abbas Archives - Page 2 of 2

Patience (Part II): The Biblical Roots of Patience in Desert Asceticism

07/18/2017

The sources of desert wisdom are the sayings of the abbas and ammas and written accounts of incidents from their lives. The wisdom embodied in their actions and teaching was formed through years of meditation and teaching about the Bible and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The Greek words used for patience in these sources can help us understand the role of patience in the lives of the desert monks. The Greek verb “hypomeno”

Patience (Part I): Partners in the Cell

07/11/2017

Abba Antony said “Whatever you find in your heart to do in following God, that do, and remain within yourself in Him.”1 “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”2 Abba Moses knew the cell was essential for the ascetic life of the monk. There must be a specific place for encountering God and one’s self. But the “place” was not an end in itself. Abba Ammonas said, “A man may

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part X) The Cell and the World

07/05/2017

The Cell and the World Is anachoresis a rejection of the inhabited world? Is the solitude and inwardness of the cell a selfish endeavor? The desert abbas and ammas helped form a wider Christian monastic tradition that combines seeking God with conversion of life. In the cell the monk risks all in the battle between the ego (subjectivity) and openness to the Other. Through ascetic praxis the boundaries of the self are extended beyond itself

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part II)

10/07/2016

During the Roman imperial persecutions of Christianity martyrdom was esteemed as the highest offering of one’s self to God. Martyrdom in blood, red martyrdom, was the most esteemed path toward sainthood. When the persecutions ended a new path to heaven led, for many, to the desert and a life of self-denial, white martyrdom. As we have seen, the first step was withdrawal, anachoresis. This was accompanied by xeniteia, or “indifference toward worldly values,” through non-attachment

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part I)

09/30/2016

The Path to the Desert “A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him for a word. The old man said to him, ‘Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”‘ [1] The roots of desert monasticism lay in distractions the desert elders experienced in the inhabited world. They withdrew to the desert where more intense dedication to God was possible. It is tempting to see this as

Practical Prayer

09/07/2015

In the same way as the early Church, the desert Christians were deeply committed to Jesus’ teachings and lived practice. Their chosen solitude and silence was not anti-social but a way to become better at seeing clearly and at loving deeply. Withdrawal was only for the sake of deeper encounter and presence. Diana Butler Bass describes the natural flow from solitude to prayer to active love: “[Jesus’ invitation to] ‘Come follow me’ was intimately bound

Archive

Patience (Part II): The Biblical Roots of Patience in Desert Asceticism

Patience (Part I): Partners in the Cell

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part X) The Cell and the World

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part II)

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part I)

Practical Prayer

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