Abba Poemen said of Abba Nisterus the Cenobite, “He was like the bronze serpent that Moses made for the healing of the people. He possessed every virtue, and by his silence he healed everyone.”
Abba Poemen asked Abba Nisterus, “How did you acquire this virtue, that whenever there was trouble in the monastery you neither spoke nor intervened?” He replied, “Forgive me, Abba. When I first entered the monastery, I said to myself, ‘You and the donkey are one.’ A donkey is beaten and does not speak; it is insulted and does not reply. So you also must be like this, as the Psalm says: ‘I became like a beast before You, and I am continually with You.’”