Hermopolis

Translated from the Greek original. Biblical and patristic passages are rendered directly from the Greek; the original text of the longer passages can be displayed beneath them.

The Monks of Egypt

The monks of Egypt in the fourth century after Christ followed to the letter, in their monastic way of life, the divine teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Egyptian desert, in the first Christian centuries, there were many Fathers who lived an angelic life, faithfully keeping the example of our Saviour and God. There were prophets there who, through their inspired and wondrous way of life, full of virtues, had acquired divine and wonder-working energies: true ministers and servants of God, with nothing earthly in their thoughts and taking no care for any of the transient things of this world, people who truly lived on earth as though they were in the commonwealth of heaven.

The Power of Common Prayer

At this point let us listen to the one who says: “Pray for one another, that you may be healed.”¹ Let us listen to Christ, who says that if two or three agree in prayer, every request they ask will be fulfilled.² A great weapon is the prayer of the Church; a great wall is the harmonious prayer of all to God, and especially of the people who remained faithful in captivity. Let no one dare to say that God does not hear sinners. He receives all the more the supplication of the humble, and especially of those who suffer for His name, who are scourged, who are imprisoned, who are afflicted, whom their enemies mock, and who nevertheless have not denied the faith of Christ. There are many men and women who have become confessors of Christ, and He hears them at once. A great weapon is their prayer. For Christ takes into account all those who are in danger every day for His sake.

The anchoritic and eremitic form of the monastic life is its first type, and it appeared in Egypt during the period of the persecutions, and especially the persecutions of Decius (249–251). The hermit monks, who in the time of Antony the Great numbered some 5,000, despising the harshness of the desert, lived on the burning sand and led a solitary life. Only on Sundays and great feasts did they come to the nearest church, in order to pray together and to partake of the immaculate Mysteries.

Coenobium and Hermits

Saint Onuphrius tells Saint Paphnutius, his biographer, that in former times, hearing every day the Fathers of the coenobium in which he first lived praising the Saints of the Desert, he asked: “So the anchorites have greater boldness before God?” They said to him: “Yes, my child, they are greater than we are, for we see one another every day and read the services together with spiritual gladness and joy. When we are hungry, we find the table ready. If any of us falls ill in body or soul, the others help and serve him with great care. Whatever we need, we find. But those blessed hesychasts have no human consolation; they hope wholeheartedly in God alone. If temptation comes upon them from the evil one, they have no one to counsel them. If they are hungry or naked or in need of anything else, they have none of the necessities of the body. They give themselves more fully to the services and to prayer. The Angels of God minister to them daily, and when their soul departs from the body, they take it with great care and bring it before the All-Holy Trinity, singing with gladness and joy.”

Trust in God the Father

If today we entrusted all that concerns us to the existence of God our Father, things would take precisely the form revealed in the lives of the Saints of the Desert, and especially in that of our most venerable father Onuphrius the Egyptian; that is, we would not be anxious about the cares of this life. Having the faith which, in its depth, is knowledge of the existence of God our Father, and seeing our inability to answer the problems of life that demand an answer, we would turn in simplicity to our Father and say to Him: “Give us this day our daily bread…”.

Today the life of the hermits of the Thebaid, such as that of Saint Onuphrius the wonder-worker, is either accepted and shakes us deeply, or is rejected as fanciful and unreal. This happens because it presents the genuine human being, who is unceasingly united with God. Unfortunately many of us Christians do not seek “first the kingdom of God”,³ but seek material and spiritual goods. Christ is the beginning and the end, for He is first in His divinity and last in His humanity. It is also said in another way: Christ is the Alpha and the Omega,⁴ because He extends His Providence from His first creation, the bodiless angels, to the last, human beings. To the one who thirsts for righteousness Christ has promised to give the grace of the life-giving Spirit, which in the Gospels He promised to give to those who believe in Him.⁵ And elsewhere Christ calls blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, when He says: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”⁶ They will quench their thirst by drinking from the spring that gushes forth the water of life, and this spring is “none other than Christ”. This water of life is given freely, although elsewhere He says that the way that leads to life requires toil and much violence.⁷ What, then, does “freely” mean? It means that there is no measure by which the transient may be compared with the eternal, as Paul said: “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”⁸ (truly, what we suffer now is not equal to the glory that God has in store for us). “Freely” also means that the grace of the life-giving Spirit is not acquired with money, but through good works on the part of human beings and the love for mankind of Christ who bestows it.

