Spring Hill College

Compiled by Fr. William Harmless, S.J.
With special emphasis for books in the collection of Byrne Library,
Spring Hill College

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY #7: Antony & the Desert Fathers


1. EARLY CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY & MONASTICISM: SURVEYS

Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988) paperback, $16. An amazing book on a much misunderstood topic. Brown enters into the minds and hearts of the ancients with enormous sympathy and brings alive their world. Who could imagine that the history of celibacy could be so interesting?

Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century (New York: Crossroad, 1991) paperback, $20. This is the first volume of what is to be a 4-volume history of Christian mysticism. This volume on the patristic era is excellent, especially good on Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius Ponticus, and Augustine. Also he offers some fine general principles on how to read and interpret mystics and their theological endeavors.

James E. Goehring, Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999) paperback, $25. NEW. Goehring has, for the last 15 years, done pioneering work on the origins of Christian monasticism. He has finally gathered his important and sometimes hard-to-find essays into this collection. One does need to know the basics of the history to appreciate how dramatically and skillfully he revises the old picture of the early monasticism.

Peter Brown, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982) paperback, $14. See especially the classic essay, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity."

Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity, 1971-1997," Journal of Early Christian Studies 6 (1998) 353-376. A follow-up & re-assessment.

Peter Brown, "Asceticism: Pagan and Christian," in Averil Cameron & Peter Garnsey, eds., The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425, Vol. 13 of The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) pp. 601-631. NEW.

Derwas Chitty, The Desert A City (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1966) paperback, $10. The classic survey.

Jeremy Driscoll and Mark Sheridan, ed., Spiritual Progress: Studies in the Spirituality of Late Antiquity and Early Monasticism (Rome: Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, 1994).

H. Evelyn-White, The Monasteries of Wadi ‘n Natrûn, Part Two: The History of the Monasteries of Nitria and of Scetis (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 1932). Dated, but the brilliant starting point for all major studies in this century.

Antoine Guillaumont, Aux origenes du monachisme chrétien: Pour une phénoménologie du monachisme, Spiritualité orientale 30 (Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1979). Brilliant essays.

Antoine Guillaumont, Études sur la spiritualité de l’Orient chrétien, Spiritualité orientale 66 (Bégrolles-en-Mauges, France: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1996).

G. Lemaître, ed., Théologie de la vie monastique: Études sur la tradition patristique, Collection Théologie 49 (Paris: Aubier, 1961). Dated, but valuable essays by leading experts.

Harriet A. Luckman & Linda Kulzer, eds., Purity of Heart in Early Ascetic and Monastic Literature (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999) paperback, $22. NEW.

Andrew Louth, The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) paperback, $20. Brief, but masterful.

Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff, ed., Christian Spirituality I: Origins to the Twelfth Century, World Spirituality Series (New York: Crossroad, 1985) paperback, $23.

Lucien Regnault, La vie quotidienne des Pères du Désert en Egypte au IVe siècle (Paris: Hachette, 1990).

Philip Rousseau, "Christian Asceticism and the Early Monks," in Early Christianity: Origins and Evolution to A.D. 600: In Honour of W.H.C. Frend, ed. Ian Hazlett (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991) 112-122.

Tomas Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East: A Systematic Handbook, Cistercian Studies 79 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1986) paperback, $25.

Marek Starowicyski, ed., The Spirituality of Ancient Monasticism: Acts of the International Colloquium held in Cracow-Tyniec, 16-19th November 1994 (Cracow: Tyniec, 1995).

Vincent L. Wimbush and Richard Valantasis, ed., Asceticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) hardback, $100.

Vincent L. Wimbush, ed., Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990) hardcover, $50. Translations of valuable, but hard-to-find sources.

 

2. ATHANASIUS & THE LIFE OF ANTONY

Athanasius, The Life of Anthony, Classics of Western Spirituality 16, trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist Press, 1980) paperback, $15. This was one of the great religious best-sellers of ancient world and was responsible for popularizing the desert ideal throughout the ancient world. This work would shape all later lives of the saints. A new translation by Tim Vivian and Apostolos N. Athanassakis based on the critical edition by G.J.M. Bartelink is forthcoming from Cistercian Publications in 1999.

