A brother asked Abba Poemen what kind of spiritual labor a monk ought to undertake. The Abba replied: “When Abraham came into the Promised Land, he purchased a tomb for himself, and from the tomb he began to take possession of the Promised Land.” The brother asked: “What does the ‘tomb’ signify?” The Abba replied: “It is a place of weeping and lamentation.”
The following saying also belongs to Abba Poemen: “Weeping is twofold: it brings about and preserves.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my passions, which trouble me?” The Elder said to him: “Let us weep with all our strength before the goodness of God, until He has mercy upon us.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my sins?” The Elder said: “He who desires to be freed from the sins that dwell within him is freed from them through weeping; and he who desires not to fall into sin again avoids falling through weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: ‘Weep!’ There is no other path apart from weeping.”
Once, as Abba Poemen was passing through Egypt, he saw a woman sitting upon a tomb and weeping bitterly. He said: “Even if all the consolers in the world were to gather around her, they would not be able to turn her soul away from her weeping. So also, a monk must continually have weeping within himself.”
Once Venerable Poemen was walking with Abba Anoub in the vicinity of the city of Diospolis. There they saw a woman suffering terribly and weeping bitterly over a grave, so they stopped to listen to her. Afterward, having gone a little farther, they met a passerby, and Venerable Poemen asked him: “What has happened to this woman? Why is she weeping so bitterly?” The passerby replied: “Her husband, son, and brother have died.” Then Abba Poemen, turning to Abba Anoub, said: “I tell you: unless a man puts to death all his carnal desires and acquires such weeping, he cannot be a monk. The whole life of a monk is weeping.”
The Elder said: “Weeping constitutes the spiritual exercise of the monk. If there is no weeping, it is impossible to preserve oneself from disorder and turmoil.” I replied: “When I am in my cell, weeping remains with me; but if someone comes to me, or if I leave my cell, I no longer find it.” The Elder said to this: “This is because weeping has not yet become your own, but is as though it has been lent to you.” I asked him to explain these words to me. The Elder said: “If a man labors with all his strength to acquire weeping, he will come to possess it as his own, so that he may have recourse to it whenever he wishes.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “Toward what should the attention of one practicing stillness in his cell be directed?” The Elder replied: “I am like a man sunk in a swamp up to his neck, with a burden upon his neck, crying out to God: ‘Have mercy on me!’ ‘Have mercy on me!’ This is the expression of the weeping that has taken root in the soul. When weeping reaches maturity, it cannot be expressed through a multitude of thoughts and words; to express its immeasurable spiritual experience, it is content with the briefest of prayers.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen about the spiritual labor of the monastic life. The Elder said: “When God visits us by calling us into eternity, what will concern us then?” The brother replied: “Our sins.” The Elder said: “Then let us enter our cells; having withdrawn into them, let us remember our sins, and the Lord will hear us.” Here we must understand not a superficial and cold remembrance of our sins and our sinfulness, but a remembrance joined with repentance and weeping.
When Abba Arsenios the Great died, Venerable Poemen, upon hearing of the death of the Great One, shed tears and said: “Blessed are you, Abba Arsenios! For you wept over yourself in this present life. He who does not weep here will weep eternally. It is impossible not to weep either willingly here, or unwillingly there, amid the torments.”
Source: From the book by Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov called Ascetic Experiences, Part 1. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The following saying also belongs to Abba Poemen: “Weeping is twofold: it brings about and preserves.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my passions, which trouble me?” The Elder said to him: “Let us weep with all our strength before the goodness of God, until He has mercy upon us.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my sins?” The Elder said: “He who desires to be freed from the sins that dwell within him is freed from them through weeping; and he who desires not to fall into sin again avoids falling through weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: ‘Weep!’ There is no other path apart from weeping.”
Once, as Abba Poemen was passing through Egypt, he saw a woman sitting upon a tomb and weeping bitterly. He said: “Even if all the consolers in the world were to gather around her, they would not be able to turn her soul away from her weeping. So also, a monk must continually have weeping within himself.”
Once Venerable Poemen was walking with Abba Anoub in the vicinity of the city of Diospolis. There they saw a woman suffering terribly and weeping bitterly over a grave, so they stopped to listen to her. Afterward, having gone a little farther, they met a passerby, and Venerable Poemen asked him: “What has happened to this woman? Why is she weeping so bitterly?” The passerby replied: “Her husband, son, and brother have died.” Then Abba Poemen, turning to Abba Anoub, said: “I tell you: unless a man puts to death all his carnal desires and acquires such weeping, he cannot be a monk. The whole life of a monk is weeping.”
The Elder said: “Weeping constitutes the spiritual exercise of the monk. If there is no weeping, it is impossible to preserve oneself from disorder and turmoil.” I replied: “When I am in my cell, weeping remains with me; but if someone comes to me, or if I leave my cell, I no longer find it.” The Elder said to this: “This is because weeping has not yet become your own, but is as though it has been lent to you.” I asked him to explain these words to me. The Elder said: “If a man labors with all his strength to acquire weeping, he will come to possess it as his own, so that he may have recourse to it whenever he wishes.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen: “Toward what should the attention of one practicing stillness in his cell be directed?” The Elder replied: “I am like a man sunk in a swamp up to his neck, with a burden upon his neck, crying out to God: ‘Have mercy on me!’ ‘Have mercy on me!’ This is the expression of the weeping that has taken root in the soul. When weeping reaches maturity, it cannot be expressed through a multitude of thoughts and words; to express its immeasurable spiritual experience, it is content with the briefest of prayers.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen about the spiritual labor of the monastic life. The Elder said: “When God visits us by calling us into eternity, what will concern us then?” The brother replied: “Our sins.” The Elder said: “Then let us enter our cells; having withdrawn into them, let us remember our sins, and the Lord will hear us.” Here we must understand not a superficial and cold remembrance of our sins and our sinfulness, but a remembrance joined with repentance and weeping.
When Abba Arsenios the Great died, Venerable Poemen, upon hearing of the death of the Great One, shed tears and said: “Blessed are you, Abba Arsenios! For you wept over yourself in this present life. He who does not weep here will weep eternally. It is impossible not to weep either willingly here, or unwillingly there, amid the torments.”
Source: From the book by Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov called Ascetic Experiences, Part 1. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
