Letter to Monks

Beloved, I praise your longing and call your life blessed, O blessed ones who live alone for God, because, though you share a nature common to all human beings, you do not share a common purpose; rather, thinking something great, you have given wings to your mind toward the heavenly dwellings themselves, so that, having busied yourselves with the benefit of the divine teachings there, you may be found of the same manner of life as the blessed angels, whose glory awaits you and whose blessedness expects you. For though you are human and born of human beings, you have not been brought down by human thoughts, nor have the things that seem desirable in life been able to weaken the intensity of your longing for God; but having renounced all things once for all, you have one aim, to please God. And the contest of your good repute has been spoken of to all. No abundance of money, nor promises of gifts set before you, procured this good longing for you, but godly faith and a mind in love, God the Saviour mediating and being well pleased. The provider, leader, and perfecter of this acceptable and good choice is Jesus Christ, who gives you who live alone patience and a good end, and is found a ready way for all who wish to be saved; having been eager from the beginning to travel on it, you have the Saviour Lord as fellow traveller, who says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

For because of him no obstacle has been able to cut off your heavenly purpose: not love of money, not memory of parents, nor inheritances from family, nor the company of brothers, not the affections of relatives, not luxuries and baths and drinking, not meetings with friends, not worldly glories; but having looked down on all, you cry by your very deeds, using the apostolic word, “I count all things refuse, that I may gain Christ.” That is why you dwell in the desert, propitiating God with fasts, purity, ascetic exercises, and pure prayers. No earthly king has ever been fearsome to you, no ruler, judge, or governor, nor any other authority; “for the law is not laid down for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly and sinners, murderers of fathers and mothers, manslayers, the sexually immoral, men who lie with males, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.” For “rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil”; and again, “Do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it.” Praises, then, are justly yours, as the bitter punishment of the threatened is for those who oppose.

God has chosen you for himself as a people of his own, zealous for good works. “You are the light of the world,” the Saviour said. And those whose zeal is the same, whose work is the same, whose praise is the same, their reward is the same. Blessed are you, then, and thrice blessed, O most honoured ones who live alone for God. Who could praise your way of life worthily? For your works day and night are psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and deeds fitting for God. Love lives among you, the angels' possession; peace is established with you, the enclosure of heaven; your manner is free from love of money, always content with need; vigorous in fasts, more vigorous in prayers, you pass each day in vigils with wakefulness. “Let your light shine,” said the Lord; and what he said is seen: you have kept yourselves from loving the world and the things in this world. Blessed are you, then, before God, and blessed also is the world because of you; the deserts are made holy because of you, and the inhabited world is saved by your prayers. Rain is sent down on the earth by your supplications; the earth grows green, and trees laden with fruit yield their fruit unharmed; and the river, rising every year and watering all Egypt, friendly with the lakes and giving a great abundance to the seas, makes known the power of your supplications. For if Elijah was a man of like passions, as it is written, and by prayer held back the rain and brought it again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth its fruit, how much more will your intercessions bring us what is useful according to our prayer?

Blessed, then, is the city of the Alexandrians, having you as intercessors. The cities of Sodom would not have fallen to ashes if ten righteous men had lived there; nor again were other cities overthrown that had the good fortune of your holiness. The friends of the God-fearing Job, though harsh, were saved because of him, as it is written: “My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his face; for if not for him, I would have destroyed you all.” Again the people of the Jews once sinned, when God's servant was receiving the law; neglecting what was fitting, the always unwise and undisciplined people troubled Aaron, saying, “Make us gods who will go before us.” When they had transgressed, the Lord was angry with them and said, “Moses, Moses, hurry, go down, for the people have acted lawlessly.” He went down, and seeing the lawlessness, answered God, saying, “If you will forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me too out of the book you have written.” O how great the affection of the saints! O how your prayers will bring us what is useful according to our prayer, drawing down God's favour! O how great a rest is laid up for you who are eager to be joined to God! O with how many good things you will be filled, having left father and mother and brothers!

God once said to Abraham, “Go out from your land and from your kindred, and come into the land that I will show you”; and Abraham obeyed and went out. I see you too seizing the word of God, so that you may follow Abraham and share his blessing. “It is good for a man when he bears a yoke from his youth; he will sit alone and keep silent”: your withdrawal interprets this. Wealth has not enticed you, nor have you been deceived by the beauty of women; but as though bodiless, you have trampled the opposing pleasures by the fear of God. You have not been nailed to the cares of the world, but have escaped their vanity. Sweet to you in the desert is plain bread and salt and drinking water, rather than the luxuries and delights in the city with toil. “For better,” it says, “is a morsel with pleasure in peace than a house full of good things and unjust sacrifices with strife,” as the Proverb-writer advised long ago. You are free in all things, O most God-loving ones who live alone for God: no wife troubles you about women's goods; sons or daughters do not choke you, bringing you various demands; no servant robs you of your wealth and flees; no care for money steals your sleep. “For the one who is filled with getting rich,” says the Preacher, “there is no one to let him sleep.”