David Brakke, Athanasius and Asceticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998) paperback, $18. NEW; a reprint of Brakke’s Athanasius & the Politics of Asceticism (Oxford, 1995). Athanasius is better known as a defender of Nicene orthodoxy. This is a valuable in-depth study of Athanasius’ commitment to the ascetic movement. Its final chapter on the Life of Antony is excellent, but he also looks at women’s asceticism in Alexandria and translates little-known Athanasian texts preserved in Syriac and Coptic.

G.J.M. Bartelink, ed., Athanasius: Vie d’Antoine, Sources chrétiennes 400 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1994). A new critical edition of the Greek text, with a French translation and valuable introduction and notes.

Brian R. Brennan, "Athanasius’ Vita Antonii: A Sociological Interpretation," Vigiliae Christianae 39 (1985) 209-227.

Peter Brown, The Making of Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978) paperback, $10.

Vincent Desprez, "Saint Anthony and the Beginnings of Anchoritism," American Benedictine Review 43 (1992) 61-81 and 141-172.

J.A. Francis, "Pagan and Christian Philosophy in Athanasius’ Vita Antonii," American Benedictine Review 32 (1981) 100-113.

Graham E. Gould, "Recent Work on Monastic Origins: A Consideration of the Questions Raised by Samuel Rubenson’s The Letters of St. Antony," Studia Patristica 25, ed. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Leuven: Peeters, 1993) 405-416.

Robert C. Gregg and Dennis E. Groh, "Claims on the Life of St. Antony," in Early Arianism—a View of Salvation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981) 131-159.

Samuel Rubenson, The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995) paperback, $19. A controversial revisionist view.

Basilius Steidle, ed., Antonius Magnus Eremita, 356-1956: Studia ad Antiquum Monachismum Spectantia, Studia Anselmiana 38 (Rome: Herder, 1956). A classic set of essays; see especially Jean Danielou’s "Les démons de l’air dans la Vie d’Antoine," pp. 136-147.

Adalbert de Vogüé, Histoire littéraire du mouvement monastique dans l’antiquité. Première partie: le monachisme latin: De la mort d’Antoine à la fin du séjour de Jérôme à Rome, 356-385 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1991) 17-80.

 

3. APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM (SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS)

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: the Alphabetical Collection, trans. Benedicta Ward, Cistercian Studies 59 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1984) paperback, $13. Fascinating anecdotes about and one-liners from the simple, unlearned, and often eccentric leaders of the early desert movement.

Douglas Burton-Christie, The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism (New York: Oxford, 1993) paperback, $25. A detailed study of the biblical spirituality that shaped the Egyptian monastic outlook. It provides a good treatment of matters far beyond its specific focus: asceticism, work, abbas and disciples, etc.

Jeremy Driscoll, "Exegetical Procedures in the Desert Monk Poemen," in Mysterium Christi: Symbolgegenwort und theologische Bedeutung: Festschrift für Basil Studer, Studia Anselmiana 116, ed. M. Löhrer (Rome: Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, 1995) 155-178.

Graham E. Gould, The Desert Fathers on Monastic Community, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) hardcover, $40. See especially the superb introductory chapter.

Graham E. Gould, "Moving On and Staying Put in the Apophthegmata Patrum," Studia Patristica 20 (1989) 231-237

Antoine Guillaumont, "L’enseignement spirituel des moines d’Égypte: La formation d’une tradition," reprinted in Études sur la spiritualité de l’Orient chrétien, Spiritualité orientale 66 (Bégrolles-en-Mauges, France: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1996) 81-92. A brilliant introduction.

Antoine Guillaumont, "Le Problème des deux Macaires dans les Apophthegmata Patrum," Irénikon 48 (1975) 41-59. Few essays illustrate better the technical problems of recovering the history behind the Apophthegmata.

Antoine Guillaumont, "Les visions mystiques dans le monachisme oriental chrétien," in Aux origenes du monachisme chrétien, 136-147.

Jean-Claude Guy, ed., Les Apophtegmes des Pères, I-IX, Sources Chrétiennes 387 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1993). A critical edition of the Greek text with a French translation. Guy’s introduction is must reading.

