From the Desert Fathers.
Abba Pambo sent his disciple to Alexandria to buy supplies for his work. There, he spent sixteen days, sleeping at night in the narthex of the church in the sanctuary of St Apostle Mark. After hearing the akolithia of the church and learning some troparia, he returned to the elder, who said to him: I see that you are troubled, my child. Did you fall into some temptation in the city?
The brother answered: By the heavens, Abba, how we waste our time in this desert, chanting neither canons nor troparia. In Alexandria, I heard how the priests in the church chant, and it saddened me. Why don’t we chant canons and troparia? The elder answered: Woe to us, my child. Soon will come the day when monks give up the solid food that is the Word of the Holy Spirit to put on hymns and tones. What compunction, what tears can come from these troparia when one behaves thus in church or in a cell, raising his voice to mooing like a cow? Remember, we stand before God and should act in His presence with compunction and without pretense. Monks have not come to this solitude to hold their heads up high, vomit up canticles, beat out melodies, wave their hands, and hop from one foot to the other. Instead, with fear and trembling, tears and wailing, with one voice full of reverence and drawn from compunction, should we offer our prayers to God in meekness and humility.
I foresee, my child, that there will come a time when Christians will pervert the lives of the Holy Apostles and divine prophets. They will rub out Holy Scripture to put in its place troparia and Hellenic discourses. Their spirits will be overcome by admiration for the latter, and be disgusted by the former. This is why the Fathers told us that the inhabitants of the desert should record the Lives and Words of the Fathers on papyrus, and not on parchment. A generation is coming that will set about erasing the Lives of the Fathers, replacing them with their own caprices. Great will be the calamity that follows.
The brother answered: How this come to pass? Will the customs and traditions of Christians be changed? Won’t there be any more priests in the churches? The elder replied: During these days, the charity of many will grow cold and tribulations will not be small. Nations will be besieged and peoples displaced. Kingdoms will topple. Priests will be lackadaisical and monks, negligent. Higoumenes will despise their own welfare and that of their flock. All will be excited and engrossed by the dining table. They will be fighters, but slow to pray. They will rush to disparage, always ready to judge from on high, without wanting to imitate, much less understand the Lives and Words of the Fathers. They will argue amongst themselves, saying: if we had lived in their time, we would have fought, too. During these days, bishops will hold the mighty in high regard, measuring all by their venality, ignoring the plight of the poor, oppressing widows and condemning orphans. Then will unbelief, hate, enmity, jealousy, intrigue, theft and drunkenness spread among peoples.
The brother asked: What will one do under these conditions in these days? And the elder answered: My child, in these days, he who will save his soul will save it, and he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
