The sayings of the desert fathers the alphabetical collection
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, also known as the Apophthegmata Patrum, is a collection of wisdom and teachings from early Christian monks and ascetics who lived in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries. Here are some selected sayings from the collection in alphabetical order:
A - "Abba Anthony said, 'A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad, you are not like us.'"
B - "Abba Poemen said, 'As the body cannot live without nourishment, so the soul cannot be safe without prayer.'"
C - "Abba Moses said, 'Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.'"
D - "Abba Agathon said, 'I have never gone to sleep with a grudge against anyone, and so I have never woken up with a grudge against anyone.'"
E - "Evagrius said, 'If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly, you are a theologian.'"
F - "Father Poemen said, 'As the face of a mirror adjusts itself to the face of anyone who looks into it, so too the heart of a man adjusts itself to the man who is with him.'"
G - "Abba Anthony said, 'I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, 'What can get through from such snares?' Then I heard a voice saying to me, 'Humility.'"
These sayings offer profound insights into the spiritual life and the challenges faced by those seeking to live a life of prayer, humility, and asceticism in the desert.
Above is The sayings of the desert fathers the alphabetical collection.