Each Breath Both Prayer and Practice: The Sayings of Antony the Great in the Alphabetical Apophthepfmata Patrum,

A New Translation with a Commentary1

Tim Vivian

INTRODUCTION AND REFLECTION will the real Abba Antony please stand up? Late Antiquity has given us many Antonys: the Antony of the Life by Athanasius; the Antony of the Letters; the Antony of the Greek, Coptic, and Arabic Sayings—and the Antonys of the Syriac, Armenian, and Ethiopic Sayings. Trying to discover the real or authentic Antony may well be like the elephant in the Hindu parable in which each of the blind men, touching a different part of the elephant, “sees” something different. This is even truer when we think about the number of sayings that involve Antony: Samuel Ruben- son counts 119.2 What we have, as with Jesus, is the Antony of tradition; the Antony of traditions. In the Life of Antony, Athanasius limns his hero in charcoal and pen-

1. The sayings translated here will appear in a forthcoming volume of translations of The Greek Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, with commentary, and in a forthcoming volume, with Lisa Agaiby, of translations of The Greek, Coptic, and Arabic Alphabetical Sayings of St. Antony the Great, both to be published by Cistercian Publications/Liturgical Press. 2. Samuel Rubenson, The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995) 193-95. Cistercian Studies Quarterly 53.3 (2018) 2 3 6 TIM VIVIAN cil as an uneducated ascetic extraordinaire, willing martyr, anti-Arian, miracleworker, discerning teacher, battler of philosophers, and defeater of demons.3 The Letters, probably authentic, paint for us a full-colored portrait of a philosophically and theologically sophisticated exegete and a follower of Origen of Alexandria.4 If we take the Letters with the Sayings, as Rubenson correctly recounts, we have,

the image of Antony which later monastic tradition called for, but as single pictures [the sayings] are still glimpses of a man of cherished memory. Through his incorporation into tradition, the teacher of gnosis became the star of the desert. In this process the main criteria [sic] for preservation was apparently the identification of the image of Antony with the ideals of later generations of his disciples. The apophthegmata [sayings] are no nostalgic recollections of randomly preserved pieces of history but didactic sayings of a living tradition.5

A scholar once told me that at a conference she was attending many of the older Benedictines present knew very little about the Desert Fa­ thers and Mothers. So, the question here, for both those who value the ascetic-monastic spiritual tradition and those who know little or nothing about it, is, to put it pointedly, “Why read this stuff?” Here I will offer a brief reflection on the first three sayings and offer the reader some of the insights that I believe the sayings still very much offer us. Whoever organized the stories and sayings concerning Antony was an ascetic—and pastoral—genius. With regard to the human condition, most of these apothegms are timeless. We should, however, pause to re­ flect a moment on this potential cliche. We know—or should know—that the ancient Hebrews and Israelites were vastly different from us in soci­ ety, religiosity, and polity. With regard to Jesus, modern scholarship has

3. For a translation of the Life, see Athanasius, The Life of Antony: The Coptic Life and the Greek Life, trans. Tim Vivian and Apostolos N. Athanassakis, CS 202 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 2003). For a study, see David Brakke, Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995); on demons, see Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity (Boston: Harvard UP, 2006). 4. For a thorough discussion, see Rubenson, The Letters of St. Antony 59-88. Rubenson 157, argues that a few sayings of Antony, perhaps authentic, “support the image of Antony as a philoso­ pher and ascetic teacher of a kind of a Christian g n o s is A good introduction to Origen is Joseph Wilson Trigg, Origen (New York: Routledge, 1988). See also now John Behr, trans., Origen: On First Principles, Oxford Early Christian Texts (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2018). 5. Rubenson 162. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 237 emphasized his Galilean and Jewish milieus and taught us to pay atten­ tion to the economic, imperialistic, and oppressive social conditions in which Jesus lived, moved, and had his being. And the first monastics? In Egypt today, the monasteries are replete with highly-educated monks, seemingly far from the monastic fellahin of Antony’s day; perhaps the villages near the present-day monasteries tell us more about Antony and his confreres, at least sociologically, than do todays monasteries. The modern European, American, Canadian, or Australian (the countries where most Coptic emigres reside) would have an extremely difficult time living in these villages. All this suggests that Antony and his fellows lived in a cosmos vastly different from ours. Su­ perficially—and, paradoxically—yes. But history and religion tell us that all homo sapiens dwell, and indwell, one fundament. As the American poet Theodore Roethke tells us, “The soul has many motions, the body one.”6 The sayings of and stories about Antony gathered below often re­ prove the body’s and the soul’s motions, but, more often, I think, they dance with these movements, as an experienced and skilled dancer gen­ tly, sometimes more determinedly, guides her partner across the dance floor. These sayings and stories tell us, in fact, that Antony’s spiritual world—or psychological world, if one prefers—is still our own. With our repeated school shootings, deliberate political violence against Jesus’ “least of these,” and idolatry of technology, money, and power, the first line of Antony’s sayings still speaks very much to us: when Antony “was dwelling in the desert one time, he became dispirited, and his thoughts were extremely dark and gloomy” (Antony 1). Antony, then, carries my heart within his own.7 “Dispirited” translates Greek akedia, which has multiple meanings, including what we now call “depression.”81 suffer from depression, man­ aged well now; many of my friends, and some of my students, also suffer from it. The rate of depression in the United States hovers, almost apoca­ lyptically, at about 7% of adults.9 Today, it’s not the Devil who prowls

6. Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke (New York: Doubleday, 1975) 346. 7. See e. e. Cummings, “i carry your heart with me,” online. 8. See n. 21. 9. National Institute on Mental Health (online): in 2016 an “estimated 16.2 million adults in 238 TIM VIVIAN around like a roaring lion, “looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8), but rather anger, fear, hatred, violence, addiction, and suicide. So Anto­ ny cries out, “Lord, I want to be saved, but my thoughts won’t leave me alone! Afflicted like this, what will I do? How will I be saved?” Antony 23 adds depth to Antony 1 by emphasizing communal salvation; Antony there tells a parable to some judgmental monks who have driven out a brother from their monastery: “A ship shipwrecked at sea and lost its cargo; after great hardship, it safely came to shore. You monks, however, want to throw into the sea to drown what has been safely brought to shore.” The monks earlier had not only exiled the brother; after Antony sent him back they refused to welcome him. Now they, Antony para- bolically accuses, want to throw the brother into the sea to drown. In other words, the sinful monk has been saved, but his fellow monks are too hard-hearted to see it. Antony’s cri de coeur in the first saying reminds me of Paul’s: “Wretch­ ed person that I am, who will save [or: rescue] me from this body of death?” (Rm 7:24). Paul and Antony use different verbs for “save” (or “rescue” in Romans), but they are clearly both afflicted. However, salva­ tion for Antony here will not come with an altar call, or being baptized (presumably, he already is). It’s not about getting a ticket to hand to Saint Peter at the eternal gates; the salvation Antony seeks is not heavenly, in eternity, but existentially, here and now. The answer he receives, at least for those of us living outside a monastery, will probably surprise us. But if we don’t turn our heads, or run away, there can be here a saving shock of recognition. Antony goes outside—that is, symbolically, he embarks on a spiritual journey; on this journey he sees “someone like him.” In other words, God (from Antony’s perspective) holds up a mirror to him—and to us. This is not Paul’s “glass, darkly” or “mirror, dimly” (1 Co 13:12, KJV and NRSV, respectively). It’s a call to emulation and praxis, two key mo­ nastic teachings and virtues. Antony sees—himself. The story, with a common trope, tells us that the other person is an angel. But before we smile, condescendingly, at what we suppose is naivete, we once again need the United States had at least one major depressive episode. This number represented 6.7% of all U.S. adults. The prevalence of adults with a major depressive episode was highest among individuals aged 18-25 (10.9%).” THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 239 to reflect symbolically. Antony is not entertaining an angel unawares; he is looking at the divine in himself—in Thomas Merton’s phrase, “the true self”—rather than the false self of anxiety and fear. (We need to remem­ ber, though, that this false self is not some kind of spiritual docetism; it is very real, and painful.)10 But Antony has not, all too easily, become isdngellos, at one with the angels; he sees someone “like him.” The practice of this angel—Antony’s alter-psyche, as it were—is sim­ plicity itself: work and pray, pray and work. Paul’s “pray without ceasing” (1 Th 5:16-18) is here evolving into ora (prayer) and labora (work) and, al­ though not stated here, common and even obligatory among the monks, lectio (reflection on Scripture).* 11 The angel-interior Antony tells himself that if he does what the true self tells him, he will be saved. It’s important, though, not to let such teaching veer off into solipsism, even narcissism, a pernicious malady today. We must always remember that a monk— even Antony, who seeks solitude in the remotest regions—always works and prays and reflects and meditates on Scripture within community. Not choirs of angels but the communion of saints. We cannot begin to understand the sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers without first viewing the basic structure of many sayings that welcomes us to a community of mutual spiritual conversation (and conversion) and counsel: a less-experienced monk asks an elder for ad­ vice; the elder then offers what he or she has learned, in discernment (diakrisis), from reflecting on oneself, others, and Scripture. Or the el­ der questions-petitions God. In the thirty-eight sayings translated here, Antony asks God a question twice; a monk or monks question Antony eight times; and “Antony said” occurs ten times. The last could have easily originated with a question. The elder, or God, then offers not theoretical but practical advice. But before we can get to the “practical,” that is, praxis, the practices of the monks endeavoring to lead a life, not just an afterlife, of salvation, we need to confront the second saying here—or have it confront us. It’s a question at least as ancient as Job and as current as today’s print or digital headline. I teach the Western religions at my university, and my students

