In English, it's page 45. It's about the foundation of the Monastery of Nuns. As you know, every founder must have a sister. and get away from that. So, if you want to find anything, be sure you have a sister who can come after you. And so, when Thacomius came to Tiberias, shortly after he came there, his brother John came. We don't know much about his brother John, how he was converted. He was from a pagan family too. and he lived with Pacomius a very short time and then he died so we don't know much about him but later on his sister came and so let's read the how he received the earth when the sister of our great father Pacomius heard reports about him she came to see him so she was report about him

[01:17]

Bipak Amir has already become famous and he was known not only in the little village of Tabernesis but in the whole of Upper Egypt, kind of a large village. So he sent the brother who was gatekeeper of the monastery to tell her, you have indeed heard of Is it my commuter? He really does not want to rest his head. He said that Babel was the gatekeeper of the monastery to tell her, you have indeed heard about me, that I am alive. Do not dream, because you have not seen me. But if you too wish to partake of this holy way of life, that you may find God's mercy, consider the matter. He did not want to see her. That was normal.

[02:18]

Monks, usually, when they were in the monastery, they did not want to receive anybody from their family. That was just to follow the text of the New Testament that I mentioned the other day. Pachomius, for other people, he made a lot of exceptions. But that was the rule. Because if you gain the Mastery, you are dead to the world. But it says that if you too wish to partake, if you wish, it doesn't say you are going to hell if you don't become a nun, if you wish to partake of this holy way of life. So our monastic life is a way of life. It's a holy way of life, but it's a way of life. So Bacchomius insists very much in other place that Christians in the world can be as holy as we are, can save their soul as well as we save our soul.

[03:20]

But we have chosen our way of life and we have been given by God a way of life. It's a holy one. We are very proud of it, we're very happy of it, but he never claims that it is the only way of life. So when we mentioned yesterday afternoon the characteristics of Macombian monasticism is that it is established by the grace of God, with the inspiration of God, one way of life. Kainonia, the cinematic life, is a specific way of life that is meant to foster a certain type of spiritual experience. that we may find God's mercy. It's one way of finding God's mercy, because we are all sinners. So through our spiritual journey is a journey through mercy, through the mercy of God, through conversion. So consider the matter. In other words, think about it.

[04:22]

As I say, count on being a nun immediately. Consider the matter. It's a thing that you have to do consciously. And then, if you wish, then the brothers will make a monastery in the Monain. Monain, that means a residence, a place where to stay. It can be just a little cell, not a huge monastery with like 35 rooms and so on. You will build a Monain, a place where to stay for you to retire there. And then, perhaps, the Lord will call upon other women to be with you. Perhaps. The Lord will call. It's up to the Lord to do it. Let us say, go and look after other women who would like to come with you and gather people, gather women around you. No, just come. Live there. Be a leader where we apply.

[05:23]

And perhaps, God will call. There is the cow and the cow comes from God. And it's unpredictable. Cannot know whether it will come from or not. Perhaps. It's up to Him. We tell other women to be with you. It comes just to be with her. To partake the same way of life. Necessary to learn from her. to be articidal, just to live the same way. That's the Kainonia. We are a group of people who come together to be with one another. Pakomius was an outstanding master, and people come to be with him. And just the fact of being with him was permitted, just like Pakomius was with Parliament for a while, and he was formed by the very fact of being with Parliament. Poor man has no hope in this world unless he does what is good before he departs from his body to the place where he will be judged and rewarded according to his deeds.

[06:39]

So our hope is in heaven, not in this world. But it is by what we are doing in this world that we are preparing what we are hoping for in the next kingdom. So once she heard these things, tears came to her eyes. We hear about tears very often in the old text. But I think maybe there were less individuals that we have. Because tears are something natural, but not as much as the weather. She began Well, I didn't know that I was going to see you. I didn't know that I was going to see you. I didn't know that I was going to see you. She became contrite and turned her heart towards salvation. I like very much that expression.

[07:42]

She turned her heart towards salvation. So it is through the heart that we meet God, to the heart that we are saved. And so if we desire salvation, we have to turn not only our way of life, but our heart towards salvation. It's in a certain town and she turned, she banged her heart with the foundation. And thus a monastery was established in the village. We know that Pachomius was living in a deserted village, an abandoned village. So in the same village, they established a place. This time in Greek it is monastirion. Monastirion is the same thing as monas. Monastirion in Greek means a place where a monk or many monks live.

[08:43]

Does that mean more? It can be just a cell of a hermit as much as it can be a monastery for 200 monks. It's a place where monks or nuns or nuns, some people say, live. So, when I think of Pagongius establishing his community in an abandoned village, I would think of Thazing, what Roger should did in Thazing. It was an old abandoned French village. practically abandoned. There were still a few people there. So they just used some of the old houses of the village for the community and they rearranged them. Just many years later, when the crowd of youth started to come to the city, they decided to build a new church. our modern church, and it was a very difficult decision for the community to decide whether they would build a church or not, because that was something new, it was something richer and so on.

[09:49]

So it was a bit divisive in the community for a long time. But just you, this old house there, they lived in small groups, more or less like the half of Tacoma, like dinnerists, each dinnerist living in one half of the village. And this gives the kind of life, which is quite different from just arriving in a newly built monastery. So, we built a place for his sister, at some distance from that of the brothers. She followed the ascetics. He always translates ascetics by arrangement. I don't know if reading that means something to you in English, but it doesn't mean much to me. So I prefer to translate as thesis, as in dream. She followed the thesis eagerly. That means the way of life. Together with other women. So they have already come.

[10:51]

And as their number grew, she became their mother. For as long as they are just think that they just live together, they are with her. But as the, when the group becomes larger and larger, you need someone who has the role of leadership in the group. So she became the mother of the number group. Something like, for example, in the Basilian Brotherhood of Fraternities in Basel, Grisbeaumont showed that During the first years of the Brazilian organization, there was no superior in the local community. There were small groups of people living in the city and under the jurisdiction of the bishop, like every other Christian, but inside each one of the groups there was nobody having a role of leadership. But as the group developed,

[11:53]

uh... from the uh... the vitality of the group and from the need of the group grew the need for a leader the leader came as uh... an answer to a concrete need of that group which was growing and for growing further they needed someone to be the uh... the coordinator of the search for the will of god that came from the internal life of the group same thing here As the number grew, she became their mother. Then Pathomius appointed a certain Peter, a brother advented in year, to visit them, chaplain. His world was seasoned with salt, and his mind and eyes were not frivolous, because man should become a chaplain. Many times he stood and preached to them words of salvation from the Holy Scripture. You see, once again, the reference to the Holy Scripture. He preached them his words of salvation from the Holy Scriptures.

[12:57]

Hercules also wrote down the rules of the brothers' monastery, the world monasteries that he built, the rule of the brothers, and sent them to the sisters through the elder Peter, that they may proceed to govern themselves by them. So it seems that some rules already existed and he sent them to the sister, that means the organization of the daily life, and showed that they will live according to the same way of life. That reference to the rules may be also something added by the biographer because at the beginning it says, if you want to live according to our way of life, I think that it is very implied that he sent one of the old brothers to take care of them. It was enough to convey the same way of life. But anyway, we have to take the facts as it is that he wrote down the rules of the brothers that probably were very few at that time.

[14:08]

So the rest, the next paragraph is still about the nuns, but it's less important. I wanted to see the foundation of the monastery. The rest is when there was a brother who wanted to see one of his sisters or a relative who was there, how that will be done and if somebody came to the monastery and so on. And then for the funeral and so on. Now we could go to another paragraph following the organization of the congregation, paragraph 54. So Pachomius has established his first monastery. People came to him and he organized them into a community through whom he gave a certain orientation, a certain way of life. Then his sister came and he did the same thing with the nuns. So later on he founded other monasteries and founded eight other monasteries.

