Abba Agathon

IVᵉ-Vᵉ siècle

Prayer understood as a fight, to the last breath.

Who was Abba Agathon?

A monk of Scetis, known for carrying a pebble in his mouth for three years until he had learned to keep silent. Going down to the town to sell his baskets, he took in a leper abandoned in the square and kept him beside him for the whole market. His brothers said he had never gone to sleep holding a grievance against anyone. Questioned on his deathbed, he refused to declare himself at peace.

In their own words

There is no harder work than praying to God. Every time a man wants to pray, his enemies try to stop him. Prayer is a fight to the last breath.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Agathon 9 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team

I have never gone to sleep holding a grievance against anyone, and, as far as it depended on me, I have let no one go to sleep holding a grievance against me.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Agathon 4 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team

I have done all I could to keep the commandments; but I am a man, and I do not know whether my work has pleased God, for God's judgement is not the judgement of men.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Agathon 29 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team