The temptations were not able to shake him from his hope in God.”

Abba Poemen said, “A cenobium needs three practices: one marked by humility, one by obedience, and one that is active and bears the goad because of the work of the community.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “In a time of my distress I asked one of the holy men for an item I needed for use, and he gave it to me as an act of love. If God now provides for me also, should I give it as an act of love to others, or rather return it to the one who gave it to me?” The elder said, “What is right before God is that it be given back to him, for it is his.” The brother said, “If I take it back and he does not want to receive it, but says to me, ‘Go, give it as an act of love however you wish,’ what should I do?” The elder said, “Until then the item is his. But if someone gives you something on his own initiative, without your asking, it is yours. If you asked for something from a monk or a layman and he does not wish to receive it back, the proper course is, with his knowledge, to give it away as an act of love on his behalf.”

It was said of Abba Poemen that he never wished to put his own word above that of another elder; instead, he praised the elder in everything.

Abba Poemen said, “Many of our Fathers became courageous in ascetic practice, but in subtle discernment there was only one here and one there.”

Once Abba Isaac was sitting beside Abba Poemen when the sound of a rooster was heard. He said to him, “Are such things here, Abba?” Poemen answered, “Isaac, why do you force me to speak? You and those like you hear these things; the watchful person pays no attention to them.”

It was said that when some brothers came to Abba Poemen, he first sent them to Abba Anoub because Anoub was older in years. But Abba Anoub would say to them, “Go to my brother Poemen, for he has the gift of the word.” And whenever Abba Anoub sat there near Abba Poemen, Poemen did not speak at all in his presence.

A very devout layman came to Abba Poemen. Other brothers happened to be with the elder, asking to hear a word from him. The elder said to the faithful layman, “Speak a word to the brothers.” He pleaded, “Forgive me, Abba; I came here myself to learn.” But when the elder pressed him, he said, “I am a layman who sells vegetables and trades. I undo the bundles and make them smaller; I buy for little and sell for much. Besides this, I do not know how to speak from Scripture, but I will tell a parable. A man said to his friend, ‘I want to see the king; come with me.’ The friend said, ‘I will go with you halfway.’ He said to another friend, ‘Come, take me to the king.’ He said, ‘I will take you as far as the king’s palace.’ He said to a third, ‘Come with me to the king.’ He answered, ‘I will come, take you into the palace, stand there and speak, and bring you in to the king.’” They asked him what the meaning of the parable was. He answered, “The first friend is ascetic practice, which leads as far as the road. The second is chastity, which reaches as far as heaven. The third is almsgiving, which brings us before God the King with boldness.” The brothers went away edified.

A brother settled outside his own village and for many years did not go up into it. He would say to the brothers, “See how many years it has been since I went up into the village, while you go up there continually.” They told Abba Poemen about him, and the elder said, “I used to go up at night and walk around the village, so that my thought would not boast because I had not gone up there.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Give me a word.” He said to him, “While the pot is burning over the fire, a fly or any other creeping thing cannot touch it; but when it grows cold, they settle on it. So it is with the monk: as long as he perseveres in spiritual practices, the enemy finds no way to bring him down.”

Abba Joseph said concerning Abba Poemen that he said, “This is the saying written in the Gospel: ‘He who has a garment, let him sell it and buy a sword.’ That is, the one who has rest should leave it and take hold of the narrow way.”

Some Fathers asked Abba Poemen, “If we see a brother sinning, do you want us to rebuke him?” The elder said to them, “For my part, if I need to pass that way and I see him sinning, I pass by him and do not rebuke him.”

Abba Poemen said, “It is written, ‘What your eyes have seen, testify to that.’ But I tell you: even if you touch it with your hands, do not testify. A brother was once deceived in such a matter. He seemed to see his brother sinning with a woman. After being greatly troubled, he went over and kicked them with his foot, thinking it was they, and said, ‘Stop now! How long will this go on?’ And behold, they turned out to be sheaves of wheat. This is why I tell you: even if you touch it with your hands, do not rebuke.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do? I am attacked by fornication and anger.” The elder said, “For this reason David said, ‘I struck the lion, and I strangled the bear.’ That is: I cut off anger, and I crushed fornication through toils.”