These are the sweet things of life, these the things eagerly sought in life. When someone marries in the city, it is the beginning of trouble, the need of expenses. The wife is pregnant? She has given birth? The baby is born? The husband worries how he will fulfil his wife's wishes. She has borne a girl? The husband is displeased, preoccupied about dowries. A boy is born? His face is bright for a little while; not long after, the child is seized by illness: a calamity for the husband; he does not stop calling doctors and gives much, if only the child may be saved; going out downcast he meets his friends: “Pray,” he says, “for the child is ill; if anything happens to him, I will hang myself.” The friends are distressed; but God in his own kindness grants life. The child recovered, grew, became tall, became a boy; various teachers take him on, and as he advances he is educated according to the world. He became a young man, ready for the companionship of marriage; his father is busy again about the wedding; everything is ready, the bridal chamber is ready, and suddenly death snatched the young man away: a sudden, incurable calamity for the father. The young man is carried out; then groans and laments; going to the tomb he utters wails, beats his head with his hands, shaking and striking his face, saying over and over, “Alas, alas”; and stung deeply by the calamity, he often falls into an incurable illness, and wasting away little by little, at last calls for death.

Learn, O most honoured ones who live alone for God, from how many troubles Christ has freed you; learn how many calamities you have escaped; know what kind of life you pursue. You are equal to the angels in your way of life. For as in the resurrection of the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but the righteous are like angels in heaven, so you too, living together in this way, have anticipated by longing what is to come. Who, then, would not call you blessed for choosing an undistracted life? Who would not approve your way of life in the deserts? Who would not long for your stillness? Councils are convened in the cities, and inquiries about public affairs: who will fill the bellies of dancers, mime-actors, and flute-players? Who will empty his wealth on lawless and vain spectacles? You are outside such inquiry because of the Lord. You are not subject to public or civic services, nor does a tax collector's hand knock at the door of any of you to make you pay a tax; no one drags you into the praetorium, as happens; you will not dwell in prison when falsely accused, nor will your feet receive fetters, falsely accused of great things so that you pay public money; nor will your hands be bound with cords for some other trouble. You do not know the extortions of soldiers, nor the inhuman farces of the officials. You do not engage in trade, so as to gather wealth by perjuries, knowing that a little to the righteous is better than the great wealth of sinners. No creditor wakes you from sleep bringing a bond, nor has he written petitions against you and presented them to a ruler; nor have you groaned when a mass of interest was demanded; nor do you fear the sea, lest a sudden storm destroy the cargo and the rich man be found poor at once.

These are the pursuits of life, these the affairs of life, these the things that those joined in marriage endure; but you continue undistracted in the desert, caring only for a bright life. O how great a pre-eminence of honour your holy and sacred habit has! O how much spiritual fragrance it breathes! O how great a profession you have chosen, which no word can praise! O profession touching heaven! O profession joined to God! O profession made in the image of the angels! O profession that saves what is in the image of God! O profession that stands before God! O profession most precious to God! O profession through which the world is saved! Anyone calling you blessed would justly say, “Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” For meditating on this law day and night, you are like the tree planted by the streams of water, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall, and whatever it does will prosper. Bearing fruit thus in word and deed, you can say to God more boldly, “Let my beloved come down into his garden and eat the fruit of his trees.” For each of you, O most longed-for ones who live alone for God, is a garden of Christ containing kinds of all sorts of trees, cultivated by the safeguards and commandments of the law; you are not a thicket of wood for wild beasts to dwell in, the bloodthirsty band of the opposing powers, but a garden enclosed with precious stones, the safeguard and security of the law. That is why you have not become captives of the devil, but have been caught in the net of Christ out of the salty restlessness of the world.

One who shares in marriage is divided in mind about many things, as Paul says: “The married man is anxious about the things of the world, how to please his wife, and he is divided.” But you, O wonderful ones who long for God, remain inseparable from him, always saying what David said with longing: “My soul has clung after you; your right hand has upheld me.” For you did not go after fields or houses or any other property, so as to seize and acquire them; nor after irrational desire or slander or love of money or any other deceit; but as it is written, “You shall walk after the Lord your God and cling to him.” This you have truly done. “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me”: the power of this word is seen in you; not passing it by, you have firmly renounced the world and the cares of the world, trusting greatly in God who said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

That is why you are worthy of praise and blessing, having so subjected your undisciplined hearing to Christ that you do not enslave it to vain slanders; and so that you may train your seeing eyes rightly not to love others' possessions, you have practised lifting them up to God, saying with David the hymn-writer, “To you I have lifted up my eyes, you who dwell in heaven. See, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy on us.” Lifting up holy hands unceasingly, you are used to gazing again toward God through pure prayers, so that they may not become causes of plunder, theft, and war. Your feet you are used to walking in straight paths, either to the house of God or to the dwellings of holy fathers, so that they may not run to evil and fall into pits. As for your free sense of smell, you are used to saying to God, “We will run after the fragrance of your ointment.” For you have learned to accustom your taste to cheap foods and drinks of water, so that you may not put on false faces for the sake of the belly, especially since Adam's transgression came about through taste. Besides all this you have humble and rough clothing, showing the manner of truth and asceticism at once. Sweet to you is a rush mat and a modest covering without offence, rather than soft beds with sin; sweet to you is hearing about the resurrection and the fearful judgment, rather than hearing flutes and lyres and vain songs; preferable to you is a glorious death to living luxuriously and shamefully for a long time.

