A Word from Abba Arsenios

The disciple came to Abba Arsenios in the morning while rain fell and mist lay over the ground.

He said

Father my mind is crowded and my heart is heavy.

When I look at the icons the saints say nothing, yet their silence calls me to God. But my thoughts multiply. I speak to others about surrender and about the dismantling of the religious self, yet I see the same thing living in me. The one who teaches. The one who forms words. The one who still seeks something.

There is longing in me.

There is also fatigue.

The elder said

Why do you examine yourself so much?

The disciple was silent.

After a while he said

My thoughts do not stop.

The elder said

Let them go.

The disciple said

My heart feels empty.

The elder said

Keep it that way.

The disciple said

I feel drawn to silence and hiddenness.

The elder said

Then be silent.

The disciple said

But there are words to write and people who listen.

The elder said

If God wants words He will give them.

The disciple said

What should I do?

The elder said

Sit in your cell.

The disciple said

And the heaviness?

The elder said

It will pass.

After a long silence the elder said

Flee men.

Be silent.

Pray to God.

This is enough.