[15:17]

In the Coptic life we have long narratives for each one of them and in the Greek there is a kind of summary, two summaries, here in 54 of the first four foundations and then later on the other foundations. By reading that summary, we can get an idea of the different ways in which the Foundations were made. Sometimes, because the number of monks was too large, it was decided that a group of monks would go to another place. But other times, there was a superior effort, an existing monastery. who, seeing that Pachomius was doing something quite good with his group, wanted Pachomius to send some of his men to form his own monastery and to adopt them into his congregation. Other times it was a bishop who asked Pachomius to come and found a monastery in his diocese.

[16:21]

So there were many different types of foundations. We will read them. 54, page 81. When Tacomus saw that as the number of the brothers increased, the mastery became too small for them. He transported some of them to Paba, that's a Gothic name, another deserted village. So he had no problem of building because there were a lot of deserted villages everywhere. So instead of enlarging his monastery, he decides to find another deserted village. And it does not seem that the Paikonian communities reach a very high number of persons. Palladius speaks about 5,000 Paikonian monks, but certainly a biblical number. It has nothing to do with reality. It seems that probably

[17:21]

At most, the Pachamama monastery could count something like 109, divided in 8 or 9 or 10 houses. Each house was 10 to 12 people. And then, at most, 10 houses in one monastery. So it's quite a reasonable number, but nothing like what Eladios says. Can you hear me, Eladios? And with them, he built and enlarged a monastery, saying that many were clouded by the Lord. So he's not trying to look after people and to, I don't want to be nasty, but he's not doing like St. Bernard going through Europe and coming back with the dozens of people every time. He's just living there and when people come, because God called them, He received them and then he built a monastery for them when they come, seeing that many were called by the Lord.

[18:28]

And he appointed a steward, or a superior, or a master, and assistant to him to care for the brothers, and also housemasters and assistants to them, according to the rules of the First Monastery of the Beneficence. So, as I mentioned earlier, there was in each monastery a superior of the monastery. And later on, at a very late stage it seems, he had a second assistant. And then the monastery was divided in so many houses, and each house had a master of the house and an assistant, a second. So here you always translate the house manager, but let's translate house master. And according to the rules of the First Monastery of Taberneses, there is something similar to the Cistercian. Every time they make a foundation, the foundation has to follow the same way of life, the same regulations as at Cipro, kind of extension of Cipro.

[19:32]

Same thing with Pachomius. Each new monastery does follow the same rule as at Taberneses. And then here, something is badly translated. To make sure they will remember, he committed the rule to writing in order to have everyone proceed according to the terms without harming his fellow man. That doesn't make much sense. I will translate it. And he ordered them, in writing, so that they will remember it, that nobody shall harm his fellow man. but rather that each one shall follow the rule of life given to him. So it does not say that they shall follow the rules in order to have everyone proceed according to the terms without harming his fellow man, but he said that he ordered them in writing, so that they will remember it, that nobody shall harm his fellow man.

[20:44]

but the other than that nobody shall harm, shall hinder his fellow man, but rather that each one shall follow the rule of life given to him. For, although he is good, and only the perfect man, telayat, that comes very often, telayat, that's perfect man, the man who has rich perfection, the man who is accomplished, that's a biblical expression, comes often in St. Paul. Because only the perfect man finds no obstacle, even in disorder, as it is written, and in the days of famine they will be filled. He visited the two monasteries night and day as a servant of the Good Shepherd. Now he has two monasteries, he is the head of a congregation, and he visited them all the time. He dedicated himself completely, day and night, to them. How, as a servant of the Good Shepherd, Thelpus Thelvorum Dei, exactly the same expression, is not only a servant of his brothers, but he is a servant of God, who is the Good Shepherd, with pride, who is the real master of his monastery, with pride, who is taking care of them, and he is a servant of pride, who is the Good Shepherd.

[22:08]

Afterward, Preventer Monastery of Pablo became crowded with brothers. The second one. After a time, an aged ascetic named Eponychus, father of another monastery of older brothers, told there were other monasteries around, not Pachromia. But that old father came to Pachromius and asked him to accept his monastery into the community of brothers. So he realized that Pythagoras has created a way of life which is superior, bearing more proof. So he realized that himself is not as good a superior man as Pythagoras and he is humble enough to say to Pythagoras, take us into the brotherhood of your own community. So the name of the monastery was Kinnabaskia. Pakomys took along other brothers and brought them to that monastery.