10. For a good selection of quotations on this subject from Merton’s New Seeds of Contempla­ tion, see New Seeds of Contemplation, Goodreads (online). 11. See the delightful, and salutary, essay by Terrence Kardong, “Work is Prayer: Not!” (online). 240 TIM VIVIAN and I learn over and over that a central—maybe the central—topic, ques­ tion, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is theodicy. In Paradise Lost, John Milton offers a definition: he strives to “assert Eternal Providence, / And justifie the wayes of God to men.”12 By structuring the sayings this way—salvation and theodicy—the ancient editor, whether intentionally or subconsciously, is us. Journeyers, we seek salvation, but we must seek and find within a realm where salvation and theodicy searches and seeks us out. Those of us who have read Job, and left our reading dissatisfied, will probably not be satisfied with the Q&A in Antony 2. Within this dis­ satisfaction, however, lies something helpful. In this saying, the elder is once again holding up a mirror. When he asks his three questions of the mirror, dramatically it’s cold, and his breath steams up the glass. When the fog subsides, we see not Antony, or God, but ourselves. We ourselves are asking Antony’s questions: “Lord, why do certain people live short lives and die while others live to an exceedingly old age? And why are some poor and in need while others get rich? And why do those who are neither righteous nor just get rich while the righteous and just are in need?” And now we become Job, Aening to God thunder. It’s easy for us, perhaps too easy, to focus on the second part of the response by the voice (aka God) and, in doing so, miss the first part. Reminiscent of God’s re­ sponse in Job 38:4-7, the Lord declares “Antony, pay attention to yourself; to be sure, these are God’s judgments, and it will not do you any good to inquire about these matters.” One can also translate the sentence, “to be sure, these are God’s judgments, and it is not your place to inquire about such matters.” Sit down and shut up. If the second part of God’s response is allusively (and elusively) Bibli­ cal, the first is both Biblical and quintessentially monastic: “pay attention to yourself.” This question and response is still ours. God’s first command is not, yet is, “Mind your own business.” It’s not, though, “Butt out,” but “Focus on yourself.” This is the classical, and sempiternal, “Know thyself.”13

12. Milton, Paradise Lost I.25-26; Poetry Foundation (online). 13. Pausanias (c. 110-180), Description of Greece 10.24.1: “In the fore-temple at Delphi are writ­ ten maxims useful for the life of men, inscribed by those whom the Greeks say were sages___These sages, then, came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the celebrated maxims, ‘Know thyself,’ and ‘Nothing to excess’” (online). Socrates says “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato, Apology 38a5-6). THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 241 But instead of the classical “Gnothi seauton’,’ our text has the Biblical and monastic “Pay attention to yourself,” Proseche heauto(i), which can also mean “be concerned about, care for” and “be careful, be on one’s guard.” Good advice, all. In Acts 20:28, Paul sends a message to the elders in Miletus and urges them, “Keep watch over yourselves [prosechete heautols], and over all the flocks, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. . . .” In Luke 17:3, Jesus himself warns the disciples of their immense responsibility in caring for “these little ones”: “Be on your guard! [prosechete heautols]\” Today, as a plane prepares for lift off, the flight attendant tells the pas­ sengers, “In case of sudden loss of air pressure, please fit the oxygen mask over your face before placing the mask over your child’s face.” This is what monks and mystics have taught for millennia: ensouled physician, heal your own before attending to others. Self-understanding through discernment, within God’s embrace, is the first raison d’etre of the desert; teaching others hard-earned wisdom is the second. Antony 2 is an exception that proves the rule that the desert ammas and abbas, at least in the Sayings, are not much concerned with what we consider theology: “the study of the nature of God and religious belief; religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed.”14 One problem we moderns have in understanding the early monastics is that, as with universities and their departments, we often create boundaries where the monks’ lived experience is permeable. Instead of seeing theol­ ogy and practice as two countries—with, perhaps, a wall between them— we do better imagining the two nations with a bridge uniting them, and streams of travelers walking from one to another. As Evagrius Ponticus reminds us, “If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly, you are a theologian.”15 The early monks in the Apophthegmata are, first and foremost, prac­ tical; that is, they are most concerned with practice, the practices that en­ able a person to walk, however slowly, towards, and into, God. Antony 3 gets right to the point: “someone”—a monk, Everyman, us—asks Antony “What sort of practices do I need to maintain in order to please God?”16

14. oxforddictionaries.com. 15. “Evagrius of Pontus (Evagrius Ponticus), On Prayer 61; Excerpts from the Philokalia (on­ line). 16. On the depth of meaning in “maintain,” see n. 36. 242 TIM VIVIAN This question informs much of the rest of the collection translated below, and of the Apophthegmata in general. Here I will only bullet-point them, with the saying in parentheses: • Keep God right before your eyes, with you always (3, 28); • hold on to the testimony of the Scriptures (3); • stay put (3,31); • own up to your own errors (4); • expect temptation to your last breath (4); • don’t be self-righteous (6); • let go of the past (6); • get control of your tongue and belly (6); • practice humility (7,15,17,19, 27); • practice moderation (8); • love your fellow monk (9); • practice contemplative quiet (10,11); • practice interior watchfulness (10); • don’t take yourself and your practice too seriously (13); • make the effort to pray (16); • don’t gab (18); • practice poverty (20); • don’t judge (21, 29); • discern the movements of the body and spirit (22); • give to those in need (24); • stay sane when all around you lose their minds (25); • listen to the Spirit (30); • love God (32); • fear God (33); • hate (the seductions of?) the world (33); • live for God (33); • reflect on which of the virtues to practice (35); • practice self-control (36); • ask for help (37, 38). Twenty-nine practices. A daunting list. And other sayings in the Apophthegmata will offer more. But the desert fathers and mother teach us, in their words, practice(s), and lives, that the spiritual life takes work, THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 243 often hard work. Moving into a new home is exciting. But before long, especially where I live, you notice that the counters need to be dusted, the kitchen floor requires sweeping and mopping, carpets and rugs need vacuuming. As you live in a house for twenty-five years, as my wife, chil­ dren, and cats have, making it, with hours of hard work, your own, things fall apart. In an important sense, you never completely settle in, just as, terrestrially, we never fully occupy our heart, soul, mind, and spirit, our God-given true self. The early ammas and abbas testify that the spiritual life requires effort until one’s very last breath (Antony 4). True. But that last breath has not only one beginning, birth, but hundreds, if not thou­ sands, of beginnings, the breath(s) we draw each and every spiritual day. Even millions, if we live within Buddhist and monastic mindfulness: each breath as both prayer and practice.17

CONCERNING ABBA ANTONY18

1. M l the Days of Ms life 19

w h e n s a i n t a b b a Antony was dwelling20 in the desert one time, he be­ came dispirited,21 and his thoughts22 were extremely dark and gloomy.

17. John Eudes Bamberger understands this: in his translation he conjoins Evagrius’s Praktikos with Chapters on Prayer, Bamberger, The Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer, CS 4 (Kalamazoo: Cister­ cian, 1981). 18. Translated from J.-R Migne, ed., Patrologia Cursus Completus . . . [Patrologia Graeca] 65 (1858): 75-88 (online). The textual transmission of the Apophthegmata, or Sayings, is still uncertain; on advice of scholars in the field, and lacking a definitive text, I’ve chosen to use Migne. Other trans­ lations are Benedicta Ward, SLG, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, CS 59 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1975) 1-9; and John Wortley, Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s, 2014) 31-40. 19. The titles for the sayings are my own. 20. dwelling: kathtzomai can also mean “sit,” as below, that is, sitting in his cell, as the next par. shows. In that par. “sitting” and “sit” translate the same verb. Greek verbs, nouns, and adjectives are given in dictionary form. 21. dispirited: akedia. Acedia is a key monastic term. Lampe’s entry, 6ib-62b, is instructive: “fatigue, exhaustion; weariness, inertia; listlessness; torpor, boredom.” Its causes can be natural (B3a) or preternatural (B3b), attributed to a particular demon. Its effect (B4) “causes monks to leave mon­ asteries”; its remedies (B5): “prayer and work.” Evagrius discusses “the demon of acedia, also called “the noonday demon”: “it is the one that causes the most serious trouble of all.” See Chapter 12 of the Praktikos in Bamberger 18-19. 22. thoughts: logismoi: thoughts, and their discernment, are key in early monasticism. Once 2 4 4 TIM VIV IAN

He was saying to God, “Lord, I want to be saved,23 and my thoughts won’t leave me alone! Afflicted like this, what will I do? How will I be saved?”

