Teaching (Book of Orsiesius)

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

“Hear, Israel, the commandments of life; give ear and understand prudence. Why is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land; you are defiled with the dead; you are counted with those who are in the underworld; and you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of God, you would perhaps have dwelt in peace.” Learn, then, he says, “where your prudence is, where the strength of glory and of power is, where understanding is, where the light of the eyes and peace are. Who has found her place, and who has entered into her treasuries?” Baruch said these things on account of those who had been led away into captivity in the land of Babylon and of their enemies, because they would not receive the commandments of the prophets and had forgotten the law of God that was given through Moses. Therefore God brought penalties and punishments upon them and put them under the yoke of captivity, instructing them, then, as his own, and correcting them as a father corrects his sons, not willing that those he corrected should perish but desiring to save them through repentance.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore we too ought to remember the apostle's words, who says: “If he did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare us,” if we neglect to fulfil God's commandments. “All these things happened to them in figure, but they were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” And they indeed were carried over from the city of Judah into the city of the Chaldeans, changing places on earth; but we, if God sees us negligent, will lose our city in the age to come, and, forsaking joy, will be handed over to a captivity of punishments, and will lose the everlasting joy which our fathers and brothers found by unceasing labour.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let forgetfulness not overcome you, then, and let us not take God's patience for ignorance: he bears with us and delays for this reason, that we may turn to better things and not be handed over to torments. When we sin, let us not think that God consents to our sins because he does not punish at once; but let us consider this, that, going out of the world soon, we shall be separated hereafter from our fathers and brothers, who possess the place of the victor. That place we too shall have, if we are willing to tread in their footsteps and to heed what the apostle Paul says, who here too separates the saints from sinners and hands over offenders “for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved.” “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,” and whom he reproves so that he may be corrected, and teaches him his law, so that he may walk in all his commandments all the days of his life; who does not murmur for his sin.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore let us also search our ways and examine our own steps; let us return to the Lord and lift up our hearts with our hands on high, to heaven, so that on the day of judgment he may be our helper, and we may not be put to shame when we speak with our enemies in the gate, but rather may be worthy to hear this: “Open the gates, that a people may enter who keeps justice and truth.” One to whom truth is dear and who possesses peace can say: “For in you we have hoped, Lord, for ever.” Let us remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem rise up upon our heart. Let us not forget that man of whom it is written: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in him; he will be like a fruitful tree beside the waters, and sends out its roots toward moisture; it will not fear when the heat comes, and it will have leafy branches, and in the time of drought it will be green, bearing fruit without fail. The heart is heavy above all things, and it is man, and who shall know him? I am the Lord, searching hearts and kidneys, to give to each according to his ways.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us remember ourselves and not make light of the sins we have committed; and let us go over with anxious heart each commandment of our Father and of those who taught us, not only believing in Christ but also suffering for him, and understanding that mystery of which it is said: “The Spirit of our face, Christ the Lord.” And elsewhere: “Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” And again: “The word of the Lord has given me life,” and: “The law of the Lord is unblemished, converting souls; the commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes.” And the apostle says: “The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Understanding all these things, we shall be worthy to hear: “When the just man falls he will not be dashed down, for the Lord upholds his hand.” And again: “The just man falls seven times and rises again.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Now therefore, brothers, since God acts patiently and calls us to repentance, let us wake from heavy sleep, for “our adversary goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”; he must be resisted keenly, and we must know that the same contests befell our elders as well. Let us not grow weary in labour, sowing the seeds of the virtues, so that hereafter we may reap joys, and let us hear Paul teaching: “But you have kept my teaching, instruction, purpose, patience, persecution”; and, following the examples of the saints, let us remain in what we have begun, having Jesus as leader and perfecter. Let us understand the hair of our head on the way, that it may be ointment on our beard, that it may come down to the hem of the garment, so that we may fulfil all that is written.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Wherefore, O leaders and superiors of monasteries and houses, to whom men have been entrusted, and among whom are found T, or I, or E, or A — to speak generally, you to whom men have been entrusted: let each with his own troop await the Saviour's coming, so as to prepare for his sight an army adorned with arms. Do not refresh them in bodily things while not giving them spiritual food; or again teach them spiritual things while afflicting them in bodily things, that is, in food and clothing. But give spiritual and bodily food alike, and give them no occasion for negligence. Or what justice is this, that we should afflict the brothers with labour and ourselves give ourselves to leisure? Or that we should lay on them a yoke which we ourselves cannot bear? We read in the Gospel: “With the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.” Therefore let us have both labour and refreshment in common with them, and not think the disciples slaves, and let their trouble be our sorrow, lest the Gospel rebuke us with the Pharisees: “Woe to you lawyers, who bind burdens that cannot be borne and lay them on men's shoulders, and you yourselves do not dare to touch them even with a finger.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

