They said of Abba John the Dwarf that he went to an elder of Thebes, who gave him a dry stick and said, “Plant it and water it every day until it bears fruit.” The water was so far away that John went out in the evening and returned in the morning. After three years the stick came to life and bore fruit. The elder took its fruit, carried it to the church, and said to the brothers, “Take and eat the fruit of obedience.”
They said of Abba John the Dwarf that he once told his elder brother, “I want to be free from care, as the angels are, doing no work but serving God without ceasing.” He took off his cloak and went into the desert. After one week he returned and knocked on his brother’s door. His brother asked before opening, “Who are you?” He said, “I am John, your brother.” The other replied, “John has become an angel and is no longer among people.” John begged him, saying, “It is I.” But his brother did not open; he left him there distressed until morning. Then he opened and said, “You are a human being, and you must work again so that you may eat.” John made a prostration before him and said, “Forgive me.”
Abba John the Dwarf said, “If a king wants to capture an enemy city, he first cuts off its water and food, and then the enemies, perishing from hunger, submit to him. So it is with the passions of the flesh: if a person lives with fasting and hunger, the enemies of his soul grow weak.”
He also said, “The person who eats his fill and talks with a boy has already committed fornication with him in his thought.”
He also said, “Once, as I was going up the road to Scetis with my rope, I saw the camel-driver talking, and he stirred me to anger. I left my things and fled.”
At harvest time he once heard a brother say angrily to his neighbor, “Ah, you too!” Abba John left the harvest and fled.
Once the elders were eating together in Scetis, and a great priest stood up to serve them water. No one would accept it from him except John the Dwarf. They were amazed and said, “How did you, the least of all, dare to let the priest serve you?” He answered, “When I stand up to offer the cup, I am glad when everyone accepts it, so that I may receive a reward. That is why I accepted from him: so that he too might receive a reward and not be saddened because no one accepted from him.” When they heard this, they marveled and benefited from his discernment.
Abba John was once sitting in front of the church, and the brothers gathered around him to ask him about their thoughts. One of the elders saw this and, attacked by envy, said to him, “John, your cup is full of poison.” Abba John replied, “So it is, Abba. You said this because you see only the outside. If you could see the inside, what would you say?”
They said of Abba John that when the brothers were eating at an agape, one brother at the table laughed. Seeing him, John wept and said, “What can be in this brother’s heart that he laughs when he ought rather to weep, since he is eating at an agape?”
Some brothers once came to Abba John to test him. Because his mind did not wander, he never spoke of worldly matters. They said to him, “We thank God: there has been a lot of rain this year, the palm trees have been watered, and they are putting out shoots, so the brothers will find material for their work.” Abba John said, “So too, when the Holy Spirit descends into people’s hearts, they are renewed and put forth fresh shoots in the fear of God.”
They said of Abba John that he once braided cord for two baskets, but sewed it all into one basket without noticing until it reached the wall, because his thought was occupied in contemplation.
Abba John said, “I am like a person sitting under a great tree who sees many wild beasts and reptiles coming against him. When he can no longer withstand them, he climbs the tree and is saved. So I sit in my cell and see evil thoughts coming against me; and when I cannot withstand them, I flee to God through prayer and am saved from the enemy.”
Abba Poemen said of Abba John the Dwarf that he prayed to God and the passions were taken away from him, so that he became free from care. He went to an elder and said, “I find myself at rest, without any warfare.” The elder said, “Go and ask God for the warfare to return to you, and for the compunction and humility you had before, for the soul advances through warfare.” When the warfare returned, he no longer prayed for it to be taken away, but said, “Lord, give me endurance in the battles.”
Abba John said that an elder saw in a vision three monks standing on the far side of the sea. A voice came to them from the other shore, saying, “Take wings of fire and come to me.” Two of them received wings and flew across. The third remained where he was, weeping and crying out. At last he too was given wings, but they were weak and powerless. With great difficulty, sometimes sinking and sometimes rising again, he crossed to the other side. “So it is with this generation,” he said. “Even if they receive wings, they are not wings of fire, but weak and powerless wings.”
A brother asked Abba John, “How can my soul, while it has wounds, feel no shame in speaking against my neighbor?” The elder told him a parable about slander: “There was a poor man who had a wife. He saw another attractive woman and took her also, and both women were naked. When a fair was being held somewhere, they asked him, ‘Take us with you.’ He took both of them, put them in a large jar, boarded a boat, and came to the place. When the heat came and the people were resting, one woman looked out, saw no one, jumped onto the rubbish heap, gathered old rags, made herself a covering, and then walked about confidently. The other sat naked inside the jar and said, ‘Look at that prostitute! Is she not ashamed to walk around naked?’ Her husband was distressed and said, ‘What a thing! She has at least covered her shame, but you are completely naked and are not ashamed to speak like this.’ So it is with slander.”