A little later, going outside, Antony saw24 someone like him: he was

sitting and working;25 then he would stand up from his work26 and pray.27 Then he would sit down and plait rope; then once again he would stand to

pray. It was an angel of the Lord, sent28 to set Antony right and strengthen

him .29 Antony heard the angel saying, “Do what I am doing, and you will be saved.”

Hearing this,30 he was filled with joy and courage. So, doing what the angel had said, he was saved.

2. The Depths of (Jod’s Judgments

t h e s a m e a b b a Antony, intently studying the depths of Gods judgments, wanted an answer, so he said, “Lord, why do certain people live short lives and die while others live to an exceedingly old age? And why are some poor and in need while others get rich? And why do those who are neither righ­

teous nor just get rich while the righteous and just31 are in need? ” 32 again, Evagrius offers a systematic analysis: Praktikos 15-39; Bamberger 20-26. 23. saved: sozd. Asking how to be saved is a common question among the early monks, from one monk to an elder and from an elder to God. We hear “saved” primarily in terms of (eternal) salvation, but the word in Greek is really holistic: body and soul; its meaning is to be saved “from sickness or afflictions” (Lampe 1361b). See English whole, holistic, heal, and healthy— and holy, all cognate. See nn. 111,131, and 142. 24. saw: literally “sees.” Greek often uses the historical present in narrative where English re­ quires the past. The historical present occurs often in the sayings. 25. working: ergazomai is cognate with ergon and ergasla-, the three are important words and concepts in early monasticism. Jm 2:14-26 uses ergon numerous times. 26. work, ergon-, see the previous note. 27. pray: this shows that the monks prayed standing up, the orans position. 28. sent: apostello, cognate with apostolos, “apostle”; one sent (by Christ). See nn. 126,129,133, and 161. 29. strengthen him: correct, set right, amend, “of moral and spiritual amendment” (Lampe 373b). 30. Hearing: akoud can also mean “hear and understand,” “receive instruction, be taught,” “be a disciple,” and “give heed to, hear inwardly” (Lampe 64a), all apposite here. See n. 112. 31. why do those who are neither righteous nor just get rich while the righteous and just: dlkaios means both “righteous” and “just” (Bauer 2468-2473; Lampe 3683-369). There are 21 words in Lampe with dikaio- at the beginning, which shows its importance; adikoi is the negative. I have used both English words here to capture the fall meaning of dlkaios. 32. The Sayings tend to use parataxis: short, simple sentences, with the use of coordinating THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 245

A voice came to him,33 saying, “Antony, pay attention to yourself;34 to be sure, these are Gods judgments, and it will not do you any good35 to inquire about these matters.”

3. T)o These Three Things

s o m e o n e a s k e d a b b a Antony, saying, “What sort of practices do I need to maintain36 in order to please God? ” 37 In reply the elder said, “Practice38 what I’m prescribing39 for you: Wherever you go,40 keep God right before your eyes—always. Whatever you’re doing, hold on to41 the testimony of the holy Scriptures. Wherever you’re living,42 don’t be in a hurry to move on. Keep these practices and you’ll be saved.”

rather than subordinating constructions (especially and). Thus, they are much more like Mark’s Gos­ pel than Paul’s letters. This translation will omit many of the “and”s, as do modern translations of Mark, but here they are appropriate. 33. A voice [phoni] came to him: this is a common trope in the AlphAP (Alphabetical Apophthegmata Patrum; J.-P. Migne, ed., PG 65 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1864) 75-440 (available online)); see Antony 7 and 26. 34. pay attention to yourself: prosecho heautd(i) can also mean “be concerned about, care for” and “be careful, be on one’s guard” (Bauer 879b); see Ac 20:28 and Lk 17:3. 35. it will not do you any good: and/or “it is not your place,” reminiscent of God’s response to Job in Jb 38:4-7. 36. practices: phulaxas, cognate with phulasso. Lampe 1493a: “maintain, uphold, observe, keep; pay heed to.” The basic meaning of phulasso is “guard,” “protect,” “defend”; the original meaning of phulax is “guard, watchman.” 37. The need for a spiritual guide, as in Sufism and Buddhism, is key for the early monks; the classic work for early Christianity is Irenee Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, CS116 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1990). See p. 418 for Antony’s appearances in the book. 38. Practice, phulasso: see n. 36. 39. prescribing: or “commanding”; the verb entellomai is cognate with entoli, “commandment.” 40. go: aperchomai means “depart, leave” (apd: away from), so the sense is: wherever you go when you leave your cell/the monastery.... 41. Both “keep” and “hold on to” translate the imperative of echo, “to have.” 42. living: kathlzomai again; see Antony 1 and n. 20 there. 246 TIM VIVIAN

4. Courage

abba antony said to Abba Poemen:43 “This is the greatest work44 a per­

son can do when he trips up: to own his error45 in Gods presence46 and to expect temptation until his last breath.”

5. Temptation

he said, “no one will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven without facing temptation.47 Remove temptations,” he said, “and no one will be saved.”

6. True ^Righteousness

ABBA PAMBO48 a s k e d Abba Antony, “What should I do? ” 49 The elder said to him, “Don’t be won over50 by your own righteousness; and don’t feel

43. Poemen (Greek poimSn, “shepherd), or Pamin or Bimin, was “an anchorite of the fourth and fifth centuries who was noted for his spiritual counsel to other monks.” “Apa Poemen occupies by far the most important place in the Apophthegmata Patrum, since roughly three hundred items report his words or mention him.” See Lucien Regnault, “Poemen, Saint,” The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991); available online: The Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, I983a-i984b (hereafter CE). 44. work: ergasta, related to ergon. See Antony 1. 45. error: sphalma can mean “sin,” but is a “misstep, mistake, error, fault” (Lampe 1353a); “lose one’s footing, slip, stumble, fall” (Bauer 979b). The cognate verb sphallo means “to make to fall, thrown down; to trip up (as in wrestling); in the passive voice “err, go wrong, be mistaken” (LSJ 1739a). The usual word for “sin” is hamartia. 46. to own his error in Gods presence: the phrase is a bit elliptical; I have taken my cue from the Latin: ut culpam suam super se ponat coram Deo (“put on his guilt before God”). Wortley 32 is good: “to take responsibility for his own shortcoming.” 47. without facing temptation: apetrastos; the word combines peirasmos, “temptation,” with a prefixed alpha-negative (negation). 48. Pambo (Coptic Pamo), a fourth-century anchorite, was one of the first settlers in Nitria; see Lucien Regnault, “Pambo, Saint,” CE i877b-i878a. 49. What should I do? literally “What shall I do?” 50. won over, or “persuaded.” THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 2 4 7 bad about something you did in the past;51 and get control o f 2 both your tongue and your belly.”53

7. 'Humility and 'Perseverance

a b b a a n t o n y s a i d , “I saw all the snares54 of the Enemy55 stretched out like a net56 over the earth, and I cried out and said, ‘Who, then, can escape them ? !’57 And I heard a voice saying to me: ‘Humility.’” 58

8. 'Farfrom (fod

a g a i n h e s a i d : “There are some who’ve worn out their bodies doing ascetic practices,59 and, because of this, they’ve lost the power of discern­ ment60 and have become far from God.”

51. something you did in the past: the Greek is less explicit, literally “a deed that’s gone by,” so “don’t feel bad about something that happened in the past” is also possible. Wortley 32: “have no regrets about a past action.” 52. get control of, enkratis: “self-control” or “moderation” (often translated “abstinence”). Enkratis and enkratia are key monastic terms. 53. tongue: Jm 3:1-12; belly: Mt 12:40; 15:17. 54. snares: or “traps,” pagis; see Lk 21:34-35; Rm 11:9 (Ps 69:22-23; 35:8). 55. the Enemy, ho echthros, that is, Satan, the Devil. Echthros carries “hateful, hatred, hostile” with it (Lampe 187^2.5). Echthros as an appellation of the Devil occurs a few times in the New Tes­ tament; most explicitly, Jesus at Mt 13:39 explains that the echthros who planted weeds among the wheat is the Devil. At Luke 10:19, the Devil is the implied object when “the full force of the enemy (echthros)” is given into the power of the disciples. Also, Psalm 109/110 is quoted both in the gospels and elsewhere, with the implication that those among the enemies made into a footstool for Jesus are the invisible powers. 56. stretched out like a net: haploo can be used of nets (Lampe 187^2.5), so I have chosen to use the metaphor. 57. This is reminiscent of Jesus’ discourse on wealth (rich folk and the eye of the needle) in Lk 18:18-27: those who hear what Jesus has said exclaim, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replies, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” 58. Humility: that is, one can escape the Devil’s snares by practicing humility. 59. worn themselves out: with regard to property, katatribo means “squander,” a meaning ap­ posite here. Ascetic practices, en askisei: the origins of ascesis are athletic: “exercise, practice, train­ ing,” and by the time of Lucian in the 2nd c. CE could mean “mode of life, profession” (LSJ 257b). 60. discernment, diakrisis: discernment is a vital part of monastic practice; see Antony D. Rich, Discernment in the Desert Fathers: Diakrisis in the Life and Thought of Early Egyptian Monasti- cism, Studies in Christian Theology and Thought (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 2007). 248 TIM VIVIAN