Again he said, “No greater love can be found than for a person to lay down his life for his neighbor. If someone hears an evil word—that is, a hurtful word—and though able to say the same in return, struggles not to say it; or if he is wronged and bears it without repaying the one who hurt him, such a person lays down his life for his neighbor.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What is a hypocrite?” The elder said to him, “A hypocrite is one who teaches his neighbor something he himself has not reached. For it is written, ‘Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, while there is a beam in your own eye?’ and what follows.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What does it mean to be angry with one’s brother without cause?” He said, “Whatever wrong your brother does you, if you become angry with him, you are angry without cause. Even if he gouges out your right eye and cuts off your right hand, if you become angry with him, you are angry without cause. But if he separates you from God, then be angry.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do about my sins?” The elder said, “The one who wants to redeem his sins redeems them by weeping, and the one who wants to acquire virtues acquires them by weeping. For weeping is the way Scripture and our Fathers handed down to us when they said, ‘Weep.’ There is no other way except this.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What is repentance from sin?” The elder said, “Not to do it again from now on. This is why the righteous were called blameless: they left their sins and became righteous.”

Again he said, “The wickedness of people is hidden behind their backs.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do about these disturbances that trouble me?” The elder said, “Let us weep before the goodness of God in every toil of ours until He shows us His mercy.”

The brother asked him again, “What should I do about the unprofitable friendships I have?” He said, “A person may be snoring on the verge of death and still paying attention to the friendships of this world. Do not draw near to them or touch them, and they will become alien to you of themselves.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Can a person be dead?” He said to him, “If he reaches into sin, he becomes dead; but if he reaches into the good, he will live and do it.”

Abba Poemen said that blessed Abba Anthony had said, “A person’s great strength is to put his own fault upon himself before the Lord and to expect temptation until his last breath.”

Abba Poemen was asked to whom the written saying applies, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” The elder said, “It was spoken to a person who is in temptation and losing heart, so that he will not worry, saying, ‘How long will I be in this temptation?’ Instead, let him reckon each day by saying, ‘Today.’”

Again he said, “Teaching one’s neighbor belongs to one who is healthy and without passion. What use is it to build someone else’s house while destroying your own?”

Again he said, “What use is it for someone to go to a trade and not learn it?”

Again he said, “All excesses are from the demons.”

Again he said, “When a person is about to build a house, he gathers many necessities so that he can raise the house, and he gathers different kinds of materials. So let us also take a little from all the virtues.”

Some of the Fathers asked Abba Poemen, “How did Abba Nisterus bear so much with his disciple?” Abba Poemen said to them, “If it were I, I would even put the pillow under his head.” Abba Anoub said to him, “And what would you say to God?” Abba Poemen said, “I would say to Him, ‘You said, “First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”’”

Abba Poemen said, “Hunger and sleep did not allow us to see these little things.”

Again he said, “Many became strong, but few spurred others on.”

Again he said with groans, “All the virtues have entered this house except one virtue, and without it a person stands only with difficulty.” They asked him which one it was. He said, “For a person to blame himself.”

Abba Poemen often said, “We need nothing except a watchful mind.”

One of the Fathers asked Abba Poemen, “Who is the one who says, ‘I am a companion of all who fear You’?” The elder said, “It is the Holy Spirit who says it.”

Abba Poemen said that a brother asked Abba Simon, “If I leave my cell and find my brother distracted, I become distracted with him; and if I find him laughing, I laugh with him. Then when I enter my cell, I am not allowed to have rest.” The elder said to him, “You want to leave your cell, find people laughing and laugh too, find people talking and talk too, then enter your cell and find yourself as you were before?” The brother said, “But what should I do?” The elder answered, “Keep guard within; keep guard without.”

Abba Daniel said, “Once we came to Abba Poemen and ate together. After we had eaten, he said to us, ‘Go, brothers, rest a little.’ The brothers went to rest for a while, but I remained, wanting to speak with him privately, and I rose and went to his cell. When he saw me coming toward him, he placed himself as though asleep. This was the elder’s practice: to do everything in secret.”

Abba Poemen said, “If you see visions and hear voices, do not tell them to your neighbor, for it is an overturning in the warfare.”

Again he said, “The first time, flee; the second time, flee; the third time, become a sword.”

Again Abba Poemen said to Abba Isaac, “Lighten a little the measure of your righteousness, and you will have rest during your few days.”

A brother came to Abba Poemen while some others were sitting with him, and he praised a certain brother as one who hated evil. Abba Poemen said to the speaker, “And what is hatred of evil?” The brother was astonished and could not find an answer. He rose, made a prostration before the elder, and said, “Tell me what hatred of evil is.” The elder said, “Hatred of evil is this: for a person to hate his own sins and regard his neighbor as righteous.”

A brother came to Abba Poemen and said to him, “What should I do?” The elder said, “Go and stay close to the one who says, ‘What do I want?’ and you will have rest.”

