FOR AVVA LUCHIE
1. Once, to avva Luchie, the one from Ennat, came some monks, the ones which are called evhite, meaning, the ones who pray. And the old man asked them: what is the work of your hands? And they said: we do not touch the thing with the hand, but, as the apostole says, we pray ceaselessly (+1). And the old man said: don’t you eat? And they said: yes, we eat. And he said to them: than, when you eat, who is praying for you? Again, he said to them: don’t you sleep? And they said: yes, we sleep. And the old man said: than, when you sleep, who is praying for you? And they did not find to answer to this. And he said to them: forgive me, there, you do not do as you say. And I show to you, that by working the work with my hands, I pray ceaselessly. I sit with the help of God, dipping my few offshoots, and weaving them into a rope, I say: have mercy on me, God, according to Your great mercy, and according to Your many forbearances, blot out my transgression! (+2) And he said to them: is this not a prayer? And they said: it is. And the old man added: when I spend the whole day working and praying, I do more or less than sixteen monies. And I give two out of them at the door, and the other ones I spend at food. And the ones that get the two monies pray for me, when I eat or sleep. And with God’s grace, it is fulfilled at me that word which says: pray ceaselessly!
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(+1) Tes. V, 17.
(+2) Psalm 50.
FOR AVVA LOT
1. One of the old men came towards avva Lot, at the small riverside which is called that of Arsenie, and he prayed to him for a cell, and he gave it to him. And the old man was powerless, and avva Lot rested him. And if anyone was coming to avva Lot, he was making them to go also to the powerless old man. So, he started to say to them words of Origen, and avva Lot was grieving, saying: will the parents judge that we are also like that? But he was afraid to take him out of the place, because of the command. And getting up, avva Lot came towards avva Arsenie and told him about the old man. And avva Arseniy told him: do not send him away, but tell him: there, out of the ones of God, eat, drink as you will, only do not say this word anymore. And he will want to, he will straighten up, and if he will not want to straighten himself up, he will urge himself to go from there, and the reason will not be from you. So, as avva Lot went, he did so. And the old man, if he heard this, he did not want to straighten himself up, but he started asking, saying: for God, send me from here, because I cannot suffer the wilderness anymore! And so, getting up, he went out, being seen off with love.
2. Somebody told about a brother, who had fallen into sin, that as he went to avva Lot, he was stirring himself entering and coming out, not being able to sit. And avva Lot said to him: what is it, brother? And he said: I have done a big sin, and I cannot tell it to the fathers. The old man said to him: confess it to me, and I will bear it! Then he said to him: I fell into fornication, and I robbed in order to earn it. And the old man said to him: dare, for there is repentance! Go and sit in the cave and fast twenty days, and I will bear with you half of the sin! So, after three weeks were fulfilled, the old man was entrusted that God has accepted the brother’s repentance. And he stayed, obeying the old man till his death.
FOR AVVA LONGHIN
1. Once avva Longhin asked avva Luchie about thre thoughts, saying: I want to enstrange myself. The old man said to him: if you will not master your tongue, you are not a stranger, wherever you will go. So, master your tongue, and you are a stranger here, too. He said to him again: I want to fast! The old man answered to him: the prophet Isaia said: if you will hunch your neck like a chain and like a hook, not so will it be called received fasting (+). But more vigorously master your evil thoughts. He said to him a third time: I want to run away from people. The old man answered: if you will not complete this first with the people, neither away can you complete it.
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(+) Isaia 51, 5.
2. Avva Longhin, once being sick, was saying to himself: lay down and die. And if you will ask me to eat without timeliness, I will not give you even the daily food.
3. Avva Longhin asked himself: which of the good dededs is greater than all the others? And he said: I reckon that as pride is greater than all the passions, as it was able to fall some down even from the sky, so the humble thinking is greater than all the good deeds, becaseu it is able to pull the man up from even the depths, although he would be sinful as a devil. That is why even the Lord, before all, blesses the ones poor in spirit.
4. A woman, having a disease at the breast, which is called carchin, hearing about avva Longhin, has tried to meet him. So he was sitting at the ninth sign from Alexandria. And as the woman was searching, it happened that that blessed one was gathering wood, next to the sea. And finding him, she said to him: avvo, where does live avva Longhin, the slave of God? – not knowing that it is him. And he answered to him: what do you want from that cheat? Do not go to him, for he is deceiver! But, what is it that you have? And the woman, showed her sickness, and as he made the sign of the cross over that place, he released her, saying: go and God will heal you, for Longhin cannot be of no use to you! So the woman went, believing his word, and she immediately was healed. After these, as she told to someone, the work and the signs of the old man telling, she realized that he is avva Longhin.
5. Another time, again, some brought to him a demon possesed. And he was saying towards them: I do not have what to do. But, rather, go to avva Zinon. And when avva Zinon strated to send away the devil, the devil started to shout: now, you rekon avvo, that I get out for you? There, avva Longhin is praying there against me, and being afraid of his prayers, I get out, for otherwise I would not have given answer to you.
6. Avva Longhin said towards avva Acachie: when its bleeding is stopping, that is when the woman knows that it has conceived. Likewise, our soul knows that it has received the Holy Spirit, when its evil passions that flow from it will stop. And as long as it lives in them, how can it glorify itself desertly, that it is without passion? Give blood and take Spirit!