Books on the Desert Fathers
Bringing Jesus to the Desert by Call Number: BR67 .N37 2011Publication Date: 2011
Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2004
The Desert Fathers: Translations from the Latin by Call Number: BR1705.A2 V525 1998Publication Date: 1998
Evagrius Ponticus by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2006
In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2008
Letters from the Desert: A Selection of Questions and Responses by Call Number: BR60 .B3713 2003Publication Date: 2003
Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2002
The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 1993
The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages by Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2001
Desert Fathers & Other Early Monastics
- Paul of Thebes, also called Paul the Hermit, c. 227-341 (opens new windowabout)
- biographical treatise by Jerome that describes Antony's quest to find Paul the Hermit, who was the first of the Christian hermits
- Anthony the Great, 251-356
- Athanasius' Life of St. Antony
- Chariton
- first monk in Palestine
- Hilarion
- Ammonas
- Pachomius, c. 290-346 (opens new windowabout)
- founds first cenobitic community at Tabennesi
- Paphnutius
- Eufinus of Aquileia
- Jerome
- founds a monastery near Bethlehem
- translates Pachomius' Rule into Latin
- opens new windowJohn Cassian, c. 360–c. 435 (opens new windowabout)
- writes his Conferences and Institutes
- Palladius of Helenopolis
- Simeon Stylites
- lives on a pillar in Antioch
- Life of St. Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severus, c. 363-c. 420
- Lausiac History by Palladius, c. 363–c. 430
- opens new windowApophthegmata Patrum ("Sayings of the Fathers"), c. end of 5th c.
- Benedict of Nursia
Desert Mothers
The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women by Call Number: BR195.M65 S93 2001Publication Date: 2001
Praying with the Desert Mothers by Call Number: BR195.M65 F67 2005Publication Date: 2005
Catalog Searches
- Monastic and religious life -- Historysubject search
3 Kinds of Desert Monasticism
- The hermit life: Characterized by isolation and austerity. Modeled by St. Antony. Located in lower Egypt
- The cenobitic life: A communal life of prayer and work. Modeled by the communities of monks or nuns led by Pachomius. Located in upper Egypt
- The semi-eremitic or the semi-cenobitic way, or middle way: A loosely connected group of monastic units, each comprised of two to six members, who followed a common spiritual elder, the first being Ammoun. Found in Nitria and Scetis, west of the mouth of the Nile River. Several of these cells would convene for communal worship on Saturdays and Sundays. Most of the "sayings of the Desert Fathers" came from this middle way.
- Adapted from John Chryssavgis, In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (34)
Coptic Desert Fathers
- Pambo
- Evagrius Pontus, 345-399
- Influenced John Cassian, 380-465
- "If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray, you are a theologian."
- Integrated theology and prayer
- Macarius the Great, c. 300-390
- founded monastery at Scetis
- Macarius of Alexandria
- Arsenius, 354-449
- tutored the sons of Emperor Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius
- disciple of John the Dwarf
- Poemen, d. c. 449
- Moses the Robber
- martyred c. 375