I wish we could read together out of the whole line for program use, but the week would not be enough. So I have chosen a few paragraphs that we could analyze together that will give us an idea of all the riches that we can gather from a text that at first reading sometimes does not say much, but if we stop at each word, very often we can receive much more than we thought at the beginning. I won't insist too much on the first part of the life since I am trying to comment it in a different way with the whole community in the evening. So the part dealing with the conversion of my community and its first attempt at making a community. I began that yesterday evening and I will continue tomorrow evening. From that part of his life,

[01:01]

I would like to see how the same one paragraph of the time when Pacomius is with his father Palamon. Give us an example of his ascesis at that time. It is paragraph 9 on page 15. Pacomius went to Palamon and The formation is just to live with his father and being formed by the life itself and doing the same ascenses, the same creative life, and so on. And he is growing in virtue. And in the paragraph 8, there is a story of a monk who was a victim of pride and... Pretty much like one of the stories that John mentioned in the story of the afternoon, that a monk is able to walk on fire without being burned.

[02:05]

And he's very proud of that. But Palamon is clear-sighted enough to see that that's from the devil, that from the Spirit of God can make a miracle. But that's from the devil. And then at the end of the story, the devil wins over him. and he is a victim of the devil. And so that explains the beginning of paragraph 9, when Pachomius saw this thing. This thing is that monk has been a victim of the illusions. So when he saw these things, he became even more apprehensive about his own progress. I think we could translate it in a different way. He acquired a greater fear, the foreburn. A greater fear... To fall. The fear of the offense is not so much apprehensive about his own progress, but more or less the same meaning. But he acquired a greater fear of the offense.

[03:07]

That means a greater fear to fall, to sin himself. So that fear of sin is an important element in spiritual life. And the fear of God. And as the scripture says, and this reference to the scripture is constant, constant in the Pacomian writings. Every time Pacomius speaks to his monk, he's always from the scripture. And when he gives a few rules, a few regulations to organize the life of the monastery, he always says that those are the regulations that I have taken for you from the scripture. So as the scripture says, He kept watch over his heart, with all vigilance. The vigilance is also an important aspect of their spirituality. And the first sin is carelessness, the negligence.

[04:11]

In the catechesis about a spiteful monk, Pagomius reproach him for his carelessness, his lack of vigilance. Because... The whole emphasis consists in developing in us the fruits of the Spirit. Theology of Parcomius, if we can speak about theology, is very simple. It's that we have received at baptism all the fruits of the Spirit. And the fruits of the Spirit are the virtues. But there are as many fruits of evil as there are fruits of the Spirit. And the fruits of evil are the vices. and the struggle between good and evil is always present in us the struggle between the spirit of god and the spirit of evil so the spirit of god has given us all its fruit but the spirit of evil the demon or the devil is always there trying to uproot one of those fruit and and then to put in its place one of these fruits so if the the demon

[05:25]

wins over us by taking away from us one of the virtues, then he has won the place. He is master of the place. We have to be very vigilant because if we let the devil enter into us only through a small window, he becomes master of the place and we will lose the whole battle. We have to be constantly vigilant and it is through our heart that the devil can enter into us. So we have to watch over our heart, to acquire a greater and greater purity of heart. In other places, they will speak about the purity of conscience. Heart and conscience, in Pachamian terminology, is practically the same thing. And so, the good old man admire him. So the old man is the senior, is the better man. Old doesn't mean necessarily that he had many years of age, but perhaps he had.

[06:27]

But elder means an ancient, someone who has experienced in life and has become a master of the others. And he is master not because he has been appointed or because he has appointed himself, but just because the others have identified him as pneumatophorus, as a bearer of the spirit. And he is good. I like very much that qualificative, that adjective. He's good for Paquemius. Once Paquemius arrived there, he was very, very harsh. He was not very quick in accepting Paquemius. For example, when Paquemius knocked at the door, the old man stooped down from above and said to him, what do you want? For he was abrupt in speech. That's the way he will see his disciple to test him.

