Early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks, third century AD
Coptic icon of Anthony the Great
The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The first Desert Father was Paul of Thebes, and the most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in AD 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, to write that "the desert had become a city."[1] The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.
The desert monastic communities that grew out of the informal gathering of hermit monks became the model for Christian monasticism, first influencing the Coptic communities these monks were a part of and preached to.[2] Some were monophysites[2] or believed in a similar idea.
The eastern monastic tradition at Mount Athos and the western Rule of St Benedict both were strongly influenced by the traditions that began in the desert. All of the monastic revivals of the Middle Ages looked to the desert for inspiration and guidance. Much of Eastern Christian spirituality, including the Hesychast movement, has its roots in the practices of the Desert Fathers. Even religious renewals such as the German evangelicals and Pietists in Pennsylvania, the Devotio Moderna movement, and the Methodist Revival in England are seen by modern scholars as being influenced by the Desert Fathers.[3]
^Chryssavgis 2008, p. 15.
^ abOlupona, Jacob K. (2014). African Religions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-19-979058-6. OCLC 839396781.
The DesertFathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around...
The Sayings of the DesertFathers (Latin: Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum; Greek: ἀποφθέγματα τῶν πατέρων, romanized: Apophthégmata tōn Patérōn) is the...
Desert Mothers is a neologism, coined in feminist theology as an analogy to DesertFathers, for the ammas or female Christian ascetics living in the desert...
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who...
hermit or anchorite to go to the desert, but it was Anthony the Great who launched the movement that became the DesertFathers. Sometime around AD 270, Anthony...
northern Africa became home to a deeply devout group known as the DesertFathers or Desert People. These individuals were highly influenced by the intellectual...
of the Desert (5th century) was one of the early Desert Mothers who is known to us today through the collected Sayings of the DesertFathers and of the...
Vitas Patrum (literally Lives of the Fathers) is a collection of hagiographical writings on the DesertFathers and Desert Mothers of early Christianity. The...
Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Anthony the Hermit, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the DesertFathers and to all later...
Holy Fathers express it, is shown the Cause of the existence of the Son and the Spirit. All of the Eastern Fathers acknowledge that the Father is monos...
early DesertFathers and Desert Mothers: "This capacity for friendship and ability to read other people's hearts became the basis of the desert elders'...
The Historia monachorum in Aegypto, also called the Lives of the DesertFathers, is a combination travelogue and hagiography from the late 4th century...
it was accepted as ecumenical in the West. The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians...
in hesychast literature. Chapter 2 of the Systematic Sayings of the DesertFathers is dedicated to the topic of hesychia. The term is also used in Neoplatonic...
Arianism. Serapion is quoted in four sections of the Sayings of the DesertFathers, where he is called Abba Serapion. He was given the title "The Angel...
Mazices who "came sweeping off the Libyan desert" in 407-408 AD and was decimated, causing many notable DesertFathers to leave the region, such as Abba Anoub...
sayings of the DesertFathers and which is textually independent of the better-known Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the DesertFathers). It was first...
longer enjoyed physical solitude.[citation needed] Some early Christian DesertFathers wove baskets to exchange for bread. In medieval times, hermits were...
Stream. The Judaean Desert is connected with early forms of Christian monasticism. There are examples of DesertFathers and Desert Mothers and a number...
the desert. Kellia has been the object of scientific excavations. Only Scetis in the Wadi El Natrun remains a monastic site today. DesertFathers Or of...
educated young men to forsake worldly pleasures and instead join their desertfathers. Since the movement began, the total number of monks had more than tripled...
of the DesertFathers: The Alphabetical Collection (revised ed.). Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN. The Paradise Or Garden of the Holy Fathers: Being...
non-Christian, he examines "the noon day demons" original delineation by the DesertFathers, and concludes that it is one of the main diseases of the modern age...
as St. Anthony of the Desert), St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Simeon Stylites, collectively known as the DesertFathers and Desert Mothers. In 963 an association...
monk who lived around the 4th century AD in the desert of Lower Egypt. He was one of the DesertFathers. Apollo was initially a shepherd. He is said to...
410 or in ca. 417) was a Desert Mother who was an influential figure in the Christian ascetic movement (the DesertFathers and Mothers) that sprang up...
split into two tables. Ante-Nicene Fathers (book) Apostolic Fathers Cappadocian Fathers Church FathersDesertFathers Doctors of the Church List of early...
the guidance of a spiritual father. The authority for many of his teachings derived from the traditions of the DesertFathers, early Christian monks and...
scholars. The use of knotted prayer ropes in Christianity goes back to the DesertFathers in the 3rd and early 4th centuries. These counting devices were used...
Global Information