There are some who attend to themselves, so that, living by God's commandment, they say to themselves: “What have I to do with others? As for me, I serve God and fulfil his commandments; what others do does not concern me.” Ezekiel rebukes this, saying: “O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves? Do they not feed the sheep? See, you eat the milk and are clothed with the wool; what was fat you have [not] slaughtered; what was weak you have not strengthened; what was broken you have not bound up; what strayed you have not brought back; what was lost you have not sought; what was strong you made fail through labour; and you have scattered my sheep, because they had no shepherd.” Therefore the Lord himself will come with his elders and princes, and this will be fulfilled in us: “Your exactors plunder you, and those who demand of you lead you astray.” Rather we ought to hear: “Blessed is the land whose king is a son of the free, and whose princes eat in due season, in strength, and will not be put to shame.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore, O man, even down to the one soul that has been entrusted to you, do not cease to admonish and teach what is holy, and to offer yourself as an example of good works, and to beware above all of loving one and hating another; rather show equal fairness to all, lest perhaps the one you love God hates, and the one you hate God loves. For friendship's sake agree with no one who errs; do not press one down and lift another up, so that your labour perish. … Let the superiors of the houses beware lest perhaps, when any one of the brothers has done an injury to his superior, the superior in anger should decide and say: “What concern have I with a man who despises me? Let him do what he likes; it does not concern me. I do not admonish him, nor do I correct him when he errs; whether he is saved or perishes, it does not concern me.” O man, why do you say this? Understand by what fury you are overcome, and that hatred has taken hold of your heart, so that the brother perishes more by your fault than by his own sin. You ought to forgive him and receive him when he repents, so that you can say the Gospel word: “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” If then you want God to forgive you your sins, forgive your brother too whatever it is that he has sinned against you, mindful of that precept: “Do not hate your brother in your heart,” and of Solomon, who admonishes: “Rouse your fellow citizen for whom you have gone surety.” And again: “Do not cease to instruct a child; for if you strike him with the rod he will not die.” Hear Moses too, saying: “You shall surely reprove your neighbour, so that you do not bear sin because of him.” Lest there happen again that word of Solomon: “He who does not warn his son to keep himself from destruction will quickly be undone.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let all to whom the care of the brothers has been committed prepare themselves for the Saviour's coming and his fearful judgment seat. For if to give account for oneself is full of danger and fear, how much more to undergo torment for another's fault and to fall into the hands of the living God? Nor can we plead ignorance, since it is written: “God will bring every deed into judgment, in all things that are neglected, whether good or evil.” And in the apostle we read: “We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive for what he has done, whether good or evil.” Isaiah too signifies a fixed day on which God is to judge the world in righteousness, saying: “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, incurable, of fury and wrath, to make the world a desert and to destroy sinners from it.” We know that all that is written in the law, and that the oracles of the prophets foretold to us, and that our holy Father also taught, must be held fast by us, and that we shall give account of each, why we did not do it, or did it carelessly. For he speaks to whom all judgment has been handed over by the Father, and the Truth teaches the truth: “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me too; for he wrote of me.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

From all these we learn that we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged for each not only of our deeds but also of our thoughts, and that after giving account of our own life we shall likewise give account also for others who have been entrusted to us. And this is to be heard not only of the superiors of houses, but also of the heads of the monasteries and of each of the brothers who are counted among the people: for all ought to bear one another's burdens, so as to fulfil the law of Christ, and to hear the apostle writing to Timothy: “O Timothy, guard the deposit, avoiding profane novelties of words and the profession of what is falsely called knowledge.” We too have a deposit handed over by God, the life of the brothers, for whom we labour and also await future rewards; lest perhaps it be said to us as well: “Let this people go, that it may depart.” And on those who forsake the traditions of our Father let this be pressed home: “Those who have the law did not know me; the shepherds acted impiously against me.” Whence he rebukes others, saying: “I gave my inheritance into your hand, but you did not show them mercy; you made the yoke heavy on the old.” This we must not only hear but also understand: “For he who does not know will not be known.” And in another place it is written: “Because you rejected my knowledge, I too will reject you, so that you shall not serve me as priest.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore, dearest brothers, who follow the life and precepts of the cenobia, stand firm in the purpose once taken up, and fulfil the work of God, so that the Father who first founded the cenobia may, rejoicing over us, say to the Lord: “As I handed down to them, so they live.” The apostle too said the same while still in the body: “I praise you that in all things you remember me, and as I handed down to you, you keep my traditions.” [13] You too, therefore, heads of monasteries, be careful and take all care for the brothers with the fear and justice of God; and do not abuse your power for punishments, but show yourselves an example to all and to the flock subject to you, as our Lord too showed himself an example in all things, “who made families like sheep,” so that you may have mercy on the flock entrusted to you, and remember the apostle's saying, in which he says: “I held back nothing, so as not to declare to you the whole will of God.” And again: “I did not cease entreating each one of you and teaching you publicly.” See how great a heart, how great mercy there was in the man of God, who was not only anxious for all the churches, but was weak with the weak and bore the sufferings of all. Let us beware lest through our negligence someone be scandalized and fall, and lest we forget the words of the Lord Saviour, who says in the Gospel: “Father, of those whom you gave me I have not lost any.” Let us despise no soul, lest anyone perish through our harshness. For if anyone has died because of us, our soul will be held guilty for his soul. This our Father too used to impress on us unceasingly, and warned lest that saying be fulfilled in us: “Each oppresses his neighbour.” And again: “If you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” From this it appears that he who keeps another's soul is the guardian of his own soul.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

But you too who are second in the monastery, show yourselves first in virtues, lest anyone perish by your fault. Do not fall into the reproach into which that man fell who ate and drank with drunkards and did not give his fellow servants their food in due season: “And the Lord will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him apart and put his portion with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Let no such condemnation seize any of you; but when the times of refreshment come may we be worthy to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant; because you were faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

You too, superiors of the individual houses, be ready to answer all who ask of you an account of the faith that is in you. Admonish the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient towards all; and hear the apostle admonishing: “And you fathers, do not provoke your sons to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord”; and know that “to whom more is given, more will be required of him, and to whom more is entrusted, more will be demanded.” Do not consider only what profits you but what profits your neighbours, lest the Scripture be fulfilled in you which says: “Because you pursue each the advantage of his own house, therefore the heaven will withhold its dew and the earth will not give its fruits, since you have made your words heavy against me.” It is said elsewhere too: “Because you did not do it to one of the least of mine, you did not do it to me.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