[07:28]

But then he was very good and he admired him. I like very much that attitude of the master for his disciple. If the disciple is growing in virtue, he's growing in the spirit, the father admired him and loves him. We'll see when Tycho Muse will leave his master, the master will be very sad because he loved him as his own child. that somebody asked me yesterday if there was something about friendship in the faculty literature. I don't remember if the word friendship is there, but the reality is certainly there. And the relation between the master and the disciple is a relation of friendship. It's a very, very close relation. So he admires him, he admires the works of God in him, and he loves him. And he admires him because he not only endured willingly. the outward-intensive ascenses, ascetic regional, intensive ascenses, but he was also eager to purify his conscience, or his heart, his conscience, to perfection.

[08:35]

So, that very, very strong ascetic, Palamel, who was, who eats only every other day and spent, at least half of the night praying, and most of the time the whole night praying, and never eat anything else than bread and salt. A very, very rough man. He can be tender. And he is concerned not only about the outward intensive ascension of his disciples, but he is concerned about the purity of his conscience and the purity of his heart. he was also eager to purify his conscience, to perfection, perfectly. Here there is a mistranslation. To perfection, according to God's law, we have to translate, in order to accomplish God's law.

[09:38]

Trust on them on to them, to them, in order to realize or to accomplish God's law. And why to do that? Why that intensive assaysis? outward ascenses, and why that purification of conscience? Expecting the greater hope in heaven. It's pathological orientation, pathological life. The whole ascenses is oriented towards the expectation of the greater hope in heaven. It's a life of hope. That's the reason why it's a joyful life, although it's very austere. It has a meaning. When he started reading or reciting God's words by heart, reciting, when we read his meditation, we should translate meditating. The meditation is meditation. And the meditation for the early months does not consist in reflecting in our minds about the scripture, but in reciting it in a low voice.

[10:47]

St. Augustine, I think, has a The interesting etymology of meditare, supposed to come from media voce editare, to recite in a low line. But it's the way they recited the scripture. They never thought of reciting it mentally. And the whole life of prayer of the Pachamian month, either personal prayer or common prayer, consisted in reciting the scripture. And I mentioned yesterday afternoon that all the Peckhamian monks, all the monks that came to the monastery had to learn how to read. That was quite extraordinary in the backward, the Coptic village. And they had to learn how to read in order to learn the scripture. And they had to learn by heart at least the Old Souther and the New Testament and a few other books of the Old Testament that are just the beginning. and they had better memory than we had.

[11:50]

And so while they were walking or going from one place to the other, from their house to the refectory or to the place where the whole community gathered, or going outside to work, because sometimes they work very far from the monastery, for salary outside. The whole community will go outside to work for another farmer. And if the... All their life was busy with reciting the scripture. That was their form of prayer. And when they came together in synaxis for the common prayer, they continued to walk, weaving baskets, something like that. But one will get up and recite the parts of the scripture that he knew by heart. That was the most simple and the deepest form of prayer. Continuous contact with the word of God. So when he started reading or reciting God's words by heart, and they used to learn the scripture by pericopes.

[13:00]

They learned so many pericopes. And they called those pericopes that they learned by heart. I don't know if I can translate that in English, but we called them the son by heart. In French, un par cœur. by heart, a piece of the film that they knew by heart. And so when they came to the reading, it had become a technical word. They would say that in the office in the evening, somebody will get up and recite six by hearts. And when he did that, he did not get a word dismissing. negligently, in the fashion of many other people. But he strove to comprehend inside himself each and everything through humility and gentleness and truth. So it's not only a question of knowing thy heart, the text, but of letting oneself to be impregnated by those texts and to be transformed and transformed in order to become humble and

[14:13]

and gentle and true. Humility, gentleness and truth. According to the Lord's words, learn from me because I am gentle and humble apart. So the Lord being gentle and humble apart, if we let His words incarnate us, we will become gentle and humble and true. So that could be I think a good example of the formation that a monk like Pachomius was received in the desert from his spiritual father. We could pass now to another paragraph, paragraph 24, which gives us an example of how Pachomius formed his own disciples. We will see more of that tomorrow or tomorrow in the rule.

[15:18]

There are a few paragraphs of the rule that are very explicit about what was required and what was from and what was told to the novices or the newcomers. But this is a biographical note saying what Michael Muse did with his first disciples. After he talked about the voice which he had heard, sorry, he had a vision telling him to, after he left Parliament, to build a small place and that people would come to him and would be mumming around him. And the angel told him, the Lord's will... the end of the paragraph before, the Lord's will is to minister to the race of men and to reconcile them to him.

