The Sayings of the Elders (Verba seniorum, Book V)
That one must judge no one
De eo quod non oporteat judicare quemquam.
Contigit aliquando fratri in congregatione abbatis Eliæ tentatio, et expulsus inde, abiit in montem ad abbatem Antonium. Et cum mansisset aliquanto tempore apud eum, remisit eum ad congregationem unde exierat. Illi autem videntes eum, iterum expulerunt; qui similiter perrexit ad abbatem Antonium, dicens: Noluerunt me suscipere, Pater. Misit ergo senex ad eos, dicens: Navis naufragium tulit in pelago, et perdidit onus quod portabat, et cum labore vacua navis perducta est ad terram. Vos ergo liberatam navim in terram vultis submergere? Illi autem cognoscentes, quia eum abbas Antonius remisisset, statim susceperunt eum.
It happened that a certain brother in the community of the abbot Elias fell into sin. The brethren expelled him from the monastery and he fled to St. Antony who then dwelt on the inner mountain. The saint kept him there some time and then sent him back to the monastery from which he had been cast out. The brethren, when they saw him, immediately drove him forth again. Then, as at first, he fled to St. Antony, and said to him, “My father, they will not receive me.” Then the saint was grieved, and sent to the brethren a message, saying, “A certain vessel suffered shipwreck in the sea, and all her cargo was lost. Yet with great labour the sailors brought the ship herself to land. Do you now wish to push forth into the deep and sink the ship that has been rescued?” The brethren meditated upon the message which the saint sent them. When they understood it they were greatly ashamed, and at once received again the brother who had sinned.
Quidam frater peccaverat, et jussit eum presbyter exire de ecclesia. Surrexit autem Besarion, et exivit cum eo, dicens: Et ego peccator sum.
A certain brother had sinned, and the priest ordered him to go out of the church and depart from the company of the brethren. Then the abbot Besarion arose and went out along with him, saying, “I also am a sinner.”
Venit abbas Isaac de Thebaida in congregationem fratrum, et vidit quemdam de fratribus culpabilem, et adjudicavit eum. Cum autem exisset ad eremum, venit angelus Domini, et stetit ante ostium cellæ ejus, dicens: Non te dimitto intrare. Ille autem rogabat, dicens: Quæ est causa? Et respondens angelus Domini, ei dixit: Deus me misit ut dicerem tibi: Ubi jubes ut mittam illum fratrem culpabilem, quem addixisti? Et statim abbas Isaac pœnitentiam egit, dicens: Peccavi, ignosce mihi. Et dixit angelus: Surge, ignoscit tibi Deus; sed custodi de cætero ne adjudices quemquam, priusquam Deus adjudicet eum.
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Frater aliquando in Scythi inventus est culpabilis, et fecerunt seniores conventum, et miserunt ad abbatem Moysem, dicentes ut veniret; ille autem venire noluit. Misit autem ad eum presbyter, dicens: Veni, quia plebs fratrum te exspectat. Et ille surgens venit. Tollens autem secum sportam vetustissimam, implevit eam arena, et post se portavit. Illi vero exierunt ei obviam, dicentes: Quid hoc est, Pater? Dixit autem eis senex: Peccata mea sunt post me currentia, et non video ea, et veni ego hodie judicare aliena peccata? Illi autem audientes, nihil locuti sunt fratri, sed ignoverunt ei.
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Interrogavit abbas Joseph abbatem Pastorem, dicens: Dic quomodo monachus fiam. Et dixit ei senex: Si vis requiem invenire et in hoc et in futuro sæculo, in omni causa dic: Quis sum ego? et ne judices quemquam.
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Frater quidam interrogavit eum iterum, dicens: Si videro culpam fratris mei, bonum est celare eam? Dixit ei senex: Quacunque hora tegimus peccatum fratris nostri, teget etiam Deus nostrum; et quacunque hora prodiderimus culpas fratrum, et Deus nostras similiter prodet.
