Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 4.4
What you will learn
- Explain why Christians began to go into the Egyptian desert in the third and fourth centuries.
- Describe the lives and teaching of Anthony, Macarius and Syncletica as the sources report them.
- Distinguish the solitary, the communal and the semi-communal forms of monastic life.
- Read a saying of the desert with attention to what it asks of the reader.
The big idea
In the third and fourth centuries, men and women began to leave the cities of Egypt and Syria to live lives of prayer, fasting and silence in the desert. They were called abbas and ammas, father and mother. Their sayings, collected in the following generations, are short, practical and often startling. They did not found a theology of argument. They offered a way of life: learning to pay attention, to resist the passions, to receive counsel and to love. Their influence on both Eastern and Western monasticism has been very large.
Key terms
- Abba and amma
- Aramaic and Coptic words for father and mother, used as titles for respected spiritual teachers in the desert. The word abba also appears in the New Testament.
- Anchorite
- From a Greek word meaning to withdraw. A monk or nun who lives alone or nearly alone.
- Cenobite
- A monk or nun who lives in community under a common rule.
- Apophthegmata Patrum
- The Greek title of the collection called the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Alphabetical and thematic collections exist.
- Asceticism
- From a Greek word for training. Practices such as fasting, vigil and silence meant to train the soul.
- Logismoi
- Greek for thoughts. In desert teaching, the inner suggestions or temptations that must be recognized and resisted.
- Apatheia
- Greek for freedom from disordered passions, a calm of soul. Evagrius of Pontus used the word for the goal of ascetic practice, and it is not the same as indifference.
Background
Before the fourth century, Christians who wanted to give themselves fully to God could remain in towns, practicing prayer and fasting, as many did. After persecution ended under Constantine, the church grew quickly and became comfortable. Many historians suggest that the desert movement was in part a response, a way for committed Christians to seek the demanding witness that martyrdom had once required. Later writers spoke of it as a kind of daily martyrdom. Others stress that the movement had many causes, including the strong ascetic traditions of Syria and Egypt.
The main sources are the Life of Anthony, attributed to Athanasius and written soon after Anthony’s death, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, the Lausiac History of Palladius, and later collections. These sources were written and edited after the events, and historians read them with some caution as portraits that shaped what later monks expected. They remain the best evidence available.
The movement included three main forms. Anchorites lived alone, usually near others. Pachomius, who died around 348, organized communities with a rule. Between them stood places such as Scetis, where monks lived in separate cells and gathered for worship on weekends.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Anthony
Anthony was born in Egypt around 251, according to the traditional dating, to a Christian family of means. Athanasius says that after his parents’ death he heard the Gospel read in church, where Jesus tells the rich young man to sell what he has and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21), and took it as spoken to him. He gave away his property, placed his sister in the care of consecrated women and went to live in solitude, first near his village and later in tombs and an abandoned fort.
The Life tells of long struggles with temptation, depicted as demons, and of his growing reputation. People came to him for counsel, and he came out to encourage Christians during persecution and, later, to oppose the Arians. Athanasius presents him as a figure of humility, hospitality and orthodoxy. He lived to be over a hundred, dying around 356. Historians debate how much of the Life is literal biography and how much a literary portrait written to promote an ideal.
Step 2: Macarius and the monks of Scetis
Macarius the Great, born around 300, settled in the desert of Scetis in northern Egypt and became a spiritual father to many. Stories portray him as gentle with the weak and severe with himself. Scetis became a center of monastic life, and later Greek and Latin writers such as John Cassian visited it. A set of spiritual homilies later attributed to Macarius circulated widely, though scholars think they were written by someone else, perhaps in Syria.
Step 3: Amma Syncletica and the desert mothers
Women also went to the desert or lived in ascetic communities. The Sayings include sayings of Ammas Syncletica, Sarah and Theodora. Syncletica, who is said to have come from a wealthy family in Alexandria, appears as a wise and realistic teacher. Her sayings compare the spiritual life to a ship in a storm, warn against pride in fasting and urge perseverance. She tells her listeners that they should not take on hardships out of vanity, since the goal is love and not display.
Because the sources were mostly transmitted and edited by men, historians debate how well they represent women’s lives. They agree that these women were respected teachers and that their sayings survived because others treasured them.
Step 4: The sayings and what they ask
The Sayings are brief. A young monk asks an elder for a word, and the elder gives a single sentence, often a challenge. One famous example advises a brother who asks for a word to go and sit in his cell, and says that the cell will teach him everything. The point is not a technique, but the discovery that running from the inner struggle does not solve it.
Common themes recur: humility, watchfulness over thoughts, silence, hospitality and mercy toward other people. In one story, an old monk is told to bear with the faults of a brother, and he does not condemn him. The desert tradition was intensely concerned with not judging others. It also taught that counsel from an experienced elder was needed, and that one should not trust one’s own judgment alone.
Step 5: Influence and cautions
Cassian carried desert teaching to the West, and the Rule of Benedict drew upon it. Evagrius of Pontus, a learned monk in Egypt, organized the teaching on thoughts and passions, and his scheme of eight thoughts later became the list of seven deadly sins. Evagrius’s other speculative ideas were condemned later, a reminder that desert tradition is not uniform.
