Abba Sarmatas said, “I would rather have a person who has sinned, recognizes his sin, and is brought to repentance than a person who has not sinned and considers himself righteous.”
They said of Abba Sarmatas that often, on Abba Poemen’s advice, he would undertake forty days of ascetic effort, and the time passed for him as though it were nothing. Abba Poemen came to him and said, “Tell me what you have seen through undergoing so much toil.” He answered, “Nothing more.” Abba Poemen said, “I will not let you go unless you tell me.” Then he said, “I have found only this: if I say to sleep, ‘Go away,’ it goes; and if I say, ‘Come,’ it comes.”
A brother asked Abba Sarmatas, “My thoughts say to me, ‘Do not work; just eat, drink, and sleep.’” The elder answered, “When you are hungry, eat; when you are thirsty, drink; and when sleep comes over you, sleep.” Later another elder happened to visit the brother, and the brother told him what Abba Sarmatas had said. That elder explained, “What Abba Sarmatas told you means this: when you are intensely hungry and so thirsty that you cannot endure any longer, then eat and drink; and when you have kept vigil for a very long time and are overcome by sleep, then sleep. This is what the elder meant.”
The same brother again asked Abba Sarmatas, “My thoughts say to me, ‘Go out and visit the brothers.’” The elder answered, “Do not obey them in this. Say instead, ‘Look, I listened to you the first time; but in this matter I cannot listen to you.’”