Orthdoox Parables and Stories: Elder Ephraim and Two Cats

Extract from the book by Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou, Arizona (Moraithis) "My Life with the Elder Joseph".

"And I had two cats, Pardalis and Arapis.
I trained my cats. One day, when it came to consumption, they sent me fresh butter. I was doing needlework in the workshop and suddenly I noticed that my cat's mustache turned white. He found the butter. He ate a year's worth of butter!

"That will be your first and the last time!

At night, I'd let the cats go so they could have their own vigil:

"Come on, I'm for the vigil and you're for the mice.

Nobody slept. When I finished the liturgy and went back to the hermitage, I told them:

"Come on, I'll give you the antidoron - cookies and caramel."

If Arapis was catching a mouse, he thought it was his duty to bring it to me. Arapis knew that I was in kelly and did not sleep: he brought a mouse and meowed. And I had to tell him, "Blessed!" and then he would eat it. Amazing cats!

When I was working, the cats sat in my basket, bullied each other and fought. I used to ask them:

"Who started first this time?"

They'd stand on their hind legs, and the front legs would lift up. How ridiculous they were! The elder told me:

"They're making fun of you, father."

When we were in the desert with the Elder, we had one cat who was stealing food straight from the pot when it was being prepared.

One day we saw Pardalis eating potatoes. Where did he just find them?! The elder wanted to catch him, the cat turned over on his back and raised his paws. I didn't hit him, that's when it was over. I couldn't hit him when he showed such humility. How could I hit him? I told him:

"God will forgive you. Finish your potatoes, and be done with."

Whatever sin a man commits, if he humbles himself, God does not punish him. If he does not humble himself, God starts to beat him until he asks for forgiveness. And when he asks for forgiveness, God forgives man.

One day, the Elder told me to bring fish. I went down to the sea. The cats came with me. I used to take them fishing with me. They would sit on the shore, wait for me, and look at the fish. I told them:

"Don't touch them, or I'll throw you into the sea."

Discipline! When the fishing was over, I said:

"You, Pardalis, you sit here Aripis."

I took a basket of fish and brought it to the pot to Geronda.

"You, Arapis, watch over the fish."

I went in, bowed to Geronda, and he asked me:

"And the fish?"

"The cat is watching over it."

"Well, father, he'll eat it."

We went out and saw that Arapis survived the battle with other cats, guarding the fish. He dispersed a flock of well-fed older cats, biting them and driving them to the roof. The elder, as soon as he saw this, asked:

"How did you manage to train them like that?"

-They obey Geronda.

When I sat at the meal, Arapis sat next to me. The brothers told him:

"Get out!"

And he didn't pay any attention, as if he wanted to say: "No, I'll be next to my elder."

One day, Geronda told me:

"Go to the cedar forest, eat some nuts, reinforce yourself, gain strength."

I went there. At night I could not fall asleep, because I left the cats with Geronda. On Friday I returned, on the way I sang "Resurrection Day." When I arrived, the Elder told me

"I must upset you: the cats are gone."

"They are not missing, Geronda," I answered him.

I went down to my kaliva, but I forgot my keys and shouted:

"Geronda! Drop the keys!"

"Meow meow," my cats climbed up.

The elder was amazed:

"Well, you trained them!"

It was a beautiful life: me and two cats, the desert, we are alone."