Interrupting the Silence

Category: Desert Spirituality

  • Abba Poeman on Silence

    Abba Poeman said… A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent; that is, he says nothing that is not profitable. (p. 171) If you are silent, you will Read more

  • The Last Anchorite

    In a previous post I mentioned Father Lazarus, a hermit on the mountain of St. Anthony. His life is one of detachment, silence, and solitude. Those things are not about absence but rather presence. They are practices and ways of life that open us to the very heart of God. They are interior conditions that Read more

  • Extreme Pilgrim – A Journey to St. Anthony’s Monastery

    The following video (about an hour) is a BBC production documenting the journey of Father Peter Owen-Jones, an Anglican priest, to the monastery of St. Anthony in the Egyptian desert. Father Peter is going to the desert where “there’s no escape, there’s no distraction” and we face and deal with our “issues.” He will live Read more

  • “If You Consider Me Wise, Become As I Am”

    Today, January 17, is the Feast of St. Antony of Egypt. We remember with thanksgiving his life and seek his prayers and guidance for our own lives. His biography, The Life of Antony, was written by St. Athanasius. St. Antony’s desert journey began one Sunday morning in a small Egyptian village in the year 270 Read more

  • The Seven Rules of a Monk

    These are the seven rules of a monk: In the first place, as scripture says, “Love God with all your soul and all your mind.” Then, love your fellow human beings as you love yourself. Fast from all evil. Never pass judgment on anyone, for any cause. Never do evil to anyone. Discipline yourself and Read more

  • St. Macarius the Great on Apophatacism

    The following quotation and icon were originally post by Moses at The Burning Bush. Thank you Moses. But if man were to begin to investigate the mind of God and say: “I have discovered something and truly understand it,” the human mind would be found transcending the mind of God. Truly you wander far into Read more

  • Do Not Judge, See Good

    Wisdom from Dorotheus of Gaza: The Fathers teach us that nothing is more serious than judging your neighbor. Despite this, such a serious evil is committed even for things, let’s say, of little seriousness. It all begins with vague suspicions and thoughts like this: “What is so-and-so saying? What harm is there in going in Read more

  • Entering the Temple of the Heart

    If the heart is the most authentic temple of God, the truest dwelling place of God, then it is also our true home. It is the deepest and most authentic part of our humanity, the place of wholeness and integration. “All things are there,” Macarius says of the heart. The heart is not only the Read more

  • The Temple of the Heart

    Today, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple. The gospel for this feast tells us about Anna, an 84 year old widow, a prophet, who “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:37). She saw Mary, the Blessed Theotokos, the Read more