The Fathers do not treat speech as a social matter. They treat it as a matter of life and death.

Because speech reveals what the heart lives from.

A man may fast and remain proud. He may pray and remain full of illusion. He may withdraw outwardly and still remain inhabited by noise. But when he speaks, the truth emerges. The tongue betrays what the heart serves.

Christ says with terrifying simplicity, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34

He does not say the mouth creates. He says the mouth reveals.

Speech is the manifestation of inner condition.

The Evergetinos preserves the fierce sobriety of the Fathers on this point because they knew that speech is not neutral. Speech either dissipates the heart or gathers it into God.

Abba Arsenius fled from men not because he hated them but because he feared what his own mouth might do. He had been formed in the courts of emperors. He knew the seduction of words. He knew how easily speech strengthens the illusion of the self.

He heard a voice saying, “Flee, be silent, pray always.”

Not because silence is virtuous in itself, but because silence exposes the poverty of the heart.

When a man falls silent, he encounters himself.

He encounters the anxiety that drives speech.

The need to affirm himself.

The need to be seen.

The need to exist in the minds of others.

Speech often becomes the way the ego sustains its continuity.

Each word reinforces the illusion that the self is real, stable, necessary.

This is why idle speech is so dangerous. Not because the words themselves are always evil, but because they feed the false center.

St. John Climacus writes that talkativeness is the throne of vainglory, the sign of ignorance, the doorway of slander, and the cooling of compunction.

Every unnecessary word strengthens forgetfulness of God.

Not dramatically. Quietly.

Almost imperceptibly.

The heart that was once gathered becomes scattered.

The attention that was once turned inward toward repentance becomes turned outward toward managing impressions.

A man begins by speaking carelessly.

He ends by living carelessly.

The Evergetinos recounts how the elders guarded their speech with ferocity. Not because they had nothing to say, but because they feared losing the presence of God.

They understood that the more a man speaks, the more he lives outside himself.

And the more he lives outside himself, the more he forgets God.

Abba Poemen said, “If a man remembers that he must give an account of every idle word, he will choose silence.”

Not because silence is safer socially.

Because silence is safer spiritually.

Christ Himself says, “For every idle word men speak, they will give account on the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36

Every idle word.

This is not exaggeration. It is revelation.

Because every idle word strengthens a life lived apart from God.

Speech gives substance to illusion.

It allows the ego to feel real.

To feel present.

To feel established.

This is why men fear silence.

Silence removes reinforcement.

Silence reveals instability.

Silence reveals dependency.

Silence reveals that without constant affirmation, the ego begins to tremble.

The Fathers did not seek silence as technique. They sought silence as truth.

In silence, a man begins to see that he does not yet exist in God.

He exists in the reflection of himself in the minds of others.

Speech sustains that reflection.

Silence destroys it.

This destruction feels like death.

Because something is dying.

The false self that lives from recognition.

The Evergetinos shows us elders who would rather appear foolish than speak unnecessarily. Who would rather remain misunderstood than protect themselves with words.

Because they had discovered something terrible and liberating.

Words cannot save the soul.

Only God can save the soul.

And God is found not in noise, but in poverty.

St. Isaac the Syrian writes that the man who has come to know himself guards his tongue as one standing before fire.

Because he knows how easily the heart can be emptied of grace.

Speech is not evil.

But uncontrolled speech reveals an uncontrolled heart.

The man who speaks constantly has not yet learned to stand before God.

Because the man who stands before God begins to see himself truthfully.

And seeing himself truthfully, he loses the need to speak.

Not because he despises others.

Because he no longer needs to sustain himself.

His life begins to be hidden with Christ in God.

And the tongue, once restless and hungry, becomes quiet.

Not forced into silence.

But stilled by the presence of God.

This is the path the Fathers walked.

They did not seek eloquence.

They sought reality.

And reality begins when the mouth stops protecting the self and the heart begins to stand naked before God.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:32 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 354 para 4

00:03:51 Angela Bellamy: I apologize for my mic. I didn't realize it had activated.

00:04:01 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "I apologize for my m..." with 👍

00:10:47 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org

00:12:27 Angela Bellamy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/when-the-desert-fathers-saw-snow

00:12:30 Jessica McHale: City a Desert videos are GREAT!

00:13:29 Angela Bellamy: I love this, Father:He immediately cried out, “Abba, it burns!”

00:13:46 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "He immediately cried..." with 👍

00:14:02 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 354, 4

00:21:15 Anthony: Silly chatter is a problem. But are these monks being legalist or fundamentalist about the teaching of Jesus that we will be judged for every word? Or is their teachings mostly for the "trade" of being a monk?

00:28:58 Angela Bellamy: The bible says much about speech. Not just in James but various places. Some are to not take council with the scornful (the bitter or angry) and not to complain. It says even to not give advice as well as gossip and slander. I have been struggling for the good portion of a year and still I struggle and it is always at niceties, or pleasantries that I get sucked into idle words. I wish they told us how, like a "life hack" or "Ted Talk" 😅

00:38:51 Anna: Jesus prayer 300 knot rope helps me get through conversations with less words.

00:42:04 Anthony: I don't recall Captain Kirk getting, say, syphilis.....

00:42:44 Anthony: Pushing boundaries on TV, but not paying costs.

00:43:52 John ‘Jack’: I’ve often said A I  is only as smart as the most ignorant person on the internet… that’s scary!

00:46:05 Bob Čihák, AZ: I've been saying that AI doesn't stand a chance against Genuine Stupidity. Even stupid people are more creative than computers.

00:48:47 Anthony: Also AI teachings supposedly from the Pope

00:53:49 Angela Bellamy: I am not sure if it has come up yet but I've noticed that when a problem has been resolved inside, if I complain again, I'm again rekindled to having issue. I think this is how I understand it being so important to not speak unnecessarily.

00:55:27 Anna: Can you explain your thoughts on social posting and it being consumerism so not to post.

00:58:07 Forrest: From the wiktionary entry, the Greek word for "Circular" in this passage is στρογγυλὸς, which could be also translated as "pithy" or "terse". Some etymologists think the root came from "droplet", since they are round.

01:04:01 Anna: Thank you Fr Charbel

01:11:23 Jessica McHale: It's been enlightening for me -- expecially about "commercializing" our time with God. Thank you.

01:11:53 Angela Bellamy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

01:12:21 Joan Chakonas: Where did the hour go??  These sessions are so fast.

01:13:04 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:13:18 Angela Bellamy: 🙏

01:13:22 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father!