{"id":6552,"date":"2012-07-19T08:13:56","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T15:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=6552"},"modified":"2012-07-19T09:18:22","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T16:18:22","slug":"silence-prayer-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/silence-prayer-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Silence. Prayer. Work."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"St<\/a><\/p>\n

Both of my readers will recall that I often reread the Desert Fathers during Lent. <\/p>\n

T<\/span>oday is the feast day of one of them, Saint Arsenius. He was a wealthy, educated man who gave up everything to worship God in the desert.<\/p>\n

Quite a contrast with yesterday’s feast of Saint Arnulf of Metz<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Benedicta Ward gives the following summary of his life:<\/p>\n

\nArsenius was born in Rome about 360. A well-educated man, of senatorial rank, he was appointed by the Emperor Theodosius I as tutor to the princes Arcadius and Honorius. <\/p>\n

He left the palace in 394 and sailed secretly to Alexandria. From there he went to Scetis and placed himself under the guidance of Abba John the Dwarf. He became an anchorite near Petra in Scetis. He seems to have had only three disciples, Alexander, Zo\u00eflus and Daniel. <\/p>\n

He was renowned for his austerity and silence and this combined with his learning made him seem somewhat forbidding to the Coptic monks. After the second devastation of Scetis in 434 he went to the mountain of Tro\u00eb where he died in 449.<\/p>\n

(The Sayings of the Desert Fathers<\/i>)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is one of the most quoted of the Desert Fathers, and two of his books have survived. He is most famous, however, for his silence.<\/p>\n

\nMany times I spoke, and as a result felt sorry, but I never regretted my silence.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He sought God in the Desert, and he found Him in the ordinary people and ordinary things of Egypt.<\/p>\n

\nOne day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about his own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, \u2018Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?\u2019 <\/p>\n

He replied, \u2018I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.\u2019\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, I can see in him many of the monastic threads later gathered up by Saint Benedict. Silence. Prayer. Work. <\/p>\n

\nEvagrius Ponticus said to blessed Arsenius, \u2018How is it that we, with all our education and our wide knowledge get no-where, while these Egyptian peasants acquire so many virtues?\u2019 <\/p>\n

Abba Arsenius said to him, \u2018We indeed get nothing from our secular education, but these Egyptian peasants acquire the virtues by hard work.\u2019\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today, let’s contemplate the words of this Desert Father and try to put them into practice in our own lives.<\/p>\n

Saint Arsenius, pray for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both of my readers will recall that I often reread the Desert Fathers during Lent. Today is the feast day of one of them, Saint Arsenius. He was a wealthy, educated man who gave up everything to worship God in the desert. Quite a contrast with yesterday’s feast of Saint Arnulf of Metz! Benedicta Ward gives the following summary of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,16,20,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditations","category-saint","category-silence","category-wisdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-1HG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-desert-father-for-lent\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":0},"title":"A Desert Father for Lent","author":"Thom","date":"10 March 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about his own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, \"Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?\"He replied, \"I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wisdom"","block_context":{"text":"Wisdom","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/wisdom\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":107218,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/we-dont-talk-saint-bruno-and-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":1},"title":"We Don’t Talk: Saint Bruno and Silence","author":"Thom","date":"06 October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Stat crux dum volvitur orbis - \"The Cross is steady while the world turns\" (motto of the Carthusian Order) Bruno (d. 1101), whose feast day is today, famously founded the contemplative\u00a0Carthusian\u00a0Order. The Carthusians are hermits living in a cloistered quasi-community, famously adhering to a vow of silence, and who to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Saints"","block_context":{"text":"Saints","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/saint\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nicolas_Mignard-Saint_Bruno-scaled.jpg?fit=785%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nicolas_Mignard-Saint_Bruno-scaled.jpg?fit=785%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nicolas_Mignard-Saint_Bruno-scaled.jpg?fit=785%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Nicolas_Mignard-Saint_Bruno-scaled.jpg?fit=785%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90810,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-benedict-on-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":2},"title":"Saint Benedict on Silence","author":"Thom","date":"21 March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Feast of Saint Benedict! Although it no longer appears on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict of Norcia celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. This feast is sometimes called the Transitus of Saint Benedict, for it is the day in the year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Saint-Benedict.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Saint-Benedict.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Saint-Benedict.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-benedict-abba-poeman-and-amenempoe\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":3},"title":"Saint Benedict, Abba Poeman, and Amenemope","author":"Thom","date":"21 March 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Although it does not appear on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. If it is true that the Irish saved civilization, it's worth remembering that they did so largely in Benedictine Monasteries. Today, I have three short\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89297,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-anthony-of-egypt-father-of-monks\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":4},"title":"Saint Anthony of Egypt: Father of Monks","author":"Thom","date":"17 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the \"Father of Monks\". He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/anthonythegreat.jpg?fit=413%2C589&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88106,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-anthony-of-egypt-the-father-of-monks\/","url_meta":{"origin":6552,"position":5},"title":"Saint Anthony of Egypt: the Father of Monks","author":"Thom","date":"17 January 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the \"Father of Monks\". He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/anthonythegreat.jpg?fit=413%2C589&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6552"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6557,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552\/revisions\/6557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}