Abba Moses was once fiercely attacked by temptation to fornication, and he could no longer remain in his cell. He went and told Abba Isidore. The elder urged him to return to his cell, but Moses said, “Abba, I cannot.” Isidore took him up to the roof and said, “Look toward the west.” Moses looked and saw a great multitude of demons in turmoil and preparing for battle. Then Isidore said, “Look toward the east.” He looked and saw an innumerable multitude of holy angels in glory. Isidore said, “These are those whom the Lord sends to help the saints. Those in the west are the ones who fight against them. Those who are with us are more numerous.” Moses gave thanks to God, took courage, and returned to his cell.
A brother sinned, and a council was held to judge him. They sent for Abba Moses, but he would not come. Then the priest sent someone to say, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you.” Moses got up and went, carrying on his shoulder a perforated basket filled with sand. The others went out to meet him and asked, “What is this, Father?” The elder said, “My sins are flowing out behind me, and I do not see them; yet today I have come to judge another person’s sins.” When they heard this, they said nothing to the brother but forgave him.
Once there was a meeting in Scetis, and the Fathers wanted to test Abba Moses. They treated him with contempt, saying, “Why does this Ethiopian come among us?” Hearing it, he remained silent. After the meeting they asked him, “Abba, were you not troubled?” He replied, “I was troubled, but I did not speak.”
It was said of Abba Moses that when he became a cleric, they put the shoulder garment on him. The archbishop said to him, “See, Abba Moses, now you have become entirely white.” Moses replied, “Outside, lord father—but what about inside?” Wanting to test him, the archbishop told the clergy, “When Abba Moses comes into the sanctuary, drive him out and follow him so that you can hear what he says.” When he entered, they rebuked him and drove him out, saying, “Go outside, Ethiopian.” As he left, he said to himself, “They have treated you rightly, ash-skinned and black. You are not a man; why do you come among men?”
Once a fast was proclaimed in Scetis. Some brothers from Egypt happened to visit Abba Moses, and he made a little cooked food for them. When the neighbors saw smoke, they said to the ministers, ‘Look, Moses has broken the command and cooked food for himself.’ The ministers said, ‘When he comes, we will speak to him.’ On Saturday, the ministers, seeing Abba Moses’s remarkable way of life, said to him before everyone, ‘Abba Moses, you broke the commandment of people but kept the commandment of God.’
A brother came to Scetis to Abba Moses asking for a word. The elder said to him, “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”
Abba Moses said, ‘A person who flees is like a ripe grape, but the person who remains among people is like an unripe grape.’
The magistrate once heard about Abba Moses and went to Scetis to see him. When Moses was told, he got up and fled toward the marsh. On the road the magistrate and his party met him and asked, ‘Tell us, elder, where is the cell of Abba Moses?’ He said to them, ‘What do you want with him? He is a fool.’ The magistrate went to the church and told the clergy, ‘I heard about Abba Moses and came to see him. On the way we met an elder going toward Egypt and asked him where Moses’s cell was, but he told us, “Why are you looking for him? He is a fool.”’ When the clergy heard this, they were saddened and asked, ‘What was the elder like who said these things against the holy man?’ He replied, ‘An old man wearing worn clothes, tall and black.’ They said, ‘That was Abba Moses himself, and he said this because he did not want you to meet him.’ The magistrate went away greatly edified.
Abba Moses said, “If we keep the commandments of our Fathers, I guarantee you before God that the barbarians will not come here. But if we do not keep them, this place will be devastated.”
Once, when the brothers were sitting around Abba Moses, he said to them, ‘Look, today the barbarians are coming to Scetis. Get up and flee.’ They said to him, ‘Will you not flee, Abba?’ He replied, ‘For many years I have been waiting for this day, so that the saying of the Lord Christ may be fulfilled: “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.”’ They said, ‘Then we will not flee either, but will die with you.’ He said, ‘That is not my concern; let each person consider for himself where he is staying.’ There were seven brothers there, and he said, ‘Look, the barbarians have drawn near the door.’ They came in and killed them. One of them fled behind the rope. He saw seven crowns descend and crown the seven who had been killed.
