Lucius, a companion of Longinus from Cilicia, was a monk in Syria and later abbot of Enaton. The heretics called Euchites were also known as Messalians, ‘those who pray’. This was a pietistic sect originating in Mesopotamia in the mid fourth century and spreading to Asia Minor, Egypt and Syria. It was condemned at the Council of Ephesus (431). The contrast between them in their dualism and over-spiritualized approach to prayer and the orthodoxy and common sense of the monks is made clear in this story.
“Some of the monks who are called Euchites went to Enaton to see Abba Lucius. The old man asked them, ‘What is your manual work?’ They said, ‘We do not touch manual work but as the Apostle says, we pray without ceasing.’ The old man asked them if they did not eat and they replied they did. So he said to them, ‘When you are eating, who prays for you then?’ Again he asked them if they did not sleep and they replied they did. And he said to them, ‘When you are asleep, who prays for you then?’ They could not find any answer to give him.
He said to them, ‘Forgive me, but you do not act as you speak. I will show you how, while doing my manual work, I pray without interruption. I sit down with God, soaking my reeds and plaiting my ropes, and I say, “God, have mercy on me; according to your great goodness and according to the multitude of your mercies, save me from my sins.” ‘So he asked them if this were not prayer and they replied it was. Then he said to them, ‘So when I have spent the whole day working and praying, making thirteen pieces of money more or less, I put two pieces of money outside the door and I pay for my food with the rest of the money. He who takes the two pieces of money prays for me when I am eating and when I am sleeping; so, by the grace of God, I fulfil the precept to pray without ceasing.’
Abba Lucius (c. 4th century) as cited by John Chryssavgis in In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom) 120-121.
Why cite a monk today, especially as today is the wedding of the couple Jenni and I have counseled this summer? The stepfather of the bride, Randy Kipp, reminds me of Abba Lucius. He drives for his work, so he calls himself the “mobile monk.” He prays faithfully for us and others as he does his daily work of driving, and he always greets people with peace! What’s this got to do with generosity? People who work, pray, eat, sleep, and care for the poor, are not only prayed for, they become generous conduits of God’s material and spiritual blessings.
Go and do likewise. Work, pray, eat, sleep, care for the poor, and be prayed for!