[23:10]

So in order to translate to them their own tradition, their own wisdom, their own way of life, he sent a few brothers who would go and live with them. And because he doesn't only send the rule, the tradition has to be translated by living people. So he sent a few brothers who would go and live there. He prayed in that place, first prayer, and entrusted them to God to dwell there with the original brothers and to follow the same rules, the same canons. Similarly, there, too, he appointed a superior and an assistant to him, as well as a housemaster with assistance. Afterwards, one of the leading monks of a fort monastery, named Monk Horses, asked him to do the same in God's brothers there, according to the rule of the monastery. of the community, the rule, I don't know why it's a good term, and gave them their constitutions.

[24:15]

There was in that monastery an aged holy monk and a perfect ascetic whose name was John. He watched for the brothers with great zeal. Thakur Muse also took spiritually strong brothers and appointed them in each monastery to govern the brothers. So those who were chosen to govern the brothers are those who are spiritually strong brothers. They are brothers, they are strong, and do not just talk nomadic. In the spirit, they are trying in the spirit. The spirit is with them. And he appointed them in each monastery to govern the brothers. As though he were present until he himself would come. So he remains the father of the whole congregation. And those who are appointed in each monastery are there as representatives of the commune.

[25:22]

And they govern as if he was present himself. according to his charism, according to his spirit, until he himself would come. So when he comes, he takes the role of leader. I think this is very much bound with the charism of Pachomius himself. He was the man who had the charism of setting up that koinonia. And when people asked him to integrate their monasteries in his congregation, it was to put himself under his own charism. But that's always the problem with a person with a charism like that, that the charism cannot be transposed into the institution. and after he died you always need a kind of second founder and the second foundation is always the most important and the most difficult and we will see that after he died all the Archdiocese who was a very great man and Theodore was a great man too were unable to keep the unity of the congregation so they had to develop

[26:42]

the institution and the law and the rules more and more in order to try to keep through a certain legislation what PACOMU kept together through its charisma. And most of what we have of the rules come from that second generation. Now, oh, I forgot to finish what we had begun yesterday, the paragraph 94, 95. So we can go to paragraph 95. So at some point, Pachomius and his congregation were so well known that people came to him not only from the surrounding Celtic village, but also probably from Alexandria, because some Greek-speaking monks came, and nobody, practically nobody spoke Greek in Upper Egypt, so they must have come from the South, or from the North.

[27:57]

I don't know why I would think it's South, but from the North, and probably from Alexandria. They are mentioned. And one of them was Theodore, who was not the great Theodore, but another one, Theodore the Alexandrine. And he was very dear to Pacomius. And Pacomius formed them in a very special way. And he appointed him as the master of the heart of the Alexandrine. And he told him how to deal with people, especially with people who were were sinners. And so we read the paragraph 95 till the bottom of the page 135. Now we can turn to page 137. And then Pachomius says, If there is something else which you wish to discern but do not know how, with God's grace tell me about it.

[29:05]

So you have received my formation. So do everything you can. But if there is something that you wish to discern, your role as a master is to discern, to make a discernment with your brothers. And if you cannot, you do not know how, then tell me about it. Because you are my representative. If when you cannot do something, I am there to to do it. So with joint effort, we shall find the precise nature of each problem. So, see how Pacomius is respectful of his subordinates or superiors under him. He doesn't say, when you cannot do the thing, just stay aside and I will do it. Then tell me, and with joint effort, we'll do it together. With joint effort, we shall find we shall together, the precise nature of each problem.

[30:08]

So it doesn't say we'll find the solution right away. We begin by defining the precise nature of the problem. And very often, I think, our experience, a lot of us, that's the only thing we can do, find the nature of the problem and to learn how to live with it. Very rarely we can find a solution to a problem. Because when there is a solution, there is no longer any problem. When Pythonius gave instructions to the brothers, Theodore interpreted for those who did not understand Celtic. That gives the answer to one of the questions that we had yesterday at Turner. How did the brothers who did not speak Celtic, how did they live in that congregation, that monastery, and why they were gathered in the same house under the same tutelage? So they were very sure that Theodore will interpret it, interpret to them, to those who did not understand Catholic.