I will say it more often and repeat the same things: beware of loving some and hating others, of supporting this one and neglecting that one, lest your labour be found vain and all your sweat perish; and lest, when you have gone out of the body and, freed from the whirlwind of this world, think you are entering the harbour of rest, you then find the shipwreck of injustice, and with the measure with which you measured it be measured back to you by him who does not accept persons in judgment. If anything deadly or anything shameful is committed in the houses through the negligence of the superiors, then after the punishment of those who did it the superior too will be held guilty of the crime; this our Father of holy memory always used to press upon us.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Wherefore let each guard the flock entrusted to him with all caution and care, and imitate the shepherds in the Gospel, to whom, as they were not sleeping but keeping watch, the angel of God came and announced the coming of the Saviour. He himself also says: “The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; but he who is a hireling, not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the flock and flees, and the wolf seizes it and lays it waste; because he is a hireling and has no concern for the sheep.” Of the good shepherds Luke's history writes: “There were shepherds keeping watch and guarding the watches of the night over their flock, and an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of God shone round about them, and they feared with great fear; and the angel said to them: Do not fear; for behold, I announce to you great joy, which will be for all the people: for today is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this will be the sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger.” Were they the only ones at that time who pastured sheep and followed a flock through the wilderness? But because they alone were careful, and fear of the lurking wolves overcame natural sleep at night, therefore they were the first to be worthy to hear what had happened close by, while Jerusalem, sleeping, did not know. Hence David too says: “Behold, he who guards Israel will not sleep.” Therefore you too, with trembling and fear, keep watch, working out your salvation, and knowing that the Lord of the universe, through whom all flesh will receive whatever it has done, after the resurrection appeared to the apostles alone and said to Peter, the chief of the apostles: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He answered him: “Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus says to him: “Feed my lambs.” He says to him again, a second time: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered him: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He says to him: “Feed my sheep.” A third time he commanded him to feed the sheep; and in him he enjoined this office on all of us, that we should diligently feed the Lord's sheep, and in the day of his visitation receive for our labour and watchfulness what he promised us in the Gospel, saying: “Father, I will that where I am, they too may be with me.” And again: “Where I am, there my servant will be too.” Let us look to the promises, and, believing in the rewards, let us bear all labour more easily, walking as the Lord himself walked, who is the giver of the promised rewards.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

You too who are second in the individual houses, pursue humility and modesty, and regard the individual precepts of the elders as the rule of the common life, so that in keeping them you may keep your souls, and be like the faithful man [who says]: “My soul is in my hands always.” Let the son glorify the father, and rejoice in your fruits; for without works and fruits no one will rejoice in the Lord's fellowship; so that, when you have fruit in the Lord, you may possess him, as heirs and co-heirs.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

But you too, all you brothers who are subject through the order of a free service: “Have your loins girded and lamps burning in your hands, like servants who await their lord, when he returns from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him at once. Blessed are the servants whom the lord, when he comes, finds watching.” So it will be with you too: if long labour does not produce weariness in you, you will be called to the heavenly banquet, and angels will serve you. These are the promises to those who keep God's commandments, and these the rewards of things to come: “Rejoice in the Lord; again I say, rejoice.” Be subject to the fathers with all obedience, without murmurings and divided thoughts, bringing simplicity of soul to good works, so that, full of virtues and of the fear of God, you may become worthy of adoption by God. “Take up the shield of faith, with which you may quench all the burning arrows of the devil, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” “Be prudent as serpents and simple as doves.” Hear Paul saying: “Children, obey your parents,” and possess the salvation of your souls through those who are set over you. And in another place it is written: “Obey your leaders and be subject to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give account for you.” And always fear what the same apostle says: “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of the Lord dwells in you. But if anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him.” And again: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” of just judgment. [20] Keep the chastity of your body, so that you may be “a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.” “For he who is born of God does not sin, because his seed remains in him.” The same John says: “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.” When you too have conquered the enemy, with God giving you help, he himself will sing and say: “I will rescue them from the underworld and redeem them from death; where is your contention, O death? Where, O death, is your sting?” If we swallow up death, we shall overcome it, and it will be said to us: “Death will no longer have dominion over him”; for the death by which we once died to sin is dead in us, and the life we live in Christ we live for ever. For he who dies in the flesh will be justified from sin. Let us no longer live in the desires of men, but complete the rest of our life in the will of God. You who fear the Lord, arm yourselves with chastity, so that you may be worthy to hear: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.” And know that to the perfect perfect things are given, and to the empty empty things are returned, according to the Gospel word: “To him who has it will be given, and he will abound; but from him who has not, even what he seemed to have will be taken away.” Let us imitate the wise virgins, who were worthy to enter the bridal chamber with the bridegroom, because they had in their vessels, with their lamps, the oil of good works. But the foolish virgins found the chamber already shut, because they would not prepare oil for themselves before the wedding. “These things happened to them in figure, but they were written for our correction,” that we may avoid the old ways and keep the precepts of the wise man, who says: “My son, if your heart is wise, you will gladden my heart, and my lips will recount your words, if only they are right.” And again: “Let your heart not envy sinners, but be in the fear of God all the day”; and observe the worship of God continually.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us keep watch more attentively, and know that God has granted us great grace through our Father Pachomius, that we should renounce the world and count as nothing all the anxiety of the world and the cares of worldly things. What occasion is left us to have anything of our own, from a cord to the mending of a shoe, when we have superiors who with fear and trembling take care of us, in food and clothing and in sickness of the body, should it come, so that we need fear in nothing lest through the occasion of the flesh we lose the soul's gains? We are free; we have thrown off from our necks the yoke of worldly service; why do we want to return again to our vomit, and to have something to be anxious about and afraid to lose? Why do you want a superfluous cloak, or richer meals, or a better bed, when everything has been prepared in common, and nothing is harder than the cross of Christ? Living by it, our fathers built us upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets and the discipline of the Gospels, which is held together by the cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ; following him we have come down from a deadly height to a life-giving humility, exchanging riches for poverty and delights for simple food.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Do not, I beseech you, forget the purpose once taken up, and let us regard the traditions of our Father as ladders reaching to the kingdom of heaven. Do not long for what you once trampled underfoot. It is enough for us to have what suffices a man: two sleeveless tunics and another worn one, a linen cloak, two hoods, a linen belt, sandals, a skin, and a staff. If one to whom some ministry and stewardship of the monastery has been entrusted makes gain from it, let it be held a crime and a sacrilege to take anything from it and turn it to his own comfort, as though despising those who have nothing and are rich in a happy poverty; so that not only does he himself perish, but he also provokes others to perish. And those indeed who have bowed their necks and, with all humility and affliction, mourning and lamenting, have pleased God in the present life, when they go out of this little body will be led away and recline with the holy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the prophets and the apostles, and will enjoy worthy consolation, as Lazarus too enjoyed it in Abraham's bosom. But those who lived in the cenobium and diverted something from the common store to their own uses, woe to them: when they go out of the body it will be said to them: “Remember that you received good things in your life,” while the brothers laboured and sweated in fastings and continence and unceasing toil. “Therefore see them in joy and gladness, who left the present life to obtain the life to come, and yourselves set in squalor and torments and misery,” because you would not hear the Gospel word and despised the words of Isaiah, who says: “Behold, those who serve me shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, those who serve me shall drink, but you shall thirst. Behold, those who serve me shall exult, and you shall cry out for sorrow of heart and howl for contrition of spirit.” You heard all the beatitudes of the Scriptures and would not receive discipline.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore, brothers, let us be equal, from the least to the greatest, rich as well as poor, perfect in concord and humility, so that it may be said of you too: “He who had much did not abound, and he who had little did not lack.” Let no one provide for his own delights while seeing his brother set in poverty and distress, lest that prophetic word be said to him: “Has not one God created you? Is there not one father of all of you? Why have you each forsaken his brother, to make abominable the covenant of your fathers? Judah has been forsaken, and an abomination has been done in Israel.” Wherefore, according to what the Lord and Saviour commanded the apostles, saying: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you; and by this you will be known to be my disciples,” we ought to love one another and show that we are truly servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, and sons of Pachomius, and disciples of the cenobia.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