Again the elder spoke to the brother about the soul that wishes to repent: “There was a beautiful prostitute who had many lovers. A ruler came to her and said, ‘Promise me that you will live chastely, and I will take you as my wife.’ She promised, and he took her into his house. Her former lovers looked for her and said, ‘That ruler has taken her into his house. If we go to his house and he learns of it, he will punish us. Let us go behind the house and whistle to her. When she recognizes the sound of the whistle, she will come down to us, and we will be free of blame.’ But when she heard the whistle, she stopped her ears, fled into the innermost room, and shut the doors.” He said, “The prostitute is the soul; her lovers are the passions and people; the ruler is Christ; the inner room is the eternal dwelling; and those who whistle to her are the evil demons. The soul always flees to the Lord.”
Once Abba John was traveling with some brothers by night, and the brother who was guiding them lost the way. The others said to John, “Abba, what shall we do? The brother has lost the road, and we may wander until we die.” John said, “If we tell him, he will be distressed and ashamed. Look, I will pretend that I am weak and cannot walk, and I will remain here until morning.” He did so, and the others said, “We too will not go on; we will stay with you.” They remained there until morning and did not cause the brother to stumble.
There was an elder in Scetis who labored hard in bodily ascetic practice but lacked precision in his thoughts. He went to Abba John to ask him about forgetfulness. He heard a word from him, returned to his cell, and forgot what Abba John had said. He went back and asked again, but after hearing the same word and returning, he forgot it again. This happened several times. Later, when he met the elder, he said, “You know, Abba, I have again forgotten what you told me; but so that I would not trouble you, I did not come.” John lit a lamp and said, “Bring other lamps and light them from this one.” When he had done so, John asked, “Was this lamp harmed at all when you lit the others from it?” The elder said, “No.” John said, “Neither would John, even if all Scetis came to me. They would not hinder me from the grace of Christ. So come whenever you wish, without hesitation.” Through the endurance of them both, God took away the elder’s forgetfulness. This was the work of Scetis: to give zeal to those who were being attacked and to compel themselves so that they might win one another for good.
A brother asked Abba John, “What should I do? A brother often comes to take me to work, but I am wretched and weak, and the task wears me out. What then should I do because of the commandment?” The elder replied, “Caleb said to Joshua son of Nun, ‘I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me and you from the wilderness into this land; and now I am eighty-five years old. As I was then, even now I am strong to go out and come in for battle.’ So you too, if you are strong enough to come back in as you went out, go. But if you cannot do this, sit in your cell weeping for your sins; and when they find you mourning, they will not compel you to go out.”
Abba John said, “Who sold Joseph?” A brother replied, “His brothers.” The elder said, “No. His humility sold him. He could have said, ‘I am their brother,’ and objected, but he kept silent. Through humility he sold himself, and humility made him ruler of Egypt.”
Abba John said, “We have left the light burden, which is self-accusation, and taken up the heavy burden, which is self-justification.”
He also said, “Humility and the fear of God are above all the virtues.”
Abba John once sat in the church and sighed, not knowing that someone was behind him. When he realized it, he made a prostration and said, “Forgive me, Abba. I have not yet been instructed.”
Abba John said to his disciple, “Let us honor the One, and everyone will honor us; but if we despise the One who is God, everyone will despise us, and we will go to destruction.”
They said of Abba John that once he went to the church in Scetis. When he heard some brothers arguing, he returned to his cell and walked around it three times before entering. Some brothers saw him, wondered why he had done this, and came to ask him. He said, “My ears were full of the argument, so I walked around in order to cleanse them, so that I might enter my cell with my mind in stillness.”
A brother once came late to Abba John and was in a hurry to leave. They began speaking about the virtues, and without noticing, they talked until morning. John went out to escort him, and they remained talking until the sixth hour. Then John brought him back inside, and after the brother had eaten, he went away.
Abba John said, “Guarding is to sit in the cell and always remember God. This is the meaning of the saying, ‘I was in prison, and you came to me.’”
Abba John said, “Who is stronger than the lion? Yet because of its belly it falls into a trap, and all its strength is humbled.”
He also said, “When the Fathers of Scetis ate bread and salt, they said, ‘Let us not make bread and salt a necessity for ourselves.’ And so they were strong for the work of God.”
A brother came to receive baskets from Abba John. John came out and asked, “What do you want, brother?” He said, “Baskets, Abba.” John went in to bring them but forgot and sat down to sew. The brother knocked again, and John came out. “Bring the basket, Abba,” he said. John went in and again sat down to sew. The brother knocked a third time. John came out and asked, “What do you want, brother?” He said, “The basket, Abba.” Then John took him by the hand, led him inside, and said, “If you want the baskets, take them and go; I have no time.”
A camel-driver once came to take Abba John’s things and carry them to another place. John went in to bring him the cord, but forgot because his mind was fixed on God. The camel-driver knocked again, and John went in and again forgot. When the camel-driver knocked a third time, John went in repeating, “Cord—camel, cord—camel.”
