Abba Theodore of Pherme acquired three fine books. He went to Abba Macarius and said, “I have three fine books, and I benefit from them. The brothers also borrow them and benefit. Tell me, then, what is better for me to do: keep them for my own benefit and that of the brothers, or sell them and give the money to the poor?” The elder replied, “The practices are good, but non-possession is greater than them all.” When Theodore heard this, he went away, sold the books, and distributed the money to the poor.
A brother who lived alone in the Cells was troubled. He went to Abba Theodore of Pherme and told him about it. The elder said, “Go, humble your thought, submit yourself, and live with others.” Later the brother returned and said, “I do not find rest even among people.” The elder said, “If you have no rest either alone or with others, why did you become a monk? Was it not to endure afflictions? Tell me, how many years have you worn the habit?” He said, “Eight.” The elder replied, “Truly, I have worn this habit for seventy years and have not found rest for even one day, while you want to have rest after eight years?” Hearing this, the brother was strengthened and went away.
A brother once came to Abba Theodore and spent three days begging him to speak a word to him. Theodore did not answer, and the brother went away sorrowful. Theodore’s disciple asked, “Abba, why did you not speak a word to him? He went away sorrowful.” The elder said, “Truly, I did not speak to him because he is a trader: he wants to gain glory from other people’s words.”
He also said, “If you are friends with someone and he falls into a temptation of fornication, if you can, give him your hand and pull him up. But if he falls into heresy and will not be persuaded by you to turn away, cut him off from you quickly, lest by delaying you too be dragged down with him into the pit.”
They said of Abba Theodore of Pherme that he surpassed many in three things: non-possession, ascetic practice, and fleeing from people.
Abba Theodore was once at a meal with some brothers. As they ate, they received the cups in silence and with reverence, but they did not say, “Forgive me.” Abba Theodore said, “The monks have lost their nobility—the practice of saying, ‘Forgive me.’”
A brother asked him, “Abba, do you want me to go for a few days without eating bread?” The elder said, “You do well. I too have done this.” The brother said, “Then I want to take my chickpeas to the bakery and have them made into flour.” The elder replied, “If you are going back to the bakery, make your bread. What is the need for this going out?”
One of the elders came to Abba Theodore and said, “Look, such-and-such a brother has returned to the world.” The elder replied, “Are you amazed at this? Do not be amazed. Rather, be amazed if you hear that someone has been able to escape from the enemy’s mouth.”
A brother came to Abba Theodore and began discussing and examining matters that he had not yet practiced. The elder said to him, “You have not yet found the ship or loaded your gear, and before you have even sailed you have already reached that city. First do the work; then you will come to the things you are speaking about now.”
Once Abba Theodore visited Abba John, who had been a eunuch from birth. As they talked, Theodore said, “When I was in Scetis, the works of the soul were our work, and handiwork was a secondary task. But now the work of the soul has become secondary, and the secondary task has become our work.”
A brother asked him, “What is the work of the soul that we now treat as secondary, and what is the secondary task that has become our work?” The elder said, “Everything you do because of God’s command is the work of the soul. Working and gathering things for ourselves should be secondary. For example, suppose you hear that I am sick and you ought to visit me, but you say to yourself, ‘Should I leave my work and go now? Let me finish it first, and then I will go.’ Then another matter comes up, and perhaps you never go. Or a brother asks your help and you say, ‘Should I leave my work and go help him?’ If you do not go, you set aside God’s command, which is the work of the soul, and do your handiwork, which is the secondary task.”
He also said, “A person who stands in repentance is not bound to a single commandment.”
He also said, “There is no other virtue like not despising anyone.”
He also said, “When someone has learned the sweetness of the cell, he flees from his neighbor without despising him.”
He also said, “If I do not cut myself off from these acts of compassion, they will not let me be a monk.”
He also said, “Many people in this time have taken their rest before God gave it to them.”
He also said, “Do not sleep in a place where there is a woman.”
A brother asked Abba Theodore, “I want to fulfill the commandments.” The elder told him about Abba Theonas, who once said, “I want to fulfill my intention with God.” He took flour to the bakery and made bread. When poor people asked him, he gave them the loaves. When others asked again, he gave them his baskets and the cloak he was wearing, and he entered his cell with only his wrap tied around him. Even then he blamed himself, saying, “I have not fulfilled the commandment of God.”
