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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
Part I: St. Paul the Hermit - A Dialogue in the Desert on Psalm 69 and the Ascetical Heart of Christianity
The Seeker and St. Paul the Hermit The desert breathes with the slow rhythm of evening. St. Paul the Hermit sits at the entrance of his cave, the sand warm beneath his hands, the silence heavy and alive. The seeker approaches with hesitation, carrying a psalter worn thin with prayer. Seeker: Father, my soul cries out with the psalmist, “Save me, O God, for the waters have risen to my neck. I have sunk into the mud of the deep and there is no foothold.” This is how I feel when
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 195 min read
A Dialogue in the Desert: The Seeker and St Paul the Hermit
The wind moves softly through the palm leaves. The stones are warm with fading sun. In the distance, a cave breathes out the cool air of forty years of prayer. The seeker stands at its entrance, hesitant. St Paul the Hermit emerges with a gentleness that feels older than the world. Seeker: Father, there is a longing within me that I barely understand, a quiet pull toward stillness and the hermitage. At times my heart cries with the psalmist, “O that I had wings like a dove t
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 195 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
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