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Offendit aliquando frater in congregatione. Erat autem in ipsius locis quidam solitarius, qui jam longo tempore foris non exibat. Veniens autem abbas de congregatione illa ad eum, indicavit de fratre illo qui offenderat. Et ille dixit: Expellite eum. Expulsus autem frater de congregatione, misit se in fossatum, et flebat ibi: contigit autem ut alii fratres euntes ad abbatem Pastorem audirent eum in fossatu plorantem: qui descendentes ad eum invenerunt eum in magno dolore constitutum, et rogaverunt eum ut iret ad senem illum solitarium; et non acquievit, dicens: In hoc loco moriar ego. Venientes autem fratres ad abbatem Pastorem, narraverunt ei de eo. Et rogavit eos ut irent ad eum, dicentes: Abbas Pastor vocat te ad se. Quod cum ei dixissent, perrexit ad eum. Et videns eum senex afflictum, surrexit et osculatus est eum, et adgaudens ei rogabat ut sumeret cibum. Misit autem abbas Pastor unum de fratribus suis ad illum solitarium, dicens: Audiens de te, multi anni sunt quod te videre volui, et pro pigritia nostra amborum non potuimus nos invicem videre: modo autem, Deo volente et occasione facta, fatiga te usque huc, ut nos videre possimus; erat enim non egrediens de cella sua. Quod cum audisset, dicebat: Nisi Deus inspirasset seni illi de me, non misisset ad me. Et surgens venit ad eum. Et salutantes se invicem cum gaudio sederunt. Dixit autem ei abbas Pastor: Duo homines erant in loco uno, et ambo habebant mortuos suos. Reliquit autem unus mortuum suum, et abiit plorare illius alterius. Audiens autem hæc senex, compunctus est in sermone ejus, et recordatus est quod fecerat, et dixit: Pastor sursum in cœlo, ego autem deorsum in terra.
Once one of the brethren in a congregation fell into sin. Now there happened to be in that district a hermit who was renowned because for a long time he had not left his cell. To him the abbot of the congregation went and told the story of the brother’s fall. The hermit, when he heard it, said, “Expel that man.” So the sinning brother, driven forth from the community, went away to a desolate swamp and lamented. Now it came to pass that certain brethren on their way to the cell of the abbot Pastor heard him weeping in the swamp. They went down and found him altogether overwhelmed with grief. Filled with pity, they asked him to go with them to the cell of the abbot Pastor. He would by no means agree to go, but kept saying, “Let me stay here and die.” When these brethren came to the abbot Pastor, they told him of the man whom they had found weeping in the swamp. He immediately begged them to go back again and say, “The abbot Pastor bids you come to him.” When the poor man heard their words, he arose and went with them. When Pastor saw him with all the marks of his grief upon him, he arose and kissed him. Then bidding him be of good cheer, he set him down to meat. In the meanwhile he sent a brother to the hermit who had condemned the sinner, with this message: “I have heard much of you, and now for a long time have desired to see you. Now, therefore, if it be the will of God and convenient to you, I beseech you to put yourself to the toil of coming hither.” When the hermit heard these words, he said within himself, “No doubt God has revealed to him the kind of man I am, and therefore he has sent for me.” Then rising up, he went to the cell of the abbot Pastor. When they had greeted each other and sat down, the abbot Pastor said, “There were two men who dwelt in one town. In the house of each of them there lay the dead body of a friend. The one of them forgot his own dead friend and the lamentation that was due to him, and leaving him unburied, went to weep at the other’s funeral.” The hermit when he heard these words was cut to the heart. He confessed that he had been angered at the sin of another while he forgot his own sin. Then he said, “Surely Pastor dwells in heavenly places, but I am here below on earth.”
Frater quidam interrogavit abbatem Pastorem, dicens: Quid facio, quia pusillanimis fio dum sedeo? Dixit ei senex: Nullum spernas neque condemnes, et nulli obloquaris, et Deus præstabit tibi requiem, et erit sessio tua sine perturbatione.