9.61 Death and Dife

a g a in h e s a id : “We have life and death through our neighbor.62 If we gain63 our brother, we gain God, but if we cause our brother to sin64 we sin against Christ.” 65

10.66 !Monks and Dishes a g a in h e sa id , “Just as fish die if they stay too long on dry land, so too with monks: if they stay away from their cells too long, or spend too

61. Antony 9 is similar to a passage in Antony Letter 6.53 (Rubenson 219): Rubenson suggests that vis-a-vis Letter 6, the Syriac version of the saying is more original: “our destruction is of our neighbor, and also our life is of our neighbor.” In 219 n. 11 he states that the "meaning of the verse is obscure at several points.” See his discussion. 62. neighbor: see Mt 19:19 and parallels. 63. gain, kerdaino: see Mt 16:26; kerdaino can mean to gain “someone for the Reign of God” (Bauer 54.1a.1b): Mt 18:15; 1 Co 9:19-22. 64. cause our brother to sin: or “scandalize.” Skandalizo has degrees of fault: cause to fall, lead into sin and/or cause offense to, shock, hurt one’s feelings (Lampe 1235b). Antony may be intimating that even the slightest offense to one’s (monastic) neighbor, given Jesus’ commandment (Mt 5:29), is an affront to Christ. See Antony 12. See Mt 18:6,8; 2 Co 11:29, and many others. 65. This is the only time in these sayings that “Christ” appears. “Jesus” occurs not at all, though twenty footnotes allude to him; “Lord” almost always refers to God, only once to Jesus. John Wortley informs me that in the entire AlphAP, the name “Jesus” appears only 11 times, and 25 for the Anony­ mous Apophth egmata; the numbers for Christ are 15 and 56, respectively. Perhaps the speakers/writers knew that their audience would hear the allusions, and so they did not need to use the proper names. 66. This saying is strikingly similar to an analogy Antony offers in Life 85 (Vivian and Athanas- salcis, 239 and 241) to a “military commander” or “duke.” What is most striking is that, although the passage in the Life is identical almost word for word with Antony 10, it does not have four key words: “cells” (kellion), “those living in the world” (kosmikof), “contemplative quiet” (hesychia), and “watch­ fulness” (phylaki). Rubenson 161-62, argues for the priority of the version in the Life: “A decisive argument for the priority of the text of the Vita is that the word dron for a monastic site is attested in the early fourth-century documents, while kellion with this meaning is first attested in texts from the late fourth century.” I am not so sure, for two reasons: (1) as far as early sources, what we do not know is vaster, perhaps far vaster, than what we know. (2) “Cell” occurs six times in Antony’s sayings (10 [ax], 34 [3X], and 38); oms (“mountain”/”monastic settlement”) twice (21 and 34). Rubenson 153 n. 1 divides the Sayings of Antony into those that “should be considered genuine,” the “probably genuine,” and those that “should be considered in all probability spurious.” Of the sayings with “cell” he places 10 in the “genuine” category, and 34 and 38 in the “probably genuine” category; of the sayings with mountain/monastic community,” he sees 21 as “genuine” and 34 as “probably genuine” (193-94). As this brief discussion shows, it is very difficult to define authenticity in the sayings. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 249 much time67 with those living in the world,68 they unstring the bow of contemplative quiet69 and thus lose its tautness.70 So, then, just as fish need to hurry back to the sea, in the same way we too need to hurry back to our cells so we don’t stay too long outside and forget all about our in­ terior watchfulness.”71

11. 'Wars and the War

a g a i n h e s a i d : “The person who dwells72 in the desert and practices contemplative quiet73 frees himself from three wars: hearsay and gossip, chatter, and keeping an eye out for visitors.74 But really he wages only one war: against sexual sin.”75

67. spend too much time: diatribo more neutrally means “spend time,” but can also mean “waste time,” the implication here. 68. those living in the world: kosmikoi from kosmos, “the world.” Kosmikds occurs only twice in the NT: Heb 9:1 (“an earthly sanctuary”) and Tt 2:11-12; in the latter it means “worldly”: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce [arneomai] impiety and worldly [kosmikds] passions [epithymia]!’ The three bracketed words, or their concepts, are key to monastic spirituality. In patristic Greek kosmikds has positive, negative, and neutral meanings (Lampe 769b). A theme, perhaps the main theme of the sayings of AlphAP Arsenius is “the world.” 69. contemplative quiet, hesychia, a key monastic goal. In his volume, Wortley prefers to trans­ literate the word. See Antony 11 and 34. 70. they unstring the bow of contemplative quiet and thus lose its tautness: the metaphor of the bow is not explicit in Greek but could certainly be implied: ekluo can mean to loosen or even unstring a bow, and tonos can mean “tightness” or “tension,” as in the tension or tautness of a bow. See Saying 13. 71. watchfulness: phylaki-, see Saying 3. Phylakg suggests “protection,” defense,” and can also indicate the night watch. Phylax means “guard.” See n. 66 72. dwells: kathemai, like kathizomai (see n. 20), can also mean “sit,” so the person who sits (in his cell) in the desert. 73. contemplative quiet: hesychia; see Antony 10 and 34. 74. hearsay and gossip, chatter, and keeping an eye out for visitors: I have taken consider­ able—but, I think, justifiable—license here. The text literally says “listening, speaking, and looking,” but these seem quaint (and very imprecise) as preludes to sexual sin. Hearsay and gossip, idle chatter, and keeping an eye out (for visitors) are vices that the elders often warn against. 75. sexual sin: porneia, traditionally translated “fornication.” Rubenson points out, 155, that “only the Greek text gives ‘fornication’ as the remaining temptation for the monk, whereas” four other traditions “give the temptations ‘of the heart.’” He plausibly suggests that the original reading was “the genitals.” 250 TIM VIVIAN

12. 'Truth-telling Demons

SOME b r o t h e r s a p p r o a c h e d 76 Abba Antony to let him know about vi­ sions" they had been seeing and to learn from him whether these visions were true, or came from demons. They had had an ass, and it had died on the way. Antony had anticipated their arrival, and when they came to visit the elder he said to them, “How did the little ass die on the way?” They said to him, “How do you know this, Abba? Where’d you get your information?”

He said to them, “The demons pointed it out to me.” 78

They said to him, “Because of what you’re saying,79 we’ve come to ask you about what happened, because we saw80 visions, and often they turn out to be true, but we want to know if we’ve been deceived somehow.” The elder demonstrated for them from the example of the ass that such visions come from demons.

13. The Analogy of the Tow

t h e r e w a s a certain man, a hunter, who hunted wild animals through­ out the wilderness region,81 and he saw Abba Antony laughing and joking with the brothers.82

76. approached: there may be a play on words here: “approached” is parebalon, from parabdllo, and later “anticipated” is prolabon, from prolambano. The similarity in sound may be emphasizing that while the brothers were approaching, Antony had foreseen them. 77. visions: phantasia. Phantasia also has negative implications: “unreal appearance, illusion, delusion” (Lampe 1471a). The verb phantdzd means “delude” but in the middle and aorist passive voices means “form a conception of, picture to oneself” (1470b). 78. to me: or “for me,” if one takes the dative as dative of advantage. 79. Because of what you’re saying: that is, because of what Antony said about the demons, or they knew already about his gift of foreknowledge—or both. 80. saw: literally “see,” so this may be the historical present for the past, or they may be saying that they are still seeing visions. 81. wilderness region: I have chosen to translate eremos here as “wilderness” rather than the usual “desert.” “Wilderness” is where humans do not normally live and is where John the Baptist emerges from: “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness [eremos]” (Mt 3:3; Is 40:3). 82. One manuscript adds—understandably, but obviously—“and he was scandalized.” Greek skandaHzd is fraught with meaning: “cause to fall, lead into sin; cause offense to; shock, hurt one’s feelings” (Lampe 1235b). The verb and the noun skdndalon occur often in the New Testament; skand- alon means “trap; an action or circumstance that leads one to act contrary to a proper course of ac­ tion or set of beliefs, temptation to sin, enticement to apostasy” (Bauer 926a). See Antony 9 and n. 64. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 251 The elder, wanting to assure him, because he needed to accommo­ date himself3 from time to time to the level of the brothers,84 said to him, “Put an arrow in your bow and stretch the bow tight,” and this he did. Antony said to him, “Stretch it tight some more,” and he stretched it some more.85 Again he said, “Stretch it.” The hunter said to him, “If I stretch it too tight, the bow will break.” The elder said to him, “it’s the same with doing God’s work:86 with regard to the brothers, if we stretch them too tight, they’ll quickly break into pieces.87 It’s necessary, then, to come down to the brothers’ level from time to time.” When the hunter heard what Antony was saying, he was deeply moved88 and, having benefited greatly from the elder, departed. The brothers, strengthened and feeling supported,89 withdrew90 to their mo­ nastic settlement.91