If the superior of a house has rebuked one of the brothers subject to him, instructing him in the fear of God and wishing to correct him from error, and another chooses to speak for him and defend him, subverting his heart, he who does this sins against his own soul: for he has subverted one who could have been corrected, he casts to the ground one who was rising, and by evil persuasion deceives one who was striving toward better things, himself erring and making others err. To him this will aptly be applied: “Woe to him who gives his neighbour a muddy drink of subversion and makes him drunk”; “Cursed is he who makes the blind go astray on the way”; “Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in God, it is better for him that an ass's millstone be hung about his neck and he be cast into the sea.” For, as we said, he has subverted one who was raising himself up, and turned the obedient to pride, and turned to bitterness one who could have walked in the sweetness of love; and he has corrupted with evil counsels one subject to the laws of the monastery, and made him hate and be grieved against the one who was teaching him the Lord's discipline, sowing quarrels and discords among the brothers, and not fearing what is written: “Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the master is able to make him stand again.” Consider what he said: “The Lord is able to make him stand.” He who passes over the Lord's words is not able.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Therefore, brothers, let us above all avoid turning anyone's mind against his teacher and admonisher, and let us remember the Scripture that says: “Free your heart from malice, that you may be saved.” Nor let us sow pride and contumacy in one another's hearts instead of obedience. For he who fears his Lord, if he sees his brother err and slip, ought rather to show him what is holy and point out the right road, so that, walking with all chastity and with trembling before God, he may carry out that saying of Solomon: “Rescue those who are led to death, and do not cease to redeem them from slaughter.” And do not say, “I do not know this man.” Know that God knows the hearts of all. And Jude says in his letter: “And these indeed, snatching them from the fire, hating even the stained tunic.” Let us beware of such a garment, and rather put on the armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the snares of the devil. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities, against the rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

This too must above all be guarded against: that anyone should entrust anything to another house or to another's cell and act against the discipline of the monastery. Such a one is not in the number of the brothers but a hireling and a stranger, and ought not to eat the Lord's Passover among the saints; for he has become a stone of stumbling in the monastery, and of him it could be said: “Throw the stones out of my way.” For if our sleeveless tunics are not dry when we wash them, we do not have permission to keep them with us until evening, but give them to the superior to whom we have been entrusted, or to him who has been entrusted with the storeroom, so that he may carry them to the place where the clothes of all are kept together; and in the morning they are given to us to spread in the sun, and when they are dry we do not keep them with us but give them for common keeping, according to the precepts of the elders. How much more, if you entrust to another the things you seem to possess as your own, or want them to be in your own power, do you sin against the discipline of the monastery, and fail to understand Paul saying to you: “But you have been called to freedom; only do not abuse freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but serve one another in love.” And again: “The Lord is near; do not be anxious, but be intent on prayer and supplications.” Let him also who has received something entrusted to him by another, and thinks he is doing a pious thing in refreshing a brother, know that he sins against his own soul, subverting the rule of the monastery. O fool, your soul has been entrusted to your superior, and will the one who guards your soul and body be held unworthy to keep things that will perish? Let us love justice, that we may be justified. For we read: “Mercy meets those who do the truth.” [27] This too must be observed, lest anyone, deceived by a foolish thought, or rather entangled in the snares of the devil, should say in his heart: “When I die, then I will give the brothers what I have.” O most foolish of men, where have you found this written? Did not all the saints who served God at once lay down the whole burden of the world? Did they not, in the Acts of the Apostles, bring all they had to the apostles' feet? Or how will you, when dead, be able to put on the garment of justice, who did not deserve to have it while alive? Why have you forgotten what is written: “What a man sows, that he will also reap”? And: “Each will receive according to what he has done.” And: “He will repay each according to his works.” And again: “I am the Lord, searching hearts and testing kidneys, to give to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his devices.” Why, while you still live and are set in this little body, do you not hear David saying: “He lays up treasure, and does not know for whom he gathers it,” and the Gospel word rebuking the covetous man: “This night they will demand your soul of you; and what you have prepared, whose will it be?” And again: “On that day all their thoughts will perish.” Fool, why will you not hear the Lord exhorting: “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and take up your cross, and come, follow me”? Hearing this, the young man turned back, for his heart was not right, and so he could not lay down the heavy burden of riches. He had indeed the will for the perfect life, as Scripture testifies, and was drawn to praise by the splendour of the virtues; but his riches drew him back as he ran, and he could not hear the Saviour's teaching, because he was still thinking of the world's delights. Hence the Saviour too says: “It is hard for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of heaven.” And again: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will obey the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” But the Pharisees, since they were covetous, heard these things and mocked; let us avoid their unbelief and not mock those who call us on. Let us renounce the world, so that, being perfect, we may follow the perfect treasure. To those whose soul avarice possesses, poverty for Christ seems folly. “Godliness with sufficiency is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, nor can we carry anything out; having food and clothing, with these we are content. But those who want to become rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many desires which are foolish and harmful, which plunge men into ruin and perdition. For the root of all evils is covetousness.” [28] To this day Elijah rebukes Israel, saying: “How long will you limp on both feet? If he is God, go and follow him.” And he says to us: if they are commandments of God which he handed down to us through our Father, and by following them we can reach the kingdom of heaven, let us fulfil them with all desire; but if we follow our own thoughts and our mind tends elsewhere, why do we not simply confess our error, and show that we are what we blush to be seen to be? Lest perhaps it be said to us as well: “Why have you polluted my holy place?” And: “I will cast them out of my house.” If the community of monks is truly the house of God and the vineyard of the saints, as we read it written: “Solomon had a vineyard in a place called Beelhamon; he gave it to keepers; each brings for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard is before me; a thousand for Solomon, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit” — let us not, then, pollute it and be cast out, as we read in the Gospel that those who sold sheep and oxen in the temple were cast out. The Lord and Saviour, entering, made himself a whip of cords and cast the money-changers out of the temple, pouring out their money and overturning the tables of the sellers, and to those who sold doves he said: “Take all these away, and do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” For it is written: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.” And elsewhere: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.” [29] I beseech you, brothers, lest it be said of us too: “One is hungry and another is drunk. Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and put to shame those who have nothing?” To them it is said: “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you do not come together for judgment.” Let our house not be one of a strange voice, lest that be aptly applied to us: “They did not cast away the works of Egypt.” And again: “They did not walk in my precepts and they profaned my sabbaths; therefore, when they cry to me, I will not hear them.” Let us not remain in hardness of heart and provoke God to anger, so that he becomes our enemy and says: “And I will give them precepts that are not good, and ordinances by which they shall not live,” because they ate the fruit of lying and worshipped the works of their hands, and their land was filled from the beginning with augury, like the land of foreigners.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Lest, after we have renounced the world and begun to follow the banner of the cross, we turn back again and seek temporal refreshment, imitating Ephraim, who says: “I have become rich, I have found refreshment for myself”; lest we hear what he too deserved to hear: “All his labours will not be found [enough] for the iniquities in which he sinned.” Lest that be fulfilled in us: “You began in the Spirit, and are you now being made perfect in the flesh? Have you suffered so much in vain?” And lest that word be spoken against us: “The law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders; and the hands of the people are weakened; the elders have ceased from the gate, the chosen from their psalms.” And again lest it be said: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations”; and lest, the institutions of our Father being despised, forgetfulness creep in, and by our fault we neglect the mediator of God and of the saints.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

