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The old man Joseph used to say: ' I went on one occasion to Abba Poemen and found many old men with him, and behold, a certain man had brought a youth who was a kinsman of Abba Poemen, and whose face had been turned backwards through the operation of the Evil One; and when his father saw the multitude of the old men who were coming to Abba Poemen, he took him and brought him outside the door of the monastery, and sat down there and wept. Now when one of the old men had ended his business, and was going forth [from the building], he saw him, and said to him, 'Why do you weep, O man?' The father of the youth said to him, 'I am of the family of Abba Poemen. A trial has come upon this youth, but we are afraid to take him to him, for he refuses to see us, and now, if he learns that I am here, he will send and drive me away; but when I knew that you were coming here, I ventured to come also. And he cast the youth down on the ground at his feet, and wept, saying, 'If you will, have mercy on me, and take this youth inside, and pray over him' ; and the old man took him and carried him in with him to Abba Poemen. Now the old man acted wisely in the matter, and he did not take the youth at once to Abba Poemen, but beginning with the last of the brothers who was there, he brought the youth to each and every one of them, saying, ' Make the sign of the Cross upon this youth'; and having brought him alike to all the brothers and to all the old men who were there, finally he brought him to Abba Poemen, but the blessed man refused to touch him. Thereupon a contention arose, and they all entreated him, saying, 'Father, do you even as we all have done ' ; then Abba Poemen sighed, and he rose up and prayed, and said, 'O God, heal that which you have fashioned so that it may not be destroyed by the Enemy,' and he finished his prayer, and made the sign of the Cross over him, and straightway the face of the youth was made straight, and he was healed. And Abba Poemen gave him to his father made whole, so he took him and departed with rejoicing.
Q: "What does one learn in the
desert?"
Father Mina: "To have
an authentic sincere Love towards Christ"
Q: "What experience of God do we make here?"
Father Mina: "We make
the experience of the personal intimate friendship
with the person of the Lord Jesus-Christ... The
interior real lived sentiment of the intimacy with the
Lord: I Am with you."
Q: "Thank you"
Father Mina was
the first companion of Father Matta El-Maskine, one of
the first 7 hermits of the Saint Macarius Monastery. He
lives here in the manner of the first monks of the
desert.
La
lumière du désert 
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