February 18, 2014
Class #5
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKXf_7Tt0-
c&list=PLCA0B453495190948
 The monks went without sleep
because they were watching for the
Lord; they did not speak because they
were listening to God; they fasted
because they were fed by the Word of
God.
 They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented— of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts and mountains, in dens and
caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:37-38)

24 Then
Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
(Matthew 16:24-25)
 An old man was asked, 'How can I find God?' He said,
'In fasting, in watching, in labors, in devotion, and,
above all, in discernment. I tell you, many have
injured their bodies without discernment and have
gone away from us having achieved nothing. Our
mouths smell bad through fasting, we know the
Scriptures by heart, we recite all the Psalms of David,
but we have not that which God seeks: charity and
humility.’
 St. Antony said, 'Some have afflicted their bodies by
asceticism, but they lack discernment, and so they are
far from God.'
 Asceticism means to “exercise”
 St. Paul compares these strivings
with the training that athletes
employ to get in shape in order to
win (1 Cor. 9:24-26,).
 Asceticism is the “slaying of death”
in us, to liberate our nature from its
bondage (St. Maximus the
Confessor).
 “exercise yourself toward
godliness.” (1 Timothy 4:7)
 Start small
 Consistency
 Grows steadily
 Under guidance of a spiritual
father or spiritual guide
 And also if anyone competes in
athletics, he is not crowned unless
he competes according to the
rules. (2 Timothy 2:5)
Once, while he was praying, St. Macarius heard a voice: “Macarius, you
have not yet attained such perfection in virtue as two women who live in
the city.” The humble ascetic went to the city, found the house where the
women lived, and knocked. The women received him with joy, and he
said, “I have come from the desert seeking you in order to learn of your
good deeds. Tell me about them, and conceal nothing.”
The women answered with surprise, “We live with our husbands, and we
have not such virtues.” But the saint continued to insist, and the women
then told him, “We married two brothers. After living together in one
house for fifteen years, we have not uttered a single malicious nor
shameful word, and we never quarrel among ourselves. We asked our
husbands to allow us to enter a women’s monastery, but they would not
agree. We vowed not to utter a single worldly word until our death.”
St Macarius glorified God and said, “In truth, the Lord seeks neither
virgins nor married women, and neither monks nor laymen, but values a
person’s free intent, accepting it as the deed itself. He grants to everyone’s
free will the grace of the Holy Spirit, which operates in an individual and
directs the life of all who yearn to be saved.”
 “The Life of Antony” by St. Athanasius
 Sayings of the Desert Fathers
 The Philokalia
 Paradise of the Fathers