[16:23]

To minister to mankind. You remember his promise that he made during the night he was in jail. He promised to God if he was delivered to serve mankind, to minister to mankind on his life. And the angel now reminds him many years after that this is the will of God in him. And so people come to him, and he start trying to make a community of them. How does he do that? And here, of course, we make abstraction of the fact that he tried with the first group, and did not succeed, and he tried again with the second group. But let's take the text as it is here. After he thought about the voice, which he uncovered, the voice of the angel, and realized its meaning, he started receiving those who came to him. So every time Pacomius is somewhere, people come to him. So there are people who come to him here, in Tabernisus, which was an abandoned village.

[17:29]

And after he tested their worthiness, whether they were worthy, nothing is explained here, how he does it, and that of their parents, this is a bit surprising, I have no comment on that because I don't see anything in the life that can give an explanation for that. So I could imagine all kind of things. That would be my imagination. He clothed them in the monk's habit. To make somebody a monk is to give him the habit. He clothed them in the monk's habit and he introduced them to monastic life gradually. I like that word very much. Gradually. Monastic life is not... It's not a thing that you, it's not like a habit. You can put the habit on and then you begin to become a monk. But you don't start to be circular and the next day you are a perfect monk. You become, gradually a monk.

[18:33]

And Michael Muse was very, very aware of that. And that not everything could be required of everybody from the first day they were in a monastery. He was extremely demanding and at the same time, extremely understanding. And we could find a lot of examples. For example, that text of the scripture about if anyone wants to be my disciple and does not hate or let's be known to his parents, his mother, his father and his brother and sister and his wife and so on, is not worthy of being my disciple. That's a very strong. word in the scripture. And the only monks always wanted to live literally and in a radical way all the words of the scripture. And that word of Christ meant a big problem for them. How to be faithful to that. And at the same time to respect charity and so on.

[19:34]

But usually when someone enters the monastery will never see his relatives again. Never go back. Never accept to see them at the monastery. But If somebody is not ready to understand that, Pachomius will send Theodore, for example, with one man, to his family. And he will say to Theodore, well, he does not understand that word of the scripture yet, so in order to say this is all, go to his family. And when he has understood, he will do it by himself. I love an example like that. Pachomius will never in Paris with someone something of which God has not yet given him the understanding. He's respecting the process of growth. All the parables, most of the parables of the kingdom in the New Testament are parables of growth. A growth that takes time.

[20:34]

A seed that is put into earth and grows gradually becomes a tree. But before becoming a tree, that will grow. It's a yeast. put into the dough, and it ferments gradually. So very often we would like our life, and especially the life of our brothers, to be changed overnight, radically. But it cannot be. It's a process of growth, and we have to respect. And God respects it in us. So we will see another example of that deep respect. The first step was to renounce the world with respect to their family. You just mentioned it. And themselves. Not only to renounce the world, but to renounce oneself. That's another question. And themselves. And to follow the Savior who taught that. So the renunciation, that's not only the negative aspect, the following of Christ, secular Christi.

[21:39]

If we renounce something, it must have a meaning. The meaning is... to follow Christ. So this is what it means to bear the cross. Bear the cross is to run out. And follow Christ, who chose the way of the cross. All the penances are always explained by a reference to the person of Christ. It's never a blind assistant, never a blind type of person. of penance, of masochism. It's never explained by philosophical rationalization of killing the body in order that the soul will be more alive. No, just to follow the example of Christ and suffer with Christ from sharing the cross. Thus, on the other hand, being taught well by him and according to the scriptures, you see the mention of the scriptures again?

[22:42]

He is teaching them that what he's teaching them is, according to the Scripture, is just a mediation. The father, the doctor, the teacher, it's just a mediation between the Scripture and the month. And the rule of the month, I can use to stress that over and over again. The rule of the month is the Scripture. And his role is to convict the Scripture. And the knowledge of the Scripture, the... ... [...] by sin, then we have to recover them or find them again.

