The following quotation has begun to spread online through “quotation” websites:
You fast, but Satan does not eat. You labor fervently, but Satan never sleeps. The only dimension with which you can outperform Satan is by acquiring humility, for Satan has no humility. – Saint Moses the Black.
Indeed this was posted on Twitter yesterday, with the comment: “An absolute banger of a quote from Moses the Black.” The source is the OurChurchSpeaks site, also on Instagram.
But is it genuine?
Moses the Black, also known as Moses the Robber, is one of the Desert Fathers who appears in the various collections of sayings and lives.
The Apothegmata Patrum collection exists in two versions, the “alphabetical” collection, and the “systematic” collection (there is a third version, of anonymous sayings, known as the “anonymous” collection). The “alphabetical” collection was translated by Sr Benedicta Ward, “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers – The Alphabetical Collection” (1984), and Moses the Black is on p.138-143. But this contains nothing like our quotation.
The “Systematic” collection was translated by John Wortley, The Book of the Elders: Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Systematic Collection, (2012). This contains a number of sayings by Moses the Black, but not ours.
The “Anonymous” collection was also translated by John Wortley, The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Cambridge (2013). The section on humility does not contain our saying.
The “Lausiac History” of Palladius also devotes a section to Moses the Black, here known as Moses the Ethiopian. The ACW 34 (1965) translation gives this on pp.67-70. But this too contains nothing like our quotation.
This raises questions about whether the saying is authentic.
A search in Google Books produces no results. This is surprising, because books of sayings and quotations are in there. It tends to suggest that this is a very recent coinage, and from an online source.
A Google search using a custom date range produced decent results only from 2022 onwards. There were a few hits before then, but these seemed in fact to date later or otherwise be illusory.
In the absence of definite evidence, I would recommend caution. But it looks like a fake quote.
Update: My thanks to Dr Sever Voicu who points out in the comments that this is indeed a saying of the desert fathers, although not attributed to Moses the Black. It can be found in the “Systematic Collection”, chapter 17, paragraph 32, and is translated by John Wortley thus:
32. The fathers used to say, “The devil can imitate everything. As for fasting, he never ate; as for watching, he never slept. But humble-mindedness and love he cannot imitate. So let there be a great effort on our part to have love within us and to hate pride, through which the devil fell out of heaven.” – John Wortley, p.308.
So the saying is authentic – obviously paraphrased slightly – but the attribution is not.
Thank you, Dr V.!
I had forgotten, but I found that in 2018 I wrote a bibliographical post on the various collections of sayings. It’s here.
TLG =
2. APOPHTHEGMATA Eccl. et Gnom. Apophthegmata patrum (collectio systematica) (cap. 17-21) {2742.013} Chapter 17 paragraph 32 line 2
Thank you! I will look.
I have run into problems like this before. Online quotations tend to never be properly cited or sometimes even paraphrased or altered. I wouldn’t trust anything that cannot be sourced.
Nor me! But interesting if it is indeed there! (I can’t access the TLG so trying to find out what edition that reference is based on – anybody know?).
Found it: it’s the SC edition, SC 498, which I do have access to. It’s on p.33, where the Greek is given with French facing translation. It’s not attributed to anyone, but it’s plainly the same bit. I will update the post.
Here’s the SC French, with the Google translate of it and the real translation by John Wortley.
The TLG canon entry is:
Thank you, Dr Voicu!
Dear Roger,
Indeed, the quote is genuine, though maybe not to be attributed to St Moses the Ethiopian… I know it through the coptic apophtegmata of St Macarius the great, once in
Macaire copte 6.
Un jour qu’Abba Macaire se rendait de l’oued à sa cellule, portant des palmes, le diable le
rencontra sur le chemin avec une faux, il cherchait à la lever et ne pouvait pas. Il lui dit : “ta
violence ! Macaire, je ne peux rien contre toi, voici ce que tu fais, je le fais aussi : tu jeûnes, et
moi je ne mange pas du tout ; tu veilles, et moi, je ne dors pas du tout ; il n’y a qu’une chose
par laquelle tu l’emportes sur moi.” Abba Macaire lui dit : “Qu’est-ce ?” Il lui dit : “C’est ton
humilité. A cause de ton humilité, je ne peux rien contre toi.” Et lorsqu’il eut étendu ses
mains, le diable disparut.
and once in the “Virtues of St Macarius”
Vertus d’abba Macaire 2.
Un jour qu’abba Macaire allait de l’oued à sa cellule, portant des palmes, le diable le rencontra
sur le chemin avec une faux qu’il chercha à faire tomber sur lui. Ne le pouvant pas, il lui dit :
“Ô violence ! Toi, Macaire, je ne peux rien contre toi ; car voici, ce que tu fais, je le fais aussi
tu jeûnes et je ne mange jamais, tu veilles et je ne dors pas du tout ; il n’y a qu’une chose en
laquelle tu me surpasses.” Abba Macaire lui dit : “Quelle est cette chose ?”
Il lui dit : “C’est ton humilité : à cause de ton humilité je ne peux rien contre toi.” Et lorsque le
saint eut étendu ses mains, le démon disparut et le saint marchait, rendant gloire à Dieu.
https://archive.org/details/MacaireLeGrand
A curiosity: there is a similar passage in the Liber de modo bene vivendi, attributed in the past to St. Bernard (PL184 1262B):
(Interrogatio.) Frater dilecte, dic mihi si aliquid timeat diabolus. (Responsio.) Soror amabilis, nihil est quod diabolus tantum timeat, quantum concordiam et charitatem. Nam si totum quod habemus, damus propter Deum; hoc diabolus non timet, quia ipse nihil habet. Si jejunamus, hoc diabolus non timet, quia ipse nunquam comedit; si vigilamus, hoc diabolus non timet, quia ipse nunquam dormit: sed si charitatem et concordiam tenemus, hoc diabolus vehementer timet. Quare? Quia hoc tenemus in terra, quia ipse in coelo tenere noluit.
This sounds like an echo of that saying, substituting concordia for ταπεινοφροσύνη (humility). I don’t know if there are other instances of its survival in the Western tradition. Perhaps it was included in the Latin collections of sayings?
Transcribed the Greek from the SC:
@Diego That does sound like a version via a Latin translation, doesn’t it.
A kind commenter sent me an email with some comments:
@Albocicade: sorry – the spam filter caught your commment for some reason. Thank you for this! It’s the same idea again.
Maybe it’s connected to James 2:19: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.