Linda - November, 2022 - St. Arsenius, who is perhaps my favourite desert father, was born in Rome in the year 350 or 360.  Because his father was a rich senator, he became a well educated man which then drew the attention of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius I who needed a tutor for his two sons. So Arsenius went to Constantinople in 383 and began to educate the two princes while living at court. It was a sumptuous life, but over time, he felt a growing desire to leave this life and renounce the world.

Having been formed by very righteous parents who had seen to his spiritual formation, Arsenius was a man of prayer.  While at prayer one day, he asked the Lord, "Teach me how to be saved".  The accounts differ as to what the Lord answered but I prefer