[23:49]

And the only way is through conversion, to metanoia. Metanoia is the old transformation of the heart. But metanoia is not a thing that we can do ourselves. It has to be a pure deed from God. So metanoia, we receive it from God. But in order to receive it from God, we have to make fruit worthy of repentance. So if we make truth worthy of conversion, God gave us the conversion of the heart. So those truths can be as well truths of conversion as truth and virtue. Worthy of the crown. They marvel at him exceedingly because they saw him tolling not only through bodily hardships, but also true his assumption of nearly all the cures of the monastery. I will explain that a bit more again with the whole group tomorrow evening.

[24:51]

With his first group, Michael Muse was concerned about serving them. And so he did all the chores himself. And they liked it quite well. And they took advantage of him more and more. that did not bring them very far. And at the end, he had to expel all of them, as I mentioned here. But then with his second group, he discovered that the real community was to serve each other, not only one serving the other. So he organized them into a form of mutual service. But let's see here what he did and why he did it. For he prepared the table for them at mealtime. Similarly, he served and watered the vegetable. Then he will answer the door every time someone will knock on it. And if anyone of them was sick, the commission himself eagerly took care of him and ministered to him during the night.

[25:55]

That's quite basic. I think that's sometimes, depending on what happens, that happens. Anybody in the monastery will do everything. He will try to do everything. Those brothers who were Muafites had not yet reached such a degree of ignorance in serving each other. That's a bad translation. Those brothers who were Muafites had not yet reached a disposition such as to serve each other. So the reason why he did all of that in thought is because they were still Muafites and had not yet reached... the disposition such as to serve each other. He did not understand yet that they are to serve each other, so he did it himself. But he freed them of all care by serving, and he's a good nervous master. Veteran, struggle that you may attain to the object of your power. Take care of your vocation.

[26:56]

Study the sounds and the lessons from the other books, and especially from the Gospel. As for me, I take my risk by serving you and God, according to God's command. The idea that in the monastery, someone has to, someone has or has to do the chores, but the others, especially the novice, those who are in formation, have to struggle to attain the object of their cow. But in the Psalms, the lessons of the other books. So that was his work for me, his novices. And then his novices came and the number grew more and more. And we had to think about the Eucharist. And there are no priests, and Pacomius did not want to preach in the monastery.

[27:58]

His position, I was just about... practically the same as the one of Benedict. And so they went to the church of a nearby village. And he built a church for the people of the village and took care of the offering there. And they did that for a long time. And when the monks arrived at the number of 100 in the monastery, then it was... The number was too large to go to that church of the village. Then he built a church in the monastery for the community. But still, the link with the local church was kept because the month continued to go to the local church, the village, on Saturday evening, and the priests and the people of the village came to the monastery on Sunday evening, Sunday morning. They had Eucharist twice a week, Saturday evening, Sunday morning. And that was at the main monastery.

[28:59]

But from other texts of Theodore, it seemed that even at a very, very later time, monks continued to go to the local church for the Eucharist. It was that in the Pythagorean monasticism, we find a great amount of solitude in silence, and monks to live in cells, and most of their line is family and their cell. They walk in silence, meditating the scriptures, probably have much more silence than we have even before we drop the sign language. But at the same time, solitude and silence, they have a continuous, very healthy relation with the outside world. Most of the time they go to walk outside with the farmers of the place. And when they go to Alexandria, for example, to sell their products, Every time they come back, Paco Mews asks them, how is the church of God? How is our father Athanasius?

[30:01]

There is a beautiful balance of a very strong solitude and silence and a very healthy relation with the surrounding world. But here about the building of the church in the parish or in the village, paragraph 29, page 39. Our great father, Pacomius, also sought to it zealously that a church be built in a deserted village for the shepherds of the surrounding region, who were ordinary people, so that they might gather on Saturdays and Sundays to hear God's word. The region where Pacomius lives is a region, as I mentioned yesterday, where there were many deserted villages.

