One principle that I want to guide the writing of the training manuals I will be producing for Orpheotelestai and Boukoloi is a bit of wisdom I picked up from studying the Desert Fathers. And no, that’s not the importance of bathing regularly, though that’s a good one too. (Especially if you’ve read anything about the Stylites.) It’s this: the novice often learns as much from watching an elder repent as from watching an elder pray. This is what makes a good leader. Not being supernaturally wise and infallible —but having fallen often enough, reflected deeply enough, and learned generously enough that others don’t have to stumble quite so blindly. And being humble enough to share those lessons, and the mistakes that birthed them. That’s true wisdom in action.