Abba Joseph related that Abba Isaac said, “Once I was sitting with Abba Poemen and saw him go into ecstasy. Because I had great freedom of speech with him, I made a prostration before him and begged him, saying, ‘Tell me, where were you?’ When I pressed him, he said, ‘My mind was where holy Mary the Theotokos stood and wept by the cross of the Savior. I wish that I could always weep like that.’”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do about this burden that presses on me?” The elder said, “Small boats and great ships have tow-ropes. If there is no favorable wind, the sailors put the ropes across their chests and little by little draw the ship until God sends the wind. But if they learn that a dark storm has arisen, they put in to shore and drive in a stake so that the ship will not drift.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen about attacks from thoughts. The elder said, “This is like a man who has fire on his left and a jar of water on his right. If the fire catches, he takes water from the jar and puts it out. The fire is the enemy’s seed; the water is to cast oneself down before God.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Is it better to speak or to be silent?” The elder said, “The one who speaks for God’s sake does well, and the one who keeps silence for God’s sake does likewise.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “How can a person escape speaking evil of his neighbor?” The elder said, “We and our brothers are two images. Whenever a person attends to himself and blames himself, his brother is honorable in his sight. But when he seems good to himself, he finds his brother evil before him.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen about acedia. The elder said, “Acedia stands at every beginning, and there is no worse passion than it. But if a person recognizes it for what it is, he finds rest.”

Abba Poemen said, “We saw three bodily practices in Abba Pambo: fasting every day until evening, silence, and much handiwork.”

Again he said that Abba Theonas used to say, “Even if someone gains a virtue, God does not give grace to him alone. He knows that the person was not faithful in his own toil. But if he goes to his companion, then the grace remains with him.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “I want to enter a cenobium and live there.” The elder said to him, “If you want to enter a cenobium, unless you become free from concern about every conversation and every matter, you cannot live the cenobitic life. You do not have authority even over a single water jug.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do?” He said, “It is written, ‘I will declare my iniquity, and I will be concerned about my sin.’”

Abba Poemen said, “As for fornication and slander, a person must not even speak about these two thoughts or entertain them at all in the heart. If he tries to examine them there, he gains no benefit; but if he rises fiercely against them, he will have rest.”

Abba Poemen’s brothers said to him, “Let us leave this place, for the monasteries around here disturb us and we are losing our souls. Even the crying children do not let us practice stillness.” Abba Poemen said to them, “Is it because of the voices of angels that you want to leave this place?”

Abba Bitimius asked Abba Poemen, “If someone has something against me, and I make a prostration in repentance before him but he will not be reconciled, what should I do?” The elder said, “Take two other brothers with you and make a prostration before him. If he is not persuaded, take five others. If he is not persuaded by them either, take a priest. If even then he is not persuaded, pray to God without anxiety, that God Himself may satisfy him, and be free from care.”

Abba Poemen said, “To teach one’s neighbor is the same as rebuking him.”

Again he said, “Do not carry out your own will. Rather, it is necessary to humble yourself before your brother.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “I have found a place that is quiet from all the brothers. Do you want me to live there?” The elder said, “Live wherever you will not harm your brother.”

Abba Poemen said, “These three chief things are useful: to fear the Lord, to pray, and to do good to one’s neighbor.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “My body has grown weak, but my passions have not grown weak.” The elder said, “The passions are thorny thickets.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do?” The elder said, “When God visits us, what should concern us?” The brother answered, “Our sins.” The elder said, “Then let us enter our cell, sit down, and remember our sins, and the Lord will work with us in everything.”

A brother who was going to the market asked Abba Poemen what he should do. The elder said, “Be friendly with the one who presses you, and sell your vessels in peace.”

Abba Poemen said, “Teach your mouth to speak what your heart has.”

Abba Poemen was asked about defilements. He answered, “If we establish the practical life and keep careful watch, we will not find defilement in ourselves.”

Abba Poemen said, “From the third generation of Scetis, after Abba Moses, the brothers no longer came to progress.”

Again he said, “If a person keeps his proper order, he is not disturbed.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “How should I sit in the cell?” He said, “As far as what is visible is concerned: work with your hands, eat once a day, keep silence, and meditate. The hidden progress in the cell is to subject yourself to self-reproach wherever you go, not to neglect the hours of the synaxis or the hidden prayers. If there happens to be a time when you are idle from your handiwork, go into the synaxis and complete it without disturbance. The conclusion of these things is this: acquire good companionship and keep away from bad companionship.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “If a brother has a few of my coins, do you want me to ask him for them?” The elder said, “Ask him once.” The brother said, “Then what should I do? I am not master of my thought.” The elder said, “Let your thought stagnate; only do not distress your brother.”