[31:14]

Probably the monsoon has been poor for many years, and people could not live in that region anymore, so they deserted the village. And there were shepherds around. And so Pacomius decided, because there were shepherds there, and there were ordinary people, that means poor people, illiterate people, but so that they might gather on Saturdays and Sundays to hear God's word. And there is no priest there yet, as we will see. So there is no Eucharistic yet there. But so that they may at least hear God's word, he did a church for them, for his mom for the same time. We'll see, for example, when Benedict at the Subiaco and Monte Cassino every time he arrives in the place, when he arrives in the casino, for example, first thing he does is to evangelize the people of the village there.

[32:17]

And then when his monastery is well organized in the casino, he's sent a month to evangelize the villages around until the end of his life. I reread that yesterday in the second dialogue of Gregory. Sometimes we have we have idea that contemplative life is identified with the absence of action. Usually monks are not meant to go outside and preach and to make a facility. But I think it is very wrong to identify our life with something negative. I think all those fathers, Bacomus or Benedict or anybody else, were just people who were open to the voice of the Spirit speaking through the needs around them. And this he did not on his own accord, but following the opinion of Serapion, bishop of the church of Tenfira.

[33:18]

The author here wants to stress that Pachomius was in full communion with the bishop. And at the beginning of the monasticism in Egypt, there was a perfect communion. between the hierarchy and the monks. So the idea that the monks were in reaction power to the local church is not true. It is true that later on, there will be a tension, sometimes a healthy tension and sometimes an unhealthy tension between the charismatic wing of the church and the institutional wing, the bishops and the monks. But at that early period, there was no tension. And there was a perfect communion. And by communion, it's always respectful of the bishop. For example, when he speaks about the not wishing to have priests in the monastery, it means monks to be ordained priests. He says, let us be satisfied with the priests that are given to us by our fathers, the bishop.

[34:27]

So the bishop are our fathers in faith. So he would not build a church without the agreement of the bishop. And when you found a monastery in a diocese, it would be with the agreement of the bishop. And there would be at least one instance. I think it was this last foundation. I don't know what happened, but after he began the foundation, the bishop came with a crowd to expel them. But... So that's a later stage. There is already there beginning of a tension. And certainly at the time the life was written, that tension existed. And so the biographer is very careful in saying that he did that with the agreement of the mission. So we will go there with the brothers and read to them at the time of the divine office because there was no lecture. There are a bunch of poor people, illiterate people,

[35:29]

The next sentence is very badly translated. And he spent time for their needs and the needs of the strangers. Wow. The good translation is he took care of the offering. By different. Kreyas. Kreyas is the technical word for offering. So he took care of the offering and of the strangers. The offering of the strangers who came around. until a priest was appointed there. And as he himself read to them, he had such knowledge and piety, and his gaze was so proper, and his illocution so concerning with the meaning of the words. Remember that he has, the way he has learned his scripture. So his scripture has been lifted into him. He understood it from the interior. so that his relocation could be consonant with the meaning of the words.

[36:30]

That when these worldlings saw this man of God among them, they were all the more inclined to respond to faith and become Christian. So, it seems that most of the shepherds were pagan, and he was preaching the word of God to them, just instructing them to the faith. For he was very merciful and found of their souls. I think that's a beautiful expression. It was very merciful. What is the octumon? I don't know how to translate. Merciful is good, but that means... How will you translate the protagonist? Misery. One-hearted. One-hearted. Honey was found of your soul. You are the lover of your son. Philip Foucault. He was a lover of your soul.

[37:32]

That's a beautiful expression. So it's not just Paul Foucault. He hasn't been appointed there by the bishop in a foreign village where he doesn't want to go and just doing the office. It's there because he is found of their souls. As he will always be found on the souls of his brothers. And many times when he saw people who did not know their God and maker, he wept for long periods all alone because it is hard, if at all possible, to save everyone. Remember the division he had during the night of his baptism when he saw the dew from heaven coming into his head and becoming holy in his hand and then falling into the face of the earth. That grace that he had received, he wanted the whole world to receive it. So when he saw somebody who has not yet received the grace of conversion, the grace of Christian life, he wept because he desired to save everyone.

[38:36]

Now let's go to something very different. Paragraph 51 and 53. You know, the life those texts, they present to us what we could say some thrashes on the life of Pachomius. And there is no logical order in those narratives, one after the other. And I think it would be wrong to try to make a beautiful synthesis of all the other methods. I think it's better to do in our reading the same thing as they did in the writing. Just take one look at one aspect of this life, then another look, then another look, and then we can gather in ourselves gradually a kind of vision of what was that type of monastic life. I think it's better for you to discover it gradually through those texts than for me to give you a synthesis of his conception of community and his conception of obedience, the conception of leadership.