Jean-Claude Guy, "Educational Innovation in the Desert Fathers," Eastern Churches Review 6 (1974) 44-51.

Irénée Hausherr, Penthos: the Doctrine of Compunction in the Christian East, trans. Anselm Hufstader, Cistercian Studies 53 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1982). A classic study from the 1950s.

Irénée Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, CS 116, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990; original French edition, 1955).

Lucien Regnault, trans. Les Sentences des Pères du Désert, 5 volumes (Solesmes: Éditions de Solesmes). These include Recueil de Pélage et Jean (1966); Nouveau Recueil (1970); Troisième Recueil et Tables (1976); Collection alphabétique (1981); Série des anonymes (1985). The only complete translation of the sayings of the desert fathers from Greek, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Syriac, and Armenian. A must for researchers.

Lucien Regnault, trans. Les Chemins de Dieu au Désert: Collection Systematique des Apophtegmes des Pères (Solesmes: Éditions de Solesmes, 1992).

Lucien Regnault, "Aux origines des collections d’Apophtegmes," Studia Patristica 18.2 (1989) 61-74.

Lucien Regnault, "Les Apophtegmes des pères en Palestine aux Ve-VIe siècles," Irénikon 54 (1981) 320-330. A path-breaking study.

Lucien Regnault, "La prière continuelle ‘monologistos’ dans la littérature apophtegmatique," Irénikon 47 (1974) 467-493.

Lucien Regnault, "Le vrai visage d’un père du désert ou Abba Jean Colobos à travers ses apophtegmes," Mémorial André-Jean Festugière: Antiquité Païenne et Chrétienne, ed. E. Lucchesi et H.D. Saffrey (Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 1984) 225-234.

Columba Stewart, ed., The World of the Desert Fathers: Stories and Sayings from the Anonymous Series of the Apophthegmata Patrum, SLG 95 (Cistercian Publications, 1986) paperback, $8.

Columba Stewart, "Radical Honesty about the Self: The Practice of the Desert Fathers," Sobornost 12 (1990) 25-39.

Benedicta Ward, ed., The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: Systematic Sayings from the Anonymous Series of the Apophthegmata Patrum, SLG 48 (Cistercian Publications, 1986) paperback, $10.

Benedicta Ward, "Traditions of Spiritual Guidance: Spiritual Direction in the Desert Fathers," Signs and Wonders: Saints, Miracles, and Prayers from the 4th Century to the 14th (London: Variorum Reprints, 1992).

Benedicta Ward, "Apophthegmata Matrum," Studia Patristica 16, ed. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Berlin: TU, 1985): 63-66; ; reprint in Signs and Wonders (London: Variorum Reprints, 1992).

 

4. PACHOMIUS

Armand Veilleux, ed., Pachomian Koinoinia: the Lives, Rules, and Other Writings of Saint Pachomius, Cistercian Studies 45-47 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1980-1982) paperback, $15 per volume. Pachomius was in many respects the "inventor" of the monastery. This edition includes translations of both the Greek and Coptic Life of Pachomius, as well as documents from Pachomius himself and his early successors, Theodore and Horiesius.

Mark S. Burrows, "On the Visibility of God in the Holy Man: A Reconsideration of the Role of the Apa in the Pachomian Vitae," Vigiliae Christianae 41 (1987) 11-33.

Henry Chadwick, "Pachomios and the Idea of Sanctity," reprinted in History and Thought of the Early Church (London: Variorum Reprints, 1982).

Vincent Desprez, "Pachomian Cenobitism," American Benedictine Review 43 (1992) 233-249 & 358-394.

James E. Goehring, The Letter of Ammon and Pachomian Monasticism, Patristische Texte und Studien 27 (Berlin, 1986).

James E. Goehring, Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999) paperback, $25. NEW. See especially his crucial essays: "New Frontiers in Pachomian Studies," "Melitian Monastic Organization," and "Withdrawing from the Desert: Pachomius and the Development of Village Monasticism."

