Day-to-Day Life of the Desert Fathers in Fourth-Century Egypt : In Fourth-Century Egypt

by Lucien Regnault

• ISBN13: 9781879007345
• ISBN10: 1879007347
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: St Bedes Pubns

Summary

At the end of the fourth century, on the banks of the Nile, there unfolded an extraordinary epic: one after another, men left fertile an uninhabited regions of the Delta and disappeared farther into the desert. Founders of Christian eremitism, these heroes of asceticism and virtue earned a reputation far beyond the ordinary as much by their lifestyle as by their maxims (or apothegms) which have been translated into all languages and distributed throughout the Christian world. Deprivation, silence, contemplation, and prayer -- such was the program of these monks for whom the desert did not fail to set many traps -- because it isn't enough to simply isolate oneself in order to meet and to come to know God.

Author Biography

Lucien Regnault entered the novitiate of the Abbey of Solesmes in 1941, and worked as a librarian and professor of Patristics before being named Novice Master and Prior of his monastery. For more than forty years, he studied the ancient monks of the Near East and published their apothegms.

Table of Contents

Map of Monastic Egypt	p. iv
Abbreviations	p. v
Introduction	p. vii
In the Heart of the Desert	p. 3
The Men	p. 12
Women and Children	p. 24
Habitat	p. 39
Clothing	p. 51
Diet	p. 61
Life in the Cell	p. 82
A Day in the Life of the Anchorite	p. 96
The Hidden Activity	p. 112
Elders and Disciples	p. 126
Welcoming Visitors	p. 139
Outings and Trips	p. 150
The Community Weekend	p. 162
Angels and Demons	p. 174
The Desert Bestiary	p. 194
The Wonders of God	p. 207
From the Desert to the Promised Land	p. 223
Epilogue	p. 239
Chronological Landmarks	p. 243
Bibliography
Sources	p. 246
General Bibliography	p. 248
Special Studies	p. 250
Index of Names	p. 253
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