PRAYER: QUALITY COUNTS MORE THAN QUANTITY
MORE THAN QUANTITY
There is a mountain in Egypt called Pherme, which borders on the great desert of Scete. On this mountain dwells some five hundred men, devotees of asceticism.
One of them, a man named Paul, had this manner of life: he touched no work and no business, nor did he receive anything from anyone beyond what he ate. But his work and asceticism consisted in ceaseless prayer.
He had three hundred set prayers, and he collected the same number of pebbles and kept them in lap and threw out one pebble at each prayer.
He went to speak with Macarius, the one known as “the Citizen”. “ Father Macarius” he said, “I am afflicted.”
He said, “In a certain village there lives a virgin who has lived the ascetic life for thirty years. They have told me of her, that except on Saturday and Sunday she never eats. But all the while dragging out the long weeks and eating at intervals of five days she makes seven hundred prayers. When I learned I despaired of myself because I could not make more than three hundred”.
The holy Macarius answered him: “I am now sixty years old; I make a hundred set of prayers and produce my food by my own work, and speak to the brethren when they need me, and my reason does not condemn me as having neglected my duty.
But if you say three hundred and are condemned by your conscience, you are clearly not praying them with purity, or else you could pray more and do not.”
Palladius of Gallacia, Lausias History, 20:1-3
Views: 136
© 2025 Created by Dawn Marie.
Powered by