Graham E. Gould, "Pachomios of Tabennesi and the Foundation of an Independent Monastic Community," in W.J. Shields and D. Wood, eds., Voluntary Religion, Studies in Church History 23 (Oxford: 1986) pp. 15-24.

Graham E. Gould, "Pachomian Sources Revisited," Studia Patristica 30 (1997) 202-217.

Terrence G. Kardong, "The Monastic Practices of Pachomius and the Pachomians," Studia Monastica 32 (1990) 59-77

Philip Rousseau, Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth Century Egypt, Transformation of the Classical Heritage 6 (Berkeley: University of California, 1985).

Armand Veilleux, "Monasticism and Gnosis in Egypt," in Birger A. Pearson and James E. Goehring, eds., The Roots of Egyptian Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1986) 271-306.

Adalbert de Vogüé, De saint Pachôme à Jean Cassien: Études littéraires et doctrinales sur la monachisme égyptien à ses débuts, Studia Anselmiana 120 (Rome: 1996).

 

5. EVAGRIUS PONTICUS

Antoine Guillaumont & Claire Guillaumont, Évagre le Pontique, Traité Practique ou le Moine, Sources chrétiennes 170-171 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1971). Evagrius was a friend of the Cappadocians Fathers and would become the first great theoretician of the spiritual life. He stressed the centrality of wordless, imageless prayer, and his writings display a fondness for brief, oracular sayings. Within a year of his death, his friends and disciples—Palladius, Cassian, Rufinus—would be persecuted as "Origenists" and run out of Egypt. Evagrius was condemned 150 years later, and his works circulated anonymously. This has a critical edition of his most famous work, the Praktikos, together with a French translation and opens with a superb 100-page overview of Evagrius’ life and teaching.

John Eudes Bamberger, Evagrius Ponticus: Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies 4 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1981) paperback, $7. A translation of Evagrius’ two major works. Bamberger offers a lengthy and valuable introduction.

John Eudes Bamberger, "Desert Calm: Evagrius Ponticus: The Theologian as Spiritual Guide," Cistercian Studies Quarterly 27 (1992) 185-198.

Gabriel Bunge, Geistliche Vatershaft. Christliche Gnosis bei Evagrios Pontikos, Studia Patristica et Liturgica 23 (Regensburg, 1988). Also available in French: Paternité Spirituelle: La gnose chrétienne chez Évagre le Pontique, Spiritualité orientale 61 (Bégrolles-en-Mauge: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1994).

Gabriel Bunge, "Evagre le Pontique et les deux Macaires," Irénikon 56 (1983) 215-227 & 323-360.

Gabriel Bunge, "The ‘Spiritual Prayer’: On the Trinitarian Mysticism of Evagrius of Pontus," Monastic Studies 17 (1987) 191-208.

Elizabeth A. Clark, The Origenist Controversy: The Cultural Construction of an Early Christian Debate (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) hardcover, $40. Excellent.

Brian E. Daley, "What Did ‘Origenism’ Mean in the Sixth Century," in Origeniana Sexta: Origen and the Bible, ed. Gilles Dorival and Alain le Boulleuc (Leuven: Peeters, 1995) 627-638.

Jeremy Driscoll, ed., Evagrius Ponticus: The Mind’s Long Journey to the Holy Trinity (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993) paperback, $10.

Jeremy Driscoll, "Spiritual Progress in the Works of Evagrius Ponticus," in Spiritual Progress: Studies in the Spirituality of Late Antiquity and Early Monasticism, ed. Jeremy Driscoll and Mark Sheridan (Rome: Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, 1994) 48-84.

Susanna Elm, "Evagrius Ponticus’ Sententiae ad Virginem," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 45 (1991) 97-120.

Nicholas Gendle, "Cappadocian Elements in the Mystical Theology of Evagrius Ponticus," Studia Patristica 16 (1985) 373-384.

Graham E. Gould, "The Image of God and the Anthropomorphite Controversy in Fourth Century Monasticism," Origeniana Quinta, ed. R.J. Daly (Louvain, 1992): 549-557.

Antoine Guillaumont, Les <<kephalaia gnostica>> d’Evagre le Pontique et l’histoire de l’origénisme chez les grecs et chez les syriens, Patristica Sorbonensia 5 (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1962).

