De sancto Pastore
The Call to Detachment
Saint Pastor demonstrates the radical detachment required of a monk by prioritizing his spiritual vocation over family ties and worldly justice.
Saint Pastor lived in the desert for many years, afflicting himself with great abstinence and excelling in deep holiness and religious discipline. When his mother wanted to see him and his brothers but couldn't, she kept track of the day and, as they were heading to church, immediately appeared before them. But they ran away, went into their cell, and shut the door in her face. She, however, stood before the door and cried out with great weeping; Pastor came to the door and said to her, "Why are you crying like this, old woman?" Hearing his voice, she cried out even more, weeping and saying, "I want to see you, my sons." "And what if I see you?" "Am I not your mother, who nursed you, and now I am completely gray?" The son replied, "Do you want to see us here or in the next life?" She replied, "If I don't see you here, I'll see you there, my sons." He said, "If you can bear it calmly so that you don't see us here, then without a doubt, you'll see us there." She left rejoicing and saying, "If I am to see you there, I don't want to see you here." When the provincial judge wanted to see Abbot Pastor but couldn't, he seized his sister's son as if he were a criminal and put him in prison, saying, "If Pastor comes and intercedes for him, I'll let him go." The boy's mother then stood weeping at the old man's door, and when he didn't answer her, she said, "Even if you have a heart of iron and aren't moved by any compassion, at least let the pity of our shared blood move you, and the fact that he is my only son." He sent word back to her: "Pastor did not father children, and therefore he does not grieve." As she left in sorrow, the judge said to her, "At least let him give the order with a word, and I will let him go." He sent back to him, saying, "Examine the case according to the law, and if he is found worthy of death, let him die at once." "If not, then do as you please."
Wisdom of the Solitary Life
Pastor provides practical teachings on discernment, humility, and the necessity of focusing on one's own sins rather than judging others.
He taught the brothers, saying: to guard oneself, to examine oneself, and to have discernment—these are the soul's activities; poverty, tribulation, and discernment are the activities of the solitary life. For it is written: if these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel, were present... Noah represents those who possess nothing; Job, those who suffer; Daniel, those who possess discernment. If a monk hates two things, he can be free from this world. And when a brother asked him what those things were, he said: bodily comfort and vain glory. If you want to find rest in this world and in the next, in every situation say: 'Who am I?' And: 'Do not judge anyone.' When a certain brother from the community had caused offense, Abbot Pastor expelled him on the advice of a certain hermit. When the brother was despairing and weeping, Abbot Pastor had him brought to him; he comforted him kindly and sent him to that hermit, saying: 'I have heard about you and I want to see you, so make the effort to come to me.' When he arrived, Pastor said, "There were two men who both had their own dead; yet one left his own dead behind and went off to weep for the other's dead." Hearing and understanding this, the hermit was struck with compunction. When a certain brother told Pastor that he was troubled and wanted to leave the place because he had heard things about another brother that hadn't edified him, Pastor told him not to believe those things, because they weren't true. But the man insisted they were true, because Brother Faithful had reported them to him. Pastor replied to him, "The one who told you that isn't faithful, because if he were faithful, he wouldn't have said such things to you." And he said, "I saw it with my own eyes." When he was questioned about the speck and the log, and what they were, he answered regarding the speck that it was a speck, and regarding the log that it was a log. And Pastor said, "Keep it in your heart that your sins are like this log, while the other man's are like this small speck."
The Path of True Repentance
Pastor defines the marks of a true monk through the lens of sincere repentance, gentle charity, and the disciplined management of thoughts and worldly goods.
A brother who had committed a serious sin and wanted to do penance for three years asked the Pastor if that was enough. He replied, "That is a lot." And when asked if he would command a year, he said, 'It is a lot.' The bystanders said, 'Up to forty days,' and he said, 'It is a lot.' He added, "I believe that if a man repents with his whole heart and does not repeat the sin, the Lord will accept even a three-day penance." When asked about the saying, "Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, etc." He said, 'Regarding anything your brother does to burden you, do not be angry with him until he plucks out your right eye; if you do otherwise, you are angry with him without cause. But if someone wants to separate you from God, be angry with him for that.' The Pastor said again, 'A monk who is complaining is not a monk; a monk who holds malice in his heart is not a monk; a monk who is quick-tempered is not a monk; a monk who returns evil for evil is not a monk; a monk who is arrogant and talkative is not a monk. But he who is truly a monk is always humble, gentle, full of charity, and keeps the fear of God always and everywhere before his eyes, so that he does not sin.' He also said that if there are three people in one place—one who rests well, another who is sick and gives thanks, and a third who serves them out of sincere will—these three are similar, as if they were doing the same work. When a certain brother complained to him that he was in danger because he had many thoughts, he sent him out into the open air, saying, 'Spread out your cloak and catch the wind.' He said, "I can't." The other replied, "You can't stop thoughts from entering, but it's your job to resist them." When a brother asked him what he should do with an inheritance left to him, he told him to come back in three days. When he returned, he said, "If I tell you to give it to the clergy, they'll just throw parties with it; if I tell you to give it to your relatives, there's no reward for you; if I tell you to give it to the poor, you'll be secure." "Whatever you want, then, do it; I have no reason to object." These are the words of the fathers.