A brother asked Abba Moses, “I see something before me, but I cannot take hold of it.” The elder said, “Unless you become dead like those who are buried, you cannot take hold of it.”
Abba Poemen related that a brother asked Abba Moses, “How does a person make himself dead to his neighbor?” The elder said, “Unless a person puts it in his heart that he has already been lying in the tomb for three days, he cannot reach this word.”
They said of Abba Moses in Scetis that when he was about to go to Petra, he became tired on the way and said to himself, “How can I gather water for myself here?” A voice came to him saying, “Go in, and be anxious about nothing.” So he went in. Some of the Fathers visited him, and he had only one small bottle of water. When he cooked a few lentils, the water was used up. The elder was distressed. He went in and out, praying to God. Then a rain cloud came directly over Petra and filled all his vessels.
Afterward they asked him, “Why were you going in and out?” The elder said, “I was contending with God: ‘You brought me here, and now I have no water for Your servants to drink.’ That is why I kept going in and out, begging God, until He sent us water.”
Abba Moses said, “A person must die to his neighbor and not judge him in anything.”
Again he said, “A person must put himself to death to every evil thing before leaving the body, so that he does not harm anyone.”
Again he said, “Unless a person has in his heart that he is a sinner, God does not hear him.” A brother asked, “What does it mean to have in one’s heart that one is a sinner?” The elder said, “If someone carries his own sins, he does not look at the sins of his neighbor.”
Again he said, “Unless a person’s practice agrees with his prayer, he labors in vain.” A brother asked, “What does it mean for practice to agree with prayer?” The elder said, “It means that we no longer do the things against which we pray. For when a person gives up his own wills, then God is reconciled to him and receives his prayer.”
A brother asked Abba Moses, “In all a person’s labor, what is it that helps him?” The elder said, “God is the One who helps. For it is written, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a helper in the afflictions that have found us exceedingly.’”
The brother asked, “What do the fasts and vigils a person undertakes accomplish?” The elder replied, “They make the soul humble itself. For it is written, ‘Look upon my humility and my labor, and forgive all my sins.’ If the soul produces these fruits, God has compassion on it because of them.”
The brother asked, “What should a person do in every temptation that comes upon him, or in every thought from the enemy?” The elder said, “He must weep before the goodness of God so that He may help him, and he will quickly find rest if he asks with understanding. For it is written, ‘The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what a person may do to me.’”
The brother asked, “Suppose a man beats his servant for a sin he committed. What should the servant say?” The elder replied, “If he is a good servant, he will say, ‘Have mercy on me; I have sinned.’” The brother asked, “Nothing else?” The elder said, “Nothing else. For as soon as he admits his fault and says, ‘I have sinned,’ his master has mercy on him.”
He continued: “The goal of all these things is not to judge one’s neighbor. When the hand of the Lord struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, there was no house without someone dead in it.” The brother asked him, “What does this saying mean?” The elder said, “If we are allowed to see our own sins, we will not see the sins of our neighbor. It is foolish for someone who has his own dead to leave him and go weep over his neighbor’s dead.
“To die to your neighbor means to carry your own sins and not be concerned whether another person is good or bad. Do no harm to anyone. Do not think evil in your heart against anyone. Do not despise the one who does evil. Do not agree with someone who harms his neighbor, and do not rejoice with someone who does wrong. Do not slander anyone; instead say, ‘God knows each person.’ Do not agree with a slanderer, do not rejoice in his slander, and do not hate the one who slanders his neighbor. This is what it means not to judge.
“Do not have enmity toward anyone, and do not keep hatred in your heart. Do not hate the one who is at enmity with his neighbor. This is peace. Encourage yourself with this: the labor lasts only a little while, but the rest is forever, by the grace of God the Word. Amen.”