Antoine Guillaumont, Évagre Le Pontique: Le Gnostique ou a celui qui est devenu digne de la science, Sources Chrétiennes 356 (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1989).

Antoine Guillaumont, "Un philosophe au désert: Évagre le Pontique," in Aux origenes du monachisme chrétien, Spiritualité orientale 30 (Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1979) pp. 185-212

Antoine Guillaumont and Claire Guillaumont, "Évagre le Pontique," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 4 (1961) 1731-1734. A superb summary by the best Evagrian scholars.

Antoine Guillaumont and Claire Guillaumont, "Démon: Évagre le Pontique," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 3: 196-205.

Irénée Hausherr, Les Leçons d’un Contemplative: Le Traité de l’Oraison d’Evagre le Pontique (Paris: Beauchesne, 1960). A brilliant commentary on Evagrius’ On Prayer.

Francis Kline, "The Christology of Evagrius and the Parent System of Origen," Cistercian Studies (1985) 155-183.

Michael O’Laughlin, ""The Bible, the Demons, and the Desert: Evaluating the Antirrheticus of Evagrius Ponticus," Studia Monastica 34 (1992) 201-215

Michael O’Laughlin, "Elements of Fourth-Century Origenism: The Anthropology of Evagrius Ponticus and Its Sources," in C. Kannengiesser and W. Petersen, eds., Origen of Alexandria, His World and His Legacy (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University, 1988) 355-373.

Martin Parmentier, "Evagrius of Pontus and the ‘Letter to Melania’" Bijdragen, tijdschrift voor filosofie en theologie 46 (1985) 2-38.

 

6. JOHN CASSIAN

Columba Stewart, Cassian the Monk (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) hardcover, $60. NEW. Cassian probably did more than anyone else to translate the desert experience for the West. Following his teacher, Evagrius Ponticus, he stressed wordless prayer and the mystical journey of the soul. St. Benedict, in his Rule, would make Cassian’s memoirs required reading in all his monasteries. This is a superb in-depth of Cassian’s spirituality.

John Cassian, The Conferences, trans. Boniface Ramsey, Ancient Christian Writers 57 (New York: Paulist Press, 1997) hardcover, $40. NEW. The first complete translation in a century. A good translation by Colm Luibheid of about 1/3 of the Conferences is also available in the Classics of Western Spirituality series.

Stefan Alexe, "Le discernement selon Saint Jean Cassien," Studia Patristica 30 (1997) 129-135.

Owen Chadwick, John Cassian (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950). A classic.

Steve Driver, "From Palestinian Ignorance to Egyptian Wisdom: Jerome and Cassian on the Monastic Life," American Benedictine Review 48 (1997) 293-315.

Terrence Kardong, "John Cassian’s Evaluation of Monastic Practices," American Benedictine Review 43 (1992) 82-105.

Terrence Kardong, "Aiming at the Mark: Cassian’s Metaphor for the Monastic Quest," Cistercian Studies Quarterly 22 (1987) 213-220.

Columba Stewart, "John Cassian on Unceasing Prayer," Monastic Studies 15 (1984) 159-177.

Columba Stewart, "The Monastic Journey According to John Cassian," Word and Spirit 19 (1993) 29-40.

Adalbert de Vogüé, "Understanding Cassian: A Survey of the Conferences," Cistercian Studies Quarterly 19 (1984) 101-121.

Adalbert de Vogüé, De saint Pachôme à Jean Cassien: Études littéraires et doctrinales sur la monachisme égyptien à ses débuts, Studia Anselmiana 120 (Rome: 1996).

Rebecca Harden Weaver, Divine Grace and Human Agency: A Study of the Semi-Pelagian Controversy, Patristic Monograph Series 15 (Macon GA: Mercer University Press, 1996) NEW in paperback, $18.

 

7. OTHER CLASSICS OF EARLY EGYPTIAN MONASTICISM

Lives of the Desert Fathers [Historia Monachorum in Aegypto], trans. Norman Russell, Cistercian Studies 34 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1981) paperback, $10. In 394, seven Palestinian monks journeyed to Egypt to visit the great figures there. This is a vivid (and sometimes fanciful) account of what they heard and saw. This edition has a superb 40-page introduction by Benedicta Ward, one of the great scholars on early monasticism.

