Horsiesius

Saint Horsiesius (also spelled Horsiesios) was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monk who served as the head of the Pachomian monasteries during the mid and late 4th century A.D. He is canonized as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Quotes

Veilleux, Armand (1982). Pachomian Koinonia III. Cistercian Studies 47. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications. pp. 171–224. As quoted in: Harmless, William (2004). Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0195162234. ISBN 978-0-19-516222-6. 

• Let us be even more vigilant, in the knowledge that God has granted us, through our father Pachomius, the great grace to renounce the world and consider as nothing all the worries of the world and the cares of worldly affairs. What opportunity has been left to us to have anything as our own, “from a thread to a shoe strap” (Gen. 14:23), since we have masters who “with fear and trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3) are so solicitous on our behalf both for food and clothing and during ill health, if it should occur, that we need not worry about anything and thereby lose the soul's benefits for the sake of the flesh? We are free; we have cast from our necks the yoke of enslavement to the world. And let us think of the traditions of our father as a ladder which leads to the kingdom of heaven.
  • Liber Horsiesii 21

• Therefore, brothers, let us be equal, from the least to the greatest, whether rich or poor, perfect in harmony and humility. Let no one look after his own pleasure when he sees a brother living in poverty and hardship; let this saying of the prophet be told of you, “Did one God not create [all of] you? Have you not all one father? Why has each of you abandoned his brother, thus profaning the covenant of your fathers? Judah has been forsaken, and abomination has been committed in Israel" (Mal. 2:10–11). Our Lord and Savior gave his apostles this precept, “I gave you a new commandment: Love one another, as I have loved you. By this you shall truly be known as my disciples” (John 13:34–35). We should, therefore, love one another and show that we are truly the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ and sons of Pachomius and disciples of the Koinonia.
  • Liber Horsiesii 23

• Therefore, let us be imitators of the saints and not forget the formation that our Father gave us while he was still alive. Let us not extinguish the burning lamp he placed above our heads. Walking [in] this world by the light of this lamp, let us remember that it is through his zeal that God has received us into his household. He gave a hospice to wayfarers, he showed a harbor of peace to those on a storm-tossed sea. [He provided] bread in hunger, shade in heat, clothing in nakedness. He instructed the ignorant by spiritual precepts. He encircled with chastity those enslaved by vices and joined to himself those from afar.
  • Liber Horsiesii 47