What can we learn from the Desert Fathers & Mothers?
In these days of fast-paced living, instant information and entertainment, what relevance do the words and stories of hermit desert dwellers, who lived almost two thousand years ago, have for us today? Could it be that living as we do in a culture of excessive distraction, comfort, and immediacy, that the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers is even more relevant to a search for the heart of spiritual truth than in the past?
The “desert” as presented in the book In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers by John Chryssavgis is symbolic of many different levels—including not only the specific Egyptian desert where these hermits lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, but also the empty, desolate places of the soul.
As Barry McDonald writes in his preface to this book:
But the desert may also be understood as an inner geography of desolation and abandonment; it is the place, perhaps even in the midst of others, where we are most alone. It is the valley of our deepest solitude. Father John tells us that anyone who has experienced some aspect of deserted-ness, loneliness, brokenness, breakdown or break-up—whether emotionally, physically or socially—will connect with the profound humanity of the Desert Fathers and Mothers…and the perennial message of these first Christian monks concerns the necessity of emptiness; the Fathers show us, by their examples, how to confront the chaotic impulses of the soul which drive us away from that still point where God is waiting.
Over many centuries Christians have periodically returned to the wisdom, inspiration, and healing conveyed by the sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. This book by Rev. Chryssavgis is welcomed for pointing us once again to their timeless message. The book is additionally notable for its inclusion of some sayings by Abba Zosimas, here published for the first time in English, and for Rev. Chryssavgis' commentary that distills these ancient sayings into powerful messages for modern readers
Christian monasticism developed during a period of major transition in the Church. Although Christians had been martyred in the past for their beliefs, it became popular to join the Church after Christianity was declared the formal religion of the Roman Empire. Attendance at services increased, but the sincerity of commitment in the practice of the faith began to wane. It was during this time that St. Antony of Egypt sought out the desert to escape the distractions of the world and deepen the journey to God in the heart of solitude and poverty. The author, Rev. John Chryssavgis, writes:
The Desert Fathers and Mothers proclaimed a different set of values, where change occurs through silence…; where inaction may be the most powerful source of action; and where productivity may be measured by obscurity, even invisibility.…Theirs was a change that was out of sight, unrecorded in history books. Yet, it was a change that proved cataclysmic, recorded silently in human hearts. It was a protest against the complacency of the Christian world.…The desert was what ultimately kept alive the fiery spirit of the martyrs. The words, then, of these desert elders are more than mere sayings; they are a profound statement.
The book explains further that:
Antony’s step into the uninhabitable and inhospitable desert was little noticed outside, or indeed even inside, his village at the time. Nevertheless, when he died at the age of 156, his friend and biographer Athanasius of Alexandria informs us that the “desert had become a city,” meaning that thousands had regularly flocked to Antony to be taught by him and had made the desert their home. Antony of Egypt was to become known as the father and founder of desert monasticism.
Several of the desert personalities are described and quoted in the pages of In the Heart of the Desert. Below are descriptions of just two of these fascinating holy desert dwellers, with the text excerpted from Fr. Chryssavgis’ book:
Abba Macarius of Egypt
Macarius the Great was born around the year 300 in Egypt. His worldly profession was as a camel-driver and trader. He was an ordained priest and one of the founders of monasticism in Scetis.…He died in the year 390. Forty-one sayings have been preserved under Macarius’ name.…Abba Macarius is characterized by a sense of refinement, resignation, and renunciation.…He was known for “receiving all the brothers in equal simplicity,” for working miracles, but especially for his inclusive love.
They said of Abba Macarius the Great, that he became, as it were, a god upon this earth; because, just as God protects the world, so Abba Macarius would cover the faults he saw, as though he did not see them, and those he heard, as though he did not hear them.
Amma Syncletica
One of the three women that feature in the Sayings is Amma Syncletica. [She was] born in 380 in Alexandria, of a wealthy and well respected pious family.…She died around the year 460. Twenty-seven of her sayings are preserved.…Amma Syncletica rejects any sharp distinction between those who live in the desert and those who live in the city. The goal is the same for all, even if the way differs for some.…
Amma Syncletica said: “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town; they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd; and it is possible for those who are a solitaries to live in the crowd of their own thoughts.”
Moderation and balance generally seem to characterize the sayings of this desert amma.…Everyone has the potential for such balance, she believes.…
The author explores the reasons for these early Christian seekers to turn to the desert:
Why did these elders choose the desert in the first place? What was the significance of the desert? What is the power of its suggestion?
“Desert” (eremos) literally means “abandonment”; it is the term from which we derive the word “hermit”.…The desert signified death: nothing grows in the desert. Your very existence is, therefore, threatened. In the desert you will find no one and no thing. In the desert, you can only face up to yourself and to every aspect of your self, to your temptations, and to your reality. You confront your own heart, and your heart’s deepest desires, without any scapegoat, without any hiding place.…After all, you cannot hide in the desert; there is no room for lying or deceit there. Your very self is reflected in the dry desert, and you are obliged to face up to this self.…The desert is a place of spiritual revolution, not of personal retreat. It is a place of inner protest, not outward peace. It is a place of deep encounter, not of superficial escape. It is a place of repentance, not recuperation. Living in the desert does not mean living without people; it means living for God. Antony and the other desert dwellers never forgot this.
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