6. One day Abba Ammon went to cross a river. He found a vessel ready and sat down beside it. At that moment another ship sailed to the same place, and the people on board began to call: "Sail with us, Abba!" [Abba] had with him a bundle of palm branches; he sat down, weaving the rope and then unraveling it again, [and wove] until the [public] vessel had set sail and he had crossed [to the other side][73]. The brethren, bowing down to him, asked: "Why did you do this?" The elder answered: "So that I would not always be preoccupied with haste"[74]. This is an example for us to walk in the way of God in a [calm] state [of spirit].

7. One day Abba Ammon went to visit Abba Anthony, and lost his way; Sitting down, he slept a little. And when he woke up, he began to pray to God, saying: "I beseech Thee, O Lord my God, do not destroy Thy creature!" and he saw, as if a human hand, hanging from heaven, which showed him the way until he reached and stood at the cave of Abba Anthony.

8. Abba Anthony prophesied to the same Abba Ammon, saying, "You will succeed in the fear of God!" [75] He led him out of his cell and, showing him the stone, said: "Curse this stone and strike it." Ammon did it. Abba Anthony asked him: "Did the stone say nothing?" Then Abba Anthony said: "So you will attain this measure"[76]. And this happened, for Abba Ammon had attained such prosperity that, by virtue of the abundance of [his] kindness, he knew no evil. When he became bishop, they brought to him a maiden who was carrying a child in her womb, and said: "So-and-so has done this; impose a penance on them." Ammon, having crossed her womb, ordered to be given six pairs of linen and said: "I am afraid that when the time comes for her to give birth, she or her child will not die; then there will be nothing to bury them in." And those who were with him insisted: "Why are you doing this? Impose penance on them." And he answered: "Look, brethren, she is already near death; what else can I do?" Thus the elder never dared to condemn anyone.

9. They told about him: some people came to him to judge them. But the elder pretended to be stupid, and then a woman standing near him said: "This elder is a fool." The elder, hearing her words, called the woman and said: "How much labor have I done in the wilderness in order to acquire this foolishness, and is it possible that today through you I must lose it?"

10. One day Abba Ammon went to a certain place for a meal. There was one [brother] about whom there was a bad reputation; And it so happened that a woman came into the cell of this brother. The inhabitants of that village, hearing about this, were indignant and gathered together to expel him from his cell. When they learned that Bishop Ammon was there, they came and asked him to go with them. When the brother found out about this, he hid the woman in a large pithos[77]. Arriving with the crowd, Abba Ammon learned of what had happened, but for God's sake he concealed the matter. Entering, he sat down on the pithos and ordered the cell to be searched. When she was searched and the woman was not found, Abba Ammon said: "What does this mean? God will forgive you." After praying, he ordered everyone to depart and, taking his brother by the hand, said to him: "Brother, take heed to yourself." Having said this, he left.

11. Abba Ammon was asked: "What is the narrow and strait way" (Matt. 7:14)?" He answered: "The narrow and strait path is [constantly] the compulsion of one's thoughts[78] and the cutting off of one's own desires for God's sake. This is what the words say: behold, we have left everything and followed Thee (Matt. 19:27)"[79].

12. The brethren came to Abba Anthony and told him a passage from the Book of Leviticus[80]. The elder withdrew into the wilderness, and Abba Ammon, knowing his habit, secretly followed him. Having gone far away, the elder knelt down and cried out in a strong voice: "God! Send me Moses, and let him instruct me concerning this utterance!" Abba Ammon said of this: "I heard the voice, but I did not understand the meaning of what was said."

13. Paisius, the brother of Abba Pimen, maintained relations with a certain [man who lived] outside his cell[82]. Abba Pimen did not want this, and [once] got up, came to Abba Ammon and said to him: "Paisius, my brother, maintains relations with a certain [man], and I cannot find peace." Abba Ammon answered him: "Pimen, you are in the prime of life. Go, sit in your cell and put it on your heart that you have been lying in the grave for a year."[83]

14. Abba Pimen reports the words of Abba Ammon: "A certain man carries an axe with him all the time, but he does not find a tree [that he could] cut down. And another, experienced in this business, quickly cuts down a tree with a few blows." He says that the "axe" is the faculty of discrimination[84].

15. Abba Pimen also relates the following saying of Abba Ammon: "A man has spent a hundred years in a cell, but has not learned how to sit in a cell"[85].

II. The Epistles of St. Ammon

Message One. Our Holy and God-bearing Father Abba Ammon on Silence

1. You, my most beloved brethren, know that from the time of the transgression [of the commandment] the soul cannot know God as it ought to be, unless it withdraws from men and from all amusements[86]. Then she sees the battle of those who fight against her, and if she from time to time emerges victorious from this battle, then the Spirit of God dwells in her, and every torment [her] is turned [by Him] into joy and rejoicing[87]. During battles, the soul is attacked by sorrows, despondency and many other burdens of all kinds, but it is not afraid, for they cannot overcome it, which completes its life path in silence.

2. For this reason, the Holy Fathers also withdrew into the wilderness, as, for example, Elijah the Tishbite, John the Baptist, and the rest of the Fathers[88]. Do not think that the righteous attained righteousness [in the vanity of the world] by dwelling among men. No, but, having previously struggled in much silence, they acquired the Divine power that dwelt in them, and [then] God sent them, [already] having acquired virtues, into the midst of people for the edification of men and the healing of their diseases. For [these righteous men] were physicians of souls and could heal human ailments[89]. Because of such a need, they were separated from silence and sent to people. However, [God] sent them [only] when their own illnesses had been healed. For it is impossible that God should send a feeble soul into the midst of men for their edification. And those who come [now from the wilderness], not yet having attained perfection, come according to their own will, and not according to God's will[90]. Of such God says: "Not their sendings, but they flow" (Jeremiah 23:21)[91]. Therefore, they can neither guard themselves, nor are they able to edify another soul.