“Is not Wisdom calling? Is not Understanding raising her voice? On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossways, she takes her stand: by the gates, at the entrance to the city, at the access to the doors she cries out,
Proverbs 8: 1-21; 32-36
‘I am calling to you, all people, my words are addressed to all humanity. Simpletons, learn how to behave, fools, come to your senses. Listen, for I speak noble words, from my lips comes what is right. My mouth proclaims the truth, for evil is abhorrent to my lips. All the words from my mouth are righteous, nothing false there, nothing crooked, everything plain to those who understand, straight, to those who have found knowledge. Accept my discipline rather than silver, and knowledge of me in preference to tested gold. For Wisdom is more precious than jewels, and nothing else is so worthy of desire.
I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, I have found knowledge and discretion. Fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. I hate pride and arrogance, wicked behaviour and a lying mouth. To me belong good advice and prudence; I have insight: power is mine! By me monarchs rule and princes decree what is right; by me rulers govern, and nobles, the lawful authorities. I love those who love me; whoever searches eagerly for me finds me. With me are riches and honour, lasting wealth and righteousness. The fruit I give is better than tested gold, the yield I give is better than pure silver. I walk in the way of righteousness in the midst of the path of justice, to endow my friends with my wealth and to fill their treasuries.‘“
“‘And now, my children, listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to instruction and become wise, do not reject it. Blessed, whoever listens to me, who day after day keeps watch at my gates to guard my portals. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favour of the LORD; but those who miss me endanger themselves, and all who hate me are in love with death.‘“
Who was Abba Paphnutius?
Saint Paphnutius the Ascetic, sometimes also called Saint Paphnutius the Hermit, was one of the Desert Fathers visited by Saint John Cassian and his friend Germanus in the year 395 in the Desert of Scetis, Egypt, as they were seeking instruction from these holy men. At that time, Saint Paphnutius was already 90 years of age. His teacher had been Saint Macarius the Great (300-391) who in turn had been instructed by Saint Anthony the Great (251-356).
Saint John Cassian has this to say about Saint Paphnutius:
“In that choir of saints, who shone in the night of this world like brilliant stars, we observed Saint Paphnutius glittering with the light of knowledge like a star of the first magnitude. He was a priest of our congregation (that is to say the one situated in the desert of Scete) and lived there until old age. Although it was five miles away from the church, he never moved away from the cell which he began to inhabit as a novice to somewhere nearer; despite the weariness of his years he never grumbled about that long walk every Saturday and Sunday, nor was he content to return empty handed, but he carried back to his cell, on his shoulders, the pot of water which was to last him the whole week. (…)
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 56-57
He mortified all his passions through the practice of humility and obedience, and thereby eliminated all vice, to grow in all the virtues inculcated by the profession of monasticism and the teaching of the earliest fathers. (…)
We were eager to learn from the teaching of that master (…). (…) so that from such a great mean we could drink in the perfect instruction which we knew, from what many had told us, lay within him.“
Abba Paphnutius on how all virtue is by the grace of God and how we are called to cooperate with His grace
“All the apostolic men of the Gospel were vividly aware that everything that is good stems from the help of the Lord, and admitted that their own faith was incapable of remaining firm through their own will and effort alone, for they asked the Lord to grant them faith and to strengthen it. If Peter himself needed the help of God lest he fail, who could be so arrogant or foolish as to imagine that he did not need the Lord‘s help daily to preserve his faith? (…)
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 73-75
(…) the will to good is granted us by the inspiration of the Lord, when he calls us to the way of salvation, either directly, or through the preaching of some man, or by sheer necessity; secondly that the perfection of our virtue also stems from him in the same way. Our own part is this: to follow the teaching and help of God. It is how we do this, either diligently or not, that determines whether we merit either a reward or a fitting punishment. That depends on whether we have neglected his kind and providential plans for our happiness, or have taken pains to co-operate with them in loving obedience. (…) It is through God‘s grace that the opportunities for salvation are given, and events turn out favourable to our victory; whereas it is our part to follow up the benefits God has granted us, whether in eagerness or sloth. You can see this point in the story of the healing of the blind men. The fact that Jesus passed before them was an act of divine grace and providence. That they called out, saying, ‘O Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on us!‘ (Matt. 20: 31) is the work of their faith and trust. That they received their sight was the gift of divine mercy.“
Abba Paphnutius on the importance of eliminating vices while “still in the body“ and on the beauty of a soul filled with virtue
“Now we must make every effort to ensure that our inner self rejects and repels the wealth of vice which it had accumulated during our former life, and which is truly our own, clinging tightly to body and soul. If we do not repudiate the vices and eliminate them while we are still in this body, they will not leave us in peace even after death. In the same way the virtues and charity herself which is their source, if we acquire them in this world, will render those who love them splendid and radiant after this life is over (…). The beauty of a soul, or its defilement, depend on its virtues or its vices. The tint we take from them either makes the soul radiant and beautiful, fit to hear from the psalmist, ‘The king shall greatly desire thy beauty‘ (Psalm 44/45: 12), or renders it dark, foul and deformed, so that the soul admits the corruption of its own decay, saying, ‘my sores are putrified and corrupted, because of my foolishness‘ (Psalm 37/38: 6).“
John Cassian, Abbot of Marseilles: The Collations. Being a Collection of Twenty-Four Conferences Divided into Three Parts, translated by a Father of the Oxford Oratory, Gracewing 2015, p. 65-66
Saint John Cassian, Saint Abba Paphnutius, pray for us!
