Before I learned anything about the Desert Fathers or the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, I loved to retreat to my place apart from everything and everyone else. My parents built a home in the early 1980’s near Jack’s Creek in King William. A bend between the “swimming hole” and the “other branch” became my favorite … More A Place Apart
Notice, I call him, “Abba,” parenthetically because “Old Man Fisher” was a well known preacher among the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons. He was a self absconded enslaved man as those he ministered to. I’m not sure and have no record if the old man became one of the deep interior Maroons who had no interactions … More “Abba” Fisher: Determination in the Spiritual Life
I’m a little peeved at myself. There is a great story of St. Moses that I read some time ago that I will use for today’s article. But I don’t have the source for it. I thought I had it in one of my previous articles and couldn’t find it. For a cross reference, read … More Lessons from St. Moses: Benefit of the Right Place
The Black Preacher is someone who is well known in American History. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jessie Jackson, Adam Clayton Powell come to mind for most of us. Scholars will even point to such men as Bishop Richard Allen, Gowan Pamphlet, and others. Let me add one other name to your mind. A … More Old Man Fisher: Abba of the Great Dismal Swamp
“If a monk does not think in his heart he is a sinner, God will not hear him. … When someone is occupied with his own faults, he does not see those of his neighbor.” from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers ‘Ah, this is a lesson for monks and nuns only. I don’t have … More Lessons from St Moses: Attending to Our Own Faults
“But if we exert ourselves, it is within our power to either accept them (wicked thoughts) and give them our attention, or to expel them. Their coming is not within our power to control, but their expulsion is.” On the Holy Fathers of Sketis and On Discrimination, Philokalia Vol. I As I wrote in a … More Lessons From St Moses: Expulsion, not Excuses
The lessons from Moses begins with a particular struggle he had with lustful thoughts. So great were his temptations that he fled his cell and ran to his spiritual father, Abba Isadore. The elder pointed to the west where Moses saw the demonic horde who sought to capture him. But to the east were a … More Lessons from St. Moses: Commit to the Struggle
If a man’s deeds are not in harmony with his prayer, he prays in vain. … We should no longer do those things against which we pray. – from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers This word from Abba Moses seems simple enough. Don’t keep doing the wrong that you want to overcome. Despite the … More Lessons from St. Moses: Prayer and Practice
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 In time, Moses became one of the sought after Desert Fathers for his spiritual wisdom. Two visitors from Gaul, Germanos and John Cassian – who would later be recognized as a saint himself, came to Sketis to learn from him and others … More Lessons of St. Moses: Pursuing Purity
“Go sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers Asking for a word of salvation from a monk or nun was a common practice in early Christianity. Some pilgrims visited monastics with deep sincerity striving for a teaching to overcome habitual sins or discover God’s … More Lessons of St. Moses: Go to Your Room
