[excerpts from the book by Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, published by Penguin, 2003.]
2. Pambo said to Antony, 'What shall I do?' Antony said, 'Do not trust your own righteousness. Do not go on sorrowing over a deed that is past. Keep your tongue and your belly under control.'
7. Mark asked Arsenius, 'It is right, isn't it, to have nothing unnecessary in one's cell? I saw a brother who had a few cabbages, and he was rooting them out.' Arsenius said, 'It is right, but each should do what is right for his way of life. If he is not strong enough to endure without the cabbages, he will plant them again.'
9. Joseph of Thebes said, 'Three things are seen to be honourable by God. The first is when temptations come on someone who is weak, and are accepted thankfully. The second is when every action is pure before God, mixed with no human motive. The third is when a disciple remains obedient to a spiritual father, and gives up all his self-will.'
9. A brother once came to Poemen and said to him, 'What am I to do, abba? I am wretched with lust. I went to Hybistion, and he told me: "You must not let this passion live in you any longer."' Poemen said to him, 'Hybistion lives like the angels in heaven, and he does not know about these things. But you and I are full of lust. If the monk controls his stomach and his tongue, and stays in solitude, he can trust that he is not yet lost.'
12. A brother was obsessed by lust and it was like a fire burning day and night in his heart. But he struggled on, not examining the temptation nor consenting to it. After a long time, the fire left him, extinguished by his perseverance.
34. A brother asked a hermit, 'What am I to do, abba? I do nothing like a monk. I eat, drink, and sleep as I like, I am much troubled by vile thoughts, I shift from task to task, and my mind wanders everywhere.' The hermit answered, 'Stay in your cell, and do what you can without anxiety. It is not much that you do now, yet it is the same as when Antony did mighty things in the desert. I trust God that whoever stays in his cell for God's sake, and guards his conscience, will be found where Antony is.'
91. A brother asked a hermit, 'What shall I do, for I am troubled by many temptations, and I do not know how to resist them?' He said, 'Do not fight against them all at once, but against one of them. All temptations of monks have a single source. You must consider what kind of root of temptation you have, and fight against that and in this way all the other temptations will also be defeated.'
92. A hermit said this about evil thoughts, 'I beg you, my brothers, control your thoughts as you control your sins.'
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