Three Thoughts

Ἠρώτησεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Λογγῖνος τὸν ἀββᾶν Λούκιόν ποτε τρεϊς λογιμσοὺς, λεγων· Θέλω ξενιτεῦσαι. Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Ἐὰν μὴ κρατήσῃς τῆς γλώσσης σου, οὐκ εἶ ξένος, ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέλθῃς. Καὶ ὧδε οὖν κράτησον τῆς γλὼσσης σου, καὶ ξένος εἶ. Λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν· Θέλω νηστεῦσαι. Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ γέρων· Εἶπεν Ἠσαῗας ὁ προφήτης· Ἐὰν κάμψῃς ὠς λοιὸν καὶ κρικον τὸν τράχηλόν σου, οὐδὲ οὕτως κληθήσεται νηστεία δεκτή· ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον κράτησον τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν. Λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· Θέλω φυγεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ γέρων· Ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον κατορθώσῃς μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ καταμόνας δύνασαι κατορθῶσαι. Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.256c

One time father Longinus asked father Lucius about three thoughts saying, 'I wish be an exile.' The elder said to him, 'If you do not control your tongue, you will not be an exile anywhere you would go. Control your tongue here and you will be an exile.' Again he said to him: 'I wish to fast,' the elder replied, 'Isaiah the prophet said: 'If you bend your neck like a rope or a bulrush, that shall not be called an acceptable fast.' 1 Rather control your wicked thoughts.' A third time he said to him: 'I wish to flee men.' The elder replied: 'If you have not first lived rightly among men, you will not be able to live rightly alone.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia 1 Isaiah 58.5