Not everyone praised the movement. Some church leaders worried about extreme fasting, pride and the neglect of ordinary duties. The desert elders shared this concern and often warned against excess. A student should read the sayings both as a source of wisdom and as evidence for a culture with its own limits.
- Why might the desert have seemed a place to find God?
- What does it say that the elders usually sent visitors back to their own cells?
- How is the desert movement like and unlike martyrdom?
- What does it mean to watch over your thoughts?
- Why would a teacher answer a question with one sentence?
- What risks come with admiring extreme practices?
Examples
A word from an elder
A young monk asks Abba Moses for a word. The elder tells him to go and sit in his cell. The monk goes, and finds the advice harder than he expected. The saying remains a short course in staying put.
Hospitality over fasting
In one story, a monk breaks his usual fast to welcome a guest. When the guest leaves, he resumes it. The tradition says that charity comes before private discipline.
A ship in a storm
Syncletica compared the life of discipline to a ship that sails in storms, not in calm seas. The image says that hardship is not a sign that the life is wrong. It is part of the voyage.
Different perspectives
Orthodox
Orthodox Christians treat the desert fathers and mothers as saints and the basis of the monastic life. Anthony is called the father of monks. The Philokalia, a collection of ascetic and mystical writings, builds on the desert tradition.
Catholic
The Catholic Church honors Anthony, Macarius and others as saints. Monastic orders such as the Benedictines and Cistercians trace their roots to the desert tradition through Cassian and Benedict, and the Church values the contemplative life.
Protestant
The Reformers criticized monastic vows and the idea that monastic life is a higher calling, and Protestants generally teach that Christians serve God in ordinary callings. Many Protestants today read the Sayings for spiritual wisdom and the practices of silence and attention have found new interest.
Scholarly views
Historians study the desert tradition in its Egyptian setting, and some stress its continuity with older Egyptian and Jewish asceticism. They question how far the sources reflect actual practice, and how the Life of Anthony shaped later expectations. They also discuss the role of women.
Why it matters
The desert tradition offers a pattern of Christian life that does not depend on argument. It asks how a person can learn to pray, to resist anger and pride, and to love. Whether or not a student ever lives as a monk, the questions the elders ask are available to anyone, and the tradition shaped the whole of Christian spirituality, East and West.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The desert monks hated the body and the world.
Correction: They practiced strict discipline in order to love God and others, and their sources stress humility and hospitality. Some extremes existed, and the elders themselves warned against them.
Misunderstanding: All the monks lived alone and never saw anyone.
Correction: Many lived near others, received visitors and gathered for worship. Pachomius organized large communities.
Misunderstanding: Anthony founded the monastic movement.
Correction: Ascetics existed before him. He became its best-known figure largely through the Life, and Pachomius founded communal monasticism.
Misunderstanding: The Sayings are transcripts of what the elders said.
Correction: They were collected and edited decades later, and the details are shaped by those who transmitted them.
Knowledge check
Why did Christians go to the desert?
Reasons included a desire for a more demanding witness once martyrdom ended, the example of earlier ascetics and a wish for silence and prayer. Anthony is said to have followed Matthew 19:21 literally. Historians stress that the movement had several causes.
What is the difference between an anchorite and a cenobite?
An anchorite lives alone or nearly alone, often near other monks, while a cenobite lives in community under a common rule. Pachomius organized cenobitic communities, and places like Scetis combined features of both, with monks in separate cells who gathered for worship.
What are the Sayings of the Desert Fathers?
They are collections of short sayings and stories about the abbas and ammas of Egypt and Syria. They were written down and edited in the generations after the events. They stress humility, watchfulness over thoughts, hospitality and counsel from an elder.
How did the desert tradition reach the West?
John Cassian visited the monks of Egypt and wrote the Institutes and Conferences, which brought their teaching to Gaul. Benedict drew upon Cassian in his Rule, so the desert tradition shaped Western monasticism. Evagrius’s ideas on thoughts and passions also had influence.
Think it through
- What would it be like to be told to sit in your room and learn?
- Which saying or story from the desert do you find most challenging?
- How might a person take the desert teaching on humility into an ordinary job?
- What are the dangers of looking for a spiritual teacher?
Independent assignment
Three sayings
Read the sayings of Anthony, Moses and Syncletica in the library’s Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Copy one saying from each into your notebook. Under each, write 100 words on what it asks of a reader today, and on one question it raises. Aim for 350 to 500 words in all.
Further study
- Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony Read the opening chapters and the account of Anthony’s retreat.
- Benedicta Ward, trans., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection Read the sayings of Anthony, Macarius, Moses and Syncletica.
- John Cassian, The Conferences See how a Western monk reported the teaching he received in Egypt.
- Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of St. Benedict Read chapter 1 on the kinds of monks.
- Matthew 19:21 If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast.
- Mark 1:35 Jesus prays in a solitary place.
- Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.