For what fruit, or what sign of God's precepts, is found in us, or in what do we fulfil the profession we took up? Have we not left everything, and yet are we subject to avarice, and it is said to us: “Whence wars and fightings? Is it not from avarice?” For because each seeks his own advantage and not his neighbour's, to this day Ezekiel, still living, rebukes us with the prophetic word, saying: “There was trading in you”; “The son dishonours the father, and the father reproaches the son.” What shall we answer on the day of judgment, or what can we plead in our defence at the last time? All these things have been done to us because “the priests clapped their hands, and the people loved it likewise.” “Because as the people, so the priest. Therefore I will repay him according to his ways, and I will return to him his thoughts.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

I do not say these things of all of you, but of those who despise the elders' precepts: “and it would have been far better for them not to know the way of justice than, knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them.” Mourning over such men Jeremiah writes: “My eyes have failed with tears, my belly is troubled, my glory is poured out on the ground, over the ruin of the daughter of my people; for the little one and the suckling fainted in the streets of the city. They said to their mothers: Where is the grain and the wine? when they fainted like the wounded in the streets of the city, when they poured out their souls in their mothers' bosom.” We know that God does not delight in the strength of the horse, nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

And therefore let us return to the Lord our God, so that when we pray he may hear us, he who daily exhorts us to be still and know him. And elsewhere he says: “Return to me, and I will return to you.” And again: “Return to me, you rebellious sons, and I will be your lord.” Ezekiel likewise testifies and says: “Why will you die, house of Israel? I do not want the death of the sinner, but only that he turn from his evil way and live.” And the most merciful Lord, the head of all goodness, cries out to us in the Gospel and testifies: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Let us consider that the goodness of God calls us to repentance, and holy men exhort us to salvation. Let us not harden our hearts, nor store up wrath for ourselves on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay each according to his works; but let us return to the Lord with all our heart, according to the words of Moses, who records: “If you return to the Lord your God with all your heart, he will cleanse your heart and the heart of your seed.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us labour as good soldiers of Christ, and observe what is written: “No one serving as a soldier to God entangles himself in worldly affairs, so that he may please the one who enlisted him. And if anyone contends in the games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully. The labouring farmer ought to be the first to share in the fruits.” It is written: all peoples will walk each in its own way; “but we will be magnified in the name of the Lord our God. They were hindered and fell, but we have risen and stand upright.” [35] “He who walks in the day does not stumble; but he who walks in the night stumbles, because the light is not in him.” But we, as the apostle said, “are not sons of withdrawal unto perdition, but of faith unto the gaining of the soul.” And elsewhere he says: “You are all sons of light” and sons of God; “we are not sons of the night nor of darkness.” If then we are sons of light, we ought to know what belongs to light and to bear the fruits of light in every good work; for whatever is made manifest is light. If we return to the Lord with all our heart, and live with a simple heart in the precepts of his saints and of our Father, we shall abound in every good work. But if we are overcome by the pleasures of the flesh, we shall grope for the wall in the day as at midnight, and shall not find the way of the city and of our dwelling, of which it is said: “The soul of the hungry and thirsty fainted”; because they despised the law handed down to them by God and did not hear the voice of the prophets, and therefore they could not reach the promised rest.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us keep watch and be attentive: “for if he did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare us.” I speak not of all but of the negligent, to whom that lament will rightly be fitted: “Woe to those who have withdrawn from me; it is manifest that they have acted impiously against me, because they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water.” And because they did not hear its judges, let them hear God saying: “I have set watchmen over you. Hear the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hear.” Whence this unbelief? Is it not because they knew strange gods and did not resist them? The Holy Spirit also speaks elsewhere through the prophet: “For I am the Lord your God, who formed the heaven and created the earth, whose hands founded all the host of heaven; and I did not show them to you so that you should walk after them.” This he also commanded through Moses, saying: “Lest, when you look up to heaven and see the sun and moon and stars and all the adornment of heaven, you be deceived by the error of heaven and worship them. I am God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me, and there is none besides me who can save. I am he who fed you in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land; and they were filled to satiety, and their hearts were lifted up; therefore they forgot me”; “and I will give them over to dispersion among all the nations.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Hearing these things, let us wake as from sleep and show ourselves worthy of the Lord's service, so that he may have mercy and say to us: “Call upon me, and I will hear you.” For he himself says: “He who scattered Israel will gather him.” And elsewhere: “I will not act,” he says, “according to the wrath of my fury, nor will I so abandon as to destroy Ephraim.” And again: “I will not punish you for ever, nor will I always be angry with you. For the Spirit goes forth from me, and I have made every breath.” And in the same place he adds and says: “I have given them true consolation, peace upon peace to those who were near and far; and the Lord said: I will heal them.” That we may fully know his mercy, he teaches by the word of Jeremiah, saying: “If the heaven is raised on high, and if the floor of the earth is lowered beneath, I will not reject the nation of Israel for all that they have done.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Since the clemency of the Lord Saviour is so great, and he calls us to salvation, let us turn our hearts to him: “for it is already the hour for us to wake from sleep; the night is far spent, and the day draws near; let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.” Little children, first let us love God with all our heart, then love one another, mindful of the precepts of God the Saviour, in which he says: “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you; not as the world gives peace do I give to you.” “For on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

