SARMATAS

1. Abba Sarmatas said, 'I prefer a sinful man who knows he has sinned and repents, to a man who has not sinned and considers himself to be righteous.'

2. They said of Abba Sarmatas that on Abba Poemen's advice, he was often alone for forty days. He completed this time as though he had done nothing special. Abba Poemen went to see him and said to him, 'Tell me what you have seen by giving yourself such great hardship.' The other said to him, 'Nothing special.' Abba Poemen said to him, 'I shall not let you go till you tell me.' Then he said, 'I

* This refers to the doctrine of the image of God in man, the interpretation of which was a burning issue in the desert.

have discovered one simple thing: that if I say to my sleep, "Go," it goes, and if I say to it, "Come," it comes.'

3. A brother asked Abba Sarmatas, 'My thoughts say to me: "Do not work, but eat, drink and sleep."' The old man said to him, 'When you are hungry, eat; when you are thirsty, drink; when you are drowsy, sleep.' Fortunately another old man came to see the brother and the brother told him what Abba Sarmatas had said. Then the old man said to him, 'This is what the old man said to you: when you are very hungry, and when you are thirsty to the point of not being able to stand it any more, then eat and drink; and when you have watched for a very long time and are drowsy, sleep. This is what the old man was saying to you.'

4. The same brother asked Abba Sarmatas again, 'My thoughts say to me: "Come out and go and see the brethren." ' The old man said, 'Do not listen to them about this, but say: "I listened to you before, but I do not want to listen to you this time."'

5. Abba Sarmatas also said, 'If a man does not flee from everything possible, he makes sin inevitable.'*