An Introduction to the Desert Fathers

Description

Christian monasticism emerged in the Egyptian deserts in the fourth century AD. This introduction explores its origins and subsequent development and what it aimed to achieve, including the obstacles that it encountered; for the most part making use of the monks' own words as they are preserved (in Greek) primarily in the so-called Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Mainly focussing on monastic settlements in the Nitrian Desert (especially at Scêtê), it asks how the monks prayed, ate, drank and slept, as well as how they discharged their obligations both to earn their own living by handiwork and to exercise hospitality. It also discusses the monks' degree of literacy, as well as women in the desert and Pachomius and his monasteries in Upper Egypt. Written in straightforward language, the book is accessible to all students and scholars, and anyone with a general interest in this important and fascinating phenomenon. Editorial Reviews Book Description An accessible introduction exploring how the earliest Christian monks lived and taught in the Egyptian deserts in the fourth to the seventh centuries AD, using their own tales and sayings. Shows the gradual transformation of their essentially solitary existence into communal co-existence which defined the monasteries of the Middle Ages. About the Author John Wortley is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Manitoba, Canada. His publications include The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Cambridge, 2013) and More Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Cambridge, forthcoming). Preface page xi Acknowledgements xiii Glossary xv Notes on the Text xix List of Abbreviations xxi Maps xxiii 1 Desert Fathers 1 Pachomius and Palaemon 1 Motivation 3 How Can I Be Saved? 5 Th e Means and the End 8 Other Meanings of ‘Saved’ 9 ‘Flee from Men’ 11 Staying the Course: Humility 12 2 Beginnings 16 Alone- ness 16 Antony the Great 18 Th e ‘Mountain’ of Nitria 19 Kellia 20 Scêtê 22 Th e ‘Four Churches’ of Scêtê 24 3 Becoming a Monk 28 Finding a Mentor 28 Th e Monastic Habit 30 Obedience 33 Th e Importance of the Cell 34 Th e Nature of the Cell 37 Building the Cell 38 4 Impediments to Progress 42 Logismos, - oi 42 Porneia 43 Accidie 45 5 Th e Object of the Exercise 48 Silence 48 Loose Talk 50 Hesychia 51 Repose 53 6 Prayer 56 Continuous Prayer 56 Th e Little and the Great Synaxis 57 Scripture and Apothegms 58 Continuous and Occasional Prayer 59 ‘Casting’ One’s Prayer 60 Psalms 61 Meditation 62 Saying and Singing 63 7 Discretion 66 When Discretion Is Appropriate 66 Th e Aristotelian Mean 67 Proportion and Measure 69 Cassian on Discretion 71 Th e Royal Road [ hê hodos basilikê ] 72 Acquiring Discretion 73 8 Work 78 Th e Importance of Work 78 Work and Trade 79 Other Kinds of Work 80 Paper- Making 83 Harvesting 84 9 Eating and Drinking 87 Regular and Occasional Fasting 87 Bread 90 Salt 92 Wine 93 10 Hospitality and Neighbourliness 98 Th e Monk’s Dilemma 98 Visiting 104 Community 105 Neighbours 108 Judge Not 110 Slandering 111 11 Women in the Desert 116 Women Visiting 116 Less- Respectable Visitors 118 Monks Visiting Women 121 Demons as Women 123 Women Disguised as Monks 124 Women Ascetics 125 Children and Youths in the Desert 127 Women’s Monasteries 130 12 Literacy 137 Reading and Meditating 137 Literate and Illiterate Fathers 138 Th eft and Possession of Books 139 Disposing of Books 141 Other Literature 143 Reading Time 144 Location of Books 145 13 Heresy 147 Th e Christological Controversies 147 Th e First Origenist Controversy 149 Heresy of Individuals 152 Melchizedek 153 Eucharistic Questions 154 14 Th e Pachomian Experiment 156 Pachomius Again 156 Palladius’ Testimony 157 Pachomian Rules 161 Upper and Lower Egypt 164 Notes on the Sources 167 Bibliography 185 Index 189