Hearing these things, then, let us guard ourselves on every side, attending to the words of Holy Scripture, letting them take deep root, and cleansing ourselves of all the cares of this life. If we do some things and neglect others, we shall gain nothing more. For even if we are not lost through the one, we shall certainly be lost through the other. What difference does it make whether we are lost not through wealth but through sloth, or not through sloth but through cowardice? For the farmer, too, whether he loses the seed in one way or another, grieves equally. Therefore let us not be consoled by the fact that we are not lost in every way, but let us grieve in whatever way we are being lost. And let us burn up the thorns, for they choke the word. The rich know this, for they are useful neither for these things nor for others. For, by becoming captives of pleasures, they become useless even for civic affairs. If they are useless for these, they will be far more useless for heavenly things. For the ruin of the mind that comes from wealth is twofold: from luxury and from cares. Each of these passions is enough to sink the vessel; but when both act together, let us consider how great the shipwreck will be.

The Little Faith of the Disciples

Let us recall at this point how our Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the little faith of His disciples:

When His disciples came to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” But Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?”⁹

What, then, were the disciples thinking? “That we did not take with us,” as the divine Chrysostom points out,¹⁰ “bread.” For they were still attached to the Jewish purifications and to distinctions of foods. For all these reasons He attacks them with greater force and says to them: “O you of little faith, why do you reason within yourselves that you took no bread with you? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see, and having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember the five thousand people who were filled with five loaves, and how many baskets of fragments you took up? Nor the seven loaves with which four thousand were filled, and how many baskets of fragments you took up?” Do we see to what degree His indignation reached? Nowhere else does He appear to rebuke them in this manner. What, then, is it that compels Him to do so? Because He wishes once again to free them from their prejudice about foods. For this reason, on that earlier occasion He told them only, “Do you not perceive or understand?”, whereas in this case, together with a severe reproof, He calls them “of little faith”.

Saint Chrysostom urges us here to note that both the rebuke was great and His gentleness also. As though excusing Himself to them for His severe reproaches, He says to them: “Do you not remember the five loaves and how many baskets of fragments you took up? Nor the seven loaves and how many baskets of fragments you took up?” And precisely for this reason He mentions the number both of those who were fed and of the fragments, so as to make them remember what had happened and to make them more attentive to what would happen in the future. And to learn how important the results of His rebuke were, and how much it awakened their minds, let us see what the evangelist says. Without Jesus saying anything further, simply after rebuking them and adding to the rebuke the words, “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?”, the evangelist adds the following: “Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees,”¹¹ even though He had not explained to them what He had said. Let us note how much good came from this rebuke of His. For it freed them from the Jewish prejudices about distinctions of foods, and, slothful as they were, it made them more attentive. It also freed them from vainglory and little faith, so that they would neither fear nor tremble if it ever happened that they had few loaves, nor be anxious about hunger, but be unconcerned about all these things.

Saint Onuphrius Recounts His Struggles

Considering the above, let us not become people of little faith in our conduct, but let us keep in mind the anchorites of the Thebaid and all the Saints and Anchorites of our Church. Let us take an example from their life and imitate them. When Saint Paphnutius met Saint Onuphrius, shortly before the latter departed from this world, he said to Saint Onuphrius:

“I know, most holy Father, that you have endured much toil in this desert.” Then Saint Onuphrius added: “Believe me, beloved, I endured many torments from the great heat of summer and the frost of winter, from hunger and other hardships of the body. My clothes wore out and I was left completely naked. I endured all things patiently, contemplating, as everyone ought to do, the ineffable good things that God has prepared for those who love Him. Seeing my great distress, the Lord was pleased to make hair grow over all my body, and, covered by it, I no longer felt the frost or any other torment. Besides this, every day an Angel brought me bread, so that I might be sustained and serve God with greater fervour.”

