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| Holy Abba Ares (Feast Day - December 13) |
Verses
The divine Ares was not the Ares inclined towards anger,
Rather he is gentle, and he walked the earth gently.
Rather he is gentle, and he walked the earth gently.
The Holy Abba Ares, who reposed in peace, is recorded to have had the following conversation in the Gerontikon:
Abba Abraham went to see Abba Ares. They were sitting together when a brother came to the old man and said to him, "Tell me what I must do to be saved." He replied, "Go and for the whole of this year eat only bread and salt in the evening. Then come back here and I will talk to you again." The monk went away and did this.
When the year was over he came back to Abba Ares. Now by chance it happened that Abba Abraham was there again. Once more the old man said to the brother, "Go and for the whole of this year fast for two days at a time."
When the brother had gone, Abba Abraham said to Abba Ares, "Why do you prescribe a light burden on all the brethren, while you impose such a heavy burden on this brother?" The old man replied, "Other brothers come and ask questions and go away as they came, but this brother comes to hear a word for God's sake, and he is a mighty laborer of God who takes the greatest trouble to do whatever I tell him. It is because of this that I speak the word of God to him."