Abba Joseph once became ill and sent to Abba Theodore, saying, “Come, so that I may see you before I leave the body.” It was the middle of the week. Theodore did not go, but sent this message: “If you remain until Saturday, I will come. But if you depart, we will see one another in that world.”
A brother said to Abba Theodore, “Speak a word to me, for I am perishing.” With difficulty he answered him, “I myself am in danger. What do I have to say to you?”
A brother came to Abba Theodore so that the elder might teach him to sew or weave, and he brought his cord with him. Theodore said, “Go, and come back here early tomorrow.” The elder then got up, moistened the cord, prepared the beginning of the work for him, and said, “Do it this way and this way.” Then he left him and sat inside his cell. At the proper time he gave the brother food and sent him away. When the brother came back the next morning, the elder said, “Take your cord from here and go. You came to cast me into temptation and care.” After that he no longer let him come inside.
The disciple of Abba Theodore said, “Once a man came selling onions and filled a bowl for me. The elder said, ‘Fill it with wheat and give it to him.’ There were two heaps of wheat, one clean and one uncleaned, and I filled the bowl from the uncleaned heap. The elder looked at me sternly and sadly. From fear I fell down and broke the bowl, and I made a prostration in repentance before him. The elder said, ‘Get up. This is not your fault; I sinned because I told you to do it.’ Then he went in, filled the fold of his garment with clean wheat, and gave it to the man along with the onions.”
Abba Theodore once went with a brother to draw water. The brother reached the pit first and saw a dragon. The elder said to him, “Go and tread on its head.” The brother was afraid and would not go. Then the elder came. When the beast saw him, it fled into the desert as though ashamed.
Someone asked Abba Theodore, “If some sudden disaster happens, will you be afraid, Abba?” The elder replied, “Even if heaven is joined to earth, Theodore will not be afraid.” He had prayed to God that cowardice might be taken away from him; this was why the brother asked him.
They said of Abba Theodore that when he was made a deacon in Scetis, he would not consent to serve as deacon and fled to many places. The elders kept bringing him back, saying, “Do not abandon your ministry.” Abba Theodore said, “Leave me, and I will pray to God to make it clear whether I should stand in the place of my ministry.” He prayed, “If it is Your will that I stand in my place, make it clear to me.” A pillar of fire appeared to him from earth to heaven, and a voice said, “If you can become like this pillar, go and serve as deacon.” When he heard this, he resolved never to consent. When he came to church, the brothers made prostrations before him and said, “If you do not want to serve as deacon, at least hold the cup.” But he would not agree, saying, “If you do not leave me alone, I will leave this place.” So they left him alone.
They also said of him that after Scetis was devastated he came to live in Pherme. When he grew old, he became ill, and the brothers brought him food. What the first person brought he gave to the second, and what the next brought he gave to another, each in turn. When it was time for him to eat, he ate whatever the person arriving at that hour brought him.
They said of Abba Theodore that when he lived in Scetis, a demon came and tried to enter his cell, but he bound it outside. Then another demon came to enter, and he bound that one too. A third came and found the other two bound. He asked them, “Why are you standing out here?” They answered, “The man sitting inside will not let us enter.” The third tried to force its way in, but the elder bound it as well. Frightened by the elder’s prayers, they begged him to release them. The elder said, “Go,” and they went away ashamed.
One of the Fathers said, “I once went to visit Abba Theodore in the evening and found him wearing a torn tunic, with his chest bare and his hood lying in front of him. A count came to see him. When I heard the knock, I went out and met the man, then took a piece of my cloak and covered the elder’s shoulders. But the elder stretched out his hand and threw it off. After the count left, I said, ‘Abba, why did you do that? The man came to be helped, not to be caused to stumble.’ The elder said to me, ‘What are you saying, Abba? Are we still serving people? We have done what was necessary; that is over now. Whoever wants to benefit, let him benefit; whoever wants to stumble, let him stumble. I will meet people just as I am found.’” He instructed his disciple, “If anyone comes wanting to see me, do not tell him something merely human or polite. If I am eating, say, ‘He is eating.’ If I am sleeping, say, ‘He is sleeping.’”
Three robbers once attacked Abba Theodore. Two held him while the third carried away his possessions. After taking the books, the robber also wanted to take his tunic. Theodore said, “Leave that.” They refused. He moved his hands and threw down the two who were holding him. When the robbers saw this, they were afraid. The elder said, “Do not be afraid. Divide everything into four parts. Take three and leave one.” They did so, and in this way he received his own share: the tunic he used for the synaxis.