Universalis

Thursday, January 09, 2003

"....grant me to see my own sins, and not to judge my brother....": from the desert

A brother questioned Abba Poemen in this way, "My thoughts trouble me, making me put my sins aside, and concern myself with my brother's faults." The old man told him the following story about Abba Dioscorus: In his cell he wept over himself, while his disciple was sitting in another cell. When the latter came to see the old man he asked him, "Father, why are you weeping" "I am weeping over my sins," the old man replied. Then his disciple said, "You do not have any sins, Father." The old man answered, "Truly, my child, if I were allowed to see my sins, three or four men would not be enough to weep for them."
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