Read the original Latin
Sanctus Pastor in eremo multis annis in abstinentia magna se affligens multa sanctitate et religione pollebat. Cum autem mater ejus ipsum et fratres desideraret videre, sed non posset, observavit diem et illis ad ecclesiam euntibus, protinus se iisdem obtulit. At illi fugientes et cellam intrantes in ejus faciem clauserunt ostium. llla autem ante ostium stans cum nimio fletu clamabat, Pastor antem ad ostium veniens dixit ei: quid sic celamas, o vetula? Quae audiens vocem ejas amplias clamabat flens et dicens: volo vos videre, filii mei. Quid enim, si videam vos? Numquid non ego sum mater vestra, quae lactavi vos, et jam canis tota sum plena? Cui filius: hic nos vis videre aut in alio seculo?
Quae respondet: si non videro vos hic, videbo vos illic, filii. Qui ait: si aequanimiter ferre vales, ut nos hie non videas, illic procul dubio: nos videbis. Quae discessit gaudens ct dicens: si vos visura sum illic, nolo vos videre hic. Judex provinciae cum abbatem Pastorem videre cuperet, sed nequiret, filium sororis suae tamquam malefactorem tenuit et in carcere posuit dicens: si Pastor venerit et pro eo intercesserit, eum dimittam. Mater igitur pueri ad ostium senis plorans, dum ille sibi nil respondit, ait: et si viscera ferrea habes -et nulla compassione moveris, saltem miseratio sanguinis tni flectat te, et quod unigenitus mihi exsistit. Ille antem mandavit: ei: Pastor filios non generavitet idcirco non dolet, Qua cum dolore discedente, dixit ei judex: saltem verbo jubeat et ego eum dimittam. llle autem ci remandavit dicens: examina causam secundum legem et, si diguus morte habetur, prolinus moriatur, ? )si non autem, quomodo placet tibi, fac.
Docebat autem fratres sic dicens: custodire et se ipsum considerare et discretionem hahere, operationes sunt animae; paupertas, tribulatio et discretio sunt operationes solitariae vitae, Scriptum est enim: si fuerint hi tres viri Noe, Job et Daniel ete. Noe personam habet nihil possidentium, Job tribulatorum, Daniel discretorum. Si duas res oderit monachus, potest ab hoc mundo liber esse. Et quaerenti fratri, quae essent, dixit: carnalis repausatio et vana gloria. Si vis re quiem invenire in hoc saeculo et in futuro, in omni causa dic: quis-ego sum? et: non judices quemquam. Cum quidam frater de congregatione offendisset, abbas de consilio cujusdam solitarii eum expulit. Qui cum quasi flendo desperaret, abbas Pastor eum ad se adduci fecit, quem benigne consolans misit ad illum solitarium dicens: audiens de te videre te desidero, fatiga igitur te usque ad me.
Qui cum venisset, dixit Pastor: duo homines erant, qui ambo habebant mortuos suos; reliquit antem unus mortuum suum et abiit plorare mortuum alterius. Quod solitarius audiens et intelligens in sermone ejus compunctus est. Cum quidam frater Pastori dixisset, se perturbatum esse el locum velle deserere, eo quod quaedam verba de quodam fratre audivisset, quae eum non aedificaverant, dixitPastor, ne haec verba crederent, quia vera non essent. llle vero vera esse asserebat, quia frater Fidelis ea sibi retulit. Cui Pastor: non est fidelis, qui tibi dixit, quia, si fidelis esset, mequaquam sibi talia diceret. Et ille: ego vidi oculis mois. llle autem interrogatus de festucà et de trabe, quid essent, respondit de festuca, quod festuca esset, de trabe, quod trabs esset. Et Pastor: pone in corde tuo, quia peccata tua sant sieut haec trabs ,- illius autem velut haec parva festuca.
Frater quidam, qui peccatum- grande fecerat, volens poenitere triennio interrogavit Pastorem, si multum esset. Qui dixit: multum est. Et quaesitus, si annum juberet, ait: multum est, Adstantes autem dicebant usque ad XL dies et ille: multum est. Et adjecit: puto, quod, si ex toto torde homo poenituerit et peccatum non iteraverit, et poenitentiam triduanam suscipiet dominus. Interrogatus de illo verbo: qui irascitur fratri suo sine causa etc. , ait: ex omni re, qua te gravare voluerit frater tuus, ne irascaris adversus eum, donec oculum dextrum tibi extrahat, et si aliter feceris, sine causa sibi irasceris; si autem aliquis te voluerit separare a Deo, pro hoe irascere ei; Dixit iterum Pastor: qui querulosus est, monachus non est; qui malitiam in corde suo tenuerit, monachus non est; qui iracundus est, monachus non est; qui malum pro malo reddit, monachus non est; qui elatus et verbosus est, monachus non est; qui vero vere est monachus, semper est humilis, mansuetus, caritate plenus et timorem Dei semper et ubique prae oculis habet, ut non peccet. Dixit iterum, quod, si sunt tres in unum, ex quibus unus bene quiescat, alius antem infirmetur et gratias agat, tertius vero minister ejus sit ex sincera voluntate, hi tres similes sunt, velut sint unius operis. Cum quidam frater sibi conquereretur, quod multas cogitationes habens in ipsis periclitaretur, eum sub aére nudo ejecit dicens: expande sinum et apprehende ventum.
Qui ait: non possum, Et ille: nec cogitationes prohibere potes, ne introeant, sed tuum est resistere iis. Interrogatus a quodam fratre, quid de hereditate sibi dimissa faceret, dixit, ut post tres dies ad se rediret, Qui cum rediisset, ait illi: si dixero, da eamelericis, facient inde convivia; si dixero, da eam parentibns, non est tibi merces; si dicam, da eam pauperibus, securus eris. Quicquid ergo vis, fac, ego causam non habeo. Haec invitis - patrum.
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