Once Abba Serapion was passing through a village in Egypt and saw a prostitute standing in her room. The elder said to her, “Wait for me this evening, for I want to come to you and spend the night with you.” She answered, “Very well, Abba.” She prepared herself and made the bed. When evening came, the elder arrived and entered her room. He said, “Have you prepared the bed?” She said, “Yes, Abba.” He shut the door and said, “Wait a little, for I have a custom that I must first fulfill.” The elder began his office. Starting with the Psalter, after each psalm he said a prayer, begging God on her behalf that she might repent and be saved. God heard him. The woman stood trembling and praying beside the elder. When he had completed the whole Psalter, she fell to the ground. The elder then began the Apostle and read a great deal from it, and so completed his prayers. The woman was pierced to the heart and understood that he had not come to her for sin but to save her soul. She fell at his feet and said, “Show me love, Abba, and take me to a place where I can do what is pleasing to God.” The elder took her to a monastery of virgins and entrusted her to the Amma, saying, “Receive this sister. Do not put a yoke or command on her as on the other sisters; give her whatever she asks, and let her live as she wishes.” After a few days she said to herself, “I am a sinner; I want to eat only once every two days.” A few days later she said, “I have many sins; I want to eat once every four days.” After a few more days she begged the Amma, “Since I have greatly grieved God by my lawless deeds, show me love: put me in a cell, seal it, and through a small opening give me a little bread and handiwork.” The Amma did so, and for the rest of her life the woman pleased God.
A brother asked Abba Serapion, “Tell me a word.” The elder said to him, “What do I have to tell you? You have taken what belongs to widows and orphans and put it in this window-niche.” For he saw it full of books.
Abba Serapion said, “Just as soldiers standing before the emperor cannot turn their attention to the right or the left, so a person who stands before God and attends to Him with fear at every hour cannot be frightened by anything belonging to the enemy.”
A brother came to Abba Serapion. The elder urged him to make the customary prayer, but the brother kept calling himself a sinner and unworthy even of the monastic habit, and would not agree. The elder also wanted to wash his feet, but the brother again used the same words and would not allow it. Serapion gave him food and began eating with him. Then the elder admonished him lovingly, saying, “My son, if you want to make progress, attend to yourself and to your handiwork. Going out does not benefit you as much as staying attentive to these things.” When the brother heard this, he became angry, and his expression changed so much that the elder could not fail to notice it. Abba Serapion said to him, “Until now you were saying, ‘I am a sinner,’ and accusing yourself as though you were unworthy even to live. But because I admonished you with love, have you become so angry? If you want to be humble, learn to bear bravely what others bring upon you, and do not keep empty words for yourself.” When the brother heard this, he made a prostration to the elder in repentance and went away greatly benefited.