Shem`on the Graceful: Discourse on the Solitary Life

Description

THE LATE seventh century in the Syrian Church saw the flourishing of several noted monastic writers, amongst them Shem`on, a monk of an abbey in south-west Iran. Few of his writings remain, but this homily has been preserved as a model of instruction on the solitary life. Preached at the consecration of the cell of a monk embarking on the hermit life, it clearly states the disciplines required to live this form of ascetism, as well as the difficulties and dangers that will be encountered. Through this life of stillness (hesychia), the whole person lives centred on life in the resurrected Christ and in the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in the world. MARY HANSBURY is a student and translator of early Syriac literature and a trained iconographer. Her publications include translations of the writings of St Isaac of Nineveh, of John the Solitary and of the Letters of John of Dalyatha. Her translations of the Table Prayers of St Ephrem, Hymns of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (FP149) and The Prayers of Jacob of Serug (FP177), are published by SLG Press.