[31:11]

End of side one. Please turn cassette over and continue on side two. They continue to live as most of Christian being. And on Saturday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, sorry, the catechesis were made by the superior of the monastery. And so when that catechesis was made, In Coptic, of course, the superior of the House of the Alexandrine will translate it into Coptic for the Montenegrins and will not understand it. So he served as house manager for 13 years before the blessed Pecomius died. The first fruits of this house were It's a beautiful expression, the fruit of a community. If we can say that the fruit of our community are father, so on, so on, so on, that's very beautiful. So the first fruits of this house were from among the Alexandrians, the pharaoh, also known as the Great, and another, also known, also a child by the name of Neum.

[32:16]

There was also the Roman, god Beerus, Pumus, Romulus, Dominus, Arminius, and other saints. And the next sentence is the best example of badly translated. Thus, some conquered the one who is great in carnal matters, but others did not. So, the sense, the meaning of the sentence, it seems to me quite clear, is, and some of them knew the great, that means the great one, that means Bacchomius, So, some of them knew the great Pachomius in the flesh, but others did not. Yeah. Knew in the flesh means when he was alive. Some of them knew the great Pachomius in the flesh, but others didn't. It's quite different from some conqueror, the one who is great in common matters, but others did not. Now,

[33:22]

let's skip a few years and Pachomius dies we bury him and just before dying he appoints his own superior he says to the brother whom do you want to add as superior and of course they don't answer and so he divides himself and he gives them Petronius but it is a time of epidemic Pagomius died of epidemic and a lot of old brothers died of the same epidemic too. And that may be one of the reasons of the difficulties. Many of the elders died at the same time. A great, great number. And so he appointed Petronius, but Petronius died a few days later. That's very humbling for Pagomius. He could not even foresee that the one he appointed to pay off will die soon. And Petronius appoints Osgesius. And after five years, Osiris begins to have difficulties with the community.

[34:25]

And here we have one of his talk to the group just before he decides to ask Theodore to come to the rescue and come and help him, as a matter of fact, to take over the government. The lights say that the RCS has asked Theodore to come. If we read between the lines, especially in the Coptic life, we have the impression, cannot be proved, but a very strong impression that Theodore was always trying to get the job and finally succeeded. But that's not completely rash judgment, but it's a judgment. 126, page 169. We'll see some, 126 and 127, we'll see some of the reasons of the, what we would call the recovery of difficulties of the second generation.

[35:33]

I mentioned one that many of the old brothers died. You see, when Theodore... When Theodore... We read that text yesterday. I think I read it at the office. When Osiris just called Theodore in, Theodore make his first catechesis, he says, where are the elders? It's a kind of... We don't have anymore any of the elders of our old time. And he says, it was not like that in our old time. That's an expression we hear pretty often in our masquerade. Everywhere, I think. In the old time, you know, it was quite different. This expression started with the generation of Abel and Kay. It's very traditional. So we have to keep it. I read a few years ago, somebody published a text that comes from a tablet, comes from Egypt, a few thousand years before Christ, at least two thousand years before Christ, and the author says

[36:42]

how all this generation is disintegrating. Everybody wants, nobody wants to obey to his parents. Everybody wants to write a book. And the other thing that we hear today, 2,000 years before Christ. Our father, Ossetius, spoke and said, I see that some of you want title and offices. That's not new. That is to become arts masters or something else. And it used to be during the time of our father, one would accept office for no other cause except for obedience, since no one wanted to be called great, prudent, lest he be found least in the kingdom of heaven. Michael Lewis was very strong on humility, that everybody was to be on the same level in the community.

[37:47]

That was the reason why he refused that he himself would be ordained priest, and he refused that some of his brothers would be ordained priests, for fear of that temptation, the gizmo of pride. So it's better for all of us to remain on the same level. But one of the manifestations of the decadence is people become to be proud and become to desire to have high ranks, to have offices, to become superiors. When Oana Bat Petronius appointed me, I cried in great fear of the danger to my soul. Because it's not a thing easy to be superior, because then you are responsible not only for your fault, but for the fault of those under you. Same thing as what Benedict said over and over again in his rule. So Petronius, I think he is, all his life shows that he is sincere when he says that, I cried in great fear of the danger to myself.

