FOR AVVA NIL
1. Avva Nil said: anything that you will do to win over the brother who has wronged to you, will become delusion to you at the time of prayer. (+)
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(+) Nil, For Prayer, ch. 13
2. He said again: prayer is the offspring of gentleness and of lack of anger. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 14.
3. He said again: prayer is the casting out of sadness and sorrow. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 16.
4. He said again: as you go, sell all your riches and give them to the poor; and, taking the cross, give up your own self, so that you can pray without dispersion. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 17.
5. He said again: anything that you will suffer philosophying (+1), you will find its fruit in the time of prayer. (+2)
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(+1) Meaning, forbearing.
(+2) In the same place, ch 19.
6. He said again: desiring to pray as it is meant to, do not upset any soul; otherwise, you are running in vain. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 20.
7. He said again: do not will as it seems to you, that your things happen, but as God likes and you will be troubled and ungrateful in the time of your prayer. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 89.
8. He said again: blessed is the monk whom thinks of myself the reject of everyone. (+)
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(+) In the same place, ch 123.
9. He said again: the monk who loves quietness remains unhurt by the arrows of the enemy. And the one who mixes with the crowd often receives wounds.
10. He said again: the slave who is lazy with his owner’s things, let him prepare himself for beatings. (+)
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(+) Luke XII, 47
FOR AVVA NISTERO
1. Avva Nistero the great was walking in the desert with a brother, and seeing a dragon, he ran. And the brother said to him: are you also afraid, father? And the old man said to him: I am not afraid, son, but it is more useful that I ran, for I could not have escaped the spirit of the vain glory.
2. A brother asked an old man, saying: which thing is good for me to do, and to live with it? And the old man said: God knows which is good. But we hear that someone from the fathers asked avva Nistero the great, the friend of avva Antonie. And he said to him: which thing is good for me to do? And he said to him: are not all the things the same? The Scripture says that Avraam loved foreigners, and God was with him. Ilie loved quietness and God was with him, and David was humble and God was with him. So, what you see with your soul that you desire, after God do this, and guard your heart.
3. Avva Iosif said to avva Nistero: what will I do to my tongue, for I cannot master it? And the old man said to him: but, if you will speak, will you have peace? He said to him: no. And the old man said: so, if you will not have peace, why do you speak? Better keep quiet, and if there will be talking, better listen than talk.
4. A brother saw avva Nistero carrying two coats and asked him, saying: if a poor man will come and will ask you the coat, which one will you give to him? And answering, he said: the better one. And the brother said to him: but if another one will also ask you, what will you give him? And the old man said: the half of the other one. And the brother said: but if another also will ask you, what will you give him? And he said: I cut the other one, and give him half, and with the other one I cover myself. And he said again: but if this one will be asked by someone, too, what will you do? The old man answered: I give it to him even the other one, and I go to a place, until God will send, and will cover me, for I do not ask from someone else.
5. Avva Nistero said: the monk’s duty is to account every evening and every morning of what did we do from the ones that God desires us to, and what we did not do from the ones that He desires us not to do, and thus to cleanse all his life, for this is how avva Arsenie lived. Force yourself in all the days to stand in front of God without sin. Pray to him in the way, as if you would be facing, in front of Him, Who is present, for truly He is present. Do not set your self laws, and do not judge anyone. It is a foreign thing to the monks to swear, to step on their promise, to lie, to curse, to shame anyone, to laugh. And the one who is honouring oneself over what is proper, or is bragging, it is much losing.
FOR AVVA NISTERO, THE ONE FROM THE MONASTERY
1. Avva Pimen was saying about avva Nistero that the old man was like the brass snake that Moise made for the healing of the people, having all the good deed and keeping quiet, he was healing all.
2. As avva Nistero was asked by avva Pimen, where did he gain this good deed from, for whenever grief was happening to him in the monastery, he was not talking, nor was he coming in the middle, he answered: forgive me, avvo! When I entered the monastery at the beginning, I said to my thought: for you and the donkey are one. As the donkey is beaten and does not say anything, it is shouted at and does not reply, so you, too. As the psalmist says: as an animal I was in front of You, but I am always with You.
FOR AVVA NICON
1. A brother asked one of the elders, saying: how does the devil bring temptations over the saints? And the elder told him that there was one of the fathers, namely nicon, who used to live in the Mount Sinai. And there, someone going to the house of a faran, and finind his daughter alone, he fell with her. And he told her: say that the hermit avva Nicon did so to you. And when her father came, and found out, taking the sword, he went over the old man, and knocking in the door, the old man came out. And as he stretched the sword to kill him, his hand dried off. And as the faran went to the church, he told the elders, and they sent to him, and the old man came. And beating him a lot, they wanted to send him away. And he prayed, saying: leave me here, for God, so that I repent, and seting him aside for three years, a command was given that no one is to go to him. And he did three years, coming each Sunday to the church, and prostrating himself, praying all, saying: pray for me! And afterwards, the one who had done the sin and had set temptation over the old man, got possessed. And he confessed in the church that he did the sin, and he said that the servant of God be scourged. And as all the people went, they made prostration to the old man, saying: forgive us, avvo! And he said to them: as for forgiveness, you are forgiven; but to remain here with you, I do not remain anymore, for there was not one to have the right judgement, and to have mercy on me. And so he went from there. And the old man said to the brother: do you see how the devil brings temptations over the saints?
FOR AVVA NETRA
1. It was told about avv Netra, the apprentice of avva Siluan, that even when he was in his cell in the mount Sinai, he was leading himself with measure, according to the body’s need. And when he became bishop at Faran, he was narrowing himself even more, towards the strict life. And his apprentice said to him: avvo, when we were in the desert, you were not self-disciplining yourself like this. And the old man answered to him: there, it was was desert and quietness and poverty, and I wanted to preserve the body, so that I did not fell sick, and to look for the things that I did not have. And here there are people, and knowledge, and even if I will fall sick here, there is who will sustain me, so that I do not loose the monachism.
FOR AVVA NICHITA
1. Avva Nichita was saying about some two brother that they united, wanting to live together. And one reckoned onto himself: whatever my brother will want, that is what I will do. Likewise, the other brother reckoned that he will do his brother’s will. And they lived many years, with lot of love. But the enemy, seeing, went to split them, and sitting in the porch, was showing itself to one as a dove, and to another as a crow. And one said: do you see that dove? That one said: it is a crow. And they started arguing, another one saying another thing, and getting up they fighted to blood, to the most complete happiness of the enemy, and they split. And after three days, they woke up, and coming to their sense, and making their prostrations, they were confessing what each of them reckoned about the saw bird. And understanding the war of the enemy, they remained together to the end.