The Venerable Sisoes the Great

Life

An Egyptian by birth and a disciple of Saint Anthony. After the death of his great teacher, Saint Sisoes settled on a desert mountain called Anthony's Mountain, on which Anthony himself had previously labored in asceticism. Through difficult labors over himself he so tamed himself that he was meek and guileless as a lamb. For this reason God gave him great grace, so that he was able to heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits, and raise the dead. For sixty years Sisoes labored in asceticism in the wilderness, and was as a spring of living wisdom for all the monks and laypeople who came to him for counsel. Before his death his face shone like the sun. The monks stood around him and marveled at this phenomenon. And when the saint gave up his soul, the entire room was filled with a wondrous fragrance. He reposed in deep old age in the year 429. Saint Sisoes taught the monks: "Whatever temptation may befall a man, he must give himself over to the will of God and confess that the temptation happened because of his sins. And if something good should happen, one should say that it happened by the Providence of God." A monk asked Sisoes: "How shall I please God and be saved?" The saint replied: "If thou desirest to please God, depart from the world, separate thyself from the earth, leave the creature, draw near to the Creator, unite thyself with God through prayer and weeping, and thou shalt find rest in this age and in the age to come." A monk asked Sisoes: "How does one attain humility?" The saint replied: "When a man has trained himself to regard every man as better than himself, thereby he acquires humility." Ammon complained to Sisoes that he could not memorize the wise sayings he read, in order to repeat them in conversation with others. The saint replied: "That is not necessary. What is necessary is to acquire purity of mind and to speak from that purity, placing one's hope in God."

From the Hymn of Praise

Asterius was a slave to the idol of Zeus,And Valentine, a priest, was a slave in the house of Asterius.— Who is Christ? the nobleman asks Valentine.— Thou askest me of Christ, the Son of God?