[38:53]

He was an extremely humble man. Probably a great conflict of inferiority too. who was very capable, but he was not aware of his capacity. The saints cried too. And first of all, Moses, who once sent by God to serve the people, humbly declined until God was angered at him for this, and then he accepted the service. Osiris is the one of the Pacomian a great man who seems to know the scripture to the greatest extent. He always speaks with scriptural text. In his, I don't have the figures here, but Father Teotón Corrino with the Benedictine Revolt at Teotihuacán, which is unpublished yet, unpublished. on the Book of Horseshoes and it gave the number of quotations I think it's 586 quotations of scripture in the Book of Horseshoes 34 books of the Old Testament and 21 books of the New Testament are quoted and apart from those quotations many allusions and many summaries of texts and scriptures but most of the Book of Horseshoes is just scripture

[40:13]

The same style of Bernard who integrates the biblical quotation in his own sentence. So he knew the scripture quite by heart. So he always referred to biblical figures and biblical examples. The world of the Bible has become his own world. So here he refers to Moses. And as for us, brothers, here in the world, he that exalts himself would be humble. Let us watch ourselves. Let us watch, let us be careful. The monk has to be careful all the time, and as I mentioned many times, the sin which is reproached to him most often is the sin of carelessness, negligence. The governance of souls is not for everyone, except for perfect man, the layman, the one who has achieved perfection, who is perfectly marked.

[41:18]

There is a saying that Arnold Theodor, also it is mentioned, often denied, that not only referred to the Bible, but he himself composed a lot of parables, spoken parables. and we could make a collection of the parables that we find in the life that he composed himself. All that he drew from the old Egyptian wisdom. So this is a type of parable that can come from any old culture. There is a saying that an unbroken brick placed at a foundation near a river does not last one day, but a broken one endures like a stone. So too, a man with carnal inclinations. That means that the man is not yet perfect, but yet still they are. Carnal inclinations still function at the human level. It doesn't mean necessarily inclinations toward lust and things like that, but carnal inclinations in the meaning of sex in St.

[42:26]

Paul. Who has not been found by the word of God. proved by the power of the Word of God, as Joseph was, Joseph, middle of the Old Testament, is destroyed when he comes to a position of authority. He's destroyed. Our Sisters are really afraid of being destroyed themselves. And in order not to be destroyed, to be baked, he has to be proved by the power of the Word of God. Scripture again. The temptations to which such men are subject in human society, when they are among men, are many. Human society does not mean outside the military. I mean, when he has to deal with man. He is a mind man. He is subject to many temptation.

[43:29]

It is good for a man who knows his own limit and is appointed to office to lay down the burden of that office in order not to endanger himself greatly. So a man has to know his own limit. That's one of the first thing in spiritual life. And you kind of, you cannot reach conversion if you don't know that you are a sinner. You cannot attempt holiness, perfection, if you don't realize that you are not perfect, that you have limitations. And so if you realize that you have limits, especially if they are special limits, if you are a Bible to another, Our C.S.U. says that you have to lay down immediately. In the Greek there is some word that means immediately. The burden of that is in order not to endanger himself greatly. Those who are secure in their faith are immovable.

[44:30]

If you are secure in faith, if you are a bigger Greek, then you are immovable. And that's something that someone has to acknowledge too. And if anyone should wish to talk about the most humble Joseph, it's not Mary's husband, but Joseph, the son of Jacob, we should say that he was not of this world. He faced so many temptations in a country where there was not even a trace of piety toward God. But the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, was with him and took him out of every affliction. Now, he is among the fathers in the kingdom of heaven. So let us know our limits and let us struggle. Our life is a life of struggle. Let us know our limits and let us struggle. And in this way, see, it is at the point where the condition is disintegrating. And our Jesus is trying to remind the minds of their own limit, of their own sin, and of

[45:37]

and the way they are destroying the congregation. And it's not harsh on them. It's not harsh. It's just, in a very humble way, mindful of his own limitations. It's reminding the brothers to be aware of their limitations, and to struggle with them as he is struggling. Only in this way will we escape God's judgment. After he said many such things, he prayed. only to remind people of what they have to do, but he has to pray. He prayed. And the brothers departed to their dwelling. And so one of the reasons of the difficulty was the ambition of some of the monks. And the ambition can be expressed by the desire for offices can be expressed also, and is most often expressed in monastic tradition, by the desire of material good, of material development.