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Factus est aliquando conventus in Scythi, et loquebantur Patres de quodam fratre culpabili. Abbas autem Pior tacebat: postea autem surgens egressus est, et tollens saccum, implevit eum arena, et portabat eum in humeris suis; et mittens in sportella modica de eadem arena, portabat etiam ipsam in ante. Interrogatus autem a Patribus quid hoc esset? Ille respondit: Saccus iste qui multum habet arenæ, mea peccata sunt; et quoniam multa sunt, posui ea supra dorsum, ne doleam pro ipsis et plorem; ista autem arena modica peccata sunt istius fratris, et sunt ante faciem meam, et in ipsis exerceor judicans fratrem; quod non oportet ita fieri, sed mea magis peccata ante me esse, et de ipsis cogitare, et rogare Deum ut ignoscat mihi. Audientes autem Patres, dixerunt: Vere hæc est via salutis.
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Dixit senex: Non judices fornicatorem, si castus es; quoniam similiter legem prævaricaris. Etenim qui dixit: Non forniceris, dixit: Ne judices.
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Ad quemdam solitarium venit presbyter cujusdam basilicæ, ut consecraret ei oblationem ad communicandum. Veniens autem quidam ad illum solitarium, accusavit apud ipsum eumdem presbyterum. Qui cum ex consuetudine iterum venisset ad eum, ut consecraret oblationem, scandalizatus ille solitarius non aperuit ei. Presbyter autem hoc viso discessit. Et ecce vox facta est ad solitarium, dicens: Tulerunt sibi homines judicium meum. Et factus est velut in excessu mentis, et videbat quasi puteum aureum, et situlam auream, et funem aureum, et aquam bonam valde. Videbat autem et quemdam leprosum haurientem et refundentem in vase, et cupiebat bibere, et non poterat propter quod leprosus esset ille qui hauriebat. Et ecce iterum vox ad eum, dicens: Cur non bibis ex aqua hac? quam causam habet qui implet? implet enim solummodo et effundit in vase. In se autem reversus solitarius, et considerans virtutem visionis, vocavit presbyterum, et fecit eum sicut et prius sanctificare sibi oblationem.
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Fuerunt duo fratres magnæ vitæ in congregatione, et meruerunt videre singuli gratiam Dei in alterutrum. Factum est autem aliquando ut unus ex eis egrederetur in sexta feria extra congregationem, et videret quemdam mane comedentem. Dixit autem ei: Hac hora manducas in sexta feria? Die autem sequenti facta est celebratio missarum secundum consuetudinem. Intuens vero frater ejus, vidit gratiam quæ ei data fuerat discessisse ab eo, et contristatus est. Qui cum venisset in cellam, dicit ei: Quid fecisti, frater, quia non vidi, sicut pridem, gratiam Dei in te? Ille autem respondens dixit: Ego neque in actu, neque in cogitationibus conscius mihi sum alicujus mali. Dicit ei frater ejus: Nec sermonem odiosum aliquem locutus es? Et recordatus dixit: Etiam. Hesterna die vidi quemdam comedentem mane, et dixi ei: Hac hora manducas in sexta feria? Hoc est peccatum meum; sed labora mecum duas hebdomadas, et rogemus Deum ut mihi indulgeat. Fecerunt ita; et post duas hebdomadas vidit frater gratiam Dei iterum venientem super fratrem suum, et consolati sunt, Deo, qui solus bonus est, gratias referentes.
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Latin text: Verba seniorum, Book V of the Vitae Patrum, translated from the Greek by Pelagius, deacon of the Roman Church, in H. Rosweyde’s edition as reprinted in Migne’s Patrologia Latina, vol. 73 (1879 reprint), cols. 855–988, checked against the scans; without the editor’s notes and cross-references. · English translation by James O. Hannay († 1950), The Wisdom of the Desert, London, Methuen, 1904 — a selection, sometimes free: sayings he did not translate are given in Latin only. His captions and seven sentences he added himself (V.2.9, V.3.6, V.7.8, V.7.31, V.10.88, V.15.7, V.16.11) are not reproduced: the text given is an edited excerpt. 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