[39:53]

And all those things are related to one another. I gave you different topics for your different groups. One group is leadership, the other group is obedience and prayer and common life. But all those things are related to one another. You can understand the meaning of prayer life of the month without understanding what was this type of common life. What was the role of the leader in throwing him to prayer? What was the role of obedience? The same thing, we cannot understand obedience without understanding what was the type of formation, the type of leadership, the type of prayer. So even if one text does not seem to be related directly to your topic, it is always related indirectly, because everything is forming a unity. And we have to discover that unity gradually. And the other... two texts, 51 and 53, I want to read. I will read 51 rapidly, but 53 is one of the most beautiful paragraphs of the line.

[41:02]

51 is about the courage of Piconius in illness and how he always wanted to be a brother among the brothers and not having any privilege because of the fact he was superior. At once, when the brothers were on an island to reap rushes, so they went to work outside, Theodore was with them to prepare the timbers. Late one evening, our father Pacomius came back from the work sick. So he's working with the brothers, and then he's sick. When he lay down, shivering, Theodore threw a wooden cover over him. And when he saw this, he did not want it and said, Take it away and throw over me a rash nap, as you will on all the other brothers. He does not want to have a privilege. Then the other offered him a handful of dates. But the communists did not take them and said, Do we have the authority to consume for ourselves simply because ours is the stewardship of the brothers, brothers' labors and needs?

[42:12]

So, because he has the authority, he does not want to... to have any privilege. And you find very much about that in the book of Arceusius. And from that book, we see that probably most of the superiors of the monasteries and the superiors of the houses, they did not follow the example of Pacumius. And they were giving privilege to themselves. And Arceusius is calling them back to observances. You are the steward. servers of the brothers, so don't use your office to get privilege for yourself. And he is referring them to the example of Pagoneus that we see here. So, where is the fear of God? Have your merchants visited the cells of all the brothers at this hour to make sure that some of them are not sick? For God is judged even over this matter. So no exception of person.

[43:16]

If somebody is sick, whether he is an ordinary brother or whether he is Pacomius, he has to receive the same care. Pacomius should not receive a better care because he is superior. And in the Pacomian mentality, there is a beautiful balance between uniformity, and unity on one hand, and concern for the individual on the other hand. If it were only the uniformity, that would be an unhuman situation. But there is a strong uniformity. But on the other hand, when there is a real personal need, then that need has to be taken into account. And this is beautifully mentioned in the next paragraph. The paragraph 53. There was another brother who was mortally ill and bedridden in a nearby cell.

[44:22]

So he's no longer an ordinary brother because he's a brother who has a very, very special need. He's mortally ill. And he knew that. So he requested from the father of the monastery to be fed a small portion of me. That was unthinkable. Pacomius monastery to eat meat because he had a very austere diet. So the brother feels that he needs meat, so he asks for meat. The length of his illness had reduced his body to skin and bones. And because the meat was not given to him, he told one of the brothers, support me and take me to our father Pacomius. So he can, he knows that Pacomius is merciful. And he has an open heart if he dares to ask to be brought to Pacomius. Just like at the time of St. Paul, when everybody could make an appeal to Cesar.

[45:26]

Just like in Cuba today, everybody can make an appeal to Cesar, above everybody. And he can always reach there. When he approached Pacomius, he fell on his face. and told him the reason. Pachomius realized that the man deserved the request. So Pachomius realized a special need. If he had a special need, he deserved the request, and he sighed. At mealtime, Pachomius was served his portion, as were all the other brothers. He did not eat, but said, you are respecters of persons. What has happened to the Scripture? Well, it refers to the scripture. So, the scripture is the rule that will give the answer even to a very particular case. The scripture is not only the basis from which Pacomius takes Father Brothers, the general rules of the monastery, but it's also from the scripture that you have to find the answer to a very special, particular case.

