Desert Fathers Dispatch

African Saints (from the Prologue of Ohrid)

August 26th             Tithoes (5th century)  A disciple of Abba Pachomius and became the Abbot of Tabennisi Monastery.   Seven lessons in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers are attributed to him.

Zer-Jacob (?) Missionary in Ethiopia

Ibestion the Confessor (ca. 450)

August 27th             Poemen the Great (450) Also known as “The Shepherd.”  A natiive Egyptian who sought out wise ascetics as a boy.  As he was tonsured a monk, two of his brothers joined him.  Two hundred nine lessons in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers are attributed to him.

August 28th             Moses the Black (ca. 375) A very dark skinned man (ethiopian = “burn faced”) once a slave and then a robber.  While attempting to rob a monastery, he was so moved by the hospitality of the monks, he repented, converted, and became a monk greatly known for his humility and spiritual life.  He was killed by barbarians that he sought to be hospitable to.  Twenty lessons from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and lessons from Abba John Cassian’s Of the Holy Fathers of Sketis (Philokalia Vol. 1) are attributed to him.

August 30th             Samarta (ca. 362) Egyptian saint

A Word from the Fathers & Mothers

“If a man’s deeds are not in harmony with his prayer, he labors in vain. Abba Moses, from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers

“Be as though you were dead:  do not care about human dishonor; nor about worldly glory; in stillness, retreat to your cell; continually remember God and death, and you will be saved.  Ammah Sarah, from the Matericon