Let us learn from the lives of the Saints of our Church, such as Saint Onuphrius the wonder-worker, and let us see that these people had given their whole being to the Lord without a second thought. Let us see that the people of God, on the day they receive Communion, are flooded with spiritual consolation. They neither hunger nor thirst, nor feel pain or any other affliction. The Saints of Christ, who take no account of the afflictions and hardships of this world for the sake of God, are taken up by the Angels into Paradise, and, seeing such brightness and beauty of the heavenly ranks, they are dazzled. They become one with the divine light; they rejoice in His Spirit. They are glad and exult abundantly, being counted worthy of such good things. They forget entirely all their former toils and the distresses they endured.

The Nature of Temptations

The nature of temptations is twofold. For afflictions torment hearts like gold in the furnace, testing their integrity through patience; or often the very abundance of life becomes the testing ground for most people. For it is equally difficult both to keep the soul unhumbled in adverse circumstances and to keep it from becoming arrogant and turning to injustice in prosperous ones. An example of the first kind of temptation is the great prophet Job. Such an example, too, was Saint Onuphrius: invincible athletes. Both of them, by receiving with unshaken heart and unchanging mind the whole violence of the devil, like the rush of a torrent, proved themselves as much superior to temptations as the contests set before them by the enemy appeared great and insurmountable.

If we keep the faith, we shall not be condemned, and we shall be adorned with every kind of virtue. For faith has such power that it enables people to walk even upon the sea. Saint Peter was a man like us, who had flesh and blood, grew up and became a man eating the same food as we do. But when Jesus said to him “Come”, because he believed, he walked on the water,¹² having faith as a surer foundation than a quay, and moving his heavy body lightly, thanks to the lightness that faith gave him. As long as he had faith, he stood firmly on the water. But when he doubted, he began to sink.¹³ For the more he lost his faith little by little, the more his body sank. But Jesus, who heals the passions of our souls, knowing what had befallen him, said to him: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”¹⁴ And again, receiving strength from Christ, who held him by the right hand, and believing again under the guidance of Christ the Master, he made the same journey again, walking on the sea. This fact, that he walked again, the Gospel indicates indirectly when it says: “when they had got into the boat…”.¹⁵ For it does not say that Peter climbed in by swimming, but implies that the distance he covered walking on the waves towards Jesus, he also covered walking back with Him, in order to climb into the boat again.

“Rejoice always, says the Apostle, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.”¹⁶ Let us consider what this “rejoicing” means, what benefit comes from it, and how unceasing prayer can be achieved and thanksgiving rendered to God for everything. A fuller commentary on this, with a practical application for each of us, may be found in the following passage of Saint Macarius the Egyptian, in a simple rendering:¹⁷

The prudent soul, when it finds itself amid evils and affliction, does not despair, but holds fast to what it has acquired; and whatever Satan provokes against it with countless temptations, it endures them and says: Even if I am to die, I will not forsake God. And then, if the person endures the temptations, the Lord begins to say to Satan: See how many evils and afflictions you brought against him, and he did not obey you, but serves and fears Me. Then the devil is put to shame and has nothing to say. For in the case of Job, too, if the devil had known that Job, falling into temptations, would endure them and not be overcome, he would not have asked this of God, so as not to be put to shame. So now too, with those who endure afflictions and temptations, Satan is put to shame and regrets having brought afflictions upon them, because he could achieve nothing. For the Lord begins to say to him: I allowed you, I permitted you to put him to the test. Did you achieve anything? Did he obey you?

Watchfulness and the Imitation of the Saints

Many things are revealed in the lives of the hermits of the Thebaid. Reading the life of Saint Onuphrius, let us consider how far we contemporary Christians truly fall short of, and stand apart from, this godlike life. The centre and rule of the life of the venerable Onuphrius was the Gospel saying: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”³ Difficult is the application of this commandment, and much faith is needed.

