Feast Day: August 27th
The Life of Saint Poemen: As a boy, he visited the most renowned Spiritual men and, from them, gathered tangible knowledge as a bee gathers honey from flowers…
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Prayers
Apolytikion: Thy mind was illumined with the light of Divine works, and thou wast an unfading lamp of discernment; for thou didst dispel the darkness of passions and illuminate our minds. O Venerable Poemen, Pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.
Kontakion: The memory of thine illustrious contests, delights the Souls of the godly today, O Divinely wise Poemen, our Holy Father.
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“If three men meet, of whom the first preserves interior peace, and the second gives thanks to God in illness, and the third serves with a pure mind, these three are doing the same work.”
“We were taught, not to kill the body, but to kill the passions.”
“Every time a man falls into any shortcoming or folly, if he says, ‘I have sinned,’ immediately God will receive him.”
“A brother asked Abba Poemen, saying, ‘For what purpose were spoken the words, ‘Take no thought for the morrow?’ (Mat 6:34) The old man said unto him, ‘For the man who is under temptation, and is in affliction; for it is not right that such a man should take thought for the morrow, or should say, ‘How long shall I have to endure this temptation’, but he should think upon patient endurance, saying: ‘It is today, and the temptation will not remain thus for a long time.'”
“The nature of water is soft, and the nature of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall down drop by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the Word of God: it is soft and our heart is hard, but the man who hears the Word of God often opens his heart to the fear of God.”
“Let us enter into our cell, and sitting there, remember our sins, and the Lord will come and help us in everything.”
“If you want to go to the monastery, you must be careful about every encounter and everything you do, or you will not be able to do the work of the monastery; for you will not have the right even to drink a single cup there.”
“Poverty, hardship, austerity and fasting, such are the instruments of the solitary life. It is written, ‘When these three men are together, Noah, Job, and Daniel, there am I, says the Lord.’ (cf. Ezek. 14:14) Noah represents poverty, Job suffering and Daniel discernment. So, if these three works are found in a man, the Lord dwells in him.”
A brother asked Abba Poemen, ‘How should a man behave?’ The old man said to him, ‘Look at Daniel: no-one found anything in him to complain about except for his Prayers to the Lord his God.’
“A man knows nothing about the powers that are outside him; but if they enter into him, he must fight them and drive them out.”
A young monk sadly said the following to the Holy Poimen: “My body, Abba, has been weakened by ascetic practices, but my passions do not yield.” “The passions, my child,” answered the wise Father, “are similar to tough thorns; in uprooting them, your hands of necessity bleed.”
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“If man remembered that it is written: ‘By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned,’ (Matt 12:37) he would choose to remain silent.”
“In whatever difficult situation you come, victory in it is silence.”
“His mistake was to justify himself; who does that destroys himself.”
“Let go of a small part of your righteousness and in a few days you will be at peace.”
“If man seems to be silent, but his heart condemns others, then he is always speaking. There may be a man who talks all day long, but he is actually silent, because he says nothing unprofitable.”