Abba John and the Lost Guide
A guide loses his way on the edge of the merciless Egyptian desert, but Abba John is too kind-hearted to tell him.
339-405
A guide loses his way on the edge of the merciless Egyptian desert, but Abba John is too kind-hearted to tell him.
339-405
Abba John Colobus (?339-?405), sometimes called John the Dwarf, was a monk and abbot of a monstery in Scetis in western Egypt, on the edge of the desert. Remembered today mostly for an act of remarkable obedience, in this short tale he teaches another important virtue: tact.
ONE night, Abba John went up from Scetis with some of the other brethren;* and as they went, the brother who was their guide missed his way in the dark. The others whispered to Abba John, ‘What shall we do, father? Our brother has lost his way; and if we go on after losing our way we are sure to die.’
The elder replied, ‘But if we tell him, he will be grieved and ashamed. So look, I shall make myself out to be ill, and say I cannot go any further, but must wait here until morning.’ And that is what he did. And the others said, ‘We will not leave either, but sit with you.’ And they sat there until morning, and their brother was not upset.
Scetis is known today as Wadi el Natrun, Egypt. It lies some 60 miles southeast from the coastal city of Alexandria; the modern capital, Cairo, is another 55 miles further to the southeast. Hard to the west of Scetis, Egypt’s Western Desert stretches away into sand and dry, rocky hills.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What did the monks complain to John about?
They thought their guide had got lost.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Some Egyptian monks went walking in the desert. It was night. Their guide lost his way.