Joseph of Panephysis

Abba Joseph of Panephysis was one of the Desert Fathers quoted in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers).

Quotes

Ward, Benedicta (1984). The sayings of the Desert Fathers: the alphabetical collection. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications.

• Abba Poemen said to Abba Joseph, 'Tell me how to become a monk.'
  He said, 'If you want to find rest here below, and hereafter, in all circumstances say, Who am I? and do not judge anyone.'
  • Saying 2

• Abba Joseph said to Abba Lot, 'You cannot be a monk unless you become like a consuming fire.'
  • Saying 6

• Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?'
  Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven.
  His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'
  • Saying 7

• A brother asked Abba Joseph this, 'I want to leave the monastery, and live as a solitary.'
  The old man said to him, 'Go wherever you find your soul is most at peace, and stay there, without blame.'
  The brother said to him, 'But I am at peace both in the monastery and in the solitary life; will you tell me what to do?'
  The old man said to him, 'If you are at peace both in the monastery and in the solitary life, put these two thoughts as it were in the balance and wherever you see your thoughts will profit most and make progress, that is what you should do.'
  • Saying 8