[46:42]

What has happened in the Scripture? Love thy neighbor as thy father. The commandment of love is the basic commandment of Scripture. Anyone should be intelligent enough to understand that this is the basic commandment, and this is above all the other commandments. Do you not see that this man is practically dead? Well, that is obvious. You should be intelligent enough to see that. Why did you not take good care of him? at all, before he made his request. So he does not say only, why did you not answer his request? Why did you not take care of him before he made his request? If you were really charitable according to the scripture, the commandment of love, you should have taken care of him in a better way than just following the ordinary rule of the monastery. And you would say, oh, they have an excuse on the back of your story. knows what the excuse will be.

[47:45]

And you will say, we need like Abraham because that sort of food is not customary among us. Not according to the book of usage. And so, they were right. They were just following their rules, just following their customs. But Pacquiao says, does the disease not make a difference? No, there is a common rule. But when there is a special situation, there is a difference. That's not the disease make a difference. Are not all things pure for those who are pure? Beautiful application of that world. Are not everything pure for those who are pure? So there is nothing which is unpure. And if you were unable to see without my advice, so maybe you are not bright enough. If you were unable to see without my advice that this would be good, why did you not tell me? So tears came to his eyes, the mercy, as he was seeing this thing.

[48:48]

And then there is two sentences that will be a kind of footnote nowadays. For tears are a mark of sensitivity, and even if tears do not come to a man who is sensitive while something is happening, there is such a thing as inner weakness. That's a reflection of the biographer. And when they heard these things, they hasten to buy the meat. They don't have any meat there, but they have to buy it in order to feed the infeedled man. Then, like Amius himself, ate the customary white vegetable. So he refused to eat, he refused to receive what is normal for everyone, if the one who deserves something else has not received what he did. I think we have here a whole theology of obedience, of law, of our attitudes, of our uniformity, of our conformity, of our individual, and also of authority, and of both of the first superior, the intermediary superior also, those who were supposed to use their own judgment.

[50:11]

And if they could not use their own judgment, they should at least have come to Pacomius and ask him for more wine. So when we read the rule of Pacomius, and we find a lot of very strict regulation and very austere and seem to kind of regimentation, we have to take into account the way it was lived by Pacomius. This is an example. Let's go to another paragraph. Let's go to paragraph 95. Parconvius is teaching someone how to be a superior, how to deal with his brothers. It is much later in the life, and a man has come to the monastery who is called Theodore.

[51:20]

He is not the great Theodor. He is another Theodor. Theodor the Alexandrine. And he is a Greek. And that's not nocoptic when he arrives at the monastery, it seems. And I come just love him very much, too. So let's read that paragraph. Maybe it will be the last one for this morning. Because that man, Theodor, Because that man bore the monastic life well, Abbot Pachomius loved him. He got this. I get this. So somebody asked me for this, I said about the friendship. Here we are, beautiful. He loved him. And the Greek word is the I get this. And why did he love him? Because he was a good man. He was doing life well, the monastic life well. and made every effort to learn Greek by the grace of God in order to discover the way of offering him solace frequently.

[52:31]

So Bracomius was a Coptic citizen, and he was not illiterate. He did not know Greek up to that point, at least, but he knew Coptic quite well, and not only because of his own language, but he knew Coptic literature. And Lefort has shown that he knew quite well the old Egyptian wisdom. And he quotes, without referring explicitly to that, but he quotes a different place in his catechesis, some texts from the old wisdom literature, old Egypt. And so he was not illiterate. And he knew how to integrate it. Egyptian wisdom, into his Christian monastic life. But he did not know Greek. But when Theodore came, and Theodore appeared to him to be an outstanding person, a person who deserves special care, special life, and also a person who would be very, very important for the congregation, because at that time, it seems that other Greek monks came.

[53:46]

They began to... to come from Alexandria. And they did not know Coptic, so he needed someone who would be the superior of that group of foreign monks. And so he took special care of the other. And he made every effort to learn Greek by the grace of God. Doesn't mean that he was in a miraculous work. He had the grace of God to have the courage to try. in order to discover the way of offering him solid. Frequently. That's a very human, humane motivation. Then Pacomius appointed him house manager of the Alexandrian and other foreign brothers who came after him. So the monasteries were divided into houses, and each house usually was...

