why should we put off our own salvation?"
The demons attacked Moses, trying to draw him back into his old ways of intemperance and impurity. He was tempted to such an extent, that he nearly failed in his resolution. So he went to his abba Isidore, and revealed all the details of the contest to him.
Isidore said, "Do not be discouraged. These were the beginnings, and for this reason they were the more severe as they attacked, since they were testing your character. A dog does not by nature stay away from a meat market, but only if the market is closed up and no one gives him anything does he stop coming by. So also in your case. If you stand firm, the demon will have to leave you in discouragement."
Moses continued to grow in faith, and in due time was considered a wise and holy abba himself, with disciples looking to him just as he had looked to abba Isadore......
A brother at Scetis commited a fault. A council was called to judge him, to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. So the priest sent another messenger to Moses, urging him to come, since all the brothers were waiting for him. So Moses took his oldest, worn-out, leaky basket. filled it with sand. placed it on his back, and went to join the council of judgment. When the brothers saw him arriving, they went out to great him, asking him why he had arrived so burdened. Abba Moses said, "My many sins run out behind me, and I do not even see them, and yet today I have come to judge the sins of someone else." The brothers relented, called off the council, and forgave their erring brother.
When Abba Moses was instructing one of his disciples, who was to become the great abba Poemen, he taught: "The monk must die to his neighbor and never judge him at all, in any way whatever. The monk must die to everything before leaving the body, in order not to harm anyone. If the monk does not think in his heart that he is a sinner, God will not hear him." Young Poemen asked, "What does this mean, to think in his heart that he is a sinner?" Abba Moses answered him, "When a person is occupied with his own sins, he does not see the sins of his neighbor."
The brothers were told to disperse and head into the hills, for the barbarian hordes were coming. But Abba Moses chose to stay there until the end came, saying that it was the day he had been expecting and awaiting, that the Lord's word would be fulfilled, that he who takes up the sword (as Abba Moses had when he was a gangster and murderer) would also perish by the sword. A few other brothers stayed with him when the rest fled. One of the brothers, who hid in a pile of rope and was not killed, saw the angels descend with crowns for the Abba and the other brothers with him.