Robert T. Meyer, ed., Palladius: The Lausiac History, Ancient Christian Writers 34 (New York: Paulist Press, 1965) hardcover. Palladius was a disciple of Evagrius and was ordained bishop by John Chrysostom. He was also one of the earliest historians of Christian monasticism. This work is a set of vignettes of some of the leading Desert Fathers and Mothers.

A.L. Fisher, "Women and Gender in Palladius’ Lausiac History," Studia Monastica 33 (1991) 23-50.

Georgia Frank, "The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto and Ancient Travel Writing," Studia Patristica 30 (1997) 191-195.

Antoine Guillaumont, "The Jesus Prayer Among the Monks of Egypt," Eastern Churches Review 6 (1974) 66-71.

E.D. Hunt, "Palladius of Helenopolis: a Party and Its Supporters in the Church of the Late Fourth Century," Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 24 (1973) 456-480

Nicolas Molinier, Ascèse, contemplation et ministre: d’après Histoire Lausiaque de Pallade d’Helonopolis, Spiritualité orientale 64 (Begrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1995).

Janet Timbie, "The State of Research on the Career of Shenoute of Atripe," in The Roots of Egyptian Christianity, eds. Birger A. Pearson and James E. Goehring (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1986) 258-270.

Tim Vivian, ed., Journeying Into God: Seven Early Monastic Lives (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995) paperback, $14.

Tim Vivian, "The Good God, the Holy Power, and the Paraclete, ‘To the Sons of God’ (Ad filios Dei) by Saint Macarius the Great," Anglican Theological Review 80 (1998) 338-365.

Tim Vivian, "Words to Live By: A Conversation that the Elders Had With One Another Concerning Thoughts (Peri Losigimon)" St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 39 (1995) 127-141.

Tim Vivian, "The Monasteries of the Wadi Natrun, Egypt: A Personal and Monastic Journey," American Benedictine Review 49, #1 (March, 1998) 3-32.

Adalbert de Vogüé and Gabriel Bunge, Quatre Érmites Égyptiens: D’après les fragments coptes de l’Histoire Lausiaque, Spiritualité orientale 60 (Begrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1994).

Benedicta Ward, "Signs and Wonders: Miracles in the Desert Tradition," Studia Patristica 17, ed. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Leuven, 1989) 539-542; reprint in Signs and Wonders (London: Variorum Reprints, 1992).

Frederick Wisse, "Gnosticism and Early Monasticism in Egypt," in Gnosis: Festschrift fur Hans Jonas, ed. B. Aland (Gottingen, 1978) 431-440

 

8. EARLY MONASTICISM IN CAPPADOCIA, PALESTINE & SYRIA

(a) Sources:

Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, trans., Eric P. Wheeler, Cistercian Studies 33 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987) paperback, $12.

Cyril of Scythopolis, The Lives of the Monks of Palestine, trans. R.M. Price, Cistercian Studies 114 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1991) paperback, $18.

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, A History of the Monks of Syria, trans. R.M. Price, Cistercian Studies 88 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1985) paperback, $14.

John Mochus, The Spiritual Meadow, trans. John Wortley, Cistercian Studies (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1992) paperback, $18.

Hervé de Broc, trans., Isaie de Scété: Recueil ascétique, 3rd ed., Spiritualité orientale no.7bis, introduction par Lucien Regnault (Begrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1985).

Robert Doran, ed., The Lives of Symeon Stylites, Cistercian Studies 112 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1992) paperback, $16.

Pseudo-Macarius, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, trans. George A. Maloney, Classics of Western Spirituality 75 (New York: Paulist Press, 1992) paperback, $18.

 

(b) Studies:

John Binns, Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: the Monasteries of Palestine, 314-631, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) NEW in paperback, $25.

Sebastian Brock, Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life, Cistercian Studies 101 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1987).

Sebastian Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual Vision of Ephrem the Syrian, Cistercian Studies 124 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publication, 1992) paperback, $15.