If anyone living in a house of the monastery under a superior, and lacking nothing that is permitted to be had in the monastery, has a father or a brother or a very dear friend, let him accept absolutely nothing from them, not a tunic, not a cloak, nor any other thing. But if it is proved that he has less than what is prescribed, all the blame and the correction will fall upon the superior.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

You, then, who are heads of monasteries, if you see any lacking something and set in distress, do not neglect them, knowing that you will give account for the whole flock, “in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you to oversee and to shepherd the church of God, which he acquired with his own blood.” Therefore “we who are stronger ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please ourselves, but each please his neighbour for good, for edification. For Christ too did not please himself, but, as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” And again: “I seek not what is profitable for me,” he says, “but for all, that they may be saved.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

If then our Lord and Saviour so commands, and the saints so lived, and our fathers too so taught us, let us rise from sleep and do what has been commanded us. “For whatever was written was written for our instruction, that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope”; and let none of us be the cause of another's error, nor envy those who prosper in their life. For when they have obtained all that is necessary for the flesh, at death they will carry nothing away with them. The sons of this age have confidence in this age, because they are of the world, and the world loves its own. But those who are sons of God remember that Gospel word: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first.” And again: “Whoever wants to be a friend of this world becomes an enemy of God.” And again: “In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.” And again: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” But of the sons of the night what is said, on the contrary? Is it not this: “Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Wherefore let us avoid the friendships of the world, that we may be worthy to hear: “Weeping will linger in the evening, and joy in the morning. The Lord heard and had mercy on me. You tore my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.” For which of the saints did not pass along the way of this world in grief and sorrow? Jeremiah says: “I did not sit in the council of those who make merry, but I trembled before your hand; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness.” David too writes: “As one mourning and sorrowing, so I was humbled.” Treading in their footsteps we understand that our salvation is in the time of tribulation, and the prophet's promise is fulfilled, who says: “Those who are in distress are not left there beyond a time.” If then tribulation and distress have their time and will not be everlasting, let us sow in tears and reap in joy, not failing, because we know that the Lord delivers his worshippers from temptation.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

The Lord is our father; the Lord is our judge; the Lord is prince, the Lord is our king; the Lord himself will save us. If we neglect his precepts we shall remain in distress. For he himself says: “Those who follow me shall possess the land and inherit my holy mountain”; which we too shall possess if we fulfil his law and hear what is said: “Make your ways clean in his sight.” And again: “Remove the stumbling blocks from the way of my people.” And elsewhere: “Cast the pestilent man out of the council, and contention will go out with him.” He who calls the unjust just and judges the just unjust, both are unclean in the sight of God. Let us beware lest it be said of us too: “The sons have become estranged from him.” And this: “The daughters of Zion were lifted up and walked with outstretched neck and with haughty eyes, trailing their tunics with their feet and playing with their feet together”; and lest in our reproof the prophetic word should again agree, saying: “How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot, full of judgment, in which justice slept? But now murderers.” And: “The people that understood mingled with a harlot. You therefore, Israel, do not be ignorant.” But if we meditate on divine things, we shall be able to say what David too said: “I exulted over your words, like one who finds much spoil.” And: “How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey and the comb to my mouth!” “Your statutes were songs to me in the place of my pilgrimage.” And in another place: “I did not set before my eyes an unjust thing; I hated those who do iniquity. A perverse heart did not cleave to me; the wicked who turned from me I did not know. Him who secretly slandered his neighbour I pursued; with the proud of eye and insatiable of heart I did not eat. My eyes were upon the faithful of the land, that they might sit with me.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us imitate the works of all these, so that there may be peace and justice in our days, and that may not happen to us which we read elsewhere: “On the land of my people thorns and briars will spring up.” But rather let us break up new ground for ourselves, and not sow upon thorns. And when we have kept what has been commanded us, we shall be manifest as those who love God, as divine Scripture also testifies in another place: “He who hears my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and I and my Father will come and make our dwelling with him, and I will show myself to him.” And: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Let us take many words with us and turn to the Lord our God, and say to him: “You are able to forgive sins, that we may receive good things, and we will render to him the fruit of our lips”; and our soul will delight in us.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

