Power of a Good Word

Power of a Good Word

They say the Abba Macarius the Egyptian once went up from Scete to the Nitrian mountain. As he drew near to a certain place, he said to his disciple, "Pass on a little in front of me."

When he had done so there met him a certain heathen priest, who was running along and carrying some wood about the noon. That brother cried out to him, saying "O minister to devils, why are you running?"

The priest turned round and hit him with many severe blows, and left him with but very little breath remaining in him. He took up his wood and went on his way.

When he had gone a little further, the blessed Macarius met him on his journey, and said to him, "May you be helped, O man of labors?"

The priest was astonished, came to him and said, "What fair thing have you seen in me that you should salute me in this gracious fashion?"

The old man replied, "I see that you toil, and that you do not know that you are toiling for naught."

The he said to the old man, "At your salutation I also was very sorry, and I learned that you did belong to the Great God. But a wicked monk met me just before you did, he cursed me, and I hit him even unto death."

The Old man knew that it was his disciple of whom he spoke. The priest laid hold of the feet of Macarius, saying, "I will not let you go until you make me a monk."

They came to a place where the brother was ling, carried him and brought him to the church of the mountain. When the fathers saw the heathen priest with him, they marveled that he had been converted from the error, which he held. Abba Macarius took him and made him a monk, and through him many heathen became Christians.

Abba Macarius said, "An evil word makes wicked even those who are good, and a good word makes good even those who are wicked, as it is written."


Paradise of the Holy Fathers - Volume II:
Containing the counsels of the holy men and the questions and answers of the ascetic brethren generally know as "the sayings of the Fathers of Egypt"
Pages 54-55, St. Shenouda Coptic Monastery, Putty, NSW, Australia 2008