[54:48]

dedicated to a special service within the daily monastery. The houses of the baker, the houses of the porter, the houses of the infirmary and so on. But then there were also the houses of the foreign. Because in that houses, there was... Those houses were pretty much like the dinary of Saint Benedict. And most of the life was spent in those houses. There was the general... Synexes of all the monks once a day in the morning. But the rest of the life was spent in small groups. About 10 or 12, I think. Not more than that. Maybe the dinner race. And those who have special care, special needs, are put together in the same house. So all the Alexandrian, all the foreign monks are put together in one house. And somebody who can understand them is appointed as their the superior, the master.

[55:49]

That, to life, they always translate house manager. I don't like too much the word manager. Let's say house master. It's very difficult to find a word to translate that because in Coptic, it's a composed word. The superior of the monastery is the man of the monastery. Any type of office in Coptic begins by the man of the woman. So, the superior of the monastery is the man of the nursery. The superior of the house is the man of the house. And a carpenter is the man of the carpentry. And the croak is the man of the kitchen. So, we have to translate house, master. This house was full of parity. And Holy Pakomius did many things together with him. Getting him used to governing now. The way to... form him is to do things with him. He's doing many things to him in order to form him.

[56:51]

He's not giving him writing a book of authority. He's just doing things with him. I always remember my own father. My father was a kind of jack of all trades. He did that kind of thing. Electricity, mechanics, carpentry, and so on. And he was a good worker. And as a kid, I was asking him to teach me how to do it. And he always says, no, just look at me and do the same. I think that was a very good method. We'll never explain. Just look at me. Do the same. And Patomus will say, it is a great thing if you see one of your house being negligent, careless, with respect to his salvation. It is the least thing for a monk. not to be vigilant. He is vigilant with respect to his salvation. Be patient. First thing is to be patient. God is patient with us.

[57:53]

So be patient with your brother. And counsel him in private. So he does not say chastise him, make reproach to him, be hard on him, be patient, counsel him. First thing to do. In private. Don't humiliate him. Counseling in pride, first thing to do. Once he becomes angry, sometimes when we make a remark, somebody becomes angry. So, once he becomes angry, let him go until God moves him to repentance. Not insist he's angry. In fact, until God moves, because God has something to do in the process too. So, let him go until God moves him to repentance. So it is God that gives repentance. And we have to give God the chance to act and to give him time to act. And usually it takes time. So let's give him time. Just as when one wants, the comparison is very beautiful.

[58:59]

Just as when one wants to take a splinter out of his foot, and if as he digs around it, there is bleeding and pain, he allows it to stay temporarily. So you don't go too far when you stop and you allow it to stay temporary. Now, after he places upon it an emollient poultice or something similar, a few days later it comes out by itself, isn't it? No need to try to go deep with your instruments. Just do it a little and then wait. And it will come out by itself. A man who is angry at someone who does not argue with him in due time, gains more through the patient of him who teaches according to the law, the law with capital L. So a man who is angry at someone who does not argue with him, I always find that a very disturbing one. I'm angry at someone and he does not answer, you know.

[60:04]

If he is angry, okay, but if I'm the only one to be angry, that's very embarrassing. If the fault is great, so, that's for if the fault is not too great, but if the fault is great, report it to me. First, just counsel them privately. And even if you get an anger, that's why. But then, if the fault is great, report it to me. And I shall act as the merciful Lord wishes. So, Bhagavad Gita is more, has more experience. And is the one who is, responsible for the whole congregation. So if there is something more important, he's the one who knows more the ways of God and he has the experience of mercy. And so if it is an important thing, I will take care of it. And I shall act as the merciful Lord wishes, which they will have got.

[61:05]

Similarly, care for the sick as for yourself. Take care for the sick again. Be abstemious. That's right. Practice the continence. Practice the continence. And build the cross more than they do, because your rank is that of a father. If there is anything you should do more than the other, it's to build the cross more. Be the first one to keep the rule of the brothers. In order that they also keep them. For the example, Benedict says that the abbot should preach by words and example. We have the same impact on this. The first teaching is by the example. But I think now ours is over. So we will continue that same paragraph tomorrow morning and then go on to other paragraphs.

[62:07]

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