Abba John was fervent in spirit. Someone once came to visit him and praised his handiwork while John was working with cord. John remained silent. The visitor began another conversation, and again John was silent. The third time John said to him, “From the moment you came in here, you have driven God away from me.”
An elder once came to Abba John’s cell and found him asleep, with an angel standing beside him and fanning him. The elder saw this and went away. When John woke, he asked his disciple, “Did anyone come while I was asleep?” He said, “Yes, such-and-such an elder.” Then Abba John knew that the elder was of his own measure and had seen the angel.
Abba John said, “I want a person to partake a little of every virtue. Each day when you rise in the morning, make a beginning in every virtue and commandment of God: with great endurance, fear, and patience; in the love of God; with every eagerness of soul and body and much humility; with endurance of affliction of heart and watchfulness; with much prayer and intercession, with groaning; with purity of tongue and guarding of the eyes; when dishonored, without anger; peaceable and not returning evil for evil; not watching the faults of others; not measuring yourself, but placing yourself beneath all creation; renouncing material things and what belongs to the flesh; in the cross, in struggle, in poverty of spirit; in resolve and spiritual ascetic practice; in fasting, repentance, and weeping; in the struggle of warfare; in discernment; in purity of soul; in good partaking; doing your handiwork in stillness; in night vigils, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and labors. Close your tomb as though you had already died, and think that your death is near at every hour.”
They said of Abba John that when he returned from the harvest or from visiting elders, he devoted himself to prayer, meditation, and psalmody until his thought was restored to its former order.
One of the Fathers said of him, “Who is this John, that through his humility he has all Scetis hanging from his little finger?”
One of the Fathers asked Abba John the Dwarf, “What is a monk?” He said, “Toil. A monk toils at every work. Such is a monk.”
Abba John the Dwarf said, “A spiritual elder had enclosed himself and was famous in the city, receiving much glory and praise. He was told, ‘One of the saints is about to depart. Come and greet him before he falls asleep.’ He thought, ‘If I go out during the day, people will run to me and I will receive much glory, and I find no rest in such things. So I will go late, in the darkness, and escape everyone’s notice.’ He left his cell in the evening, wishing to remain hidden, and behold, God sent two angels with lamps to shine before him. Then the whole city ran together to see the glory. The more he tried to flee glory, the more he was glorified. In this was fulfilled what is written: ‘Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.’”
Abba John the Dwarf said, “A house cannot be built from the top downward, but from the foundation upward.” They asked him, “What does this saying mean?” He replied, “The foundation is your neighbor, whom you must win. Begin with him, for all the commandments of Christ depend on him.”
They said of Abba John that the parents of a young woman died and left her an orphan. Her name was Paesia. She decided to make her house a guesthouse for the Fathers of Scetis. For a long time she received them and cared for them. Later, when her resources were used up, she began to fall into need. Corrupt people attached themselves to her and turned her away from her good purpose, and she began to live badly, until she came to fornication. When the Fathers heard this, they were deeply grieved. They called Abba John the Dwarf and said, “We have heard that our sister is living badly. When she was able, she showed love toward us. Let us now show love toward her and help her. Take the trouble to go to her, and according to the wisdom God has given you, arrange matters concerning her.” Abba John went to her and said to the old woman at the door, “Tell your mistress that I am here.” She tried to send him away, saying, “You people consumed her possessions from the beginning, and now she is poor.” Abba John said, “Tell her, for I can bring her great profit.” Her servants smiled and asked, “What are you going to give her that you want to speak with her?” He answered, “How do you know what I am going to give her?” The old woman went up and told her about him. The young woman said, “These monks are always going about beside the Red Sea and finding pearls.” She adorned herself and said, “Bring him up to me.” Before he entered, she sat down on the bed. Abba John came and sat close to her. Looking intently into her face, he said, “What fault did you find in Jesus that you came to this?” When she heard this, she froze. Abba John bowed his head and began to weep bitterly. She asked, “Abba, why are you weeping?” He lifted his head, then bowed again, weeping, and said, “I see Satan playing in your face. Should I not weep?” She said, “Is there repentance, Abba?” He answered, “Yes.” She said, “Take me wherever you wish.” He said, “Let us go.” She rose and followed him. John noticed with wonder that she gave no orders and said nothing about her house. When they reached the desert, evening came. He made a small pillow of sand for her, made the sign of the cross over her, and said, “Sleep here.” He made another place for himself a little distance away, completed his prayers, and lay down. About midnight he woke and saw a bright road stretching from heaven down to her, and he saw angels of God carrying away the young woman’s soul. He got up, went to her, and nudged her with his foot. When he saw that she was dead, he fell on his face and prayed to God. Then he heard that the single hour of her repentance had been accepted more than the repentance of many who persevere for a long time but do not show such fervor in their repentance.