True Poverty

Desert Raven “Once Abba Arsenius fell ill in Scetis and in this state he needed just one coin. He could not find one so he accepted one as a gift from someone else, and he said, ‘I thank you, God, that for your name’s sake you have made me worthy to come to this pass, [...]

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Jacob’s Ladder

Angels climbJacob’s ladderat Bath Abbey Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was [...]

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Care of the Sick Brothers

The reading from the Rule of St. Benedict for July 15: Care of the sick must rank before and above everything, so that they may truly be served as Christ Himself, for He said: I was sick and you visited me (Matthew 25.36) and, Whatever you did for one of these who are least, you [...]

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Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own

Daily Reading from the Rule of St. Benedict for July 11: This vice especiallyis to be cut out of the monastery by the roots.Let no one presume to give or receive anythingwithout the Abbot’s leave,or to have anything as his own –anything whatever,whether book or tablets or pen or whatever it may be –since they [...]

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Intercession II

Blue Dragonfly  From Daily Reading with the Desert Fathers: “Abba Marcarius said, ‘Walking one day in the desert, I found the skull of a dead man lying on the ground. As I was moving it with my stick, the skull spoke to me. I said to it, ‘Who are you?’ The skull replied, ‘I was [...]

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Intercession

Beehive huts on Skellig Michaelwhere warrior monks lived in the eighth century to protect mainland  Ireland from Viking invasions. From Daily Readings with The Desert Fathers: It is clear to all who dwell in Egypt that it is through the monks that the world is kept in being and that through them also human life [...]

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Small Steps

Penny Carothers The following essay was written by Penny Carothers, social justice editor for the Burnside Writer’s Collective: To those from the West, Calcutta, India, assaults your sense and can steal your hope. Decaying buildings slant this way and that over lean-to dwellings that shelter families who have fled the countryside in hope of a [...]

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Elijah Fed by Ravens

Albert Herbert, Elijah fed by ravens in the desert, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches. Elijah has been considered the model of Christian monasticism since the first monks and nuns lived in the desert, either alone or in communities. In the old testament story, God orders Elijah to live in the desert and be [...]

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True Learning

“Abba Anthony said, ‘Fear not this goodness as a thing impossible, nor the pursuit of it as something alien, set a great way off; it hangs on our own choice. For the sake of Greek learning, men go overseas . . . But the city of God has its foundations in every seat of human [...]

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Baking Bread

Ancient Greek figurine of woman kneading bread “Abba Theodore of Enaton said, ‘When I was young, I lived in the desert. One day I went to the bakery to make two loaves, and there I found a brother also wanting to make bread, but there was no one to help him. So I put mine [...]

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