Modern man, riveted in front of his television, as has been said, in order to see and hear something new, presses all the buttons of the remote control and keeps landing on the same things, the same and the very same… Thus his last hope for something new is extinguished, and he remains in the same things…, in his routine…, in his stagnation…, in his death… He is sated with boredom… That is why spiritual watchfulness and constant preparation are needed. “Watch,” said the Lord, and “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”¹⁸ The Son of Man, the incorruptible Judge, comes for each of us at our death, and for all at the Second Coming, at an hour we do not expect.

The saints teach us above all, and inspire us, through their holy life. That is why those who consistently walk the way of virtue and perfection must look to the lives of the saints “as to statues that move and act”.¹⁹ The astonishing lives of our saints are living statues, active monuments of virtue, which teach us and call us “to make their good our own through imitation”: to imitate them, so as to make their virtue our own. The Ascetics of the Desert are people who did violence to their nature in order to reach what is above nature, which for man before the Fall was considered natural. People of firm faith, they do not doubt before a miracle, which, according to the Gospel, they themselves can also perform, with the grace and power that God gives them. They live alone, with their Elder, their small community or their monastery (usually a coenobium), studying the word of God and nourished by Holy Communion.

The Saint’s Withdrawal into the Desert

Let us see at this point that in Saint Onuphrius, after all that the other monks of the coenobium in which he first lived had told him about the anchorites, the longing grew day by day, and his soul melted with love for stillness. One night he took a few loaves with him and left the Monastery, begging God to lead him to dwell wherever was pleasing to Him. When he reached the desert he resolved to dwell somewhere on a mountain, and then he saw before him a most brilliant light. Filled with fear, he wanted to return to the coenobium.

But at once there appeared in that light a most beautiful man, wonderful to behold and glorious, who said to him: “Do not be afraid, Onuphrius. I am the Angel of God, whom He commanded to guard you from the hour you were born until the hour you die. Go forward, then, and do not fear the wiles of the devil, or temptations, or anything that may befall you. For I am with you to watch over you until I deliver your soul into the hands of God.” Saying these things, the Angel accompanied him for some distance, to where there was a cave. Then he vanished. Saint Onuphrius knocked at the door of the cave and saw an elder come out, full of grace and virtue. After he had made a prostration to him, the elder embraced him, saying: “Welcome, my brother Onuphrius. May the Lord shelter you and guard you.” They went into the cave, and he stayed with him for a few days, being taught many things. Having counselled him sufficiently about what is necessary for ascesis, he said to him: “Arise, my child, so that I may lead you to a cave of stillness, in the inner desert, where the Lord wishes you to dwell alone and to fight against the demon, in order to win the trophies of victory.” Walking for four days and nights, they reached a small hut that had a palm tree and a beautiful spring, and he said to him: “This is the place that the Lord has prepared for you to dwell in.” He stayed with him thirty days, teaching him every detail of the monastic arena. Then he went back to his cave, and he used to come and visit the Saint until he died here, and he buried him. His name was Hermias, of the tribe of Issachar.

Sirach on Wealth

Do not rely on your riches, and do not say, “I have enough.” Do not follow your inclination and your strength, walking in the desires of your heart, and do not say, “Who will have power over me?” for the Lord will surely punish you. Do not say, “I sinned, and what happened to me?” for the Lord is long-suffering. Do not be so confident of atonement that you add sin to sin; and do not say, “His compassion is great; He will forgive the multitude of my sins,” for mercy and wrath are with Him, and His anger rests upon sinners. Do not delay to turn to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come forth, and in the time of punishment you will perish. Do not rely on unjust riches, for they will not profit you in the day of calamity. Do not winnow with every wind, and do not walk on every path: such is the double-tongued sinner. Be steadfast in your understanding, and let your word be one. Be quick to hear, and give your answer with patience. If you have understanding, answer your neighbour; if not, put your hand over your mouth. Glory and dishonour come from speaking, and a man’s tongue is his downfall. Do not be called a whisperer, and do not lie in ambush with your tongue; for shame is upon the thief, and evil condemnation upon the double-tongued. In matters great or small, do not act amiss.²⁰

Nothing can be put forward as an excuse when we take into account the fire of Gehenna that will devour us at that time, when, because of a small deviation and a little sweat, we shall have lost heaven and its indescribable good things. For the time is short and the toil little; and yet we have become corrupt and have fallen again into moral decline, worse even than that which characterised the people of ancient times. On earth you struggle and in heaven you are crowned; you are punished by men and honoured by God; you run for two days and are rewarded eternally; you struggle with a corruptible body and the honours are rendered to the incorruptible.

