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Do Not Flee Silence
The Desert Fathers and Modern Elders on Not Fleeing the Silence Silence is never neutral. The fathers knew this well. They understood that silence stretches out like a vast inner desert. When one first enters that desert, it feels like abandonment. It feels like being stripped of identity. The ego begins to panic because it has lost the mirrors it uses to reassure itself. The fathers called this first stage the temptation of isolation . Abba Moses said that when a monk enters
Father Charbel Abernethy
4 days ago3 min read
Part III: St Paul the Hermit on Inner Warfare in the Modern Heart
A Further Word from the Desert Night has deepened. The stars spread over the wilderness like a silent choir. St Paul sits within his cave, the flame of a small oil lamp illuminating the ancient lines of his face. He speaks again, not to the seeker alone, but to all who wage the unseen war in an age that has forgotten it. St Paul the Hermit Speaks: The Inner Warfare of the Modern Heart Children beloved by God, you ask how to fight the invisible enemies, how to resist the passi
Father Charbel Abernethy
6 days ago5 min read
Part II: St Paul the Hermit on “The Modern Ascetic in a Secular Age”
A Discourse from the Desert The cave is quiet after the seeker departs. Night gathers over the sands. St Paul sits in prayer for a long time, then slowly opens his eyes, as if perceiving someone unseen before him. His voice becomes both a whisper and a flame, carrying the weight of ancient wisdom into the age to come. St Paul the Hermit Speaks: Children of this age, listen with sobriety, for the path of asceticism has never been more necessary, nor more obscured, than it is i
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 205 min read
A Dialogue in the Desert: On Loneliness and the Presence of God
(Inspired by Psalms 25–28, Grail translation, and the life of St. Paul the Hermit) ⸻ Disciple: Father Paul, I have come to you as one exiled within his own heart. The silence presses like a weight. The days seem to blur into one another, and I find myself asking, as the psalmist does, “Turn to me and have mercy, for I am lonely and poor.” St. Paul: My son, the loneliness you feel is not an enemy to be fled but a teacher sent by God. I too fled the cities, thinking I would e
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 113 min read
A Letter from the Edge of Disappearance
“The heart that is truly illumined by grace is content to be unknown.” — St. Isaac the Syrian Introduction There are seasons when the life one built through decades of devotion, work, and obedience begins to dissolve: not through failure, but through a slow mercy that strips away every illusion of permanence. In such moments, one learns that stability of soul is not founded upon community or calling, but upon the hidden life of the heart in God. The following reflection was w
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 94 min read
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