Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1975, 1984. 269 pages. List price: £12.25. ISBN: 0-87909-959-2

Review by: Name, Date

Rating: (What does this rating mean?)

The definitive edition of the Apothegmata patrum or 'Sayings of the Desert Fathers' in English, by noted scholar of early monasticism, Benedicta Ward SLG of the University of Oxford.

The Apothegmata comprise a collection of short 'sayings' by the great Fathers and personalities of the fourth-century Egyptian desert. Often pointed and startling, the direct style of the desert sayings reflects the pragmatic and practical approach to the Christian life that was at the heart of early monasticism. Metropolitan Antony of Sourozh, in his preface to the present volume, characterises better than any other the individuals behind the sayings: 'The men and women of whom the Sayings speak were Christians who received the challenge of the Gospel with all earnestness and wanted to respond to it uncomprimisingly, as generously as God, with their whole selves. Some built their whole life on one Word of the Gospel, some on one glimpse of Eternity seen in the eyes, the behaviour, the whole personality of an Elder. Men of high rank in the world and of high culture came to monks without any worldly knowledge because "they knew not the first letters of the book of Wisdom which the others possessed"' (p. xv).

The Alphabetical Collection of the apothegmata presents the sayings of the Egyptian desert as organised alphabetically by the name of the Abba, or Father, to whom the given sayings are attributed. The collection thus begins with the sayings of Antony the Great, founder of the eremitical tradition in the desert, and ends with Psenthaisius (using the Greek alphabet as the structure of organisation). Some Fathers have only one or two sayings, while those of the greatest renown— for example Poemen and Macarius the Great — have dozens. Throughout, the sayings present vivid images of the monastic life, and poignant reflections upon spiritual and physical matters that have been the inspiration of monastics and laymen since their composition some 1600 years ago.

The volume itself is handsome and well organised, containing a map of the region, the previously-mentioned and highly-recommended Preface by Metropolitan Antony of Sourozh, as well as a lengthy introduction to the Desert Fathers, desert monasticism and the apothegmata in particular, by Benedicta Ward. Indeces are provided for general themes, people and places covered in the text, and a bibliography offers reference to the most important works on desert monasticism. The brief glossary located at the end of the Sayings offers helpful explanations of key terms (e.g. 'accidie', 'metanoia', 'synaxis'), which will be especially useful to readers unfamiliar with the language of early monasticism. Additionally, the present volume, as with Ward's later and closely related volume on the Lives of the Desert Fathers, contains a chronological table outlining the history of the monastic movement in its early years.

The present text is available online through the following e-retailers:

• Amazon.com ($12.95)
• Amazon.co.uk (£12.95, £7.00 used)

The reviewer of the present text recommends the following works as those which may be of interest to readers of this title:

• The Lives of the Desert Fathers (B. Ward & N. Russell, eds.)