Sisoès le Grand
IVᵉ siècle-vers 429 5th century
To begin again each day, never supposing one has arrived.
Who was Sisoès le Grand?
An Egyptian monk who withdrew to the inner mountain where Antony had lived and stayed there more than sixty years. He refused to pass for a master and sent his visitors back to their own cells. Those who attended his death report that he was still asking for time to begin his conversion.
In their own words
See, the angels have come to take me, and I am asking to be left a little longer to repent. They said to him: you have no need of repentance, father. He answered: truly, I do not know whether I have even begun.
A brother said to him: I have fallen. The old man answered: get up. I got up and I fell again. Get up again. Until when. Until you are taken, either in the good or in the fall.
Seek God, and do not seek where he dwells.