14. Expecting to Tly a b b a a n t o n y h e a r d about a certain young monk who had worked a

83. he needed to accommodate himself: sunkatabaino. Lampe notes, 1267b, that the verb can refer to teachers and pupils or, significantly, “God’s dealings with” humankind. 84. he needed to accommodate himself from time to time to the level of the brothers: Wortley 33, “The elder wanted to convince the hunter that he had to come down to the level of the brothers from time to time.” Wortley has taken chrS, “needed to,” “had to” with “the hunter” (he has supplied these words). Since Antony is the subject of the sentence, I have applied it to Antony and supplied “himself.” 85. more: in both places “again” in Greek. 86. work, ergon; see Antony 1. 87. break: prosrisso (= prosrignumi). The verb means "dash or beat against,” as a river dashing against a house, or bursting a vein or sinew (LSJ 1525a). The image of an athlete rupturing an Achilles tendon is analogous for us. 88. deeply moved: Lampe points out that katanusso, “spur on,” can mean “move deeply,” espe­ cially “of moving to repentance” (713a). Katanussomai means “be pierced, stabbed” (Bauer 523a). Acts 2:37, of the first converts: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart (katanussomai) and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?”’ 89. strengthened and feeling supported, sterizo: “to fix firmly in place, set up establish, sup­ p o r t “to cause to be inwardly firm or committed, confirm, establish, strengthen" (Bauer 945a). The verb occurs often in the New Testament. 90. withdrew: anachoreo can mean simply “went back,” but this word is extremely important in early monasticism; English “anchorite” has its origins here. Lampe 128b: “withdraw from the world to live a religious life.” It could mean “withdraw from the world” as early as Plato. 91. monastic settlement: literally, “place,” topos. 252 TIM VIVIAN miracle92 while on the road: when the young monk saw some elders who were traveling and were wearied by their journey, he ordered wild asses to come and carry the elders until they reached Antony. So the elders informed Abba Antony about what had happened. He said to them, “It seems to me that this monk is a ship filled with goods; I don’t know whether he’s going to make it to shore.”

After a while Abba Antony suddenly began to weep93 and pull out his hair and mourn. His disciples said to him, “Why are you weeping, Abba?” The elder said, “A great pillar of the Church has just now fallen!” (He was talking about the young monk.) “But go,” he said, “until you reach him and see what’s happened.”

So the disciples left and found the monk sitting on a mat, weeping94 over the sin he had committed.95 When he heard the elder’s disciples, he said, “Tell the elder to implore96 God to grant me just ten days and I hope97 to make amends.” 98 And within five days, he died.

15. 'Like a 'Village in the Country

t h e b r o t h e r s p r a i s e d a certain monk to Abba Antony. Abba Anto­ ny questioned the monk, testing him to see if he could stand being put down.99 Finding that the monk could not take it, he said to him, “You’re like a village out in the country: on the outside it looks all nice and pretty while inside it’s being plundered by bandits.” 100

92. miracle: semeion. John’s Gospel calls the miracles or wonders that Jesus does semeia, “signs.” 93. weep: klaio also means “wail, lament,” and below. 94. weeping, klaio (see the previous n.); thus the monk is, unknowingly, emulating Antony. 95. committed: ergdzomai is cognate with ergon and ergasia (see Antony 1), a greatly valued monastic virtue. Thus, ironically, the young man has “worked a sin,” which makes his action, really, anti-ergon. 96. implore, parakaled: see Antony 29 and n. 179. 97. hope: elpizo is cognate with elpts, “hope, faith.” 98. to make amends: apologeomai. 99. “Praised” and “tested” are much closer in sound in Greek than in English: “praised” is epen&the and “tested” is epeirasen. In later Greek the first two syllables of the words were pronounced the same. 100. There is an echo here of the epithet “whitewashed tombs” that Jesus hurls at the Pharisees in Mt 23:27-28. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 253

16. M ake the Effort

a b r o t h e r s a i d to Abba Antony, “Pray for me.” The elder said to him, “Neither I nor God will have mercy on you if you yourself don’t make the effort and ask God.”

17. “1 rDont 'Know”

e l d e r s v i s i t e d a b b a Antony one time, and Abba Joseph101 was with them. The elder,102 wanting to test them, put forward103 a passage104 from Scripture and, beginning with the least advanced, asked them what the passage meant. Each would speak to the best of his ability.105 The elder would say to each one: “You haven’t found the answer yet.” After speaking with all of them, he said to Abba Joseph, “And you—what do you think106 this pas­ sage107 from Scripture means?” He answered, “I don’t know.” So Abba Antony said, “Clearly Abba Joseph has found the way ahead because he said ‘I don’t know.’”

18. Courtyard without a (fate

b r o t h e r s f r o m s c e t i s 108 were going to visit Abba Antony and, board-

101. Perhaps Joseph of Panephysis, who has 11 sayings in the AlphAP (he is the only Joseph therein); Cassian, Conferences XVII and XIX-XXIV are set there. 102. elder: that is, Abba Antony. 103. put forward, proballo: “visited” translates paraballo. A visit naturally includes a passage or a passage of Scripture. 104. passage: rhima, which has a wide variety of meanings in the New Testament: “word, say­ ing, expression, or statement of any kind"; or “an event that can be spoken about, object, matter, event" (Bauer 905a). If we take it more broadly, a translation could be “What do you thinks going on here?” Wortley, 34, “verse.” Rhema, then, could mean a verse, a saying, a passage, a parable, or a story. 105. ability: dynamis, “power,” and its cognate verb dynamai occur dozens of time in the NT. Although the word often means “ability, capability” (Bauer 263a), it often refers to divine power or the receiving of it; in Acts 1:8, after the resurrection Jesus tells the disciples “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” See n. 232. 106. what do you think: literally “how do you say.” 107. passage: the text has switched from rhema to logos. 108. Scetis: see Aelred Cody, osb, “Scetis,” CE 2io2b-2io6a: “historically designated the area of 254 TIM VIVIAN ing a boat to go see him, they found an elder who also wanted to go there. (The brothers did not know him.) Sitting in the boat, they were talking about the sayings109 of the fathers and passages from Scripture, and after­ wards they were doing their handiwork. The elder remained silent. After they had entered the harbor, they discovered that the elder had gone off to see Abba Antony. When the brothers reached Abba Antony’s, he said to them, “You found a good companion to voyage with in this elder.” He also said to the elder, “You found good brothers to travel with you, Abba.” The elder said, “They’re good companions but their courtyard doesn’t have a gate, and anyone who wants to can enter the stable and set the ass loose.” He was saying this because the brothers would talk about what­ ever came into their heads.

19. You Need Trayers

b r o t h e r s c a m e t o visit Abba Antony and said to him, “Tell us:110 How can we be saved? ” 111 The elder said to them, “Have you listened to112 Scripture? You’ll be fine.” But they said, “We also want to hear from you, Father.” The elder said to them, “The Gospel says, ‘If someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.’” 113 They said to him, “We can’t do this.” The elder said to them, “If you can’t offer the other cheek, at least patiently endure it when the one is being struck.” monastic settlement extending about 19 miles (30 km) through the shallow valley known in the me­ dieval period as Wad Habb, now called Wadi al-Natrun, which runs southeast to northwest through the Western or Libyan Desert, about 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the Nile Delta. In a very broad sense, ‘Seeds’ or the ‘Desert of Seeds’ also designated the ensemble of monastic colonies in the wil­ derness or on the edge of the desert southwest of the Delta, thus including Nitria or the ‘Mountain of Nitria’. . . ; Kellia, in the desert south of Nitria; and Scetis in the narrower and more proper sense, still farther into the desert, south of Kellia.” 109. sayings, logos: literally “words.” no. Tell us: literally, “Tell us a word,” logos, that is, offer an (edifying) thought, saying, or re­ flection. 111. saved: see nn. 23,131, and 142. 112. Listened, akoud: or “heard,” or “obeyed.” See n. 30. 113. Mt 5:39. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 255 They said to him, “We can’t do this, either.” So the elder said, “If you can’t do even this, at least don’t hit back.” And they said, “We can’t do this, either.” 114 The elder said to his disciple, “Make them some hot cereal; they’re weak.” 115 “If you can’t do this, and refuse to116 do that, what will I be able to do for you? It’s prayers that you need.”

20. C ut to Pieces

a b r o t h e r r e n o u n c e d 117 the world and distributed his possessions to the poor, but kept a little for his own needs, and went to visit Abba Ant­ ony. When the elder learned about this, he said to him, “If you want to become118 a monk, leave, and go to this village. Buy some meat, and cover your naked body with it. Once you’ve done this, come back here.” And when the brother did what Antony had told him, the dogs and the birds tore his body to pieces. When he returned to meet with the elder, Abba Antony inquired of the brother whether he had done what he had advised.119 When that brother showed120 Abba Antony his lacer­ ated body, Saint Antony said, “This is the way that demons wage war against those who renounce the world yet want to keep some money:121 they shred them to pieces.”

