Abbatia
Sancti Petri
de Curte

The Sayings of the Elders (Verba seniorum, Book VII)

On the assaults of the demons

De impugnatione dæmonum.

1

Quidam frater requisivit a sene, dicens: Cur abba, a dæmonibus impugnamur? Respondit senex: Quoniam arma nostra abjecimus, id est, pœnitenliam, humilitatem, obedientiam, et penuriam.

— omitted in this translation —

2

Frater quidam abbatem Sisoium requisivit, dicens: Putas, abba, sic modo persequitur nosdiabolus, sicut antiquos? Respondit: Magis modo homines nostræ ætatis persequitur, quia appropinquant genera pœnarum, ubi ille cum legionibus suis angustatur, dum scit stagnum, ubi in igne et sulphure arsurus erit: ideo hominibus infestatur. Nec tamen infirmos quosque dignatur appetere, quos, ubi voluerit, cito subvertit: sed fortes magis ac magnos supplantare per diversa præcipitia aggreditur.

— omitted in this translation —

3

Abbas Pimenius requisivit abbatem Abraham: Quemadmodum nos dæmones impugnant? Ait senex: Dæmones nobiscum non pugnant, quia voluntates eorum facimus; sed nostræ nobis voluntates dæmones facti sunt, et tribulant nos. Unde Apostolus: Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, spiritus autem adversus carnem, ut non quæcunque vultis, illa faciatis. Num vis scire cum quibus dæmones pugnaverunt? cum abbate Moyse, et similibus ejus; nos autem voluntates cordis nostri impugnant.

— omitted in this translation —

4

Quidam frater requisivit abbatem Achillem: Quemadmodum adversum nos possunt dæmones? Respondit senex: Per voluntates nostras. Et adjecit, dicens: Ligna Libani dixerunt: Quam grandia sumus et alta, et parvissimo ferramento incidimur. Nihil ergo ei demus ex nobis, et nos non poterit incidere. Venerunt ergo homines, et fecerunt in securi manubrium ex ipsis lignis, et ita inciderunt. Ligna ergo sunt animæ; securis, diabolus: manubrium, voluntas nostra est. Per malas ergo voluntates nostras incidimur.

A certain brother said to the abbot Achilles, “How is it that the demons have power against us?” The old man answered him thus: “The trees of Lebanon said, ‘How great we are and high! Yet we are cut down with a very small axe. Let us therefore give no part of ourselves, and the axe will have no power against us.’ Soon there came some men seeking timber, and they made a handle for their axe out of these very trees in spite of their boasting. So the trees were cut down. Now the trees are the souls of men. The handle of the axe is man’s evil will. So we are cut down by means of the evil that is within us.”

Latin text: Verba seniorum, Book VII of the Vitae Patrum, translated from the Greek by Paschasius of Dumium for Abbot Martin (Martin of Braga), in H. Rosweyde’s edition as reprinted in Migne’s Patrologia Latina, vol. 73 (1879 reprint), cols. 1025–1062, checked against the scans; without the editor’s notes and cross-references, and without the Greek text of chapter XLIV printed in the notes. · English translation by James O. Hannay († 1950), The Wisdom of the Desert, London, Methuen, 1904 — a selection: he translates fourteen sayings of this book; the others, the prologue and the chapter titles are given in Latin only. His captions are not reproduced. One sentence he added (VII.25.4) is not reproduced; his linking sentence in VII.42.4 is kept because the next sentence depends on it. Collated with the 1904 print. Public-domain text in France (art. L123-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code). Transcription and revision: Abbatia Sancti Petri de Curte. Report an error