ON SAINT JOSEPH, ANCHORITE IN EGYPT
ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 4TH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION
On his sayings & deeds from the Lives of the Fathers.
Josephus, anchorite in Egypt (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] The illustrious Synaxary found by us at Dijon in the college of the Society of Jesus celebrates on this day, the 17th of June, Joseph the Anchorite, who ended his life singing, with these verses added.
In the end you are the divine swan, Joseph, Cult among the Greeks, You die with a song, as they say swans die. In the end a swan, you, Joseph, are divine; Singing you die, as they say swans die.
But on the 20th of June the memory of our holy Father Joseph the Anchorite is also indicated in the Ms. Synaxary of the Church of Constantinople & in the double codex of Turin of the Duke of Savoy; & on the 20th of June. for whom, but by error, the name of Joannes is expressed in the Milan Ms. of the Ambrosian library.
[2] He seems to be the one who in the Lives of the Fathers is said to have lived with S. Antony & thus before or about the middle of the 4th century, He is praised by S. Antony. since the latter died in the year 356; & he is the subject of discourse in book 5, the translator being Pelagius, in booklet 15, where humility is treated, no. 5, in these words: Some elders once came to Abbot Antony, & there was also with them Abbot Joseph. And Abbot Antony, wishing to test them, started a discourse from the holy Scriptures. And he began to ask of the younger ones what this or that word meant. And each said as he could. But he said to them: You have not yet found it. But after them he said to Abbot Joseph: How do you say this word is? He answered: I do not know. And Abbot Antony said: Truly Abbot Joseph alone has found the way, who answered that he did not know.
[3] And in booklet 1, no. 9: Abbot Joseph the Theban said: he indicates 3 orders of perfection. That there are three orders honorable in the sight of the Lord. The first is when a man is sick, & temptations are added to him, & he receives them with thanksgiving. The second is when one does all his works pure before God, having nothing human. The third is when one sits in subjection & the precepts of his spiritual Father, & renounces all his own wills.
[4] And in booklet 8, no. 4: A certain Eulogius, a Presbyter, came to Abbot Joseph at the place which is called Anepho, on account of guests he eats & is silent: believing that he would find with him some harder continence. And the old man receiving him with joy, made what he had prepared for him out of charity. But the disciples of Eulogius said: The Presbyter eats nothing but bread & salt. But the Abbot ate in silence. When they had spent three days, they did not hear them either singing psalms or praying: for their work was hidden, & they went out edified in nothing. But by God's dispensation a fog arose, & wandering from the way they returned to the old man: & before they knocked at the door, afterward he sings psalms. they heard them singing psalms. And when they had waited a long time to listen, afterward they knocked, & the old man received them again rejoicing. But those who were with Eulogius, because of the heat, took a little jug, & gave it to him to drink: but the water was mixed from the sea & a river, & he could not drink it. And as he pondered these things in his mind, he began to ask the old man that he might learn his rule, saying: What is this, Abba, that at first you did not sing psalms, but now you began, after we went out: & that when I wished to drink water, & he offers wine to these, being otherwise accustomed to drink water. I found it salt? The old man says to him: A brother was disturbed, & by error mixed sea-water. But Eulogius asked the old man, wishing to recognize the truth. And the old man said to him: That little cup is wine, which charity provides: but this is for the water which the brothers constantly drink. And by these words he taught him to have discretion of thoughts, & cut off from him all things moving his mind in a human way, & he was changed, eating thenceforth all the things that were set before him. For he learned to do those things in secret, & said to the old man: Surely your work is in charity.
[5] These things there. But in booklet 9, no. 5: Abbot Joseph asked Abbot Pastor saying: he teaches remedies against temptations, Tell me, how shall I become a monk. And the old man said to him: If you wish to find rest, both in this & in the future age, in every matter say: Who am I? & judge no one. These things are perhaps to be understood in the contrary way, that Pastor asked, & the old man Joseph answered, because of these things related in the following booklet 10, no. 29, where Abbot Pastor asked Abbot Joseph, saying: What shall I do when some temptations approach me: do I resist them or permit them to enter? The old man says to him: Let them enter & fight with them. otherwise for the elders So returning into Scete he sat: & it happened that a certain man coming from the Thebaid into Scete, related to the brothers that he had asked Abbot Joseph: When temptation approaches me, do I resist it or let it enter? And he had said to him: By no means let temptation into you, but cut it off quickly. But Abbot Pastor, hearing that Abbot Joseph had thus spoken to this man who had come from the Thebaid, rising again went to Panopho to Abbot Joseph, & says to him: Abba, I committed my thoughts to you, & you said otherwise to me, but otherwise to the Brother from the Thebaid. And the old man says to him: Do you know that I love you? otherwise the young must fight. And he answered: Yes. Did you not tell me that, as to myself, so I should tell you what I felt? For indeed if temptations enter, & you give & receive a fight with them, they will make you tried. But I spoke to you as to myself. But there are some, for whom it is not even expedient that the passions approach, but at once they ought to cut them off.
[6] Then in booklet 13, no. 9: Abbot Lot came to Abbot Joseph & said to him: Abba, he lifts up his fingers, like lamps of fire. according to my strength, I keep a modest rule, & a small fast, & prayer & meditation, & quiet; & according to my strength I strive to purge my thoughts, what then ought I to do besides? So the old man, rising, stretched out his hands to heaven, & his fingers became like ten lamps of fire, & he said to him: If you wish, you may become wholly like fire.
[7] Afterward in booklet 13, no. 1, these things are narrated: Certain of the Fathers once went to Abbot Joseph at Panopho, to ask him about the reception of Brothers who come to them; whether they ought to relax their abstinence with them, [by changing his garment he teaches how they should conduct themselves in conversation.] & rejoice with them. And before they asked him, the old man said to his disciple: Consider what I do today, & wait. And he placed two seats of rush bound in bundles, one on the right, & one on the left, & said: Sit. And he entered his cell, & clothed himself in old things. And going out he passed in the midst of them. And again he entered & clothed himself in his good clothes, which he had had before. And he went out again in the midst of them. But they, astonished at what the old man had done, asked him what this was, & he said to them: Did you see what I did? They said: Yes. And he said: Was I changed by the contemptible garment? And they said: No. And he himself said again: Was I harmed by the better garment? And they said: No. And he said: So I myself am the same in both: & just as I was not changed by the former garment, nor harmed by the latter; so we ought, in the reception of Brothers, to do as is read in the holy Gospel: Render the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, & the things that are God's to God. When therefore there is the presence of Brothers, we ought to receive them with joy: but when we are alone, we have need to mourn. But they, hearing, marveled: because the things which were in their heart,
that they might ask him, he recognized beforehand, & they glorified God. These things there: which also in another phrasing are read in book 3 under the name of Rufinus, no. 47.