114. We can’t do this, either: or perhaps "We can’t do even this.” 115. weak: astheneo can mean “be sick, weak.” The noun asthenia (see English “neurasthenia”), “weakness,” can also indicate “frailty of the flesh, not necessarily denoting sin” (Lampe 243a). See n. 148. 116. refuse to, (e)theld: or “don’t want to,” but (e)theld with a negative can mean “refuse.” See nn. 132 and 137. 117. renounced: apotasso: or “withdrew.” See n. 192. Apotaktikoi, a cognate, were renunciants who had withdrawn from the world. The word became a technical term, at first apparently for vil­ lage renunciants who lived an ascetic life. See James A. Goehring, “Through a Glass Darkly: Diverse Images of the Apotaktikoi(ai) in Early Egyptian Monasticism,” in Goehring, Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity, 1999) 53-72. 118. become: gi(g)nomai could mean both “be” and “become”; given the situation here, “be­ come” has more punch. 119. whether . . . advised: literally “whether what he had advised had come into being,” with “come into being/become” translating gi(g)nomai, as above. 120. showed: or “displayed.” 121. money, chremata: chrema can also indicate “goods” or “property.” 256 TIM VIVIAN

21. J# Ship Shipwrecked on the Ocean

a b r o t h e r o n e time succumbed to temptation122 in the monastic com­ munity123 of Abba Elft. Driven out124 of the monastery, he left for the mo­ nastic settlement125 of Abba Antony. After the brother had stayed there a while with him, Abba Antony sent him back126 to the monastic commu­ nity127 where he had come from. When the monks there saw him, once again they drove him away. He re­ turned to Abba Antony, saying, “They refused to welcome me back,128 father.” The elder, then, sent him back,129 saying, “A ship shipwrecked at sea and lost its cargo; after great hardship,130 it safely131 came to shore. You monks, however, want132 to throw into the sea to drown what has been safely brought to shore.”

122. succumbed to temptation, peirasmos: literally, “temptation happened to a brother.” The verb peirdzd is used for the temptation of Jesus (Mt 4:1 and par.) and the noun in the Lords Prayer (Mt 6:13; Lk 11:4). Peirasmos can also mean “trial,” as in “undergoing a trial.” But the rest of the say­ ing strongly says that the monk sinned. Lampe notes, 1056b, that temptation or trial was caused especially by demons. 123. monastic community, koindbion: cenobium, but it is not certain here that the community was a full-fledged cenobium as in the Pachomian Koinonia. See nn. 127 and 168. 124. Driven out: didko has a wide range of additional meanings: “chase away, banish”; “pursue, chase,” as in war; and, as a legal term, “prosecute, bring an action against” (LSJ 440b). 125. monastic settlement, dros: literally “mountain,” but the word came to indicate monastic settlements, communities, and monasteries.

126. sent him back, apostello: see nn. 28,129,133, and 161. 127. monastic community, koindbion, as above. See nn. 123 and 168. 128. welcome me back, dechomai: this word has deep resonance with the Gospels’ “receive as guest, welcome.” See Mt 10:14, 4off. In Jn 4:45 “the Galileans welcomed [Jesus], since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem.” In Mt 18:4-5 Jesus says, “Whoever becomes humble [tapeinod] like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Dechomai can also “indicate approval or conviction by accepting, be receptive of, approve, accept’’ (Bauer 22oa-22ob) Thus, these monks are neither humble nor are they welcom­ ing of Jesus. 129. sent him back: apostello. Aptly, and ironically, the once-excommunicated brother, now “sent out” (apostello) by Abba Antony, is his apostle (apostolos) to the judgmental monks. See nn. 28,133, and 161. 130. hardship: in monastic Greek, kdmatos, “labor,” can indicate the labor of spiritual discipline (Lampe 699b). 131. safely, esdthe: literally, “was saved,” from sdzd, “to save,” and below. The aorist passive par­ ticiple, “saved,” esdthe, has the root -sot, cognate with soter, “savior,” English “soteriology.” It reoccurs a few words later. See Antony 1 and nn. 23, in , and 142. 132. want, thelo: earlier, “refused” translates thelo with a negative. The monks earlier had re­ fused to welcome the brother; now they, Antony accuses, want to throw him into the sea to drown. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 257 When they heard that it was Abba Antony who had sent the brother back,133 they accepted134 him—immediately.

22. The Tody’s Three Tlctions

a b b a a n t o n y s a i d , “After reflection,135 I’ve concluded that the body has a natural movement,136 but it isn’t active unless the soul wishes it;137 it sig­ nals in the body only a movement free from sinful emotions.138 “But there is also another movement that nourishes the body and with food and drink causes it to flourish. From these the blood’s heat139 stimulates the body so it can function.140 Therefore the Apostle used to say ‘Do not get drunk on wine;141 this leads to debauchery.’142 Addition-

In other words, the sinful monk has been saved, but the monks are too hard-hearted to see it. See nn. 116 and 137. 133. sent. .. back, apostello: see nn. 11,107,110, and 142. 134. accepted, dechomai: see n. 109. 135. After reflection: logizomai is a multivalent word. Cognate with logos, “reason” and logikos, “rational,” it can mean “calculate, count, reckon”; “take into account, calculate, consider”; “conclude by reasoning, infer” (LSJ 1055b). Here, the verb stands, positively, in contrast with logismol, thoughts that disturb and trouble monks. See nn. 210 and 219. 136. natural movement: or “innate,” “essential” movement (Lampe 14948-14953). 137 unless the soul wishes it: possibly “if the soul refuses it.” (E)theld with a negative can mean “refuse” (see nn. 116 and 132). But the next sentence suggests that a person would not refuse this movement. 138. free from sinful emotions: apathSs. Apatheia is a key monastic concept, and practice, and goal. The “passions” (pathei) draw a person away from both God and neighbor; the image of a trac­ tor hauling a person away is apposite because “tractor” derives from Latin traho, “to draw, drag.” The New Testament generally differentiates pathei from pathemata, “suffering” or “misfortune.” Lampe, 170a, uses “impassibility”; another traditional translation is “passionlessness.” But these are formi­ dable words. “Freedom from emotion,” “absence of sin or sinful emotions.” Hence, “mastery over the passions, detachment, tranquility.” One should note the emphasis on removing sinful emotions; the monks are not advocating catatonia. 139. Andrew B. Lumb notes that “Galen’s writings strengthened the analogy between the heart and a flame, and several pages of On the Use of Breathing are concerned with the similarities between the two.” “The History of Respiratory Physiology,” Nunn’s Applied Respiratory Physiology (8th edi­ tion), 2017 (online). 140. “Function” translates energeia, and “active” earlier renders the verb energeo. 141. Lucien Regnault, The Day-to-Day Life of the Desert Fathers in Fourth-Century Egypt (Pe­ tersham, MA: St. Bede’s, 1999) 76, has an amusing take on wine: “We find some fifty mentions of wine in the apothegms and almost all attest to the fact that, even if it was not generalized, the use of wine in the desert was nonetheless not as rare as one would be led to believe.” Citing the Life of Antony 7, Regnault continues, “Antony, like his ascetic companions, never drank wine. But we scarcely quote other names which the anti-alcohol brigade might claim as role models.” The statement in the Life of Antony may be idealized, or not. 142. Eph 5:18. Debauchery: asotia, the word that the author of Ephesians uses. Lampe 255b 258 TIM VIVIAN ally, in the Gospel the Lord commands the disciples, saying, ‘Be care­ ful. Don’t let your hearts get weighed down with dissipation143 and drunkenness.’144 “There is a certain other movement for those who spiritually contend;145 this movement comes upon them because of the plotting and ill-will of the demons.146 So, then, we need to recognize that the body has three movements: one is natural, one comes about from foods neither good nor bad, but147 the third comes from the demons.”

23. Our generation

again he said, “God doesn’t allow wars against this generation as he did against those who went before; no doubt, he knows that those of this generation are frail148 and can’t bear them.”149

24. The Doctor 'Who Sings with the Tlngels

to abba antony it was revealed in the desert: In the city there was a certain person like him, a doctor by profession, who gave his excess in­

offers “profligacy” and “concupiscence.” The NRSV translates asotia “debauchery.” Ephesians contin­ ues, importantly, “but be filled with the Spirit,” which a biblically aware person might hear here. The verb asotenomai means “To lead a profligate, wasteful life”; the adjective dsdstos means “having no sobriety, abandoned,” “having no hope of safety, in desperate” straits, “past recovery.” All are cognate with sdzd, “to save, preserve” (LSJ 267b; Bauer 148a; Lampe 255b). See nn. 23,111, and 131. 143. dissipation: kraipale can mean a “drunken bout” or even a “hangover.” Latin crapula came into English as “crapulous,” “crapulent,” excessive drinking or eating. 144. Lk 21:34. 145. those who spiritually contend, agomzomav. or “struggle,” but “struggle” seems to be inher­ ently negative (“she’s really struggling”), whereas the Greek is not. As we see in Paul, early Christian­ ity uses athletic metaphors. Originally an agdn was “a place of contest, the arena,” then “a contest for a prize at the games” (see Ph 3:14), then generally “any struggle, trial, or danger” (LSJ i8b-i9a). Early monastics used these athletic metaphors to connote spiritual struggle, engagement. 146. Evagrius, Chapters on Prayer 12 (Bamberger, trans. 57) speaks of the “disordered move­ ment” of anger and retaliation and how to heal it with prayer and mindfulness of judgment. 147. but, de: or “and.” 148. frail: asthenes; the word leads off the clause, and thus in Greek is emphatic. See Antony 19 and the n. there for “weak.” See n. 115. 149. frail and can’t bear them: or “weak and can’t endure them,” or other combinations. There may be echoes here of Lk 7:31,11:19; Ac 2:40; and/or Ph 2:15. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 259 come to those in need, and every day he would sing the Trisagion150 with the angels.

