Poemen, Pedagogue of the Desert: Judging to Discernment to Compassion

Poemen, Pedagogue of the Desert: Judging to Discernment to Compassion1 Tim Vivian (bio) "Pedagogue" is literally "someone who leads a child or student." Greek paidagōgós dates back to Euripides and Herodotus (both 5th c. BCE).2 The word doesn't occur in the systematic Apophthegmata and "to teach" and "teaching" are rare.3 But the word does have a link with early monasticism: paidagōgós derives in part from paȋs, "child." In the Apophthegmata, the sayings and stories of the desert fathers and mothers, "child" can mean "a young monk." In one saying, Poemen says to a troubled monastic brother, "Tell me, child, what's going on?" and "Don't get down, child."4 In this saying, the "shepherd," Poemen, like Jesus, fully shows his compassion for another. It's parental compassion, here from a Desert parent. Or the care a shepherd shows for his sheep; in John 10:11 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."5 In addition to empathy and compassion, what I so appreciate about the desert fathers and mothers is their honesty: not just their truth-telling but their truth-doing. If you gather together all of Poemen's sayings, you have large baskets overflowing with two hundred ears of freshly-picked corn with which you can fast and feast. In the very [End Page 25] first saying by or about this famous abba, we have a young Poemen who, concerned about thoughts he's having, returns to an elder for counseling. The elder, upon seeing the young monk's diligence, proclaims, "Shepherd of the [flocks]—and that will be the name you're known by throughout all Egypt!"6 Throughout all Egypt. Poemen the Great. Poemen (Poimḗn in Greek) means "shepherd."7 Thus, in the very first saying we see Poemen became an alter Christus, both Christ-Époux and a son of the good shepherd, Jesus.8 Poimḗn has derived meanings: "chief, leader"; "shepherd of souls, master, guide."9 In Poemen 1 of the alphabetical Apophthegmata, Poemen leads by showing, not telling. His actions picture for us someone on the spiritual path who acts: as Evagrius and the ammas and abbas tell us, thoughts, logismoí, very often hinder a monastic on his or her journey; they can prevent a seeker from reaching inward stillness and contemplative quiet, anápausis and hēsychía, and they can foreclose giving to those in need.10 Finding inward stillness and contemplative quiet and giving to those in need are three central early-monastic seekings and findings. Thus, even as a young monk, Poemen becomes paradigm and pedagogue. And, if we allow it, he becomes us, and we him. The very next saying, a sudden and jarring contrast, demonstrates this: Poemen may be great, but he's no Teflon saint. Païsius, the monastic or birth brother of Abba Poemen, is friends with someone outside his cell. (Do Païsius and Poemen share a cell?) Poemen, hurt, doesn't want this, so he gets up and hurries to Abba Ammonas and, whining, says to him, "Païsius, my brother, is friends with someone, and I don't have any inward stillness." Can we hear the petulant five-year old? We see here a very human Poemen, petty and jealous—and judgmental. Just as we can be. But—Poemen's also a person with self-understanding that such demeaning feelings are not good for the soul: so he seeks out help from a monastic elder. Abba Ammonas, a wise elder, doesn't ask [End Page 26] Poemen why he's put out, nor does he rebuke him. He says to him only, "Poemen, are you still among the living? Go on, sit in your cell,11 and keep it in your heart that you've already been in the tomb for a year."12 An Ash Wednesday liturgy takes place right here before us: ashes to ashes and dust to dust.13 If we're brave, that is, self-reflecting, we'll leave with ashes on our foreheads14—ashes that bear within them Easter. Ammonas' pedagogy is excellent: he doesn't...