[46:43]

And so we have paragraph 127. And after this event, it happened that the brothers greatly increased in numbers. And in order to feed such a multitude, they started spreading out into the field and into many forests. So at the time of Baikonur, it seemed that they did not own anything except the village where they had established themselves. And they usually went to work outside, and they worked for a salary. But now they begin to own. And there is no objectively good answer to that problem. But that's always been the problem that monastic life has had to face throughout all the centuries. How to make a living, how to be self-supporting without becoming rich and without becoming

[47:48]

taken up by a lot of material preoccupation and surveillance, which is very difficult to be. You see, they are the problem at that very early stage of monastic life. And I think it is a series of cycles of conversion and decadence and conversion and decadence. And so we have to be aware when it is time to make the conversion. And so they started spreading out into fields and into many forests, which is not bad in itself, but we have to be aware of the possible consequences. And since other concerns increased, each monastery started being a bit negligent. So that's an occasion for being negligent. It does not bring about negligence. by itself, but it's a good occasion, and did it become negligent, careless. And then a certain Apollonius, father of the Monasterio Aponchoses, probably he was a very good administrator, very successful, so he wanted to buy for himself superfluous commodities, despite the rule of the community.

[49:06]

So since they were more successful than the other monasteries, they could afford to have a better thing than the other monasteries of the congregation. And he was reprimanded by Arcesius. And he was angered when Abbot Arcesius interrogated him on account of this matter and reprimanded him. Falling to the temptation of the enemy, the devil that I was there ready to to enter into the scene. And so he wanted to withdraw his monastery from the community. Because he did not see what he got from being a member of the community. Because materially he could do much better alone than being a member of the group. So he persuaded many of the important monks of the monastery to do so. Many other monasteries were harmed by him because he rose up and said, we are no longer of any importance now.

[50:13]

We no longer belong to the community of the brothers. Or we have nothing to do with or belong, no longer belong to the community of the brothers. Because the tempting spirit strengthened his resolve, he did not listen to Abbot Arcesius, who tried to persuade him. So he is hardened in his position by the spirit of the devil. So Arcesius was very afflicted himself, but luckily the 128th, which is a good continuation, shows the attitude of Artaeus in front of such a crisis. And the attitude of Artaeus is full of lessons too. A humble man and a very wise man. Artaeus found himself greatly afflicted for some time. Indeed, he endured and considered burying up with his afflictions unto death. So he considered that maybe he could just stay at the head of the congregation and bear this difficult situation until death.

[51:22]

But Amneris thought that he should have a collaborator in the discharge of his duties as a father. So he had told the brothers that they had to be aware of their limit. He is aware of his own limit. He cannot handle the situation alone, so he would ask somebody to help him before the whole thing is completely wrecked. So during the night, he went into a quiet place, and as he told us with his own mouth, he wept for a long time and said, God, your servant, Abbot Petronius, gave me this office, that I might win over and save many men. I remember the expression of St. Benedict that says the Abbot should be somebody who is apt to count as animal, apt to win souls. So, the same expression here, that I might win over and save many men. Now, I see that not many listen to me for their salvation.

[52:24]

Well, he is able to accept that, to recognize that. It's not blind. Each one follows his own heart. except for your faithful servants who behave well in the company of Patronius, and the rest who retain their fear of you. I am afflicted as I see the whole monastery in a state of uproar, which does not come from me. For as you know, Lord, I have not caused grief to anyone." So he is aware of what he did good, and he is aware that this situation does not come from his own fault. And I'm sure that not only the monks of this monastery, but those in the other monasteries as well, find an excuse for not wanting the concord and love we have had from the beginning. And that was the real characteristic of the Congonia, of the community, of the commune congregation, the concord and love we have had from the beginning. And so many will find an excuse in the present situation for not wanting that.