And would that we repented of our error and negligence, and turned and said: “Assyria will not save us; we will not mount upon horses; nor will we any longer say: Our gods are the works of our hands. The God who is in you will have mercy on the orphan; I will heal their dwellings.” And again he will say of us: “I will love them openly, and I will turn my anger from them. I will be like the dew; Israel will flower like the lily, and he will send out his roots like Lebanon. His branches will spread, and he will be like a fruitful olive, and his fragrance like incense. They will return and sit each in his tent, and they will live and be strengthened with grain; their remembrance will flower like the vine, like the fragrance of incense, Ephraim. What has he to do with idols? I humbled him, and I will strengthen him. I am like a dense juniper; from me his fruit is found. Who is wise, and will understand these things? Or understanding, and will know them?” And would that we too might be able to bear fruit from him, without whom no good work can be done.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us return to the Lord, so that he may say of us too: “Their sins and their iniquity I will remember no more.” Let us not forsake the law of God, which our Father received from him and handed down to us, nor hold his commandments of little account; lest that lament be spoken over us too: “How the gold has been darkened, and the good silver changed! The holy stones have been poured out at the head of every street.” Nor, after the very many labours of our Father, which he undertook for our salvation, giving himself as an example of virtue and glorying in us and saying among the saints: “These are my sons, and my people, my sons, and they will not deny” — after such a testimony let us not lose the confidence of a good conscience, stripped of the garments with which he clothed us; and, brought by him into the stadium to compete lawfully, let us not be overcome by our enemies. And when we come to the time when we go out of the body, let us not be found enemies of our Father through serving treasures: we who ought by fasts and affliction of the body to acquire the freedom of the soul, devoting ourselves to the flesh and delights, finer clothes and more splendid bedding, not only perishing ourselves but leading to ruin by our example others who could have made progress; of whom it is written: “You did not receive the spirit of slavery in fear, but of power and of love and of chastity.” And: “Food does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we do not eat shall we lack.” “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but justice, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. He who serves Christ in this pleases God and is approved by all.” Isaiah also says: “Those who wait for the Lord will change their strength; they will take wings like eagles; they will run and not labour, they will walk and not hunger.” “Therefore he will raise a sign among the nations and will gather the fugitives of Israel. Quickly, swiftly they will come; they will not hunger nor grow drowsy. They will not sleep, nor loose the girdle from their loins, nor will the straps of their shoes be broken. Their arrows are sharp and their bows bent; the hoofs of their horses like the hardest rock, the wheels of their chariots like a storm; they will rush like lions and stand by like lions' whelps.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us too therefore be imitators of the saints, and not forget the instruction with which our Father taught us while he was still in the body. Let us not put out the burning lamp which he set over our heads. Walking by its light in this age, let us remember that through his zeal God received us into his own household, giving hospitality to strangers, showing a harbour to those set in the storms of the sea, bread in famine, shade in heat, clothing in nakedness; he taught the unskilled with spiritual precepts; those who served vices he surrounded with chastity; those far off he joined to himself. Let us not, after his falling asleep, forget such goodness and undying benefits, turning judgment into fury and the fruit of justice into bitterness; lest he speak against us: “Judge between me and my vineyard. I waited for it to bear fruit, and it bore iniquity; and not justice, but a cry”; and lest that curse come upon us which the prophetic word pursues, and which we ought with all zeal to flee and avoid, following the way of life of those, fathers and brothers alike, who have gone before us in the Lord: who, renouncing the world and going to the Lord with unstumbling step, now possess his inheritance. I fear we may lose it by our sloth, and that prophetic word be fitted to us which was said of Ephraim: “He trades oil into Egypt.” “They were mingled among the nations and learned their works.” Lest, after we have been called into freedom, as it is written: “I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you into Zion, and I will give you shepherds after my heart, who will feed you with discipline,” the bonds of love be loosed, and it be said of us: “A son glorifies his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is my glory? If a lord, where is my fear?” [48] Therefore let each of us cry to the Lord: “Walls of Zion, let tears run down like torrents day and night; give yourself no rest, and let the pupil of your eye not be silent. Arise, praise in the night, at the beginning of your watches; pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift your hands to him for the souls of your little ones, who have fainted at the head of all the ways.” Lest this be said against us: “The world has been corrupted. The heights of the earth have mourned, and the earth has acted impiously because of its inhabitants; for they have forsaken the law and changed my precepts, the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse will devour the land, because its inhabitants have sinned, and few men are left.” Lest our wine too mourn, and the vine, and those groan who before rejoiced with all their heart, and it be said of us: “They have fashioned madness in the house; they have been corrupted as in the days of the hill.” And that: “The snare is from you.” For you said: “We have made a covenant with the underworld, and a pact with death.” Avoiding these words, let us rather believe that in his time “a star will rise from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel, who will strike the princes of Moab and the sons of Seth,” so that there may not be in the house of Israel “a goad of bitterness and a thorn of pain.” “For the Lord's portion became Jacob, Israel the cord of his inheritance.” And elsewhere Jeremiah says: “If this law ceases before me, the nation of Israel too will be able to cease.” And again: “I will give their labour to the just, and I will set an everlasting covenant with them, and their seed and their descendants will be known among the nations. Everyone who sees them will know that these are the seed blessed by the Lord, and they will be filled with the joy of the Lord.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us too, then, search our ways and examine our steps, and follow the fragrance of knowledge, always hiding his words in our hearts, so that we may be undefiled in the way and walk in the law of the Lord. Let not the frailty of the body and the labour of a long time frighten us. “Your fathers, where are they, and the prophets?” as it is written; “will they live for ever? But receive my words and my statutes, which I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets, who were with your fathers.” Let us feel the ineffable clemency of our God, who to this day exhorts us to repentance, saying: “Will he who falls not rise again? Or will he who turns away not return? Why has my people turned away with a shameless turning, and held fast in their pleasures, and refused to return?” If we return to him, he will build us up by his Spirit, according to what is written: “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he will gather the dispersed of Israel.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