Sebastian Brock, "Early Syrian Asceticism," Numen 20 (1973) 1-19.

Henry Chadwick, "John Moschus and his Friend Sophronius the Sophist," Journal of Theological Studies 25 (1974) 41-74.

Paul Jonathan Fedwick, ed., Basil of Caesarea: Christian, Humanist, Ascetic, 2 volumes, (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1981).

Jean Gribomont, "Le monachisme au sein d’église en Syrie et en Cappadoce," Studia Monastica 7 (1965) 7-24; reprint, in E. Ferguson, ed., Acts of Piety in the Early Church, Studies in the Early Church, vol. 17 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993) pp. 235-253.

Sidney H. Griffith, "Asceticism in the Church of Syria: the Hermeneutics of Early Syrian Monasticism," in Asceticism, ed., Vincent Wimbush and Richard Valantasis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) 220-245.

Sidney H. Griffith, "Julian Saba, ‘Father of the Monks’ of Syria," Journal of Early Christian Studies 2:2 (1994) 185-216.

Sidney H. Griffith, "Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa, and the Church of the Empire," in T. Halton, ed.., Diakonia: Studies in Honor of Robert T. Meyer (Washington; Catholic University of America Press, 1986) pp. 22-52.

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and the Lives of the Eastern Saints (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990).

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, "The Stylite’s Liturgy: Ritual and Religious Identity," Journal of Early Christian Studies 6.3 (1998) 523-539.

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, "The Sense of a Stylite: Perspectives on Simeon the Elder," Vigiliae Christianae 42 (1988) 376-394.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, The Judean Monasteries in the Byzantine Period (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).

Yizhar Hirschfeld, "The Founding of the New Laura," in Asceticism, ed., Vincent Wimbush and Richard Valantasis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) 267-289.

J.N.D. Kelly, Golden Mouth: the Story of John Chrysostom: Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995) NEW in paperback.

Joseph Patrich, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism: A Comparative Study in Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1995).

Philip Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea, Transformation of the Classical Heritage 20 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) NEW in paperback, $20.

Columba Stewart, ‘Working the Earth of the Heart’: The Messalian Controversy in History, Texts, and Language to AD 431 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

Arthur Voobus, A History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient, 3 volumes, CSCO 184, 197, & 500 (Louvain: 1958, 1988).

Kallistos Ware, "The Origins of the Jesus Prayer: Diadochus, Gaza, Sinai," in C. Jones, G. Wainwright, E. Yarnold, eds., The Study of Spirituality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) 175-184.

 

9. BENEDICT & THE LATIN WEST

RB 1980: the Rule of Benedict (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1980) paperback, $20. Benedict's Rule has served as the basis for Western monasticism for 1500 years. A work of spiritual and practical genius, notable for its humanity and its moderation (obvious when compared with its sources). This is the best and most up-to-date translation—with the Latin text on facing pages.

Carolinne White, trans., Early Christian Lives, Penguin Classics (New York: Penguin Books, 1998) paperback, $13. NEW. Contains a new translation of the Latin version of the Life of Antony as well as fresh translations of Sulpicius Severus’ Life of Martin of Tours and the various lives by Jerome.

Terrence G. Kardong, Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998) hardcover, $50. NEW.

George Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987).

George Lawless, "An Overview of Augustine’s Monasticism and Some Suggestions for Further Research," in Marek Starowicyski, ed., The Spirituality of Ancient Monasticism (Cracow: Tyniec, 1995) 135-162

R.A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) paperback, $18. See Chapters 10-13, pp. 139-212.

Philip Rousseau, Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).

Luc Verheijen, Saint Augustine’s Monasticism in the Light of Acts 4:32-35, St. Augustine Lecture 1975 (Villanova: Villanova University Press, 1976).

Aldabert de Vogüé, Histoire littéraire du mouvement monastique dans l’antiquité (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1991-1997) 4 vol. to date. Despite the title the focus is on Latin literature.

Adalbert de Vogüé, The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary, Cistercian Studies 54, trans. John Baptist Hasbrouck (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1983).


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  William Harmless, SJ

Last Revised:  06/15/99