Once some of the Fathers, among them Abba Poemen, came to the house of a Christ-loving man. While they were eating, meat was set before them. Everyone ate except Abba Poemen. The elders were surprised at his abstinence, since they knew his discernment. When they rose from the table, they said to him, “You are Poemen, and you acted like this?” The elder answered, “Forgive me, Fathers. You ate and no one stumbled. But if I had eaten, since many brothers come near me, they would have been harmed, saying, ‘Poemen ate meat, while we do not.’” And they marveled at his discernment.

Abba Poemen said, “I say this: into the place where Satan is cast, there I am cast.”

The same elder said to Abba Anoub, “Turn your eyes away from seeing vanity, for freedom destroys souls.”

Once Paesius and his brother began fighting while Abba Poemen was sitting there, until blood ran down from their heads. The elder said absolutely nothing to them. Abba Anoub came in, saw them, and said to Abba Poemen, “Why did you let the brothers fight without saying anything to them?” Abba Poemen answered, “They are brothers; they will make peace again.” Abba Anoub said, “What is this? You saw them behave like that and you say, ‘They will make peace again’?” Abba Poemen said to him, “Put it in your heart that I was not here.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Brothers live with me. Do you advise me to give them orders?” The elder said, “No. First do the work yourself; if they want to live, they will see for themselves.” The brother said, “But they themselves want me to command them, Father.” The elder said, “No. Be an example to them, not a lawgiver.”

Abba Poemen said, “When a brother comes to you and you see that his coming has not helped you, search your mind and consider what thought you were turning over before he entered; then you will know the cause of why you did not benefit. If you do this with humility and attention, you will be blameless toward your neighbor, carrying your own faults. If a person makes his sitting with watchfulness, he will not stumble, for God is before him. As I see it, from this kind of sitting a person acquires the fear of God.”

Again he said, “A person who has a young companion living with him, and through him is stirred toward any passion of the old man, yet still keeps him with himself, is like a man who has a field being eaten by worms.”

Again he said, “Evil never removes evil. If someone does evil to you, do good to him, so that by doing good you may destroy the evil.”

Again he said, “When David fought the lion, he seized it by the throat and immediately killed it. If we too seize our throat and our belly, with God’s help we will overcome the invisible lion.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What should I do? Affliction comes upon me and I am shaken.” The elder said, “Force makes both small things and great things move.”

They said of Abba Poemen that he was living in Scetis with two of his brothers, and the youngest was troubling them. Poemen said to the other brother, “This younger one is wearing us down. Get up; let us leave here.” They went out and left him. When the younger brother saw that they were taking a long time, he saw them far away and began running after them, crying out. Abba Poemen said, “Let us wait for the brother, for he is tired.” When he reached them, he made a prostration and said, “Where are you going, leaving me alone?” The elder said, “Because you trouble us, we are leaving.” He replied, “Yes, yes. Wherever you want, let us go together.” When the elder saw his guilelessness, he said to his brother, “Let us turn back, brother. He does not do these things willingly; it is the devil who does them to him.” So they returned to their place.

The superior of a cenobium asked Abba Poemen, “How can I acquire the fear of God?” Abba Poemen said, “How can we acquire the fear of God when we have bellies full of cheeses and jars of salted fish inside us?”

A brother asked Abba Poemen, “Abba, there were two men, one a monk and one a layman. In the evening the monk decided that in the morning he would cast off the habit, and the layman decided that he would become a monk. But both died that night. What will be reckoned to them?” The elder said, “The monk died a monk, and the layman died a layman. They departed in the state in which they were found.”

Abba John said, “Once we came from Syria to Abba Poemen, wanting to ask him about hardness of heart. The elder did not know Greek, and no interpreter was available. When he saw us distressed, the elder began to speak in Greek and said, ‘The nature of water is soft, while the nature of stone is hard. Yet a water jug hanging above the stone and dripping little by little pierces the stone. So also the word of God is soft, while our heart is hard; but when a person hears the word of God often, his heart is opened to fear God.’”

Abba Isaac came to Abba Poemen and saw him pouring a little water over his feet. Because he had freedom of speech with him, he said, “How did some people practice such severity, treating their bodies harshly?” Abba Poemen said to him, “We were not taught to be killers of the body, but killers of the passions.”

Again he said, “There are three things I cannot cut off entirely: food, clothing, and sleep. But we can cut them down in part.”

A brother said to Abba Poemen, “I eat a great many vegetables.” The elder said, “That does not benefit you. Rather, eat your bread with a few vegetables, and do not go to your parents’ house because of your needs.”

They said of Abba Poemen that when elders sat before him and spoke about the elders, if they mentioned Abba Sisoes he would say, “Leave aside the things concerning Abba Sisoes, for what concerns him does not come within the measure of narration.”