[53:32]

each one going in his own direction. Now, Lord, I cannot do it alone any longer. Show me a capable man, and I shall appoint him for them, in order that I may not bear the blame for what happens to their soul. You see, he also follows a pattern of the Old and New Testament when he has to to make, to take an important decision or is faced with a difficult situation, he go and spend the night in prayer, as Christ did. And before every turning point in his life, Christ went to the mountain during the night to pray to his Father in silence and solitude. I mentioned yesterday that the prayer of the Pacomian monks was mostly the continual meditation of the scripture. It was their own way of of following the precept of the scripture, that we have to pray unceasingly.

[54:39]

It is practically the only explicit precept of the scripture about prayer, that we should pray without ceasing, unceasingly. And the old imams always wondered how they could apply that precept, and they found all kind of way of doing it, some part. were rather clumsy, but in the Bacchomian anaesthesia it was a very simple way. To pray unceasingly meant that we have to meditate the scripture the whole day long and the whole night long if possible. But, apart from that, there are also those very personal prayers. We have a good number of examples in the life of Pachomius, of very tender, very personal prayers of Pachomius, of Osiris, or Theodore, to God. And one of the best examples is the one which is translated into English in the book you have, Pachomiana diversa, at the end of the

[55:41]

the rule. It's translated by a man from Antigua. And he has translated one prayer, where he prays for all the people in the church and the society. That's a beautiful prayer. So here, also, we ask Petronius to, during the night, go and pray in a very humble, very simple, very personal way to God, and explain to him the situation in which he is, and he's looking for light. And so, during the night, he has a vision, or that means that he becomes aware of what is in himself, and that the one who can help him is the other, and probably it was a very great act of humility on the part of Herodias to call Theodore in, if he did call him himself. And so, do we have a few minutes more? I could just read rapidly through another paragraph, which is a few words later, when Theodore

[56:50]

Carl Orsias is back and then Orsias comes and both of them are the leaders of the congregation at the same time. And on paragraph 145 at the top of page 193, the second or third sentence, Abbot Theodore stood and listened as his successor, Abbot Theseus. After this, on account of mutual love, they loved each other. Abbot Theseus did not want to be separated from Theodore. They were like one man. And because they were trained by the Lord to be one, all mindful of their life-giving goodness. so on. But what I want to read is paragraph 146 that gives the situation after the period of Theodora Superior, and the situation has not changed, but they give a little more explanation about how the material affluence

[58:02]

was a problem for the fervor of the community. Because, as we said, the monasteries eventually possessed many fields and many ships. Not only fields, they had ships. They used to go and sell their products in Alexandria in little small boats, but now they have ships. Each monastery built its own. the monks became busy and weighed down with heavy responsibilities. We could translate heavy preoccupation. So it's not the material things in themselves that are wrong, but because they are those material things in abundance, the monks become busy. And this is one of the characteristics of our modern age. Everybody is busy. And whether a monastery is a monastery of 5 people or 20 people or 100 people, it seems that we are busy.

[59:09]

So I think it's the characteristic of our age more than the situation. They say that the characteristic of an important man is that he should always leave a meeting before the end in order not to arrive too late at the next meeting. So, in the days of Abbot Pacomius, when there were few, there is a word, rather, in the days of Abbot Pacomius, when there were few, they were cautious not to be laden with the weight of this world's material possessions. They were cautious, they were careful, they had a lot of carefulness. For the Lord's work is like one. One brother saw that many of them started changing the way of life, of the brothers, of all, so they changed the way of life. He went into mourning for them. He fasted in periods of two consecutive days, wept as he stayed awake praying. And during the night, he wore a shirt of rough wool under his robe.

[60:13]

So he goes during the night to pray, like our Jesus. And then he has another solution than our Jesus. He asked the Lord to come and take him. From a few days later, he died. That's the easiest solution. End of the talk. Please rewind tape to the end.

[60:39]

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