My bedtime reading these days has been the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John. I enjoy reading these letters because they almost always send me to sleep with an edifying thought of practical spiritual wisdom. In letters 540 and 541 the Saints are asked how one should deal with a conflict with a superior. The specific situation is as follows: One of the Fathers of the community is accompanying a Brother on…
In the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John, there is an interesting exchange between a young zealous monk and St. John (letters 503 – 570). In the first letter we find out that the young monk is upset with his spiritual father, who was also his cellmate, because he eats and sleeps too much. Apparently the spiritual father was eating three times a day, instead of once a day as was usual…
Some of the most accessible and practical wisdom from the ancient Christian desert tradition can be found in the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John. They lived in Gaza (Palestine) in the early sixth century. Over 800 letters are preserved for us, and in these letters we get an inside look at what spiritual guidance looked like in the desert monasticism of those early years. And although much is different in the…
When you squeeze an orange, you find out what’s in it: sweet, sour, or even sometimes rotten. Stress does the same thing with most people, in my experience. Stress reveals what is in our hearts, and it is usually not nearly as sweet as we thought it would be. But that is a gift. St. Isaac tells us that to know your own heart is a gift greater than the raising of…
Many do not realize that the ancient Church Fathers deal rather specifically with the problem of unwanted sexual thoughts, albeit from a man’s perspective. Unfortunately, there were very few women in the ancient world who were able or had the leisure to read and write, so there is a dearth of information about the inner life of women in the early centuries of the Church. Consequently, women have to translate the struggles…
I’ve been reading the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John, written in the early sixth century in the region of Gaza. One thing that has struck me as I am reading these letters is the pastoral compassion and just plain common sense these two holy men advocate in their correspondence. These letters are written by and to monks living in extreme conditions. Some are hermits, Barsanuphius has sealed himself into a room…
