THE FATHERS OF THE DESERT TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF THE COUNTESS HAHN-HAHN B 181.^092.1, y v. ! EMILY F. BOWDEN H I TJ+ With a Chapter on The Spiritual Life of the first Six Centuries By JOHN BERNARD DALGAIRNS (Priest of the Oratory) In Two Uolumes : 1)olume I 97505 BURNS AND GATES 28 ORCHARD STREET LONDON W LIBRARY ST. MARY S COLLEGE First Edition 1867 Second Edition 1907 CONTENTS Essay on the Spiritual life of the last six centuries. By John Bernard Dalgairns. Priest of the Oratory . i-lxiv CHRISTIANITY IN FREEDOM. How it took possession of the world; by the doctrine of its being the only way of salvation; by the connection between the ancient prophecies and their fulfilment; by learning; by its civilization of mankind: by works of love 1 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Why Christians rejoiced over each new Church Descrip tion by Eusebius of the Church at Tyre Basilicas Their decoration The cross, images and votive offer ingsThe Liturgy of the Church Oblation Eulogia The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Low Masses Votive Masses Masses for the Dead The Canonical Hours 13 FEASTS AND FASTS. Sunday Easter Ascension Day The Rogation days- Pentecost Christmas Epiphany The feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints The spirit of pe nance Secret and public confession The four degrees of public penance Relaxation of the spirit of penance 28 THE BOSPHORUS AND THE NILE. Byzantium; its situation, environs, greatness, riches, beauty, palaces, churches and treasures of art The Nile and its banks 39 THE ANCHORITES. How the anchorites strove to live according to the three evangelical counsels given by Christ The evangelical counsel founded the state of perfection by means of CONTENTS PA OB Christian asceticism Its fruit, mysticism, is the union of the soul with God Penance or suffering for the love of God must precede the kingdom of God in the soul . 52 THE DESERT. T^e Deserts of the East The Great Syrian Desert from Anti-Lebanon to the Euphrates Damascus at its en tranceThe Lesser Arabian Desert between Gaza and Cairo The Egyptian Desert between Cairo and the Great Cataract of the Nile The Thebaid between the Nile and the Red Sea The caves and the ancient Egyp tian rock-sepulchres 68 PAUL OF THEBES. Born 229 Died 342. Patriarch of solitaries He flies from the world and finds God He is discovered by Antony His death . 7 ST. ANTONY. Born 251-Died 356. His parentage and education The Gospel leads him to the state of perfection He practises holy asceticism The tempter torments him He goes to ThebaisJ and shuts himself up in a ruined tower for twenty years His influence upon his own and future ages His mira cles His rewards His prophecies He goes to the mountains of Colzim The end of his life . .91 ST. HILARION. Born 291 Died 371. At the age of fourteen he seeks the guidance of St Antony He withdraws to the morasses on the shore of the Mediterranean near Gaza The severity of his mortifi cationHis prayers work miracles His hermitage be comes a place of pilgrimage Disciples collect around him, and lauras with anchorites and monasteries with monks arise and flourish in Palestine, Syria and Meso potamiaHe flies from worldly honours to Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and Cyprus His death ... .139 6 CONTENTS PAGE PAUL THE SIMPLE. Died at the end of the 4th century. At the age of sixty he became a disciple of St Antony, and attains to perfection through childlike obedience . 158 AMMON. ABBOT OF NITRIA. Died about the middle of the 4th century. He marries and, together with his bride, lives in a state of virginity After eighteen years they separate, and he settles in the desert of Nitria A numerous community assembles there by degrees Their mode of life, occupa tion and hospitality The still more remote seclusion of some in the Desert of Cellia Antony in spirit sees Ammon s death 165 ST. PACHOMIUS, ABBOT OF TABENNA. Born 292-Died 348. The impression made by Christians upon the heathen youth His campaign, his baptism and resolution He goes to the aged Palemon to be exercised in asceticism A presumptuous solitary Pachomius founds monaster ies and the Order of Tabenna, and prescribes their rule The life of the monks The life of the nuns Brother Zaccheus Pachomius obeys a child Brother Sylvanus Macarius of Alexandria and the Egyptian Macarius Brother Tithees Pachomius tames crocodiles and is calumniated He dies of the plague 174 SERAPION THE SINDONITE. Died in the 4th century. At Corinth he becomes slave of an actor, whom he converts At Lacedyemon he sells himself to a Manichee and con verts him He sells himself twice more in Rome He returns to the Egyptian Desert and dies . .210 7 CONTENTS ST. ARSENIUS. Born 355 Died 450. He goes from Rome to Constantinople, and from thence to the Desert of Scete He is tried by Brother John the Dwarf He]considers himself as one dead His humility and silence Brother Alexander An aged solitary A noble Roman lady Arsenius flies from one desert to another His peaceful death 216 THE BLESSED MOSES. Died in the 5th century. He is a slave in Ethiopia and then a robber He flies to the Desert of Scete, where he undergoes terrible strug glesHe is consoled by St Isidore The teaching of Moses Brother Zacharias The reception Moses gives to visitors He is ordained priest His end . 