The following is an
excerpt from a letter of Saint Basil the Great to a certain noble patrician: "It
is good and profitable to communicate everyday and to partake of the holy Body
and Blood of Christ, for He Himself tells us: 'Whoever eats my Body and drinks
my Blood has eternal life!' Who, then, doubts that partaking continually of
life means nothing other than having manifold life? We, here, have the custom
of communicating four times a week; namely, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday,
Saturday, or any other day on which the memory of a Saint falls."
A young monk, going
down from the skete to the city, passed by the but of Abba Ammoun and confessed
to him: "My elder, Abba, is sending me to the city on an errand. I,
however, who am a man of weakness, fear temptation."
"Be
obedient," the holy man advised him, "and if temptation should arise
before you, say these words: 'O God of powers, through the intercession of my spiritual
Father, deliver me.'"
The brother took
courage from the words of the Abba and went immediately about his duty. The
devil, however, who had been biding his time to bring harm to the monk, sent a
woman of evil ways hastily to entrap him in her evil den. In his despair, the
monk suddenly remembered the advice of Abba Ammoun and shouted with faith:
"O God of powers, through the intercession of my spiritual Father, deliver
me."
He then found himself, without
knowing how, on the road that led to the desert.
"With what difficulty I work to control my tongue," a young monk agitatedly said one day to Abba Nistheros.
"When you
talk, do you find peace?"
"Never."
"Then why do
you talk? Learn to be silent. When it is a matter of something of profit, it is
better to listen to others than to speak," the wise elder advised him.
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