The Desert Fathers

Introduction

The book The Desert Fathers is a compilation of the biographies, sayings, and practices of the earliest Christians who separated themselves from the world and retreated to the desert in an effort to live a life closer to God and conform themselves to the model of the life of Christ, who Himself was in the desert for 40 days 1.
The book contains an introduction by Helen Waddell, who also translated the book into English.  Ms. Waddell’s efforts come through beautifully when reading this book for two reasons:  Firstly, the translation into English allows the beauty of the original works to shine through without coming across as stilted or old-fashioned.  Though many people find the prose of Shakespeare quite beautiful, many a modern reader who is unfamiliar with that style of writing will come away frustrated at the effort required to read and comprehend the given passages.  In contrast, a tone that comes across as too casual would render the words of such saintly men as nothing more serious than a post someone would find on Facebook.  Ms. Waddell manages to find perfect medium between these two extremes and translates the works into a flowing and easily read, yet quite beautiful prose.
Secondly, Ms Waddell precedes each chapter of this book with an introduction that provides history and background to not only the work, but the writer and/or translator of the works themselves.  This lends insight into why, for example, Saint Jerome, chose to translate the biography of Saint Paul the Hermit 2.  It also shows the influence that the Desert Fathers had on many of the saints in the early part of church history, such as Saints Jerome, Athanasius, and Ephraim of Edessa.

Overview

The book begins with a biography of the life of Saint Paul the Hermit, who is considered the first Christian to live life as a hermit in the desert.  His example was followed by Saint Atony, who many, even within his own life, mistakenly believe to be the first Christian monk, though Antony himself said he was inspired by the example of Saint Paul the Hermit and sought out his spiritual insight 3.
Moving on from Saint Paul the Hermit, the next chapter gives a history of the monks of Egypt, detailing how the early monastic communities were formed and the methods they used to overcome their vices, defeat sin, and grow closer to God.  These communities helped to develop various “rules”, or “ways of living” that would later go on to be further refined and developed by others such as Saint Basil and Saint Benedict 4.
The next three chapters are labeled simply “the sayings of the fathers” and give just that – a collection of the sayings of these Desert Fathers on such topics as perfection, the importance of silence, self restraint, avoiding fornication, detachment from worldly goods, patience, charity, discretion, sobriety, prayer, mercy, obedience, humility, love, and contemplation.  The Desert Fathers lent their insight to a variety of topics which they had come to knowledge about through many years of solitude, prayer and fasting.  These saying were compiled because of their timeless value, as demonstrated by their use and veneration by Christians from the fourth century until the present day.
The next chapter is a brief explanation by Cassian of Marseilles regarding acedia and how to overcome it by mortification.  Acedia is what we refer to in English as “sloth”, though the word has entered into the popular vernacular to mean nothing more than laziness.  The original meaning of the term was much deeper though, since it dealt with laziness or refusal to perform needed actions in our spiritual life.  It’s a  boredom or resentment of our spiritual duty to pray and grow closer to God 5.  This was a topic dealt with quite frequently by the early monks and Cassian explains how the process of mortification is vital in overcoming acedia.  Cassian made great contributions to theological writing, and it is thought that his concepts of that eight principle vices were the basis for the development of the theology surrounding the Seven Deadly Sins 6.
After this, we are given fragments of the Paradisus and the Pratum Spirituale, both of which deal with various topics and give more sayings and stories from the Desert Fathers.
Finally, the book concludes with biographies of the lives of Saint Pelagia the Harlot and Saint Mary the Harlot.  These lives and examples of these two saints in particular are especially applicable in our modern age and show how to overcome the life of fornication, lust, and mortal sin and enter into the freedom of a life lived with the grace of Christ.

Summary

  The lives of the desert fathers turn out to be strikingly different from much of Christianity, even within their own day.  The monks had what some would call extreme forms of asceticism – often  performing such acts as forgoing food for many days, eating only a small amount of food once a day, not sleeping, denying themselves any form of pleasure at all, and various other acts of penance.  Their methods of eliminating vice and growing closer to God through prayer and penance show the importance and necessity of doing all we can to avoid and overcome sin in our lives.
Recommendation
     I highly recommend this book to all Christians.  The importance of learning and understanding our history and faith from those that came before us can’t be stressed enough.  By reading about the lives of the early monks and seeing how seriously they took their lives of faith, penance, and prayer, it provides valuable insight into how the early Christians lived and thought, as well as learning about the lives of the people who founded monasticism, a discipline that would later go on to preserve, develop, and make valuable contributions not only to Christianity, but to the entire world.  Our modern day world, with all its creature comforts, technology, and feel-good messages (both secular and religious) ignore or downplay the seriousness of sin and it’s effects on our life.  By reading about the Desert Fathers, both in biography and in their own words, it sheds an intense light on how seriously the early Christians took the process of ridding themselves of sin, the importance of prayer, meditation, and scripture reading in the development of the spiritual life of the Christian.

1 The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2002), Mt 4:1-11

2 Helen Waddell (translator) The Desert Fathers (New York: Random House, 1998), 30

3 Waddell, The Desert Fathers, 36

4 Agamben, Giorgio, and Adam Kotsko. The Highest Poverty : Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life. Meridian, Crossing Aesthetics. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2013. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=713567&authtype=cookie,cpid&custid=s9245834&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

5 R. J. Snell Acedia and Its Discontents (Kettering: Angelico Press, 2015), 10

6 Jane Foulcher Reclaiming Humility : Four Studies in the Monastic Tradition. Cistercian Studies Series. Collegeville, Minnesota, 2015: Cistercian Publications. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=e000xna&AN=1409669&authtype=cookie,cpid&custid=s9245834&site=-live&scope=site.