The holy fathers of Scete predicted concerning the last generation, saying: “What have we accomplished?” In reply one of them, great in life and name, Abba Ischyrion, said: “We have carried out the commandments of God.” In reply the elders said: “But those who come after us, what will they accomplish?” He said: “They are going to attain the half of what we have done.” They said: “And what of those after them?” and he said: “Those of that generation will do no work at all. Temptation is going to come upon them and those who are found to be tried and tested in that age will be found greater both than us and than our fathers.”
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers