SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS: Ancient Christian Wisdom on Silence, Humility, and Prayer from the Monks of the Egyptian Desert

- An original clear-English rendering of the sayings, arranged by theme

- An introduction to the desert tradition and how to read it

- A who's who of the elders, a glossary, and a timeline

For some sixteen centuries, readers have turned to the short, piercing sayings of the hermits and monks who left the cities of the Roman world for the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Remembered as the Apophthegmata Patrum, these teachings are among the most loved voices in the history of Christian spirituality.

A brother asks a question. An elder answers in a handful of words, and the answer stays with the reader for years. Abba Anthony, Abba Arsenius, Abba Poemen, Abba Macarius, Amma Syncletica, Amma Sarah, and Amma Theodora speak here about silence, humility, patience, anger, temptation, hospitality, and prayer.

Nothing in these pages is abstract. Each saying comes from a life lived in a cell, on a few hours of sleep and a little bread, with the aim of becoming truly present to God and to other people. That is why the sayings still speak so directly to a noisy, hurried age.

The thirteen chapters follow the questions the brothers actually asked: how to leave the world behind, how to keep silence, how to face anger and temptation, how to receive a guest, how to begin again after a fall. Read a chapter at a time, or open at any page and let one saying carry you through the morning.

You will find:

- Counsel on guarding the tongue and keeping silence

- Stories of humility, failure, and starting again

- Practical wisdom on prayer, work, and patience with others

- Voices of both the desert fathers and the desert mothers

If you want a companion for the inner life, drawn from one of the oldest wells of Christian teaching, begin here.