Some of the Fathers went up to Abba Joseph at Panepho to ask him about receiving brothers who were staying with them: whether they ought to accommodate themselves to them and be open with them. Before they asked him, the elder said to his disciple, “Watch what I am about to do today, and bear with me.” The elder set down two rush seats, one on his right and one on his left, and said to them, “Sit down.” Then he went into his cell, put on worn-out clothes, came out, and passed through their midst. He went in again, put on his own clothes, came out, and sat among them. They were amazed at what the elder had done. He said to them, “Did you see what I did?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “Did I change because of the poor clothing?” They said, “No.” He said to them, “If, then, I am the same in both garments, and just as the first did not change me, so the second did not harm me, this is how we ought to act when receiving visiting brothers, according to the holy Gospel. For it says, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ So when brothers are present, let us receive them with openness. But when we are alone, we need mourning, so that it may remain with us.” When they heard this, they marveled that he had told them what was in their hearts before they asked him, and they glorified God.
Abba Poemen asked Abba Joseph, “What should I do to become a monk?” The elder said, “If you want to find rest both here and in the age to come, say in every situation, ‘Who am I?’ and do not judge anyone.”
Abba Poemen again asked Abba Joseph, “What should I do when the passions draw near? Should I resist them, or let them enter?” The elder said to him, “Let them enter and fight against them.” So Poemen returned to Scetis and stayed there. Then a man from the Thebaid came to Scetis and told the brothers, “I asked Abba Joseph, ‘If a passion draws near to me, should I resist it, or let it enter?’ And he told me, ‘Do not let the passions enter at all, but cut them off immediately.’” When Abba Poemen heard that Abba Joseph had spoken this way to the Theban, he got up and went to him at Panepho and said, “Abba, I entrusted my thoughts to you, and look, you spoke one way to me and another to the Theban.” The elder said, “Do you not know that I love you?” Poemen answered, “Yes.” Joseph said, “Did you not tell me, ‘Speak to me as you would to yourself’?” He said, “Yes.” The elder replied, “If the passions enter and you struggle with them—giving and receiving blows—you become more tested. I spoke to you as I would to myself. But there are others for whom it is not profitable even to let the passions come near; they need to cut them off immediately.”
A brother asked Abba Joseph, “What should I do? I cannot endure hardship, nor can I work and give alms.” The elder said, “If you cannot do even one of these things, at least keep your conscience free from every evil toward your neighbor, and you will be saved.”
A brother said, “Once I went down to Abba Joseph at Lower Heraclea. In his monastery there was a very beautiful mulberry tree. Early in the morning he said to me, ‘Go, eat.’ It was Friday, and because of the fast I did not go. Then I called him and said, ‘For God’s sake, explain this thought to me. You told me, “Go,” but because of the fast I did not go, and I was ashamed because I had disobeyed your command. I wondered, “Why did the elder tell me this?” What should I have done, since you told me, “Go”?’ The elder said, ‘At first the Fathers do not speak to brothers what is straight, but rather what is crooked. If they see that the brothers obey even the crooked things, they no longer speak crookedly to them, but tell them the truth, knowing that they are obedient in everything.’”
Abba Joseph said to Abba Lot, “You cannot become a monk unless you become entirely like a blazing fire.”
Abba Lot went to Abba Joseph and said, “Abba, as far as I can, I keep my little office, my little fast, prayer, meditation, and stillness; and as far as I can, I keep my thoughts pure. What more should I do?” The elder stood up and stretched his hands toward heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said to him, “If you wish, become all fire.”
A brother asked Abba Joseph, “I want to leave the cenobium and live alone.” The elder said, “Stay wherever you see that your soul finds rest and is not harmed.” The brother said, “I find rest both in the cenobium and in solitude. What do you want me to do?” The elder said, “Put your two thoughts as if on a balance, and do whichever you see benefits you more and toward which your thought inclines.”
One of the elders came to his companion so that they might go together to visit Abba Joseph. He said, “Tell your disciple to saddle the donkey for us.” The other replied, “Call him, and whatever you need he will do.” He asked, “What is his name?” He replied, “I do not know.” The other said, “How long has he been with you that you do not know his name?” He replied, “Two years.” Then the other said, “If you have not known your disciple’s name for two years, what need have I to learn it for one day?”
Once some brothers gathered with Abba Joseph. As they sat and questioned him, he rejoiced and eagerly said to them, “Today I am a king, for I have reigned over the passions.”
They said of Abba Joseph of Panepho that when he was about to die, while the elders were sitting with him, he looked toward the window and saw the devil sitting there. He called his disciple and said, “Bring the staff, for he thinks that I have grown old and can no longer stand against him.” When Joseph took hold of the staff, the elders saw the devil slink through the window like a dog and disappear.