Blessed are you, then, most honoured ones; for it is fitting to say this to you constantly. Blessed are you who serve as soldiers of the consubstantial Trinity. A private person does not deceive a soldier, nor do the runaway demons deceive your reverence. For God, giving you gifts, said, “See, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” You did not enlist under a human king, to see in war the slaughter of people of your own kind, but you enlisted for Christ, to see the fall of demons. Nor did you acquire weapons of bronze and iron to kill your fellow servants; but you acquired strong faith, by which the devil is cast down. Nor again did you enlist to shed human blood, but you enlisted for God to pour out your supplication before him continually. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears toward their prayer.” Pray, then, for the world, knowing very well that he hears the prayers of the righteous, and that the prayer of a righteous person, when it is active, is very powerful. Remember us continually. By you the paradise of delight will be inhabited; and the doors of paradise that Adam's transgression shut, your love for God will open; for heaven will be inhabited by you, so that you may meet the apostles, see the prophets, behold the martyrs, embrace all the righteous, and spend your time with the angels. You are blessed here, and after life here more blessed. There you will see John the Baptist, the inventor of your asceticism, who was brought up in the desert and was distinguished in asceticism; there you will see the most courageous Job clothed in great glory, the worker of your labours and friend of patience; there you will see your forefather Abraham, who became a true lover of your hospitality; there the meekest David will meet you, the most ascetic, whose life anoints you daily. And not to lengthen my discourse by naming each of the righteous, you will see Christ himself, the sum of all good things, who said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Who, then, is more blessed or happier than you, that you may see God with your own eyes? Blessed are you on the day of judgment, most beloved, when God will judge people's hidden things; for all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes; for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what he did through the body, whether good or bad. Trembling will not seize you then, but gladness and joy and a crown of exultation in the Holy Spirit. For you there is no fearful judgment, nor eternal fire, nor sleepless worm; these are for the opponents and those who transgress God's commandment. You will hear, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” you who blamelessly thought the things of Christ. But to the common enemy of all and to those who followed him he will speak that dreadful word: “Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.” There you will go with gladness and joy, where pain, grief, and groaning have fled, where there are honour and glory and gifts that cannot be taken away.

For your gentleness is spread throughout the whole inhabited world. What city, hearing of your virtuous and apostolic life, does not pray to see you? What king of former or present times, hearing of your godly and virtuous life, has not prayed to visit you and embrace you with great longing? From among you came Abba Antony, who reached the highest life, whose life is preserved in writing among you; and also Amoun, Abba John, and Abba Macarius, who shone exceedingly in virtue, who also showed signs and other mighty works to people, driving out demons by God's will and healing great pains of disease, and other afflictions, showing up the weakness of doctors: for the afflictions doctors could not heal yielded to their holy prayers and strong faith, as they recognized the bounds of their own way of healing. Kings hearing these things were greatly amazed and praised God.

You know these things better than we do; for you, and your fathers, lived with them. Who, then, can speak praises worthily? Who will not approve or praise your love for God, patience, understanding, innocence together with prudence; your meekness and quiet, gentle character, peaceableness, sincerity and simplicity, dispassion, freedom from love of money, compassion, mercy, generosity, sympathy, love of the brothers and of strangers, love of the poor, sociability, love of truth, harmony toward God, your honey-dropping speech, quiet word, orderly gait, withdrawal, good name, orthodoxy, faith in God? O with how much virtue you live! O how many virtues crown you, most honoured before God! O from how many virtues is the diadem you wear! O how great the stability of good works among you! Peace rules among you through abstaining from evils; humility rules among you, the Lord's good pattern, which the devil missed at the beginning and was justly cast down.

It is necessary and most fitting to write and say these things to you, since it is written, “The memory of the righteous is with praises,” and “When the righteous are praised, the peoples will rejoice.” Whenever anyone remembers you, he certainly touches on praises. Therefore, most courageous ones, recognizing clearly your dignity and your own glory, be strong to complete your reward, being watchful still more in the hope of the things to come, and singing David's words, “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord.” Let no thought at all ever lurk within, nor any brief slackness after so long a time blow like a wind contrary to the good things of your soul and quench the shining lights, as you shine like lights in the world, so that with the apostles you may hear, “You are the light of the world”; and the apostle says, “For you have need of patience, so that having done the will of God you may receive the promise.” Do not grow weary, then, most honoured ones, but join the end to the beginning and the beginning to the end; for “whoever endures to the end will be saved.” May it be granted to you and to us to reach a blessed and holy end, nourished on divine teachings, ruled by God and shepherded by him; and having achieved those desirable words, to say with the apostle boldly, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day.” To him be glory and might, to the Father and to the Son and … Amen.