That our assembly and communion, by which we are joined to one another, is from God, the apostle taught us, saying: “Do not forget the communion of good works; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” In the Acts of the Apostles too we read the same: “The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul, and no one called anything his own, but all things were common to them. And with great power the apostles gave testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” And the Psalmist agreed with the same words, saying: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity.” And we who dwell in the cenobia and are bound to one another by mutual love, let us take pains that, as we remember the fellowship of the holy fathers in this life, so hereafter too we may share with them; knowing that the cross is the beginning of our life and teaching, and that we must suffer with Christ, and know that without tribulations and distresses no one attains victory. “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life.” And again: “He laboured for ever, and he will live to the end.” “If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” “I consider,” he says, “that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which will be revealed in us.” And elsewhere it is written: “I thought to know this; it is labour in my sight.” And again: “I have laboured following you, and I have not desired the day of man.” And in another place: “Many are the tribulations of the just, and out of all of them the Lord will deliver them.” And our Lord says in the Gospel: “He who perseveres to the end will be saved.” And elsewhere: “This is the book of the commandments, and the law written for ever. All who keep it will live; but those who forsake it will die. Return, Jacob, and take hold of it; walk in the splendour of its light, and do not give your glory to another, nor what is profitable to you to a foreign nation. Blessed are we, Israel, because what is pleasing to God is known to us. Take courage, my people, memorial of Israel.” And again Isaiah says: “Rejoice, Israel, and keep festival, all you who love it. Be glad, you who trust in it, that you may suck and be filled from the breasts of its consolation.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us take care to read and learn the Scriptures, and be ever occupied in meditating on them, knowing what is written: “From the fruit of his mouth a man will be satisfied, and the reward of his labours will be repaid him.” These are what lead us to eternal life, which our Father handed down to us and commanded us to meditate on continually; so that what is written may be fulfilled in us: “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart and in your soul; you shall teach them to your sons, and speak of them sitting in the house and walking on the way, lying down and rising up. Write them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be immovable before your eyes. You shall write them also on the doorposts of your houses and on the thresholds, that you may learn to fear the Lord all the days that you live.” Solomon too, signifying the same, says: “Write them on the breadth of your heart.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Consider with how many testimonies the word of the Lord exhorts us to meditate on the sacred Scriptures, so that what we have turned over in the mouth we may possess in the heart. “It is good for a man when he has lifted the yoke from his youth. He will sit alone and be silent, for he will lift the yoke upon himself; he will give his cheek to him who strikes him; he will be filled with reproaches; for the Lord will not cast off for ever.” And elsewhere it is written: “I remembered the mercy of your youth.” And again: “Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart exult in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart without blemish, and in the sight of your eyes; and know that for all these things the Lord will bring you into judgment. Remove fury from your heart and malice from your flesh, for youth and folly are vanity.” And: “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years overtake you in which you will say: I have no pleasure in them; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the men of strength are overthrown, and the grinders cease because they have become few; and those who look through the windows are darkened, and they shut the doors in the street at the weakness of the grinder's voice; and they rise at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song are brought low. And they look from on high, and there are terrors in the way; and the almond tree flowers, and the locust grows fat, and the caper bursts; because man has gone to the house of his age, and the mourners go about in the street; until the silver cord is broken and the golden necklace is crushed, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is hindered over the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to the Lord who gave it.” In the Gospel too it is written: “Boys, have you any food? Cast to the right side of the boat, and you will find.” And again: “Every boy and youth who does not know today good and evil, they shall enter the good land.” And again: “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy.” And in the Gospel: “The boy went on and grew and advanced before God and men.” Joshua too, the minister of Moses, was a young man and did not go out of the tabernacle of God. And of David we read written: “a boy of ruddy colour, with beautiful eyes.” Timothy too, while still a boy and a youth, was instructed in the sacred letters, so that by their path he might come to faith in the Lord Saviour. And of Daniel, because he was learned, we read written that he was called a man of desires. Joseph too was most beloved by his father, because he served his commands, and when only seventeen years old regarded his father's precepts as the law of his life.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

And I have unrolled all these things, so that, considering the lives of the saints, we may not be carried about by every wind of teaching, but may labour, and have their way of life as the example for the purpose of our own life, that we may be God's own people. And let us not grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom we were sealed for the day of redemption; let us not quench him in us, and not despise prophecies; lest perhaps we give no place to the Holy Spirit when he wishes to dwell in us. Let us fear no one but God, who is the avenger and judge of each one's works, and with the holy is holy, and with the innocent man innocent; and he says: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find joy.” And elsewhere he says: “If you walk perversely against me, I too will walk perversely against you.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us not be angry with one another; even if anger overcomes us, let us not sin in anger, forestalling the setting of the sun with repentance. Let us remember that there is a precept on how often we ought to forgive one who sins against us, and to leave our gift before the altar, which is by no means accepted unless it has been made acceptable by reconciliation; so that we may say: “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” And the apostle commands: “If anyone has a complaint against another, as Christ also forgave us, so do you.” Let us be disciples of the meekness of all the saints, and especially of David, of whom it is written: “Remember, Lord, David and all his meekness”; and of Moses, of whom we read that he was meek above all the earth. And the Lord in the Gospel speaks of the meek and gentle: “Blessed are the meek and gentle of heart, for they shall possess the land.” It is great wisdom to possess meekness and to hear: “Be wise, my son, that my heart may rejoice.” And again: “Be imitators of God, as dearest sons.” And: “Be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” And elsewhere: “Be holy, because I am holy, says the Lord.” [55] Reading these testimonies, let us sow justice for ourselves, that we may reap the fruit of life; let us kindle the light of knowledge, for it is time for us to know God, until the fruit of justice comes to us. “Behold, now is the acceptable time, and the day of salvation.” And truly, according to what is written, “love is the fulfilment of the law,” John agreeing with the same: “This commandment we received from the Father, that you love one another.” And: “He who loves God, let him love his brother also.” And: “Not as Cain, who was of the evil one, killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, but his brother's good. Do not wonder, brothers, if the world hates us; we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers.” Therefore let us love one another.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

I will say something else to you more boldly, dearest sons. From the time God entrusted to me the flock of your way of life and holy conversation, I have not ceased with tears to admonish and teach each one of you, that you may please God; nor have I held back anything that I felt to be useful to you, so that I may say: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, who is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with the saints.” Keep watch, strive with all zeal and care not to forget your purpose, but fulfil what you know you have promised. “For I am already being poured out, and the time of my release is at hand. I have fought the good fight” in part, “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest there is laid up for me the crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will give me on that day; and not to me only, but to all who have loved his” justice and have done all the Father's commandments. “The end of the word: hear all; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man; God will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good or evil.” Here ends the teaching of Saint Orsiesius.