25. True Insanity

a b b a a n t o n y s a i d : “A time151 is coming when people will go insane, and when they see someone who’s not insane they’ll rise up against that person, saying, ‘You’re insane, you! You’re not like us!”’

26. 'Voices

b r o t h e r s v i s i t e d a b b a Antony, and they cited him a verse152 from

Leviticus. Because of this, the elder153 went out into the desert; Abba Ammonas154 secretly followed155 him, knowing his practice.156 When the elder was quite a distance away,157 standing in prayer, he cried out158 in a loud voice,159 “My God,160 send161 Moses,162 and he will teach me what this verse means!” And a voice came to him163 and was speaking to him. Abba Ammo-

150. On the Trisagion, see Andrew Louth, “Trishagion,” in Theologische Realenzyklopadie, ed. Gerhard Muller, Bd. XXXII (Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2002), 121-24. See Is 6:3; Rv 4:8. 151. time: kairds can neutrally indicate time but especially points to a time, “a fit time, opportu­ nity” (Lampe 693b). It has both meanings in the New Testament. See 2 Tm 4:3. 152. verse, rhema: or “passage,” and below. 153. elder: that is, Antony. 154. Ammonas: “Anchorite and Bishop. The Apophthegmata Patrum includes about fifteen items relating to a fourth-century Abba Ammonas who spent at least fourteen years at Scetis and was in touch with Saint Antony,” Lucien Regnault, “Ammonas, Saint,” CE ii3a-ii3b. 155. follow, akoloutheo: in the New Testament akolouthed can mean “to follow someone as a disciple, be a disciple” (Bauer 36b-37a); see Mt 9:9 and others. Compare English “acolyte.” 156. practice: or “habits.” 157. quite a distance away: either in the distance or far away from the monastery. 158. When the elder was very far away, standing in prayer, he cried out: or one could punctuate “When the elder was very far away, standing in prayer he cried out.” 159. he cried out in a loud voice: the Greek is essentially the same (two variants of the same verb) in Jn 11:43 when Jesus cries out to Lazarus. In Mk 15:34, when Jesus cries out in a loud voice, the Greek has the same adjective and noun but a different verb. 160. My God: literally “O God.” 161. send: apostello, cognate with apostolos, “apostle.” See nn. 28,129, and 133. 162. In Leviticus 1:1, “The Lord summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying. .. , ” and then for most of the book instructs Moses what to tell the people. 163. And a voice came to him: see Antony 2 and 7. 2 6 o TIM VIVIAN nas said,164 “I heard the voice that was speaking to him, but I couldn’t understand the meaning of the words.” 165

27. Just the Sight of You

t h r e e o f t h e Fathers had the custom to go see the blessed Antony each year. Two of them would ask him about their thoughts and the salvation of their souls, 166 but the one would always remain silent and would not ask anything. Quite a while later, Abba Antony said to him, “Look, you’ve been coming here all this time, and you never ask me anything.” He responded, saying to him, “It’s enough for me just to see you, Father.”

28. 'Where is SYbba Antony?

t h e y u s e d t o say that a certain one of the elders asked God to see the Fathers. When he saw them, Abba Antony was not among them, so he said to God,167 who was showing them to him, “Where is Abba Antony?” He said to him, “Wherever God is, Abba Antony is there.”

29. The Tarable of the Drowning tMan

a b r o t h e r i n the monastic community168 was falsely accused of sexual sin, and he left169 and went to see Abba Antony. The brothers from the

164. Abba Ammonas said: this is elliptical; it probably means “When Abba Ammonas re­ turned [to the monastery], he said 165. I couldn’t understand the meaning of the words: literally “I didn’t learn the power of the word/speech” (logos). 166. the salvation of their souls: literally “the salvation of soul.” I have supplied “their,” but the monks may more generally be asking about the salvation of souls, or, possibly, the salvation of the soul. 167. God: in Greek, “him,” and “he” below for “God.” But the pronouns must refer to God. 168. monastic community: koindbion (cenobium). See nn. 123 and 127. 169. left: literally “got up and went”; “get up and go” is a common phrase in the Apophthegmata. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 2 6 l community came too in order to heal170 him and seize171 him. They began to berate him, “You committed sexual sin!”172 He defended himself: “I did no such thing!” Abba Paphnutius Kephalas173 happened to be there, and he told this parable: “I saw on the riverbank a person who had been thrown into the mud up to his knees and some people came to give him a hand—and shoved him further down,174 up to his neck!” Then Abba Antony said this to them about Abba Paphnutius: “Here is a real175 human being, someone who can heal176 and save souls.” Stung, therefore, by what the elders had said,177 the brothers from the community asked the brother for forgiveness.178 Comforted179 by the fathers, they took the brother back to the monas­ tic community.

30. Spiritbearer

s o m e p e o p l e w e r e talking about Abba Antony: “He has become a

170. heal: therapeuo, “heal, cure” (see n. 176) given the context, seems odd here: the brothers berate the “sinner” and have come to seize him. Lampe says the verb can be used “of reconciliation,” “of treating gently, consoling,” and “care for, look after” (all 645a), but these do not fit, either. The Coptic (Saying 10) is clearer: “The brothers left their monastery to seize him; they cast aspersions on him and beat him ....” Given the (ironic, sarcastic) reoccurrence of “heal” below, “heal” here suggests “thinking that they were healing him.” 171. seize: lambano can mean “to seize violently”; it can also mean “catch,” or it can simply mean here “take (back),” but Greek has a word for this: apolambano. 172. You committed sexual sin: literally “you did this.” 173. Paphnutius Kephalas/Cephalas. See Lausiac History 47; Antoine Guillaumont, “Paphnu­ tius of Scetis, Saint,” CE i884a-i884b. 174. shoved him further down: katapontizo means “engulf, swallow up, overwhelm”; the noun katapontismos means “drowning” (Lampe 715a). So there is a suggestion that the person would drown in the mire. 175. real: alethinos, cognate with aletheia, “truth.” Jn 8:32 is apposite here: Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 176. heal: therapeuo; see n. 170. 177. what the elders had said: literally “by the word {logos) of the elders.” 178. they asked the brother for forgiveness: literally “they repented (metanoia) to the brother.” 179. Comforted: or “exhorted,” “having been exhorted,” parakale0. See n. 96. In Jn 14:16 Je­ sus tells the disciples that he will send “another Paraclete (parakletos),” usually translated “advocate, intercessor, spokesman”; “comforter, consoler” (Lampe 1018b). In Mt 2:18 and 5:4, in the context of mourning, the verb means “comforted.” Lampe 1017a also suggests “summon, exhort.” 262 TIM VIVIAN Spiritbearer,180 but he has refused to speak about people.” It’s a fact: he would reveal181 what was happening in the world and what was going to happen.

2,1. 'What is in a 'Name one tim e abba Antony received a letter from Emperor Constantine182 to come to Constantinople.183 He was considering what to do, so he said to his disciple Abba Paul, “Am I obligated to leave here?” Abba Paul said to him, “If you go away, you’ll be called Antony,’ but if you don’t go away, Abba Antony.’”

32. lo ve abba antony said, “I184 no longer fear God. No, I love him, because ‘Love casts out fear.’”185

33. Imperatives

186he said, “keep right in front of you187 at all times the fear of God.188

180. Spiritbearer: pneumatophoros became an appellation of Macarius the Great (Macarius of Scetis); see Tim Vivian, St Macarius the Spiritbearer: Coptic Texts Relating to Saint Macarius the Great, Popular Patristics Series (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s, 2004). Lampe 1106a also translates the word as “inspired”; in patristic Greek it was used of Biblical prophets, John the Baptist, monks, Scriptural writers, and doctors of the Church. Prophet here, as now, seems to indicate foresight rath­ er than the social critique of the Biblical prophets. 181. reveal, menuo: or “disclose.” Justin, Apology 59.1, says that “through Moses . . . the pro­ phetic spirit. . . revealed how God created ...” (Lampe 868a). 182. Constantine the Great, d. 337, became Emperor in 306. Antony died in 356, so it is certainly possible that the Emperor sent him a letter asking him to visit—and, if he did, even more likely that Antony did not go. 183. The infinitive in Greek and in English leaves it open whether Constantine is asking, or commanding, Antony to come. 184. I: in Greek the pronoun “I,” ego, unlike in English, is not necessary, so it may be emphatic here, something like “as for me.” 185. 1 In 4:18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear. .. . ” 186. There are 19 verbs in this saying directed to “you.” The first two are singular and all the rest are plural. 187 Keep right in front of you: literally “before your eyes.” 188. An editor undoubtedly put Saying 33 with Saying 32, or vice versa, but this sentence is jarring after Saying 32. This saying emphasizes ascetic requirements. THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 263

Keep in mind the one who causes death and gives life.189 Hate the world and everything in it.190 Hate every kind of worldly leisure.191 Withdraw192 from this life in order to live for God.193 Remember what you vowed194 to God: God will ask you about it on the day of judgment. Hunger, thirst, be naked,195 keep vigil,196 mourn, weep and wail, sigh deeply within your­ selves.197 Scrutinize whether you’re worthy of God. Despise198 the flesh199 in order to save your souls.”

