Holy Resurrection
YouTube
Saint Ammon's Mercy and the Circle of Love
5:36
The speaker recounts how Saint Ammon responded when brethren accused a brother of hiding a woman in his cell. Ammon understood the woman was concealed beneath a barrel, sat on it, ordered a search that found nothing, and said, "May God forgive you," shaming the accusers and teaching them not to believe accusations lightly. He then privately took the brother by the hand and said, "Take care of yourself, brother," which moved the brother to compunction.
The speaker urges the acquisition of love and compassion to avoid the destructive sins of slander, judgment, and contempt, likening the community to a body where each member cares for the wounded rather than cutting it off. Citing Abba Zosimas, he notes that no one abandons their own member, not even because of its foul smell, but does everything to heal it, illustrating that we are obliged to suffer together and devise every means to heal each other.
He quotes the Apostle Paul: "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another," and "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it." The speaker describes cenobitic communities as one body: the superior is the head, those who watch and correct are the eyes, those who benefit by words are the mouth, those who listen are the ears, those who work are the hands, and the feet are those sent to carry out obediences.
Each member should serve according to his strength. Finally, he gives an example from the fathers: a circle with God at the center and the world at the circumference; the lines from circumference to center are the paths of men, so that the more the saints move inward toward God, the closer they come to both God and each other, and conversely, moving outward distances them from both.
Key moments
- Saint Ammon, when brethren accused a brother of having a woman in his cell, understood the woman was hidden beneath a barrel, sat on the barrel, ordered the cell searched, and when nothing was found said, "May God forgive you," shaming the accusers and teaching them not to easily believe accusations against their neighbor.
- After sending everyone out, Ammon took the brother by the hand and said, "Take care of yourself, brother," and the brother immediately felt shame and compunction, touched by the elder's compassion.
- The speaker urges acquiring love and compassion for our neighbor to be preserved from the destructive sins of slander, judgment, and contempt, and to help one another as members of one body.
- Quoting Abba Zosimas: "In a word, no one abandons it. No one turns away from his own member, not even because of its foul smell, but does everything to heal it," illustrating that we are obliged to suffer together and devise every means to heal each other.
- Citing the Apostle: "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another," and "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it."
- Describing cenobitic communities as one body: the superior is the head, those who watch and correct are the eyes, those who benefit by words are the mouth, those who listen are the ears, those who work are the hands, and the feet are those sent to carry out obediences.
- Each member should serve the body according to his strength, teaching, watching, speaking, listening, working, serving, and strive to help his brother by instruction, nourishing with the word of God, consolation in sorrow, or extending a hand for help.
- The speaker gives an example from the fathers: a circle with God at the center and the world at the circumference; the lines from circumference to center are the paths of men, so that the more the saints move inward toward God, the closer they come to both God and each other, and conversely, moving outward distances them from both.