A Brother Asked Abba Arsenius About Hiddenness

When the Word Lives but the Man Remains Unknown

“If we seek glory among men, we lose the glory that comes from God.”

— Apophthegmata Patrum

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A brother came to Abba Arsenius and said:

“Father, something troubles me.

The words of the Gospel and the fathers have begun to open to me in a way I had not known before. When I speak of these things with others, they seem helped by them.

And yet outwardly nothing has changed.

I remain hidden. I have no clear place. Nothing is established.

Why would God allow the word to bear fruit while the man himself remains obscure?”

Abba Arsenius said:

“This is not strange.

Often God allows the word to awaken before He reveals the man.

If illumination and recognition come together, the soul quickly begins to build its identity around the work.”

The brother said, “Then what is happening to me, Father?”

The elder replied:

“God is protecting the word from you.”

The brother was silent.

After a while he said, “But the hiddenness is painful. A man wishes to know his place.”

The elder said:

“Yes.

But God sometimes removes those supports so that a man learns to stand before Him alone.

Without position.

Without recognition.

Without certainty.

Only God.”

The brother asked quietly, “And what must a man guard against in such a time?”

Abba Arsenius said:

“A very subtle thought.

‘Perhaps this is my work.

Perhaps this is who I am.’

But the servant of God must ask a different question.

Is Christ being revealed?

Or am I becoming someone through it?”

The brother said, “And if a man remains hidden for many years?”

The elder answered:

“What is born of God does not die in hiddenness.

Do not fear obscurity.

Often the hidden years are where God forms the man.”