The hermits of the Thebaid and of Nitria appear to us, although they live in a fiery and barren desert, to resemble happy and blessed people, in an exquisite greenhouse of giants of virtue and spirit. Considering these giants of faith, do not rely on your riches and do not say “I have money enough”. Do not follow the appetites of your soul and the awareness of your bodily strength and of your power over others, so as to walk in the evil desires of your heart. This captivity began at the very source of the human race. The first man, before acquiring offspring, became a slave and captive of sin. The great captor is Satan, the enemy of God and of man. He uses the world and the flesh and drags his captives through the mire. “He proclaimed release to the captives, and He accomplished it, having bound the strong one, Satan, who had tyrannically and oppressively ruled over our race, and having plundered his vessels, ourselves.”²¹

The Freedom of the Gospel

The gospel of the Messiah is a message and proclamation of freedom, like that given to Israel in Egypt and in Babylon. Through the merit of Christ sinners are freed from the bonds of guilt, and through the Spirit and grace from the chains of corruption.

It is liberation from the worst slavery, which all enjoy who make Jesus their head and wish to be governed by Him. The Messiah came not only through the word of His gospel to bring light to those who sit in darkness, but also through the power of His grace to give sight to those who were blind. The time of our life is short; brief is the opportunity for salvation. When, then, we squander this short time given us to learn something useful in listening to superfluous, useless and harmful words, when shall we find other time to learn what is necessary and urgent? For even if the time of our life were long, we ought still to devote it to useful things. But now that it is both little and short, how will it not be an act of the greatest folly to squander even this little time on teachings that corrupt our soul? What need have you of medicine? Do not accept the wound, so that you need not spend your time healing what you receive from others. Secure your health from the divine Scriptures, and if anyone comes telling you something else, close your ears, move away from him quickly and do not delay at all.

The Mathematics of God

The spirit of Christ surpasses common logic. It abolishes even the mathematics of men. When Christ stood and watched what each one cast into the “treasury” of the temple, and saw a poor widow who cast in two mites, He said that she “has put in more than all”: she gave the most, because she gave her whole livelihood, “all that she had”.²² The truly higher mathematics are the mathematics of God. The hope of enjoying the eternal good things, the incorruptible glory and the ineffable joy of the heavenly kingdom supports us in our trials and inspires us in the struggles of this small and transient life of ours, which is but an insignificant moment before endless eternity.

Man and Creation

Man is the radiance of nature. Nature and man must coexist harmoniously and be continually sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Never must the one function at the expense of the other… If this happens, then we have one-sidedness, heresy, deviation, imbalance, destruction. Without nature and creation, man is inconceivable. And without man, nature is neither brought to fruition nor sanctified… Here the mutual interpenetration of rational and irrational nature is demonstrated. The Hermits in their inaccessible cells, “in caves and mountains and in the holes of the earth”,²³ strive to live again the New Creation of the state before the Fall, and many of the elders strive to attain from the image to the likeness. The true dimensions of man are the dimensions of a child towards his Father. Just as children want only to love their father and mother and to be loved by them, and do not worry about their problems, trusting that their parents will take care of them, so exactly God wants our relationship with Him to be shaped. That is why, when the disciples asked Christ how they should pray, that is, how they should communicate with God, Christ showed them the prayer of father and son:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen.²⁴

This page contains a small tribute to Saint Onuphrius, my protector, who through his entreaties to the Lord has helped me, and helps me, in difficult circumstances.
Jason Digalakis