231 BROTHER VALENS, BROTHER ERO AND BROTHER PTOLEMY. Died in the 5th century. Brother Valens falls a prey to presumption and goes out of his mind Brother Ero begins piously, but lets himself be beguiled by vanity and falls into misery Brother Pto lemy becomes a victim to self-will 243 ST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN. Born 306-Died 378. His origin His spirit of penance His ascetic life with St James of Nisibis His friendship with the monk Julian St. James and King Sapor Ephrem becomes deacon, preacher of penance, doctor of the Church, poet and missionary His praises of the Holy Mother of God- He undertakes the charge of the plague-stricken in Edessa and dies . 253 ST. MACRINA. Born 328 Died 379. Her grandmother,Macrina the elder Her parents, St. Basil and St. Emmelia Her childhood, education, betrothal 8 CONTENTS PAO1 and consecration to God Her virtues Her monastery Her sufferings Her death 274 THE BLESSED MARANA AND THE BLESSED CYRA Died in the 5th century. These two rich and noble virgins lead, at Berea in Syria, ~a life of severe penance for love of Christ in bonds. 283 ,ST. THAIS. Died in the 4th century. She leads a sinful life in Alexandria The Abbot Paphnu- tius goes to her She is converted and does penance for three years imraurred in a solitary cell 288 ST. PELAGIA. Died in the 5th century. Mount Olivet near Jerusalem Brother Pelagius does penance in one of its caverns James, deacon of Edessa visits him He is found dead How Bishop Nonnus of Edessa had converted the actress Pelagia, at Antioch. 292 ST. SIMEON STYLITES. Born 388 Died 459. His birth in the village of Sisan in Syria His childhood as a shepherd His love of God His joy in sacrifice His entrance at the age of fourteen into the Monastery of Teleda His austere penance His trials He leaves Teleda. He goes to the deserted monastery of Telnesche At the age of twenty-four he enters the mandra At thirty-five he mounts first low and then higher columns His mode of life on the same His clothing, devotion, sermons, and sufferings His miracles The concourse of people to him How he receives his mother The Emperor Theodosius II. Pulcheria Eudocia Nestro- rius and his heresy condemned by the Council of Ephesus, 431 Eutyches and his heresy condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, 451 The Empress Eudocia espouses the latter heresy, but listens to Simeon and is converted- - Earthquakes at Antioch Simeon s death Other Sty- CONTENTS PAGB lites: Daniel at Constantinople, who died in 489, and Simeon the younger, who died 596, on the marvellous mountain near Antioch, after he had stood upon columns from his sixth year upwards 308 ST. NILUS. Died in the 5th century. Born in Ancyra, studied in Antioch, lived at Constanti nople, in a happy marriage, and loaded with honours About the year 390, he goes with his son Theodulus to the Desert of Mount Sinai He receives a gift of illumi nation and becomes by means of his writings a teacher in the Church The holy virgin Magna The onslaught of the Saracens Theodulus is taken captive He is re stored to Nilus Both father and son are ordained priests and return to Sinai. 371 ST. JOHN CLIMACUS. Born 525 Died 605. Palestine his native country He is well educated At the age of sixteen he enters the Desert of Sinai, where he becomes the disciple of the anchorite Martyrius He takes the religious vows, and attains to the highest vir tueAt the request of the Abbot of Raithu, he writes "the Ladder to Paradise" On obedience Brothers Abbacyrus, Laurence, Menas, and Isidore On penance On meekness and humility On prayer and the peace of the soul John is made Abbot of Sinai After four years he retires again into the desert at Thola He dies peacefully 382 THE DAUGHTERS OF THE GRACCHI. The great number of religious of both sexes in the East, and especially in Egypt St. Athanasius takes to Rome an intimate and deep knowledge of the religious life The life of the noble ladies of heathen Rome Their female slaves Their luxury in dress, ornaments, and furniture Their cruelty and pride 402 10 CONTENTS ST.