189. causes death and gives life: this may be a compression of Dt 30:15: “See! I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity." “Causes death” and “gives life” have more resonance together in Greek: thanatoimtos and zdonountos. 190. “Hate,” misSsate is a very strong word, but see Luke 14:26 where Jesus uses the same verb in the singular. 191. This is a very compressed and very multivalent command. “Worldly,” sarkikos, is literally “fleshly,” “of the flesh.” Lampe ii5a-n6a says that the term can be neutral but can also mean “carnal,” that is, “worldly” and “sensual” (as opposed to the spiritual); moderns often misconstrue the word as having to do with sex. Sarkikos (adj.) and sarx (noun) figure prominently in Paul’s writing. The NRSV translates the former as either “material,” belonging to the physical realm (Rm 15:27; 1 Co 9:11) or “(merely) human” (1 Co 3:4; 2 Co 10:4). See n. 199. “Leisure,” anapausis, is actually a condition or state much desired by the monks, but here, combined with “worldly,” it is not. Its meanings are “repose, rest, refreshment,” “a result of training in practice of virtue.” It can mean “rest in eternity” and “tranquility, peace.” 192. Withdraw, apotasso: or “renounce.” See Antony 20 and n. 117. 193. for: or “with, in.” The dative can mean either. 194. vowed: epangello can mean to make monastic profession; its primary meaning is “an­ nounce, proclaim.” 195. be naked, gymniteuo: Lampe does not include this verb, suggesting that it does not have special patristic meaning. See 1 Co 4:11: “To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed \gymniteud]" and beaten and homeless. . . .” Bauer 208a agrees with the NRSV and notes, 208b, that it can mean “inadequately clothed, poorly dressed,” or “lightly clad, without an outer gar­ ment” With “naked,” I am following 2 Co 11:27, where Paul is talking about his hardships: “in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.” I believe that this passage would have had particular resonance with the monks. The root gymnds (originally “naked”; [male] athletes competed naked) nourishes a tree of many branches: gymnasia, “exercise, training”; gymnasion, “exercise, training, discipline” or “spiritual training and discipline”; gymnastikos, what is suitable for spiritual training; gymneteusis, “nakedness, poverty” (Lampe 324b). 196. keep vigil, agrupneo: I have taken it in the sense of a monastic (night) vigil or prayer (Lampe 24a), but other meanings, instead of or in addition, are apposite: “to be vigilant in awareness of threatening peril, be alert” (about, for example, the Devil) (Bauer 16a); see Mk 13:33 (Jesus: “Be­ ware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come”); Lk 21:36 (Jesus: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man”). Jesus is using the word eschatologically, which could be the meaning here. 197. sigh deeply within yourselves: literally “sigh in your heart.” 198. despise, kataphroneo: or, more neutrally, “disregard, pay no attention to” (Lampe 726a). 199. flesh, sarx, is a fraught word: it addition to “flesh,” it can mean “body, physical body.” See Rm 7:7-25; 7:17: “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.” See n. 191. 264 TIM VIVIAN

34. The Tounding of TCellia200

a b b a a n t o n y o n e time paid a visit to Abba Amoun201 at the monastic settlement202 of Nitria.203 At the end of their conversation,204 Abba Amoun said to him, “Since, because of your prayers, the brothers have increased in number and some of them want to build cells far away in order to practice contemplative quiet,205 what are your orders? How far from here do you want these cells to be constructed?

He said, “Lets eat at the ninth hour,206 then let’s leave and walk out into the desert and take a look at the place.” They walked out into the desert until the sun was setting, at which time Abba Antony said to Abba Amoun, “Lets pray and set up a cross207 here so that those who want to build cells here can do so, and so when those back at the monastery want to visit the ones here the monks from the monastery can eat a little bread at the ninth hour, and so visit. When those here leave to visit the monks at the monastery they can do the same. That way they’ll remain undistracted208 when they visit one another.” The distance was twelve miles.

200. Kellia (Cells) “is one of the most important and most celebrated monastic groupings in Lower Egypt.” Palladius reports that “nearly 600 monks were living in Kellia at the end of the fourth century!’ See Antoine Guillaumont, “Kellia: History of the Site,” CE i396b-i4ioa. 201. Amoun/Amun: “fourth-century anchorite.” Tradition holds that “around the year 320, Amun became the first monk to settle in the desert of Nitria.” See Lucien Regnault, “Amun, Saint,” CE 119a. 202. monastic settlement: dros. 203. Nitria: “with Scetis and Kellia, one of the principal monastic habitations, founded about 325-330 by Amun.” “It is located in the western part of the Delta, about 10 miles (15 km) south of Damanhur, where the village of al-Barnuji stands today.” Antoine Guillaumont, “Nitria,” CE 1794b- 1796b. 204. At the end of their conversation: literally “After they (had) met with one another,” but Amoun then speaks (present tense) so it is not really “after.” 205. contemplative quiet: hesychia. See Antony 10 and 11. 206. ninth hour: about 3 p.m., calculated from the time of sunrise; the time actually varied throughout the year. 207. set up a cross: Lampe I254a-i254b does not explicitly cite “setting up” a cross, but the uses of the cross he cites are instructive: “veneration of the Cross,” “sign of the cross” on the body, and “as standing for mortification.” 208. undistracted: anerispdstos can also mean “unwavering, continuous,” as of prayer (Lampe 184a). THE SAYINGS OF ANTONY THE GREAT 265

35. The Analogy of the Ironsmith

a b b a a n t o n y s a i d , “The person hammering a piece of iron first consid­ ers209 what he’s going to make: scythe, sword, axe. It’s the same with us: we need to consider210 which of the virtues211 we’re seeking so we don’t labor in vain.212

36. Obedience and Self-Control

a g a i n h e s a i d : “Obedience with self-control213 subdues214 the wild beasts.”215

37. Sdsk Your Tather

a g a i n h e s a i d , “I know monks who, after great exertions,216 fell, and lost their minds217 because they put their trust218 in their own work and didn’t

209. considers: in patristic Greek skoped can mean “contemplate spiritually” (Lampe 1241), which is more than suggested here, because the metaphorical craftsman is literally “contemplating his thought” (logismos). 210. consider, loglzomai (verb): “considers” earlier translates skoped ton logismon (noun); see the preceding note and nn. 135 and 219. 211. which of the virtues: literally “what sort of virtue.” Virtue, arete, is a key concept in early monasticism; see Vivian, Words to Live By, 377-93; and Vivian, The Holy Workshop of Virtue: The Life of John the Little by Zacharias of Sakha, CS 234 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 2010). 212. so we don’t labor [kopiao] in vain [kends]: See Ph 2:16: “It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain [kends] or labor [kopiao] in vain [kends]’.’ 213. self-control: enkrdteia is traditionally translated “abstinence, continence” (Lampe 402), but for the cognate verb enkrateuomai Lampe 403b offers “practice self-restraint.” 214. subdues: hypotasso; its cognate noun hypotage is earlier in the sentence translated “obedi­ ence.” 215. wild beasts, therion: in the letter to Tt 1:12, the author, quoting Epimenides, de Oraculis, proclaims “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes [therion], lazy gluttons.” See Bauer 455b-456a. 216. exertions, kopos: its verb, kopiao is translated as “labor” in Saying 35. 217. lost their minds: literally “came to separation [e/csfasis] of mind.” Lampe 438b notes that ekstasis can mean both “separation, alienation of mind,” and, mystically, “ecstasy,” literally “standing out of/away (from).” 218. put their trust: elpikenai from elpizo; its cognate noun elpis is a key Christian term mean­ ing “hope.” 266 TIM VIVIAN consider219 the commandment that says ‘Ask your father,220 and he will inform you.’”221

38. Steps and Drops of'Water

a g a i n h e s a i d : “However many steps222 the monk takes, or however many drops of water he drinks in his cell, he ought, if at all possible,223 to confide these things to his elders to see if he’s doing wrong224 by doing them.”

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219. didn’t consider: or “reckon with.” Paralogizomai can mean “leave out of reckoning” and even “condemn,” and its cognate noun paralogismos, can mean “craftiness” (Lampe 1021b). On lo- gismos and logizomai, see nn. 135 and 210. 220. ask your father: that is, your spiritual father, abba; see Antony 38. 221. Dt 32:7 (LXX). 222. steps, bemata: bema (the singular) can mean “way of life” (Lampe 295b-96a). 223. if at all possible: dynatos, “if possible,” is cognate with dynamis, “power.” See n. 105. The phrase “if possible” emphatically begins the sentence in Greek, so I have tried to make it more em­ phatic. 224. doing wrong: ptaio can also mean “sin, lapse” and, with the genitive, “fall away from.” The basic meaning of the verb is “stumble, trip, fall.” Since the standard verb for “to sin” is hamartand (see Saying 9), I have chosen not to use “sins” here. Copyright of Cistercian Studies Quarterly is the property of Cistercian Studies Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.